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Title: Progressive Rock Reconsidered by Kevin Holm-Hudson ISBN: 0-8153-3715-9 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: October, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.9 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: a progressive book of progressive rock
Comment: An outstanding book, with pungent and well written aricles that trace and explore the origins and development of bands such as King Crimson, Pink Floyd, and ELP. A chapter on the lyrics and life of Roger Waters remains my favorite. A great read about great music!
Rating: 4
Summary: For Academics Mostly, But New Insights Good
Comment: You ought to have at least a Master's Degree before you open this book. Highly technical, and written in mostly academic jargon, the essays in this book reflect the current views of progressive rock among people who work in higher education. Some of the essays are a bit of a shock -- not that that's bad - to long time prog fans. The Queer theory version of Close to the Edge is a new perspective, as is the Lesbian view of Jon Anderson's lyrics. I learned new things by reading them, which is the point.
If you have some knowledge of music theory, you might enjoy this book better. Kevin Holm-Hudson's essay on "Trilogy" is quite good, as is long-time academic Rockist Deena Weinstein's decontruction of Roger Water's lyrics. All of the articles are worthwhile, even if takes a while to get through some of the more technical musical discussions. Give yourself some time, and you may come to value you this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: YOU BETTER HOPE SO
Comment: The more you appreciate and enjoy music, the more it becomes incumbent upon you to understand music in terms beyond the social context, beyond "I like it" or "I don't like it". The arts are generally forgiving to lay people: you need not understand the references, the structures, the variations, the sources or the traditions. Which is a long way of saying, you don't need to understand much.
Unless you really want to enjoy what you're listening to.
This book brings together a generous spectrum of opinion on music and the battered category of Progressive Rock. I have been drawn to aspects of this musical "form" for many, many years. And while Prog includes its share of ostentatious and overblown nonsense, it also offers some genuinely original, powerful and moving music.
The positive attributes of this music are best exemplified by Gregory Karl in his analysis of King Crimson's "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" . Here at last is a lucid and insightful essay which clearly connects the music itself with its accompanying subtexts. Mr. Karl does an outstanding job of tracing the elements of the score and structure forward and backward in the King Crimson catalog to make an intellectual connection between sound and meaning. John S. Cotner's analysis of Pink Floyd's "Careful with that Axe, Eugene" is interesting in its attempt to take us through a new system of notation for a new kind of compositional technique. And there are several other essays ranging from lyrical analyses of works by Roger Waters and Adrian Belew, to the time and thematic transformation techniques of Keith Emerson, as well as other perspectives on the music of bands such as Yes and Rush.
These essays may seem dry and overly scholastic in some cases, but an untrained reader needs to look beyond the immediate and sometimes significant challenge of dealing with music theory to the understanding that this music usually goes well beyond the surface characteristics of sound and song to something more profound. In fact, if you like this musical form, this book will better help you understand why you like it, even without comprehending every nuace presented by the authors.
The only topic that seems to be missing is the role of the studio in much of this music. In many cases, signal processing techniques and studio manipulation play a significant role in the resulting music. For example, the article by Mr. Cotner, which goes to such great lengths to develop a system of notation capable of dealing with the vagaries of an Echoplex, never gives a complete nod to the sometimes "experimental" and even "accidental" origin of some of these pieces -- intellect catching up with intuition, as Brian Eno has said. None-the-less, Kevin Holm-Hudson needs to be applauded for putting together a broad-ranging, thought-provoking and -- sorry for the cliche -- challenging book that should compel you to know more about what you think you hear.
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Title: Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture by Edward L. Macan ISBN: 0195098889 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Music's All That Matters: A History of Progressive Rock by Paul Stump ISBN: 0704380366 Publisher: Quartet Books Ltd Pub. Date: March, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: 20th Century Rock and Roll: Progressive Rock (Twentieth Century Rock and Roll) by Jerry Lucky ISBN: 1896522203 Publisher: Collector's Guide Pub Pub. Date: June, 2000 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes by Chris Welch ISBN: 0711995095 Publisher: Omnibus Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Progressive Rock Files by Jerry Lucky ISBN: 189652270X Publisher: Collector's Guide Pub Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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