The Show That Never Ends

by David Weigel

  38William Neal, “Tarkus,” 2009, http://web.archive.org/web/20091109015042/http://www.williamneal.co.uk/index.php?option=com_igallery&view=gallery&id=2&Itemid=18.

  39David Lubin, “Emerson Lake & Palmer: Tarkus, Rolling Stone, August 19, 1971.

  40Penny Valentine, “Greg Lake—ELP’s Dark Horse,” Sounds, December 5, 1970.

  41Pete Stone, “Demolishing the Record Cover,” Creem, June 1971.

  42“Francis Monkman (Curved Air, Sky, Solo),” Progressor: Interviews of Prog, August 25, 2006, http://www.progressor.net/interview/francis_monkman.html.

  43Mont Campbell, interview by the author, May 2013.

  44Nick Awde et al., Mellotron: The Machine and the Musicians That Revolutionised Rock (Desert Hearts, 2008), 200–201.

  45“Peter Gabriel Talks about the Downs and Ups of Genesis . . . ‚” ZigZag, May 1971, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/genesis.

  46Awde et al., Mellotron, 199–200.

  47Ibid.

  48Tony Banks et al., Genesis: Chapter & Verse (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007), 107.

  49Caroline Boucher, “Genesis: Too Posh for Fame,” Disc and Music Echo, March 25, 1972.

  50Notes about the song “Watcher of the Skies,” Genesis Museum, http://www.genesismuseum.com/features/songbook77.htm, accessed November 30, 2016.

  51Genesis, Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited (Guardian Records, 1996), liner notes.

  52Banks et al., Genesis: Chapter & Verse, 122.

  53Jerry Gilbert, “Genesis Doing the Foxtrot,” Sounds, September 9, 1972.

  54Banks et al., Genesis: Chapter & Verse, 122.

  55Ibid., 113.

  56Gilbert, “Genesis Doing the Foxtrot.”

  57Banks et al., Genesis: Chapter & Verse, 124.

  58Ibid., 123.

  59Richard Williams, “How to Succeed in Pop without Really Trying,” Radio Times, August 6, 1970.

  60As quoted in Graham Bennett, Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous (SAF, 2005), 214.

  61Ibid.

  62Ibid., 216.

  63Edward Macan, Endless Enigma: A Musical Biography of Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Open Court, 2006), 175.

  64Dick Meadows, “Carl Palmer.”

  65Penny Valentine, “Keith Emerson in the Talk-In,” Sounds, July 7, 1971.

  66Don Snowden, “Moog on the State of the Synthesizer,” Los Angeles Times, June 7, 1981.

  67Jody Breslaw, review in Sounds, October 9, 1971.

  68Howard Fielding, untitled concert review, Sounds, December 18, 1971.

  69Greg Lake, interview by the author, summer 2013.

  CHAPTER FIVE: A HIGHER ART FORM

  1Chris Welch, Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes (Omnibus, 1999), 109.

  2Rick Wakeman, Grumpy Old Rock Star: And Other Wondrous Stories (Preface Digital, 2009), Kindle ed.

  3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EfPCPqjoAg.

  4Will Romano, Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock (Backbeat Books, 2010), 62.

  5Welch, Close to the Edge, 109.

  6Darryl Morden, “Yes’s Original Keyboardist Tony Kaye Sues to Stop New Boxed Set,” Yes in the Press, July 18, 2002, http://zenponies.com/yitp/2002/jul/jul18_02.html.

  7Nick Awde et al., Mellotron: The Machine and the Musicians That Revolutionised Rock (Desert Hearts, 2008), 288.

  8Welch, Close to the Edge, 110.

  9Penny Valentine, “Yes: Making It Last,” Sounds, 1971, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/yes-making-it-last.

  10“Rick Goes Back to Go Forward,” Sounds, May 19, 1973.

  11Romano, Mountains Come Out of the Sky, 62.

  12Tim Morse, Yesstories: Yes in Their Own Words (St. Martin’s Press, 1996), 31.

