The Moody Blues was very big in France, because they liked that we were basically playing blues.
I am a Yes fan, ultimately. I've been a member of the band, but I was always a fan of the band first.
My favorite bands were Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Grand Funk Railroad. If you listen to some of my early music, you can hear it.
To me, prog-rock is ELP. And for me personally, that stuff is really boring.
Some of the newer bands I like include Queensryche and Marillion, and I was glad when Yes reformed. Also, Kingdom Come; I was laughing when I first heard it and going 'This is outrageous,' but it's a really album. I went to see them play and enjoyed it.
Close to the Edge, Red, One of a kind, Discipline, Earthworks, The Sound of Surprise, all seem to me to be albums that captured the essence of the intention.
'The Yes Album,' of course, was the album that put Yes' name on the worldwide stage.
I was part of that whole early Moody Blues transitioning from a sort of R&B-blues band to being more progressive.
Tales From Topographic Oceans is like a woman's padded bra.
In many ways I think 'Fly From Here' is a return to classic Yes; people seem to have been really enjoying it, integrated into the set along with the old material.
I don't like rock opera with back beats.
That's what bands like Pink Floyd and bands like Rush and even the Metallica of this world have, which is long, ambitious songs that pull in all different directions.
The music that I really jive with is the ELO sound and maybe Wings as well.
When I came to The Moody Blues, we were a rhythm and blues band. I was lousy at rhythm and blues - I think the rest of us were.
There's no doubt that prog rock has an image problem: many musicians hate the label, and too many people associate it with 10-minute drum solos and the weirder bits of JRR Tolkien.
Steve Hackett is a very underrated writer and actually a very good singer.
Strangely enough, 'I've Seen All Good People' is, I think, the second most played Yes song on American radio after 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart.' And then I think 'Roundabout' is third.
I'm very proud of it as a Yes record amongst many of the other Yes records.
I thought it would be interesting to play classical music on rock instruments.
The early ELP albums were pioneering in a way.
My favorite band is Yes. They are all phenomenal musicians, and yes, this means I'm subject to ridicule from co-workers and occasionally from my wife, three kids, and even our Labradoodle pup.
Over the years, Yes actually made 20 albums of original studio material.
Styx has their own style of music, and I think that's justifiable, the same way that Asia and Yes have had - Yes particularly has a unique style that seems to have transcended all styles of music for 43 years.
Progressive rock was happening.
If there was such a thing as a typical English gentleman in rock music, then it was Jon Lord.
