In truth, it is not my favourite genre. I study it more for technique than pleasure. My band plays a lot of Floyd, but I consider that to be the acceptable face of prog.
Watched searching for SugarMan last night.. ****ing great documentary. They say he was on par with Bob Dylan regarding song writing in the 70's. Some see him as a myth, a prophet etc. Killed himself live on stage by setting himself on fire. He went pretty much unheard of until someone found a copy of an album in Cape Town. Good ****. His name was Rodriguez.
I like a lot of Floyd’s stuff. I guess I think of Prog rock as the early 70’s which did produce a lot of self indulgent crap. Although, it probably started mid/ late 60’s with albums like Pet Sounds and Days of Future past.
I’ve never been into the psychedelic stuff. The very early Floyd leaves me cold. I also steer well clear of the dense, turgid concept stuff, with side B being taken up by one song (a la Yes and Genesis at their most self indulgent).
No one even knows exactly who or where he was from. He was just a drifter in detroit playing back street clubs... Admittedly I still have half hour of the documentary to watch as it was late. Fascinating stuff though. On Netflix. Highly rated by all critics etc. Trailer
Syd Barrett was the real genius behind Floyd’s early output. Became a total acid casualty, but before going nuts his endlessly inventive wit and generosity of spirit was the antidote to the rest of the band’s earnest dark moodiness. Wish You Were Here, the second post - Syd album, was their last decent record imo.
Syd was only on their first album and part of the second. There were about 6 albums between him leaving and Wish you were here.
Those two and Genesis were the three most over rated bands of all time. Mind you I am a big ELO fan......
