Rooftops - A Forest Of Polarity

I have seen Pink Floyd twice. The first time in April 1975 at one of the infamous Los Angeles Sports Arena shows - "infamous" because then Los Angeles Police Chief Ed Davis had the LAPD package, pocket, dog and/or pat down search every third ticketholder for drugs and alcohol as they entered the arena.  Pink Floyd were rather disheartened as the mechanically played the entirety of Dark Side Of The Moon.  A rather infamous bootleg of the concert exists which in itself is rather amazing given the police presence when it was recorded.  The second time I saw them was on August 9, 1980 at Earls Court in London when they performed, filmed and recorded The Wall live.

I am an early Genesis fan.  My favorite Genesis concert was probably September 24, 1975 at the Shrine Auditorium when, with Peter Gabriel, they performed Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and several encores of older material.  Parts of the concert are available on the box set Genesis Archive 1967-1975.

As you can see I was hooked on the "progressive rock" sound - a classical, theatrical rock symphony of great musicianship and syncopated rhythm.  I loved King Crimson and ingested huge quantities of Robert Fripp, John McLaughlin and Yes.  However, the progressive rock sound faded.  It became commercial.  By the 1990's most of it's original purveyors had moved on to other genres or had stopped producing loads of material.  It was a genre on its last legs - or so I thought.

With tA Forest Of Polarity The Rooftops breathe fresh air into non-commercial progressive rock.  All of the elements of the genre are present - like an old friend there is the feeling that Chris Squire, Mike Rutherford, Roger Waters, Phil Collins, David Gilmore, Robert Fripp and John McLaughlin all got together and recorded one last great progressive rock masterpiece. Really, however, the Rooftops are merely a group of very talented musicians from Bellingham, Washington. Drew Fitchette, Mark Detrick and Jonathan McIntyre play guitar. Wendelin Wohlgemuth (say that three times fast) plays drums. There is very little in the way of lyrics although they occasionally sing a word or two - more as instrumentation than story. The band adds layers of acoustic guitars, horns, strings and percussion that percolate and evoke emotion with odd time signatures and virtuoso performance.  This is an album that plays as background music, yet, can be dissected over and over again to catch this or that nuance in the instrumentation or production.  It is also a concept album.  One track flows after the next in a precise order.  The tracks are named, in order:  1. Fiery Atlas (Intro) / 2. Astray Life / 3. I Fast Early / 4. Raft Easily / 5. Year as Lift / 6. Tear as I Fly / 7. A Layer Fits / 8. Leafy Stair / 9. Era Falsity / 10. Sea Frailty. The music, by design, takes you on a floaty, light, gentle journey with various twists and turns.

I'm not ready to say progressive rock is back.  Heaven knows a progressive rock album has not been a blockbuster hit for over thirty years.  However, if the Rooftops keep it up that may soon change.  They play frequently in Washington State, Oregon and California.  This is a band well worth a listen. I suspect there will be no police pat down searches of Rooftops' fans outside their venues.

- Old School