Classic Rock And Prog Almanac

This week, Tim did a monologue on the second Crosby and Nash album, Wind On The Water. Topics covered include: the connection between this album and the unreleased CSNY album Human Highway, the jazz influence on the album, the division of labour between the two writers and the autobiographical nature of the lyrics. Also, are Californians metaphysical? Does flying represent erections? Is Graham Nash obse...

This week Tim, Shaun & Peter ranked the Beatles UK studio albums. Topic covered include: which Beatle writes with the most interesting chords, how to construct a Beatles canon, how much Beatles material was contractual, whether the Beatles’ career can be divided into a John phase and a Paul phase, and when they came to terms with the album as form. Also, is David Essex from Essex? On which alb...

This week, Tim did a monologue on the fourth and final studio album by The Move, Message From The Country. Topics covered include: whether this is a concept album or not, the contrast between the chaos of the band’s career and the coherence of the record, whether The Move were one of the greatest groups of the 1960s and the significance of biblical references on the album. Also, are they the only ...

This week, Peter did a monologue on the third album by Nick Drake, Pink Moon (for Jacob!). Topics covered include: Nick Drake’s biography, which album is Nick Drake’s best, the question of overdubbing, the guitar playing on the album, and the rediscovery of Nick Drake in the 1990s. Also, what’s the holy trinity of failure? Did Nick Drake leave the tapes for the album in the record comp...

This week, Tim and Shaun discussed their top ten favourite progressive rock albums from 1971. Topics covered include: the importance of virtuosity in prog, whether album covers are important for an album, the role of improvisation in progressive rock music, whether early minimalism was an influence on prog and the possible relationship between folk music and prog. Also, what was Prog’s Pol Pot yea...

This week, Tim did a monologue on the compilation Wings Greatest, from 1978. Topics covered include: the significance of concept albums, what musical movements Wings might be said to belong to, whether the track listing is complete and the suite-like and programmatic nature of the compositions. Also, to what genre do Paul and Linda’s haircuts belong? What’s the opposite of lo-fi? How far is ...

This week, Tim and Shaun discussed their top ten favourite progressive rock albums of 1970. Topics covered include: what prog actually is, how you would decide it one way or the other, what postmodernism is, the eclectic sound of the bands under discussion, and how these albums relate to later works by the same bands. Also, what’s our favourite song about fountains? Can we avoid mentioning the pro...

This week, Tim, Peter and Shaun discussed the seventh studio album by The Kinks, Arthur or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire. Topics covered include: whether it’s the band's greatest album or not, the difference between the American and British reception of the band, whether Arthur is a concept album or not, what historical period it covers, and whether the lyrics make sense. Also, did Ki...

This week, Tim discussed Tusk, the twelfth studio album by Fleetwood Mac. Topics covered include: the problem of following up a mega-hit album, the deconstructionist and situationist nature of Tusk, how the track listing could have been improved, which of the three main songwriters did their best work on this album and the influence of punk and new wave on the band at the time. Also, if Peter Green real...

This week, Tim did a monologue on the third Rush album, Caress Of Steel. Topics covered include: Rush’s relation to the prog rock canon, the influence Rush had on bands like Metallica, Rush’s arrangement gift, the nostalgic nature of some of the words, and how the album matches up to Rush’s more famous album, 2112. Also, are drum solos on albums ever a good idea? Can Thomas More’s Utopia be found in Canada? ...

This week, Tim, Peter and Shaun discussed their top five favourite albums from 1969. Topics covered include: the bubbling cauldron of creativity that was the 1960s, what the best year in the history of rock was, the balance between U.K. & U.S. albums, whether the albums from this period should be considered unrepeatable experiences, and the infamous prog proms. Also, what is Lammastide when it&rsquo...

This week, Tim discussed the only studio album by the band Refugee, from 1974. Topics covered include: why the album wasn’t rubbish, the virtuosic gifts of Patrick Moraz, whether prog is modernist or post-modernist, how the band measures up to The Nice and ELP, and why they never made a second album. Also, should the band have been called Asylum Seeker? What was Lee Jackson’s ex-wife like? I...

This week, Tim did a ranking of all 24 studio albums by The Kinks. Topics covered include: the role of genre music in the Kinks catalogue, the difference between the American and the British reception of the band, the importance of having a concept for an album, the political correctness issue, the Ray/Dave Davies dialectic and the singles/albums split. Also, how many times do you have to kill Antigone?...

This week, Peter and Shaun brought their history of jazz for a rock audience up to date. Topics covered include: the relationship between individual jazz musicians and bands, whether there was a ‘golden era’ of jazz, what the ‘cultural revolution’ of the 60s meant for jazz, whether jazz is essentially an American art form, and do we like modal and free jazz? Also, does anyone rem...

This week, Tim discussed the debut album by Jack Bruce, Songs For A Tailor. Topics covered include: Bruce’s eclectic musical influences, whether this is Jack Bruce’s best album, the story of Jeannie Franklin, the surrealist dimension of the album’s lyrics, the unusual harmonisations on the record and what a follow-up to Cream’s Wheels Of Fire might have sounded like. Also, which ...

This week, Peter and Shaun give a potted history of jazz for a rock audience. Topics covered include: how the lads took the path from jazz to rock (and sometimes back), the definition of jazz itself, the influence of the 1920s in the 1960s and the chronology of jazz movements as a whole. Also, is fear the driving force in jazz? Why did jazz happen at all? Who was in Bix Beiderbecke’s gang? Can ham...

This week Tim discussed the seventh studio album by ELP, Love Beach. Topics covered include: the album’s place in the ELP canon, the structural nature of the writing, the mediaevalist slant in the lyrics, the paradigm nature of some of these tracks and the classical music themes that are quoted on the album. Also, does Carl Palmer work undercover as an Estate Agent? Which track sounds like a churc...

This week, Tim and Peter gave their rankings of Bob Dylan’s 9 albums from the 1960s. Topics covered include: Dylan’s chaotic approach to recording, the change in Dylan’s voice over the years, Dylan’s sense of humour, how to identify the different phases of Dylan’s 1960s career, and the relationship between Dylan and The Beatles. Also, what does the word ‘existential&r...

This week, Tim and Shaun discussed Paul McCartney’s second post-Beatles album, Ram. Topics covered include: the difference between his second album and his first, the idea of Paul retaining The Beatles as musical interlocutors, whether this is Paul’s best album, and whether there’s a proto-glam element in some of the songs. Also, what was number one during Shaun’s birth? What did...