A NEW DAY YESTERDAY by Mike Barnes (Omnibus Press, 2020)
The decision to undertake a full survey of Progressive Rock music in the UK up to the mid-1970s is as bold and bonkers a project as a band embarking on a triple concept album. Yet, it works for me.
Progressive (Prog) Rock evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of what Wiki defines as a “mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility”.
Mike Barnes challenges the common prejudices surrounding this much maligned genre.
In setting the record straight, he immediately dispels the myth that Prog songs were mostly about wizards, elves and hobbits. He also shows that, contrary to common belief, bands were not universally trying to bridge the divide between classical music and rock. Rather, jazz, blues and psychedelia were key influences.
Peter Gabriel gamely trying not to look ridiculous in full ‘Watcher of the Skies’ garb.
Barnes argues that much of the bad press towards the genre is actually based on misapprehensions and irrational snobbery. On the whole, I tend to agree, but I also think there is plenty of scope for a few well-placed hatchet jobs, something that the author seems reluctant to do.
To describe all ‘progressive’ orientated artists as being pretentious is often lazy journalism but this adjective is surely appropriate when describing artists like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Van Der Graaf Generator or albums like ‘Tales From Topographic Oceans’ by Yes or ‘Passion Play’ by Jethro Tull.
Barnes prefers to use humor rather than side with the critics who lambasted such artists and releases. And there is certainly plenty to laugh at since many bands set themselves up for ridicule. A chapter on The Moody Blues is brilliantly entitled “Knights in beige terylene on acid” and it’s fair to say that Peter Gabriel’s 70s haircut and loopy stage costumes have not aged well.
Barnes’ massive 600-page tome is admirably comprehensive, thoroughly researched and almost certainly definitive. I can’t imagine anyone else being bothered to devote space for largely unknown groups such as Gracious, The Enid and Fruup.
There is, however, a need for some trimming. Too often Barnes forgets his role is not simply that of a music reviewer. He frequently runs through all the tracks on key albums when it would have been sufficient just to pick out the highs and lows.
Arguably, he also spreads the net a little too wide to includes artists, notably Hawkwind, who are not automatically thought of as Prog. Rockers. More legitimately, he gives generous space the likes of Henry Cow, Gentle Giant and Caravan, all bands I knew but never previously saw the point of.
Mike Barnes
Some cuts could have been made but, equally, much could have been added. What is seriously lacking is a broader context to explain the whys and hows of Prog.Rock in general. Attempts to set the scene are largely confined to six short chapters each called ‘Divertimento’ . In these, Barnes writes about matters relating to subjects like drugs, festivals and politics. But none of these topics are covered in sufficient depth.
In Divertimento No.4 he addresses the extent to which sex was or, more often, was not a topic in the songs. The conclusion is that most artists steered clear in a kind of ‘no sex please, we’re British’ manner. This is not so surprising given that the musical style is far removed from that of classic cock rock or romantic pop tunes. In my view, the focus of this chapter should have been directed at the much wider issue of gender.
Prog.Rock was (and is) a male-dominated genre both in terms of performers and fans. I can’t imagine many women wanting to read this book. Barnes does touch upon the gender imbalance within the genre but could have said much more. It’s an illustration of how much the cultural background in which the music was made is treated as a diversion whereas no music truly exists in a vacuum.
In fairness, I think Barnes is well aware of the marked absence of female voices. I suspect this is why he devotes one chapter to a Q & A interview with Sonja Kristina, the singer of Curved Air. Kristina was one of the few prominent women performers working in this field, although in truth her band are only borderline Prog (mainly because they had a violinist); most would label them as being more rock-orientated.
Barnes identifies the year 1974 as the tipping point. By that time too many Prog Rock artists had run out of ideas. This didn’t stop them flogging dead horses or dissuade new artists from rehashing tired ideas. Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ (released in 1979) is accurately dismissed as Roger Waters’ “Big Problem swathed in dry ice” and the band Marillion are justifiably dismissed as a “born-too-late parody of the recent past”.
Prog Rock continues to be popular this day but I feel Barnes is right to point out that the real creative impetus lasted just short of a decade and was never the same after the mid 1970s. Punk’s flame may have burnt out rapidly but it was the crucial catalyst for a change of attitudes. It provided a welcome reminder that short, sharp blasts of energy are so much more thrilling than watching musically accomplished individuals noodling away ad infinitum.
A widespread bias against Prog still persists and it is commonly dismissed as an obsolete genre. It doesn’t take much digging to find fine albums and records that prove this to be unfair. For this reason alone, Mike Barnes has done a new generation of listeners a great favor by treating the music seriously.
With the explosion of Punk in 1976, bands such as Yes, ELP and Pink Floyd were unceremoniously consigned to the category of dinosaur acts. Their tendency towards aloofness and pomposity was suddenly at odds with the three-chord wonders that burst on the scene. An even broader brush to this ‘out with the old, in with the new’ revolution was summed up when The Clash sang “No Elvis, Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1977”.
After the Sex Pistols burst on the scene, there was an unseemly rush to dismiss all that had come before as redundant. Journalists fell over themselves to reinvent themselves as hip new futurists. This meant that they exaggerated the contrast between the peace and love ideals of hippy culture with the filthy and furious rage of punk. Yet, although Johnny Rotten’s snidey “We mean it maaaan” in Anarchy In The Uk was clearly mocking long-haired stoners, I think Mike Barnes is right to argue that hippies and punks actually had a lot in common. He tells a great story of a magazine who aimed to set up a heated debate between Sham 69’s Jimmy Pursey and Gong’s Steve Hillage. But far from being a confrontation, the two found they shared a lot of views on politics, spirituality and music and hippy Hillage ended up sharing the stage with punk Pursey at a gig at Reading Festival.
Mike Barnes has plugged a gap in the market that many would argue could have been left unplugged. More enlightened music fans will realize that his comprehensive guide illustrates that informed listening is the best way to keep our minds and ears open to new (and old) possibilities.
