Art Rock & Jazz Rock

Rock at this point has evolved a lot from Bill Haley's "Rock around the Clock". We've heard classical elements in the Beatles and others with instruments generally used in classical music. But at this point, to many people, rock was still considered to be a simple form of entertainment (despite some very complicated and intricate examples we've already heard), and not considered to qualify as a major work of art. At least, not along when compared to a major symphony composition, which could run anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours in length with multiple movements, and used a multitude of instruments.

Nor was it considered a major form of art the way Operas were. With elaborate costuming, set pieces, plots connecting one song to the next, acting, a whole production, the standard rock concert with 4-8 members on stage bopping their way through a set of tunes originally released as singles paled in comparison. Maybe more fun, more accessible, but not nearly as much of a full-sensory experience.

One of the first ways rock attempted to become more "Arty" was to incorporate full symphony orchestras in the pieces.

The Moody Blues

One of the first real symphonic collaborations was the The Moody Blues. Like many of the bands we've looked at, they started playing a different style from what we now know them from. Originally a blues-ish band, they had some success with a single called "Go Now"

From an interview I read many years ago, they were packing up from a gig, and an audience member came back and said "you guys are crap". The band, on the van ride home, essentially said to themselves "he's right, we're crap", and decided to change directions. They keyboardist, Mike Pinder, had introduced the Beatles to a keyboard type instrument known as the Mellotron (basically an instrument that played taped samples of instruments at the touch of a key).

The Mellotron gave bands the sound of an orchestra (or whatever you had sampled) at the touch of a key.

Decca, the Moody's record label, gave them an advance to make and record a rock version of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" to highlight a new stereo playback format. They half-heartedly tried this, and then gave up and convinced the conductor to help write the orchestral backing to their new songs. What resulted was the album Days of Future Passed. This was pretty much a straight up concept album - the track list runs through "a day in the life" essentially:

1. The Day Begins:
   1. The Day Begins

   2. Morning Glory
2. Dawn:
   1. Intro

   2. Dawn is a Feeling
3. Morning:
   1. Intro
   2. Another Morning
4. Lunch Break:
   1. Intro
   2. Peak Hour
5. The Afternoon
   1. Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)
   2. (Evening) Time to Get Away
6. Evening
   1. Intro
   2. The Sun Set

   3. Twilight Time

7. The Night
   1. Nights in White Satin
   2. Late Lament

What's interesting, is that the orchestral stuff was not really written and integrated into the songs, but rather as bridge material to transition from to the other. The "tape orchestra" sounds of the Mellotron help soften the transition as well. Then there was the spoken word poetry at the beginning and end of the album.

• Tuesday Afternoon - you can really hear the Mellotron in the beginning here.
• Intro/The Sunset/Twilight Time - an example of how the orchestral parts lead into the rock song parts.
• Nights in White Satin

The Moodies would have most likely faded from popular view until a DJ in 1972 was looking for a song to play while he went outside and had himself a little smoke session. He picked the longest song currently in the catalogue, the Moody Blue's "Nights in White Satin", and would sign off his broadcast every night with it. This re-popularized the group, and soon the DJ was taking more and more breaks to go get high.

But either way, this was still a somewhat superficial marriage - the orchestral parts were written after the fact, and The Moody Blues never performed live with an orchestra until 1992, at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. I read an interview where they were quoted as saying that fans would come up and say "I saw you with such and such an orchestra in 198x", and they had to gently remind them that it was the Mellotron.

Deep Purple

Deep Purple was a second-wave British invasion band whose style can be considered early 'Metal'. The keyboardist, Jon Lord composed "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" where the orchestra played themes, then the rock band played them in rock styles. This was a success, so they did it again with Gemini Suite. This Suite could only be recorded once, due to the large number of personnel needed, which is unfortunate, because the recording is really distorted. Here's one section from that one-time live recording:

• Gemini Suite, Mvt. 4 - Vocals
  • NOTE: this is a local audio file, not a Spotify link because it's edited down.

ROCK OPERAS

The first rock "opera" (I used that term extremely broadly) was a Broadway production - the rock musical Hair. This was soon followed by The Who's Tommy.

