The Relatively Unknown Prog Bands Thread
 

A thread to discuss some lesser known prog rock bands: Camel, Gentle Giant, Colosseum, Yezda Urfa, Focus, Happy the Man, etc.

Huh, I'd say Camel, Gentle Giant and Focus are pretty well known.

If you want to go into more obscure stuff, I think Curved Air is one of the most cruelly underrated bands of the 70s. They had a great singer, a great style and they made some excellent symphonic prog that few people talk about.

Take this gem, for example:




Or this:



I'd love to talk to someone who already knows them and likes them. That'd be really appreciated.

I remember seeing a docu on TV several years ago about the best selling prog artists in the UK in the 1970s and Camel came in around 8th or 9th. I'admit though, they pretty much faded completely from the public eye by the early 1980s, they were victims of punk.

^^all prog bands were the victims of punk, and most abandoned their "trademarks" by the late 70s/early 80s

i would like to discuss Premiata Forneria Marconi

and i'll probably post up some vids later

The point of my post was that some survived the punk onslaught by changing their sound, whilst others such as Camel couldn't change their sound effectively enough, whilst others had already gone mainstream anyway with a more polished radio friendly sound.

^^ yeah

well, here ya go - PFM - Impressioni Di Settembre



they were something like the Yes of Italy

I've posted them once or twice on here, but Frumpy is pretty damn awesome. This song is probably my favorite prog some not by my 3 favorite prog bands (King Crimson, Yes and Van Der Graaf Generator)

they can't really be that "obscure" if one of them used to be married with someone from The Police

That didn't make the band any more well-known though, although they're obviously not the most obscure prog band out there.

Chimp Spanner
 

I am currently enjoying the output of this band, not for the faint hearted, I hasten to add. Anyone else like their music?

I'm just glad I found some more people who know Camel :)

Camel Supertwister - YouTube
My favorite song by Camel.


COLOSSEUM: The Valentyne Suite - Full Studio Version Remastered - HD - YouTube
A good jam by Colosseum. Valentyne Suite is genius.

How's this for rare? Very interesting stuff!

Don't know if you can call this Progressive, but...

More, this time from the first album.

I've been hearing Gentle Giant on my last.fm radio. I can't say it was really that impressive.

get their Octopus album before making any hasty judgments

I'll do that.

Nice resting-time sounds on this song.



Epic!

I'll try to find some more worldwide rare stuff, but here's one that you may find alright.

can't find the full song, but before Tore beats me to it:-

Wigwam are relatively unknown. So too are AFT.

I love Wigwam's "Hard and Horny" album.

I might add Xhol Caravan to the list of less known than Gentle Giant or Camel...

Manar is an Icelandic band who sing in their native tongue. Great music, very different.

^ It's good to meet another Wigwam fan. I recently got Tombstone Valentine by Wigwam, but I prefer the later mid-seventies albums (Lucky Golden Stripes, Dark Album, etc).

I would go with go with Magma. Very interesting "zeuhl" band from France, they sing in their own made up language. Great stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/ESO6cNDjxpI

Anyone know Twelfth Night? From "Fact and fiction", here's "We are sane".

There was a very good band called AFT (Automatic Fine Tuning), whose album I don't think was ever released on CD.

I'm wrong, it was released on CD.

I've gone on about some of my favourite more obscure prog bands in other threads, but I'm not sure they've caught on around here so why not try again? ;)

Those who are into Caravan or Camel should definitely check out Hatfield and the North whose 1974 debut (Self-titled) I rate higher than any of Caravan's or Camel's albums. It is a bit stranger and a little harder to get into, but it's oh so rewarding. They really did something unique and totally invented their own sound in a way that is rarely heard. I see most of their songs have been pulled off youtube so there's not much to choose from for a sample, but this was their first single which came out before their debut. It's not that representative of their music as a whole, but it's still a great song, I think. Fans of Caravan and Camel may recognize Richard Sinclair on vocals and bass.




After a while, the Hatfields broke up, but most of its members (minus Sinclair) got back together again in the excellent band National Health whose second album Of Queues and Cures (1977) is one of the finest prog records I know of.

Here's the opening track which has a bit of an intro coming in at first. Stick with it to reap your reward ;)




See if the flute solo coming in here just after 3 minutes isn't just about the nicest flute solo you ever heard on a record.




There are a lot of obscure prog bands from Norway in the early 70s, but I'm not really that impressed with them. They may have a few good songs, but on the whole I find most of them to be a little lackluster. I'm more impressed with the Swedes who had bands like Samla Mammas Manna (well known in RIO circles) and Ragnarök (a little more obscure). Obscure prog bands in general are often a bit lackluster, I think, but I guess there's often a reason why they're obscure to start with.

Maybe you mistook this thread for the one about the most famous prog bands in history .. wanna add Pink Floyd to that list? ;)

Renaissance
Amon Duul II
Egg
Jonesey

^ Definitely the original Renaissance (and the later Illusion).

I never thought of Amon Duul II that unknown, a bit forgotten maybe but not unknown.

Twelve Foot Ninja. My cousin recommended them to me, and it's not a name i'm too familiar with. Really diggin' them though. New Dawn is a fantastic album to start with, that's what i'm listening to at the moment. They've only released one full album in 2012, but New Dawn is one of their EP's, it's pretty damn good.

Has Anubis Gate been mentioned?

FM (the Canadian progressive rock band, not the UK melodic rock band)
Ars Nova - Japanese all-girl progressive band who sound a lot like ELP without vocals
Skin Alley (Nick Graham)
Ship of Fools

the last three of these are related

I think the operative word is "relatively", meaning that they haven't sold millions upon millions of albums like Yes, Tull, Crimson, ELP, Genesis, so on.

Seattle's Sadhappy
 

I could only find YouTubes for their excellent first full length album "Depth Charge". This lineup featured Paul Hinkin on bass (maybe the best musician I've ever met), Evan Schiller on drums, and Skerik on Sax. After Skerik left (I believe to form Critters Buggin'), they did the ovious thing that a bass/drum/sax band would do, replaced the sax player with an EVEN BETTER bass player than the incredible Hinkin, they brought in Michael Manring for their best album IMO, "Good Day Bad Dream". I seem to have lost my copy of GDBD in my recent move, as soon as I find a copy I will share it with the board.

In 2005 PH left and Mike Keneally joined ES and MM to make "Outerspaces", which was an excellent album but, as much as I love the album and MK, I never got my head wrapped around it as a Sadhappy album. To me, Paul was the heart and soul of Sadhappy