I don't think you have to drop to your knees and confess ("CONFESS, brothah!"—Fred, this applies to you) that you liked, lionized even, prog rock before punk brought you (indeed an entire culture) to your senses. It was what it was, at time excessive, and at times transcendent, like this extended bit of indulgence. But once you sort of poke past all the excesses that prog came to represent, you find amazing musicianship and a sense of cohesiveness to the composition. Overblown? Maybe. But I find this one eminently listenable today, and, folks, I was an avowed destroyer of all things prog back then. You learn; you grow.

Yes is one of the groups that I really respect but have never been able to make a personal connection with. Owner of a Lonely Heart and Love Will Find a Way might be the exceptions. I've never spent a cent on Yes but they can groove.

 fredriley wrote: 

Hendrix, Floyd, Clapton . . . Kraftwerk?

YES!

brilliant..  love it...
 

 fredriley wrote:

"hobbit-rock" - nice one! I wish I'd coined that phrase.

Back in the day (that'll be the decadent progrock early 70s, before punk exploded all pretentions with its rude and necessary vitality) I and my pretentious mates at college were into ELP, Yes, Gong, Amon Duul and similar. I used to dream of appearing on stage with Keith Emerson and playing synth riffs. I wrote ELP on school desks, quoted their lyrics, expounded on their musical virtuosity, and generally though that they were the dog's bollox. Which I suppose they were at the time, but virtually nothing of theirs is now listenable to by any other than the nostalgic. A couple of Greg Lake songs, and that's about it. Albums like Brain Salad Surgery are as distinctive markers of their time as fossils are in determining the age of rocks.

I could no more listen to ELP now than stick needles in my ears, and that applies tenfold to the execrable Yes (if Yes is the answer, you're asking the wrong question). I don't look back on my tastes in the 70s with disgust or shame - that was a different time, I was a different person, and progrock was a necessary antidote to the social turmoil of Britain at that time. I enjoyed ELP and Yes then, as did many others. Even though we knew in our hearts that the lyrics were gnomically meaningless, the 20-minute tracks hideously overblown, and the baroque synth solos from Wakeman and Emerson plain self-indulgent noodling, we revelled in it. However, that was then, this is now. Some artists' work (eg Hendrix, Floyd, Clapton, Kraftwerk) straddles the decades and will still be listened to for decades to come, some is specific to its time.

 
Fredriley, your post contains one or two common threads found in a lot of entries here, such as "when does a band or a genre become a nostalgia act?". 

Some music aims to be in the here and now and doesn't care about grand themes or musical traditions. It just wants to explode and tear away the mainstream bullshit that's built up. Once its time is past, it doesn't work as a nostalgia act. Rebellion has to take ever new forms if it wants stay fresh and current. Once punk's time was up, we eventually moved onto grunge in response to heavy metal metal hair bands and arena rock. 

Do you want your music to always be new, do you want it tied to some musical tradition? I'm pretty sure that we all want a mix but it's always interesting to hear how someone's musical tastes have changed over time. RPers are always going to be debating this matter. There's no right answer. 

Personally, I wonder from time to time whether there'll be classic punk or rap anthologies, and whether anyone will buy them. I can't listen to punk-only Webstations for very long—it's loud and angry and messy and then it gets really tiresome. I'd probably get quickly fed up with prog-rock stations as well.  

> I don't look back on my tastes in the 70s with disgust or shame - that was a different time, I was a different person, and progrock >was a necessary antidote to the social turmoil of Britain at that time. 

Would love to read more of what you have to say about that time in the UK and how it affected music. I've heard that the British version of the TV series "Life on Mars" really captured that period in the country. 

Never really liked this group.

 cohifi wrote: 
So is a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
(But yes, I like Yes.)

 lemmoth wrote: 

Wow. Just wow. I didn't realize someone's opinion of a song had something do with their level of knowledge. This is music not physics equations.

 Cynaera wrote: 


Oh, Yes... hearing this made the whole evening... love it... thank you...

 romeotuma wrote: 
  Your joy is contagious - I am SO loving hearing this song! We're about to get a foot of snow, I have three litterboxes to clean, all the critters are tucked in for the night, the bills are paid, we're going to get a dishwasher either repaired or replaced, the rototiller is in the shop, and it seems that life has finally cut us a break or two.  I wish peace and contentment to everyone at RP.

Thank you for this song, whoever uploaded it. 

Much better than Rush!

Live YES in the round. 2 hits of ——.
I forget it like it was yesterday.........

But it makes every 7th grade chess club geek with glasses happy

this was more profound after a few joints

I love this!

 Proclivities wrote: 
I must agree with both of you that this type of music seems dated now, but I LOVE HOBBIT ROCK!  (and love that moniker!)

I personally believe prog rock will becomemore accepted with, much like opera or Butoh dance {ducks and runs for cover}

 sirdroseph wrote: 

More proof of your cluelessness.

 fredriley wrote: 
OK Fred - I often disagree with your comments here on RP, and ELP is my wife's favorite band of all time and............I couldn't have said it better — You are 100% accurate

 Proclivities wrote: 
"hobbit-rock" - nice one! I wish I'd coined that phrase.

Back in the day (that'll be the decadent progrock early 70s, before punk exploded all pretentions with its rude and necessary vitality) I and my pretentious mates at college were into ELP, Yes, Gong, Amon Duul and similar. I used to dream of appearing on stage with Keith Emerson and playing synth riffs. I wrote ELP on school desks, quoted their lyrics, expounded on their musical virtuosity, and generally though that they were the dog's bollox. Which I suppose they were at the time, but virtually nothing of theirs is now listenable to by any other than the nostalgic. A couple of Greg Lake songs, and that's about it. Albums like Brain Salad Surgery are as distinctive markers of their time as fossils are in determining the age of rocks.

I could no more listen to ELP now than stick needles in my ears, and that applies tenfold to the execrable Yes (if Yes is the answer, you're asking the wrong question). I don't look back on my tastes in the 70s with disgust or shame - that was a different time, I was a different person, and progrock was a necessary antidote to the social turmoil of Britain at that time. I enjoyed ELP and Yes then, as did many others. Even though we knew in our hearts that the lyrics were gnomically meaningless, the 20-minute tracks hideously overblown, and the baroque synth solos from Wakeman and Emerson plain self-indulgent noodling, we revelled in it. However, that was then, this is now. Some artists' work (eg Hendrix, Floyd, Clapton, Kraftwerk) straddles the decades and will still be listened to for decades to come, some is specific to its time.

 westslope wrote: 

Not Wakeman, is Tony Kaye on keyboard

Is the one with broken foot on the sleeve cover photo

 

I want to hear this song right now....

 

 westslope wrote: 
No, who is on first.

Question:  I hear Wakeman on the keyboards, Squire on bass, Howe on lead guitar.  Who is playing the second guitar?  

I love that moment when the pipe organ comes in. I imagine myself sitting in a big cathedral playing this across five keyboards, flipping my long grey hair out of my eyes