OK, so as I said in an earlier post, this year's tournament has a new host, the esteemed Jethro42. (And guess what band he's named after.) Our old friend Friday13 hasn't disappeared entirely, though, as he is a participant in this 2022 clash.
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. He kept it going as a prog rock battle ever since, until last year, when he announced that the 2021 tournament would be his last. And at the conclusion of that contest, he surprised us by announcing a Tournament of Champions, which included all of the previous winners.
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
2020 - There was no contest, as Friday took a year off (as did much of the world, thanks to COVID).
2021 - Regal Worm - Pig Views (2018) - A British crossover prog band.
Tournament of Champions (2021) - Universal Totem Orchestra - Mathematical Mother (2016)
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 2018 (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 eight albums, there were only two I had previously been familiar with.
The tournament historically has had 16 entries every year, although last year and this year, that number was increased to 20. The host 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.) And so far, in his first turn as host, I'd say that Jethro's criteria has been even stricter than Friday's.
For each of the first 10 weeks, Jethro will present two entries that he believes go together in some way or other, and everyone will vote 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. Il Giardino Onirico - Apofenia (2019) - An Italian crossover prog band
2. Maquina! - Why? (2013) - A Spanish proto-prog band
3. Mezquita - Recuerdos De Mi Tierra (1979) - A Spanish symphonic prog band
4. Circus - Movin' On (1977) - A British progressive jazz rock/fusion band
5. Polis - Weltklang (2020) - A German heavy prog band
6. Frogg Cafe - Bateless Edge (2010) - An American progressive jazz rock/fusion band
7. SBB - Memento Z Banalnym Tryptykkiem (1980) - A Polish eclectic prog band
8. Axis - Axis (1973) - A Greek progressive jazz rock/fusion band
9. Novela - Sanctuary (1982) - A Japanese symphonic prog band
10. Pekka Pohjola - Visitation (1979) - A Finnish progressive jazz fusion composer/musician
11. The Mercury Tree - Spidermilk (2019) - An American heavy prog band
12. All Traps on Earth - A Drop of Light (2018) - A Swedish symphonic prog band
13. Brand X - Product (1979) - A British progressive jazz rock/fusion band
14. Steel Mill - Green Eyed God (1972) - A British heavy prog band
15. Slapp Happy - Slapp Happy (1974) - A multinational avant-garde prog band
16. Present - Barbaro (2009) - A Belgian avant-garde prog band
17. Flaming Row - Mirage - A Portrayal of Figures (2014) - A German progressive metal project
18. Sisare - Leaving the Land (2018) - A Finnish experimental/post metal prog band
19. Jono El Grande - Melody of a Muddled Mason (2015) - A Norwegian avant-garde composer/artist
20. Supersister - To the Highest Bidder (1971) - A Dutch Canterbury Scene prog rock band
My own entry, the Frogg Cafe album, is the only one I've ever heard before, and Slapp Happy and The Mercury Tree are the only other artists in this group I've ever listened to.
The breakdown by decades is as follows: nine entries from the 1970s, two from the 1980s, two from the 2000s, six from the 2010s and one from the 2020s.
As you can see, there are a variety of prog styles represented. For those of you who know my tastes, I my usual bias is towards folk or symphonic prog, and against jazz and experimental, but of course this year, my own entry is more jazz based.
As I mentioned in my last post, the first matchup has already been set, and SPOILER ALERT, I'm in it! So I'll be back to tell you about it shortly.
