Prog on the BBC - 2nd Jan BBC4

[Lerxst]

In the cold light of saturday morning, I can re-confirm it was a shi*ty, sh*t waste pipe of sh*t.

The one consolation in the pre-documentary prog music footage was a repeat of King Crimson on the OGWT peforming "Frame by Frame", which was brilliant!

[Mikey]

I saw Nigel Planer on breakfast (allegedly whilst I was working), was put off by the fact he was talking as if someone else had presented the programme. Not a good sign.
Doesn't sound like it's worth watching

[The Cosmic Lawnmower]

Well I just watched it and imagine my surprise how sh*t it was.....

I did too, and it was exactly as I thought it would be.

The shock for me was the statement that Thick as a Brick was considered to be THE definitive prog album. It's not even the definitive Tull album FFS !!

Grrrr...

I promised myself I wouldn't get angry, but...  :twisted:

Yeah they do have a problem with getting their facts right, I noticed they also said JT closed the 1970 IW festival when they were actually 5th on the bill that day.

(takes pedant head off!)

[The Cosmic Lawnmower]

It was a bit same old, same old wasn't it, surprised that Floyd hardly got a mention though as usually the great god Floyd seems to be all over these kinda programmes, not that it bothered me.
The thing that I find annoying is their supposition that by the mid 80's prog had died  :roll: , I just wish they'd finish the story properly and show the current scene and that prog is alive a well in it's various forms, with a worldwide albeit 'select' audience.

I quite enjoyed the Prog at the BBC thing before it though a few good clips in there, nice to see Caravan and Crimson.

[Ash]

So many clips etc from so many other programmes zzzzz It was as expected and that made me angry.

[Pedro]

I know it will do no good but there is a small spleen vent here on the BBC complaints page.

[ChrisX]

IMHO it was actually quite good. It was a fairly honest look at what it was during those days. Yeah, some of the facts were wrong and saying that Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick is the definitive progalbum was a bit laughable but it was their (the producers / writers of this program) opinion which I can respect. The problem is of course that it was presented as fact not as opinion.

There were however two things I had a bit of problem with:

1. IIRC the Moody Blues weren't mentioned at all. It was presented that it sorta all began with Procol Harum and Shine On Brightly with the long suite at the end of the album. Luckily Gary Brooker put it very well: "If we weren't doing it somebody else would have done it.... a few weeks later". And yes, The Moody Blues didn't do such a thing but Days Of Future Passed could be seen as a long suite and it was conceptual by nature. And that was an album from 1967. A year later they came with In Search Of The Lost Chord (a term that was actually used several times during this show but with no reference at all to the Moody Blues) with its psychedelic overtones but also the 11 minute plus long House Of Four Doors 1 / Legend Of A Mind / House Of Four Doors 2 suite. Heck, King Crimson actually went to Decca first when they were looking for a record contract and they have worked with Moody Blues producer Tony Clarke in the studio (alas those tapes apparently don't exist anymore) but that didn't work out in the end.

[Tricky]

Well, the editorial content was - as would be expected - complete pants.  What was interesting was the opinions of the musicians themselves (and not just the usual suspects).
There were plenty of clips that we'd seen before, but also loads of Canterbury Scene stuff that I wasn't familiar with.
I agree that the gem of the evening was Crimson's Frame by Frame on OGWT; but seeing Yes in their prime; doing Yours is no Disgrace confirmed for me that that was the pinnacle of musical excellence
And by the way:  Haven't ELP dated very badly?

[MrsJiB]

I watched it for John as he was in bed.
I quite enjoyed it.
 As for the information I would have no idea whether it was correct or not but as a programme about "Prog" it was amusingly enjoyable.
No mention about modern prog was exactly as I expected, come on peeps did you really expect that, it is the BBC you know!  
Lets see what comes out over the rest of the week.

[Pedro]

There are some details of the upcoming programmes here :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/progbritannia/

[Brom]

Just watched it via the on demand thinggy.

I also quite enjoyed it. It was more chat than music, which wasn't a bad thing IMHO. I feel I learned something and definitely saw some footage I'd never seen before.

What we should not forget here is that within this little corner of the interweb dwells a group of people who have massed a knowledge of the subject in question which anyone would have trouble fitting into a thirteen week series let alone a 90 min "special".

I agreed with the comments re. the demise of the gatefold LP sleeve. Poring over said item was one of the pleasures of buying and owning the music all those years ago. It sort of made you feel closer to the band in some way. CDs just don't have that effect.

However, I then got thinking about Frost*. I have never felt so "close" to a band as I do with Frost*. There has been "The View from The Cube" and more significantly the video blogs of the making of EIMA. I can honestly say that all the Brom household know about Jem and his antics, but they couldn't tell you who played bass on Dark Side of the Moon. This works then, a lot better than a gatefold sleeve so it seems, of course as long as the people behind it make the effort!  

[Pedro]

Have to agree with you there Brom, we still get our gate-fold experience thanks to Jem.

[Ash]

Actually, I correct an earlier post.  It did have something new in the form of the bloke from Egg who scared me somewhat especially with his comparison to a three year old dying from malnutrition  :shock:   Not sure that not getting commercial success is on a par with that.

[DueyC]

I didn't see this thread before watching the program.

Maybe if I'd been forewarned I wouldn't have been shouting at the TV by the end of it...  

[Blessed Dude]

I bet one hundred of the queen's pounds they reference ELP's juggernauts across the US and Jon Anderson's silly lyrics - yawn Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hey, whaddaya know? They did!!