Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #8: Mei, by ECHOLYN

Album: Mei
Year: 2002
Country: USA
Running time: 49 mins. 33 secs.
Spotify link
YouTube link (live version with mono audio)

Mei, by the Pennsylvanian symphonic prog group Echolyn is the longest track in the top 20. It runs nearly 50 minutes uninterrupted. You actually need to make a calendar reservation for yourself to be able to listen to the entire track, beginning to end, in one sitting.

This would most likely have made certain prog artists from the 1970's envious. Think about the effort that Jethro Tull had to go through to make A Passion Play (#17) at least appear to be a single, continuous song. In the vinyl era, Mei would have just fit into a single vinyl disc, using both sides, and cutting it mercilessly in half at some point around 25 minutes which might not even be a suitable place for a pause, for flipping the record over.

Usually, magnum opuses of this size are ambient compositions where the track is easily expanded by sustaining individual soundscapes for longer periods. It wasn't all that hard for Brian Eno to fill an entire CD with his 60-minute Thursday Afternoon since it didn't change all too much during that whole time. But this is not the case with Echolyn. Mei is a continuous song that evolves its entire running time, and contains no extended ambient passages.

Mei is the story of a man driving in his car and reflecting on his life, possibly because of a crisis of some kind that he has encountered. The group have described the track as "a combination of Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Dante Alighieri's Inferno" as well as a love song "with love as something intangible and yet all encompassing, fragile, and yet eternal" ... "but a backdrop of darkness forever surrounds this love".

The opening of Mei is infinitely beautiful. First, vibraphone enters the soundscape played at a very, very low volume (not so low in the YouTube clip above) that is barely audible. Second, the strings join in with a sad melody that sounds slightly like quiet weeping. Next up is flute, then piano, and then finally the actual song begins. During its running time, it can mostly be classified as mellow rock, although there are some hard rocking passages as well.

One amusing thing is that Mei has even a chorus which we first hear twice between 5 and 8 minutes. Then it appears again... over half an hour later, at the 43-minute point! It is very likely a unique composition in this sense: there are some remnants of a regular song structure, but they have been twisted almost beyond recognition. Most of the individual sequences are played in succession but not repeated. And then, finally, in the very end the quiet vibraphone opening of the song is also used as its closing, bringing back memories from 49 minutes in the past.

Echolyn has made some other good albums as well, in particular As the World (1995) but none of them are so consistently masterful as Mei. Their most recent release is really very, very recent: their brand new, self-titled album Echolyn has just been released this June. Judging from the short samples I have heard so far, Echolyn has done some excellent work.

Echolyn is the group's first studio album release in seven years, since The End is Beautiful (2005). Its title is a little strange choice, considering that their debut album from 1991 was also called simply Echolyn. Some confusion between these two is to be expected.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #9: The Gates of Delirium, by YES

Album: Relayer
Year: 1974
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 21 mins. 55 secs.
Spotify link
YouTube link

Yes, that is finally making its debut on this list, is one of, if not the most important group in the entire history of progressive rock. Formed in 1968, they released their debut album in August 1969, and are still sort of alive, having released Fly From Here (2011) last July - possibly their weakest studio album ever. Yes is also responsible for the despicable single hit Owner of a Lonely Heart (1983) which is probably the song that the audience at large best remembers them for.

Their real musical career was way more ambitious than said oversimple radio hit. This is especially true for Relayer (1974) which is almost certainly their weirdest, most challenging and way, way out there recording. If you'd like to have an easy introduction to progressive rock, do not start here. Side A of the vinyl release is filled by the song that is our current subject of discussion. Side B has two shorter tracks which clock just under ten minutes each. The latter of them, To Be Over, sounds almost like normal music when compared to the previous two.

According to the legend, the A Side filler The Gates of Delirium was inspired by the mammoth novel War and Peace by the Russian master writer Leo Tolstoy. As such, it is almost certainly the most outlandish and surreal anti-war song ever recorded. Its desperate and aggressive attitude may have been partially influenced by the recent disappointing departure of one of the group's then most important members Rick Wakeman, who had left to completely concentrate on his solo career. But I guess more likely this was just something that happened to be on the table at the time.

Printed on the inside of the LP cover is a pretty picture of the group, now featuring new Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz: a bunch of long haired hippies sitting meditatively on a piece of grassland and looking ever so peaceful. The Gates of Delirium is the absolute contradiction to this picture: restless, almost senseless, noisy and at times intentionally ugly. We get to the point right from the start. The introductory instrumental sequence already begins in the hallucinatory, aggression-at-the-existence-of-war mode, and when the lyrics kick in, they are precisely as incomprehensible as is contextually fitting:

Wars that shout in screams of anguish
Power spent passion bespoils our soul receiver
Surely we know
In glory we rise to offer
Create our freedom
A word we utter
A word

The rest of the song makes absolutely no more sense, although the anti-war stance is fairly obvious. When the band starts "pounding out the Devil's sermon" we are treated to easily the most chaotic instrumental sequence ever created by Yes. Not only is the music truly intense by itself. There are now also added sound effects that describe war, such as explosions and gunfire. These are not actual sounds, but rather their reproductions with musical instruments. During this sequence Chris Squire plays the hell out of his bass guitar, pay attention.

