Prog rock kick

I found a video of Yes playing "Siberian Khatru" on youtube - it's okay, not great, but shows what they must have been like back in the day.  And this has kicked off what I'm sure will be a bit of a prog rock kick for me.

First off, I think "Siberian Khatru" is one of the best songs to introduce people to prog rock.  It kicks off with a killer guitar riff, and Steve Howe's guitar work is fantastic throughout.  Scratch that, he's always fantastic.  What makes Siberian Khatru different is that it's a bit flashy, and a bit more mainstream - he has a slide guitar solo that truly screams for example; the guitar isn't as hard to get to know as say, anything off Relayer.

My favorite moment in the song though, is where it breaks down to a keyboard bass and drums part, and Rick Wakeman is playing this superfast harpsichord part, and Chris Squire matches him, playing a bassline in perfect counterpoint.  It sounds like a rock band playing baroque music, but it also rocks, and that is a very difficult balance to acheive.

So anyway, thinking about this got me looking up Rick Wakeman on allmusic and that led, strangely enough, to the Strawbs.

I haven't really gotten into the Strawbs, even though I sort of know that they were another prog band back in the day - most of the prog I listen to is the stuff my dad listened to in high school and then turned me on to - Yes, Jethro Tull, ELP, early Genesis.  I've ventured a little into King Crimson territory, but the Strawbs were a bit of a different beast.

But I need to check them out.  I love Fairport Convention, and the Strawbs were the next best English folk rock band with Sandy Denny as their one-time singer after fairport.  Actually, and ironically, one of the few Strawbs songs I know is from when Sandy Denny was their singer, called "All I need is You" - it's a totally great song, but it sounds nothing like later Strawbs or Fairport Convention.

Hmmm...Maybe I'm actually going to go on a kick of listening to Liege and Lief.  It's hard to tell now.