Instruments in progressive rock

The Oboe has such a beautiful tone best summed up in the slow movement of Brahms' Violin Concerto but as we're talking Prog here, FRUUPP incorporated the Oboe played by Stephen Houston on their first 3 albums. He left before the release of their fourth album "Modern Masquerades" being replaced by John Mason who played Vibes (another strange instrument). Try listening to some of the tracks from "Prince of Heavens Eyes" by them.

A full orchestra is something else that (in the right circumstances) works well with a Rock band. I've seen BJH, Camel, Renaissance, The Moody Blues, Yes and Deep Purple perform with an orchestra and each time I felt it worked. Getting the right balance between the orchestra and the band is obviously crucial here as well as being EXTREMELY difficult but in all of the above cases they did well. The best were The Moodies and Yes with Renaissance and Camel close behind.

If you want to see an example of this then check out the DVD "Yes Symphonic" recorded in Amsterdam during the Magnification tour. A truly wonderful rendition of "Ritual" will unfold before your eyes. Watching the members of the orchestra (especially the wodwind section) grooving along to the band when they were playing on their own is a sheer delight.