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129-788: Relayer is the seventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Yes , released in November 1974 by Atlantic Records . After keyboardist Rick Wakeman left the group in May 1974 over disagreements with the band's direction following their double concept album Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973), Yes entered rehearsals as a four-piece in Buckinghamshire. They auditioned several musicians, including Greek keyboardist and composer Vangelis , before settling with Swiss musician Patrick Moraz of Refugee who incorporated elements of funk and jazz fusion to

258-450: A 31-date leg of the US, for which Moraz had about six weeks to familiarise himself with the setlist and made use of his 90-minute drive from his London flat to Squire's home to learn it. Ristori assisted by transcribing Yes songs onto paper, forming what Moraz described as "memory sheets", because of the amount and the complexity of some of his parts. He relied on the sheets for the first few shows on

387-484: A European, and especially British, phenomenon. Few American bands engaged in it, and the purest representatives of the genre, such as Starcastle and Happy the Man , remained limited to their own geographic regions. This is at least in part due to music industry differences between the US and Great Britain. Cultural factors were also involved, as US musicians tended to come from a blues background, while Europeans tended to have

516-427: A Mini-moog line, a variation of sorts to the opening "Cord Of Life" Minimoog melody. The melody and lyrical structure is very similar to that of "Cord of Life", with some variations, including a brief bass interlude by Chris Squire , and a synthesizer solo by Rick Wakeman (another variation on the "Cord Of Life" theme, this time in a minor key). The last stanza again consists of lines from "Cord of Life", now sung at

645-620: A Swiss musician and film composer with a background in jazz and classical music, and a member of the progressive and jazz fusion trio Refugee . Within a week Moraz accepted an invitation from Brian Lane , the band's manager, to an audition. Moraz was a fan of the band and had met the original line-up in Switzerland in 1969. Moraz arrived at Farmyard Studios in the first week of August 1974, and saw each band member arrive in his own expensive car. He said: "Coming from Refugee, where we had been walking three miles to and from our rehearsal place ... it

774-461: A classical fugue " to blend his keyboards with the guitar and bass. He had written an initial version on paper in an evening, yet the band expressed their wish to change the key of the song for the section, causing Moraz to spend several hours rewriting it overnight. The album's sleeve was designed and illustrated by English artist Roger Dean , who had designed artwork for the band since 1971, including their logo. In his 1975 book Views , Dean picked

903-399: A continuous aesthetic movement between formalism and eclecticism ". Cotner also says that progressive rock incorporates both formal and eclectic elements, "It consists of a combination of factors – some of them intramusical ('within'), others extramusical or social ('without')." One way of conceptualising rock and roll in relation to "progressive music" is that progressive music pushed

1032-440: A different tempo and against primarily minor chords. At 8:34 there is a reprise of the previous 3/4 instrumental section of "Eclipse", which lasts until approximately 9:12. The section ends with a cadenza-like orchestral statement, on Mellotron and Minimoog, reminiscent of neo-Wagnerian compositions by Richard Strauss or Anton Bruckner . "Apocalypse" is the shortest piece of the song, clocking in at about 45 seconds in length. It

1161-443: A diversity of loosely associated style codes. When the "progressive" label arrived, the music was dubbed " progressive pop " before it was called "progressive rock", with the term "progressive" referring to the wide range of attempts to break with standard pop music formula. A number of additional factors contributed to the acquired "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic; technology was harnessed for new sounds; music approached

1290-525: A fan of the band, attended their show on the UK leg and recalled the performance of "The Gates of Delirium": "It got to the end and Jon sang 'Soon' ... I felt like crying. It got me so much. I loved that song so much". Yes originally planned to conduct a European tour in 2020 that continued their Album Series Tour and featured Relayer performed in its entirety, but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The tour

1419-615: A following. Only Marillion and Saga experienced international success. Neo-prog bands tended to use Peter Gabriel -era Genesis as their "principal model". They were also influenced by funk , hard rock and punk rock . The genre's most successful band, Marillion, suffered particularly from accusations of similarity to Genesis, although they used a different vocal style, incorporated more hard rock elements, and were very influenced by bands including Camel and Pink Floyd . Authors Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell have pointed out that

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1548-537: A fortified city. That was more of a fantastical idea. I was looking for the kinds of things like the Knights Templar would have made or what you'd see in the current movie Lord of the Rings . The curving, swirling cantilevers right into space." The images depicted in many of Dean's album covers set an otherworldly tone and are an identifiable part of the band's visual style. For Relayer , the warriors on horseback reflect

1677-599: A foundation in classical music. North American progressive rock bands and artists often represented hybrid styles such as the complex arrangements of Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Rush , the eclectic psychedelia of Spirit , the hard rock of Captain Beyond , the Southern rock -tinged prog of Kansas , the jazz fusion of Frank Zappa and Return to Forever , and the eclectic fusion of the all-instrumental Dixie Dregs . British progressive rock acts had their greatest US success in

1806-636: A handful of groups purposely emulated or referenced classical music. Writer Emily Robinson says that the narrowed definition of "progressive rock" was a measure against the term's loose application in the late 1960s, when it was "applied to everyone from Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones ". Debate over the genre's criterion continued to the 2010s, particularly on Internet forums dedicated to prog. According to musicologists Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell, Bill Martin and Edward Macan authored major books about progressive rock while "effectively accept[ing]

1935-409: A harder sound in the style of arena rock . Few new progressive rock bands formed during this era, and those who did found that record labels were not interested in signing them. The short-lived supergroup U.K. was a notable exception since its members had established reputations; they produced two albums that were stylistically similar to previous artists and did little to advance the genre. Part of

2064-452: A high degree of commercial success during the early 1970s. Between them, the bands Jethro Tull , ELP , Rush , Yes , and Pink Floyd had four albums that reached number one in the US charts, and sixteen that reached the top ten. Mike Oldfield 's Tubular Bells (1973), an excerpt of which was used as the theme for the film The Exorcist , sold 16 million copies. Progressive rock came to be appreciated overseas, but it mostly remained

