Listening to the Future - Bill Martin

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       By the same author:

       Matrix and line:

       Derrida and the possibilities of postmodern social theory

       Humanism and its aftermath:

       The shared fate of deconstruction and politics

       Politics in the impasse:

       Explorations in postsecular social theory

       music of Yes:

       structure and vision in progressive rock

      Photo of Robert Fripp courtesy S. Morley/Redferns.

      Photo of Jethro Tull courtesy David Redfern/Redferns.

      Copyright © 1998 by Carus Publishing Company

      First printing 1998

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, A division of Carus Publishing Company, 315 Fifth Street, P.O. Box 300, Peru, Illinois 61354-0300.

       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Martin, Bill, 1956-

       Listening to the future: the time of progressive rock, 1968-1978/Bill Martin.

       p. cm.—(Feedback: v. 2)

       Includes discography, bibliographical references, and index.

       ISBN 978-0-81269-944-9

       1. Progressive rock music—History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series: Feedback (Chicago, Ill.); v. 2.

       ML3534.M412 1998

       781.66—dc21

      97-36495

      CIP

      MN

       To order books from Open Court, call toll-free 1-800-815-2280.

      This book has been reproduced in a print-on-demand format from the 1998 Open Court printing.

      Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company.

      For my mother and father,

      Eve and Gene Martin

      The past carries with it a temporal index by which it is referred to redemption. There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on earth. Like every generation that preceeded us, we have been endowed with a weak Messianic power, a power to which the past has a claim. That claim cannot be settled cheaply.

      A chronicler who recites events without distinguishing between major and minor ones acts in accordance with the following truth: nothing that has ever happened should be regarded as lost for history. To be sure, only a redeemed humankind receives the fullness of its past—which is to say, only for a redeemed humankind has its past become citable in all its moments. Each moment it has lived becomes a citation à l’ordre du jour—and that day is Judgment Day.

      The soothsayers who found out from time what it had in store certainly did not experience time as either homogenous or empty. Anyone who keeps this in mind will perhaps get an idea of how past times were experienced in remembrance—namely, just in the same way. We know that the Israelites were prohibited from investigating the future. The Torah and the prayers instruct them in remembrance, however. This stripped the future of its magic, to which all those succumb who turn to the soothsayers for enlightenment. This does not imply, however, that for the Israelites the future turned into homogenous, empty time. For every second of time was the strait gate through which the Messiah might enter.

      Walter Benjamin, from “Theses on the Philosophy of History”

      Contents

      Chapter three: The time of progressive rock: Toward a theory

      Chapter four: Sent through the rhythm: A guided discography

       Emergence, 1968–1969

       1968

       1969

       Apogee, 1970–1974

       1970

       1971

       1972

       1973

       1974

       Trials and transformations, 1975–1978

       1975

       1976

       1977

       1978

       Sixty-two essential albums

      Chapter five: After the time of progressive rock, 1977–1997

      Afterword: Zeitgeist: Sea change or heart murmur?

      Appendix: Resources

      Notes

      Additional discography

      Bibliography

      Index

       Acknowledgments

      As with my earlier music of Yes, Listening to the future was also written as a labor of love. I want to offer heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped with this project. This includes a rather long list of friends both old and new, who shared with me their ideas about music—sometimes without knowing it: Jim Abraham, Alison Brown, Kevin Condatore, Al Cinelli, Billy Chapman, John Covach, Andrew Cutrofello, John Collinge, Glen Di Crocco, Jim DeRogatis, Martin Donougho, David Detmer, Sarah Dowless, Zane Edge, Lydia Eloff, Nina Frankel, Aaron Fichtelburg, Henry Frame, Miller Francis, Diana Fuss, Stephen Gardner, Mark Giordano, Tom Greif, Brett Gover, Lewis Gordon, Peter Gunther, Stephen Houlgate, Patricia Huntington, Craig Hanks, Christine Holz, Joanie Jurysta James, Leslie Jones, Tony Kirven, Nick Kokoshis, Dana Lawrence, Michael Lind, Raymond Lotta, Chris Mitchell, Tina McRee, Brad Merriman, Edward Macan, Brenda MacDonald, Lisa Mikita, Innes Mitchell, Sam Martin, John Martin, Lynne Margolies, Thomas and Coral Mosbo, Clay Morgan, Todd May, Martin Matustik, Kate Murphy, David Orsini, Jeff Rice, Garry Rindfuss, Jane Scarpontoni, Dale Smoak, Chelsea Snelgrove, Gary Shapiro, Catrina Thundercloud, George Trey, Jerry Wallulis, Cynthia Willett, Deena Weinstein, and Robert Young.

      For their friendship and encouragement, I would like to thank my colleagues in the philosophy department at DePaul University: Ken Alpern, Peg Birmingham, Cindy Kaffen, Daryl Koehn, David Krell, Niklaus Largier, Mary Jeanne Larrabee, Will McNeil, Darrell Moore, Michael Naas, Angelica Nuzzo, David Pellauer, and Katherine Rudolph.

      Thanks to the people at Open Court Publishing for their support of this project, especially my ever-patient editor, Kerri Mommer.

      I have the great fortune to be married to the African Japanese queen of Kansas, Bascenji. Thanks, my Yoko and SdB, my dear Kathleen, standing by your vinegar

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