Quantum (83), another?

One of the best Brazilian one-shots, that play a dynamic fusion that sound a lot like the French bands of the same vein, e.g., Carpe Diem and Wlud. If you like jazzy symphonic stuff, this is probably for you.

Brazillian progressive band combining elements of the European progressive sound with symphonic and Canterbury, to produce a stunning instrumental album of enchanting sophistication and complexity, with tight group playing and highly melodic compositions in the dominant role. The first, self titled album is excellent.

New World (76)

Prog.

Quantum Jump (77), Barracuda (77)

Hm, I think I added this one myself. Maybe, not really what would you call "progressive," but certainly more "progressive" than some of the other bands here. Anyway, Quantum Jump made two albums Quantum Jump and Barracuda. There is also a remix album Mixing. All are truly difficult-to-find today. Leader was Rupert Hine. Music was rock with strange moods and atmosphere, often quite thrilling.

I have the first QJ album. Including producer extraordinaire Rupert Hine on keyboards and vocals, and ex-Caravan bassist John G Perry. They make a sort of funk/prog crossover music that is surprisingly successful, much more so than Randy Pie. This is in part due to the quality of the musicianship. Mark Warner definitely has guitar-hero potential, and drummer Trevor Morais can riff and fill with the best of them. "No American Starship" and "Cocobana Havana" are fine examples of these tendencies, but the best are the ones without any of the funk stylizings. Especially the eight-minute "Something At The Bottom Of The Sea," which is all-prog, alternating fast sections in 7/8 with slow ones in 4/4. "The Lone Ranger" became a top-ten hit in England two years after its release. -- Mike Ohman

[See Caravan | Nektar | Penguin Cafe Orchestra | Perry, John G.]

Cantamos Pessoas Vivas (99)

Fire In The Sky (83), The Loreli (89)

Another one of those pathetic neo-prog wannabees. These guys to me absolutely typify neo-prog at its worst. Cheesy ballads with overly sweet and lush synths with all that makes me sick about commercial striving synth rock bands. And they have to make it worse by adding a female vocalist (Tracy Hitchings) that sounds a lot like Mariah Carey. This is poorgressive :-)

British group led by bassist Keith Turner. BIG symphonic sound. The first album has some moderately interesting tunes, but the recording quality is pretty dreadful. Loreli is much better, more complexity and development, featuring Tracy Hitchings on vocals, although the vocals at times seem a little overbearing, and mask some of the better tendencies of the music. Could be classified as neo-prog, but sound nothing like Marillion, et al. maybe more like a poppy answer to The Enid.

[See Hitchings, Tracy | Strangers On A Train]

Abraham (94)

Abraham is a rock opera.

Revolution In The Zoo (85), Choice Of A New Generation (87)

Interesting Yugoslavian band into a wide range of styles, but overall a little noisy and chaotic, like borderline RIO, especially on the first album. On the second album they tone it down quite a bit, and develop their sound with stronger more melodic arrangements.

Quatermass (70)

Power trio of keyboard, bass and drums. Straddling the line between hard rock and prog, there's a little something here to appease fans of both styles. Keyboards apparently just piano and organ, with the latter being especially hot-wired to make the keyboardists' style resemble Frumpy keyboardist Jean-Jacques Kravetz, or perhaps Dave Stewart at his most maniacal (see "Dreams Wide Awake" for an example). He can lash out at his organ with a recklessness that puts Emerson to shame, listen to the solo on "Post War, Saturday Echo" if you don't believe me. Bass player John Gustafson (pre-Roxy Music) sings in a uncontrolled, manic voice that can often sound gut-wrenching. A couple of tracks (the ballad "Good Lord Knows" and the lengthy jam-orientated "Laughin' Tackle" include massed strings. -- Mike Ohman

Heavy prog. Features Peter Robinson, later of Brand X. Robinson's organ is predominant instrument.

