12 Days of Christmas - progressive rock style by Somewhere

[magic8ballgirl]

And King Crimson c:

[magic8ballgirl]

I spot Yes,Genesis and Pink Floyd~.

[teaflax]

Somewhere's new song Lullaby for the Common Man (with very pretentious lyrics) is up on Youtube now. Either hit the link to the 2011 Progmas above and there's a link there, or do a search for somewhere and lullaby in the box at the top of the page.

[DiegoKatabian]

Change the christmas lyrics for some really pretentious ones, and you have a pretty nice prog song.

[agbjhw]

This obviously should have been 23 minutes long.

[nintendo64isking]

love this im a massive genesis and yes fan :D

[teaflax]

@nintendo64isking As are we. So much so that we put some direct musical references to Genesis and Yes (and Tull and Gentle Giant) in the 2011 version.

[MsBkirk]

The pointless canons bit made me think of Neal Morse with Spock's Beard, though Gentle Giant originated that!

[teaflax]

@MsBkirk I would argue that GG's canons always did end up going somewhere, but otherwise, you're spot on.

[SomewhereDotNu]

The improved More Mellotron 2011 Mix is here! Just click the blue SomewhereDotNu above this text to get to the official channel.

[LisaLaRue2KX]

BRAVO!!!! Encore!!!!

[teaflax]

@LisaLaRue2KX

Thank you, Lisa. The encore will debut at Sweden Prog Fest on Saturday and will be up on Youtube on Monday. It's a remixed, reworked and in bits substantially changed version with a brand new video and a few surprises.

[SomewhereDotNu]

See the trailer for the 2011 version on our official Youtube channel (just click the name here)!

[NapoleanXV]

I don't know why you guys can't just lay down a sick beat with some lyrics I can relate to. People don't use 7's in music!!!!! Who do you think you are, kindergarten?

[shredjoe1]

Loved this, superb well done - but 7/4 time isn't that common time for prog!!

[dragonsrightwingisme]

@shredjoe1 - Hmmm - "The Fish" by Yes, "160 BPM" by Hans Zimmer, "Unsquare Dance" by Dave Brubeck (technically jazz, but ...), "Theme from Tron" by Wendy Carlos, "Battle of Epping Forest" "The Cinema Show" and "Dance on a Volcano" by Genesis, "Money" by Pink Floyd, "The Spirit of Radio" "Tom Sawyer" and La Villa Strangiato" by Rush ...

Also, 7/4 (or 7/8) have been used by Devo, XTC, Yanni, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well ...

Not exactly *un*common ...

[ThaNuke]

Oh my fuck, this is exactly right.

[RuneWalsh2000]

Helt genialiskt! :D

[qdmfrance]

Brilliant and so funny !

[JIF882]

The singer sounds like Kevin Gilbert

[sisdecadence]

This made me laugh with every new verse! And for the record, I am a Geddycorn and Prog Whore. (Names given lovingly to me by male musician friends.) I am that ONE lady dancing. Long live Prog! And Rush! And you!

[Mordain607]

HAHAHA! I LOVE the "Seven really weird key changes" bit!

[DonutDuDe1212]

This is exactly why i love prog.

[beforetherise]

Topographic Oceans... Hemispheres...Rickenbacker basses... Hammond Organs and my favorite instrument.... five M-e-l-l-o-t-r-o-n-s'.... impossible not to like this video, if you were introduced to high-art' (though bombastic at times') as a child.

[ibanezguitarist12345]

LOVE IT!!

[PhilW222]

Great fun - from a dyed int he wool progger!

[ricever1]

That was very funny , thank you for the prog stocking stuffer ! I like the way you have more complex chord changes , time signatures and ' feels ' as the song PROGressed ! There wasn't any key signature changes though , or did I miss one ? Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you ;) from Veronica ( keyboard player in the " Utterflux " prog rock band )

[flashtroubadour]

Like most prog rock songs - too long.

Should have been edited down to a single - or played much faster.

Re: "No ladies dancing' - you can't dance to, to, to, to to, odd, oddy, odd, oddd, time signatures, unless you want to look like you're dr dr dr drunk.

[teaflax]

@flashtroubadour Hey, that's our shortest song. Only by about half a minute or so, but still...

[Mordain607]

@flashtroubadour

Yes you can! Go put on "The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five" and then tell me you can't!

[teaflax]

@Mordain607 Sure, anyone with a good sense of rhythm can dance to an odd meter, but people with a good sense of rhythm who are also used to odd meters really are the exception.

