Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 943 Location: Terra Firma, Ether Sea
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 3:33 pm Post subject:
Posted this in another thread, but decided it also deserved to be in this thread for those interested in ProgRock:
The 'Rock' Peter & The Wolf
(Sergei Prokofiev's classical piece performed with 'rock' instruments)
I bought my original copy on vinyl in 1975, originally released thru RSO, and fell instantly in love with it. I searched in recent years trying to find it on CD with little luck, till I stumbled on a Scandinavian issue on Seagull records at the WOM store in Munich about 4 years ago. Excitedly bought the only 2 copies in the store and that suited me till I discovered last year that it is now readily available on Verdant Records thru CDBaby.
http://verdantrecords.com/ http://cdbaby.com/cd/jacklancaster
I bought a couple copies (always like to have a backup of my favorites, of course) and found the audio quality to be very good.
Briefly, the album was produced and arranged by Jack Lancaster (originally with Blodwyn Pig) and features a cavalcade of artists performing the various musical characters in the operetta.
The English version is narrated by Viv Stanshall (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band) with key players being:
Peter (synthesizer) : Manfred Mann (keyboards - Manfred Mann, Manfred Mann Earth Band)
Bird (synthesizer) : Gary Brooker (Piano - Procol Harum)
Duck (wah guitar) : Chris Spedding (Guitar - Harry Nilsson/John Cale/Elton John) & Garry Moore (Guitar - Skid Row, Thin Lizzy
Wolf (synthesizer) : Eno (Keyboards - Roxy Music)
Cat (violin) : Stephanie Grapelli (Violin - Django Reinhardt, Oscar Peterson, etc)
Grandfather (Lyricon) : Jack Lancaster : (wind instruments - Blodwyn Pig/Mick Abrams Band/The Deviants)
Hunters : Phil Collins, Bill Bruford, John Hiseman, Cozy Powell (Drums - Genesis, Yes, Colosseum, Jeff beck/Rainbow/Black Sabbath)
Other musican's include:
Alvin Lee (guitar - Ten Years After)
Percy Jones (bass - Brand X)
Robin Lumley : (keyboards - Brand X/David Bowie's Spiders From Mars)
Andy Pyle : (bass - Blodwyn Pig/Juicy Lucy/Savoy Brown/The Kinks/Wishbone Ash)
John Goodsall : (guitar)
Keith Tippett : (keyboards)
Peter Haywood : (steel guitar)
... and others
I highly recommend it to anyone into "Progressive/Classical Rock". _________________ B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)
Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 11:49 pm Post subject: I GO FoR IT
thanks for the tip Daved. one of my first personal record, in fact the very first . Way back in 1960 only the classical version were avalaible bien entendu, but it worked the 2 sides of my brain.
I remember too : the adventures of Piccolo and Saxo. Same trick :
a tale accentuated with music , a nice way to learn about instruments.
There was 3 Lp's and the last one was : Piccolo & Saxo go in America,
made end of sixties, A great piece of fun. They meet all their great cousins and the electric guitar which spoke in wah-wah style ... _________________ http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_music.cfm?bandID=147748
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 943 Location: Terra Firma, Ether Sea
Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 9:00 am Post subject: Re: I GO FoR IT
Bluelobster wrote:
thanks for the tip Daved. ...I remember too : the adventures of Piccolo and Saxo. Same trick : a tale accentuated with music , a nice way to learn about instruments. There was 3 Lp's and the last one was : Piccolo & Saxo go in America, made end of sixties, A great piece of fun. They meet all their great cousins and the electric guitar which spoke in wah-wah style ...
And a kind "thank you" for the tip to you too, Blob. I am unfamiliar with Piccolo & Saxo, but a quick google shows that there are P&S CDs available. I am particularly intriqued by disguised learning experiences and my curiosity has been aroused.
I wll check them out.
And, as for Porcupine Tree and Dream Theatre... I am aware of, but unfamiliar with them. Truth is, the little I HAVE heard did not draw me in, but that was a very small sampling and my experience is that it is very unfair to determine the whole by the part... especially in ProgRock, which is geared to experimentation, progress, and growth.
Many so-called ProgBands have periods within their growth that do not reflect their full voice. If you catch them only briefly during those periods, judging them quickly and harshly, you can easily miss the beauty and genius of their "big picture". In fact, I readily admit that there are many groups, some of them personal favorites, whose full body of work bores or disinterests me except for a limited period of inspired artistry within their history.