After the instrumental sequence has reached a truly insane climax, with astonishing work by drummer Alan White, Yes finally concludes their lengthy song with an extended peaceful sequence that hopes there would be no more war. This part of the track got, strange as it may sound, a single release under the title Soon. I have always wondered if those who purchased that single ever realised what an incredible musical chaos preceded it on the original recording.

For myself, The Gates of Delirium brings fond memories. Relayer was the first album I purchased after I finally got my very first turntable, a couple of months before turning sixteen, in the early spring of 1979. Such pounding I took at such a tender age.

Perhaps the strangest piece of information about Relayer is that it was a commercial hit in its time. Released in November 1974, it hit the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic, peaked at #4 in the U.K. and at #5 in the U.S. Words fail. This is incredible considering the anti-commercial content of the album. The music buying public was so enlightened then, as opposed to what they appear to be today.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #10: Larks' Tongues in Aspic (Part 1), by KING CRIMSON

Album: Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Year: 1973
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 13 mins. 39 secs.
YouTube link 1 (good sound quality, but ends abruptly at 7 mins. 43 secs.)
YouTube link 2 (poor sound quality, full track)

We are now taking a giant leap ahead. While I don't want to look down on the tracks that took places #11 through #20, it is the top 10 that really blows my mind. They are the greatest of the great, that make one wonder how mere humans can pull something like them off. All of the songs in the top 20 are outstanding, but the top 10 are the true pinnacles.

Let me put it this way. Tracks #11 to #20 are exemplary achievements that all of mankind should hear, to learn what marvellous results can be achieved through musical genius. On top of the same, tracks #1 to #10 should also be launched into space to astound the rest of the universe, and hopefully to be preserved for eternity, as mankind's unending legacy.

This somewhat modest introduction brings us, finally, to King Crimson. Between 1969 and 1972, this legendary progressive rock group led by Robert Fripp had released four studio albums and one live album. Their debut In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) had become an instant classic, and others also contained some greatness, although were more uneven.

At this point, in mid-1972, Fripp suddenly decided to start over again by letting go all the personnel except himself and hiring new people to take their place. This decision might have been influenced by the latest studio album Islands (1971) that had been noticeably weaker than the previous recordings, although even it had included at least one true masterwork, the instrumental Sailor's Tale.

The resulting new incarnation of King Crimson released three studio albums during 1973 and 1974. Larks' Tongues in Aspic was the first one of them. On these albums, the group sounded considerably different than before. John Wetton (also of U.K, see #14) was the new singer and bass guitarist. Bill Bruford (also of Yes, more about them a little later) was the new drummer. To begin with, there were other official members such as violinist David Cross and percussionist Jamie Muir, but by the time Red (1974) came out, even the album cover displayed only Fripp, Wetton and Bruford.

Lark's Tongues in Aspic, Part 1 is the opening track of the new album, and achieves its greatness via rather unorthodox means - for a rock group, anyway. The entire masterpiece is instrumental, and its dynamic range is really wide. It opens with a very, very quiet theme played by Muir, then gradually expands into a very loud heavy metal theme. There is no recognizable song structure, instead we move from one challenging theme to another. Occasionally, it is David Cross who plays a slow violin sequence by himself. Next moment, Fripp's guitar arrives to the front with explosive thunder. Changes are sometimes sudden.

It is difficult to compare Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1 to virtually anything else in rock. This incarnation of King Crimson used a lot of improvisation as a means of creating music, and while Part 1 is not improvised, it has a similar spontaneous feel to it. The end result may owe a lot to the free music scene of the time. Within the field of progressive rock, it is an awe-inspiring masterwork that remains endlessly enigmatic every time you listen to it.

A couple of words about the subsequent parts of Larks' Tongues in Aspic. Part 2 concludes this same album, and is much closer to regular rock music. An interesting side note: a couple of years ago Dream Theater released a cover version of Part 2 that is in some ways better than the original. DT's playing is much more disciplined than KC's, with every single note in place at 100th part of a second's precision.

Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part III can be found on the album Three of a Perfect Pair (1984), and is completely forgettable.

Not so with Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part IV. It resides on The ConstruKction of Light (2000) and is arguably at least Part 1's equal. I would so much have loved to be able to include it on this list, but couldn't find a way to make it eligible. Again an instrumental, it is divided into three separate tracks on the CD, making inclusion slightly questionable already - it has indeed three movements that are a little different. This alone wouldn't have stopped me, but the next challenge is that its total running time is only 11 mins. 18 secs.

The deciding factor is that Part IV isn't really a complete track without its epilogue, Coda: I Have a Dream, which is the next track on the album. All three movements of Part IV and Coda form one single continuous track on the album, without any breaks. Also, this combination would be long enough to be eligible. But it has two different titles, so I decided not to include it in the top 20.

Anyway, be sure to check Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part IV / Coda: I Have a Dream out. It is a stunning musical achievement, although not an easy one.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #11: Octavarium, by DREAM THEATER

Album: Octavarium
Year: 2005
Country: USA
Running time: 24 mins. 1 sec.
Spotify link
YouTube link

The second artist or group to appear in the top 20 for a second time are American progressive metal masters Dream Theater, who however are once again not particularly metallic in my selection. The title track of their album Octavarium from seven years ago finishes just outside top 10. There are some individual, genuine prog metal sequences but they form only a small part of the 24-minute track which mostly falls into symphonic prog category.

