By the time the 1970's rolled around, a new and experimental phase of Rock that began life as a hybrid between Psychedelia, Classical and Free-form Jazz in the 60's, burst on the scene and took Europe by storm. In the States, it took a while. Shrugged off in the American press as pretentious, sterile and overly-intellectual, the genre had to find its audience by almost by word-of-mouth.

With such bands as Yes, The Nice (in the later 60's) and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, inroads were made that bridged the gap between a skeptical press and an eager audience. But still, the overwhelming majority of bands in the Prog-Rock genre were the exclusive property of "that" side of the Atlantic.

Genesis had been around since the late 1960's. With one early album (From Genesis To Revelation) showing promise, but lacking that winning spark. They eventually signed with Charisma Records, founded by former Manager-turned Label owner Tony Stratton-Smith and their fortunes soon changed. Getting a word of mouth and popularity in England and all over Europe (especially in Italy), they secured a license deal with Dunhill Records in the U.S. - they had made one or two brief tours of the U.S., primarily in the Northeast and, almost unbeknownst to the U.S. record industry, Genesis were gaining a huge popularity. When Charisma struck a label deal with Atlantic, and their maiden album with the new arrangement, Selling England By The Pound was released in 1973, Genesis took the record industry big-wigs completely by surprise and sold out every venue they were booked in during their first cross-country U.S. tour. Word-of-mouth paid off with dividends.

Tonight it's the opening track from that milestone album, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight.

Maybe you remember it - and maybe you've never heard it before.

Pull up a chair and have a listen for the next seven minutes.

(Lots of promise and an opening for Hendrix but . . . )

The Syn were very short lived - all but two years before splitting up and taking different directions, including one which led to Yes (Chris Squire). But they had one memorable single which became something of an anthem over the years, 14 Hour Technicolour Dream was their first single. Tonight's track is off their second single - Grounded. Less familiar but no less potent and no less apropos for a band in 1967 to make.

Something for Friday.

(Yes - just before Rick Wakeman, just before indulgence, just before cliche)

It's almost impossible to believe tonight's track, Yours Is No Disgrace was released 40 years ago. But I guess things happen when you least expect them, and time is certainly one of them.

Before they became their own worst cliche, Yes were a band considered at the forefront of the Progressive genre of Rock. Not for all tastes, but they certainly became a staple in the diet of just about every FM station worth it's wattage from 1970 on. Yes went great with just about every drug you could imagine - there was a little something for everybody going on between the sleeves of every new release and just about anybody who was around in 1970 will tell you at least one Yes album was required listening at just about every party they went to. Although they have gone through numerous personnel changes in 40 years, they are still somewhat together and touring. But this track off The Yes Album, the album that changed their direction (Tony Kaye the original keyboards had left and was replaced by Rick Wakeman) and made them a household name, certainly sticks in my memory as one of those "oh yeah - I remember what I was doing when I first heard that" situations, whether I really want to admit it or not.

There are those guilty pleasures to consider and music has millions of them.