Sunday, September 1st, 2002 ... noon - 3:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Teamed up with Ragnar of Ravensfjord for the second edition of The Horror on Prog Mountain (aka Your Recurring Prog Rock Nightmare). As usual, we dealt doses of respect and ridicule to the music, introduced fans to some hopefully new ideas, and played one song of 20 minutes or more. We even played two things released this year -- the new Rush and some "math rock" from local band Rumah Sakit.

We have also vowed to do a third installment sometime, which will include an Iranian prog record that Ragnar has found. Tentative ETA is around Christmastime, so keep checking KZSU's Web page for signs of the next Prog Horror session.

Yes -- "Perpetual Change" -- The Yes Album (Atlantic, 1971)

Marillion -- "Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)"/"Lords of the Backstage" -- Misplaced Childhood (Capitol/EMI, 1985)

Univers Zero -- "Malaise" -- 1313 (Cuneiform, 1989; recorded 1977)

O-Type -- "Glow in the Dark" -- Mommy (Electro Motive, 1994)

Fire Merchants -- "Saladin" -- Fire Merchants (Medusa, 1989)

Opeth -- "Harvest" -- Blackwater Park (Koch, 2001)

... A track that Ragnar selected for its Camel-like flavor, contrasting with the rest of Opeth's darker, metal-leaning catalogue. This is the only song duplicated between the first and second editions of our show.

Camel -- "Echoes" -- Breathless (Gama, 1978)

... whereupon we made some fun of Camel's quasi-disco phase, as the rest of this album is disturbingly close to Donny-and-Marie variety-show music. But Echoes remains my favorite Camel song ever.

Rush -- "Freeze" -- Vapor Trails (Atlantic, 2002)

Rush -- "Something for Nothing" -- 2112 (Mercury, 1976)

* Rumah Sakit -- "New Underwear Dance" -- Obscured by Clowns (Secretly Canadian, 2002)

Local "math rock" group with no small resemblance to King Crimson's Wetton and Belew phases. Worth checking out.

Annbjorg Lien -- "Wackidoo" -- Baba Yaga (NorthSide, 2002)

Annbjorg is a folk artist, but this track features some Wakeman-like pipe organ. Ragnar, who's a fan of Scandanavian folk, actually met Annbjorg once and owns an autographed copy of this CD.

Giles, Giles and Fripp -- "Make It Today" -- Metaphormosis (Tenth Planet, 2001; recorded 1968)

GGF is the immediate precursor to King Crimson, more Britpop in feel, but they ventured into some weird sonic experimenting too. Metaphormosis is a limited-edition vinyl release of some home demos of the band, with surprisingly good sound quality.

Tenhi -- "Laluhi Sinulle" -- Kauan (Prophecy Productions, 1999)

Rick Wakeman -- "The Breathalizer" -- Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record (A&M, 1977)

... Oh, man. Where to even start. Ragnar found this in the dollar bin just the day before our broadcast and brought it in without having played it. The album cover: Wakeman at the piano, wearing black judge's robes, holding a gavel, looking way serious (dude!). The song titles revolve around the topics of crime and punishment.

We decided to play this track "sight unseen" based on Wakeman's liner notes, where he explains, in dry English humor, the horrors and injustice of the breathalizer -- the injustice being that "the fuzz" (he says that! I swear!) won't allow you to drive drunk. Apart from mocking Rick's attitude and clothes -- but getting an honest good laugh out of his breathalizer description -- we had the music to contend with ...

... and what music! What stunned silence filled the studio as we listened! Much of this album is Wakeman's typical grandiose keyboard playing, but this track presented bouncy synthesizer notes (Ragnar likened it to the music for the '80s video game Pole Position) followed by a blues singer (!) singin' the DUI blues. Huh??? Truly a highlight of the show.

Jethro Tull -- "Thick as a Brick" edits 1-5 -- Thick as a Brick (Chrysalis, 1972)

... The obligatory 20-minute track.

Genesis -- "Watcher of the Skies" -- Nursery Cryme (Charisma, 1971)

* = Item in KZSU rotation

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.