Although much has been written about Progressive Rock - much more than you probably thought, and sure more than I thought in the beginning -, there are a lot of questions still left unanswered, a lot of problems unsolved. Having exchanged emails for years with quite a lot of people, I got the impression that it would be interesting to know what people think should be written about. And it might be helpful in any way you feel it to be.
Time will tell what this could be good for.

1. There have been quite a lot of band biographies. The "big five" (ELP, Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, Yes) have already been the subject of a number of books. But I think, one band is missing: There is no other band to which the name "Symphonic Rock" is more applicable than Renaissance. This commonly underrated band still has a lot of fans who would be interested in a biography.
   
   
   

2. Hi Nik,
   I wholeheartedly agreed with the first paragraph. Renaissance were indeed a great band. I first came across Keith Relf in days gone by in the Kingston-upon-Thames area when he was with the Yardbirds. In addition, I would like to see a book on Gryphon, who incidentally still have a lot of fans, myself included.

   Bob from Sussex

   
   
   

3. I don't want to start a nationalist discourse, but there is something I am very interested in. Many listeners continue to express their preference for certain national scenes. Others argue they could tell where a band comes from just by listening to a few bars of their music. These are subjective opinions, but I think it would be an interesting task to find out if there is something in the music itself - in the sound, in the way it is composed, in the Melodies, Rhythms - that makes it typical and could be seen as the reason for the listeners' impression. My guess is, that "national styles" only exist as traditions of reception, but it would be interesting to know.
   
   
   

4. Most interesting to me is the question how something so unlikely as Progressive Rock could evolve at the time it did. Typified by Yes, Progressive Rock combined "opposites" like analytic vs. synthetic weltanschauung, rationalism vs. irrationalism, science vs. esoterics. It grew from the fertile grounds of the revolutionary social and political movements of the sixties and soon incorporated religion and esoterics which gave birth to the New Age movement. The musicians tried to bring these two together by surprisingly falling back upon the classical music tradition and combinig it with a bit of Jazz, Folk and Rock.
   Understanding and describing this bringing together so many heterogeneous influences needs a completely new methodology. Neither the traditional sociology of Rock Music nor the Prog musicology can explain the synthetic thinking that prevails in esoterics nor can the hermetic sciences explain the musical side of Prog or their social extensions. But in order to fully understand Progressive Rock, one will need to bring different methods together, if the analysis shall be apt to its object.
   
   
   

5. As you can see, I am interested in literary references in Progressive Rock. Reading through the list I put on this website, one can get the impression that references to literary and philosophical works are a special feature of Progressive Rock music. I don't know if this is right. So I'd like to read a study that compares the quantity and the qualtity of these references to those in other (popular) musics. This could contribute to the clarification of the question, whether the "high cultural" air is rightly applied to Progressive Rock.
   
   
   

6. I would like to see a history of german Progressive Rock. As far as I know, it has been at least as complicated as the british scene of the seventies, with people joining bands, leaving, rejoining. There are several discographies, but no real history.

   John, Philadelphia, PA

   
   
   

7. As far as I know there has never been a band biography of Magma. This would be a great thing to have!
             (A note from the webmaster: I checked this information and
             found out that there has been a Magma biography by Antoine des Caunes, but it was in
             french. So bad luck for those who don't speak the language.)

   Massimo, Torino, Italia

   
   
   

8. I would like to read an in depth study of Yes' "Tales From Topographic Oceans". This album seems to be avoided by musiclogists, the notes of Jennifer Rycenga in "Progressive Rock Reconsidered" are just too short. The study I would suggest would not only focus on the music but also on the lyrics and their spiritual background in order to show if there is a connection between the two or not.

   Jean-Marcel, Nīmes, France

   
   
   

9. I read somewhere that a Camel biography was being written. I'd like to read it! What happened?

   John, Philadelphia, PA
   
   You are right, there was a Camel biography project by Martyn Hanson, but unfortunately, the book won't be written.

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