I received some feedback to my previous article about Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (#16), and was informed that the string arrangements of that piece's overture were not real strings but only Jordan Rudess's keyboards. Well OK, I can buy that, but this time around, there really is a genuine orchestra playing in the background!

Again, a long composition begins with an overture of sorts, played with keyboards and guitar, and setting a melancholic mood. This opening is slightly reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Part 1. Shortly before the four-minute mark the rest of the instruments join the song, and we are on our way. By the time James LaBrie first starts singing, the listener should realise that the band is now really on to something. The melody in the first movement is memorable and beautiful, played and sung in low volume, which fits well the lyrics' central theme of regret over past mistakes: uncertainty about whether one has become what one actually wanted to.

Like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, the song connects several separate movements. Here we have five of them, and they all tell their own, loosely connected stories. The second movement adds tempo, especially in the instrumental sequence, and is overall equally well written as the first.

In the third movement the band really starts rocking, and the first genuine metal riffs are played. Drummer Mike Portnoy wrote the lyrics of this movement quite ingeniously by combining the titles of about 30 of his favourite songs and artists - even Supper's Ready (#12) is mentioned! The third movement ends with a kick-ass instrumental sequence where it is John Petrucci's turn to show off his guitar playing skills. Jordan Rudess's keyboard sound is here very much like Eddie Jobson's (see #14) in the latter part of 1970's.

At just under a minute and a half, the fourth movement is the shortest and also most aggressive. Following some truly serious prog metal riffs, the orchestra finally opens the closing sequence with yet another beautiful melody that finally segues into a reprise of the opening theme. All ends as it began, the lyrics also confirm. The final movement is then crowned with one of the absolute all time best climbs into a massive ending. Petrucci's guitar leads the way to a perfectly orchestrated (and I mean that literally) finale that you can't listen to without goosebumps. The final piano note is the same one that Octavarium the album was opened with over an hour earlier.

Octavarium is Dream Theater's undeniable masterwork they have yet to surpass. I had the pleasure of attending their concert in Helsinki, Finland in 2005 where they performed this track live in its entirety. This was against my expectations, as I thought they wouldn't spend 24 minutes of the allocated time playing a single song. A pleasant surprise, then, and one of my best concert experiences ever, thank you guys!

I have heard criticism against Octavarium the song for not offering anything really new, and instead simply rceycling a number of progressive rock clichés. I'm not sure if that is a completely valid point, but be that as it may, I don't really care either. Who does? If an artist or a group can achieve something of this magnitude by combining variations of existing works, they should by all means keep on doing so. Go ahead and do it again! Several times over!

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #12: Supper's Ready, by GENESIS

Album: Foxtrot
Year: 1972
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 22 mins. 58 secs.
Spotify link
YouTube link

One of the most popular symphonic prog groups ever, Genesis was formed in 1967 by a group of art students.They went on to build a huge following during the first half of the 1970's, from where Supper's Ready also originates. It is the closing track of the group's fourth studio album Foxtrot (1972), yet even at 23 minutes, it fails to completely fill the vinyl disc's B side, where a short acoustic guitar composition Horizons precedes it.

Foxtrot was recorded at a point when the group was already well known and their success starting to peak. They had evolved rapidly since their debut, From Genesis to Revelation (1969) which was just a mediocre collection of pop songs. The following years saw fast development. Already on the second album Trespass (1970) regular late sixties pop had given way to ambitious, long art rock songs whose lyrics told tales from faraway lands, whose typical song was over seven minutes long, and whose album cover looked like a medieval painting.

Nursery Cryme (1971) followed in the same vein, and the group managed to sound consistently more or less the same in spite of constant personnel changes. This album introduced new drummer Phil Collins, who was already the fourth different drummer on only three albums (the first drummer change occurred during the recording of the debut album), as well as Steve Hackett, who was the second guitarist. For now, the personnel changes were over and the classic lineup in place. The same five guys made also Foxtrot as well as a couple of later albums and nothing changed until the charismatic singer Peter Gabriel decided to leave Genesis in 1975.

Foxtrot was the first Genesis release to enter the U.K. Top 20 album chart. It peaked at #12, so it is quite fitting to have Supper's Ready occupy that exact same position here. The track consists of seven shorter parts whose lyrics are at times poignant, and at other times silly; one minute deadly serious and the next humorous. Topics range from love, war, and death to the apocalypse. The second coming of "Lord of Lords, King of Kings" is used as a climax.

Musical themes also differ wildly from each other. First, we are treated to a beautiful opening Lovers' Leap, yet later we need to endure the comical Willow Farm and still later be impressed by the Apocalypse, played in the challenging 9/8 time signature. This may sound more than just a little schizophrenic, but regardless of the differences between individual sequences, the ball is never dropped and the piece has a feel of a single composition.

Supper's Ready is one of the best examples of typical, rather easily accessible 1970's symphonic prog. For myself, it has not aged very well and after refreshing my memory with it a couple of times, I decided to drop it out of the top 10 where I had originally thought it would be. I remember buying the vinyl version of Foxtrot in 1980, at age seventeen, as one of the first albums to play with my first genuine stereo set. At that time, it was my favourite track of all time.

