70s synthesizers, psychedelic soothsayers, sorcery amped up to eleven. Scarlet kings, ladies of lakes, white satin knights, men in tights. Spellcasters on Telecasters. Metal, magic, and mojo.
Professor Mikey here. Welcome to Old School. This adventure starts near the beginning of time, flourishes at the round table of King Arthur, road trips with Gandalf the Grey, and strays onto a mushroom in Wonderland with a girl called Alice. As the genre’s popularity explodes in the late 60s and 70s, young Pink Floyd records across the Abbey Road halls from the Beatles, while others dabbled in red magic in the Court of the Crimson King.
What lies ahead is the dawn of a delightful subgenre that is post psychedelic, pre ProTools, and straight magic. It is stirred and shaken by the likes of Emerson, Lake, Palmer, Black Sabbath, Gentle Giant, Hawkwind, Yes and many others who harnessed lightning in an hourglass, filling the jukeboxes with wylde tales from the ancient days of yore and synthesizers. It is an early form of Prog Rock where…
Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.
—J.R.R. Tolkien
Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” by Richey Beckett
Early Prog cast a spell upon the charts, splashed briefly in the mainstream, filled concert halls and fronted world class orchestras. Inspired by spirits, spells, grim fairy tales, Viking folk songs, and rock and roll wizardry, Prog artists flourished, spinning straw into gold records.
Dim the lights, spark a few candles, watch the incense shadows orchestrate themselves into grand crusade of artistic rock and roll that appears in time just before the tsunami of disco.
Our maps show that we can start anywhere, as long as we promise to get good and lost along the way. They say satire is the sincerest form of flattery, so we touch quill to lambskin and begin with a tale of Stonehenge, stuck on eleven with spinal Tap. It’s episode 65 of Old School. It’s a PROG FANTASY.
The prog era never ended, it just shifted its shape. New prog bands still appear with the regularity of a witch’s moon.
It did get a little grandiose perhaps even a little silly. Rick Wakeman, the keyboard cipher of Yes, made a solo album with a song for each of the six wives of Henry the Eighth. The follow up featured the London Symphony Orchestra on a 40 minute ride to the center of the earth.
Jethro Tull has sold over 60 million albums worldwide and won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance in 1989.
Emerson Lake and Palmer sold 48 million albums, two million more than Uriah Heep. One highlight involved Keith Emerson getting tangled up in a piano suspended upside down high above the stage. He had to be rescued by roadies at the California Jam festival in 1974.
No fewer than 23 musicians have been a part of King Crimson over the years. They still play, Robert Fripp is still a genius. Check out their live album recorded in 1999 in Mexico City.
Ozzy Osbourne became a reality TV star. Ian Anderson is a gentleman farmer.
But as disco danced into the late 70s, gnomes and wizards were replaced by John Travolta in the club, Donna Summer in love, and KC and the Sunshine band shaking their collective booties.
You can still find examples of a glorious time passed in record store bins, at garage sales, and in your father’s record collection. The Moody Blues sold 70 million albums.
For the finale, a couple of tunes. My guess is you have never heard them back to back, unless you were listening to me on the radio. It begins with a troubadour who became a knight under the sword of Queen Elizabeth in 1998, and concludes in a magic hall where we have been requested to wear red.
Professor Mikey here, this has been episode 65 of Old School, a prog fantasy. The road goes ever on.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP) - “Brain Salad Surgery”: ELP’s ambitious compositions and Keith Emerson’s keyboard wizardry define this album. “Karn Evil 9” remains an epic prog rock suite3.
Traffic - “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”: Although not strictly prog, Traffic’s blend of rock, jazz, and folk influenced the genre. Moody Blues - “On the Threshold of a Dream”: The Moody Blues’ orchestral approach and poetic lyrics shine on this album.
“The Past Is a Blast.”
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OS#65 “Prog Fantasy”
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Professor Mikey’s OLD SCHOOL
The past is a blast on Old School, the educational underground pirate radio podcast. DJ Professor Mikey curates vintage vinyl, recalls dope details and fills the air with audio archives from a half-century plus treasure pleasure of singles, albums, reel to reels, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and audio memorabilia.
The past is a blast on Old School, the educational underground pirate radio podcast. DJ Professor Mikey curates vintage vinyl, recalls dope details and fills the air with audio archives from a half-century plus treasure pleasure of singles, albums, reel to reels, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, and audio memorabilia.
OS#65 “Prog Fantasy”