  13Ibid., 32.

  14Richard Cromelin, “Yes: Fragile,” Rolling Stone, March 16, 1972, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/yes-fragile.

  15Ibid.

  16Welch, Close to the Edge, 118.

  17Steve Peacock, “Dean of the Future,” Sounds, October 14, 1972.

  18Ibid.

  19Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements, directed by Nigel Planer (BBC, January 2, 2009).

  20Ibid.

  21Valentine, “Yes: Making It Last.”

  22“After the Pig: Mick’s Plans,” Music Now, October 3, 1970.

  23Ray Telford, “Fresh Soft Mick,” Sounds, December 11, 1971.

  24Jerry Gilbert, “When It Comes to Mind-Blowing, Hawkwind Are Really into It,” Sounds, October 17, 1970.

  25Lemmy and Janiss Garza, White Line Fever: The Autobiography (Citadel Press, 2004), 71.

  26James Johnson, “The Truth about Hawkwind,” NME, February 5, 1972.

  27Andrew Means, “Hawkwind: A Space Odyssey,” Melody Maker, April 29, 1972.

  28John Ingham, “Rock as Electric Wallpaper,” Creem, October 1971.

  29“Ian Anderson (7 of 11)—Recording Aqualung” (Living Legends Music interview), YouTube, January 9, 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhxbbiJ27vU.

  30Jethro Tull: Their Fully Authorised Story (Pinnacle Vision, 2008), DVD.

  31David Rees, Minstrels in the Gallery: A History of Jethro Tull (Fire Fly, 1998), Kindle ed., loc. 614.

  32Ibid., loc. 597.

  33Romano, Mountains Come Out of the Sky, 86.

  34Keith Altham, “Jethro Tull: God Is Alive and Starring On . . . ‚” Record Mirror, March 27, 1971.

  35Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick, 40th anniversary special ed. (Chrysalis Records, 2012), liner notes.

  36Chris Welch, “Tull’s Tommy?” Melody Maker, March 11, 1972.

  37Ibid.

  38Jordan Blum, “Looking Back (and Forward) on Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick as a Brick,’ ” Pop-Matters, March 12, 2013.

  39Dave Marsh, “Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick,” Creem, August 1972.

  40John Swenson, “Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick,” Crawdaddy!, August 1972.

  41Bill Bruford, “America,” Melody Maker, March 11, 1972.

  42“03/27/1972 Boston, Massachusetts,” Forgotten Yesterdays: A Comprehensive Guide to Yes Shows, http://forgotten-yesterdays.com/dates.asp?ftype=1&qdec=1970&qdateid=496, accessed June 2014.

  43J. P. Dolan, “Crimso [sic] in Boston,” Melody Maker, April 15, 1972.

  44Ibid.

  45Welch, Close to the Edge, 127.

  46Morse, Yesstories, 36.

  47Welch, Close to the Edge, 122.

  48Chris Welch, “The What, Where and Why of Howe,” Melody Maker, January 8, 1972.

  49Tim Morse, “Conversation with Eddy Offord, from NFTE #234,” Notes from the Edge (blog), 2002, http://www.nfte.org/interviews/EO234.html.

  50Welch, Close to the Edge, 124.

  51Penny Valentine, “The Anderson Tapes,” Sounds, March 10, 1973.

  52Morse, Yesstories, 36.

  53Steve Turner, “The Great Yes Technique Debate,” Rolling Stone, March 30, 1972, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/article.html?ArticleID=1837.

  54Bill Bruford, Bill Bruford: The Autobiography: Yes, King Crimson, Earthworks, and More (Jawbone Press, 2009), 56, 57.

  55Ibid., 58.

  56Jim Christopulos and Phil Smart, Van der Graaf Generator, the Book: A History of the Band Van der Graaf Generator, 1967 to 1978 (“Phil and Jim,” 2005), Kindle ed., loc. 2012.

