Prog in unlikely places

[Progbear]

Not really prog, but I heard a Wendy Carlos clip on the radio, because it was used as a signature tune for a pirate station.

Wendy was my childhood, because a snippet from the Brandenburg from the end of Switched-On Bach was used as the theme to KTVU's "Bits & Pieces" interstitial bits that ran during kids' shows in the 70s and 80s.

I think it was before the ELP track that Jerusalem turned up more than once on Monty Python.

Am I the only one whose first hearing of this song was not ELP, but rather the Monty Python skit where Eric Idle stands in the tea chest and sings this to get Graham Chapman to take the bag off his head? I laughed out loud when I heard ELP do it, because that was the first thing to pop into my head.

I remember finding Faust IV at the library in the '70s. First time hearing them.

I found Curved Air's Second Album and Strawbs' Deadlines at the library

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

The library branch in Athens GA that l go to used to have a Squonk Opera CD.

[GuitarGeek]

You know, the only prog (not counting something obvious like PF, Rush, Genesis or Yes or even KC) that I have seen at a library was a cd by the Pennsylvania based prog band North Star. That really surprised me when I saw it. I don't remember for sure which one but I'm pretty certain it was Tempest (from 2000). It was weird seeing that since they are pretty obscure. They did however play at the second Nearfest and being that I live in PA it's possible that Kevin Leonard or someone else from the band gave them a copy (so maybe not as much of a weird thing as my initial reaction might indicate).

Far out! I remember liking their NEARfest performance, but I never get any of their albums (as I recall, they were selling something at NEARFest, but either I hadn't brought enough money, or they had sold out, or something). I do have a few live tapes that turned up on Dime-A-Dozen about 12 or so years ago, I think.

But talking about the library thing, come to think of it, I remember the Cleveland Heights/University Heights main library on Lee Road had tons of interesting stuff:

They must have had just about every Karlheinz Stockhausen LP that Deutsche Gramaphone put out, including Hymnen, Sternklang, Mantra, Mikrophonie I+II, Prozession, Ceylon and Kurzwellen, along with some of his orchestral pieces and I think even the opera cycle (I know later on, they had the operas on CD).

They had at least one Morton Subotnick album, Silver Apples Of The Moon, possibly more (I'm somehow think they had Four Butterflies, but I'm not really positive). Later they'd have Return, an album he did in the 80's to commemorate Haley's Comet's return to Earth orbit (but I remember not liking that one, as much as Silver Apples...).

They had both versions of the Nonesuch Guide To Electronic Music (they original double LP from the late 60's that came in a box, as well as the later version that came out in the 70's or early 80's, which was a single LP and had a vocoder piece on it).

There were at least a couple Terry Riley albums, namely Rainbow In Curved Air and Descending Moonshine Dervishes. Later on, they had at least a couple CD's of his then current works.

They had Henry Kaiser's It's A Wonderful Life.

They had at least one volume of the mid 70's recordings of Conlon Nancarrow's player piano studies (there were four separate LP releases, and they had, I'm sure the first one, because I remember the hyperkinetic boogie woogie thing that opened it), and later on, they'd have the Wergo releases of the entire series of Studies on CD.

They had Switched-On Bach, as well as a sort of "educational album" Wendy did in the 80's called Secrets Of Synthesis, where she narrated her involvement in electronic music, etc. I recall during the bit where she's talking about Timesteps and the Ode To Joy recording she did, she does the narration through the vocoder. I think they might have had one of the albums she did with her "custom" scale systems she developed in the 80's, I think either Beauty In The Beast or Digital Moonscapes. On CD, I remember they had her Switched On Brandenburg albums, and I also remember the recording of Peter And The Wolf she did with Weird Al.

They had some Tangerine Dream, Cyclone, Exit, and Phaedra, at the very least.

They had some Steve Reich stuff (which I remember being disappointed when I first heard it), some of the "phase" pieces, as well as that thing he did with Pat Metheny. And that album that's got the cover with the four organists, and maracas players, all looking up at a camera (apparently suspended over the musicians, I think the University Heights branch (on Cedar Road) had that album, but I don't think I ever borrowed it. I just remember seeing that one a lot.

