Orchestrated Rock...Uriah Heep and others


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zau-okpFssg

Released in 1971 Salisbury by Uriah Heep was always one of my favorite Prog Rock albums and groups.

I recently re-listened to the re-mastered title track on my high end system for the first time. Kind of blew my mind. 16 minutes long.

I concluded that I’ve always enjoyed orchestrated rock, which probalby started with Neal Young’s Harvest.

Any suggestions of other classic rock groups that used orchestration would be appreciated.

128x1281111art

Not classic yet but the new Joe Bonamassa live at the Hollywood Bowl has a full orchestra and really shines.

There is so much brilliant music that I believe falls within what you are describing.

Obviously, a very high percentage of prog from all eras fits. And of course, the use of Mellotron by a high percentage of prog bands also lends that orchestral feel, with the Mellotron’s analog sampling of massed orchestral: strings, horns, flutes choirs, oboes, etc is a big contributor to the orchestral fee.

Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Renaissance, are a few from the classic rock era.

But other countries also produced some world class symphonic/orchestral prog, also.

Italy being the best and most prolific. But France and Spain have their share, too. Check out:

Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) / their first 4 or so releases are incredible. Monstrous musicianship, beautiful melodies.

Banco del Mutuo Socorrso (Banco) / Keyboard playing right up there with Wakeman or Emerson, great compositions, and an incredible vocalist with close to 5 octave range.

Arti E Mestieri / Their debut album, Tilt, is like symphonic prog meets jazz-rock fusion. With terrifying chops by all band members.

Änglagård / From, Sweden. Loads of orchestral sounding Mellotron, Beautiful, dark melodies, quite complex.

The Flower Kings / Sweden. A pretty traditional prog band (Yes, Genesis influences), very prolific, with plenty of great material. Stardust We Are, Flower Power, and Unfold the Future are probably their strongest releases. Their latest releases are a bit too mainstream for my tastes.

I could talk about quite a bit of the prog subgenre of avant-prog, which has a great deal of symphonic sounding material, but bands in this subgenre compose mostly atonal music, so it can be a bit "thorny" sounding. And not always an easy listening experience, but artistically rewarding nonetheless.

These bands also tend to have a lot of non-traditional (for rock) instruments that give them an orchestral feel: cello, violin, oboe, flute, English horn, and others.

I'm a Prog Rock fan from way back. I love the genre. For whatever reason your header reminding me of a "music critic" once describing ELP's material as "iconoclastic bombast."

ELP , Yes , Jethro Tull and Queen as orchestrated rock .

Rock with orchestra The Moody Blues  "S/T" with the LSO , ELP  "Works " with the Orchestra de'l Opera de Paris  ,  Ian Anderson  "A Classic Case" with the LSO .