[atlantaprog] Re: Controversy

Did Trevor Rabin save Yes or ruin it?

Neither. It's just the counterfactual conjecture somehow invading reality (like possibly the majority of pop culture after the mid'70s). The pivotal event was Jon Anderson's departure in 1980, not Rabin's arrival. If Chris Squire had been able to swallow his pride and ask Jon to come back and complete *Drama* once they had a solid direction after the Paris sessions fell apart, the whole Yes story afterward might've been different. They were in a Pink-Floyd-like position and no one--band, industry, press--realized it (except, well, the *listeners*). :-P

Genesis was better after Peter Gabriel left.

My favorite period used to be the quartet period ('76). Then I got to know the early work better. It's all equally excellent to me now.

Billy Joel was prog--up until he married Christie Brinkley.

Those who don't know Billy Joel that well ought at least to check out his deeper early cuts. 96rock used to play "The Ballad of Billy The Kid", which I've heard has a quote from Aaron Copland's ballet *Billy The Kid*.

BTW, I'll see your Billy Joel and raise you Chicago, up through *VII*, or at least *V*. Even *VI*, their first 10-song "pop" album, seems relatively uncommercial by our standards, in a sort of Steely Dan-like way.

Sheet music is a crutch for people who can't improvise.

Up through the Viennese Classical era it was considered essential to be able to improvise. In the words of Uncle Bob, "Anyone who took a score as given was considered a Big Dullard."

Prog is progressive. It progresses. It's about progress. That's why anything prog has to include samples from a 1936 Hammond organ and a 1967 Mellotron, and at least one authentic large monophonic transistor device with patch cables which refuses to remain in tune. 

<chuckle>  Well, as long as the new stuff is there, too...

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