  57Steve Peacock, “Van der Graaf—Opening a Chink in the Curtain,” Sounds, January 29, 1972.

  58Ibid.

  59David Hitchcock, interview by the author, September 2013.

  60Romano, Mountains Come Out of the Sky, 99.

  61Richard Sinclair, interview by the author, September 2013.

  62Andrew Tyler, “Caravan: Missing Out on Hysteria,” Disc, June 24, 1972, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/caravan-missing-out-on-hysteria.

  63Romano, Mountains Come Out of the Sky, 101.

  64Derek Shulman, interview by the author, 2014.

  65Thodoris
, “Interview: Derek Shulman (Gentle Giant),” Hit Channel, April 22, 2014, http://www.hit-channel.com/interviewderek-shulman-gentle-giant/62545.

  66Richard Williams, “Have Egg Finally Cracked It?” Melody Maker, January 1, 1972.

  67Ibid.

  68Ibid.

  69“Learning How to Be Independent,” Sounds, January 27, 1973.

  70Welch, Close to the Edge, 135.

  71Jon Anderson, interview by the author, summer 2012.

  72Penny Valentine, “The Six Wives of a Yes Man,” Sounds, January 27, 1973.

  73Jethro Tull, A Passion Play (Chrysalis Records, 1973), liner notes.

  74Chris Welch, “Jethro Tull: A Passion Play,” Melody Maker, July 21, 1973.

  75Ian Anderson, interview by the author, summer 2012.

  76New Musical Express.

  77Welch, Close to the Edge.

  78New Musical Express.

  79Prog Rock Britannia.

  80Roger Dean, interview by the author, August 2012.

  81Tony Palmer, Observer.

  82Wakeman, Grumpy Old Rock Star, loc. 1634.

  83Ibid., loc. 1616.

  84Ibid., loc. 1636.

  85Ibid., loc. 1631.

  86Morse, Yesstories, 45.

  87Steve Howe, interview by the author, April 2014.

  88Jon Anderson, interview by the author, 2013.

  89Howe, interview, April 2014.

  90Chris Welch, “Why I Said No to Yes,” Melody Maker, July 20, 1974.

  CHAPTER SIX: HAMMERS AND BELLS

  1John Harris, The Dark Side of the Moon: The Making of the Pink Floyd Masterpiece (Harper Perennial, 1992), 74.

  2Ibid., 84–85.

  3Ibid., 85.

  4Mike Oldfield, Changeling: The Autobiography of Mike Oldfield (Virgin, 2007), 110–11.

  5Ibid., 110.

  6Richard Williams, “Fresh Ayers,” Melody Maker, March 4, 1972.

  7Ibid.

  8Johnny Black, “Mike Oldfield: The Making of Tubular Bells,” Q Magazine, August 2001, Rock’s Backpages, www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/mike-oldfield-the-making-of-itubular-bellsi.

  9Mick Brown, “Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion,” Sounds, January 31, 1976.

  10Simon Heyworth, Tom Newman, and Mike Oldfield, “The Making of Tubular Bells,” Q Magazine, August 2001, http://tubular.net/articles/2001_08/The-Making-of-Tubular-Bells.

  11Richard Branson, Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography (Virgin, 1998), 115.

  12Fred Deller, “The Man Who Taped the Tubular Bells,” NME, February 8, 1975.

  13Heyworth et al., “Making of Tubular Bells.”

  14Ibid.

  15Oldfield, Changeling, 127.

  16Ibid.

  17Deller, “Man Who Taped.”

  18Oldfield, Changeling, 129.

  19Heyworth et al., “Making of Tubular Bells.”

  20Oldfield, Changeling, 137.

  21Ibid., 138.

  22Ibid.

  23Cameron Crowe, “King Crimson’s Fripp: ‘Music’s Just a Means for Magic’ ” [Rolling Stone, no. 149 (December 6, 1973)], The Uncool (blog), http://www.theuncool.com/journalism/rs149-robert-fripp.

