1, I always heard Greg Lake was an azzhole
2. I heard the same thing about members of Pink Floyd.
3. Phil’s love songs and break up songs are awesome because it happened to him so frequently.
4. Yes hit their peak with The Yes Album and then wheels started wobbling. They made money but you could hear the slide until Going for the One and then 90125. Anderson was too involved with the keyboards which he didn’t play.
5. One of the best prog bands was Kansas. Song for America.
I thought the Drama album was great. A much tougher sound for Yes, some of Steve Howe's best guitar work. Tempus Fugit flat out rocks! I didn't miss Anderson on it, because Squire's backing vocals still made it sound like Yes.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen Close to the Edge dismissed as being part of a “slide”. Yes isn’t my absolute favorite progressive rock band, but that song is probably the greatest prog rock song ever.
Re: A-holes
Sirius XM Deep Tracks has an interview with someone, I think one of the guys from REO Speedwagon, talking about Steve Tyler and Aerosmith. That when they went on tour warming up for Aerosmith, they got treated first class, with backstage passes, entré to the after party, etc. And that he’d learned from that, and when REO made it big, they always treated their warm up acts similarly. It’s just a nice story the complete opposite of the big egos / a-holes that is so common.
>> One of the best prog bands was Kansas. Song for America.
I saw them about 6-7 years ago at Cobb Energy Center in Atlanta, about 5th row left of center. They were still great!