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Some characteristics of prog that it seems to be missing:

  • Very long songs and solos
    • ✅Okay, so it's almost 10 minutes long, I'll give it that.
  • More jazz or classical influences than blues
    • ❌Time Was is very bluesy, and it doesn't seem jazzy or classical to me, but I'm not a musician
  • Incorporating classical and electronic instrumentation
    • ❌Not at all!
  • Fantasy or otherwise story lyrics
    • ❌maybe a little, but certainly not much

And yet the song seems to be classified as prog. Why?

Nathan Hinchey
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1 Answers1

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See the wikipedia entry for prog. Folk elements, or blending of influences, and complicated arrangements are also part of the prog thing. The twelve-string intro, CSNY-type harmonies....then a more full-tilt blues-rock section, bluesy guitar solo, power chords and so on - it's quite a complicated song. I know what you mean with your question - I'm of that era and I would not immediately put this song in the prog-rock bucket like King Crimson or Jethro Tull - but then again, the fact that it has different sections in different styles, I could imagine either of those two bands doing this song too...

Angst
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