abangaku

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Member Since: 7/1/2005
Total Mixes: 104
Total Feedback: 228

Other Mixes By abangaku

CD | Rock - Prog-Rock/Art Rock
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CD | Theme - Narrative
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CD | Mixed Genre
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CD | Rock - Prog-Rock/Art Rock
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Music That Came Quickly From Afar

Artist Song
Caravan  Golf Girl  
Robert Wyatt / Gilad Atzmon / Ros Stephen  Maryan 
The Tangent  D.I.Y. Surgery 
Genesis  Watcher Of The Skies  
King Crimson  Frame By Frame  
Circulus  Willow Tree 
Van Der Graaf Generator  Theme One 
Marillion  Script For A Jester's Tear  
Emerson, Lake & Palmer  Knife Edge  
Henry Cow  Nine Funerals Of The Citizen King  
Steven Wilson  No Twilight Within The Courts Of The Sun  
Yes  Close To The Edge  

Comment:

I conceived of this mix of British prog in 2014 at the prompting of a friend (who’d received several other mixes from me, and who was interested in prog when I described the style to him), didn’t finish it until spring 2018, and am just posting it now. But then, prog is eternal, isn’t it?

... There must be some believable world out there where music didn’t go hand in hand with lifestyle, where rock blended promiscuously and without derision with other genres, where prog was never a dirty word. Hey — maybe it’s even the one we live in now. But, the bulk of this music had to go through some narrow straits to get to this point, one where it could fully explode into consciousness. This is Music That Came Quickly From Afar.

I’ve written some poems about prog:

“Here’s the central myth and conceit of prog rock,
Which I’ve stolen from Philip K. Dick: somewhere approaching the
Early seventies, humans were infected by the sublime creative force of the universe.”
(from “Prog Rock Poem #1”)

“Why are we not out there right now,
hand in hand once more, letting Saturday night do the talking,
watching Utopia flower as alternative vision, grassy amidst black dance floors?”
(from “Prog Rock Poem #5”)

If you have to categorize, I’ll say this. Prog is its own beast. Those who feel free to disparage it, for not being true to rock’s ghost, can feel free to ignore it. It’s something else altogether. It’s a structure of transcendence. It orbits slowly all around the outside. It touches down on the tip of interest’s tongue.

(photo of Stonehenge taken by me in 2017; title from “Close To The Edge”)
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Feedback:

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Mixxer
Date: 2/1/2019
Yes, "prog is eternal," but you have to like it in a knowing, ironic way. :-) Nice mix here.