2193-423: A new keyboardist began and around eight players were invited, including Jean Roussel , Eddie Jobson , Nick Glennie-Smith , and Greek musician and composer Vangelis . Others were flown in from the US and Germany. Anderson was a fan of Vangelis and visited his Paris flat several months earlier when Yes were in town performing Tales from Topographic Oceans . Vangelis agreed to an audition and shipped his keyboards to

2322-436: A new organ theme, followed by Anderson with a soaring, high register vocal melody. The lyrics are all from the first stanza of "Cord of Life" but applied to the new vocal melody and the slow, stately tempo. In this section, the chords are mainly derived first from the key of E major and the E Mixolydian mode (E major and D major), followed again by the key of E major during the organ solo and vocal section before ending roughly in

2451-494: A newfound sophisticated musicality and ambitious lyricism in black pop. Among these musicians were Sly Stone , Stevie Wonder , Marvin Gaye , Curtis Mayfield , and George Clinton . In discussing the development, Bill Martin cites 1970s albums by Wonder ( Talking Book , Innervisions , Songs in the Key of Life ), War ( All Day Music , The World Is a Ghetto , War Live ), and

2580-434: A prescient notion of new wave and punk. New wave, which surfaced around 1978–79 with some of the same attitudes and aesthetic as punk, was characterised by Martin as "progressive" multiplied by "punk". Bands in the genre tended to be less hostile towards progressive rock than the punks, and there were crossovers, such as Fripp and Eno's involvement with Talking Heads , and Yes' replacement of Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson with

2709-422: A progressive idea ... Ironically, and quite paradoxically, 'progressive rock', the classic era of the late 1960s through the mid- and late 1970s, introduces not only the explosive and exploratory sounds of technology ... but traditional music forms (classical and European folk) and (often) a pastiche compositional style and artificial constructs ( concept albums ) which suggests postmodernism ." In 1966,

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2838-483: A re-formed Yes released the relatively mainstream 90125 (1983), which yielded their only US number-one single, " Owner of a Lonely Heart ". One band who remained successful into the 1980s while maintaining a progressive approach was Pink Floyd, who released The Wall late in 1979. The album, which brought punk anger into progressive rock, was a huge success and was later filmed as Pink Floyd – The Wall . Punk and progressive rock were not necessarily as opposed as

2967-439: A rhythmically faster counter-melody with different, contrasting lyrics, and with their voices distorted through a rotating Leslie speaker to contrast with Anderson's lead melody. This section modulates to the key of A major in time for the first statement of the main lyrical theme of the song "And you and I climb over the sea to the valley". A strummed G6/9 chord by Howe followed by a sustained harmonized vocal chord segues into

3096-445: A second generation of neo-prog bands, emerged in the 1990s. The use of the term "progressive" to describe groups that follow in the style of bands from ten to twenty years earlier is somewhat controversial, as it has been seen as a contradiction of the spirit of experimentation and progress. These new bands were aided in part by the availability of personal computer-based recording studios , which reduced album production expenses, and

3225-470: A side-long track inspired by its themes. Moraz recalled a discussion about the story with Anderson as they had both read it, after which Moraz presented him with a copy of Délirius , a French science fiction graphic novel by Philippe Druillet . Moraz said: "He related to it immediately so I think that perhaps as a title 'The Gates of Delirium' came from that". The song originated from several short themes that Anderson had amassed in his head and played them to

3354-407: A split live album with Gong offshoot Here & Now . The term " post-progressive " identifies progressive rock that returns to its original principles while dissociating from 1970s progressive rock styles, and may be located after 1978. Martin credits Roxy Music 's Brian Eno as the sub-genre's most important catalyst, explaining that his 1973–77 output merged aspects of progressive rock with

3483-466: A style derivative of English bands. The "Kosmische music" scene in Germany came to be labelled as " krautrock " internationally and is frequently cited as part of the progressive rock genre or an entirely distinct phenomenon. Krautrock bands such as Can , which included two members who had studied under Karlheinz Stockhausen , tended to be more strongly influenced by 20th-century classical music than

3612-431: A wider palette than that drawn on by the most popular 1970s bands. Progressive rock is varied and is based on fusions of styles, approaches, and genres, tapping into broader cultural resonances that connect to avant-garde art, classical music and folk music , performance and the moving image. Although a unidirectional English "progressive" style emerged in the late 1960s, by 1967, progressive rock had come to constitute

3741-565: Is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid 1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop ", the style was an emergence of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz , folk , or classical music . Additional elements contributed to its " progressive " label: lyrics were more poetic, technology

3870-670: Is commonly believed. Both genres reject commercialism, and punk bands did see a need for musical advancement. Author Doyle Green noted that post-punk emerged as "a kind of 'progressive punk ' ". Post-punk artists rejected the high cultural references of 1960s rock artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan as well as paradigms that defined rock as "progressive", "art", or "studio perfectionism". In contrast to punk rock, it balances punk's energy and skepticism with art school consciousness, Dadaist experimentalism, and atmospheric, ambient soundscapes. World music , especially African and Asian traditions,

3999-543: Is conceptual by definition, due to its prominent theme of questioning the values of Christianity. Its guttural vocals are sometimes used by bands who can be classified as progressive, such as Mastodon , Mudvayne and Opeth . Symphonic metal is an extension of the tendency towards orchestral passages in early progressive rock. Progressive rock has also served as a key inspiration for genres such as post-rock , post-metal and avant-garde metal , math rock , power metal and neo-classical metal . New prog describes

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4128-460: Is implied by unsympathetic critics." In early references to the music, "progressive" was partly related to progressive politics , but those connotations were lost during the 1970s. On "progressive music", Holm-Hudson writes that it "moves continuously between explicit and implicit references to genres and strategies derived not only from European art music, but other cultural domains (such as East Indian, Celtic, folk, and African) and hence involves