  24Sid Smith, In the Court of King Crimson (Helter Skelter, 2001), 155.

  25Ibid., 157.

  26Steve Peacock, “Crimson: Head Heart and Hips,” Sounds, October 14, 1972.

  27Steve Peacock, “Crimson, Inside and Outside,” Sounds, March 17, 1973.

  28Mike Dickson, “Interview with Jamie Muir in Ptloemaic [sic] Terrascope,” November 20, 1996, ETWiki, http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/Interview_with_Jamie_Muir_in_Ptloemaic_Terrascope.

  29David Sheppard, On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno (Chicago Review Press, 2009), 104.

  30Steven Rosen, “King Crimson’s Robert Fripp,” Guitar Player, May 1974, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/king-crimsons-robert-fripp.

  31Ian MacDonald, “Robert Fripp: The Sexual Athlete,” New Musical Express, September 1, 1973, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/robert-fripp-the-sexual-athlete.

  32Caroline Frost, “Sir Richard Branson Reveals John Peel Fell for Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells over Dinner, Helped Start Virgin Empire,” Huffington Post UK, August 7, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/08/07/richard-branson-john-peel-mike-oldfield-tubular-bells_n_1751752.html.

  33“John Peel—Top Gear—Introducing Tubular Bells,” YouTube, May 3, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDi7qhBO5q4.

  34John Peel, “Tubular Bells” (originally published in Listener, June 7, 1973), in The Olivetti Chronicles (Bantam Press, 2008), 311–13.

  35Oldfield, Changeling, 140–41.

  36Ibid., 142.

  37Branson, Losing My Virginity, 125.

  38Steve Peacock, “A Young Virgin Will Never Let You Down,” Sounds, June 9, 1973.

  39Oldfield, Changeling, 144.

  40Branson, Losing My Virginity, 125.

  41Tony Palmer et al., All You Need Is Love: The Story of Popular Music, episode 16: “Imagine: New Directions” (Isolde Films, 2008), DVD.

  42Oldfield, Changeling, 146.

  43Ibid., 152.

  44“Robert Wyatt Story (BBC Four, 2001)”, YouTube, September 22, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdNKPqG-0ss.

  45Prog Rock Britannia: An Observation in Three Movements, directed by Nigel Planer (BBC, January 2, 2009).

  46Marcus O’Dair, “Robert Wyatt at 70: Happy Birthday, Old Rottenhat!” Guardian, January 27, 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/jan/27/robert-wyatt-at-70-happy-birthday-old-rottenhat.

  47Allan Jones, “Ruth, Richard, and Robert . . . ‚” Melody Maker, June 14, 1975.

  48From a Virgin Records ad in Sounds, date unknown.

  49Richie Unterberger, “Robert Wyatt: Interview” [November, 18, 1996], Perfect Sound Forever, http://www.furious.com/perfect/wyatt.html.

  50Nick Mason and Philip Dodd, Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd (Chronicle Books, 2005), 167.

  51Graham Bennett, Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous (SAF, 2005), 263.

  52“British Rock: Are We Facing Disaster?” Melody Maker, September 21, 1974.

  53Ibid.

  54Ibid.

  55“Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s ‘Brain Salad Surgery’—The Dirty Dinner Game Becomes a Masterpiece,” Circus, January 1974.

  56Greg Lake, interview by the author, summer 2012.

  57Ibid.

  58Chris Welch, “Greg Lake: Rock Will Go Back to Its Roots,” Melody Maker, August 3, 1974, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/greg-lake-rock-will-go-back-to-its-roots.

  59“Karn Evil 9: Songs,” Brain Salad Surgery: Emerson, Lake & Palmer, last update July, 24, 2016, http://www.brain-salad-surgery.de/karn_evil_9.html, accessed November 14, 2016.

  60Ian Dove, “They Won’t Bach around the Clock,” New York Times, December 16, 1973.

  61Trevor J. Pinch and Frank Trocco, Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer (Harvard University Press, 2004), 194.

