BBC4's Prog Rock Britannia

Three half hour segments up on You Tube chronicling the Progressive Rock era, with some fantastic footage and interviews with the likes of Robert Wyatt, Arthur Brown, Mike Oldfield and Carl Palmer, showcased in a TV demo in part three with explanation of how he didn't realize that the difference between ordering a 1/4" shell and 1/2" shell for the drumkit would make the thing weigh over 2 tons. Unfortunately, Mick Fleetwood's drumpad-lined vest would not appear for some time. All in all, killer snippets of the rise, excess, influence, and eventual bludgeoning by the punk scene, well-chronicled with surprising snippets. I am not sure how defining a moment Atomic Rooster's on-screen sandwich break was for the genre, but it did prove to the masses, well, when you gotta eat, you gotta eat.

Comments

[Kay]

I wonder how often you have to tune a grand piano that is spun upside down nightly? Or to keep an organ that has knives thrown at it in working order?

[annoyingmouse]

I watched this when it was originally on and quite enjoyed it. What surprised me most was how Phil Collins doesn't come across like a dick in it and Mike Rutherford does. So does Carl Palmer but then that doesn't surprise me. I loved the bit where he managed in a single sentence to criticise the vast majority of drummers on the planet by suggesting that they are essentially metronomes.

Another classic piece of prog to come from the BBC is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwsflF5Fyho

[DigitalMan]

Thank you for sharing this outstanding display of pretentious indulgence. I loved every second of it.

[Doug from DC]

I've been hearing the term "bombastic" used as a complement recently, and at least one musician enthusiastically referring to his own work as "bombastic." I'm sure this is the result of prog rock's critics constantly sticking to the terms "pretentious" and "bombastic" (probably the only three-syllable put-downs in their vocabulary). I'm amused that their criticism backfired on them.

[Dale]

Haven't watched yet, but your photos remind me of a Mojo article (are they online anywhere?) about 6 or 7 years ago highlighting ELPs U.S. tour, the number of people it took to produce, how much it cost in semis, buses, food and hotel rooms for the orchestra and crew, and how much money they hemmoraged every show. It must have been a spectacle.

[Jeffersonic]

That was great, thanks for the lead.