1971, golden year of progressive rock

The legendary group Genesis will be visiting next Monday and Tuesday for two shows at the Bell Center. Due to the precarious state of health of singer Phil Collins, the tour The Last Domino? may be the last opportunity for the Quebec public to see their beloved group. It will also be the time to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Nursery Cryme, a key album in the history of Genesis, but also for progressive rock, which entered its golden period in 1971.

Pierre-Marc Durivage
Press

The foundations had been laid a few years earlier, first by the Beatles with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Moody Blues and other King Crimson, but it was in 1971 that the genre really asserted itself, gaining sufficient maturity and taking advantage of new recording technologies allowing groups to express their creativity in broad daylight.

“From 1971 on, we witnessed a culmination in terms of technical maturity and stylistic fusions of this musical genre,” explains Gérald Côté, ethnomusicologist and visiting professor at Laval University. We arrive at the beginning of the golden age for all this experimental music. The more we advance, the more we manage to achieve a sound balance. Also, everyone uses the same benchmarks to achieve completely different results, whether we think of groups like Jethro Tull, Genesis, Pink Floyd or Mahavishnu Orchestra.

“There are musicians from classical groups who will also be associated with rock, continues Mr. Côté. Steve Howe and Jon Anderson from Yes and all the guys from Gentle Giant are classically trained, they are the fruits of post-war education and all had a desire to break down musical barriers. And when you have a musical background, decompartmentalization of the genre gives you something to explore, it opens a Pandora’s box in terms of musical experimentation. ”

According to the researcher, this desire to experiment and merge genres was the direct result of the psychedelic movement and the peace and love.

“My friend Jim Cockey, who at the time was a guest violinist with the Moody Blues, once told me that what they were trying to do was bring together the different social classes so that they could come together in one form. idealized musical. They wanted to bring together all the classes thanks to a mixture of classical, jazz, rock, symphonic poems; a new kind of music that draws in all possible styles, with rock music as the locomotive. ”

Heritage

Fifty years later, young musicians recognize the legacy of this unashamed music that defined the early 1970s.

“My father listened to King Crimson, I also grew up with Genesis and Pink Floyd,” says Drummondville singer-songwriter Alex Henry Foster, who completed a European tour in early November with the group The Pineapple Thief , pillar of the contemporary post-prog scene.

Klô Pelgag, star of the most recent ADISQ gala, has often repeated that she grew up listening to Gentle Giant and King Crimson, an obvious influence listening to her superb Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. We are therefore not surprised to recognize progressive sounds in the sound of zouz, a new group from bassist Étienne Dupré. “There are albums that are so strong in those years that we have no choice but to go through it, agrees David Marchand, guitarist and singer of zouz. Rock from the late 1960s and early 1970s is my favorite music. I don’t think it’s very trendy music, especially among young people, but the truth is that there have been so many great prog albums. ”

“These albums have become classics, they have become the cradle of a style,” adds Michel St-Père, leader of the Quebec neo-prog group Mystery, which has built up a great reputation in Europe. Some put up barriers by wanting to recreate the past, but what remained is above all the freedom to be able to create what you want. This is why I believe that we will see new currents assert themselves in the progressive. ”

The landmark prog albums of 1971

The Yes Album and Brittle

The golden age of progressive rock began with these two albums launched in 1971 by the legendary British group. Two records that allowed Yes to establish itself at the forefront of the musical scene of the time, in particular thanks to songs like I’ve Seen All Good People and Roundabout. The Yes Album climbed to fourth place in the UK charts, a performance matched by Brittle on the US Billboard charts. The two records have sold over 3 million copies in the United States.

Aqualung, by Jethro Tull

Ian Anderson’s group has had its fair share of success before Aqualung, but in a blues rock register with folk accents. With the title track from his fourth album, however, Jethro Tull clearly asserts his progressive claims – Jethro Tull will retain his own identity in the genre, his folk roots still very much alive. However, with more than 7 million copies sold since its release in 1971, Aqualung remains a staple of progressive rock.

Meddle, by Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd illustrates better than anyone the natural evolution of the psychedelic sound of the 1960s to that of the progressive rock of the 1970s. Meddle, the group has almost completely freed itself from the influence of Syd Barrett and offers pieces that set the table for the masterpieces to come: One of These Days, A Pillow of Winds, Fearless and especially the planing Echoes, which occupies the entire second side of the record, are milestones in progressive rock.

Nursery Cryme, from Genesis

Nursery Cryme marks the arrival of guitarist Steve Hackett and drummer Phil Collins, without whom Genesis could not have established itself as one of the pillars of progressive rock. After the juvenile Trespass, the third album of the British quintet shows the writing qualities of Peter Gabriel and his accomplices, who for the first time can record on multitrack equipment. The ambitious The Musical Box, which stretches over more than 10 minutes, now retains a prominent place in the group’s catalog.

Sun, by Jean-Pierre Ferland

If Quebecers have fully embarked on the wave of progressive rock, the local scene was still embryonic in 1971. Associated with his studio partner André Perry, Jean-Pierre Ferland continued to play the visionaries with Sun, remarkable following the initiation Yellow. With compositions with complex orchestrations like The world is parallel Where At the bottom of things the sun takes to the sun, Ferland was named Best Singer-Songwriter in 1972.