Well, it's been two years since the last one, but Sputnik Music User Friday13th is getting to host what he says will be his last Prog Rock Contest on the Sputnik Music website.
Here's a little background on the tournament, and its history: Friday put together the first one in 2013. In 2014, he switched it over to a Psychedelic Rock tournament. However, this proved to be less popular. So he went back to prog rock in 2015, and he's kept it as prog rock ever since.
Again, these are intended to be relatively obscure albums competing, albums that have drawn less than 30 ratings apiece on the Sputnik Music site.
Here's the list of previous winners:
2013 - Los Jaivas - Alturus de Machu Picchu (1981) - A Chilean band that blends folk and symphonic rock
2014 - T2 - It'll All Work Out in Boomland (1970) - A British psychedelic/progressive rock band
2015 - McLuhan - Anomaly (1971) - An American prog rock band that blends jazz and psychedelic rock
2016 - Landberk - One Man Tells Another (1994) - A Swedish progressive art rock band
2017 - Universal Totem Orchestra - Mathematical Mother (2016) - An Italian symphonic jazz rock band
2018 - Carmen - Fandangos in Space (1973) - An American prog rock band that mixes rock music with flamenco music and dance
2019 - Wobbler - From Silence to Somewhere (2017) - A Norwegian symphonic prog rock band
As you can see, the winners have come from several different countries, many different sub-genres of progressive rock, and a time span from 1970 through 2017 (although with the '70s having been prog's heyday, there tend to be more entries from this era than from any other). I don't know about you guys, but out of these seven albums, there were only two I had previously been familiar with.
The tournament begins with 16 entries every year. Friday has to approve each entry as meeting the criteria of the contest. (You can't claim Duran Duran is prog, for example. You have to have an outside source saying the artist is prog, such as progarchives.com, Wikipedia, or even Sputnik Music itself.) For each of the first 8 weeks, Friday will present two entries that he believes go together in some way or other, and everyone votes on their favorite, after giving each album at least one (but hopefully several) listens.
This year's players, much like the bands who'll represent them, also come from a number of different countries. Here are this year's entries:
1. Syzygy - A Glorious Disturbance (2013) - An American crossover prog band
2. Colosseum II - War Dance (1977) - A British progressive jazz fusion rock band
3. Procol Harum - Live With The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (1972) - A British crossover progressive blues rock band
4. Moose Loose - Elgen Er Los (1974) - A Norwegian progressive jazz fusion rock band
5. Gonin-ish - Gonin-ish (2000) - A Japanese experimental progressive metal band
6. Regal Worm - Pig Views (2018) - A British psychedelic prog rock band
7. Pendragon - Love Over Fear (2020) - A British neo-progressive rock band
8. Alas - Alas (1976) - An Argentinian progressive metal band
9. Tantra - Mistérios e Maravilhas (1977) - A Portuguese symphonic prog band
10. Tarantula - Tarantula (1976) - A Spanish symphonic prog band
11. Jordsjo - Nattfiolen (2019) - A Norwegian symphonic prog band
12. Strawbs - Just A Collection of Antiques and Curios (1970) - A British folk prog band
13. Quiet Sun - Mainstream (1975) - A British progressive jazz fusion band
14. Yolk - Solar (2017) - A French avant-garde prog band
15. Serú Girán - La Grasa de las Capitales (1979) - An Argentinian progressive jazz blues band
16. Ibio - Cuevas De Altimira (1978) - A Spanish folk prog band
My own entry, the Procol Harum album, is the only one I've ever heard before, and the only one of the other bands I've listened to (albeit a lot) is Strawbs. (I have heard of Pendragon, though, so I'm looking forward to giving them a first listen.)
Ten of the LPs were recorded in the 1970s, four in the 2010s, and one each in the 2000's and the 2020's.
Interestingly, this year, there are three live albums among the entrants, which is pretty unusual.
As you can see, there are a variety of prog styles represented. For those of you who know my tastes, I have a bias towards folk or symphonic prog, and a bias against jazz and experimental, but we'll see how it goes.
I'll let you know when the first matchup has been set. Until then, happy progging.
