Progressive Rock Epics 1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Atom Heart Mother

According to Wikipedia, the album "Atom Heart Mother" peaked at number 55 on the U.S. chart and went to number one on the U.K. chart. Other facts from Wikipedia: this track was originally titled "The Amazing Pudding" - it was changed after reading a story in a newspaper about a woman with an atomic pacemaker. The name of the cow on the cover of the album was Lulubelle III.

Answer: Lizard

First of all, this is the longest song by King Crimson from any of their studio albums (as of 2007). The first part of the song, called "Prince Rupert Awakes," is sung by Jon Anderson of Yes. This part is followed by their version of "Bolero," then Gordon Haskell provides the vocals for "The Battle of Glass Tears."

Answer: Birdman

Ian McDonald and Michael Giles both played on the first King Crimson album, "In the Court of the Crimson King." Their album also features Steve Winwood on organ and piano on the first track "Suite in C."

Answer: Nine Feet Underground

Caravan was a major band from the "Canterbury scene," which also included bands such as Soft Machine, Camel, Egg, Hatfield and the North, National Health, and Gong. Note: There is overlap among members of some of these bands! I would describe the Canterbury style as jazzy, but Caravan was more on the rock side of the Canterbury spectrum. "In the Land of Grey and Pink" was Caravan's third album.

Answer: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers

Van Der Graaf Generator was one of the most "progressive" of all the progressive rock bands of the 70s. The lead singer was Peter Hammill (also played piano). The other members of the band were Hugh Banton (organs, piano, mellotron, bass guitar), Guy Evans (percussion), and David Jackson (Saxophones). Robert Fripp from King Crimson also appears on this album. The following is taken from the liner notes that come with the 2005 remastered cd (comments by David Jackson on the track "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers"):

"At one point we went into the studio and recorded a different Van Der Graaf tune in mono on each separate track of the 16-track tape until we'd achieved the effect of having 16 different Van Der Graaf Generator's playing simultaneously. When we heard it played back it just sounded like total chaos, unsurprisingly. After all that effort we only used a small section of the cacophony near the line 'maelstrom of my memory' and it hardly seemed worthwhile. But it shows how keen we were to push boundaries and experiment, even if we sometimes failed to achieve what we had hoped for."

Mark Powell who wrote the liner notes goes on to add: "The final results of all this editing and complex mixing were nothing short of stunning and 'A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers' is rightly cited as one of the band's most fully realised works, both musically and technically."

Answer: Journey to the Centre of the Eye

Nektar are a British band that recorded in Germany. On the 2004 SACD release of "Journey to the Centre of the Eye," the 5.1 surround version and SACD layer contains both parts of "The Dream Nebula" edited into a continuous piece. As for what the album is about, here is an excerpt from the story on the back of the cd booklet: "'Astronaut's Nightmare' A rocket leaves on course for Saturn, at a time when Earth is on the verge of a nuclear World war. 'Countenance' The rocket is intercepted by a Saucer of unknown origin.

The astronaut joins it and learns that the Saucer had been observing earth for many years and was surprised at our warlike ways. The strangers offer to show the Astronaut life in their Galaxy. The Astronaut agrees and they leave together."

Answer: Alpha Centauri

The album "Alpha Centauri" contains only three tracks. The song "Nebulous Dawn" is on their next album "Zeit." "Alpha Centauri" was the second studio album from Tangerine Dream. Tangerine Dream are a German band that are known for their experimental electronic music.

Answer: Virtuality

The lineup for this album was Hugh Hopper (bass guitar), Mike Ratledge (organ and piano), Robert Wyatt (drums), and Elton Dean (Alto Saxophone and Saxello). This is the last Soft Machine album that has Robert Wyatt on drums. Also, this is the first Soft Machine album that has no vocals.

Answer: Ys

The following is taken from the wikipedia page on "Il Balletto di Bronzo:"

"Beginning with an atmospheric organ and vocal intro and relentlessly mounting in intensity for the following 38 minutes, Ys is a narrative alluding to the legend of the mythical city of the same name. Stylistically the album moves through odd-metered fusion, progressive and psychedelic rock and avant-garde/free jazz leanings. Gianni Leone's keyboards and vocals dominate, though Ajello, Stinga and Manzari all deliver fine performances. Texturally the album is particularly rich, as it features Moog synthesizers, mellotrons, spinet, female voices and numerous stereo and tape effects. Its density and heavy use of dissonance have earned it a reputation as a difficult, if potentially rewarding, listen."

The other answers: "Darwin" is the name of an album by Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, "Per un Amico" and "L'isola di Niente" are both names of albums by Premiata Forneria Marconi.