They had at least one John Cage record (a recording of the Sonatas and Interludes For Prepared Piano), and probably a few others I never got around to borrowing.

They had the Max Neuhaus album, Electronics and Percussion (the one where he's shirtless on the cover, surrounded by percussion instruments).

They had some Brian Eno records, including Discreet Music (which was another I remember not liking the first time I heard it).

I vaguely remember they also had the Phillip Glass opera, Einstein On The Beach, but I don't think I ever borrowed it.

They had a very well stocked "international folk" section, what we would now call "world music", I guess. The thing I remember was, they didn't just have records by Ravi Shankar or Ali Akbar, but also other well known Hindustani musicians. I remember they had at least a couple records by another sarod player, whose name escapees. I think they also had a Vietnamese record, the one that Henry Kaiser mentioned in his Essential Listening article in the December 1984 issue of Guitar Player. I have a vague memory of borrowing some Japanese records, stuff with koto and shamishen playing. And I seem to recall they had a lot of celtic stuff, too.

And they also had plenty of rock, pop, jazz, and whatever records. I'm pretty sure the first Terje Rypdal and Ralph Towner records I heard were borrowed from there. Likewise for Anthony Braxton. I think they also had some Sun Ra LP's, but I'm not sure which ones (probably recent releases at the time), as I don't think I ever borrowed any.

So, yeah, Cleveland Heights was a good place to live, if you had a library card and an inquisitive mind about music back in the 1980's (or earlier, probably). I don't know who or why they had such an esoteric selection of music, but it really went a long way towards expanding my tastes beyond just rock music.

[GuitarGeek]

I remember first hearing Inner Mounting Flame from the library, until some scoundrel never brought it back (which happened to some of their good LPs).

I think that happened at a lot of libraries, before they installed theft prevention equipment in the 80's, just like at stores. I remember trying to reserve a couple LP's that were in the card catalog (remember the card catalog?), and the librarian having to go check the card catalog they kept in the back of the library, which revealed that both albums had been stolen. One, I think was Yesshows (back when I was just finding out who Yes was), and the other was Uriah Heep Demons & Wizards (fortunately, not too long after that, I found Demons And Wizards at a flea market for like a buck...20 years later, Roger Dean would autograph that and my other Heep and Yes records).

I remember their copy of the issue of Guitar Player (yep, they carried GP too), I think it's April 1980, the first one with Eddie Van Halen on the cover, someone had removed the entire article from the magazine, like some punk borrowed it, and completely excised all signs of the article. I did eventually get to read the article, because Guitar Player put out a series of books that compiled various articles they had written (most, if not all, of which were also at the library), but I didn't get to see some of the pictures that were in that article (including one showing Eddie with a bunch of custom built and customized/bastardized guitars) until around 2002, when I bought a huge lot of GP magazines on Ebay, like the entire 1980-1983 run, apart from one magazine (and dammit, ti was the November 1983 issue, the one that I've never seen, with Iron Maiden on the cover!).

But you know, I probably shouldn't bitch about peopel stealing stuff from the library, because uh...uhm, I uh...kinda stole a couple books from the library too, something I'm not proud of, I can tell you that.

BTW, talking about readnig Guitar Player at the library reminds me that the first time I ever heard of Camel, was the Pro's Reply article on Andrew Latimer that appeared in Guitar Player, in...damn, I can't remember which issue it was, but I think Howard Roberts was on the cover. But I read that at the library. I remember the intro to the piece specifically noted that Camel shouldn't be confused with "Frampton's Camel" (a band name that Frampton only used for a short period of time, and anyway, who even remembered that Peter Frampton ever made any studio albums, in the first frelling place?!).

[Batchman]

Seen in MAD Magazine in 2002, in an article titled "The 21 Hottest Internet Rumors Regarding Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones":

Yes in MAD.jpg

[progmatist]

In Tuesday's Jeopardy! episode, there was a category "uncut jams." About long songs. Included was a clue about the album long epic, Tull's TAAB.

