Rolling Stone Top 50 Prog Rock albums....

[Bill Hart]

Bill you may not be familiar with my company. I started out as a reissue label specializing in progressive rock and psychedelic music and I'm still in the game. One of my favorite albums to work on was Spring, originally released on RCA's "Neon" label. The Neon label was RCA's answer to Vertigo and Harvest. The label was run by Olav Wyper. Originally my goal was to reissue most of the Neon titles and I focused on Spring and Indian Summer. Olav put me in touch with Jim Simpson who was the ex-manager of Indian Summer and also was Black Sabbath's first manager. Lots of juicy stories there. Olav also was helpful tracking down the owners of Spring.

Ultimately I was able to license Spring and reissued it from the original master tapes with Bob Katz handling the mastering. I know from your posts and your blog that you are an earnest Vertigo collector and I suspect you have Neon in your collection as well. Holding original masters of some of these albums was a chilling experience.

I have one pink Island ITCOTCK. A bit noisy, not amazing but not bad either. The pink Island Emerson Lake & Palmer pressings are stunning - reference caliber.

A few years ago I began to sell off many of my mega-rare vinyl titles including a lot of Vertigo. Prices have spiraled so high that they became museum pieces. I was afraid to play them or even take them off the shelf. Sold a copy of Raw Material "Time Is" for $1600. Mark Fry "Dreaming With Alice" for over $4,000. And on and on. The money I made helped pay for my TW Acustic AC Anniversary. Still plenty of great prog sitting on my shelves.

I'm not and I'm glad you told me- we should compare notes offline. I recently got the chance to interview Olav- he was very gracious.

 

[sopxe]

Not the best

lol ... I once considered Ringo the cutest, b/c J.Lennon claimed Ringo wasn't even the best drummer in the band.

It seems to be obvious Ringo was not the best. The best was Pete Best.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

It seems to be obvious Ringo was not the best. The best was Pete Best.

How is that obvious? Ringo is an excellent drummer and IMO unduly underrated.

The comment by John was made in jest btw.

 

[TBone]

How is that obvious? Ringo is an excellent drummer and IMO unduly underrated.

The comment by John was made in jest btw.

Yes it was in jest, the "drummer" John was referring was Paul. Wasn't negatively pointing at Ringo's ability, the man's a legend, his all-star gigs are popular here.

 

[sopxe]

I was just joking. No offense to Ringo. I was just making reference to Pete Best's name. When I listened to Beattles songs I just enjoyed the melody. That is what matters most to me.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I was just joking. No offense to Ringo. I was just making reference to Pete Best's name. When I listened to Beattles songs I just enjoyed the melody. That is what matters most to me.

haha.....you got me.

 

[Ronm1]

I was just joking. No offense to Ringo. I was just making reference to Pete Best's name. When I listened to Beattles songs I just enjoyed the melody. That is what matters most to me.

Yes it was in jest, the "drummer" John was referring was Paul. Wasn't negatively pointing at Ringo's ability, the man's a legend, his all-star gigs are popular here.

TMK of Beatles lore/myth. Best was an average drummer at best , talent wise, plus it seems he was the good looking one of the original group, so it was just a matter if time before he had to go.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Gosh, a thread on prog rock, and we're discussing Pete Best/Ringo etc. My bookmaker would have given me 500/1 on the thread going in this direction.
Howzabout talking about the truly great prog drummers, in effect some of the greatest drummers of all time.
I'll throw 3 names in the ring - Bill Bruford, Christian Vander, Neil Peart.

 

[TBone]

Howzabout talking about the truly great prog drummers, in effect some of the greatest drummers of all time.
I'll throw 3 names in the ring - Bill Bruford, Christian Vander, Neil Peart.

well, a highjacked thread, highjacked again ... seen Bruford & Peart live, and recently, (so I'll throw in) Carl Palmer ...