4257-447: Is in 3/4 time, in the key of E major and musically and lyrically derived from the final part of "Cord Of Life". Lyrically it consists only of four lines, accompanied only by Howe's guitars, acoustic and steel. And you and I climb, crossing the shapes of the morning And you and I reach over the sun for the river And you and I climb, clearer, towards the movement And you and I called over valleys of endless seas Cash Box described

4386-495: Is sometimes limited to a stereotype of long solos, long albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While the genre is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture , few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only a handful of groups, such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Renaissance , purposely emulated or referenced classical music. The genre coincided with

4515-572: The Internet , which made it easier for bands outside of the mainstream to reach widespread audiences. Record stores specialising in progressive rock appeared in large cities. The shred music of the 1980s was a major influence on the progressive rock groups of the 1990s. Some of the newer bands, such as the Flower Kings , Spock's Beard and Glass Hammer , played a 1970s-style symphonic prog, but with an updated sound. A number of them began to explore

4644-453: The NME Awards , the album won Best Dressed LP. Dean has said that "The Gates of Delirium" may be his favourite Yes track and that he felt the album should have been named after it. By 2020, the painting had been on sale for $ 6 million. Relayer was released in the UK in November 1974 on LP, audio cassette, and 8-track tape , followed by its release in the US on 5 December 1974. It continued

4773-425: The hippie counterculture in favour of a modernist , avant-garde approach. Similarities between the two terms are that they both describe a mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility. However, art rock is more likely to have experimental or avant-garde influences. "Prog" was devised in the 1990s as a shorthand term, but later became a transferable adjective, also suggesting

4902-451: The new wave of British heavy metal – most notably Iron Maiden – onwards displayed progressive rock influences. Progressive metal reached a point of maturity with Queensrÿche 's 1988 concept album Operation: Mindcrime , Voivod 's 1989 Nothingface , which featured abstract lyrics and a King Crimson-like texture, and Dream Theater 's 1992 Images and Words . Progressive rock elements appear in other metal subgenres. Black metal

5031-851: The popular song began signalling a new possible means of expression that went beyond the three-minute love song , leading to an intersection between the "underground" and the "establishment" for listening publics. Hegarty and Halliwell identify the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Doors , the Pretty Things , the Zombies , the Byrds , the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd "not merely as precursors of progressive rock but as essential developments of progressiveness in its early days". According to musicologist Walter Everett ,

5160-452: The " Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon " on Chicago II . Jazz influences appeared in the music of British bands such as Traffic , Colosseum and If , together with Canterbury scene bands such as Soft Machine and Caravan . Canterbury scene bands emphasised the use of wind instruments, complex chord changes and long improvisations. Martin writes that in 1968, "full-blown progressive rock"

5289-594: The Beach Boys and the Beatles  ... [They] brought expansions in harmony , instrumentation (and therefore timbre ), duration , rhythm , and the use of recording technology . Of these elements, the first and last were the most important in clearing a pathway toward the development of progressive rock. – Bill Martin Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper , with their lyrical unity, extended structure, complexity, eclecticism, experimentalism, and influences derived from classical music forms, are largely viewed as beginnings in

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5418-557: The Beatles and the Yardbirds . The Beatles' Paul McCartney said in 1967: "we [the band] got a bit bored with 12 bars all the time, so we tried to get into something else. Then came Dylan, the Who , and the Beach Boys. ... We're all trying to do vaguely the same kind of thing." Rock music started to take itself seriously, paralleling earlier attempts in jazz (as swing gave way to bop , a move which did not succeed with audiences). In this period,

5547-469: The Beatles did, it is fair to assume that there would have been no progressive rock." In the aftermath of Sgt. Pepper , magazines such as Melody Maker drew a sharp line between "pop" and "rock", thus eliminating the "roll" from " rock and roll " (which now refers to the 1950s style). The only artists who remained "rock" would be those who were considered at the vanguard of compositional forms, far from "radio friendly" standards, as Americans increasingly used

5676-557: The Beatles' "experimental timbres, rhythms, tonal structures, and poetic texts" on their albums Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) "encouraged a legion of young bands that were to create progressive rock in the early 1970s". Dylan's poetry, the Mothers of Invention 's album Freak Out! (1966) and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) were all important in progressive rock's development. The productions of Phil Spector were key influences, as they introduced

5805-552: The British magazine Prog to honour the genre's established acts and to promote its newer bands. Honorees, however, are not invited to perform at the awards ceremony, as the promoters want an event "that doesn't last three weeks". In 2019, The Prog Report, named Mike Portnoy and Neal Morse artists of the decade for 2010-2019. During this time, Portnoy released 40 albums, 24 of them with Morse, while Morse released an additional 5 albums of his own. And You and I Introducing

5934-467: The British progressive rock bands, whose musical vocabulary leaned more towards the Romantic era . Many of these groups were very influential even among bands that had little enthusiasm for the symphonic variety of progressive rock. Concurrently, Black American popular musicians drew from progressive rock's conceptual album-oriented approach. This led to a progressive-soul movement in the 1970s that inspired

6063-513: The Byrds' vocal harmonies inspired those of Yes , and British folk rock bands like Fairport Convention , who emphasised instrumental virtuosity. Some of these artists, such as the Incredible String Band and Shirley and Dolly Collins , would prove influential through their use of instruments borrowed from world music and early music . Many groups and musicians played important roles in this development process, but none more than

6192-484: The Isley Brothers ( 3 + 3 ), while noting that the Who's progressive rock-influenced Who Are You (1978) also drew from the soul variant. Dominic Maxwell of The Times calls Wonder's mid-1970s albums "prog soul of the highest order, pushing the form yet always heartfelt, ambitious and listenable". Political and social trends of the late 1970s shifted away from the early 1970s hippie attitudes that had led to

6321-483: The London scene and recorded with a band of English musicians, initiated the trend towards guitar virtuosity and eccentricity in rock music. The Scottish band 1-2-3, later renamed Clouds , were formed in 1966 and began performing at London clubs a year later. According to Mojo 's George Knemeyer: "some claim [that they] had a vital influence on prog-rockers such as Yes, The Nice and Family." Symphonic rock artists in