Answer: Pudding en Gisteren Music for Ballet

This band from the Netherlands released six albums in the years 1970 - 1974, "Pudding en Gisteren" was the third. The lineup on this album included R.J. Stips (keyboards, vocals), R. van Eck (bass), M. Vrolijk (percussion), and S. van Geest (flute, tenorsax). I would describe their music as "less serious" progressive rock (there's even humor!), with great musicianship.

Answer: Supper's Ready

"Supper's Ready" is the longest song by Genesis from any of their studio albums (as of 2007). The lineup of Genesis on this album consisted of Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins. Peter Gabriel sings on "Supper's Ready," but you can hear Phil Collins sing it live on "Seconds Out." Personally, I like the live version found on "Archive" the best - it contains a narration by Peter Gabriel before the song begins.

Answer: Jenseits

The album "Join Inn" consists of only two tracks - "Freak 'N' Roll" at just over 19 minutes, and "Jenseits." The other two tracks, "Laughter Loving" and "Interplay of Forces," are from their next album "Starring Rosi." Klaus Schulze was a member of Ash Ra Temple for the "Join Inn" album. He was one of the original members of Tangerine Dream - he appears on their first album "Electronic Meditation." Rosi Mueller is the voice heard on the track "Jenseits."

Ash Ra Tempel was a German band. One interesting thing they are known for - they recorded another album in 1972 called "Seven Up" which contains Timothy Leary.

Answer: Eruption

In the liner notes from the 1988 CD, Mike Vernon says about this song: "'Eruption' was recorded in many pieces and then spliced together or overlaid."
This album is known for containing the song "Hocus Pocus," which can be described as hard rock with yodelling. According to wikipedia, the song "Hocus Pocus" from the album peaked at number nine on the U.S. singles chart. The lineup of Focus on this album: Thijs Van Leer (keyboards, flute), Jan Akkerman (guitar), Cyril Havermans (bass), and Pierre Van Der Linden (drums).

Answer: Thick as a Brick

According to wikipedia, the album "Thick as a Brick" peaked at number one on the U.S. album chart. The lyrics above actually come from both parts of the song - they are repeated near the end. "A Passion Play" was yet another album length song by Jethro Tull. The 1998 remastered cd version also contains a shortened live version (11:48) from Madison Square Garden in 1978.

Answer: Zarathustra

Taken from the wikipedia page on Museo Rosenbach:

"Museo Rosenbach is an Italian progressive rock band whose album Zarathustra, in spite of the limited success it scored in the 1970s, is today considered a cornerstone of the genre."

More information from the wikipedia page:

"Influenced, among others, by Pink Floyd and Banco, they shifted to a solid progressive sound releasing their famed work Zarathustra in April 1973. The songs showed some classical influences with heavy keyboards, mellotron and Hammond passages, as in the best Italian prog style. Vocalist Stefano Galifi showed a harsh, very distinctive voice and keyboard player Pit Corradi added a touch of originality to the band sound. The band had problems for their supposed right-wing inclinations stemming from the all-black cover, the Mussolini image in the LP collage and the Nietzsche-inspired lyrics."

Answer: The Revealing Science of God

The added portion is an instrumental section at the beginning before the chanting.

Jon Anderson writes on the original album: "We were in Tokyo on tour, and I had a few minutes to myself in the hotel room before the evening's concert. Leafing through Paramhansa Yoganada's 'Autobiography Of A Yogi' I got caught up in the lengthy footnote on page 83. It described the four part shastric scriptures which cover all aspects of religion and social life as well as fields like medicine and music, art and architecture. For some time, I had been searching for a theme for a large scale composition, so positive in character were the shastras that I could visualise there and then, four interlocking pieces of music being structured around them. That was in February. Eight months later, the concept was realised in this recording."

In fairness, I should point out that this album has its detractors. The album appears as the tenth worst album of all time in the book "The Worst Rock n Roll Records of All Time" by Guterman and O'Donnell (1991). Personally, I think the album has great moments, but the second and third movements need editing.

Answer: Karn Evil 9

This song could not even fit on one side of the original album. On "The Return of the Manticore" boxset from 1993, there is a good continuous edited version of this song. The second part of the first impression is the part of the song that people are most familiar with. It begins: "Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends..."