Supper's Ready seems to have given inspiration to later artists. If interested, try and compare it with one of Marillion's early works called Grendel. You may notice certain similarities. If you do, pay special attention to the time signature between 12:35 and 15:26.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #13: Sysyphus, by PINK FLOYD

Album: Ummagumma
Year: 1969
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 13 mins. 22 secs.
YouTube link

All the lengthy songs and compositions that made it to the top 20 are from different albums. But not all of them are from different artists or groups. When counting backwards from #20 towards #1, the first artist to appear for a second time is Pink Floyd. This wonderful instrumental also happens to be the oldest track in the top 20, released in 1969.

My selection of Sysyphus as #13 could well be the most controversial choice on the list. The general consensus seems to be that the entire album Ummagumma, its studio recording part in particular, is one of the less successful efforts of the band. More accurately, the person who should be blamed for Sysyphus is the keyboardist Richard Wright (1943 - 2008).

Ummagumma is a double vinyl release, where the first disc contains live versions of material from their first studio releases, and the second disc is a studio recording where each of the four members composed and performed half a vinyl side's worth of music. Sysyphus is Wright's offering. The whole idea of group members recording this kind of collection of their individual works as an addition to a competent live album seems to have been met with indifference by the fan base.

To make things even worse, I have my favourite tracks of the studio disc in a very peculiar order when compared to the majority (?) of Pink Floyd fans. We can all agree that Nick Mason's part is easily the weakest - the guy was never even a good drummer, let alone a composer. But the general opionion seems to hold Roger Waters's section in the highest regard. That means, the entertaining but mediocre Grantchester Meadows and downright ridiculous Several Species of Small Furry Animals etc. I'm sorry, no.

My favourites are David Gilmour's The Narrow Way, which is not good enough to earn an inclusion in the top 20, but perfectly fine nonetheless. And of course, Wright's wonderful, instrumental four piece suite, which is our topic right now. I don't see how anyone could fail to notice Wright's immense talent as a composer after hearing Sysyphus. Following Syd Barrett's departure, the late keyboardist was probably my favourite songwriter in the band, although I don't mean to claim that Waters and Gilmour weren't masters in that craft as well.

Sysyphus opens and closes with a strong mellotron theme. Following the intro, there is a piano section that begins with a beautiful melody but gradually turns into something increasingly avant-garde, until Wright is ready to perform his master trick. He pauses, climbs inside the piano, and continues to play its wires using (I suppose) his fingers! Yes, we are now deep in the psychedelia territory, normal rules no longer apply.

Later on, in the third part of the suite, a very quiet mellotron sequence has a somehow sad and desperate feel to it until it is suddenly broken by an almost menacing wall of sound played with VERY high volume. This means a potential heart attack for the CD generation, but those of us who own this album on vinyl were always warned in advance, by the typical-for-vinyl pre-echo that could be heard one full rotation of the disc before it actually hit the speakers.

And then we climb back to the opening theme: slightly shaken, very impressed. Ladies and gentlemen: I give you the 13th greatest long prog masterpiece of all time.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #14: Carrying No Cross, by U.K.

Album: Danger Money
Year: 1979
Country: United Kingdom / USA
Running time: 12 mins. 20 secs.
YouTube link

Where should I begin? U.K. was a regrettably short-lived yet simply fantastic progressive rock group from the late 1970's, who are now attempting to regroup at this very moment.

U.K's original lineup was already a real Who's Who of British prog heroes. John Wetton, vocals and bass guitar: formerly of King Crimson and Roxy Music, later of Asia. Eddie Jobson, keyboards and electric violin: formerly of Curved Air, Roxy Music and Frank Zappa's band. Allan Holdsworth, guitars: formerly of Gong and Soft Machine. And last but not least, Bill Bruford, drums and percussion: formerly of Yes and King Crimson.

This lineup released the group's debut album U.K. in 1978, which I suppose could already be called a classic. Elements of progressive rock were as much present as those of jazz fusion, which I think is the main reason I have never been a big fan of this particular album. Sure, In the Dead of Night is an excellent track, but there is little else to get excited about.

In my opinion, it was only after the debut album that things really clicked. Holdsworth and Bruford left the group, and Holdsworth was not replaced, which means we were left with a progressive rock group without a lead guitarist. Bruford was replaced by, and I know this is a personal opinion and statement, possibly the single greatest drummer alive: Terry Bozzio, formerly of Frank Zappa's band and later of Missing Persons. This is the exact same lineup that has now reformed for a world tour.

Wetton, Jobson and Bozzio recorded and released U.K's second album Danger Money in 1979, and the result was an instant symphonic prog masterpiece. A couple of the tracks are maybe slightly weaker than others, but overall, the dynamic trio do an excellent job. The real highlight is the closing track of the album. Carrying No Cross clocks only 12 minutes and 20 seconds but has the feel of a 20-minute prog epic.

Like the rest of the album, this track represents symphonic prog in its truest form, yet the kicker is that it is also clearly separated from the rest because of the very lack of the lead guitarist. Since there is no guitar hero taking centre stage, it is Eddie Jobson's keyboards and electric violin that end up being the solo instruments. This brings a unique feel to the complicatedly woven passages of instrumental sequences which take most of the track's second half. Wetton is also at his best, bringing genuine feeling to his vocals, not only in this song but also in others on the same album.