6450-484: The Moody Blues, Procol Harum and Pink Floyd all contained elements of what is now called progressive rock, but none represented as complete an example of the genre as several bands that formed soon after. Almost all of the genre's major bands, including Jethro Tull, King Crimson , Yes , Genesis , Van der Graaf Generator , ELP , Gentle Giant , Barclay James Harvest and Renaissance , released their debut albums during

6579-519: The New York City art scene of the early 1960s. The trend of bands with names drawn from literature, such as the Doors , Steppenwolf and the Ides of March , were a further sign of rock music aligning itself with high culture. Dylan also led the way in blending rock with folk music styles. This was followed by folk rock groups such as the Byrds, who based their initial sound on that of the Beatles. In turn,

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6708-713: The Nice's Ars Longa Vita Brevis . The latter, along with such tracks as " Rondo " and " America ", reflect a greater interest in music that is entirely instrumental. Sgt. Pepper's and Days both represent a growing tendency towards song cycles and suites made up of multiple movements . Focus incorporated and articulated jazz-style chords, and irregular off-beat drumming into their later rock-based riffs, and several bands that included jazz-style horn sections appeared, including Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago . Of these, Martin highlights Chicago in particular for their experimentation with suites and extended compositions, such as

6837-573: The Yes line-up of singer Jon Anderson , bassist Chris Squire , guitarist Steve Howe , keyboardist Rick Wakeman , and drummer Alan White wrapped their 1973–1974 tour in support of their previous album, Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). The album had been a success for the band, reaching number one in the UK for two weeks, and became the first to be certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry based solely on pre-orders. Despite

6966-441: The adjective "progressive" for groups like Jethro Tull , Family , East of Eden , Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson . According to AllMusic : "Prog-rock began to emerge out of the British psychedelic scene in 1967, specifically a strain of classical/symphonic rock led by the Nice , Procol Harum , and the Moody Blues ( Days of Future Passed )." The availability of newly affordable recording equipment coincided with

7095-485: The album between November 1974 and July 1975, Yes went on a year-long hiatus. Relayer continued to sell, and is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 500,000 copies in the US. It was remastered in 2003 and in 2014, both with previously unreleased tracks; the latter includes new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes and additional tracks. In April 1974,

7224-598: The album is a 1955 Fender Telecaster , marking a stylistic departure from his usual Gibson and Les Paul models that he had used on earlier albums. He also uses a pedal steel and electric sitar. Squire uses a Fender Jazz Bass on "To Be Over", a departure from his usual Rickenbacker 4001 . Following rehearsals at Farmyard Studios, the band decided to record Relayer at Squire's home at New Pipers in Virginia Water , Surrey, which he had purchased in Christmas 1972. This marked

7353-402: The album played in its entirety. The tour culminated with a headline spot at the 1975 Reading Festival . Most dates featured the English band Gryphon as the opening act. Rehearsals lasted for several weeks at Shepperton Studios , Surrey with Offord on sound, stage lighting by their longtime associate Michael Tait, and the set designed by Roger Dean and his brother Martyn. The tour opened with

7482-496: The album was digitally remastered on Rhino and Elektra Records by George Marino at Sterling Sound. This version included single edits of "Soon" and "Sound Chaser" and a studio run-through of "The Gates of Delirium" with less keyboards and alternate song structures in parts but an identical "battle" section as heard in the final version. 2009 saw the album remastered by Isao Kikuchi for the Japanese market. The 2003 remastered edition

7611-611: The album. Relayer is formed of three tracks, with " The Gates of Delirium " on side one and "Sound Chaser" and "To Be Over" on side two. Relayer received a mixed to positive reception from contemporary and retrospective critics. It reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 5 on the US Billboard 200 . A single of the closing section of "The Gates of Delirium", titled "Soon", was released in January 1975. After touring in support of

7740-420: The album. This remaster does not include the sound effects heard in the middle section of "The Gates of Delirium" as they were not part of the original multi-track masters. Wilson hypothesised that they were added during the final mixdown of the album from a separate tape source. Yes supported Relayer with their 1974–1975 tour of North America and the UK that lasted from 8 November 1974 to 23 August 1975, with

7869-422: The avant-garde since the mid-1970s. The term "progressive rock" is synonymous with " art rock ", "classical rock" (not to be confused with classic rock ), and "symphonic rock". Historically, "art rock" has been used to describe at least two related, but distinct, types of rock music. The first is progressive rock as it is generally understood, while the second usage refers to groups who rejected psychedelia and

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7998-502: The band's commercial success during the 1970s, reaching number 4 on the UK Albums Chart and number 5 on the US Billboard Top LPs chart. Less than two weeks after its release in the US, the album reached gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America on 18 December 1974 for over 500,000 copies sold. A single of the closing section of "The Gates of Delirium", titled "Soon" (From "The Gates of Delirium"),

8127-580: The band; his contribution was finalised after "one or two takes" and used on the final version. He considered his Moog synthesizer solo at the end a highlight moment in his performance on the album, but felt that the keyboards overall were buried in the final mix. Howe thought the track was "an indescribable mixture of Patrick's jazzy keyboards and my weird sort of flamenco electric [guitar]", yet he disliked Moraz's initial choice of chords he played during his guitar solo, causing Moraz to play it differently, which he disagreed with. Yes biographer Dan Hedges compared

8256-471: The beginning of the track, then playing mostly natural guitar harmonics before introducing the opening guitar theme. Following a brief percussive part and a bright ping of a triangle, a lush strumming part in 3/4 time with a simple three chord chord progression in the key of D major begins. Then, the Minimoog enters introducing a short, haunting melody. The vocals begin at about 1:40. The line "All complete in

8385-459: The characterization of progressive rock offered by its critics. ... they each do so largely unconsciously." Academic John S. Cotner contests Macan's view that progressive rock cannot exist without the continuous and overt assimilation of classical music into rock. Author Kevin Holm-Hudson agrees that "progressive rock is a style far more diverse than what is heard from its mainstream groups and what

