Prog Is Dead! Long Live Prog!

It's official! The old formats, the old style of making music, the exploration of new sounds made possible from technological advances in electronic and computerized equipments is done, finished, kaput! The only things left to music artists are musicianship and the creation and manipulation of rhythm, melody, and groove. Music no longer requires collaborators or studios or record labels or even concert venues in order for artists to gain a following and, thereby, income. And, while loyalty to a known/set team of collaborators may still work, it is just as easy to A) create music on one's own (thanks to highly-advance computer software) or B) create music via cybernetic data sharing with other musicians (sharing files). Heck! Even the old concept of creating an album with the same core unit of collaborators (once called "a band") is outdated and obsolete. Now an artist can easily create and release (and realistically hope for sales) of single songs, live videos, "Zoom"-like video collages of "live" in the studio performances, or "albums" of lengths in which anything goes! ("New releases" get announced every day of songs or song collections that might be 3-minutes, 10-, 14-, 20-, 30-, 72-, or even more than 150 minutes [as well as "entire discographies"] through media sites like Bandcamp, YouTube, iTunes, AppleMusic, Reddit, Spotify, or the very few specific record labels that persist in existing.) 

Gone are "live" in-the-studio recordings with their negotiated engineering dialogues/arguments and spontaneous instances of magical invention and whole-group entrainment grooves. Almost gone are the requirements of performing your own tracks on individual instruments (most of which have been rendered unto computers and/or synthesizers that are MIDI-tracked to the on-screen compositions that you've programmed) that are tried to be kept "in tune" (whatever that means) (thanks to Autotune) and that are lined up with the song's other individual tracks by the skill of the other participating artists' musicianship not though digitalized engineering controls. Yes, compositional knowledge and skill are as important as ever, but sound palettes are no longer dependent on instrumentally-replicable (or -treated) sounds but only on what sounds you can create with wave manipulation software on your computer(s). While it is exciting, the new sounds and structures one can create, as well as the fact that music-making, start to finish, has been democratically rendered into the hands of the individual, but I strongly fear the disappearance of the art of live collaboration (other than in pure, unstructured jam forms). Yes, there will always be a preponderance of dedicated artists who purposely replicate the music (and stage performances) of the old masters ("cover bands" and "tribute bands"), but I believe we are the end of the period of progressive rock music in which new music can and will be made that expands the lexicon of sound and style beyond anything that has already been created. Exploration and replication will continue but innovation and "pushing boundaries" will be relegated to production and engineering in lieu of style and spontaneous mental and physical dexterity. 

I think that these feelings that I'm expressing are one of the reasons I'm being so drawn back into the music of the "Classic Era" of Progressive Rock and Jazz-Rock Fusion: these are the recorded samples of humans, exploring, creating, and playing together. You can feel the connections, the way the individual musicians feed off of the others. You can hear the creativity and moments of improvisational triumph, anguish, frustration, and failure! while at the same time also feel those moments of supra-human synchronization--that spirit-based phenomenon that all musicians know as "entrainment" (which athletes refer to as "The Zone")--a magical place in which your efforts and expression seem to be so "locked in" as to feel "out of body," transcendent of that which requires human thought or skill, where the music just plays itself and you find yourself more of a conduit for some Higher Power of creativity--one that unites, unifies, and empowers the individual with the confidence of a "Oneness of all things." (Yes, I have been blessed with experiencing this feeling of "entrainment"--on multiple occasions--the most of which have occurred while playing a musical instrument with other musicians. What a blessing!) 

