OFF: Prog

[Jerry]

>>Now when you say
>>*Krautrock* what do you mean? I take it to mean prog bands from Germany
>>but Guru Guru are nothing like Tangerine Dream or Amon Duul II or
>>Kraftwerk (yuck!).
>Not really - it's more defined by a time (early '70s), a place (West
>Germany), and an attitude (a pre-punk post-war German self-awareness
thing). So it could be musically quite diverse.

I think Krautrock has always been a special part of what we call progrock.
The first albums by NEKTAR could also be described as Krautrock. It
definitely has a more 'rock' feel than Tangerine Dream and the likes.

>Now, this might sound dumb, but how does one define "prog"?

I work with a magazine devoted to progrock, and even we don't have a
definition for it. I like to think of it as the kind of rock, which has
some kind of progression in the songs. In Dutch we often call it
'symphonic rock', which is actually another part of the big progrock
definition. In English, 'symphonic rock' is often associated with a rock
band playing with an orchestra; in Dutch it emphasizes the symphonic
structures in songs.
Then there's melodic rock. Not very 'symphonic', or 'progressive', but
still rock with a leading role for the melodies. Even Journey and Boston
(and BOC, yes) could be catagorized under melodic rock, but that is mainly
because in Dutch the term AOR isn't that familiar.

>I find it one of
>those real turn-off words, 'cos it makes me think of _Tales of
Topographic
>Oceans_, and other reasons why I started getting into Hawkwind in the
first
>place...

What's so bad about that?

Jerry