Speaking from personal experience as a DJ, most people on a dance floor can't keep the beat once the straight snare and kick are dropped out and just the hihat is left of the drums, much less if you drop down to just the bass line. That's just a fact. This is why house music is so popular - its beat is 100% unambiguous.

[Mordain607]

@teaflax

I think that's a bit worse than not having a good sense of rhythm lol. But still, it seems like you know what you're talking about!

I just would of thought most people could dance in 5/4 or 7/4. Obviously, when you get to stuff like 21/16, it becomes impossible, and I imagine 11/8 or 13/8 would be hard to dance to.

But I guess you're right - I'm used to odd metres so maybe it's just me.

[rvollin1935]

That was fabulous. This self-beating is what we Prog Rockers need once in awhile. Only serious criticism is that I think it would have been funnier if the "5 Mellotrons" section blared out Tron chords every time it hit. Other than that....Bravo!!!!!!!!!!

[teaflax]

@rvollin1935 Thank you. I actually agree with you on the Mellotrons - that was part of my original concept, but as the arrangement progressed (heh), it just didn't turn out that way. Maybe next year (if making that debut album doesn't get in the way).

[hammonddave]

We used to cover Aqualung in the 70's... and as hard as they tried, the ladies could not dance to it.

[hammonddave]

Loved it! Especially the 5 Mellotrons... looks just like mine.

[NeedHeadMusic]

I don't understand the NO LADIES DANCING thing

[megac47]

Fantastic. Each December I search out all the funny, non-serious Christmas songs and this is now a keeper for years to come.

Thanks!

[Feznjev99]

Just to avoid confusion. I produced it.....during night hours since I had another project going during the days :-)

[Feznjev99]

Thanx for all the appreciation, everybody!

To the first poster who seemed a little hurt, I wish to say: "I really agree with you. Those records were/are among the best albums of all time. I would not have touched a musical instrument if I had not heard them. And this is just meant to be a friendly laugh. Music is the best!"

[RocketShipX41]

I identified all the album covers in the video except one. The first time through "two concept albums" Tales from Topographic Oceans floats by, but what is the other one with it? Gets kind of covered up by Tales.

Great effort, by the way! Make sure we all know when an album is ready.

[teaflax]

@RocketShipX41 That would be SF Sorrow by The Pretty Things. Just like the The Story of Simon Simopath by the original UK Nirvana, which shows up later, it's a proto-prog album, but in my opinion both are very important stepping stones to what later became full-on prog, so that's why I threw them in there.

[teaflax]

@RocketShipX41 That would be SF Sorrow by The Pretty Things. Just like the The Story of Simon Simopath by the original UK Nirvana, which shows up later, it's a proto-prog album, but in my opinion both are very important stepping stones to what later became full-on prog, so that's why I threw them in there.

[kumquatmagoo]

Thoroughly enjoyed this! 

[dbdrummer89]

Freakin love it haha. I'm a bit of a progger myself and it was great to see something like this.

Cheers and keep up the good work

[RohanTheTeaLover]

Sadly, if you laugh at this you're not truly Prog.

Surely half of being truly prog is being a pretentious dick? Which means not laughing at yourself. Sorry.

:P

(Love the song, and a fair bit of prog too, but I'm not truly prog, I laughed.)

[suitandtieguy]

@RohanTheTeaLover no, if you don't laugh at it you're not really prog. you have it the other way round because you actually are a pretentious dick.

merry christmas!

[RohanTheTeaLover]

@suitandtieguy - Bwahahahaha! :D

[hombreelastico]

Really loved this! Definitely going on my Facebook profiles. Who says proggers can't have a laugh at themselves!!  I was lucky enough that my father used to take me to gigs in the early 70s allowing me to experience bands like early Genesis (WITH Peter Gabriel) and PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi) amongst others, so your video really sums up that whole era perfectly. Nice one!

[zedchuva]

No Ladies Dancing.... love it. Back in time, during the 80's, my band was playing a "Band Night" at a local club. In the middle of everyone's set they did a "spot dance", and the "best" dancers won some lame prize. Just so happened our spot dance song turned out to be Vital Signs by Rush. LOL! It was... interesting, to say the least. Only 2 girls actually stayed on the floor, so they won by default. Being prog on a rock night is awesome! :D

[Golchen]

Brilliant! Totally brilliant!

Nuff said.

[lashart2002]

Laughing my bag off. Excellent work.

[GHMETCALFE]

You forgot to mention that your lyrics were found in a lengthy footnote on page 47 of the Hindi version of the Bhagavad Gita published in 1929...

