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Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements

Documentary about progressive music and the bands involved, from successes such as Yes, Genesis and ELP to the trials and tribulations of lesser-known bands such as Caravan.

Documentary about progressive music and the generation of bands that were involved, from the international success stories of Yes, Genesis, ELP, King Crimson and Jethro Tull to the trials and tribulations of lesser-known bands such as Caravan and Egg.

The film is structured in three parts, charting the birth, rise and decline of a movement famed for complex musical structures, weird time signatures, technical virtuosity and strange, and quintessentially English, literary influences.

It looks at the psychedelic pop scene that gave birth to progressive rock in the late 1960s, the golden age of progressive music in the early 1970s, complete with drum solos and gatefold record sleeves, and the over-ambition, commercialisation and eventual fall from grace of this rarefied musical experiment at the hands of punk in 1977.

Contributors include Robert Wyatt, Mike Oldfield, Pete Sinfield, Rick Wakeman, Phil Collins, Arthur Brown, Carl Palmer and Ian Anderson.

1 hour, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 23 Mar 2012 23:00
BBC Four

Clips

See all clips from Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements (2)

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • Procol Harum

    In Held Twas In I

  • Egg

    Symphony No 2

  • The Zombies

    Time of the Season

  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    Moon, Turn the Tides ... Gently Gently Away

  • The Kinks

    See My Friends

  • The Lovin’ Spoonful

    Summer in the City

  • The Yardbirds

    Shapes Of Things

  • Small Faces

    Itchycoo Park

  • Procol Harum

    A Whiter Shade Of Pale

  • The Beatles

    Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

  • Cream

    Strange Brew

  • The Beatles

    A Day In The Life

  • The Beatles

    Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!

  • Pink Floyd

    See Emily Play

  • The Byrds

    So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star

  • The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

    Prelude Nightmare

  • The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

    Fire

  • Yes

    Cans and Brahms

  • Cliff Richard & The Shadows

    Do You Want to Dance?

  • Chamber Orchestra of Europe

    Four Seasons Concerto No 4 in F Minor

  • Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure

    Dumbarton Oaks

  • Cliff Richard

    Really Waltzing

  • Spontaneous Music Ensemble

    Club 66

  • The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    Gipsy Eyes

  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra

    Violin Concerto No 1, Andante Sostenuto

  • The Nice

    Rondo

  • The Nice

    America

  • Caravan

    Magic Man

  • The Wilde Flowers

    Impotence

  • Pink Floyd

    Interstellar Overdrive

  • Soft Machine

    We Did It Again

  • Yes

    Beyond and Before

  • Yes

    No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed

  • Jethro Tull

    Dharma for One

  • King Crimson

    The Court of the Crimson King

  • King Crimson

    21st Century Schizoid Man (incl. Mirrors)

  • King Crimson

    Moonchild

  • Caravan

    Ride

  • Pink Floyd

    Cirrus Minor

  • Caravan

    Where But For Caravan Would I?

  • Genesis

    Horizons

  • Genesis

    Dusk

  • Genesis

    White Mountain

  • Jethro Tull

    Serenade to a Cuckoo

  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer

    Hoedown

  • The Nice

    The Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon

  • Yes

    Perpetual Change

  • Yes

    Yours Is No Disgrace

  • David Bowie

    Starman

  • Soft Machine

    Neo Caliban Grides

  • Soft Machine

    Hope for Happiness

  • Terry Riley

    Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band

  • Yes

    Siberian Khatru

  • Yes

    And You And I

  • Yes

    Close To The Edge

  • King Crimson

    Larks Tongues in Aspic, Part 1

  • Egg

    I Will Be Absorbed

  • Arthur Brown

    Fanfare/Fire Poem

  • The Nice

    Brandenburger

  • Egg

    Fugue in D Minor

  • Jethro Tull

    Round

  • Jethro Tull

    Thick as a Brick

  • Mike Oldfield

    Tubular Bells

  • Bob Harris

    Tubular Bells

  • Yes

    The Ancient

  • King Crimson

    Larks Tongues in Aspic, Part 2

  • Genesis

    The Battle of Epping Forest

  • Emerson, Lake & Palmer

    Karn Evil 9: First Impression, Part 2

  • Queen

    Bohemian Rhapsody

  • Genesis

    Trick of the Tail

  • The Maws of Doom

    Apotheosis of the Necromancer

  • Sex Pistols

    Anarchy in the UK

  • The Undertones

    Teenage Kicks

  • Allison Brewster Franzetti

    Drei Klavierstucke

  • Genesis

    Follow You Follow Me

  • Procol Harum

    The Worm and the Tree, Part 1

  • Procol Harum

    Nothing I Didn't Know

  • Bucks Fizz

    The Land of Make Believe

  • King Crimson

    Fracture

  • Yes

    Owner of a Lonely Heart

  • The Moody Blues

    The Best Way to Travel

  • Pete Namlook & Dr. Atmo - Life/Death

  • Charlie Parker's Reboppers

    In a Silent Way

  • Winifred Atwell

    Piano Tuner's Boogie

  • Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson

    Sweet Elizabeth

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