Answer: Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh

From the wikipedia page on Magma:

"Magma is a French progressive rock band founded in Paris in 1969 by classically-trained drummer Christian Vander, who claimed as his inspiration a "vision of humanity's spiritual and ecological future" that profoundly disturbed him. In the course of their first album, the band tells the story of a group of people fleeing a doomed Earth to settle on the planet Kobaļa. Later, conflict arises when the Kobaļans - descendants of the original colonists - encounter other Earth refugees. A remarkable aspect of Magma's albums is that Vander actually invented a constructed language, Kobaļan, in which most lyrics are sung. Later albums told different stories set in more ancient times; however the Kobaļan language remained an integral part of the music."

Answer: Autobahn

Taken from the Wikipedia page on Kraftwerk:

"Their breakthrough, both critically and commercially, came in 1974 with the Autobahn album and its 22-minute title track, featuring the motorik beat (you can hear a sample on the album's page), which was a worldwide hit and demonstrated their increasing reliance on synthesizers and electronics."

Kraftwerk is a German band. The album "Autobahn" peaked at number five on the U.S. chart in 1975 according to www.allmusic.com.

Answer: Mumps

The lineup for this album was Dave Stewart (keyboards), Phil Miller (guitars), Pip Pyle (drums), and Richard Sinclair (bass and vocals). Note that this is a different Dave Stewart from the one in the Eurythmics - this Dave Stewart was previously in the band Egg and would later be part of the band National Health, which incidentally was almost identical to Hatfield and the North. Richard Sinclair previously provided vocals for Caravan.

Answer: 2112

The CD liner notes say "Lyrics by Neil Peart with acknowledgement to the genius of Ayn Rand." From the album: "I believed what I was told, I thought it was a good life, I thought I was happy. Then I found something that changed it all..." (Anonymous, 2112).

Answer: Solar Music - Live

From the liner notes that came with the 1998 remastered CD: "The origin of the song - which was released as 'Sun Trip' on the 1972 debut album and in a studio version as 'Solar Music' on 'Ballermann' (1974) - can be traced back to the early days of Grobschnitt. Over the years, 'Solar Music' became the highlight of the Grobschnitt live experience, not only because of the music but because of the opulent stage show surrounding it. The rough structure of the song allowed for endless improvising by the musicians, so during their twenty years on stage, Grobschnitt have probably never played the song exactly the same way twice."

I would describe this song as a "space rock monster." The 1998 remastered version also contains an additional 13 minutes missing from the original release.

Answer: Atlantis' Agony at June 5th - 8498, 13 P.M. Gregorian Earthtime

The song "Decay of Logos" is contained on "Ocean," but is not included on "Live." The song "Gliding into Light and Knowledge" is a live version of the song from the album "Dawn." I would describe Eloy as a space rock band, similar in sound to Pink Floyd on many albums.

The following information comes from Eloy founding member Frank Bornemann and can be found at www.eloy-music.de/histo.htm:

"The name Eloy is based on the book "Time Machine" by H.G. Wells. Wells describes in his book the situation of mankind about 800.000 years later, and Eloy is a human race in his story. The Eloy in Wells' story have made a new start with the help of the time traveler. In a way, it was a new beginning for the human race. German rockbands in the late 60's played mainly covers from other bands instead of playing their own compositions. Record deals for German bands were absolutely rare and German bands generally were considered to be second class bands in their own country. At that time it was a strong effort for a German band to come out with only their own compositions. It was a start into an unknown future, and from this point of view, comparable to the human race in Wells' story. That is why I got the idea to name the band Eloy."

Answer: Amarok

In the liner notes that come with the 2000 remastered CD version, Dave Laing writes: "Mike Oldfield's twelfth studio album 'Amarok' reunited him with Tom Newman, the producer who had contributed to Mike's first album 'Tubular Bells.' The creation of 'Amarok' was also similar to that of 'Tubular Bells.' Instead of using computers, Mike played almost everything by hand, using over 30 acoustic stringed and percussion instruments.

The kaleidoscope of sound also includes Paddy Maloney of the Chieftains playing his uillean pipes (Irish bagpipes), Zulu percussionists, a Margaret Thatcher impersonation by comedienne Janet Brown and the sounds of Mike himself brushing his teeth and stomping around the studio."

Answer: All of the Above

Transatlantic is a neoprogressive supergroup - it's members are: Roine Stolt (from The Flower Kings), Neal Morse (from Spock's Beard), Mike Portnoy (from Dream Theater), and Pete Trewavas (from Marillion). There are two versions of this CD - the second contains the "Roine Stolt" mixes. The ending of "All of the Above" is very different in the Roine Stolt mix - we hear studio talk about the ending.

I hope you enjoyed this quiz! If you get a chance, check out some of these songs! There is a wide range of styles of progressive rock in this quiz. Thanks for playing!