P.S. Worth watching for the appearance of a young looking Jimmy Saville on sax, a few minutes in.

I saw Edgar a couple of years ago in Watford - seeing the great man walk on and announce "Hello Watford" was a fine moment! Try his 18 minute version of "Tobacco Road" from the Roadwork album. brilliant!

Sat through the whole thing - didn't think I had the attention span anymore. Never knew Cheggers was so good on the guitar.

Z

I think there were some absolutely classic performances on OGWT in the 70s. Pete Shelley of The Buzzcocks commented on that duff 'Pop On Trial' series recently that he enjoyed watching the prog bands on there because they were more entertaining than the average type of band (Seals and Crofts, Loggins and Messina etc.) you got on there.

Other performances that I love on OGWT from the period:
Sensational Alex Harvey Band- Give My Compliments To The Chef; this act are often overlooked and though the albums were somewhat patchy, when they were great they were REALLY great. The performance of this track on OGWT is absolutely phenomenal- so much so that even the usually sedate camera crew applaud at the end and the great Bob Harris seems jubliant.

Camel- The Snow Goose; this one was trundled out in that BBC4 OGWT documentary as being an example of what punk set out to destroy (is there any BBC4 music documentary that doesn't indulge in 70s prog/heavy rock bashing?) but to hell with that received wisdom stuff, I love it. It's not as indulgent as the Edgar Winter clip despite the presence of a woodwind section (!), instead it's a melodic, beautifully performed piece that has stood the test of time far better than most other rock bands' dalliances with orchestras.

Lynyrd Skynyrd- Freebird; another one that is always mentioned as showing everything that was wrong with the OGWT in the 70s but again, I enjoy it far more than most of the po-faced 80s performances I saw from punk-era acts or the earnestness of some of those singer-songwriters on the 70s shows. Those sensitive to long guitar solos need not apply...

Focus- Hocus Pocus/Sylvia; this one broke the band in the UK apparently. 'Hocus Pocus' is daft yodel-heavy fluff but remains great fun, 'Sylvia' is a melodic piece more in tune with their usual sound but there's still yodelling.

And you can't go wrong with a bit of period Yes or ELP- 'Relayer' or 'Brain Salad Surgery' maybe. I often take issue with the idea that these bands were 'self-indulgent' because their music is composed, it doesn't just consist of improvised noodles. That's what gets me about many prog criticisms- when you get the cliches about long guitar and drum solos going nowhere and lyrics derived from Tolkien and hippie mysticism, that sounds more like a description of Led Zeppelin to me than one of, say, Pink Floyd, ELP or Genesis.

Where would a Yes "virgin" start?

Any particular album good for the beginner?

Don't forget Caravan - "In the land of Grey and Pink", and notably "9 feet underground" though anything off the early albums is tuneful, a bit eccentric, long, complicated and reveals more with each listen.

...there has been a most welcome reappraisal of the genre in some sections of the media over the last few years (save NME, Q and The Guardian's music section, who will apparently never give up an opportunity to display biased, lazy cliches at the expense of balance).

'The Yes Album' should be any Yes virgin's port of call, I agree. Great melodies and great playing, without the side-long epics of later years that may be a bit daunting for the first-time listener. Once you've got into that one, check out the more challenging 'Close To The Edge' which is simply a masterpiece and, for my money, the best prog album ever alongside Genesis' 'Selling England By The Pound'. Caravan's 'In The Land...' is definitely in my Top 10 of best prog albums too.

ELP are really the genre at its most extreme; either you'll love it or hate it. Myself, I absolutely adore their work from 1970-4 which remains really creative and innovative- a melange of jazz, classical, folk, electronic music and heavy rock that coheres pretty well. The bloat began to set in a big way on their 1977 'Works Volume 1' and the accompanying orchestra tour; the ideas were old-hat and, though the word is over-used, undeniably pretentious- Emerson's side-long 'Piano Concerto' in particular (which I find dull as ditchwater but there you go).

Actually one of my favourite pieces of writing in Word was by Mr Hepworth a few years ago which was a review of a prog compilation in the style of a teacher talking to the class in which he suggested the theory that prog was like a peasants' revolt of musos fighting back against singer-songwriters by demonstrating the fun of a good 3 part 18 minute instrumental epic (choirs allowed). Most amusing.

Not read it...would like to.

You can't beat a bit of prog, nothing wrong with it in my book. To my shame, I only have one Yes album; "Close To The Edge" and that one with the silver cover which contains their hit "Owner Of A Lonely Heart".
Anyone remember this lot?

If you want to listen to some more recent proggy stuff, you could do worse than try out the appallingly-named Porcupine Tree or Spock's Beard, who have both produced some quite glorious examples of the genre. And sound an awful lot better than their name would suggest.

The Mars Volta are also worth a listen, and if you want to get really proggy, you could try that lot from Oxford with the singer with the lazy eye...

One of the best long songs ever is Spunk Rock by renowned Welsh rock combo Man. Best version is on the Greasy Truckers album, and luckily for you the entire concert has recently been re-issued on triple CD, along with excellent contributions from Brinsley Schwarz and Hawkwind. Twenty minutes of genius from Micky Jones, Deke Leonard, Martin Ace and Terry Williams. I still listen to it regularly more than thirty years later.

EDIT

of Lighthouse keepers gets my vote as a great piece of music that keeps the listeners attention despite its length. Also loved the lengthier Caravan numbers. Reading this thread has given me a large dose of Nostalgia as I saw Caravan,Gentle Giant,Man and Camel on numerous occasions and they were all great. I only saw Yes once and unfortunately it was to promote their just released Tales from Topographic Oceans - playing a unheard double album from start to finish without interruption was a big ask and to be fair the audience response was best described as muted. The encores comprised of I believe Roundabout and Yours is No Disgrace but regrettably the damage had been done - I also think this was the start of their demise.
Also saw both ELP and Hatfield and the North but wasnt particularly impressed with either. Strangest live performance of the time was definitely Gong however I recall loving a Steve Hillage solo album of maybe a couple of years later and when I think back through the misty moments of time I am pretty sure he was doing the same echoplex type stuff that made John Martyn a legend.

Hillage, yeah, good recommendations.

thats the one i had - very good too.
Topographic Oceans wasnt necessarily a bad album - i defy anyone to play 2 hours of totally new unheard music and get a rapturous response from their audience - that was the problem.

Try Death Trip from the Human Menagerie album or the Door's When the Musics Over or The End.