Tag: neo-progressive rock

In the development of progressive rock, several musicians played an important role beyond the creative power of their bands. In this episode, I briefly consider four of these pioneers: Rick Wakeman, Peter Gabriel, Mike Portnoy and Steven Wilson. In doing so, I looked at their qualities as musicians, the extent to which their compositions broke new ground and their influence on other bands.

Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman was born in May 1949. In his younger years, he took several music courses and played in several bands. 

Wakeman was a member of progressive rock band Yes for 11 years between1972 and 2004, spread over five periods. In the remaining years, he undertook numerous solo projects and performed with the folk-rock band Strawbs. 

In 1972, he made the albums ‘Fragile’ and ‘Close to the edge’ with Yes. The latter album is considered a leading progressive one. Here you listen to the song ‘Get up, I get down’, in which Wakeman plays a church organ. 

Wakeman’s first three solo albums – all concept albums – are the best-rated recordings of his career: ‘The six wives of Henry VIII’ (1973), ‘The myths and legends of King Arthur'(1974) and ‘The knights of the round table’ (1975). You can listen to an excerpt from the second album here, including choir and orchestra.

That Wakeman was able to break through with his series on King Arthur was coincidental. Most viewers to the BBC had been gearing up to watch Andy Warhol’s motion picture ‘Blue movie’.  When this controversial film was cancelled at the last minute, viewers switched en masse to another net which was broadcasting a preview of King Arthur. Rick Wakeman commented: “Suddenly it seemed as if the whole country had discovered my music … it was a tremendous break.”

This is followed by a lesser period in which Wakeman hosts a TV show, composes film music but is also plagued by the effects of excessive drinking and smoking. He has constant financial problems and had to sleep on a bench in Kensington Gardens for a while. In the 1980s, Wakeman writes soundtracks for films, including the official 1982 FIFA World Cup aftermovie. He tackles all the musical jobs that he can get: In 1986, he released a solo album of new age music titled ‘Country Airs’. This contains ‘landscape music’, piano solos inspired by walks through the countryside. He also produces several albums of religious music. 

During his fourth stint with Yes, he and the group made two albums ‘Keys to ascention 1’ (1996) and ‘Keys to ascention 2’ (1997). He then works on new solo album ‘Return to the centre of the earth’ that would become his highest-grossing album in the 1990s, reaching a top 10 position in the UK. You are listening here to a recording made in 2005 during a performance in Cuba at the invitation of Fidel Castro.

Between 2002 – 2004, Wakeman toured with Yes – the fifth and last gig with the group. In next period, he performs in many places. The King Arthur trilogy plays an important role in this. He expands these albums and performs concerts worldwide. In 2023, he performs twice at the London Palladium, where he plays the complete trilogy.

In 2020, he returned to progressive rock with the all-instrumental album The Red Planet. Here, he performs with the English Rock ensemble, one of the occasional formations he has played with more often. 

Previous prog rock albums he has made as a solo project include No Earthly Connections (1973), Into the future (2000) and Out there (2003)

A prolific composer, Wakeman has a total of 108 albums to his credit. Only a limited number of these albums are commercial successes. 

In the early 1970s, Rick Wakeman was voted the best keyboard player in the popular genre along with Keith Emerson (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer). He went on to receive numerous awards for his virtuoso playing of the piano and other keyboards. In 2022, he received honorary membership of the Royal College of Music from the hands of the current King Charles. He is a Freemason and a member of the Conservative Party.

Finally, you can listen to a live performance during the Starmus festival, together with the English Rock Ensemble with special guest Brian May (Queen). A cross-section of Rick Waveman’s compositions will be played. 

Peter Gabriel

Peter Gabriel is an English singer (1950), musician and human rights activist, who until 1975 was a member of the band Genesis, for which he then wrote most of the lyrics. He attracts attention because of his theatrical announcements of the songs and his dressing up between songs.

