I very much agree. guilty pleasures in small doses. I recently dug out the live yessongs album for a spin. I was thinking of maybe picking up one of the new yes remastered cds on rhino. I've ignored prog rock in the cd era. Loved the strawbs. Grave New World was one of my favorite albums at one time. Also big fan of the soft machine. especially their later jazz rock incarnation which points to another guilty pleasure - 70's fusion. Great cover.

Emery -- I picked up the remastered version of Yes' Yes Album and, not surprisingly, the sound is superb. I also picked up Rhino's 1994 ELP best-of, and, though I'll never be an ELP true believer, it's one of the best sounding remasters I've ever heard.

Hey there, Marc. Interesting, for sure. Both Sean and I did prog mixes last year (I think his was called "Don't hog the prog" and mine was "We're only as strong as our weakest link") with your exact impulse in mind.

This is really good. I did pretty much the same thing as you as far as loving prog, going punk and not liking it so much (except for genesis)to liking some of it in small doses. You picked some really good ones here. As far as Yes goes, when they get it right, they're great. Oftentimes however they don't.

Looks good Marc. I moved on to Yes in junior high after getting tired of Styx and Kansas. I think I bought the three disc Yessongs when I was in eighth grade, and played that sucker after school almost every day. It's been years since I've heard any of their records in ages, but I'm always tempted to buy the Yes Album on CD. Dig the Roger Dean-esque artwork as well.

Oof, this really is a tough one. Like Ion, I played the Yessongs triple set almost every day when I was about 13 (after I thought all that Glam stuff was for kids and decided I had to move on to bigger 'n better things). I still enjoy the Sweet, though, whilst Yes (and most of the other bands featured here) have vanished from my collection without a flaming trace. Nevertheless, I do dig trax 4 & 8;
The Nice, the Moodies, ELP & especially Tull, though, give me stomach cramps.

What is up with all you Tull-bashers?!?!?! Actually, I think they're one of the few prog-like bands that still bear repeated listens (at least some of the early records, which are more blues and folk than prog). I still like the Yes album and Fragile, and Close to the Edge has its moments. Actually, I like the first two folkie Yes albums somewhat. But back to Tull? What's the problem with them? I'll bet it's the flute.... Still, Ian Anderson is probably one of the best frontmen I have ever seen. He's funny and incredibly energetic - like Richard Thompson meets Billie Jo Armstrong. Seriously, the Tull shows I saw 20 years ago are still fond memories. And hey, Aqualung has some of the best anti-religious sentiment ever committed to vinyl. So enough of the Tull-bashing, or I swear that I'll post a Tull mix. Ok, enough o' that. This mix has some great highlights - haven't heard the Nice in a while, but that ELP song is cool. Same with everything else. Was never a big Strawbs fan - is this Rick Wakeman era?

I may be the only one who did *not* make the "prog-ression" from am radio to this kinda' stuff......, from the top 40 & stax/motown I went right into power pop which segued very nicely into the Clash, etc....(although I'm getting "edumacated" lately by the likes of CASSETTA & krautfreak on what I'd missed...had friends who were huge Yes fans.., I listened to all the albums one day and never wanted to hear 'em again. That was 27 years ago..ELP, I always thought the lure was the cover art. I am unqualified to join in the Tull debate. However, and lastly, I fully believe in one's right to bring out the guilty pleasures...

fantastic, marc. i too have been toying with the idea of a prog mix. i'm a fairly recent convert, but a zealous one; just last week i received a bootleg dvd of gabriel-era genesis live, and damn if it wasn't the most thrilling rock footage i'd seen in years.

props on the great cover art, by the way.

I will definitely pick up a new yes remastered cd. Some friends have been raving about a touring Genesis tribute band from Montreal that accurately recreates certain Genesis tours including using their original costumes and stage props. Weird. Yesterday I was buying tickets for Steve Earle coming to a local club next month and saw the Strawbs coming too. I might just go.