Compilation Central: Prog Is Not A Four-Letter Word and High School Reunion

For those who might apply the term conservatively, the notion of “progressive” rock is not only aurally odious, but an inherent contradiction. How can a form of music claim such a forward-thinking moniker while playing rehashed classical music and singing about knights and dragons? I’ll agree that a small portion of what’s termed “progressive” may fit that description, and that “progressive” is a pretty elitist term. And, just like any genre of music, there are the generally reviled (although not necessarily by me) major players (Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, Genesis), the drooled-over middle-grounders who never made a real commercial impact (King Crimson, Amon Duul II, The Soft Machine) and the largely unheralded minor leaguers, many of whom can be found on the compilation Prog Is Not A Four-Letter Word, compiled by famously unpretentious gadabout and true-to-form musical Renaissance man Andy Votel, who also heads Twisted Nerve Records in his spare time.

Prog is very similar to last year’s stellar Welsh rock comp Welsh Rare Beat, (and contains one dupe—Bran’s “Breuddwyd”) in that the songs collected don’t really seem to fit anywhere else. There’s little to no stylistic coherence outside of plentiful psychedelia and a tangential relationship to jazz and Krautrock, but definitely no shortage of challenging and, most importantly, dangerously hip music.

Phillipe Besombes “Hache 06” (mp3)
Embryo “The Music of Today” (mp3)

Buy Prog Is Not A Four-Letter Word from AmazonUK here.

If there are two elements guaranteed to spur interest in a compilation-based cash-in, it’s 1) cover songs and 2) 80’s nostalgia. American Laundromat Records has combined the two within a pretty fun limitation–all of the bands on this comp are New Englanders. Naturally, there are a bunch of unknowns, which is great, but the most fun here is Kristin Hersh kicking out “Wave of Mutilation” (mp3) from Pump Up the Volume. Dude, I was just a kid when that came out, and now, I’m totally older! And that imbues the song with a fattened amount of retro-ironic cool! Really, though, Hersh is cheating—she and the Pixies were both on 4AD, and she really doesn’t do much with the song. Still cool, though, becuase I totally didn’t have my pubes yet when I first saw the movie. Elsewhere, former Blake Baby John Strohm sings “Somebody’s Baby” (mp3) (get it?) almost exactly like Jackson Browne did. Or was it Tom Petty? Yeah, it was Jackson Browne.

Buy High School Reunion from American Laundromat here.

Filed under: Andy Votel  compilations  covers  Embryo  John Strohm  Kristin Hersh  Phillipe Besombes  Prog