  62“Gear Common to the Group,” Brain Salad Surgery: Emerson, Lake & Palmer, http://www.brain-salad-surgery.de/gear_common_to_the_group.html, accessed summer 2014.

  63Chris Welch, “You Can’t Bluff Your Way through Yes,” Melody Maker, March 29, 1975.

  64Chris Salewicz, “The Rick Wakeman Consumer’s Guide to Beers of the World,” NME, December 21, 1974.

  65Ibid.

  66Steve Clarke, “New Music and Old Arguments,” NME, November 15, 1975.

  67Creem, September 1974.

  68David Rees, Minstrels in the Gallery: A History of Jethro Tull (Fire Fly, 1998), Kindle ed., loc. 934.

  69Ibid., loc. 971.

  70Chris Charlesworth, “Tull Put Back the Fun,” Melody Maker, November 16, 1974, http://www.tullpress.com/mm16nov74.htm.

  71“Lemmy Quits Hawkwind,” Sounds, May 31, 1975.

  72“Interview: Richard Sinclair (Caravan, Hatfield and the North, Camel),” H
it Channel, April 2, 2016, http://www.hit-channel.com/interview-richard-sinclair-caravan-hatfield-and-the-north-camel/97681.

  73Karl Dallas, “Mike Oldfield: High on the Ridge,” Melody Maker, August 24, 1974, Rock’s Backpages, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/mike-oldfield-high-on-the-ridge.

  74John Robinson, “Kevin Ayers—Album by Album,” December 2008, Uncut, http://www.uncut.co.uk/features/kevin-ayers-album-by-album-25705#S5zhqZwXahgYtODV.99.

  75Ibid.

  76Karl Dallas, “I Can’t Stand People Who Play Things Blandly,” Melody Maker, September 28, 1974.

  77Brown, “Investigation of a Citizen.”

  78Karl Dallas, “Beyond the Ridge,” Melody Maker, October 25, 1975.

  79Ibid.

  80Ibid.

  81Palmer, All You Need Is Love.

  82Ibid.

  83Oldfield, Changeling, 163.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: COMPLEXITY FREAKS

  1Scott McFadyen et al., Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (Rush Doc Films, 2010), DVD.

  2Skip Daly, “Ian Grandy Interview: Rush’s First Roadie,” Guitar International, http://web.archive.org/web/20120222034607/http://guitarinternational.com/2009/09/16/a-talk-with-ian-grandy-rushs-first-roadie, accessed June 2015.

  3Deborah Frost, “Rush: A Canadian Rush,” Circus, February 14, 1977.

  4Martin Popoff, Contents under Pressure: 30 Years of Rush at Home and Away (ECW Press, 2004), 17–18.

  5Ibid., 25–26.

  6Geoff Barton, “Rush Judgment,” Sounds, July 16, 1977.

  7Frost, “Rush: A Canadian Rush.”

  8Popoff, Contents under Pressure, 42.

  9Kory Grow, “Rush’s Alex Lifeson on 40 Years of ‘2112’: ‘It Was Our Protest Album,’ ” Rolling Stone, March 29, 2016, http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/rushs-alex-lifeson-on-40-years-of-2112-it-was-our-protest-album-20160329#ixzz496s5UnpL.

  10Frost, “Rush: A Canadian Rush.”

  11Mark Powell, Prophets and Sages: 101 Great Progressive and Underground Rock Albums (Cherry Red, 2010), 200.

  12Rex Anderson, “Greek Keyboard Revolutionary,” New Musical Express, October 12, 1974.

  13Steven Rosen, “Jan Akkerman: Dutch Treat,” Guitar Player, May 1975.

  14Ibid.

  15Hans Beckes, “Interview with Jan Akkerman,” Radio 538, November 24, 1973, 197.

  16“Interview: Franz Di Cioccio (Premiata Forneria Marconi),” Hit Channel, March 19, 2015, http://www.hit-channel.com/interviewfranz-di-cioccio-premiata-forneria-marconi/79130.