The Who - another British band, The Who had made the top 10 in the US with singles like:

• My Generation
• I Can See for Miles

...but their contribution to Art Rock came with Tommy. Originally, Pete Townshend had composed a couple of 10 minute "mini-operas" to fill time on other records. Given that experience, he wrote the rock opera Tommy about a "deaf, dumb, and blind" kid who trimumphs due to his skill as a pinball wizard. Some tracks from Tommy:

• It's a Boy
• 1921
• Pinball Wizard - this is probably the most recognizable song from Tommy.
• Tommy, Can You Hear Me

They followed it up with a few more non-opera albums, before releasing Quadrophenia. As thin as the plot to Tommy is, the plot to this one is even thinner, even though the songs are more mature and flow a little better.

Broadway

Back to broadway, there was Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Wiz, Evita, and Grease all performed and released as rock oriented musicals.

Yes

Another English band, they are our first "progressive" category band. They are known for hits like:

• Roundabout
• I've Seen All Good People
• Owner of a Lonely Heart

But we should also consider the following album:

• Tales from Topographic Oceans

This was their sixth studio album (released in 1973), and it was the first to be certified gold before it even hit the shelves! Rick Wakeman, the keyboardist, did not like the album and thought the tracks were far too long and had too much padding. He left the band at the end of the 1973-1974 touring season, created his own concept albums The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and rejoined Yes until 1980. In 1980 Yes disbanded, then re-banded in a roundabout way in 1983, and had a somewhat confusion set of lineup changes and album releases, and released their 23rd(!) album Mirror to the Sky in 2023.

Why did I skip a lot of history with Yes? Have a look at the wikipedia page.

Genesis

This band was home to two artists who would later become major solo acts: Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins.

They launched their successful career with the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. The story is of a character called Rael who meets and confronts the modern civilization of New York City. Genesis performed all of the work, but the theatrical nature of the story and songs was very Broadway-like. Live performances had costume changes and other theatrical elements, making it an experience.

• The Carpet Crawlers (1975)

Peter Gabriel later went on to solo success, and kept a lot of the theatrical elements in his shows. Best example is his Secret World 1994 show, you can find it on youtube. Here's a sample of the opening song on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7GRBHoTUbg&t=35s

In this performance, he combines world music with theatrical art, and it's quite a production. Also, in this particular "live" show, it sounds too perfect, and sounds as if it was all re-recorded and reworked in the studio, to be in sync with the video.

When Peter left to do his own solo thing, Phil Collins took over the frontman duties for Genesis, and they had a few pop hits in the 1980s. Phil simultaneously had a successful solo career, and won an Oscar for "You'll Be in My Heart", a song he wrote for the Disney film Tarzan.

• No Reply at All (1981) - with the Earth, Wind, and Fire Horns
• I Can't Dance (1991)
  

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer

ELP formed in 1971, and produced a couple of albums. However, their third album Pictures at an Exhibition was based upon the 1874 work by Modest Mussorgsky. Mussorgsky wrote Pictures as a tribute to his artist friend who had died of alcoholism, and is written from the perspective of someone stepping into the art gallery "Promenade", then looking at a painting "The Old Castle", then back to the "Promenade", etc... basically a classical music concept album, that ELP took and expanded upon.

Have a listen to the original version (arranged for orchestra by Maurice Revel):

• Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestra)
  • NOTE: this is a local audio file, not a spotify link because it's edited down.

Here is a link to a youtube video of a different performance if you want to see the actual pictures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkC3chi_ysw

And now the ELP version

• Pictures at an Exhibition (ELP)
  • NOTE: this is a local audio file, not a spotify link because it's edited down.

ELP continued on in this vein for a while, doing similar things with other classical composers like Aaron Copland and Alberto Ginastera, and other things. But their crowning achievement here is "Karn Evil 9". A three movement piece, in the integrated styles of classical and rock fused together, it is one of the most impressive art rock pieces. Just get familiar with the start of each movment (minutes 0:00, 13:23, 20:31).

Karn Evil 9

Frank Zappa

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