Progressive or art rock was one of the most important trends in rock and roll during the early and mid-'70s. Groups like Genesis, Yes, Procol Harum, and Pink Floyd broke new ground by taking classical composition techniques and structures and wedding them with the power and drive of rock. Yet, by the end of the decade, the punk backlash had pretty much ended prog-rock's reign as rock's leading style. Today, scholars of rock and popular culture have returned to these musical groups and their achievements with new recognition of the musical sophistication they brought to rock and roll. In this book, the glory days of progressive rock are relived in a series of insightful essays about the key bands, songwriters, and songs that made prog-rock such an innovative style. For fans-both old and new-this collection sheds new light on an important trend in rock and roll with repercussions still being felt among today's artists. Progressive Rock Reconsidered is a landmark work on this important era in rock's history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments. Introduction. Part I. History and Contents. 1. Progressive Rock and the Inversion of Musical Values. 2. The American Metaphysical Circus of Joseph Byrd's United States of America. Part II. Analytical Perspectives 3. Pink Floyd's 'Careful with that Axe, Eugene' (ca. 1968-1969): A Study of Genre, Texture, Medium and Structure. 4. Progressive Rock as Text: The Lyrics of Roger Waters. 5. A Promise Deferred: Multiply-Directed Time and Thematic Transformation in Emerson, Lake and Palmer's 'Trilogy'. 6. King Crimson's Larks' Tongues in Aspic: A Case of Convergent Evolution. 7. Tales of Change within the Sound: Compositional Form, Lyrics and Philosophy in the Music of Yes. 8. Precarious Pleasures: Situating 'Close to the Edge' in Conflicting Male Desires. 9. 'Let Them All Make Their Own Music': Individualism, Rush, and the Progressive Hard Rock Alloy, 1976-1977. Part III. 'Don't Dare Call Us "Progressive"': Post Prog and other Legacies 10. Somebody is Digging My Bones: King Crimson's 'Dinasaur' as (post)Progressive Historiography. 11. How Alternative Turned Progressive: The Strange Case of Math Rock. Contributing Authors. Index.