Maybe that's why I get so little enjoyment out of my listens to the music on Miles Davis' Bitches Brew--my attempts to feel/hear the genius and innovation of this music: it's not a presentation of pure live music captured on tape; it's the result of the tape manipulations of a risk-taking engineering genius by the name of Teo Macero. What the music of those sessions really sounds like, we will probably never know. The record we have, called Bitches Brew, is one man's fabricated, altered, highly-individualized expression of music that was recorded on August 19, 20, and 21 of 1969. The album wasn't released until March 30 of 1970--seven months after the music was rendered unto tape--which is no small indication of how much cutting and splicing Teo did before it was released as a "Mile Davis" album. This particular case is also a perfect reflection with some of my dissatisfaction with the "progressive rock" music being created and released in the last 20 years (in all of the subgenres but especially within the NeoProg, Rock Progressivo Italiano, Post Rock, and Symphonic Prog subs); its almost all cold, soul-less, computer-processed repetition of old (tired) forms, sound palettes, styles, and motifs. And even the often-brilliant RIO/Avant Garde, Tech/Metal, and  stuff coming out is beginning to sound like repetitions of its older self. The only subgenres occasionally generating interesting, sometimes innovative, new music are the Crossover, Canterbury (rare), Progressive Electronic, and Experimental/Post Metal subs. 

My All-Time Favorite Albums List: 2024 Update

This is an update of my continually evolving list of favorite albums from all periods and phases of my life, here limited to 100. (Oh! That hurts! Okay, maybe 200. No, let's do 300.) 

To see the original list and its now 600 plus albums, you can go to the blog's page for April 2014's publications.

1. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Genesis (1974)

2. Mëkanïk Dëstruktïw Kömmandöh - Magma (1973)
3. Limiti all'egualianza della parte con il tutto - Homunculus Res (2013)
4. Dots and Loops - Stereolab (1997)

5. Salinity Now! - Unaka Prong (2018)

6. Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter - Joni Mitchell (1977)

7. Eli - Jan Akkerman & Kaz Lux (1976)

8. Todd Rundgren’s Utopia - Utopia (1974)

9. Tiny Dynamine/Echoes on A Shallow Bay - Cocteau Twins (1985)

10. Jan Akkerman - Jan Akkerman (1977)

11. Aja - Steely Dan (1977)

12. Venusian Summer - Lenny White (1975)

13. Pirates - Rickie Lee Jones (1981)

14. Rapture - Anita Baker (1986)

15. Shiny Eyed Babies - Bent Knee (2014)

16. Gentle Stream - The Amazing (2011)

17. Novella - Renaissance (1977)

18. The Geese and The Ghost - Anthony Phillips (1977)

19. Brilliant Trees - David Sylvian (1984)

20. Gregorian Chant - Choralschola der Wiener Hofburgkapelle (Phillips, 1984)

21. Indian Summer - Landberk (1996)

22. Nektyr - Demen (2017)

23. Natural Elements - Shakti (1977)

24. The Dream Academy - The Dream Academy (1985) 

25. Si on avait besoin d’une cinqième saison - Harmonium (1975)

26. The Mad Hatter - Chick Corea (1978)

27. Reach The Beach - The Fixx (1983)

28. Particelle - Lagartija (2011)

29. The Danish Girl Original Motion Picture Soundtrack - Alexandre Desplat (2015)

30. The Stranger - Billy Joel (1976)

31. Pelican West - Haircut One Hundred (1982)

32. Idlewild - Everything But The Girl (1988)

33. Nina Hagen Band - Nina Hagen Band (1978)

34. Not That City - Five-Storey Ensemble (2013)
35. It's Better to Travel - Swing Out Sister (1987)

36. America - America (1972)

37. Beyond the Veil - iNFiNiEN (2022)

38. Disintegration - The Cure (1989)

39. Love Deluxe - Sade (1992)

49. Pieces of a Man - Gil Scott-Heron (1971)

41. Strange Kind of Love - Love and Money (1988)

42. Chakradancer - Brainscapes (Alain Eskinasi) (1997)

43. The Look of Love - Diana Krall (2001)

44. Treasure - Cocteau Twins (1984)

45. Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror - Harold Budd & Brian Eno (1980)