Gabriel used the time after leaving Genesis to learn to play the piano and to write songs. His first solo activities involved the release of four albums, Peter Gabriel 1 to 4. Each album yielded at least one hit. ‘ Solsbury Hill’(1977) is about a spiritual experience of Gabriel at the top of a hill in Somerset. Gabriel himself says of it: ” It is about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get”. Almost the entire song is written in 7/4 measure, which enhances the sense of (inner) struggle. From the second album, the song ‘Mother of violence’ (1978) stands out. This is an ode to rural compared to urban life. Gabriel sings the song, accompanied exclusively by piano and guitar. You can listen to it here:

Gabriel sees the third album as an artistic breakthrough. He gets interested in African music and experiences the value of a drum machine. Both this album and the song ‘Games without frontiers’ received high praise in the UK and the US. The song compares international diplomacy to a then-famous (children’s) game.  The song “Shock the monkey” (1982) on his fourth album was also successful. The monkey is a metaphor for feelings of jealousy. After each album, he made extensive tours, summarised on his live album ‘Plays live'(1983).

The next album was ‘So’ (1985), his best-selling album reaching top ten positions in both the UK and the US. So did four of the songs that appeared as singles: ‘In your eyes’, ‘Sledgehammer‘, ‘Big time’ and ‘ Don’t give up’ (featuring Kate Bush). Sledgehammer was a winner. Gabriel received the Brit Awards for best male solo artist and was nominated for four Grammy Awards. You can listen to ‘In your eyes’ here.

The following album ‘Us’ (1989) is introspective in nature.  The song ‘ Digging in the dirt’ refers to his psychotherapy, ‘ Come talk to me’ is about his struggle to get through to his daughter and ‘Blood of Eden’ which deals with relationship problems in general. This album garnered three Grammy Awards, including one for best music video. His next studio album,’Up’, took 10 years to release. During that time, he was touring or doing one of his many side gigs.

Peter Gabriel worked on his latest album to be named O/I for 21 years, interspersed with several worldwide tours and numerous other activities. When the album was released in December 2023, most of the songs had already been released as singles during the year: ‘ Panopticom ‘(++), ‘The court’(+), ‘ Playing for time’ (+), ‘Daddy long legs’ (+), ‘Four kinds of horses'(+++), ‘Road to joy’(_), ‘ So much, ‘Olive tree’ (++), ‘Love can heal’(++), ‘ This is home ‘(++), “ And still’ (+), and ‘Life and let life’ (+). You can listen to Four kinds of horses’ here 

Gabriel has written the soundtracks for several film, such as Birdy (1984) and The last temptation of Christ (1988), which is about the struggle between Christ’s humanity and divinity. In this film, Gabriel uses musicians from WOMAD, the World of Music, Arts and dance. This is an international arts festival, which he founded in 1982 and that still exists.

Peter Gabriel has won a host of awards during his lifetime, including six Grammy Awards, for best singer, songwriter, creator of music videos and of film scores. 

A prize of a very different nature was the Man of Peace award, presented to him at the seventh World Summit of Nobel Prize Laureates by former Soviet Secretary-General Mikhail Gorbachev.

From 1986, Gabriel organized Amnesty International’s Human rights concerts. From his long-term commitment to human rights, he founded Witness, an institution that trains activists in using video and internet technology to expose human rights violations.

Peter Gabriel’s life spans the entire prog rock era and developments within it have left a mark on his music. According to Rolling Stone journalist Gregg Greed, Gabriel is above all an “art-rock innovator, soul-pop craftsman and world music ambassador”. 

Mike Portnoy

Mike Portnoy (born 1967) is an American musician. He is best known as a drummer. His father was a DJ and his record collection familiarized Portnoy with various musical styles. At school, he took lessons in music theory; he taught himself how to play the drums. With a scholarship, he was admitted to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Here he met John Petrucci and John Myung and together they formed the band Dream Theater, for which he would write most of the lyrics. In 2010, he swapped Dream Theater for the band Avenged Sevenfold. When the latter did not renew his contract, he wanted to return to Dream Theater, but this band meanwhile had another drummer under contract.  It was not until 2023 that Dream Theater and Portnoy were reunited. 

Portnoy has performed numerous solo projects, formed new bands and played in others. These are mostly progressive metal bands, the genre that suits him best. I mention the so-called Liquid Tension Experiment, with which he made three albums, partly together with former Dream Theatre colleague John Petrucci. You can listen to the song ‘Acid Rain’, performed live in Los Angeles in 2007, here.

Portnoy had been walking around with the idea of organizing a package tour in which three or four prog rock bands would participate each time. In 2008, this succeeded for the first time and the tour was named ‘Progressive nation’. He kept this initiative going for a few years. Participating bands included Dream Theater, Opeth, Beardfish, Anathema, Transatlantic and many others. In 2014, the first instalment of ‘Progressive nation at sea’ took place, a four-day cruise from Miami. Later, this sailing festival would be renamed ‘Cruise to the edge’ and it still exists.