[See Brand X | See Roxy Music]

Velha Gravura (92), Quasimodo (94)

Incredible symphonic rock band from Brazil led by keyboardist Elisa Wiermann. Their first album Velha Gravura features violinist Kleber Vogel in addition to the standard keyboards, guitar, bass, drums lineup. Musically this one borrows from Camel, PFM, and Iconoclasta, while avoiding the "clone band" syndrome. (An exception is the title track, which does steal a few too many riffs from Camel's "Rhayader Goes to Town.") Very elegant, classically inspired compositions with lots of interplay between synth, guitar, and violin. Their second album Quasimodo features a significant change in style. Vogel left the band after Velha Gravura to start Kaizen, and Quasimodo is much more synth dominant. Compositionally, the album draws heavily from Renaissance and Baroque musics, bring the sound close to Gentle Giant or Gryphon at times. The album's highlight is the seven part title track clocking in at 38:59. Two of the sections feature Renaissance era instruments--lute, recorder, krumhorn, and (real?) harpsicord. One section even features a Benedictine monk performing a 10th century chant over Wiermann's pipe organ. Unfortunately, the track tends to drag on a bit near the end. Perhaps the band got a little too ambitious on this one. Overall, though, this is a very strong album which sympho-maniacs should enjoy. If you haven't heard Quaterna Requiem yet, by all means give them a try! -- Anthony Alumkal

Another one that took a couple of spins to hit me is the new band Quaterna Requiem. Their debut (I believe) is definitely in the same style as the Italian 70s bands, and makes me think that I'm listening to one, since their instrumentation only barely hints that they are a 90's band. Very dynamic, beautifully complex and startlingly intense, QR really know what to do, and I'm looking forward to hearing future albums by these guys. Another band that everyone on the net could appreciate.

This Brazilian band is based on the work of a classically trained keyboardist who masters her analog keyboards. The band also involves violin, guitars, bass, drums and guests on flutes and oboe. Velha Gravura is symphonic rock and all compositions show heavy classical influences. Tasteful melodies serve as themes and are progressively developed, not unlike many Italian bands. In fact, melody and harmony dominate a modest rhythm section and a slightly flat sound. A promising debut. Quasimodo, based on keyboard work (lots of organ), is also symphonic rock with heavy classical influences. The themes, as suggested by the presentation, have a medieval flavour. A music that should please fans of Italian productions but also anyone with interest in keyboard dominated symphonic rock. -- Paul Charbonneau

[See Kaizen]

Paintings (72), Look Deeply In The Mirror (73), In Collaboration With The Gods (75), Dancers, Romancers, Dreamers and Schemers (76), Live and Kickin' (77), Getting Ready (7?), Michael Quatro Band (80)

Prog keyboardist, supposedly became commercial for Dancers. He's the brother of Suzi Quantro (so?) and Paintings features Ted Nugent (ex-Amboy Dukes) on guitar.

Queen (73), Queen II (74), Sheer Heart Attack (74), A Night at the Opera (75), A Day at the Races (76), News of the World (77), Jazz (78), Live Killers (79), The Game (80), Flash (80, soundtrack), Greatest Hits (81), Hot Space (82), The Works (84), The Complete Works (85, box set of 14 previous albums), A Kind of Magic (86), Live Magic (86), The Miracle (89), At the Beeb (89, old sesions), Innuendo (91), Greatest Hits II (91) Classic Queen (92) The 12" Collection (92) (compilation of 12"s), Live at Wembley '86 (92)

