Five Easy Masterpieces: an introduction to prog rock
At the dawn of the 1970s, rock ‘n’ roll found itself at a crossroads. After the explosion of pop rock in the 1960s, eminent bands like The Beatles and The Jimi Hendrix Experience established psychedelic rock as a progressive style at the heart of the countercultural revolution. Almost every prominent rock group, from The Who and The Rolling Stones to The Doors and The Byrds, dabbled in psychedelia, establishing it as a decidedly eclectic movement. As the technicoloured optimism of the hippie era petered out, different branches of psychedelic rock dissipated into prog rock, heavy metal and glam rock.
Just like its parent subgenre, prog rock was somewhat ill-defined. Whether it was Ian Anderson rocking out on the flute while Jethro Tull married jazz to blues or Roger Waters’ heart-stopping screams in ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, prog’s many memorable moments are bound by a desire to break the mould. These were young musicians who heard Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Disraeli Gears and thought, “Why join the circus when we can establish one of our own?”
From the mainstream success of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to the more esoteric work of Camel and Nektar, prog rock celebrated music from almost every traditional style, be that classical, folk, jazz or the blues. Glam rock artists like Roxy Music and David Bowie operated in similar sonic spheres to some of these prog groups but were attached to a different scene. Crucially, their music was generally more conducive to mass consumption.
Although intrepid musicianship is usually commended, the prog-rock movement became divisive in the mid-1970s, with some deeming such bands haughty and ostentatious. Some say the punk wave took off in direct opposition to the esoteric complexities of prog. If that is true, whether you are a fan of prog or not, everyone can thank the prog rockers for something. Yes, much of the subgenre’s output is overblown and inaccessible, but plenty of it is not. And you might just find that your favourite band was inspired, directly or indirectly – by some of the below masterpieces.
Five essential prog rock albums:
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Our first selection requires very little introduction and will surely cause no surprises among readers. Yes, you may prefer Wish You Were Here or feel the beauty of ‘Echoes’ alone brings Meddle into contention, but you can’t argue against The Dark Side of the Moon as the most essential and iconic prog rock masterpiece. Though Pink Floyd may not define the genre quite as tightly as Yes or ELP, their progressive work in the early 1970s was a guiding light to many, both in and outside the progressive realm.
The Dark Side of the Moon was the first of Roger Waters’ seminal concept albums. It dealt with existential anxiety under the prominent topics of money, mortality, and mental illness. Each side of the album flows as one solid movement of deft production, but it offers an impressively broad sonic palette, from the bouncing blues of ‘Money’ through the maddening ‘Brain Damage’ to the neck-hair-raising ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’.
Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy (1973)
There is much debate over whether Led Zeppelin was a heavy metal or prog rock band. Indeed, their heavy yet adventurous sound is difficult to pigeonhole. Still, I see no harm in considering the band a solitary force composed of several different flavours: ‘Carouselambra’ is more prog-adjacent, while ‘Black Dog’ leans more on the metal side of the equation. Of course, it’s all much of a muchness, but we writers like to put labels on things.
Hints of prog crop up all over the Led Zeppelin oeuvre, from John Bonham’s complex drum beats in ‘Four Sticks’ to the enduring epic ‘Achilles Last Stand’. For me, the band’s most masterful prog-adjacent album as a whole is Houses of the Holy. Following their early success, the band could afford state-of-the-art home studios where they could spend more time perfecting grand, elaborate compositions, including the slow-growing ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ and the orchestral ‘The Rain Song’.
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (1973)
1973 was a busy year for prog rock. Beneath the headline release, The Dark Side of the Moon, Caravan released For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night, ELP released Brain Salad Surgery, and Genesis released Selling England by the Pound. This important year was also home to one of prog rock’s most impressive feats, Tubular Bells, the debut album of Mike Oldfield. Many know the piece for its piano action used prominently in William Freidkin’s film The Exorcist, but there is much, much more to it.
Tubular Bells is a full-length studio release featuring just two songs, perhaps better described as compositions. Easy to remember, the tracks are titled ‘Tubular Bells Part One’ and Tubular Bells Part Two’. Each meanders through a range of instrumental emotions and musical styles, from guitar-driven rock to the classical, orchestral sounds of flutes, organs and, of course, tubular bells. Incredibly, Oldfield was just 19 years old when he recorded the album at The Manor, Oxfordshire, playing most of the instruments himself.
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King (1969)
At some point in the late 1960s, psychedelic rock faded into progressive rock, with very little to distinguish the two movements. Pink Floyd seemed to trace this transition rather well with their string of eclectic albums between A Saucerful of Secrets and Meddle. While Pink Floyd evolved from psychedelia, several acts debuted as prog rockers, including Yes, Genesis and King Crimson. All three of these bands released their debut albums in 1969.
In The Court of the Crimson King, the debut album led by guitarist Robert Fripp provided a sturdy bedrock for the ensuing prog wave at the end of the 1960s. To this day, the striking, horrifying face on the album cover beguiles innocent record shop customers, and what lies within is just as monumental. As progressive rock demands, the album is awash with variety, with elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, blues and industrial music. Highlight moments are the anthemic ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ and the breezy ‘I Talk To The Wind’.
Caravan – In the Land of Grey and Pink (1971)
Our final selection is perhaps the most obscure. Caravan may not have reached the same peaks of success as Pink Floyd or even King Crimson, but the Canterbury collective garnered a solid cult following in the early 1970s. The group was formed in 1968 as a more stable iteration of Wilde Flowers, featuring members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings, and Richard Coughlan. Their approach led forth seamlessly from the psychedelic era, incorporating notes of jazz and classical music.
The band reached its zenith in 1973 with the widely acclaimed third studio album, In the Land of Grey and Pink. Hastings, who had written most of the first two albums, contributed just one track, ‘Love to Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly)’, leaving the field open for Sinclair to shine. As the last album to feature the original line-up, this record is the essential Caravan experience, with a colourful platter of material, from the dreamlike title track to the tortuous Side Two suite.
JJ Burnel of The Stranglers remembered keyboardist Dave Greenfield introducing him to some of his prog rock records and being particularly enamoured by In the Land of Grey and Pink. “I loved the way it was arranged and the intricacies going on,” he told Louder. “To me, it was the sort of music in which you could enjoy getting lost.”
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