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 Rootz! -- 3 Best 
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
dubyasee wrote:
Synthesizers and the decline of music in public education.


The most effective use of flute in rock happened in unison with heavy synth, in famous bands like Tull, and their less well-known European contemporaries.

Gabriel used it to great effect as did Ian Anderson, and tons of incredible bands emulated them throughout the 70's. Here is one of the most sublime bands ever to come out of Italy, making use of the flute:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzjoIRPtuWo[/youtube]

K Rex

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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
Then there is the great Osanna, the Mediterranean Tull. "Palepoli" is a masterpiece of early Italian prog. I highly recommend it.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlMX9XLf3oM[/youtube]

K

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Sat Feb 27, 2016 11:41 pm
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
dubyasee wrote:
Synthesizers and the decline of music in public education.

i thought it was the decline of the public in music education

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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
KRex,

That was some amazing stuff. So many, many great musicians that I've never heard of.

The first one was very "happy," in tone and almost with a Renaissance vibe. Just so many layers of orchestration and so very proto-prog, if that's a word. It's like listening to the Beatles and thinking that they're so derivative (says my 13-year old daughter), not knowing that everyone else is copying them, not the other way around. I see the influences these guys (probably guys?) had on a bunch of others. This was very enjoyable to me. I've listened to it about 3 times now. La Luna Nuova--either The New Moon, or the Ninth Moon (it's prog-rock, but probably not the Ninth Moon).

I really really liked this first one. :ugeek:
Quote:
Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: Award-winning Marconi Bakery) is an Italian progressive rock band. PFM were the first Italian group to have success abroad, entering both the British and American charts. Between 1973 and 1977 they released five albums with English lyrics. They also had several successful European and American tours, playing at the popular Reading Festival in England and on a very popular national television program in the USA.

PFM introduced new sounds, such as the synthesizer, to the Italian musical world. They were also among the first to combine symphonic classical and traditional Italian musical influences in a Rock music context. Such innovations and their longevity have earned PFM a place among the most important bands in the Progressive rock genre.

Then the Osanna. I LOVED that melody line with the flute at the beginning (the chanting, not so much). Then at 2:15, we're suddenly in the song. I instantly felt every day of 1973 in the sounds of the bass and the guitars. I think I got whiplash going from one section to another. All were interesting sections, but around 8:45 or so, I starting getting into it the orchestration--and then it's gone, never to return.

My only complaint is more about prog rock in general--especially this Proto Prog. There's just too damn many sections! It's a feature of the genre and I love the genre, but I think good prog rock needs to try harder in making connections between sections and not just trying to shoehorn everything together into one song. Rush does it well, Metallica does (did) it well, a lot of good prog rock and metal bands have complex, varied sections, but Palepoli was about 12 really good songs all smashed together into one, with 3 or 4 sections I didn't like. And the ones I didn't like all had shitty saxophone. The flute player rocks--the sax player needs to go home. I hope they're the same dude, and then he or she can she put down the sax. Of course, this was '73, so maybe never mind.

But more importantly, wow! These cats are really jamming--if I could just get them to stick with one jam at a time!

Thanks for the schoolin', Kev!

I went through a serious piano/flute/clarinet phase in music school. I had both a flute and a clarinet friend that played video games with me, so I wrote a lot of stuff for the three of us.

Here's about the only thing that survived what I used to call my "Disco Detective Goes to Hollywood" phase (I had an album of that name that will hopefully never see the light of day). And speaking of flutes and synths, this is me playing the flute line on a synth because I was too stupid at the time to record my flute friend in the studio actually playing this line (but I hadn't learned how to do anything in the studio yet, except a MIDI arrangement on my Kurzweil Something or Other 3000).

So this is Proto-Paigan, around 1993, playing "Biscuit Jam" from "Disco Detective Goes to Hollywood." I don't even have this on SoundCloud, but I did stick it in a fractal video, if you don't mind some trippy visuals.

Flutastically yours,
Paigan
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DQjTwDR9U[/youtube]

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Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:36 pm
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
Al Dimeola,Satana,Doobie Bros.of course many more.

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Tue Mar 01, 2016 9:20 am
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
Glad you liked PFM, Steve. Prog was in its heyday in Europe by 1973, and was well beyond the proto phase of its infancy by then. Bands like i Quelli had become PFM, The New Trolls became Goblin, who did a couple prog albums before beginning their famous horror movie soundtracks (Dawn of the Dead, Suspiria), etc. By 1973, Il Balletto di Bronzo had already released the excellent "YS" album, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso were on their way to international recognition, Area was hosting huge outdoor prog festivals throughout Italy and PFM was on their third album.