[druidkat7]

Loved it...I especially loved your inclusion of "Tales From Topographic Oceans" in the "2 concept albums" graphic! LOVE "Tales.." though I would describe the lyrics from that album as "trippy," "dreamy" or "fantastical." Not by any means pretentious, IMO...but then I've had a shamelessly longstanding, strong admiration for Jon Anderson to begin with. Lord, but I'd love to write lyrics like he does...:-D

[reedlover]

Nice one John!

[Progbitch]

You know what? I think I'm going to dance to that!

[profanatio]

Fantastic! This is my 5th listen. The only thing missing is the "In the Court of the Crimson King" album cover.

[zozzy69]

Excellent! a thousand thanks!

[nigeofbass]

This awesome!!! Love it.

[profanatio]

As a prog fan going back to the early 70's I must say that this kind of a tribute was well overdue. Very nice!!!

[jonsilence]

If Kevin Gilbert weren't having Christmas in the Great Beyond I'd swear that this was his brilliant baby...

[buzzrap]

Soooo Progtastic!!!!

[drumming12345]

love it.

[tg4878]

Okay I have a sense of humor, but Isn't there a more deserving part of the music business to have a laugh with? Sorry, but those were some amazing bands in the video. Did they miss Genesis?

[teaflax]

@tg4878 Sorry, but you either turned it off after 30 seconds or do not recognize a slipperman, the sleeve of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway or one Peter Gabriel in makeup. And you *certainly* didn't make it through to the 12th day.

[uk70sprogrock]

We are playing Somewhere on our station Click our name!

[LiteracyLabyrinth]

7 weird key changes! This is wonderful - thanks for posting on the '12 days' thread on progarchives!

[smartbunny]

Awesome!

[MetalheadBen88]

Brilliant! Merry progmas! ^_^

[lealoop]

absolutely hilarious and dead-on!

thanks so much! :-)

[solodini]

Should clearly be a bass riff in 7/16.

[teaflax]

@solodini Well, technically, the bass riff is in 7/8 ("seven foooour" is just more singable), so we're halfway there. ;)

[solodini]

@teaflax "sixteen" rhymes better with "me" than "time" does, though! :P

[teaflax]

@solodini You're right. I'll keep that in mind for 2011.

[solodini]

@teaflax My OCD thanks you! :P

[veloopity]

this is freakin awesome. I was laughing loud several times. Thanks for this wonderful christmas gift

[skoragzi]

Ya know, at first I was thinkin' "This doesn't sound very prog to me..." but as the tune progressed, slowly got more and more Prog! I like it! (especially the "strange key changes" part!)

[sonicfrogdotnet]

Love It!

[echovoice]

ok that was really kinda cool

[rutgerkingpin]

i love the christmas ball of fragile!

[mgod99]

Genius.

[miaris]

Love this!

[Flemmingdoerken]

"... and a bass riff in seven/four tiiime"!

[AtmosMusic]

*Furrowed brow, arms folded* That was cool!

[rtcarleton]

awesome job guys!

but.....for me, there just weren't enough aboriginal percussionists!

terry

[silvergoldfinch]

Story of Simon Simopath! I see it!

[iainhawkzinekhan]

hey really great!!! interesting to find some pictures inside of native instruments;-)

[metalli55]

I NEED that Fragile ornament at 2:33

[teaflax]

@metalli55 You can at least download the image at the band website.

[squabbitgirl]

No ladies dancing! So simple, and so true. hehe... This was as brilliant as it was hilarious. Thanks for making it.. I'm spreading this through my prog network on Facebook. : ) Merry Progness, people.

[gokce2112]

this song is not nearly long enough, needs 10 more minutes of solos

[mrkeybo1]

That was fantastic. Glad to know there are still some prog heads out there. Here in New Jersey I feel like the Lone Ranger

[DaManFromPlaid]

Cowbell! More COWBELL!

[rarebirdproductions]

I miss the Moogs, ARP's, other synthesizers, piano, harpsichord, flute, violin and everything but the kitchensink, but I love the song and the video.

[amccann7]

hahaha, yeah 7/4 time good one!

[NostalgicProcrast]

I adore the harmony vocals on the eleventh day!

[teaflax]

@NostalgicProcrast Aren't they great? (I can say that because I wasn't part of that bit at all)

[Heurmy]

Nice! I miss the Moog, though....

[teaflax]

@Heurmy I'll just add that to the list of things that should go in next year's tune.

[TheAbsorbant]

Still not enough mellotrons!

[teaflax]

@TheAbsorbant Actually, I agree. I didn't participate in the final mix. Maybe for next year's 13 Days of Progmas. ;)

[reshpeck]

Look at that floating mountain there!

[tom2mat]

7 really wierd key changes.

Win :D