Author: Don

I disliked Aqualung. I listened to Thick as a Brick all the way through — once — and lost interest in Jethro Tull forever. However, their first three albums, with Glen Cornick on bass and Clive Bunker on drums, are still worth listening to.

“Funk #49” got all the airplay ‘way back when, but #48, from their first album, is more fun.

Stravinsky is best-known for his big foot-stomping ballets, but I like his neoclassical works as well.

From the first Dan Hicks record I ever bought.

Le Orme, with Antonio Pagliuca on keyboards, could be considered the Italian counterpart of ELP, though they had a distinctive flavor of their own.

Bunky and Jake caught my ear a century ago when I first started listening to the radio. Few people remember them, but they still sound good to me.

Another one of the tunes I heard at my Aunt Margaret’s when I was eleven, and my favorite among them.

The closest thing to a hit that the band named for an imaginary breakfast cereal ever had.

Any list of the great pianists that doesn’t include Art Tatum is incomplete.

Some easy Bartok. His music is not all grating dissonances.

What “koeeoaddi” means, Robin Williamson himself probably doesn’t know.

The better Italian prog rockers were every bit as good as their English-singing coevals. It’s about time I posted some of their efforts. We’ll start with a piece by Premiata Forneria Marconi, aka PFM, from their second album, Per un amico.

Jellyfish were possibly the best power pop band of them all. Unfortunately, they were active early in the ’90’s, the age of grunge. They didn’t sound like neurotic, suicidal heroin addicts, so they didn’t catch on.

John Renbourn didn’t fit neatly into any category. Faro Annie doesn’t sound much like his work with Pentangle. Sue Draheim plays fiddle; Danny Thompson and Terry Cox from Pentangle are on bass and drums.

If Yuki Kajiura had written nothing else, she’d still be remembered for this pretty, chilling tune from Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. The lyrics are in Kajiurese; any translation you find is probably more imaginative than accurate.

A brief history of classic Yes. Drummer Tatsuya Yoshida organized the zeuhl bands Ruins and Koenjihyakkei and has probably worked with every prog rock musician of note in Japan. Guitarist Kido Natsuki has been part of Bondage Fruit (a very interesting instrumental band, despite the questionable name) and Umezu Kazutoki Kiki Band. I don’t know anything about Nasuno Mitsuru; he might be worth investigating.