by Yes, Deep Purple and the Zombies bring a healthy dose of psychedelia to the 2014 nominees list for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Also nominated are the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, whose sonic explorations of the 1960s include the raga-rock mindblower “East-West,” and genre-spanning art rocker Peter Gabriel.
Other acts identified with the 1960s are Linda Ronstadt, the Meters, Link Wray and Cat Stevens. Yes, Gabriel and the Zombies are first-time nominees.
Yes has been a notable and puzzling omission to the Rock Hall, perceived, perhaps, as a genre snub. Last year’s induction ceremony saw Rush make the cut, though, bringing the first taste of prog rock to the institution.
Other nominees are Hall and Oates, Nirvana, the Replacements, Chic, KISS, N.W.A. and LL Cool J. Fans once again are offered a voice, however small, via a Rock Hall online poll. Yes and Deep Purple were among the top early vote getters.
Procol Harum disappeared from the Rock Hall’s shortlist after first appearing in 2012. Yes, the Rock Hall noted, fused “the cinematic soundscapes of King Crimson with the hard rock edge of the Who and the soaring harmonies and melodies of Simon and Garfunkel. … Album-side length epics like ‘Close to the Edge’ and ‘The Gates Of Delirium’ represent the (prog) genre at its absolute finest.”
Deep Purple’s “onslaught of sound along with such contemporaries as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, led rock critics to coin a new musical genre: heavy metal. … Epic chart singles ‘Smoke on the Water’ and ‘Woman From Tokyo’ sold Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster guitars in numbers that stagger the imagination.”
The Zombies’ “second and final album ‘Odessey And Oracle’ has earned its reputation … alongside such masterworks as the Beatles’ White Album and the Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds.’” The Rock Hall noted the English band’s “studied, sophisticated, intricately arranged atmospherics” as well as its “triad of career-defining hits”: “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No” and “Time Of the Season.”
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band “turned on the Fillmore generation to the pleasures of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and Elmore James.” Its Eastern-influenced epic “East-West” stands high on this web site’s list of the top psychedelic songs.
Peter Gabriel, as a solo artist, “blended synthesizers and a signature gated drum sound with an emotional honesty learned from soul music to create a sensibility that would influence artists from U2 and Arcade Fire to Depeche Mode.” Genesis was inducted in 2010.
Inductees are expected to be announced in December. The ceremony will be in April, this time in New York.
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