The Italian thing came out of 4 or so influences, mostly British: Genesis, Tull, ELP and Van der Graf Generator, all of whom toured extensively in Italy, who were apparently starved for this sort of new music. Oh, and Gentle Giant, too. Those guys wore their influences on their sleeves, bigtime, but their music was always pretty drenched in Mediterranean folk as well. You can tell I love that shit.

Many, if not most of the bands who came out of that period did one album before either forming another band or vanishing entirely. Semiramis is a great example... a bunch of 14 year-old kids who did a fantastic album and "poof!" They were gone. There are a few bands whose influences I could never decipher, but who made the most original and stunning prog music in Italy. Semiramis was one, but my very favorite is Cervello's "Melos." It took a couple listens to ignore the singer, then the music bewitched me so greatly I grew to like the vocals... The end of the first song is so utterly unlike anything I have heard before or since, but you have to check out the whole thing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od6tZHWkqHY[/youtube]

Every player in the band doubles on flute. So, that's what happened to the flute in rock music -- they all moved to Italy in 1973, and the only one allowed to have one afterward was Ian Anderson. All synth/mellotron sounds are actually effected saxes.

Sorry to hijack the thread... I don't mind saying I have encyclopedic knowledge of European prog. Think I will start a thread.

K

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Tue Mar 01, 2016 2:02 pm
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
K Rex wrote:
Every player in the band doubles on flute. So, that's what happened to the flute in rock music -- they all moved to Italy in 1973, and the only one allowed to have one afterward was Ian Anderson.
They all moved to Italy! That was funny. Or died of drug overdoses--I mentioned in the Dust in the Wind challenge thread that a good friend and former roommate of mine (we're all from Topeka) had an older brother that played flute for the band Kansas, and then he died of a drug overdose (heroin). They never replaced him and none of their later albums use a flute, but my friend's brother played with them for 3-4 years and died right before they "made" it.
K Rex wrote:
Sorry to hijack the thread... I don't mind saying I have encyclopedic knowledge of European prog. Think I will start a thread.

K
I love to learn about new bands! That's really been the main purpose of this thread, to get people talking about their influences and teach me new things. Also, to post awesome videos--again, mission accomplished! Go forth, brother, and school us up on European prog rock! :ugeek:
And by the way, why Italy? Maybe it's like asking "Why Seattle?" But why Italy as this big Prog Rock place?

stickyfingers wrote:
Al Dimeola,Satana,Doobie Bros.of course many more.
Someone sell Al Dimeola to me, please. Maybe I haven't heard the right stuff. But as for Santana or the Doobs, I'm there for both, but let me go late Santana, because this is where I started and had to go backwards (just assume we all watched Black Magic Woman again which I did anyway!): Here's Smooth.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Whgn_iE5uc[/youtube]

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Tue Mar 01, 2016 5:56 pm
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
I was digging through some old stuff looking for more early Steve flute rock, and I found another tune I wrote back in '93 called "The Wedding Song," for piano, strings, and flute. I lost the source files a long time ago and have nothing but the wave file. Listening to it several years later is very weird: Not a bad tune, although it really freaks me out that it's 23 years old. My stuff now is better, but I don't know if it's 23 years better! --Steve

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Tue Mar 01, 2016 6:51 pm
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
Arti y Mestieri, with the mighty Furio Chirico on the batterie. Busy, but ever so tasteful. The Italian Mahavishnu. "Tilt" and "Giro di Valzer per Domani" rival Mahavishnu as the very best prog/fusion of that era.

The Italians are so important, but so utterly forgotten.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC_K3w6gi2Q[/youtube]

K

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Tue Mar 01, 2016 10:04 pm
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Post Re: Rootz! -- 3 Best
The utterly beautiful "Melos."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN5Lg77cuDk[/youtube]

It is not unimportant to note that the only precision instruments the Italians were apparently capable of procuring during the 70's were guitars and keys. The drums (with the notable exceptions of Furio and some others) were reliably muddy, along with their bass counyerparts. Saxes were frequently flat and dull. In some instances, as with "Melos," it actually adds a gritty charm to the recording, although I would really love to hear these guys use a proper studio trratment of the material.

K

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Tue Mar 01, 2016 10:27 pm
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