46. Boy - U2 (1980)

47. Lost Souls - doves (2000)

48. Night and Day - Joe Jackson (1982)

49. Walking Wounded - Everything But The Girl (1996)

50. Ram - Paul & Linda McCartney (1971)

51. Love Devotion Surrender - Carlos Santana & John McLaughlin (1973)

52. The Last Broadcast - doves (2002)

53. A Charlie Brown Christmas - Vince Guaraldi Trio (1965)

54. Puccini: Great Arias - Freni, Sutherland, Caballé, Chiari, Nilsson, Tebaldi, Pavarotti, Corelli, Milnes, Ghiaurov, Harwood (Decca Records, (1990)

55. Hergest Ridge - Mike Oldfield (1974/6)

56. What’s Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971)
57. Astral Traveling - Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes (1973)

58. Pastorales de Noël - Michel LeGrande, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alexandre LeGoya (1981)

59. A Trick of The Tail - Genesis (1976)

60. Everything But The Girl (debut album, U.S. release) - Everything But The Girl (1984)

61. The Love Connection - Freddie Hubbard (1979)

62. Song of Innocence - David Axelrod (1968)

63. The Last Samurai Original Soundtrack - Hans Zimmer (2003)

64. Renaissance of The Celtic Harp - Alan Stivell (1972)

65. Waltz for Koop - Koop (2001)

66. 1984 - Anthony Phillips (1981)

67. Equations of Meaning - Tony Patterson (2016)

68. Mystic Acoustics - Vylet Pony (2017)

69. Todd - Todd Rundgren (1974)

70. OisoLün - Oiapok (2013)

71. Open Sky - Iona (2000)

72. The Difference Machine - Big Big Train (2007)
73. Odyssey: The Greatest Tale - Colossus Magazine/Musea Records (2005)

74. Mozart's 23 Piano Concertos - Alfred Brendel, Neville Marriner and The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; (Phillips, 1991)

75. Holographic Codex - Alio Die & Lorenzo Montanà (2015)

76. Bleak House - Terje Rypdal (1968)

77. A Distant Shore - Tracey Thorn (1982)

78. Bar-do Travel - Proghma-C (2009)

79. If_then_else - The Gathering (2000)

80. Everyone into Position - Oceansize (2005)

81. Harvest Moon - Votum (2013)

82. Vaughan Williams - Iona Brown, violin, Neville Marriner and The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; (Argos, 1972)

83. Mind Fruit - Opus III (1992)
84. Magick Brother & Mystic Sister - Magick Brother & Mystic Sister (2020)

85. Gone to Earth - David Sylvian (1986)

86. Relayer - Yes (1974)

87. Visions of a New World - Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes (1975)

88. The Pavillion of Dreams - Harold Budd (1981)

89. Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia - Ryuichi Sakamoto (1986)

90. Porcelain - Julia Fordham (1989)

91. Eden - Faun (2011)

92. Thrust - Herbie Hancock (1974)

93. Animals - Pink Floyd (1977)

94. The Final Breath Before November - Edison's Children (2013)

95. Remain in Light - Talking Heads (1980)

96. Secret Story - Pat Metheny (1992)

97. Pieseň z hôľ (Songs from Ridges) - Fermáta (1975)

98. New Gold Dream - Simple Minds (1982)

99. Incense and Peppermints - The Strawberry Alarm Clock (1967)

100. Let the Truth Speak - Earthside (2023)

101. Hope for the Mourning - Mice on Stilts (2016)

102. Light Shining Through the Sea - Cicada (2015)

103. Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips (2002)

104. 22 - Wippy Bonstack (2022)

105. Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones (1979)

106. Shadows of The Sun - Ulver (2007)

107. Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 - Joanna  Koslowska, soprano, Karimierz Kord and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; (Phillips, 1994)

