https://exchange.prx.org/p/555412
It was 50 years ago that 1974 was coming to an end, and as it turns out, it was a banner year for progressive rock, with albums by Renaissance and Gentle Giant making the top 100, and new groups like Germany's Triumvirat touring the US for the first time. Frank Zappa released his most commercially successful album, Apostrophe ('), in 1974, as did Robin Trower with his breakthrough album Bridge Of Sighs, while King Crimson, now a trio, released their heaviest album ever.
Artist: Frank Zappa
Title: Don't Eat Yellow Snow/Nanook Rubs It/St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast/Father Oblivion
Source: CD: Apostrophe (')
Writer(s): Frank Zappa
Label: Zappa (original label: Discreet)
Year: 1974
Despite being one of the most prolific composer/performers of the 20th century, Frank Zappa only put three songs on the top 100 charts in his career. The first of these was an abbreviated version of Don't Eat Yellow Snow, the opening track on his 1974 LP Apostrophe ('). On the album itself the song segues directly into the next three tracks, Nanook Rubs It, St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast and the instrumental Father Oblivion to form the suite heard here.
Artist: Gentle Giant
Title: Cogs In Cogs
Source: CD: The Power And The Glory
Writer(s): Shulman/Minnear/Shulman
Label: Alucard (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1974
The Power And The Glory is a 1974 album by Gentle Giant that focuses on an individual that chooses politics as a means to make the world a better place. Like his predecessors, however, he becomes corrupted by power and ultimately becomes that which he originally fought against. Cogs In Cogs, which opens the original LP's second side, highlight's the protagonists frustration at being unable to actually change anything, which leads to his acceptance of, and later embracing of, authoritarianism. Lyricist/vocalist Derek Shulman, had this to say about the album: "Money and power will win no matter what and the people that are hoping for the best won’t usually get the best. The label we were on at that time, WWA, was an imprint of Vertigo. Vertigo was a fully owned company of Phonogram which is Polygram which is now Universal which will probably be GE in a week which is going to be the government soon enough. So there’s the corruption of power right there! The power and the glory! Again! Still to this day!" As of 2014, The Power And The Glory is available on Blu-Ray, with each song fully animated with various abstract patterns and all the lyrics displayed prominently on the screen. The latter makes a huge difference in the ability to enjoy the album, as Gentle Giant's vocals are often hard to decipher.
Artist: Renaissance
Title: Running Hard
Source: LP: Turn Of The Cards
Writer(s): Dunford/Thatcher
Label: Sire
Year: 1974
Formed in 1969 by former Yardbirds Jim McCarty and Keith Relf, Renaissance was one of the first bands to merge rock, classical and jazz into a coherent whole. The group went through several lineup changes in its early years. In fact none of the original members were still in the band as of the third Renaissance album Prologue. By 1974 the band was incorporating excerpts from classical pieces (mostly from the Romantic period) into what was otherwise progressive rock, with very few jazz elements remaining. The focus of the group had also changed, with a greater emphasis being placed on the vocals of Annie Haslam, who had joined Renaissance after the departure of Jane Relf in the early 1970s. Running Hard, which opens the band's fifth LP, Turn Of The Cards, is one of the group's better known tunes, as it also was featured on their 1976 album Live At Carnegie Hall.
Artist: Triumvirat
Title: Triangle/Illusions/Dimplicity/Last Dance
Source: LP: Illusions On A Double Dimple
Writer(s): Hans-Jürgen Fritz
Label: Harvest
Year: 1974
Formed by keyboardist Hans-Jürgen Fritz in Cologne, Germany in 1969, Triumvirat started off doing mostly cover songs in a style heavily influenced by that of Keith Emerson's bands the Nice and later, Emerson, Lake & Palmer. By the early 1970s Triumvirat was doing original material, but still heavily influenced by Emerson. They released their first LP, Mediterranean Tales, in 1972, following it up with Illusions On A Double Dimple in 1974, the same year they did their first US tour, opening for Fleetwood Mac. The group never seemed to be able to nail down a permanent bass player/vocalist, resulting in each album having a quite different sound from the previous one. The final Triumvirat album, 1980s Russian Roulette, was essentially Fritz accompanied by two members of Toto, Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro, and an assortment of studio musicians.
Artist: King Crimson
Title: Starless
Source: LP: A Young Person's Guide To King Crimson (originally released on LP: Red)
Writer(s): Cross/Fripp/Wetton/Bruford/Palmer-James
Label: Editions EG (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1974
Starless, as written by bassist/vocalist John Wetton, was intended to be the title track of King Crimson's sixth LP, Starless And Bible Black. Guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Bill Bruford, however, disliked the song and chose not to record it. This might have been the end of the story except that Bruford later came up with a riff in 13/4 time that became the basis for a long instrumental jam that was added to Starless, making the entire piece over twelve minutes long. Starting off sounding quite a bit like Epitaph (from the band's 1969 debut LP In The Court Of The Crimson King) and containing a frenetic double-time section reminiscent of 21st Century Schizoid Man (also from Court), Starless was included as the final track on the seventh (and, for several years final) King Crimson album, Red.
Artist: Robin Trower
Title: About To Begin
Source: CD: Bridge Of Sighs
Writer(s): Robin Trower
Label: Chrysalis/Capitol
Year: 1974
Many of the artists featured on FM rock radio in the 1970s had already established themselves in the latter part of the previous decade, getting airplay on underground stations as well as the occasional top 40 hit. Others were newcomers that would go on to become stars in the 1980s. Then there are those few who seem to be exclusively associated with the 1970s. Among this group is Robin Trower, former guitarist of the art-rock oriented Procol Harum. Trower seldom got a chance to shine in the keyboard-dominated Harum, however, and left the group in 1972 to form his own band, Jude. Jude did not last long enough to record an album, but it did provide Trower with the core of his new trio, consisting of Trower himself on guitar, James Dewar on bass and vocals and Reg Isidore on drums. Trower's first solo album, Twice Removed From Yesterday, was fairly well-received by the rock press, but it actually was only setting the stage for what is now considered one of the greatest rock guitar albums ever recorded: 1974's Bridge Of Sighs. Even the lesser-known tracks like About To Begin got at least some airplay, and deservedly so.
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