9 Baroque Behemoths Of Neo-Classical Rock!

6:04 PM GMT 07/09/2009

INSPIRED, IF THAT'S THE WORD, by the Tubular Bells story in this month's mag, the MOJO office were heard to debate Mike Oldfield's mid-'70s ubiquity and his startling immediate legacy: the blending of synths, rock and classical tropes into the unlikely crossover genre of the era, a genre that provided hit singles - a Number 2 hit in punk-loving 1977 for ELP's Fanfare For The Common Man - as well as mammoth international albums.

Never hip, it was a fusion perhaps more embraced by audiophiles than by rock fans, yet there were enough of them to make Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygène a 15-million-seller. Flippantly perhaps, I found myself suggesting the subtitle "Your Mate's Dad's Albums", in tribute to the neo-classical bias of my school pal Mark Beacham's dad. Somehow the reference resonated with others in the MOJO office.

For my part, the bippety-bop melody of Oxygène is enough to whisk me back to the Beachams' front room, where we pored with self-conscious gravity over his dad's sci-fi sleeves, comparing nascent crushes on Blake's 7's S&M pinup, Jacqueline "Servalan" Pierce between attempts to get the Subbuteo throw-in guy to work.

But I digress. Here, then, is MOJO's list of the records we remember from our mates' dads' collections (and, erm, some of our own). We've thrown out the high-concept pop (Supertramp, ELO and 10cc were somehow ever-presents) and homed in on the neo-classical core. Returning to this territory in 2009 it's surprising how well some of them stand up and how irredeemably hokey some of them remain. Synths and Sci-fi are recurring elements, although they're rarely (YMO excepted) cited in the official history of electronica. The overarching attitude - pompous then; amusing or at least forgiveable now - is one of superiority. The idea abounds that popular music should, where possible, aspire to the gold standard of the classics.

All your thoughts/memories/etc., fond or otherwise, regarding this genre (have we made it up?) are welcome. In fact, they are mandatory.

Click HERE to view MOJO's 9 Baroque Behemoths Of Neo-Classical Rock!

Danny Eccleston

Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:04 PM GMT 07/09/2009

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