❉ James Collingwood on a new box set charting the end of prog rock’s golden age.
“Over the course of four discs this collection is packed with the more well-known prog bands, alongside hidden gems from the likes of Keith Christmas, Hatfield And The North and Stackridge … At over five hours long you definitely get value for money for guitar solos, baroque organ freak outs and charming pastoral lyrics.”
It is 1974 and progressive rock is coming towards the end of its golden age. At this stage, many of the genre’s leading lights were on their third or fourth albums and, with lack of commercial success for some of them, line-up changes or just a curtailing of inspiration for others, were approaching the end of their most fertile period. Despite this, and the closure of underground papers Oz and International Times in the previous two years, prog heavyweights such as Caravan, Camel, Traffic, Tull and Hawkwind were still being continuously written about in the music papers, whilst also being sustained by touring on the University circuit and appearing on BBC 2’s The Old Grey Whistle Test.
It’s this epochal year age that’s the subject of a brilliant new box set disc from Esoteric Recordings, Round and Round: Progressive Sounds of 1974, and over the course of four discs this collection is packed with the more well-known prog names, many of whom seem to be having one last blast of creativity here, alongside hidden gems from the likes of Keith Christmas, Hatfield And The North and Stackridge as well as bands from the period one not be familiar with such as Kayak (represented here with Trust In The Machine). At over five hours long you definitely get value for money for sheer quantity and quality of guitar solos, baroque organ freak outs and charming pastoral lyrics. There are also informative sleeve notes from Mark Powell detailing the history of the bands included. It’s fascinating to trace the development and the line up changes.
There are many stand-out tracks on here such as the folky and weird I Can’t See Where the Light Switch Is, a song by Steve Swindells which includes bass playing by Danny Thompson and guitar from legendary guitarist Caleb Quaye. Two excellent tracks by Renaissance, a band I’ve always been fascinated with, feature the beautiful vocals of singer Annie Haslam and Mother Russia is stunning.
There’s plenty of whimsical, ethereal word play from writers such as Pete Sinfield who contributes lyrics to the brilliant English translation/reinterpretations of songs by the brilliant Italian group Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) and from Hatfield And The North with their song Let’s Eat Real Soon which boasts unmistakeable vocals from Richard Sinclair.
Pete Hamill, another artist who I really love, has a couple of tracks on here including the brilliant Red Shift, a song presumably inspired by the Alan Garner novel published the year before and that features guitar playing by Spirit’s Randy California.
It’s also great to hear Be Bop Deluxe’s Adventures in a Yorkshire landscape once again. Bill Nelson is an artist who really did develop beyond this point. Inevitably, in such an eclectic mix, there are a couple of duds. The Procul Harum B-side Drunk Again is a hairy rocker despite their ex-member Robin Trower contributing a more subtle rocker Bridge of Sighs. Nothing will persuade me to buy a Barclays James Harvest record ever in my life but I’ll definitely be delving more into the work of Keith Christmas, Stackridge, Nektar and many more as a result of this compilation.
❉ Various Artists: ‘Round and Round – Progressive Sounds of 1974’ (Esoteric Recordings ECLEC42831) 4CD Box Set was released 30 June 2023 by Cherry Red Group, RRP £27.99. Cherry Red Records have been releasing and reissuing the most innovative and independent thinking music since 1978. Follow them on Twitter or visit their site.
❉ James Collingwood is based in West Yorkshire and has been writing for a number of years. He currently also writes for the Bradford Review magazine for which he has conducted more than 30 interviews and has covered music, film and theatre. His Twitter is @JamesCollingwo1
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