Listening to the Future: The Time of Progressive Rock, 1968-1978
Martin (Music of Yes, LJ 11/15/96) argues convincingly that the progressive rock movement of the early 1970s, whose pillars are the bands King Crimson and Yes, deserves consideration as important avant-garde art. While the first three chapters offer an academic, philosophical, and sociological analysis of the genre, casual fans will appreciate Chapter 4: a lengthy annotated discography of important progressive rock albums. Unfortunately, Martin's biases sometimes undercut his thoughtful arguments. He dismisses with contempt valid criticism of "prog rock" from the mainstream rock press, for example, and he fails to recognize the influence progressive rock had on the onstage excesses of 1980s "arena rock" he considers "awful." Still, Martin's book nicely complements two other recent works on the genre, musicologist Edward Macan's Rocking the Classics (LJ 10/15/96) and Paul Stump's The Music's All That Matters: A History of Progressive Rock (Quartet, 1997). Recommended for most popular music collections.?Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., Cal.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.