Prog (album)

Prog is the fifth studio album recorded by American jazz trio The Bad Plus. Like previous Bad Plus recordings, Prog features several covers including "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears, "Life on Mars?" by David Bowie, and "Tom Sawyer" by Rush. It was released on 8 May 2007 by Heads Up label to positive critical reception.

Prog
Studio album by
The Bad Plus
Released8 May 2007
RecordedSeptember 2006[1]
StudioPachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
GenreJazz
Length64:52
LabelHeads Up
ProducerTony Platt, The Bad Plus
The Bad Plus chronology
Suspicious Activity?
(2005)		 Prog
(2007)		 For All I Care
(2008)
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic80/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz[3]
Allmusic[4]
The Guardian[5]
PopMatters8/10[6]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[7]

Reception

At Metacritic, that assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on eight critical reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".[2]

Amar Patel in his review for BBC stated, "Rather than pondering motives for choosing such covers – “is it irony… is it sincerity or is it a mid-life crisis?” – let’s accept Prog for what it is: a free-spirited and fun excursion into the dynamic of the trio format by a twenty-year-old highly literate band of ‘gypsies’... By no means glamorous or gimmicky, but certainly invested with the cinematic scope and epic proportions of 70’s rock (take a bow Tony Platt), Prog is The Bad Plus more live and intuitive than ever."[8] Evan Sawdey of PopMatters wrote, "...the Bad Plus return with Prog, and they burst out of the gate like they have nothing to lose. Naturally, people will want to know what crazy covers the band does this time around, and here the Plus does not disappoint... The hazy romantic feel of the original is entirely intact, with the band showing fantastic restraint by letting the song's melody ride itself out to the blissful end."[6]

Troy Collins of All About Jazz gave the album five stars out of five, commenting, "Coming into their own as both deft interpreters and singular writers, the members of The Bad Plus stand tall among their peers. With muscular conviction and steely focus, Prog is the sound of a much heralded ensemble rising to the occasion and fulfilling the hype."[3] John Fordham of The Guardian wrote, "...now they're back on the street, raising a loan to finance this uneven but typically engaging album on its own label."[5]

Track listing
  1. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (Chris Hughes, Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley) – 5:34
  2. "Physical Cities" (Reid Anderson) – 9:08
  3. "Life on Mars?" (David Bowie) – 6:02
  4. "Mint" (Ethan Iverson) – 5:20
  5. "Giant" (Anderson) – 8:44
  6. "Thriftstore Jewelry" (David King) – 5:36
  7. "Tom Sawyer" (Pye Dubois, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart) – 5:10
  8. "This Guy's in Love with You" (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 4:43
  9. "The World is the Same" (Anderson) – 9:08
  10. "1980 World Champion" (King) – 5:03

Personnel

References
  1. "The Bad Plus - Prog". Discogs. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  2. "PROG by The Bad Plus". Metacritic. metacritic.com. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  3. Collins, Troy. "The Bad Plus: Prog album review @ All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  4. Tamarkin, Jeff. "Review: Prog". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  5. Fordham, John (20 July 2007). "CD: The Bad Plus, Prog". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  6. Sawdey, Evan (28 May 2007). "The Bad Plus: Prog". PopMatters. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  7. Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (9th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-14-103401-0.
  8. Patel, Amar (2007). "BBC - Music - Review of The Bad Plus - Prog". BBC. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
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