I WAS interested to see a rare article on prog music "Music is a smorgasbord of sound", The Herald,
September 5). However it was difficult to gauge if Teddy Jamieson was being positive about the genre.
I grew up in the 1960s and 70s and discovered prog through the Moody Blues/King Crimson. I would have to agree that there were excesses in the 70s, especially with ELP and their United States tour when they took three articulated lorries and an orchestra, and punk rock's explosion in 1976 did seem to put paid to prog rock.
I continued to follow the few big bands that appeared to still producing prog rock –Yes, King Crimson and Van Der Graaf, but in the main it seemed that the bubble had burst. It was not until the 1990s and the expansion of the internet, that I realised that UK bands (IQ, Pendragon, Arena and our own Pallas from Aberdeen), along with the European bands, had still been producing good quality prog music, although they were more popular in Europe than the UK.
Prog has long been a dirty word in both the printed media and radio and TV. Mr Jamieson was surprised about the launch of a prog chart, but there is now a very successful prog magazine and there are many new UK acts such as Anathema, Amplifier, The Pineapple Thief and Steven Wilson, along with European bands such as Opeth, Haken, and Riverside who are producing, quality music but rarely get a look-in with reviews.
I am going to the Usher Hall in Edinburgh next week to see King Crimson, re-formed last year, who have sold out their first night and have had to schedule a second night in Edinburgh. I will be interested to see what coverage they get.
Allan Merry,
73 Eglinton Road, Ardrossan.
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