108. The Dreaming - Kate Bush (1982)

109. Vimana - Nova (1976)

110. Eve - Karda Estra (2001)

111. Vespertine - Björk (2001)

112. Crime of The Century - Supertramp (1974)

113. Long Distance - Ivy (2000)

114. UK - UK (1978)

115. Fragile - Yes (1972)

116. Hamburger Concerto - Focus (1975)

117. Our Light and After - Vylet Pony (2018)

118. The Hurting - Tears for Fears (1983)

119. Beyond Drama - Aisles (2023)

120. Formica Blues - Mono (1997)

121. Caravanserai - Santana (1972)

122. Cosmic Messenger - Jean-Luc Ponty (1978)
123. Mirabilis - Mediæval Bæbes (2005)

124. Codename: Dustsucker - Bark Psychosis (2004)

125. Picchio dal Pozzo - Picchio dal Pozzo (1976)

126. Songs of Robert Burns - Andy M. Stewart (1989)

127. Turn of the Cards - Renaissance (1974)

128. Evaporate - Midas Fall (2018)
129. Terrapath - Plantoid (2024)

130. Space Shanty - Khan (1972)

131. Janet. - Janet Jackson (1993)

132. Selling England by The Pound - Genesis (1973)

133. Discipline - King Crimson (1981)

134. Romantic Warrior - Return to Forever (1976)

135. Unsound - Funin (2010)

136. The Dark Third - Pure Reason Revolution (2006)

137. The Great Bright Horses - Ghosts of Jupiter (2016)

138. Jam on Revenge - Newcleus (1984)

139. LightDark - NoSound (2008)

140. The Following Morning - Eberhard Weber (1977)

141. As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls - Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays (1981)

142. Blade Runner soundtrack - The New American Orchestra (compositions by Vangelis) (1982)

143. Music for 18 Musicians - Steve Reich (1978)

144. The extent of damage - Battlestations (2015)

145. Scheherazade and Other Stories - Renaissance (1975)

146. Dark Side of The Moon - Pink Floyd (1973)
147. The Court of The Crimson King - King Crimson (1969)

148. Pamiec - SBB (1975)

149. Baduizm - Erykah Badu (1997)

150. In The Wee Small Hours - Frank Sinatra (1955)

151. ~ - iamthemorning (2011)

152. Twenty Pills Without Water - Bent Knee (2024)

153. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid soundtrack - Burt Bacharach (1969)

154. A Gift of Love - Deepak Chopra & Friends (1998)

155. Close to The Edge - Yes (1972)

156. Metamorphosis - Axon-Neuron (2016)

157. Off The Wall - Michael Jackson (1979)

158. Innervisions - Stevie Wonder (1972)
159. New Wave - Soul Family Sensation (1993)

160. Interstellar Original Soundtrack - Hans Zimmer (2014)

161. Nil novo sub sole - Nil (2005)

162. Fusion III - Michal Urbaniak (1975)

163. October - U2 (1981)

164. Falling Deeper - Anathema (2011)

165. Playing The Piano - Ryuichi Sakamoto (2009)

166. High Land, Hard Rain - Aztec Camera (1983)

167. Ga'an - Ga'an (2009)

168. Discontinuance - Ghost Medicine (2016)

169

. December - George Winston (1982)

170. Love Over Fear - Pendragon (2020)

171. Initiation - Todd Rundgren (1975)

172. One Man Tells Another - Landberk (1994)

173. The Moon and The Melodies - Cocteau Twins and Harold Budd (1986)

174. Part the Second - Maudlin of The Well (2009)

175. Second Life Syndrome - Riverside (2005)

176. Trance Tara - Jonathan Goldman (1996)

177. Interior City - The Gabriel Construct (2013)

178. Mais on ne peut pas rêver tout le temps - Laurent Thibault (1979)

179. 