[Digital_Man]

In Tuesday's Jeopardy! episode, there was a category "uncut jams." About long songs. Included was a clue about the album long epic, Tull's TAAB.

That's cool. I don't watch jeopardy as much as I used to (the show makes me feel dumb and I know I'm not dumb.Lol) so I missed that one. A long time ago when Alex was still the host there was a woman on who was a big Rush fan and even brought with her a pair of drum sticks that Neil Peart gave her.

[Baribrotzer]

The current movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice contains an elaborate musical set-piece for Betlegeuse's wedding, complete with lip-syncing, choreography, props, and special effects.

Notably, Tim Burton & Co. not only cut and restructured the song to fit the scene's plot, but then wrote, shot, and cut the film itself to fit the resulting music. It works perfectly as a part of the goofy Beetlejuice universe; yes, this is the song that Betlegeuse would set his wedding to, even if the sentiments in the lyrics don't quite perfectly fit the occasion. And while some people might not consider the song involved strictly "Prog", I do - in fact, it may have been one of my own gateway tunes, in being a pop song that somehow expands into almost an aural Hollywood movie.

[Batchman]

The current movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice contains an elaborate musical set-piece for Betlegeuse's wedding, complete with lip-syncing, choreography, props, and special effects.

Notably, Tim Burton & Co. not only cut and restructured the song to fit the scene's plot, but then wrote, shot, and cut the film itself to fit the resulting music. It works perfectly as a part of the goofy Beetlejuice universe; yes, this is the song that Betlegeuse would set his wedding to, even if the sentiments in the lyrics don't quite perfectly fit the occasion. And while some people might not consider the song involved strictly "Prog", I do - in fact, it may have been one of my own gateway tunes, in being a pop song that somehow expands into almost an aural Hollywood movie.

Sorry, what song is this?

[Mister Triscuits]

Sorry, what song is this?

Looking at a list of songs on the soundtrack, I'm guessing he's talking about "MacArthur Park."

[Digital_Man]

Recently I watched part of an old Friends re-run and came across this. Start at 56 seconds to get to the prog reference.

[Rarebird]

Recently I watched part of an old Friends re-run and came across this. Start at 56 seconds to get to the prog reference.

LOL.

[interbellum]

[Digital_Man]

And who can forget this nugget from the final Cheers episode.




There's this one too. :

[Digital_Man]

I heard "you and me" by the Moody Blues in the grocery store today. That's one you really don't hear on the radio anymore.

[progmatist]

Every time I go to Home Depot, they play semi-prog. Like Asia and Phil Collins solo.

[Batchman]

Every time I go to Home Depot, they play semi-prog. Like Asia and Phil Collins solo.

Home Depot seems to vary their selections by time of day. Sometimes it's all 80s stuff (mostly mediocre IMHO). Sometimes it's classic material from the mid to late 70s - and some of it is fairly edgy by piped-in-music standards, like Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson. In sum, there are good HD days and not-so-good HD days.

(I do wish, however, that they had some basic respect for the customers and not broadcast their self-promotions in the middle of songs! It would be simple enough to have those promos between songs - why not do it?)

[Digital_Man]

I once volunteered at a place that played very obscure music but mostly rock and metal. I remember using shazam to identify something there and it was something from one of the first three Blue Oyster Cult albums. This was before I got into BOC and so I don't remember what it was but I just know it showed a picture of one of their early black and white albums (one of the first two I think).

[ronmac]

Home Depot seems to vary their selections by time of day. Sometimes it's all 80s stuff (mostly mediocre IMHO). Sometimes it's classic material from the mid to late 70s - and some of it is fairly edgy by piped-in-music standards, like Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson. In sum, there are good HD days and not-so-good HD days.

(I do wish, however, that they had some basic respect for the customers and not broadcast their self-promotions in the middle of songs! It would be simple enough to have those promos between songs - why not do it?)

It's Home Depot. You should be happy they're not playing Kid Rock.