8514-421: The condition of "art"; some harmonic language was imported from jazz and 19th-century classical music ; the album format overtook singles ; and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening, not dancing. One of the best ways to define progressive rock is that it is a heterogeneous and troublesome genre – a formulation that becomes clear

8643-409: The cover as his favourite for Yes, and the recording he enjoyed the most. He revealed his intention of depicting "a giant 'gothic' cave" for the sleeve, "a sort of fortified city for military monks". The painting originated from a watercolour sketch Dean had done while studying in college. Speaking about the cover in 2004, he said: "I was playing with the ideas of the ultimate castle, the ultimate wall of

8772-634: The creative process that had previously belonged to the artists, and established acts were pressured to create music with simpler harmony and song structures and fewer changes in meter. A number of symphonic pop bands, such as Supertramp , 10cc , the Alan Parsons Project and the Electric Light Orchestra , brought the orchestral-style arrangements into a context that emphasised pop singles while allowing for occasional instances of exploration. Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant and Pink Floyd opted for

8901-579: The decline. Music critics, who often labelled the concepts as "pretentious" and the sounds as "pompous" and "overblown", tended to be hostile towards the genre or to completely ignore it. After the late 1970s, progressive rock fragmented in numerous forms. Some bands achieved commercial success well into the 1980s (albeit with changed lineups and more compact song structures) or crossed into symphonic pop , arena rock , or new wave . Early groups who exhibited progressive features are retroactively described as " proto-prog ". The Canterbury scene , originating in

9030-569: The direction that he thought Yes should have adopted. "I'm pleased I made the right decision to leave the band when I did". Relayer was first reissued on CD in 1988 on the Atlantic in Europe and the US. The CD mastering has been attributed to Zal Schreiber, one of Atlantic's in-house CD mastering engineers at the time. In 1998, a mini-sleeve HDCD version mastered by Isao Kikuchi was released in Japan . In 2003,

9159-558: The first time Yes had made an album outside of London, and the location served as a cost-cutting measure by eliminating the need to pay for time in a professional studio, thus giving the band more time to work on the music. They were joined by Eddy Offord , who had worked with the band since 1970 as their engineer and later co-producer and live sound mixer. Offord installed a mobile 24-track recording machine and mixing desk in Squire's basement, and enlisted Genaro Rippo as tape operator. Relayer

9288-492: The following day, Lane informed Moraz that his audition was a success. Moraz accepted the offer, but felt some pressure to deliver, and drove from his flat in Earl's Court near central London to the studio each day to record and learn the band's repertoire. Having made the 80-minute Tales from Topographic Oceans with such a "tight" musical structure, Anderson wanted to explore music that was "so outrageously different" on Relayer . He

9417-501: The genre fragmented from the late 1970s onwards. In Robert Fripp 's opinion, once "progressive rock" ceased to cover new ground – becoming a set of conventions to be repeated and imitated – the genre's premise had ceased to be "progressive". The era of record labels investing in their artists, giving them freedom to experiment and limited control over their content and marketing ended with the late 1970s. Corporate artists and repertoire staff exerted an increasing amount of control over

9546-410: The genre into greater complexity while retracing the roots of romantic and classical music. Sociologist Paul Willis believes: "We must never be in doubt that 'progressive' music followed rock 'n' roll, and that it could not have been any other way. We can see rock 'n' roll as a deconstruction and 'progressive' music as a reconstruction." Author Will Romano states that "rock itself can be interpreted as

9675-490: The genre's development and popularity. The rise in punk cynicism made the utopian ideals expressed in progressive rock lyrics unfashionable. Virtuosity was rejected, as the expense of purchasing quality instruments and the time investment of learning to play them were seen as barriers to rock's energy and immediacy. There were also changes in the music industry, as record companies disappeared and merged into large media conglomerates . Promoting and developing experimental music

9804-451: The genre's legacy in this period was its influence on other styles, as several European guitarists brought a progressive rock approach to heavy metal and laid the groundwork for progressive metal . Michael Schenker , of UFO ; and Uli Jon Roth , who replaced Schenker in Scorpions , expanded the modal vocabulary available to guitarists. Roth studied classical music with the intent of using

9933-458: The genre's major acts released debut albums between 1983 and 1985 and shared the same manager, Keith Goodwin, a publicist who had been instrumental in promoting progressive rock during the 1970s. The previous decade's bands had the advantage of appearing during a prominent countercultural movement that provided them with a large potential audience, but the neo-prog bands were limited to a relatively niche demographic and found it difficult to attract

10062-427: The genre. These groups retained some of the song complexity and orchestral-style arrangements, but they moved away from lyrical mysticism in favour of more conventional themes such as relationships. These radio-friendly groups have been called "prog lite". Genesis transformed into a successful pop act, the prog supergroup Asia (consisting of members of Yes, King Crimson, and ELP) scored a number-one album in 1982, and

10191-474: The group on a piano "very badly"; he was relieved when his bandmates understood what he was trying to do. Anderson and Howe kept track of its structure by recording sections of it on cassette tapes, leaving Anderson to figure out the next part as the group would develop what was put down prior. The song was recorded in sections at a time, though the group was familiar with the entire piece beforehand and spent several weeks recording takes of each section and selecting

10320-472: The guitar in the way that classical composers used the violin. Finally, the Dutch-born and classically trained Alex and Eddie Van Halen formed Van Halen , featuring ground-breaking whammy-bar, tapping and cross-picking guitar performances that influenced " shred " music in the 1980s. By the early 1980s, progressive rock was thought to be all but dead as a style, an idea reinforced by the fact that some of

10449-517: The interaction between his bass and White's drums was better than anything heard on previous Yes albums at that point. Moraz summarised the album's recording as "pretty loose, but the energy is there". Upon its release, Wakeman was asked to review it for the BBC and felt pleased that the band had made it as it was "far too jazzy and freeform, which I didn't like". Had the group recorded music more melodic and thematic, he would have felt angry as it would have been