Phanerothyme - Motorpsycho (2001)

180. Moving Waves - Focus (1971)

181. The Weatherman Is Wrong - Gadadu (2022)

182. Foxtrot - Genesis (1973)

183. Even in The Quietest Moments - Supertramp (1977)

184. Café Bleu - The Style Council (1984)

185. Omphalos - Kotebel (2006)

186. Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 - Johannes Brahms

187. Timeloss - Paatos (2002)

188. Steve McQueen - Prefab Sprout (1985)

189. I Robot - Alan Parsons Project (1977)

190. Peaceful Evening - Steve & David Gordon (1982)

191. Déjà Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (1970)

192. City of the Sun - Seven Impale (2014)

193. Love, Love - Julian "Pepe Mtoto" Priester (1973)

194. Luna - Faun (2014)

195. Per un amico - PFM (1972)

196. Renaissance - Faun (2005)

197. West Indian Girl - West Indian Girl (2004)
198. Overgrown - James Blake (2013)

199. Bonfires on The Heath - The Clientele (2009)

200. Watercolors - Pat Metheny (1977)

Princesses Nubiennes - Les Nubians (1999)

202. The Polite Force - Egg (1971)

203. Inside Out - Eddie Henderson (1974)

204. A Rare Moment of Insight - Brother Ape (2010)

205. 

206. Ghost in the Machine - The Police (1982)

207. Demons and Wizards - Uriah Heep (1972)

208. Postaeolian Train Robbery - Cos (1974)

209. The Seeds of Love - Tears for Fears (1989)

210. Crac! - Area (1975)

211. Le quattro stagioni - Vivaldi

212. Tilt - Arti e Mestieri (1974)

213. Onda - Jambinai (2019)

214. Etna - Etna (1975)

215. Tarot, Part 1 - Magick Brother & Mystic Sister (2024)

216. Silver - Say She She (2023)

217. Friends - Chick Corea (1978)

218. Life - KNOWER (2016)

219. 'Live' at Monterey ! - Don Ellis Orchestra (1966)

220. Horizon Digital - Édition Spéciale (1978)

221. The Record - boygenius (2023)

222. Ghosts - Hania Rani (2023)

223. async - Ryuichi Sakamoto (2017)

224. Houses of The Holy - Led Zeppelin (1973)

225. Green Asphalt - Green Asphalt (2022)

226. Something/Anything - Todd Rundgren (1972)

227. Cello Blue - David Darling (2001)

228. Mother Focus - Focus (1975)

229. Le Horla de Montpassant - The Box (2009)

230. Strange Valleys - Starving Daughters (2018)

231. Change We Must - Jon Anderson (1994)

232. Spirited Away OST - Joe Hisaishi (2002)

233. A Tab in The Ocean - Nektar (1972)

234. Sound-Dust - Stereolab (2001)

235. Kaleidoscope World - Swing Out Sister (1989)

236. Together As One - Gregg Kofi Brown (2005)

237. Blue Bell Knoll - Cocteau Twins (1988)

238. 13 Moons - Hands of the Heron (2021)

239. Nursery Cryme - Genesis (1971)

240. Art Official Age - Prince (2014)

241. Get in Touch with Yourself - Swing Out Sister (1992)

242. Margot - Unaka Prong (2016)

243. Peter Gabriel (1) - Peter Gabriel (1977)

244. No Borders Here - Jane Siberry (1984)
245. Seven - Magenta (2004)

246. Almost Persuaded - Swing Out Sister (2018)

247. Cavalcade - black midi (2021)

248. Fish Out of Water - Chris Squire (1975)

249. Kontinuum - Klaus Schulze (2007)

Alibi - Emma Volard (2024)

Walking Up That Valley - Needlepoint (2021)