There should be no need to mention Terry Bozzio separately... His performance on this entire album should earn him a place in the Hall of Fame of TRULY INCREDIBLE rock drummers. His crowning achievement is in fact another track on this same album, The Only Thing She Needs, but Carrying No Cross also challenges young, beginning percussionists. I hope they dare try to achieve the same level without losing their nerve. Drummers like this are needed also in the future!

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #15: Echoes, by PINK FLOYD

Album: Meddle
Year: 1971
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 23 mins. 29 secs.
YouTube link

In 1971, Pink Floyd was in the middle of things. The genius Syd Barrett was long gone, and the great success of The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) was still a couple of years ahead. What could be even more significant, the clash of egos within the group was still a thing of the future. On later albums, Roger Waters and David Gilmour did most of the composing, and still later, Waters seemed to do everything by himself, until the group had no other choice but to break up.

This was not the situation with Meddle. It was one of the last real group efforts, where all the members contributed, in particular to lyrics. Following the lacklustre Atom Heart Mother (1970), Pink Floyd was uncertain about the next direction they should take. Between January and August 1971, they started experimenting and one of the major results was this 23 and a half minute composition that fills the B side of the vinyl release.

Echoes is a fine example of a situation where a group of extremely talented musicians end up creating a masterpiece simply by a series of experiments, even though they start working without any concrete idea of where they should be going. The track starts with a sound effect that was a result of one of these experiments. The keyboardist Richard Wright fed a single note through a Leslie speaker, which resulted in a very submarine-like ping, and which is used as the opening for the composition. This is then combined with Gilmour's guitar, and we are on our way.

Structure-wise, Echoes is not particularly complicated. Following the introduction, there are rather simple, typically Pink Floydian verses which are followed by an instrumental sequence deeply rooted in rhythm & blues, with a strong percussion. Wright's organ and Gilmour's guitar keep the atmosphere decidedly ominous, maybe even slightly threatening. For this reason, what follows comes as no big surprise and here's where the group's genius really starts shining through.

For several minutes, there is no music at all - in the traditional sense, anyway. Instead, we are drawn into the world of Echoes by an atmospheric sound effects sequence, possibly the best of its kind ever recorded on a progressive rock album. It sounds like we have entered an enormous cave, with low wind howling and crows croaking. There are occasional other sound effects that sound like whistles, but most of the sequence comprises of wind and croaking.

Following this, we start ascending back to ground level, and once we emerge, we are greeted by the absolutely greatest sequence of electric guitar riffs ever played. If there ever was a doubt that David Gilmour wasn't a worthy successor to Syd Barrett, after hearing this, it is long gone. Even when we resume the temporarily discontinued main theme, the goosebumps simply won't go away. And when we close the track to another series of slightly scary sound effects, there is no doubt that what we have just heard is a true masterwork and easily worth a place in the top 20 of all time.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #16: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, by DREAM THEATER

Album: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Year: 2002
Country: USA
Running time: 42 mins. 2 secs.
Spotify link (entire album)
YouTube link

One of the most prominent progressive rock bands of recent years, Dream Theater released the double CD Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence a full decade ago. Its initial response was not particularly enthusiastic. This was understandable at the time: it was the follow-up to what many consider the group's definitive masterpiece, Scenes from a Memory (1999). Later on, the album looks to have gained the fans' acceptance, if not for any other reason that most of the more recent releases have been uneven and disappointing.

The track we are including in the top 20 is the title track of the album that is long enough to fill the entire second disc. Yes, it really does run an unbelievable 42 minutes. And, even more unbelievable as it may seem, it is NOT the longest track in our top 20!

Like many really long pieces before it, Six Degrees is made of several shorter parts that are joined together by a continuing storyline. To drive that particular point home, the track begins with an Overture that is in truth a seven-minute summary of what is to follow. All the subsequent parts are quickly played in instrumental versions, even the Grand Finale which is especially important. Following this, the actual storyline begins, describing six various mental illnesses and introducing six fictional characters that suffer from them.

Overture also summarizes the reasons that caused many fans to dislike the album, at least to begin with. Dream Theater has been known to represent the progressive metal subgenre of prog, and their latest release at the time - widely considered a classic - was particularly metal oriented. This, the follow-up, was anything but. Not only were there no metal riffs present, but to add insult to injury, there were string arrangements! Everyone's favourite prog metal band suddenly sounded like a cross between Yngwie Malmsteen and Toto, with an effing philharmonic orchestra in the background! What's not to like?

This is probably the reason for the initial negative response, but after you concentrate on the music and do so without prejudice, you can start to appreciate the masterwork that this lengthy song really is. The passages describing the various mental illnesses have distinct styles and, arguably, even musical genres, which gives the work as a whole many different facets. There are really no weak sequences, and everything is played out as impeccably as only Dream Theater can. Every single note is exactly in the right place.

What really elevates the track into masterwork status is Dream Theater's ability to create and sustain a continuing dramatic flow, with its ups and downs, and to build it up into a finale that is almost too grand to believe. When the story has been told, the music builds up to a huge pathos that might become ludicrous in the hands of lesser artists but works just beautifully here. By the time you realise that the last, endlessly sustained note will play for approximately 100 seconds before final fadeout, you will have a hard time keeping your eyes dry. And the final payoff is...

...that it re-emerges as a fade in on the group's next, vastly inferior album Train of Thought (2003). Pure genius!

