How Prog were The Beatles?

Me, I don't hear much of their influence on KC's music, but I understand what Robert Fripp means.

 

Yeah, like I said earlier in the thread, the title track "borrows" the riff from The Byrds Everybody's Been Burned.

 

Detractor? No, I recognize their great influence and don't throw the producer at me since it is quite obvious the few songs with any prog was greatly enhanced by GM. If you are such a great Beatles fan you should recognize this. If not, then you are missing the point.

 

There are prog elements that are part of the composition, like on "You Never Give Me Your Money" or "A Day In The Life", both comprised of different sections.

Obviously it doesn't mean the Beatles were prog, but George Martin wasn't responsible for any of the songwriting.

 

Tomorrow Never Knows and A Day in The Life.

 

I think you are underestimating GM contribution to anything close to prog in the Beatles catalog. Of course he didn't write the words or music but his input went far beyond being "just a producer".

 

As far as I'm aware George Martin doesn't do much arranging on those tracks. The tape loops on Tomorrow Never Knows were McCartney's home doodles.

 

He was surely more than a producer.
He was a collaborator, the real 5th beatle. Specially in their early years.

 

I only just noticed that the OP changed the thread title from what it was yesterday which was "Were The Beatles Prog?"

 

I thought they invented hot wings too..

 

It demands more discussion.

OP: "How prog were The Beatles?"

Me: "They were proto-prog at their most progressive, not a bit more.
Someone said they were 13% prog. Seems accurate to me."

 

Psychedelic would be the better way to describe most of these songs, not progressive. And I do recognize their contribution to sampling, double tracking vocals, tape loops and other key elements used by most everyone after Revolver. And the progressive movement certainly benefited from all of these techniques, without a doubt.

 

"They were only in it for the money"

 

what do you guys think of THE COLLECTORS ?
the tune "what love" (almost 20 minutes in 1967 -- first prog?)

 

It's easy to post cites.

 

Serious question, and a fair one, I think...

How well did The Beatles fare with complex time signatures?

That's one of the hallmarks of Prog.

 

The Beatles invented prog. Why are they not number 1 on the list? They are the genesis of all styles of music.

 

Just to clarify, since earlier I said that I consider later Beatles to often be rather prog(ressive rock): I'm not at all saying that the Beatles invented progressive rock.

 

The word I would use was 'inspired', although in Fripp's case, I am sure he has elsewhere gone into more detail about the production and sound of 'Pepper', and how that influenced him.

 

Could you not tell that I was making a joke ? Why are people getting so defensive and accusatory ?

My point in this thread regarding prog, is that The Beatles were not a prog-band, but they were one of the bands who inspired the origins of prog, as so many of those acts have confirmed (you can find the quotes in this thread).

So many things The Beatles did in the studio were then built on by prog groups, as Fripp said. I suggest watching the great BBC documentary on Prog if you can find it online, which mentions this.

I shouldn't have to clarify this, but I did not make the 'ridiculous' statement you accuse me of having made, and I am not saying the King Crimson sound like The Beatles; I think that people need to understand that influences don't just mean that 'song-a' necessarily sounds like 'song-b'; for instance, although melodic, I would never have heard any Beatles influence in Nirvana's 'About A Girl' had Kurt not mentioned it.

 

Yep. I saw Yes do "I'm Down" at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City NJ. Summer of 1975, I'm thinking. Patrick Moraz on keys at the time. The show was broadcast live on WNEW FM in NYC so there's boots/tapes floating around.

 

Well, you got me there... But it still doesn't make me hear much more blues influence in Beatles music. At least GH knew who he was!

 

It's all well worth pointing out that Yes also recorded "America", but I don't hear anyone arguing about Simon & Garfunkel's influence on progressive rock, because if they did they'd look incredibly silly.

 

I don't agree with this. It's hard to look backwards with modern biases. If you go back to the material, and the timeline of LP relaeases, I think it's another story.

 

Before the Proggles, there was nothing