251. Atma - Michał Urbaniak (1974)

252. Billie Bottle's Temple of Shibboleth - Billie Bottle's Temple of Shibboleth (2023)

253. Strands - Steve Haushildt (2016)

254. The Oubliette - The Reticent (2020)

255. Private Parts & Pieces III: Antiques - Anthony Phillips (1982)

256. Szobel - Hermann Szobel (1976)

257. Apparition - Jambinai (2022)

258. Tilt - Immagini per un orecchio - Arti E Mestieri (1974)

259. The Greatest Show on Earth - Airbag (2013)

260. Time Control - Hiromi’s Sonicbloom (2007)

261. Infernal Machina - Jannick Top (2009)

262. Mozart's Clarinet & Bassoon Concertos - Jack Brymer/Gwydion Brooke, Thomas Beecham and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; EMI

263. The Sensual World - Kate Bush (1989)

264. Shake It Up - Boney James & Rick Braun (2000)

265. Heartstring - Earl Klugh (1979)

266. Sounds Good - Brainstory (2024)

267. Preda - Mad Crayon (2009)

268. Guérison - Setna (2013)
269. Double Negative - Low (2018)
270. Jurassic Shift - Ozric Tentacles (1993)

271. Prelude - Deodato (1973)

272. Tingri - Jonn Serrie (1990)

273. Dead Magic - Anna Von Hausswolff (2018)
274. Ikaro - Aalto (2014)

275. Identity - Airbag (2009)

276. Stealing Fire - Bruce Cockburn (1984)

277. If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You - Caravan (1970)

278. Halflights - Starsabout (2016)

279. Uoma - Uzva (2006)

280. 4 - Dungen (2008)

281. Waking The Dead, Live in Japan 2005 - Anekdoten (2005)

282. In The Land of Grey and Pink - Caravan (1971)

283. Giant Sky - Giant Sky (2021)

284. Twenty Pills Without Water - Bent Knee (2024)

285. Posthumous Silence - Sylvan (2006)

286. Free Hand - Gentle Giant (1975)

287. UR- - Accordo Dei Contrari (2021)

288. Gaucho - Steely Dan (1980)

289. Apocalypse Now - RanestRane (2022)

290. Girls Who Are Wizards - Vylet Pony (2024)

291. No Frontiers - Mary Black (1989)

292. Leaving Your Bodymap - maudlin of The Well (2009)

293. Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago (1969)

294. Said the Sun to the Moon - Tirill (2019)

295. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis (1959)

296. Moonshine - Collage (1994)

297. Songs for The Inner Child - Shaina Noll (1992)

298. Firyuza / Фирюза - Firyuza / Фирюза (1979)

299. Babylon - Babylon (1978)

300. Sweetnighter - Weather Report (1973)

301. Antimemory - Vaneta (2016)

302. Silencia - Hammock (2019)

303. Mourning Sun - Fields of the Nephilim (2005)

304. Days of Future Passed - Moody Blues (1967)

305. Winter Dreams for Christmas - R. Carlos Nakai & William Eaton (1994)

306. Drum 'n' Voice 4 - Billy Cobham & Novecento (2016)

307. Trespass - Genesis (1970)

308. Wind and Wuthering - Genesis (1977)

309. Gifts from Enola - Gifts from Enola (2010)
310. Frozen There - Alto Palo (2018)

311. Seal II - Seal (1994)

312. Hugsjá - Ivar Bjørnson & Einar Selvik (2018)

313. Temperamental - Everything But The Girl (1999)
314. III - Focus (1973)

315. Mummer - XTC (1983)

316. La marmite cosmique six - Arnaud Bukwald (2020)

317. Original Soundtrack - Godspell (1971)

318. Songs from The Big Chair - Tears for Fears (1985)

319. Winds of Devotion - R. Carlos Nakai, Nawang Khechog & Peter Kater (1998)
320. Sound Mirrors - Syd Arthur (2014)

321. Purple Rain - Prince (1984)

322. The Dreaming - Kate Bush (1982)

323. Street Lady - Donald Byrd (1973)

324. Fuse - Everything But The Girl (2023)

325. Instant Holograms on Metal Film - Stereolab (2025)

326. 50 Words for Snow - Kate Bush (2011)