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #17: A Passion Play (Part 1), by JETHRO TULL

Album: A Passion Play
Year: 1973
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 21 mins. 35 secs.
Spotify link
YouTube link

A magnificient opera house seen from the inside, in black and white. A ballerina lies frozen on the stage, apparently in the last position of a dance performance, her body arched backwards, a trickle of blood dripping from her mouth. The music contained on an album with a cover like this must be really melodramatic, right? Well, not really. Jethro Tull's classic A Passion Play is more like a playful series of musical scenes and story snippets tied together by a common theme and storyline.

The 45-minute composition is made of 16 shorter songs and instrumental passages that could in principle be independent tracks. The story, as well as similarities in composition and instrumentation however make it fully justified to combine them to a single track. There is a forced break at the point where the vinyl version's side A ends and side B begins. This problem has been addressed by the inclusion of the entire album's silliest individual part, The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles which is also cut in half in its middle. This has obviously been done in an attempt to kind of glue side A and B together, by starting the latter exactly the same way as the former ended.

The CD release sees an interesting change. The two parts of the album are included as separate tracks, and Hare has been moved entirely to the beginning of Part 2. This is definitely an improvement with regard to Part 1, since it was its weakest part to begin with. Part 1 is all the better for its removal, which of course also affects its running time. The 21 mins. and 35 secs. mentioned above is the CD version's running time. On the LP version, Part 1 contains the beginning of Hare and therefore runs for over 23 minutes.

A Passion Play originates from Jethro Tull's short period in the early 1970's when they attempted to join the progressive rock movement in earnest. The group that had blues and folk rock roots started writing long epics and appearing noticeably more serious and "artistic" than before. The band's leader Ian Anderson has later made some humorous remarks on these times, which were short-lived.

While they since steered away from the long format, there's no denying that this era produced a couple of classic albums. Of them, Thick as a Brick (1971) has generally been the more favoured one, but here I beg to differ. I have always preferred A Passion Play, which has much more variation and feels overall more positive and entertaining than its sombre, at times even depressing predecessor.

Critics of the time definitely didn't agree with me. A Passion Play received some scathing reviews, and was compared unfavourably to Brick which was thought to be far superior in every way. It is even rumoured that because of the shocking critical reception, Jethro Tull came close to breaking up. Perhaps one reason that helped them get over it was that A Passion Play climbed all the way to number 1 on the U.S. album charts. Jethro Tull's story continued a year later with War Child, once more a collection of shorter songs.

What makes A Passion Play, particularly its first part, so exhilarating is its constant flow of invention. There is always the feeling that the musicians have difficulty fitting all their varying ideas and creativity into the limited time frame they have available. This is not a common thing. It means that the band is working at the peak of their powers, and it is genuine inspiration that drives them forward - all the way to top 20.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces #18: Wonderland, by FROST*

Album: Experiments in Mass Appeal
Year: 2008
Country: United Kingdom
Running time: 15 mins. 48 secs.
Part 1 in YouTube
Part 2 in YouTube

Wonderland by the wonderful British prog group Frost* is clearly a divided work, as can easily be guessed from the two-part link above. You could even argue that the two parts don't really form a whole, and that the actual song Wonderland is only the first part. This confusion is made possible due to the common habit that many recording artists have: to add "hidden", unlisted tracks at the end of their albums.

Nothing on the album cover specifies if the second part is a somewhat different continuation of Wonderland, or a separate, unnamed track. But here we proceed with the assumption that they form a single whole. They do on the CD as well, where both parts and the nearly 50-second silence that separates them add up to well over the 12 minutes which are our minimum requirement. (Note: Part 2 behind the YouTube link is missing some low sounds both at the beginning and especially at the end.)

I also like to think that Part 2 is really part of the same track because these two complement each other extremely well. The Part 1's hard rocking yin sounds like the polar opposite of Part 2's ethereally beautiful yang. And once again, there is no fade out at the end of a true prog masterpiece. Instead, Wonderland just seems to slowly fade away, each melancholic note slightly weaker than the preceding one.

Frost*, who may not ring many bells among the public at large, is the absolute best new progressive rock band that I have come across in many, many years. The group's brilliance encompasses both musical composition and instrument playing skill. The latter is particularly true for the incredible guitarist John Mitchell and magnificient rock drummer Andy Edwards, both among the very best in their respective fields today.

Composing duties, on the other hand, seem to mainly fall on the band's frontman, keyboardist and singer Jem Godfrey, whose past is not only in the area of progressive rock but also as a producer of regular pop hits. And the production is indeed one of the exceptionally strong points on the band's debut album Milliontown (2006). Wonderland is the last track of the second album Experiments in Mass Appeal (2008) which was released in the autumn. This makes Wonderland the most recently released song in the entire top 20. So, we didn't have too long to wait for that one following Sand (#19), which is the second most recent.

Experiments in Mass Appeal is a fine prog album, but admittedly it still pales in comparison with the powerhouse that was the debut of Frost*. Production values aren't quite as high as they were the first time around, and sadly we don't hear as much of Mitchell's virtuoso guitar work as we did then. Even the overall quality of the songwriting seems to be slightly weaker. This is especially true for the first couple of tracks, which I rarely return to. But following them, there is a long line of strong songs with frequent highlights, and the ending is top 20 material.

