Tag Archive for: progressive rock

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Pink Floyd- Meddle 55th- David Gilmour, Nick Mason, Roger Waters

Judging by the sheer outsized volume of well-deserved attention heaped on Pink Floyd's 1973 game changer "Dark Side of the Moon", one could easily assume it was the Cambridge, England quartet's first of any consequence. "Meddle", containing the embryonic epic "Echoes", my guests Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and co-founder with Syd Barrett, Roger Waters unanimously maintain that "Meddle"  was their Apollo 8 musical mission which soon after allowed  Pink Floyd's lunar landing on the far side of rock history.
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Kansas- Leftoverture @50- Kerry Livgren, Phil Ehart, Steve Walsh, Richard Williams, the late Robbie Steinhardt

By October 1976, it was go big or go home for Kansas, the intrepid six-man Progressive Rock band from Topeka, Kansas. Because of the hit "Carry On Wayward Son" ( submitted by the prolific Kerry Livgren even as the band was packing up to leave rehearsals ) and radio hits "Miracles Out of Nowhere","The Wall", "Cheyenne Anthem", and "What's On My Mind ", "Leftoverture"  gave Kansas rock statehood to the tune of over four million sold. Livgren is joined by Richard Williams, Phil Ehart, Steve Walsh, & the late original Kansas violinist/singer Robbie Steinhardt here In the Studio.

YES- Magnification @25- Jon Anderson, Steve Howe,the late Chris Squire & Alan White

It's the 25th anniversary of YES releasing their 21st century chestnut "Magnification" in September 2001, with Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, the late Alan White, Steve Howe, Tony Kaye, and the late Chris Squire ALL In the Studio.

YES- Deeper (In the Presence Of)- Amsterdam 2001

YES treated concert goers twenty-five summers ago to this lithe but nevertheless powerful quartet with full orchestral arrangements, including this gem "Deeper (In the Presence Of)" live in Amsterdam.

Kansas- The Prelude Implicit 10th- Phil Ehart, Rich Williams, Ronnie Platt, David Ragsdale

In 2016 the first new original studio album in sixteen years, "The Prelude Implicit",  from all-American progressive rockers Kansas, was one of the most pleasant musical surprises in 2016...like discovering the "lost"  album which would have fit naturally between early mid-Seventies efforts "Song for America"  and "Masque". Lifers drummer Phil Ehart and guitarist Richard Williams are joined here In the Studio  by violinist David Ragsdale and impressive veteran lead singer Ronnie Platt.
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Genesis- Abacab @45- Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins

The September 1981 release of Genesis "Abacab" forty-five years passed. The veteran English band's eleventh  studio album, nevertheless it was the first Genesis album to breach the American Top Ten album sales on Billboard , and surprisingly the first Genesis million seller. Yet it is no minor miracle that my guests Mike Rutherford, Phil Collins, and Tony Banks could make it to the Progressive Rock promised land.
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Moody Blues- Every Good Boy Deserves Favour 55th- Justin Hayward, John Lodge, the late Graeme Edge

"Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" was the Moody Blues' seventh album in a string of commercially and critically popular efforts. Singer/lead guitarist Justin Hayward, singer/bass player the late John Lodge, and departed Moody Blues co-founder drummer Graeme Edge take "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" to share here In the Studio insights into some of the Moody Blues' best of those early years.
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Genesis- Invisible Touch @40- Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Phil Collins

Genesis' biggest album in their long fifty year+ career, "Invisible Touch"  (worldwide sales estimated at 15,000,000) turns forty, so we convened Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins here In the Studio  to discuss the blockbuster sales behind "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", "Land of Confusion", "In Too Deep", "Throwing It All Away", and "Invisible Touch".

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer- Tarkus @55

Listening now to the epic title song to "Tarkus", the second studio album in June1971 which followed quickly after their stunning 1970 debut, with Greg Lake's voice delicately yet nimbly bounding along to Keith Emerson's piano runs, it's clear that Emerson Lake and Palmer were much  less "Be Bop a Lula" in their melodic grandeur and much more "Andrew Lloyd Weber". Here In the Studio is the story in their own words of progressive rock's first supergroup.
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Peter Gabriel- So 40th Anniversary

This week's classic rock interview guest: ex-Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel had a cult following after four studio solo albums, with his most significant creation being the ground-breaking "Shock the Monkey" video. But with the May 1986 release of "So" forty years ago,(#1 UK, #2 U.S., over 5 million sold; 4 Grammy nominations including Album and Record of the Year for the #1 hit "Sledgehammer"), Peter Gabriel was vaulted into international pop stardom with all of its attendant door-opening , barrier-eliminating amenities...(more)