Citizens of Hope and Glory: The Story of Progressive Rock

by Stephen Lambe

Created in the late 1960s, fashionable in the early 1970s and hated in the 1980s, Progressive Rock has a colourful and eventful story. Many of the genre's main protagonists, including Genesis, Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, remain as popular as ever, while lesser-known names like Camel, Caravan, Renaissance, Van der Graaf Generator and Gentle Giant retain cult status. In this completely revised and updated edition, Stephen Lambe guides the reader through the early years as the music developed out of the British Progressive Music boom of the late 1960s into its own genre, and reached full maturity in the early 1970s. He also discusses how the music was received and developed outside the UK, particularly in the USA and Europe. Received wisdom has it that punk swept Progressive Rock away in the late 1970s, yet the genre never died. An early 1980s revival, spearheaded by major label signings Marillion, IQ and Pallas, burned brightly but fell away sharply later in the decade. However, in the early 1990s, the movement began to re-establish itself, largely below the radar, led by Swedish band The Flower Kings and American group Spock's Beard. The rise of the internet and the decline of the worldwide pop industry allowed niche music - as Progressive Rock had now become - to flourish once again in the new millennium. Stephen Lambe has been co-promoter of the Summer's End Progressive Rock festival since 2006. He helps promote Welsh band Magenta, and is Secretary of the Classic Rock Society, whose patrons include Steve Hackett and Roger Hodgson. He writes regularly for the magazine Rock Society.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2011

Reviews

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting enough run through the topic. What the author lacks as a writer he makes up for in enthusiasm and knowledge of his subject. A handy guide to the genre

[paul andre gosselin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good Intentions..

A good quick overview of the Prog Rock genre but disapointing for the paucity of information about specific artists wich is to be expected in a book covering 50 years of music and artists.
The book gives attention to later proponents of the genre and also includes most of the less successful one's if the prime era of Prog.
Perhaps because of this sweeping view abd unless you are interested in a myriad of lesser known groups past and present personnaly it was of limited interest .
The writing is pleasant and if you are looking for a thorough,quick overview of the genre it does the job very well .

[Emico Salum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ótimo livro de referência de rock progressivo dos 70 até sua publicação em 2011.

[The Scribbling Man · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent overview of the progressive rock genre and its history. It took me a while to make my way through this, mostly because I would only sit down to read it when I was willing to listen to copious amounts of music. As a result, it has taken me about 3 years to finish despite only being about 180 pages, but it has left me with a vast amount of new music to listen to!

From the start I could tell that my taste differed greatly from that of the author's, and so there certainly was a lot of music praised and recommended by the writer which I would then subsequently roll my eyes at. I would also come across artists of which I was already well aware of, and seeing which albums had been made his prime pick, find hand meeting face.

However, even when pointed towards bad artists or bad albums by good artists, I would then find my way to either related material or just listen to other albums by the same artist and find out that I actually did like some of their material. So our opinions differed greatly, but the book still turned out to be a fairly invaluable resource, even if an incidental one.

Ironically, it was also this book that got me into Elton John. Not at all a progressive artist, but one noted by the author as having derived some influence. The album highlighted was that of Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I didn't like this at all when I listened to it, but it did point me in the direction of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album which has the very progressive opening track "Funeral For a Friend" of which I fell in love with. And, later down the road, I did go back and listen to Captain Fantastic and end up loving it all the more.

A happy ending after all.

[Martin Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Con un punto de vista muy personal, este libro es un excelente acompañamiento a la escucha activa del rock progresivo. Sin ser exhaustivo, o profundizar mucho en los aspectos técnicos del género, ofrece una opinión sobre un puñado de álbumes sobresalientes en las diferentes edades del progresivo, llegando incluso a la primera década de este siglo. Intercala las opiniones de los discos con algunas discusiones generales de temas como los artistas que crearon las portadas de los álbumes, los instrumentos representativos, o el papel de la mujer en las bandas de progresivo. Recomendable para quienes ya han tenido un acercamiento previo a este estilo musical.

Para una introducción más especializada, recomiendo la Crónica del Rock Progresivo.

[Gary A. Lucero · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great look at prog

I assumed this book would mostly talk about seventies prog rock because that's all I know about. It in fact takes us through every decade from the late sixties until almost the present day, and talks intelligently but with heart about bands, individuals and music from all around the world.

The book's focus is mostly on Great Britain but as mentioned, it spans the globe, with album reviews, info on touring, and discussions of the pressures on not only prog but the music industry as a whole.

If you're a prog rock fan, you'll enjoy this book. It still offers interesting insights even if you think you know everything about the genre.