Transatlantic

In the list of activities, Portnoy’s participation in the international superband Transatlantic should not be missed. This is an occasional formation formed in 1999 by four virtuoso musicians from renowned bands. The intention is to occasionally make an album and do some performances at the highest level imaginable. The members are, besides Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, Roine Stolt and Pete Trewavas. During almost all tours, Daniel Gildenlow plays keyboards. The first album ‘SMPT:e’ was well reviewed; Robert Taylor of AllMusic speaks of “some of the best progressive rock music ever written”. Here you listen to the 31-minute track ‘All of the above’, a paragon of prog-rock. 

The album ‘Bridge across forever’ (2001) followed a year later. This album consists of four songs: ‘Duel with the devil‘, ‘Suite Charlotte Pike’, ‘ Stranger in your soul ‘ and the relatively short title track ‘Bridge across forever’. After this, the group took a break until 2009 and in that year the band released the album ‘The wirlwind’, which contains only one song, not coincidentally called ‘The wirlwind’. After another break, the album ‘Kaleidoscope’ follows in 2014, which is named ‘album of the year’ at the annual progressive music awards. You can hear the title track here:

In 2021, the next album ‘The absolute universe’ was launched. You can read more about this album in the final instalment of this series.

Steven Wilson

In 2017, ‘The Daily Telegraph’ described Wilson as “probably the most successful British artist you’ve never heard of”.  So, there is still something to discover. Steven Wilson is an English musician (born 1967). He has formed several bands and made solo recordings. In the 1980s, Wilson and his friends experimented with recording on cassette tapes, which they then sold.

His first solo album is ‘Insurgentes’ (2008). As an introduction, you can listen to one of its songs  made during a live performance in Frankfurt

At this time, Wilson is working on his eighth solo album to be released in 2025. It will focus on the feelings evoked by seeing the earth from space, ranging from overwhelming beauty to awareness of its insignificance given the vastness of space.

In 1986, Steven Wilson launched two projects with which he would make a name. He formed the band Porcupine Tree, an experimental, psychedelic band playing progressive rock, at first heavily inspired by Pink Floyd. In fact, fans would later call Porcupine the Pink Floyd of the 1990s.

Again, Wilson initially releases recordings of the band on cassette tapes; however, a contract with a record company is not long in coming. The band’s first album is ‘Arriving somewhere but not here’, of which you can find a live recording here:

Porcupine Tree has grown into a well-known and esteemed rock band, which has performed worldwide.

The second project is No-Man. First a solo project and later a lifelong collaboration with Tim Bowness. Joined by changing session musicians, they also play progressive rock but mix it with synth pop, jazz and dance rhythms. The only genre avoided is hip-hop, which Wilson says he hates. The aim is to make mostly art-pop.

In 1989, No-Man released its first commercial single “The girl from Missouri”.  The first album ‘Flowermouth’ (1994) contains a wide range of styles. On the song ‘Teardrop Fall’, you can hear this very well. 

In 2013, Wilson’s third solo album is released, ‘The raven that refused to sing (and other stories)’ You can listen to a 2013 live recording of the title track here. 

This album throws high marks. The Prog rock report ranked it second among all progressive rock albums released since 2000. The title track is used in the trailer for the 2014 film Pompeii.

The album ‘Fear of a blank planet is Porcupine Tree’s best-sold and best-reviewed work. Here is a live recording of the title track

After touring in 2010, Wilson disbanded Porcupine Tree to devote himself entirely to solo projects. Incidentally, the band was reconstituted in 2021. One of these projects is the formation of a new band, Blackfield, together with Israeli musician Aviv Geffen. This duo is making six albums of what they call “melodic and melancholic rock”

From the first album, Blackfield I (2005), you can hear Pain here

You can also listen to another song, Jupiter, from Blackfield IV (2012).

The main difference with Porcupine Tree is that Blackfield mainly plays short songs with an appealing melody and a simple structure. More pop than progressive rock, in other words. My impression is that Steven Wilson did find it appealing to indulge in this genre for a change. The contribution to the six albums by Wilson and Geffen varies due to the time their other activities require. In all cases, production is in Wilson’s hands.

Wilson is a successful producer and in this role, he has worked with the likes of Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, XTC, Opeth, Pendulum, Yes, King Crimson, Fish, Marillion, Black Sabbath and Anathema.