10578-473: The key of G major (with a few chords borrowed from E major). It ends with the opening 12-string acoustic guitar part from "Cord Of Life" before seguing into "The Preacher, the Teacher". This section begins with Howe introducing a new musical theme in 3/4 meter — an intricate folk-influenced polyphonic guitar part featuring a melody on the low strings punctuated by strummed chords on the off beats. Wakeman enters with

10707-590: The late 1960s had some chart success, including the singles " Nights in White Satin " (the Moody Blues, 1967) and " A Whiter Shade of Pale " (Procol Harum, 1967). The Moody Blues established the popularity of symphonic rock when they recorded Days of Future Passed together with the London Festival Orchestra . Classical influences sometimes took the form of pieces adapted from or inspired by classical works, such as Jeff Beck 's " Beck's Bolero " and parts of

10836-612: The late 1960s, denotes a subset of progressive rock bands who emphasised the use of wind instruments , complex chord changes and long improvisations. Rock in Opposition , from the late 1970s, was more avant-garde , and when combined with the Canterbury style, created avant-prog . In the 1980s, a new subgenre, neo-prog , enjoyed some commercial success, although it was also accused of being derivative and lacking in innovation. Post-progressive draws upon newer developments in popular music and

10965-472: The level of social and artistic correspondence among British and American rock musicians dramatically accelerated for bands like the Beatles , the Beach Boys and the Byrds who fused elements of cultivated music with the vernacular traditions of rock. Progressive rock was predicated on the "progressive" pop groups from the 1960s who combined rock and roll with various other music styles such as Indian ragas , oriental melodies and Gregorian chants , like

11094-506: The limits of the CD in the way that earlier groups had stretched the limits of the vinyl LP. Progressive rock and heavy metal have similar timelines. Both emerged from late-1960s psychedelia to achieve great early-1970s success despite a lack of radio airplay and support from critics, then faded in the mid-to-late 1970s and experienced revivals in the early 1980s. Each genre experienced a fragmentation of styles at this time, and many metal bands from

11223-453: The lyrical themes of war present in "The Gates of Delirium". The sleeve includes an untitled four-stanza poem by writer Donald Lehmkuhl dated October 1974, and features a band photograph taken by Moraz's former Mainhorse bandmate, Jean Ristori. The album's CD reissue features two additional paintings, and further unused designs are included in Dean's 2008 book Dragon's Dream . At the 1975 edition of

11352-411: The mid-1960s economic boom that allowed record labels to allocate more creative control to their artists, as well as the new journalistic division between "pop" and "rock" that lent generic significance to both terms. It saw a high level of popularity in the early-to-mid-1970s, but faded soon after. Conventional wisdom holds that the rise of punk rock caused this, but several more factors contributed to

11481-588: The moment we leave behind characterizations based only on the most visible bands of the early to mid-1970s – Paul Hegarty and Martin Halliwell Critics of the genre often limit its scope to a stereotype of long solos, overlong albums, fantasy lyrics, grandiose stage sets and costumes, and an obsessive dedication to technical skill. While progressive rock is often cited for its merging of high culture and low culture, few artists incorporated literal classical themes in their work to any great degree, and only

11610-475: The neo-prog bands were not so much plagiarising progressive rock as they were creating a new style from progressive rock elements, just as the bands of a decade before had created a new style from jazz and classical elements. Author Edward Macan counters by pointing out that these bands were at least partially motivated by a nostalgic desire to preserve a past style rather than a drive to innovate. A third wave of progressive rock bands, who can also be described as

11739-407: The next section. "Eclipse" is the slowest part of the song based on a stately and deliberate melody which was composed by drummer Bill Bruford . It is led by Rick Wakeman's Mellotron and Minimoog, with a thematic quote from "Cord of Life" played by Steve Howe on a Sho-Bud Pro1 pedal steel guitar with distortion and a heavy delay effect. After a seamless shift to 3/4 time, Wakeman comes in with

11868-423: The ones the members felt were the strongest. Once picked, the sections were edited together and overdubs were then recorded. The battle section includes crashing sound effects that were created by White pushing over a tower of used car parts that he and Anderson had collected from a scrap yard. Howe remembered Anderson becoming too excited in what he envisaged the battle to be, leading the group to produce one mix that

11997-444: The point at which the LP record emerged as a creative format whose importance was equal to or greater than that of the single. Bill Bruford , a veteran of several progressive rock bands, said that Sgt. Pepper transformed both musicians' ideas of what was possible and audiences' ideas of what was acceptable in music. He believed that: "Without the Beatles, or someone else who had done what

12126-590: The point when "all English bands in the genre should have ceased to exist". More of the major bands, including Van der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant and U.K. , dissolved between 1978 and 1980. Many bands had by the mid-1970s reached the limit of how far they could experiment in a rock context, and fans had wearied of the extended, epic compositions. The sounds of the Hammond , Minimoog and Mellotron had been thoroughly explored, and their use became clichéd. Those bands who continued to record often simplified their sound, and

12255-549: The pop duo the Buggles . When King Crimson reformed in 1981, they released an album, Discipline , which Macan says "inaugurated" the new post-progressive style. The new King Crimson line-up featured guitarist and vocalist Adrian Belew , who also collaborated with Talking Heads, playing live with the band and featuring on their 1980 album Remain in Light . According to Martin, Talking Heads also created "a kind of new-wave music that

12384-552: The possibility of using the recording studio to create music that otherwise could never be achieved. The same is said for the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966), which Brian Wilson intended as an answer to Rubber Soul and which in turn influenced the Beatles when they made Sgt. Pepper . Dylan introduced a literary element to rock through his fascination with the Surrealists and the French Symbolists , and his immersion in

12513-466: The principal progressive groups had developed a more commercial sound. ... What went out of the music of these now ex-progressive groups ... was any significant evocation of art music. – John Covach Some established artists moved towards music that was simpler and more commercially viable. Arena rock bands like Journey , Kansas , Styx , GTR , ELO and Foreigner either had begun as progressive rock bands or included members with strong ties to

