TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

There's a 4 page article in the latest 'Prog' magazine, dated July 2012 about Fairport's live debut, St Michael's Church, Golders Green, which includes some nice old photos. Unfortunately, the magazine costs £7.99, although it does have a lot of interesting articles and a free CD.

What on earth have Fairport got to do with prog?

Jules

They are "progressive folk" apparently.

If you want a really good laugh, have a look at the "prog folk" thread on "Progressive Ears"

http://www.progressiveears.com/

Bollix, says I.

Jules

I could see 'Fame and Glory' appealing to prog rock fans.

I had lunch with Jo Kendall the deputy editor at Classic Rock Presents Prog yesterday, they are happy to include FC in the magazine because they have been innovative throughout their career, especially in the early days. :)

Nice pic of you Jude in the early publicity shot (1967)

I've long felt that the "Nine" lineup were somewhat proggy, which made them very contemporary at the time.  Listen to Mr. Swarbrick's lengthy violin solo (with echo, delay, etc.) and the imagery in "Bring 'em Down," and Peggy's bass effects on live versions of "Sloth" from the era.  And you have to admit it was a short leap for Peggy from FC to Tull, one of the godfathers of prog.

I think that depends on what your definition of "progressive rock" is..if it means the sort of bombastic quasi symphonic, virtuoso musicians indulging themselves typical of say Yes, ELP, Gentle Giant et al then FC are not prog, but if it means musicians taking a number of different styles of music and moving forward to create something different then its arguable that by electrifying trad folk and adding a dash of US west coast sound and a bit of UK style psychedelia then FC are certainly prog, or certainly were in the late 60's/early 70's.

Don't get hung up on the word 'prog'. It means nothing. It never has.

Very true. I actually got 'into' Fairport due to my interest in Prog rock. So-and-so from X was in Fairport (Who wasn't?) so it seemed a natural line to follow. And Liege and Leaf in 1989 was an absolute revelation to my naive earlugs. That lead to Steeleye Span, which lead to Trees, Comus, ISB and Strangely Strange. Oh, and Trader Hornee... Um, I think that might be the wrong one. Trader Horne? Giles Giles Fripp Cuthbert Dyble and Grub as well.

Six Degrees of Fairport. I reckon you can link every living person on the planet to Fairport in six steps.

+1

That is one aspect of Prog, though. A lot of other bands came from a more blues/jazz direction, especially the Canterbury sound and Jethro Tull and that whole jazz fusion thing - Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Chick Corea & others. Although Gentle Giant incorporated jazz into their sound. ELP also did a bit of blues every now and then.

Being drunk on wine and typing on a tablet isn't much fun. I'm going.

Interesting posts there from John, Mr Cat and Martin.  Between the three of you, you have managed to cancel out my antipathy.

Jules

I do note in passing from the various free CDs provided with Classic Rock's "Prog" magazine that progressive rock hasn't progressed very much in 40 years ( not saying that's a bad thing), and in many cases a lot of it still harks back to classical and folk influences. Some of the current crop of bands are excellent.

And since my early interest in FC was awakened by tracks on sampler albums, notably on the Island label, which were usually defined as "prog" samplers, they seem to fit comfortably into that genre.

But anyway, as I've always maintained, compartments are for trains.......................

That put a smile on my face this morning. I'm picturing them dressed up as firemen.

:)

Dirty sod.

Oi Mr Leslie! I used to watch Trumpton as a kid so my motives behind that comment were perfectly innocent.

You, on the other hand...

 ;)

Ssshhhh, don't mention G*ng, we've nearly got him!  ;)

I used to listen to a lot of that genre back in the early 70s - very few of those recordings still have the same allure for me today - I guess I was impressed by technical competence & "notes per second" - then I worked out that the spaces are at least as important... that's not to dismiss the undoubted talents on show, by the way, just my own musical tastes evolving.

BTW - I still love the tune played by the Trumpton Fire Brigade at the end of each episode - I always think of it when I hear the middle section of the Albion Band's version of "The Primrose" (on Rise Up....).  :)

isn't that the antithesis of retrogressive pop?

Right, that does it!  Where are me punk rock records?!   ;D

Jules

I think the reason is not because of the music (as they are very, very different) but simply because of the large overlap in audience demographic for each genre.

That's a very good point - I used to see the same faces regularly at gigs on Merseyside - FC, Hawkwind, G*ng, Steeleye, Can....

I would like to ask if anyone on the board bought the 'Genesis' issue of Classic Rock Presents Prog (now called Prog Mag I believe...).

If so could you pm me as I have a favour to ask  :)

Ta ;D

Martin, totally agree. As Lemmy says, there's only two types of music: music you like,  and music you don't like.

Er, it's called "Prog" magazine. So presumably they think there's only two types of music: prog and not prog.

yes well, it's a less clunky title than Classic Rock Presents Prog and it is the 'Prog' arm of Classic Rock so I don't have a problem with it.

Possibly, but it seems that "prog" now encompasses vast swathes of the musical landscape so you are just as likely to find an article on Danny Thompson or Tesseract as you are to read about BJH or Yes..

My remark was a riposte to this:



and was largely in jest.

Quite. I've always felt progressive to be a very broad church indeed, at least in its original sense. Used now, it's a more restrictive term, but back in the day, Fairport were indeed prog, as were ISB, Steeleye etc.

By the way, this is the first 'what is Prog' discussion I've seen outside of Progressive Ears forum, which i used to frequent. You/we are to be congratulated.  8) 8)

In the late 60s/early 70s everything "non-commercial" was defined as "progressive". "Prog rock" as a retrospective term of abuse came much later.

Fairport, Steeleye, Trees, ISB, etc would never have been put in the folk section in a record shop. Much more likely to be found alongside Cream, Jefferson Airplane, King Crimson, Pink Floyd etc. If you look at the album covers and the "look" of those bands at that time, they were absolutely embedded in the progreesive rock scene.

Presactly.  :)

I distinctly remember that when I first started seriously buying albums (81/82), my local record shops certainly never had Fairport in the folk section. They were always in rock. I remember being quite surprised when they disappeared, and I found them again under folk (couldn't tell you when that was, though).

Probably in 1985, when they stopped being 'folk'.   ;D

When I was a young whippersnapper in the mid '70s, Fairport was a limited presence on Merkin rock radio.  However, I did hear Tam Lin and Matty on mainstream rock stations, right alongside Pink Floyd, Yes and Jethro Tull at the height of their popularity.  Earlier in the decade, Mrs. John From Austin heard Sandy's solo stuff on college radio, alongside Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Gordon Lightfoot.

Did you - snigger - 'wig' out, man?