Legendary UK band. They were the first-ever band I really got into. Basically, everything up to and including Jazz is worth getting...they weren't exactly prog with a capital P, but they covered a hell of a lot of ground in a short space of time. Their first two albums are their most progressive...great 70s inventive rock with lots of piano. Queen II is utterly fantastic. One of the best albums of all time. They never reached that peak again...long sectioned tracks with Freddie Mercury's superb vocal range and Brian May's *still* unparalleled guitar orchestration. Even though the guy is a market pawn today and writes drivel, his early Queen stuff was totally unique and brilliant. Queen II still makes me cry. Sheer Heart Attack is great...loads of very differrent tunes, very prog, very clever, very good. Contains the defining track of May's distinctive delayed guitar solos "Brighton Rock". Get this album. The next two are pretty similar and are both great...named after Marx Brothers films, they cover an awful lot of terrain from great rock ("Death on Two Legs", "Sweet Lady", "Tie Your Mother Down") to spot-on period music ("Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy", "Seaside Rendezvous") to prog epic ("Bohemian Rhapsody", "The Prophet's Song") to ballads with amazing vocals ("You Take My Breath Away", "Love of my Life"). Hardly a bad tune on either album. Must haves. News of the World was just as diverse as previous offerings but contained the awfully titled "We Will Rock You" and "We are the Champions". Ug. Not terrible songs but, like "Bo Rap", you are doomed to hear them twice a day on the radio and in shops until you die so that you'll hate them eventually anyway. A great album all in all with blues tracks ("Sleeping on the Sidewalk"), Latin American tracks ("Who Needs You") and straight Queen stuff ("It's Late"). Amazing diversity. IMO, Jazz was their last good album. Again, very diverse but there are a few worrying tracks that sound a little banal ("In Only Seven Days"). Contains the killer rock track "Dead On Time" which is probably one of the best Queen tracks ever. Brian May excels.
After Jazz, they started to get *really* famous (they were bloody famous already) and they became a national institution, every album getting in the top five in the UK. The music suffered. A lot more snappy poppy tunes ... "Play the Game", "Another One Bites the Dust", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", "Body Language" ... you've heard 'em all a million times. They were top quality pop songs, however. :-) Brian May seemed to be able to write guitar lines that were perfect melodically for any song. Eric Clapton was quoted as saying he wished he could play like May (so what!). After a fairly interesting soundtrack to the film Flash and a zillion seller best-of album, they put out Hot Space which is 50/50 like The Game. The Works saw them become practically the world's biggest stadium band. They only ever played huge venues from then on. The Works was a huge affair that gained massive airplay. It was OK. Nothing to get excited about. Kind of Magic was about the same. Some great guitar lines and really rocking material but a lot of ponderous pop, too. Contains the dreadfully icky "Friends Will be Friends". The Miracle generally sucked. Nasty boring pop with about two reasonable tracks. Great guitaring as usual. Innuendo was so bad, I bought it and threw it away. Me. A life-long Queen fan. It sucked big time. Lots of rather retrospective "life was great" material which makes you think that Freddie knew it was to be his last Queen album ... The best bit is Steve Howe's appearence as "wandering minstrel". There have been and will be lots of cash-in compilations and re-releases after Freddie's death in 1991.
All in all, easily one of the most diverse and talented bands in history who, unfortunately slid into the pop trap after they hit the big time. Anthing up to Jazz is worth getting. Anything up to A Day at the Races is mandatory. Not having their first two albums is a punishable offense. -- Phil Kime

[See Smile]

Quella Vecchia Locanda (72), Il Tempo Della Gioia (74)

They released two albums, their classic self-titled debut and Il Tempo Della Gioia Much like PFM yet with more of a violin presence, their classical arrangements were rather overt yet worked beautifully making these musts for Italian collectors.

Though Quella Vecchia Locanda's first album is most often cited as the classic from their pair of releases, I have Il Tempo Della Gioia from 1974 and it's very good. The first one must be great! Il Tempo della Gioia is very pastoral which draws a comparison to Celeste's excellent Principe di un Giorno. QVL's emphasis is violin, piano, flute, clarinet, and, to some extent, vocals. There is a strong classical feel to the compositions, mainly due to the instrumentation. Some of the violin solos could be lifted from a violin concerto. Though soft and quiet at the beginning, by the half-way point the album has increased both in drive and energy. Some of the songs sound a little forced, as if they were trying to be unique without a real good idea of how to be unique. This brings the album down a notch in comparison to Celeste or PFM. If you like Celeste and want more, check out QVL. If you haven't heard either, start with Celeste. -- Mike Taylor

Quella Vecchia Locanda is the band's debut. The group includes keyboards, guitars, vocals/flute, violin, bass and drums. You can hear the classical/symphonic influences and the variety of arrangements that would later make the reputation of Italian bands. The music includes tasty parts with vocals (in Italian), guitar, violin and piano but also offers more intense moments where the sound becomes a bit raw. For Italian rock fanatics. Like many of the Italian productions of this era, Il Tempo Della Gioia offers a charming mixture of classical music, rock and jazz. The delightful arrangements usually feature piano, violin, guitar, flute and vocals (in Italian), and sometimes take on a more electric tone to the rhythms of the bass and drums. Clarinet and saxophone are also heard. The performances certainly show virtuosity and emotion but the sound maintains a lightness not typical of the usual symphonic rock. This canalso be observed when compared to their previous release. Fans of the Italian style from the '70s will want to file this one not far from their copies of PFM discs. -- Paul Charbonneau

Quidam (96)

Quiddam started in 1991 as hard, blues rock trio called Deep River. As the line-up grew, their music was changed to a more complicated style. Three of the members are alumni of music schools. In 1995, the band was contracted by Ars Mundi. Ars Mundi boss Mietek Stoch suggested they change their name because it was too similar to Deep Purple. Thus, they became Quidam. First album was recorded with the great help of musicians from the Polish prog band Collage. Quidam was released in May 1996 during First Warsaw Prog-Fest. The beautiful music is in the vein of Camel and Yes, with some folk influences. There are some long tracks with great solos: "Sanktuarium" (with beautiful cello parts making a baroque atmosphere), "G3eboka rzeka" (Polish for Deep River), "Nocne widziad3a" (with great vocals similar to Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig ...") and the 14 minutes "Ja p3one", plus two short, nice, melodic songs "Warkocze" and "Bajkowy." Highly recommended to all lovers of good music. -- Janusz Groth

San Francisco based group that remind me a lot of Twelfth Night, maybe a little more metallic. Saw them live once, they have a four song demo tape that's pretty good, but no albums yet.

