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Oct 11, 2017PimaLib_NormS rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends . . .” These are the opening lyrics to a mind-expanding piece of music known to classic rock fans everywhere - Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part 2, by those noted pioneers of progressive rock, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and is the inspiration for David Weigel’s, “The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock”. (Several live versions of this song can be found on the PCPL’s free music site Freegal @ https://pima.freegalmusic.com/search?q=karn%20evil&type=all). Now, back in the day, I was not familiar with the term “progressive” rock, but I knew that bands like Yes, The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, among others, were trying to do something radically different. Some of the progressive music was incomprehensible to my adolescent mind, but then there were songs that seemed like aural works of art, and unlike anything else out there. Of course, there were excesses, and some of the prog rockers took pretentiousness to unprecedented levels, but most were in a passionate search for musical boundaries to break through. They realized that for the music to grow, it desperately needed musicians that were unafraid to experiment. Granted, some of the music ultimately turned out to be just dreadful, but it was all part of the process. David Weigel skillfully takes us back to the roots of prog rock, through its heyday, and ultimate fall from the heights of popularity.