I continue to hear good things about PT and DT and will give them their chances again at some point when my mind is open, adventurous, and in a positive frame. _________________ B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)
Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 262 Location: Las Vegas
Posted: Sun May 04, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject:
coincidentally I was at a prog show last night, 'ASIA' at the HOB! I was never a big fan and I went because of a work customer situation, the sound was pristine, the show exceeded my expectations. Perfect sound.
I will check out some of these recommendations and thanks for letting us know about them.
Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Posts: 262 Location: Las Vegas
Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 8:35 am Post subject:
I will have to check out that Peter & the Wolf, Alvin Lee and Gary Moore are some of my old favorites.
There is a new animated version of P. & the Wolf and I think it won an Oscar for best animated short, I recorder it from PBS and watched it, it's amazing.
Joined: 05 May 2008 Posts: 35 Location: South East UK
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:27 am Post subject:
I'm partial to a bit of FOCUS and having seen them again a few times over the last month can confirm that Thijs van Leer is still the same on Hammond & Flute (with the odd bit of yodelling thrown in of course...) as you'd see him in the 70's albeit larger and with less hair (sadly I was too young first time around, only having the seminal Old Grey Whistle test performances and Live at the Rainbow on DVD plus all the vinyl of course). What irks me is the people who only get into it when they play Hocus Pocus and Sylvia - us hardcore fans want to hear the 25 minute epics like Anonymus II - they did the tracks Focus 2 followed by Focus 3 and Round goes the Gossip (from the album Focus 3) recently though. As you can guess, their albums are still in numerical sequence, with a live album (possibly Focus 10) released sometime this year. Pierre van der Linden is back on drums although Jan Akkerman continues his solo ventures and is not part of the current lineup.
Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 5:52 am Post subject:
Thanks for the Focus update, ZO. I was, as you say, a hardcore fan back in the day. I only saw them twice including their first-ever show in the US outdoors in Central Park, and both performances were very memorable.
Too bad Jan isn't back in the line-up. How is the current guitarist?
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 943 Location: Terra Firma, Ether Sea
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 8:30 am Post subject:
ZenOvertone wrote:
I'm partial to a bit of FOCUS...
You and me both, ZOT. Thanx for bringing Focus to my attention again. Oddly, I was just thinking about them recently when I realized that, tho I have several vinyl albums in my collection, I have no CDs (I DID have Moving Waves, but it disappeared a few years back) and need to rectify that very soon.
A band most definitely deserving of mention in the world of ProgRock!
ZenOvertone wrote:
...Jan Akkerman continues his solo ventures and is not part of the current lineup.
That's too bad. Not for Jan, of course, but for the Focus band as, tho they were/are all excellent players, it was Jan that made that band for me. To see or hear Focus without Jan would be like hearing Deep Purple without Blackmore or Lord, or the Strawbs without Cousins, or Ten Years After without Alvin Lee, etc. _________________ B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)
Last edited by Daved on Tue May 06, 2008 2:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:13 pm Post subject:
Daved, I wanna party with you!(tm)
Although, if the party consists of listening to all the older, memorable, and eclectic stuff in your music collection, we're talking camping out!
Here's a suggestion: After you finish your long-awaited book , how about going into the business of making era- and/or genre-specific electronic "boutique" juke boxes based on your extensive collection. Custom juke boxes welcome at additional cost.
Joined: 05 May 2008 Posts: 35 Location: South East UK
Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 11:29 am Post subject:
The guitarist currently in Focus is Niels van der Steenhoven, mid twenties and very good indeed (studied in Holland), plays all the parts 100% and they alsoi have new material out, very much in the style of the FOCUS 3 material (the double album). They have kept the same overall format and sound whereas Jan Akkerman (whom I've also seen a number of times in the UK) these days prefers a more modern (with lots of effects) sound in keeping with the music he produces these days - he still plays Hocus Pocus and Sylvia and sometimes Tommy. I think they fell out back in the 80's (I have had to be careful when getting vinyl signed in case one didn't see that the other had signed part of the sleeve). The intense musical chemistry in Focus is still there though, Thjis van Leer went walkabout amongst the audience at the Milton Keynes gig with the flute and he still burns on the Hammond. They are over in the UK twice a year at the moment, such seems to be the demand and may be back this autumn too.
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thanks for the tip Daved. one of my first personal record, in fact the very first . Way back in 1960 only the classical version were avalaible bien entendu, but it worked the 2 sides of my brain.
, how about going into the business of making era- and/or genre-specific electronic "boutique" juke boxes based on your extensive collection. 
Custom juke boxes welcome at additional cost.