Ars Longa Vita Brevis: A Compendium Of Progressive Rock 1967-1974 [Box set]

There has been a spate of these compendia recently in Britain, mainly in celebration of the so-called progressive movement, an all encompassing term for non-pop music from the mid 1960-s through to the early 1980s. Personally I have been very attracted to these as I grew up in the era of the sampler album where you could get a taste of new bands for a low price and then buy an album or twelve.

I opted for this particular gem because it had a number of tracks which I had previously only had on 45's or where the album is no longer/not available on CD.

And gem it is, although there are bound to be some dissenting voices about the tracks and whether or not rarities should be included. The title is the same as an old Nice album and unsurprisingly the first track is a Nice song entitled the Thoughts of Emerllist Davjack a combination of the names of the musicians who made up that particular band. Given space considerations I will restrain myself and not go through track by track but will select some highlights and I am sure others will have a different view.

I recall vividly in the mid 1960s being totally transfixed by the voice of Julie Driscoll emanating from our television set whilst she sang the Dylan song Wheel's On Fire as the vocalist for the Brian Auger Trinity. With her short hair, mary Quandt makeup and Carnaby Street gear she epitomised Swinging London and what would now be termed Cool Britannia but the song remains to this day a classic of the period and one which I had only on a single vinyl disc on the Marmalade label. Sticking with singles, disc 1 includes the Crazy World of Arthur Brown with Fire, a top ten hit in England and the subject of a rather bizarre performance by Arthur on the rather odd movie, the Committee. Also is the single mix of the Nice's America, an eloquent testimony to Keith Emerson's classical training and his uncanny ability to turn a symbol of America into an anti-war song. There are a number of great blues and avant-garde tracks on this first disc including those of Fleetwood Mac and Soft Machine but the concluding track is the simply superb song of the Kinks undermining growing middle class aspirations in Shangri-La. For you younger folks the Kinks are still, to this day, the ultimate social commentary band although most of there best material dates from the 1960s.

Disc 2 offers Man's Spunk Rock (a rose by any other name) their version of a grateful dead song before the jamming starts. Juicy Lucy in an awesome rendition of Who Do you Love, enhanced by the novel use of the pedal steel but only a shadow of the Quicksilver Messenger Service version. After the morning mania music we have a number of heavier boogie type bands such as Status Quo and UFO as well as Peter Bardens and the Sunderland Locarno smock dressed ladies favourite Come to the Sabbat by Black Sabbat.

Disc three is in many ways the most interesting of the discs eschewing the more popular material and including tracks by Jan Dukes De Grey alongside lesser known material from the Groundhogs and Uriah Heap although I suspect many will be disappointed by the failure to include the classic track of that last group, Gypsy. I know that Jan and Pauline will be. This disc has by far the greatest range of material and reflects better than most of these compilations the variation and experimentation of the progressive era.

I heartily recommend this album to all lovers of progressive music even if your only intention in buying it is to play it in the car and think of standing on one leg, playing the flute and living in the past.

There are Good points and bad about the contents of this box.

Good Points: It is offered at a low price

It begins at exactly the correct Place, with The Nice

It has the normal bunch, ELP, Atomic Rooster & Uriah Heep

It spotlights lesser-knowns: Gryphon,Renaissance & Tempest

Bad Points: With groups such as: Chicken Shack, Status Quo, Keef Hartley,

UFO, Fleetwood Mac & Savoy Brown. The selection featured on these

discs in question here as to their connection {If at all, to

this type of music) Progressive Rock.

Some of the minor bands featured are just plain lousy!

The important progressive bands that are not a part of this

such as: Yes, Asia, King Crimson, UK {ETC.}

Take a very good look at the track selection of these three discs. Is this for you? That is for you to decide. For me, it does not suit it's function as advertised as the definitive progressive rock box. There are some interesting things on this. But after it's only play in my CD Machine, I have not returned for repeated listenings of these discs.

The bottom line is that the best works of: Yes, ELP, King Crimson and of Course The Nice, tell the Story much better than this. If you are serious about progressive rock, and what it REALLY WAS, You do need to start your journey by exploring the records already available from those bands.

This could have been so much better...THREE STARS.

It must have been on the UK Amazon, this collection had some negative remarks. I was born in 1959 and have spent most of my life as a musician, lover, and collector of music (10,000 plus recordings, various media), especially 'adventurous' music (within every context of my stages of life). Suffice it to say, I personally view this collection as 'manna', most enjoyable and a true gift for it's release. Thats all ;-).

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