Monday, September 2, 2013

Progrock as Background Music for Computer Work



I enjoy listening to old albums as I work on the computer, by visiting YouTube and looking for "full album."

Type into the YouTube search bar "[band name] [album title] full album" to see if someone uploaded the whole LP recording.

Often even seemingly obscure record albums can be found on YouTube. It's nice when they include the list of song titles and times (like 3:46 meaning the song is 3 minutes and 46 seconds long), date the album was released, and other information.

You can also type in just "full album" to search YouTube for all the entire albums that have been uploaded. Or type in a band name and then "full album" to search entire LP uploads by that band.

I personally find 1970s "progressive rock" to be among my favorite genres of music to accompany my computer work. Progrock tends to be virtuoso, whimsical, calming, melodically intricate, innovative, smooth, philosophical, funny, and happy.

The most famous progrock bands are Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Gong, Van Der Graaf Generator, Henry Cow, and Tangerine Dream.


QUOTE

Progressive rock was an attempt to give greater artistic weight and credibility to rock music. 

Bands abandoned the short pop single in favor of instrumentation and composition techniques more frequently associated with jazz or classical music in an effort to give rock music the same level of musical sophistication and critical respect.

Songs were replaced by musical suites that often stretched to 20 or 40 minutes in length and contained symphonic influences, extended musical themes, fantasy-like ambiance and lyrics, and complex orchestrations. 

Music critics, who often labeled the concepts as "pretentious" and the sounds as "pompous" and "overblown," tended to be hostile toward the genre or to completely ignore it.


END QUOTE




Progrock tends to blend elements of art rock, space rock, jazz, folk, psychedelic, synthesizers, classical, and experimental music. To me, it's timeless and quite possibly the most perfect music ever made.

William Shatner to release a progrock album October 8, 2013.





Here are links to some full albums that I like, mostly progrock, plus a few psychedelic and hippie bands:


The Mandrake Memorial "Puzzle" FULL ALBUM

The Amazing Adventures of the Liverpool Scene FULL ALBUM

Liverpool Scene "Bread on the Night" FULL ALBUM

Caravan "In the Land of the Pink and the Grey" FULL ALBUM

Caravan FULL ALBUM

Henry Cow "Unrest" FULL ALBUM




The Pretty Things "S.F. Sorrow" FULL ALBUM

Tangerine Dream "Zeit" FULL ALBUM

Tangerine Dream "Hyperborea" FULL ALBUM

Tangerine Dream "Force Majeure" FULL ALBUM

Tangerine Dream "Cyclone" FULL ALBUM

Gong "Planet Gong Live/Floating Anarchy 1877" FULL ALBUM




Matching Mole FULL ALBUM

Hatfield and the North "The Rotters Club" FULL ALBUM

National Health FULL ALBUM

Focus "Focus 3" FULL ALBUM

Kevin Ayers "Joy of a Toy" FULL ALBUM

Gandalf FULL ALBUM

Sun Ra "Atlantis" FULL ALBUM

Cluster "II" FULL ALBUM

Ultimate Spinach FULL ALBUM

Ultimate Spinach "Behold & See" FULL ALBUM

Van Der Graaf Generator "Pawn Hearts" FULL ALBUM




Camel "Moon Madness" FULL ALBUM

Univers Zero "1313" FULL ALBUM

Beacon Street Union "The Eyes of the Beacon Street Union" FULL ALBUM

Fifty Foot Hose "Cauldron" FULL ALBUM

Strawbs "Dragon Fly" FULL ALBUM

Touch FULL ALBUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcBB3IMSFtg

Pearls Before Swine "One Nation Underground" FULL ALBUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rlkg4P70TY

Pearls Before Swine "Balaklava" FULL ALBUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS6Hem6_qdE

Love "Four Sail" FULL ALBUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjAnHt0IAMc

Popul Vuh "Affenstunde" FULL ALBUM




The Rascals "Once Upon a Dream" FULL ALBUM

Can "Soundtracks" FULL ALBUM

Klaus Schulze "Kontinuum" FULL ALBUM

The Fool FULL ALBUM

The Sons of Champlin FULL ALBUM




This Heat FULL ALBUM

The Soft Machine "Volume Two" FULL ALBUM

Curved Air "Airconditioning" FULL ALBUM

Tonto's Expanding Headband "Zero Time" ALL SONGS OF ALBUM

Nektar "Recycled" FULL ALBUM

Tax Free FULL ALBUM

Bangor Flying Circus FULL ALBUM





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