Video Night

We strayed from the Prog Path a bit, I'm afraid, but as usual a bunch of very cool visual rarities from Craig's vaults.

Prog by request.

Yet another entertaining night (Gee guys, can't we have a boring night for a change?). We listened to lots of Focus and Family, a fair chunk of Gong, a bit of Genesis ('coz Bendy didn't believe they used to be a prog band), a bit of Phish ('coz Bendy and I can't leave it alone) and a very tiny bit of Peter Gabriel (but not tiny enough for some people). And we watched a Yes video (The flares! The sleeves! The capes! The boots! The hair!).

It was Prog Club's second birthday, and so we had a cake and sang "Happy Birthday Prog Club" in 7/4, to Dave's loudly-voiced disgust.

He ate his share of the cake though.

Canterbury Prog

Lots of brain-stimulating fun with primo cuts from the likes of Hatfield & the North, National Health, Egg, Soft Machine, Caravan, Henry Cow etc.

Prog Challenge #3: Queen vs Rush

Clash of the Monosyllables!

Queen won in suprise landslide.

But the real winner for the night were the reigning champions, Pink Floyd, whose lap of victory took over the night as soon as we got our greedy mitts into Dave's bootleg collection.

Frank Zappa 1966-1972

Very inspiring, some great video stuff. Not to mention sheet music. Plus by far the most impressive collection we have seen yet in terms of multiple pressings - six 'Absolutely Free's! (Plus the CDs of course...) Everyone was able to have their own readalong. Reading 'Penis Dimension is worrying me' off sheet music was... different. And ending in 1972 there's plenty of room for another night or three.

Lessons learned:

1. Anything more than a mouthful is wasted.
2. Don't fuck with a mountain - you saw what happened to the guy with the flies.
3. No matter how "stuck" he claims it is, NEVER pull Frank Zappa's finger.

Gong/Can (Featuring the Gnome Invisible Trilogy)

Having hit on what they considered the perfect subject for a concept album, Gong were determined to milk it for all it was worth - Not content with one concept album about gnomes in flying teapots, Gong made three.

A live Can video rounded out the night.

Live Phish

From the Live Phish website:

Launched in September 2001, Live Phish is an ongoing collector's series with the serious Phish fan in mind. Twice a year, Phish will release six complete, unedited shows mastered directly from two-track soundboard tapes culled from the band's extensive archive dating back to the mid-eighties.

We also showed some cool bits from the Phish rockumentary DVD "Bittersweet Motel". Other visuals for the night provided by Milk Drop. Oh Boy.

Europrog III Krautrock part 2 1972-1974
Picking up in mid 1972 where the last night left off, we continued our roughly chronological tour of German Prog with selections by Agitation Free, Amon Duul II, Annexus Quam, Ash Ra Tempel, Birth Control, Can, Cluster, Cornucopia, Cosmic Jokers, Deuter, Dzyan, Electric Sandwich, Eloy, Embryo, Exmagma (who apparently have nothing to do with Magma), Faust, Floh De Cologne, Edgar Froese, Gaa, German Oak, Sergius Golowin, Gomorrha, Grobschnitt, Guru Guru, Harmonia, Kalacakra, Kollektiv, Kraan, Kraftwerk, Popol Vuh, Achim Reichel, Sahara, Sand, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Thirsty Moon, Uli Trepte, Walter Wegmuller, and Yatha Sidhra.

We even squeezed in some Brainticket, although Chris explained why it isn't REALLY Krautrock.

Best album cover of the night goes to those three flared guys on stilts.

Those Pfefferknusse things beat the lederhosen off the Fritz Crackers, and the German beer was a nice touch.

Prog Uber Alles.

Made Pink Floyd look like a cover band with a flashy lightshow.

Wok and I listened to the latest Crimson releases, watched a DVD and wondered where everybody else was.

We listened to a remarkable variety of sour cabbage, beer and acid fueled prog music from a long list of bands, including Can, Amon Duul II, Faust, Guru Guru, Ash Ra Temple and Embryo.

The only disappointment of the evening was the bland and flavourless box of Ritz Crackers that Wok inflicted on us. Not even renaming them with a German theme (Fritz Crackers) could rescue these biscuits from the depths of their mediocrity. The chips were nice though.