https://exchange.prx.org/p/612021
The emphasis is on prog rock this week, with tracks from King Crimson, Gentle Giant and others, including an entire album side from the German group Triumvirat.
Artist: King Crimson
Title: The Court Of The Crimson King
Source: CD: In The Court Of The Crimson King
Writer: MacDonald/Sinfield
Label: Discipline Global Mobile (original label: Atlantic)
Year: 1969
Perhaps the most influential progressive rock album of all time was King Crimson's debut LP, In The Court Of The Crimson King. The band, in its original incarnation, included Robert Fripp on guitar, Ian MacDonald on keyboards and woodwinds, Greg Lake on vocals and bass, David Giles on drums and Peter Sinfield as a dedicated lyricist. The title track, which takes up the second half of side two of the LP, features music composed by MacDonald, who would leave the group after their second album, later resurfacing as a founding member of Foreigner. The album's distinctive cover art came from a painting by computer programmer Barry Godber, who died of a heart attack less than a year after the album was released. According to Fripp, the artwork on the inside is a portrait of the Crimson King, whose manic smile is in direct contrast to his sad eyes. The album, song and artwork were the inspiration for Stephen King's own Crimson King, the insane antagonist of his Dark Tower saga who is out to destroy all of reality, including our own.
Artist: Queen
Title: Death On Two Legs/Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon/I'm In Love With My Car
Source: CD: A Night At The Opera
Writer(s): Mercury/Taylor
Label: Hollywood (original label: Elektra)
Year: 1975
It may come as a surprise to listeners of modern classic rock radio, but there were actually other songs on Queen's 1975 album A Night At The Opera besides Bohemian Rhapsody. The first three tracks on the album are all worthy of giving a listen to, but for various reasons never get played on commercial radio. Death On Two Legs is an angry angry song from the pen of Freddie Mercury directed at the band's former manager, Norman Sheffield. When Sheffield first heard the song, he initiated a lawsuit for defamation of character. Did I mention that it was an angry song? Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon, on the other hand, is a short, somewhat whimsical piece that features Mercury on piano as well as all the vocal parts. Drummer Roger Taylor was responsible for I'm In Love With My Car, both as songwriter and lead vocalist on the song. The song was inspired by and dedicated to one of the band's roadies, Jonathan Harris, who, according to one source, was in love with his Triumph TR4.
Artist: Jethro Tull
Title: Minstrel In The Gallery
Source: LP: Minstrel In The Gallery
Writer(s): Ian Anderson
Label: Chrysalis
Year: 1975
Following the back-to-back album-length works Thick As A Brick and A Passion Play, Jethro Tull returned to recording shorter tunes for the next couple of years' worth of albums. In late 1975, however, they recorded the eight minute long Mistrel In The Gallery for the album of the same name. The song (and album) was a return to the mix of electric and acoustic music that had characterized the band in its earlier years, particularly on the Aqualung and Benefit albums. A shorter version of Minstrel In The Gallery was released as a single and did reasonably well on the charts.
Artist: Gentle Giant
Title: No God's A Man
Source: CD: The Power And The Glory
Writer(s): Shulman/Shulman/Minnear
Label: Alucard (original label: Capitol)
Year: 1974
The Power And The Glory is a 1974 concept album from the British progressive rock band Gentle Giant. The album is a cautionary tale about the use of political power, and how, despite the best of intentions, that power inevitably corrupts those who use it. Musically, The Power And The Glory owes its structure more to classical music than to rock, although it uses modern rock instruments such as electric guitars, synthesizers and drums to the exclusion of traditional classical instruments (except for an occasional string instrument). For that matter, the band's classical influences seem to be more inclined toward relatively modern composers like Igor Stravinsky than the traditional "three Bs" of classical music. No God's A Man illustrates the protagonist's growing tendency to justify his actions by citing a divine right to place himself above the moral concerns of the common man. The digital reissue of the album, incidentally, includes a Blu-ray disc containing animations of the entire album with a surround sound mix. Definitely worth checking out, especially if you are a fan of things like Pink Floyd's The Wall.
Artist: Triumvirat
Title: Mister Ten Percent
Source: LP: Illusions On A Double Dimple
Writer(s): Fritz/Köllen/Bathelt
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 second side of Illusions On A Double Dimple is taken up by Mister Ten Percent, a complex piece dissecting the lifestyle of someone who makes a living off the dreams of aspiring musicians.
Artist: Derek And The Dominos
Title: Bell Bottom Blues
Source: CD: Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Writer(s): Clapton/Whitlock
Label: Polydor (original label: Atco)
Year: 1970
Bell Bottom Blues, from the Derek And The Dominos album Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, is at once one of the many and one of the few. It is one of the many songs inspired by/written for George Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd by Eric Clapton, who was in love with her at the time. At the same time it is one of the few songs on the album that does not include guitarist Duane Allman on it. Clapton wrote the song after Boyd asked him to pick up a pair of bell-bottom jeans on his next trip to the US (apparently they were not available in London at that time). The song was released twice as a single in 1971, but did not chart higher than the #78 spot. In 2015 drummer Bobby Whitlock, who had helped write the third verse, was given official credit as the song's co-writer.
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