Art Rock
As British pop took itself more seriously and became increasingly complex, some musicians turned to adapting classical repertoire to the pop medium. This was not a new concept. In the pre-rock era, a Tchaikovsky piano concerto had become a pop song and Spike Jones had done serious homage/damage to the works of several symphonic musical icons. In America, the "girl group," the Toys, released "A Lover's Concerto" [chart October-November 1965; UK#5] based on a J. S. Bach minuet from Anna Magdalena's Notebook. In the spring of 1967, before the arrival of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Procol Harum mixed Bach with rock and the next year the Nice electrified Copeland and Bernstein. In both of these examples, the rhythm and blues ensemble became a vehicle for interpreting material written for orchestras.
The orchestra was already familiar with pop music. Paul McCartney had been aware of that when he shied away from the kind of orchestration with which George Martin had accompanied Gerry Marsden. However, McCartney did seek arranger Mike Leander to orchestrate the accompaniment for "She's Leaving Home" on Sgt. Pepper's. Martin's orchestration appears in George Harrison's "Within You Without You" and more extensively as part of the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine.
The Moody Blues would take the idea of incorporating the orchestra into pop to the logical next step, composing music with the increasingly reliable Melotron keyboard in mind (heard already in "Strawberry Fields Forever") and adding lush orchestral sounds. All of this music went by the name "Progressive," although where it was progressing was anybody's guess.
Procol Harum The Nice The Moody Blues
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  28-Mar-2012