There have been rumours about a third Frost* studio album for some time now. Its coming was actually even announced by the Talented Mr. Godfrey, in his blog on 16 September last year. The aim was then to release the new album in 2012, but so far, little more has been heard of it. Whenever this third album's release date will be, it can't be too soon. Anticipation following two excellent earlier releases could hardly be any higher.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces, #19: Sand, by DEMIANS

Album: Building an Empire
Year: 2008
Country: France
Running time: 16 mins. 9 secs.
YouTube link

Even though Demians sounds like the name of a group, there was in truth only one member at the time of their debut album's release: talented French musician Nicolas Chapel. Said debut album Building an Empire was released in May 2008. This was only four years ago, and yet Sand is not even the most recent entry in the top 20. I suppose that says good things about the state of progressive rock genre today. We will return to that one even more recent song a little later on.

Sand is the closing track of this excellent album, and what an immensely powerful closing it is. None of the seven preceding tracks are even ten minutes long, but Sand uses its sixteen to combine moments of quiet tenderness and melancholy to those of raw power and aggression. It is easily the most heavy metal -like entry in the entire top 20 and definitely the only one where singing at one point transforms to aggressive, low, throaty screaming.

And yet, even though Sand and maybe even Demians overall might be labeled progressive metal, it isn't really metal that Chapel concentrates on. Not even here, and even less on the other tracks of the debut album. In Sand, there are some heavy riffs, granted, but they comprise only a small portion of what could best be described as a melodic, mainly guitar, drum and voice driven progressive rock song.

We begin the musical journey of Sand with peaceful and quiet notes, perhaps even deceptively so. Tight drumming does start almost at the beginning, though, a vague suggestion of what lies ahead. Shortly after the halfway point things get very noisy and aggressive, after which there is an extended, much quieter and downright beautiful sequence. There we get a chance to gradually reach a more peaceful and mellow state once again. The last minutes of the song are instrumental and instead of a clear ending point it just seems to fade away - even though there is no fade out at the end.

Nicolas Chapel has not wanted to rest on his laurels following his debut. Demians' second album Mute was released in 2010, and a third, yet untitled studio album is due out later this year. Mute is a collection of shorter songs, the longest of which clocks just under seven and a half minutes. To be perfectly honest, there is nothing as powerful there as Sand but Chapel's talent as a creator of beautiful melodies continues to shine through.

Following Mute's release, Chapel was joined by guitarist Fred Mariolle, who is now officially the second member of Demians and therefore the upcoming third album is the first co-operative effort of two musicians. On the first two, Chapel played all the instruments and employed others only on tour. It will definitely be interesting to hear how the combination of two talents will affect the musical landscape of Demians.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces, #20: Hamburger Concerto, by FOCUS

Album: Hamburger Concerto
Year: 1974
Country: The Netherlands
Running time: 20 mins. 21 secs.
Spotify link
YouTube link

The saying goes that all's well that ends well, and this applies particularly well to the closing track of the fourth studio album from the Dutch progressive rock group Focus. The title track of said album Hamburger Concerto takes up a lot of space: almost the entire B side of the vinyl release, and runs almost precisely the 20 minutes that the compositions of our preferred format naturally aspire to.

The former studio releases of the group, In and Out of Focus (1970), Moving Waves (1972) and the double vinyl Focus 3 (1973) had already shown plenty of promise and given us a couple of classics in shorter format. The humorous Hocus Pocus and, in particular, the beautiful instrumental guitar rock piece Sylvia had received plenty of radio play and by 1974 made a name for the group led by keyboardist, flutist and singer Thjis Van Leer, with guitarist Jan Akkerman. The fourth studio album turned out to be the high point of their career, along with the earlier favourite Moving Waves. In its wake, they released only three more, noticeably weaker studio works before disbanding in 1978. A few further attempts to reawaken the Focus name were made in 1985, 2002 and 2006, without much success.

For myself, Hamburger Concerto is a late find. In the early 1980's, during my most eager prog collection phase, I mistook it for a live album and therefore never checked it out, being already then as well as now only interested in studio albums. It wasn't until 2008 that I ran into a CD version during my summer holiday in Kuopio, Finland, and while standing at the record shelf in Levykauppa Äx suddenly realised that I had missed an important studio album by a group I had always liked.

Upon listening, Hamburger Concerto turned out to be a return to form following the more jazz influenced and uneven Focus 3 that had only had a couple of interesting tracks to offer in addition to the already classic instrumental Sylvia. This time, there were once again more influences from classical music, which seemed to suit the group a lot better. I must admit that the long title track didn't make much of an impression when I first listened to it, but has really grown on me since.

The 20-minute Hamburger Concerto is mainly an instrumental piece, apart from occasional comical, nonsensical vocal acrobatics by Van Leer, already familiar from the classic track Hocus Pocus. Like in a real "concerto", the dominating presence is that of an organ. To turn this into a genuine rock track, Akkerman's guitars and new drummer Colin Allen's percussion take the foreground wherever suitable. On top of this, Van Leer plays his flute a lot.

All this skill and inspiration combined already results in an above average prog instumental but still not something quite worthy of a place in top 20. What really elevates the track into classic status is the stupefying Grand Finale. It begins at approximately 16 mins. and 50 secs. into the piece and uses the last three and a half minutes of its running time.

