Just thinking about this record cracks me up. It was a double, so there were four sides. And yes, four songs. It really doesn’t get any better than this. But wait, look at that Roger Dean cover. It’s like the old Windows 95 aquarium screen-saver came to life!
‘74 also saw Kraftwerk’s Autobahn, Utopia’s 30 minute “The Ikon” and Phaedra by Tangerine Dream. Marathon cuts like these would never rule the charts again as they did this year.
As far as I can tell, Todd Rundgren pushed the bar as far as possible in 1975. His Initiation holds what I believe to be the longest side-long song ever done, "A Treatise On Cosmic Fire" fills side two with 36 excruciating minutes.
Besides Rundgren, the period of 1975 to 1979 saw a sad decline in the genre. The “Space Rock” groups such as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schultz, Michael Hoenig, and Steve Hillage kept up the valiant fight, but it was really all for nought.
Strangely enough, those wacky Canadian mooks Rush scored two of the best side-length tracks ever in the latter part of the decade. 2112 was released in 1976, and Hemispheres in 1978. They may have been a little behind the curve, but both are among the band's finest efforts.
Filling up a whole side of your album with one song was one of the hallmarks of a truly “progressive” rock band. It meant you were pretentious enough to think you could hold a listener’s interest for 20 some minutes, and that you actually had something to say as well.
It was usually just a bunch of crap, but that made everything more fun anyway. Besides, most of us were completely zonked back then, so it didn’t even matter.
I say bring back Prog Rock, good old vinyl LP’s, and maybe that damned Windows ‘95 aquarium screen-saver too.
We could use a little more fun in the world right now. If you’re feeling down, just give Tales From Topographic Oceans or Concerto For Group And Orchestra a spin. For this old Progger at least, they are guaranteed to deliver a wistful smile.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Great article, Greg! I'm going to try to find some of those long tracks and give them a spin!
I'd love to see more articles on "prog-rock" as the genre has several newer bands carrying the torch.
2 - Greg Barbrick
Thanks Triniman, I have been thinking about doing another piece on newer Prog bands as well.
3 - KS
Love had a side long song called "Revelation" on DA CAPO, released in early 1967.
Bob Dylan's "Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands" filled a (short) LP side on BLONDE ON BLONDE released in 1966.
But even before that, Sandy Bull was recording songs that filled up an entire sides of albums in 1963-1965. Good stuff too.
4 - Greg Barbrick
KS, I missed the boat on Love - "Revelation" would have definitely qualified. Technically, Dylan does too, but the song is so short comparatively speaking that I didn't mention it. Not real familiar with Sandy Bull...
5 - JANK
Very good essay and good reach to get most of the good ones. I will add one of my top 5; "Lizard" by King Crimson takes up most of side 2 of the album of same name. Does Chicago's "Ballet To A Girl In Buchanon" qualify?
6 - Greg Barbrick
JANK you are the second person to mention that Chicago song, and I have to plead ignorance for not knowing it. Which album is it from? I always dug them as a "radio" band, but never had any of the LPs, except Hits.
7 - JC Mosquito
If you count live albums you get Deep Purple's Space Truckin, Zep's Dazed and Confused and a whole other can o' worms to play with.