The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music

by Bradley Smith

Book Overview

This is a guide to progressive music from Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream to Popol Vuh and Throbbing Gristle, providing a look at the music that goes beyond the boundaries of the main stream.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823076652
• ISBN13: 9780823076659
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Billboard Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Not exactly progressive rock but album reviews are excellent

This book is essentially a compilation of album reviews with a very personal approach by the author.Most of the book is dedicated to avant-garde, ambient music, electronic music, modern classical works, jazz-fusion and lengthy instrumental and experimental music in general that is closely related to prog-rock but it is definitely not progressive rock and sometimes not even rock music.However many progressive rock albums are also included. Some of them real classics, others over-rated due to the author preferences and of course many important classic works and artist are missing.On the other side, the album reviews are excellent.The reviews usually open with an excellent and brief overview of the band, followed by a little more extensive album overview and a song by song analysis.The articles are very smart, nice to read, full of valuable information and his analysis reflect solid knowledge of music and a clear understanding of its meaning on every context.Even when Bradley writes with love about a music I hate, it is a pleasure for me to read his article and his arguments sustain equally his love and my hate. I would say that this book becomes a "must" for a prog-rock fan when we consider that most of prog album reviews sources like GEPR, AMG and even some other books and web site are very poor and amateurish.This book offers excellent comments on the albums you already know. It will introduce you to many other less known and excellent bands and it eventually would open a door to other music styles closely related with the progressive rock.But definitely not for novices who should look for an approach closer to the progressive rock classics.

Not excellent, but author is true prog rock nut! Buy it!

I must agree with previous reviewer: a few significan prog rock "monsters" were ignored. However, author says in the book that prog rock is such a vast area that cannot be covered by a single book.Besides, this book reflects the author's preferences, which I don't share completely. Anyway, I highly recommend this book as an addition to another books, for instance, Makan's work. You can find here deep reviews of 325 (!) prog rock releases!Besides, the author demonstrates such a deep knowledge of the subject that I must take my hat off! And, keep in mind the book was written and released before Internet era, so it's hard to belive how hard the author worked!

Progressive Music Organization in MN?

I like the book Bradley....its very thorough and indepth....and finally someone appreciates Renaissance like I do...

An Excellent Primer

The "Billboard Guide To Progressive Music" is perhaps the most valuable book written about music that exists for the sake of art instead of commercialism. Rather than focus on sales histories and chart positions, Bradley Smith delivers in depth reviews about the quality of the artists and albums themselves. The beauty of the book is that, while subjective, it covers a very broad range of music: from the natural soundscapes of Annea Lockwood and Constance Demby to the Jazz Fusion of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Brand X, the classical formalism of Liz Story and Mike Oldfield to the prog-metal of Fire Merchants and Happy Family, The Billboard Guide To Progressive Music covers all the bases and provides the fan of uncompromising music with a true asset. As progressive music is diverse and is rarely categorized as one genre, a book such as this helps to identify the music that fits the potential listener's needs. Personally, I have bought over fifty of my own albums based upon Smith's recommendations. The only shame is that he does not have a website which he could frequently revise.All in all, a fabulous book.

Progressive Music: Not Progressive Rock

This book is very misunderstood by those who have critiqued it thus far, and I feel like some of thier critisisms have a lot of validity. I mean yes, Smith should have included those progressive greats such as Van Der Graf Generator, Gentle Giant, and Dream Theater... and Brian Eno did a lot more for Progressive Rock than only the 3 albums that Smith chose to review. But what anyone who reads, reviews, or even just glances at this book need to understand is that Smith has written this book about the genre of Progressive Music, not just Progressive Rock Music, hence the including of such New Age artists as Liz Story and Emerald Web and Space Music artists such as Tangerine Dream and Lightwave. He is exploring a huge genre of music that goes way past Progressive rock, but deals with progressive music on the whole. If you are a progressive rocker, this book is less value to you, and I suggest Paul Stump's book; but if you are truly interested in exploring not just progressive rock but all progressive music, then this book is without a doubt for you! So criticize all that you want critics, but Smith absolutely knows his stuff when it comes to progressive, and the book has become a guide for my personal progressive music collection. A GREAT BUY FOR MUSICIANS!