I don't see how any prog fan can be anything but blown away by the sudden, even a little unexpected explosion of pure genius, as Van Leer's vocal work is suddenly replaced by a massive wall of sound generated mainly by the organ and complemented by a truly inspired piece of piano work. What has been going on for quite a while as a competent, clearly above average prog rock instrumental suddenly becomes something truly memorable during these closing minutes, thus bringing to an unforgettable climax, and at the same time closing the golden era of the Dutch group.

Without the immense power of its finale, Hamburger Concerto would never have made the top 20. Had the preceding minutes been on that same level, it would easily have climbed to top 10, as one of the greatest lengthy prog works ever made in Continental Europe.

Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces

Way back in the 1970's, which I guess could be considered the Golden Age of progressive rock, music recordings were released on 12 inch (30 cm) vinyl discs. Music was recorded on both sides of the disc and played back using truly exotic analog equipment known as a turntable. This may, and probably will, sound outlandish to those born after said decade.

Vinyl discs may seem cumbersome to contemporary music lovers who collect their favorite songs as MP3 or MP4 files in their iTunes collection or, simpler still, use the advanced streaming services of today, available over the internet from various service providers. But back in my youth, they were the definitive way of collecting music. And, as it happens, they had a profound effect on how longer songs and compositions were shaped when it came to certain, shall we say more ambitious genres of popular music.

Pioneers of progressive rock were not content with the simple 3-minute song format that had become popular before their heyday. They wanted to challenge, perhaps even educate, their listeners by creating not only memorable songs or instrumental compositions, but complex works of art that rejected the traditional pop song structure, time signatures, and limitations in length. At the same time, simple lyrics concentrating on young love were replaced by metaphysical meditations on existence, fantastic fables, historical tales, or basically anything with a grandiose scale or implied deep meaning.

However, there was one limitation that the 1970's masters of prog were not able to overcome. A single side of a vinyl disc could contain little more than 25 minutes of music. This meant that, regardless of how overblown the ambition and the imagination of the artist, there was always a limitation that was impossible to exceed. This situation gave birth to the 20-minute prog epic, one of the great gifts of that decade. Both the most popular and obscure acts were forced to fit their efforts to this time frame.

Many albums were released with only two songs included: one massive prog epic on the A side of the vinyl disc, another on the B side. Sometimes side B was a direct continuation of side A, in an effort to create one single 45-minute track such as Jethro Tull's ambitious A Passion Play (1973). Similarly, certain double albums had only four tracks, such as Tales from the Topographic Oceans (1973) by one of the decade's best loved prog acts Yes.

All of these songs had ambitious form and content, complex structures and impeccable instrumentation, but by the time the 20th minute was approaching, you could count on the track to have started climbing towards its big finale.

The following series of articles aims to honour the greatest among these great works. Not everything that came out during the 1970's in the 20 to 25 minute format was great, obviously, but some of the most magnificient popular music created in the entire 20th century was actually shaped as a result of the time limitation dictated by the physical size of a vinyl disc. My intention is to extensively present and analyse what I think are the 20 absolute best works of progressive rock that more or less follow the 20-minute format and, in case of some of the later works, actually exceed it in length due to the removal of the vinyl disc limitation.

I have set the minimum duration of my top 20 tracks to 12 minutes. That is around three times the length of your average single hit, which already implies considerable ambition but not necessarily repetition. Some of my favourites are able to break the 25-minute barrier because the were recorded in the CD era, but admittedly the majority of the titles listed originate from the 1970's and therefore the vinyl era.

I have decided to exclude some 1970's favourites that at the time were considered by many to be part of the progressive rock genre, but which on hindsight turned out to be something else. These rejections include for example the German group Tangerine Dream, who made several approximately 20-minute masterpieces that might be considered progressive but which to my mind are pioneering works of the electronica genre. Same applies to artists like Mike Oldfield who composed several outstanding and extremely well received 20-minute masterpieces but, looking back, was always first and foremost a New Age composer. Another German group Popol Vuh always sounded like a cross between these two, and was also not considered for top 20.

What exactly was I looking for then? Here are some examples that were considered, but did not make it to the list.

The Remembering (High the Memory) by Yes, from aforementioned Tales from the Topographic Oceans (1973). A lovely, melodic progressive rock piece that clocks just under 20 minutes. Best remembered for Rick Wakeman's keyboards, this is a nice and pleasant composition but on the other hand also way too simple to fully please - same can be said for the entire double album - let alone qualify in top 20.

Tarkus (1971) by Emerson Lake & Palmer. The only track by one of the most overrated progressive rock acts of the 1970's that fully complied to the 20-minute format and is actually pretty good. Not good enough to fit in the top 20, but kind of neat anyway. It filled the A side of ELP's second album, while the B side was filled with crap, more or less the story of their career.

And, as an example of more recent works, The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1 (1995) by Porcupine Tree. Even in the CD era, Steven Wilson composed a techno-influenced prog composition that clocks around 20 minutes and as such, is an exception in PT's discography. An interesting work worth listening to but not quite worthy of the top 20.

OK. Enough about those who didn't quite make it. Next article will be about one of the long songs that did make it, to #20. I am aiming to complete this series by the end of July 2012. Please feel free to give your own comments and by all means criticize my choices, be they undeserved inclusions or unbelievable omissions. At the time of this writing, I am not even sure what the top of the list will look like - I have a general idea, but it will take a lot of re-listening to come up with a final order for the absolute best. Let's hope I will be able to do justice to the greatest of the great.