12642-524: The progressive rock genre and as turning points wherein rock, which previously had been considered dance music, became music that was made for listening to. Between Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper , the Beach Boys released the single " Good Vibrations " (1966), dubbed a " pocket symphony " by Derek Taylor , the band's publicist. The song contained an eclectic array of exotic instruments and several disjunctive key and modal shifts. Scott Interrante of Popmatters wrote that its influence on progressive rock and

12771-505: The psychedelic movement "can't be overstated". Martin likened the song to the Beatles' " A Day in the Life " from Sgt. Pepper , in that they showcase "the same reasons why much progressive rock is difficult to dance to". Although Sgt. Pepper was preceded by several albums that had begun to bridge the line between "disposable" pop and "serious" rock, it successfully gave an established "commercial" voice to an alternative youth culture and marked

12900-480: The rehearsal studio, but the group discovered he was non-committal about the role and too strong a personality for a group. Atlantic Records vice president Phil Carson added that his fear of flying caused further complications, and a subsequent rejection from the Musicians Union ended the possibility of Vangelis joining the band. Melody Maker reporter Chris Welch suggested that the band try Patrick Moraz ,

13029-501: The rise of a London underground scene at which the psychedelic drug LSD was commonly used. Pink Floyd and Soft Machine functioned as house bands at all-night events at locations such as Middle Earth and the UFO Club , where they experimented with sound textures and long-form songs. Many psychedelic, folk rock and early progressive bands were aided by exposure from BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel . Jimi Hendrix , who rose to prominence in

13158-517: The same form as Close to the Edge (1972), which features one track occupying side one and two songs on side two. The band wrote two additional tracks during rehearsals but did not have enough time to record them in the studio; Anderson described one as "absolutely crazy and intricate". For the majority of his keyboard parts, Moraz did not write the music on paper and instead relied on his memory except for some particularly precise sections. Howe's main guitar on

13287-464: The same geographic areas in which British heavy metal bands experienced their greatest popularity. The overlap in audiences led to the success of arena rock bands, such as Boston , Kansas , and Styx , who combined elements of the two styles. Progressive rock achieved popularity in Continental Europe more quickly than it did in the US. Italy remained generally uninterested in rock music until

13416-407: The sight of seeds of life with you" is sung, which is repeated throughout the song. At about 2:50, there are several distinct changes: a key change to an ambiguous tonality centering on Bb (the chords are Bb, C, Am, and Em), a new vocal melody in 4/4 time ("Coins and crosses") accompanied by a second vocal track of Anderson singing a lower harmony with himself, plus Chris Squire and Steve Howe providing

13545-412: The simpler, yet at the same time, one of the most workable sets the band has come up with." Those who gave the album a negative review thought it was the follow-up to Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973), an album they felt was pretentious and overblown. In a retrospective review, AllMusic rated the album three stars out of five, stating Yes had "little incentive to curb their musical ambitiousness" at

13674-564: The song live in 1972, lead vocalist Jon Anderson said Yes called it "The Protest Song" when they were making the Close to the Edge album. The song was written by Jon Anderson , Chris Squire , Bill Bruford , and Steve Howe , all of whom were members of Yes at the time. Bruford said his writing contribution to the song consisted of "a handful of chords and a sliver of melody at 3.45 repeated at 5.06 and again at 8.11". The song opens with Steve Howe on 12-string acoustic guitar , his voice heard at

13803-428: The song's lyric was being finalised, Howe suggested having the line "She won't know what it means to me" follow "We go sailing down the calming streams", but Anderson changed it to "To be over, we will see", a change that Howe thought was "creatively disguised" to make a broader lyrical statement. Moraz felt constricted to perform an improvised keyboard solo for the song, so he wrote down a counterpoint solo "exactly like

13932-742: The strong Italian progressive rock scene developed in the early 1970s. Progressive rock emerged in Yugoslavia in the late 1960s, dominating the Yugoslav rock scene until the late 1970s. Few of the European groups were successful outside of their own countries, with the exceptions of Dutch bands like Focus and Golden Earring who wrote English-language lyrics, and the Italians Le Orme and PFM , whose English lyrics were written by Peter Hammill and Peter Sinfield , respectively. Some European bands played in

14061-574: The success, Wakeman informed the band of his decision to leave midway into the tour, following his disagreements and frustration with the direction the band had taken with the album. His exit was made public on 8 June, and he resumed his already successful solo career. Reduced to a four-piece, Yes retreated to Farmyard Studios, a rehearsal and recording facility owned by drummer Trevor Morais in Little Chalfont , Buckinghamshire, and worked on new songs. After some material had been arranged, auditions for

14190-431: The time structures imposed by this single album." Welch continued to note the band "at their best, creating tension and release with consummate ease, and preparing the way for Jon's crystalline vocals" at the end of the battle section which segues into "Soon". In its December 1974 review, Billboard magazine called Relayer "another nearly flawless effort" by Yes and noted Moraz "fits in perfectly". It concluded with "one of

14319-420: The time, the album "alternated abrasive, rhythmically dense instrumental sections featuring solos for the various instruments with delicate vocal and choral sections featuring poetic lyrics devoted to spiritual imagery." Howe described the music on Relayer as "very modern, European style of music, and Patrick brought in a South American flavour as well. It was a very international record". Squire thought some of

14448-429: The tour, yet by the time the tour reached Madison Square Garden in New York City less than two weeks later, Moraz realised he had learned the set and stopped using them. The show was a highlight for him: "We had a standing ovation for several minutes. The noise was absolutely unbelievable." His rig included 14 keyboards on stage, double the number he had previously worked with. Future Yes singer and producer Trevor Horn ,

14577-537: The track from a boat ride on The Serpentine lake in Hyde Park in London. From the beginning, he thought the song was "really special" and Anderson agreed to develop it further. Howe had come up with the music for this particular section in the late 1960s and took a riff from a track by his earlier group, Tomorrow . Anderson described "To Be Over" as "Strong in content, but mellow in overall attitude ... It's about how you should look after yourself when things go wrong." When

