Proto-Metal

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The combination of blues-rock with psychedelic rock formed much of the original basis for heavy metal.One of the most influential bands in forging the merger of genres was the British power trio Cream, who derived a massive, heavy sound from unison riffing between guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Jack Bruce, as well as Ginger Baker's double bass drumming. Their first two LPs, Fresh Cream (1966) and Disraeli Gears (1967), are regarded as essential prototypes for the future style. The Jimi Hendrix Experience's debut album, Are You Experienced (1967), was also highly influential. Hendrix's virtuosic technique would be emulated by many metal guitarists and the album's most successful single, "Purple Haze," is identified by some as the first heavy metal hit. Vanilla Fudge, whose first album also came out in 1967, have been called "one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto_metal#Antecedents:_mid-1960s

Sub-genre collaborators:
  • voila_la_scorie

proto-metal top albums

Showing only albums and EPs | Based on members ratings & MMA custom algorithm | 24 hours caching

JIMI HENDRIX Are You Experienced? Album Cover Are You Experienced?
JIMI HENDRIX
4.51 | 45 ratings
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WISHBONE ASH Argus Album Cover Argus
WISHBONE ASH
4.56 | 32 ratings
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QUEEN Queen II Album Cover Queen II
QUEEN
4.42 | 65 ratings
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THE WHO Who's Next Album Cover Who's Next
THE WHO
4.48 | 38 ratings
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KING CRIMSON Red Album Cover Red
KING CRIMSON
4.37 | 100 ratings
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KING CRIMSON In The Court Of The Crimson King Album Cover In The Court Of The Crimson King
KING CRIMSON
4.35 | 99 ratings
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KING CRIMSON Larks' Tongues In Aspic Album Cover Larks' Tongues In Aspic
KING CRIMSON
4.35 | 92 ratings
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JIMI HENDRIX Axis: Bold As Love Album Cover Axis: Bold As Love
JIMI HENDRIX
4.43 | 34 ratings
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QUEEN A Night At The Opera Album Cover A Night At The Opera
QUEEN
4.25 | 69 ratings
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QUEEN Sheer Heart Attack Album Cover Sheer Heart Attack
QUEEN
4.05 | 55 ratings
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JIMI HENDRIX Electric Ladyland Album Cover Electric Ladyland
JIMI HENDRIX
4.03 | 37 ratings
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QUEEN Queen Album Cover Queen
QUEEN
3.95 | 51 ratings
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proto-metal Music Reviews

KING CRIMSON Live In Kassel, 1974

Promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs) · 2007 · Proto-Metal
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Warthur
Right at the tail end of King Crimson's European tour of 1974 - followed by the grand slog through the USA which culminated in David Cross leaving the band and, shortly after, Robert Fripp dissolving the group following the recording of Red - this Kassel gig, captured on decent-quality soundboard tapes, finds the band in an aggressive mood, like they're roaring to see the finish line just up ahead. The set is incomplete - it cuts out partway through Fracture - but the quality of what you get is superb and it's only this incompleteness which stops it getting five stars. Then again, if you're digging this deep into this phase of the band's history, you may as well get the Starless boxed set - which includes this plus all the other surviving soundboard tapes from this tour.

KING CRIMSON Live In Denver, 1972

Promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs) · 2007 · Proto-Metal
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Warthur
As much as I enjoy some of the live material from the Islands-era King Crimson lineup that Discipline Global Mobile has made available over the years (with the Sailors' Tales boxed set compiling more of these releases than you will ever really need at an astonishingly reasonable price compared to if you bought them separately), there's some live recordings of theirs where the sound quality simply is too poor to make it worthwhile. This Denver, Colorado gig was recorded to cassette from the soundboard and the nicest thing I can say about it is that it sounds a bit better than Earthbound - but there's other live recordings from the same tour which sound better than this.

In particular, the Summit Studios radio session recorded prior to this gig has much the same energy, but benefits enormously from the multi-track recording's far superior sound quality. Don't bother with this one unless you got it in the Sailors' Tales box - and even then, I'm willing to bet it'll be one of the shows you don't listen to so often.

KING CRIMSON Live In Heidelberg, 1974

Promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs) · 2005 · Proto-Metal
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Warthur
Prevented from being a five-star release largely because it's incomplete (and most frustratingly of all, it cuts out three minutes into Fracture!), nonetheless this live release capturing one of the stops on the Starless and Bible Black tour (also included on the Starless boxed set) is a magnificent hour or so of King Crimson at their finest. There's some delightful improvisations captured, the songs are top notch, and by and large the band are at the peak of their game - and to cap everything off, the source is a soundboard recording, so the sound quality is crystal clear. Pretty good, though if you're keen enough on this era to be interested in this, you may as well save up and get the Starless box, which despite the expense is astonishingly good value for money compared to buying these live sets individually.

THE STOOGES Metallic K.O.

Live album · 1976 · Proto-Metal
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Warthur
Buyer beware - the original release of Metallic KO, the one whose track list is reflected above, was mislabelled, with only the second side actually coming from the final Stooges show and the first side hailing from a worse-sounding gig at the same venue from some four months earlier. So for this purpose, my rating of this will be based on that issue - go look at my review of Metallic 2xKO, one of several versions of the release to include the full final show (and, in its 2CD configurations, the full version of the earlier show too), for my thoughts on that.

Really, though, if you are enough of a collector to want this material, the best way to get it these days is on Cherry Red's You Think You're Bad, Man? box - a modestly-priced 5CD collection which will get you both those shows, plus three others, coming to about as much Raw Power-era live Stooges as anyone could possibly want.

THE STOOGES I'm Sick Of You

EP · 1977 · Proto-Metal
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Warthur
The I'm Sick of You sessions have been released in various formats now - the definitive one being that offered on the first disc of the Heavy Liquid boxed set (rereleased more recently on the Born In A Trailer boxed set), from which you can take whichever version of I Got a Right and Gimme Some Skin you prefer, add a brilliantly filthy Louie Louie, Money, Scene of the Crime and of course the brilliant I'm Sick of You itself to get a definitive version of the set. Punk rock in all but name, these aggressive, stripped down, and angry as hell garage rock numbers rank among the very best of the Stooges' output.

proto-metal movie reviews

BLIND FAITH London Hyde Park 1969

Movie · 2006 · Proto-Metal
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stefanbedna
Blind Faith -London Hyde Park 1969 dvd. An excellent concert.Quite simple concert.A beautiful day and a hundred thousand people in London´s central Hyde Park listens Blind Faith in their first big gig.Absolutely wonderful.For me the historic value of this concert.Rating 4,0 stars for me.Concert will be held 07/06/1969.Performers lineup eric clapton lead guitar,steve winwood phenomenal vocal and keyboards, rick grech on bass and of course phenomenal ginger baker on drums.This is an example of the unique combination of two large groups of Cream and Traffic rights in the Great introducetd in London´s Hyde Park.Really very interesting concert series watch it again on dvd.I highly recommend.

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