The Road (70)

Featured Steve Hackett, pre-Genesis.

[See Genesis | Hackett, Steve]

Sursum Corda (77)

In the late '70s, while bands like Yes and ELP were being criticized for their self-indulgencies, Quill were trying to make a name for themselves by recycling the ELP schtick. Dressed in flamboyant clothes, Quill dispensed a story full of knights, wizards, spells, a king and a princess. The disc (available in an LP-sized jacket) even comes with a libretto so you can keep track of the story. Musically, keyboardist Ken DeLoria rehashed every Emerson cliche known to the Prog world, and even tossed in a few Wakeman cliches for balance. Quill were rounded out by the bass of Keith Christian and the drums of Jim Sides; a keyboard power trio with no musical originality in 1977 was doomed to failure from the start. Of the two movements that make up the tale, (one at 20 minutes, the second at 15 minutes), about half of each is instrumental. Each movement is comprised of several songs that flow together, alternating brief lyrical passages with extended passages of Hammond, Moog, Mellotron and other keyboards. As I said above, DeLoria was quite enamored with the keyboard pyrotechnics of Keith Emerson. Listening to the instrumental "Storming the Mountain Pt. 2" is like a study in "Tarkus" riffs. (I can name that riff in three notes, Biff.) If you're heavy into the ELP sound, or like other clone bands such as Manticore, you may be interested in Sursum Corda, as long as you don't mind recycled cliches. -- Mike Taylor

[Should not be confused with Quill, an American psych band that released Quill on Cotillion in 1969.]

Mainstream (75)

Pre-801 with Phil Manzanera, Brian Eno, Haywood and Bill MacCormick. Honorable mention for oddest title to a song "Mummy was an asteroid, daddy was a small non-stick kitchen utensil."

As far as I know, this band only ever made one album, Mainstream, which was made in 1975 when the band reformed on the wave of Roxy Music's success. They were originally beaten to a record deal by Curved Air in around 1969. The album was made around the same time as Phil Manzanera's solo album Diamond Head, which shared some musicians. Brian Eno produced it, and added sundry guitar-looping effects etc., as he was wont to do in those days. Anyway, on to the music. Anyone expecting a Roxy Music clone will be sadly disappointed. This is *quite* different (and much better, IMHO!). Most of the tracks are fairly free-form jazz-rock(-ish) instrumentals, changing between time signatures as if there was no tomorrow. The opening track, "Sol Caliente" starts with a haunting repeated piano riff, which is joined by a swirling distorted guitar lead. This breaks into a jazz-rock section with the rest of the band, as Jarrett introduces the electric piano sound that gives the album a lot of its mood. The second track, "Trumpets With Motherhood" is a combination of weird percussion sounds and what sounds like kazoos (!), and runs into "Bargain Classics," with its almost atonal lead riff. This breaks into the soft ambience of "RFD," with the electric piano oozing out of the speakers. Side two starts with the wonderfully titled "Mummy was an Asteroid, Daddy was a Small, Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil." This re-creates the mood of "Sol Caliente" (which, incidentally, is "Quiet Sun," if you hadn't noticed!), as does the next track, "Trot." The last track "RongWrong" sounds as if it was recorded semi-live - the quality is different. It consists of a more rocky song, with Hayward contributing the most silly vocals you could imagine - I guess this is there to lighten up the album. All in all I think this is a good album, and a welcome addition to any prog-rock collection. Groups I'd compare them with: The Mahavishnu Orchestra (but with a harder edge, and not quite so fast), Early Crimson (Court of the Crimson King), instrumental bits of Caravan, and perhaps some of the other Canterbury people, although I've not really heard all that much. Don't expect any calm moments of acoustic guitar though!

[See 801 | Manzanera, Phil | 1919, La | Random Hold | Roxy Music | This Heat]

In Blissful Company (69), Quintessence (70), Dive Deep (70), Self (71), Indweller (72)

Mystical prog w/Indian influences.