14706-459: The track to the style of fusion group Return to Forever . "To Be Over" originated when Anderson spent an afternoon at Howe's house in London. As the two discussed what music to prepare for the album, Anderson told Howe of his fondness for a melody Howe had written and had sung to Anderson before. Anderson also had the initial lyric: "We'll go sailing down the stream tomorrow, floating down the universal stream, to be over". Howe gained inspiration for

14835-613: The wave of progressive rock bands in the 2000s who revived the genre. According to Entertainment Weekly ' s Evan Serpick, "success stories like System of a Down and up-and-comers like the Dillinger Escape Plan , Lightning Bolt , Coheed and Cambria , and the Mars Volta create incredibly complex and inventive music that sounds like a heavier, more aggressive version of '70s behemoths such as Led Zeppelin and King Crimson." The Progressive Music Awards were launched in 2012 by

14964-521: The years 1968–1970. Most of these were folk-rock albums that gave little indication of what the bands' mature sound would become, but King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) and Yes' self-titled debut album (1969) were early, fully formed examples of the genre. Most of the genre's major bands released their most critically acclaimed albums during the years 1971–1976. The genre experienced

15093-418: Was "too far gone" and another "too safe". Following the battle, the track concludes with a gentle song that later became known as "Soon". Anderson later thought that "The Gates of Delirium" did not come across effectively on record, but fared better in concert. "Sound Chaser" contains elements of jazz fusion and funk arrangements. Moraz was asked to devise an introduction to the song during his audition with

15222-478: Was also a major influence. Progressive rock's impact was felt in the work of some post-punk artists, although they tended not to emulate classical rock or Canterbury groups but rather Roxy Music , King Crimson, and krautrock bands, particularly Can. Punishment of Luxury 's music borrowed from both progressive and punk rock, whilst Alternative TV , who were fronted by the founder of the influential punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue Mark Perry , toured and released

15351-418: Was completed at Advision Studios in London. " The Gates of Delirium " is a 21-minute track that Anderson described as "a war song, a battle scene, but it's not to explain war or denounce it ... There's a prelude, a charge, a victory tune, and peace at the end, with hope for the future." He originally planned to base the entire album on the literary work War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy , but instead opted for

15480-425: Was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of " art ", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity , which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing. Progressive rock is based on fusions of styles, approaches and genres, involving a continuous move between formalism and eclecticism . Due to its historical reception, the scope of progressive rock

15609-475: Was included in the band's The Studio Albums 1969–1987 box set, released in 2013. In November 2014, Relayer was reissued as CD/DVD-Audio and CD/Blu-ray disc packs on the Panegyric label with new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes by Steven Wilson . The packs feature bonus tracks including an original master transfer and studio run-through versions of each track. The Blu-ray pack includes an instrumental mix of

15738-510: Was not part of the marketing strategy for these large corporations, who focused their attention on identifying and targeting profitable market niches . Four of progressive rock's most successful bands – King Crimson, Yes, ELP and Genesis – went on hiatus or experienced major personnel changes during the mid-1970s. Macan notes the September 1974 breakup of King Crimson as particularly significant, noting that Fripp (much later) referred to 1974 as

15867-407: Was not yet in existence; however, albums were released by three bands who would later come to the forefront of the music: Jethro Tull , Caravan and Soft Machine. The term "progressive rock", which appeared in the liner notes of Caravan's 1968 self-titled debut LP , came to be applied to bands that used classical music techniques to expand the styles and concepts available to rock music. The Nice,

15996-485: Was particularly influenced by electronic music compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen and Wings of the Delirious Demon (1972) by Turkish-American musician İlhan Mimaroğlu . Anderson recalled that he and Moraz shared an interest to make something "very modern" at the time, and went as far to suggest the band make " free form music without thought, which everybody thought I was going a little too far". Relayer takes

16125-474: Was quite a contrast!" Vangelis's keyboards were still situated in the studio, and Moraz used them for his audition. After tuning up he played some parts to display his ability, including a short section of " And You and I " from Close to the Edge (1972), causing the band to stop talking and gather around him. Moraz's first task was to devise a section to complement what they had written for the middle section of "Sound Chaser". The band liked what he played, and on

16254-412: Was released as a single on 8 January 1975, with an edited version of "Sound Chaser" on its B-side . Relayer received a mostly positive reaction from music critics. Music journalist and author Chris Welch gave a positive review for Melody Maker , praising the album as "one of the most successful and satisfying Yes albums". He described "The Gates of Delirium" as a "powerful piece ... and benefits by

16383-625: Was rescheduled for 2022, but the band announced that they would instead dedicate the tour to the fiftieth anniversary of Close to the Edge . The Relayer tour was subsequently rescheduled a third time for 2023, but was once again postponed due to problems with insurance. All tracks written by Yes . Notes: Credits are adapted from the 1974 album liner notes. Yes Production Sales figures based on certification alone. Shipments figures based on certification alone. Notes Footnotes Sources Progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog )

16512-524: Was the final Yes album with Offord before he left in 1975 to work with other groups. He later stated that his time with the band had become "a bit stale", but made brief returns during the recording of Drama (1980) and Union (1991). Recording sessions typically lasted for eight or nine hours. Moraz wished Offord was "a little less stoned" during recording as it affected the album's production quality, ranking it inferior to Offord's work on Fragile (1971) and albums with Emerson Lake & Palmer . Mixing

16641-635: Was the perfect synthesis of punk urgency and attitude and progressive-rock sophistication and creativity. A good deal of the more interesting rock since that time is clearly 'post-Talking Heads' music, but this means that it is post-progressive rock as well." A second wave of progressive rock bands appeared in the early 1980s and have since been categorised as a separate " neo-prog " subgenre. These largely keyboard-based bands played extended compositions with complex musical and lyrical structures. Several of these bands were signed by major record labels, including Marillion , IQ , Pendragon and Pallas . Most of

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