10 Perfect Prog Rock Songs That Are Ridiculously Long

Right at the tail end of the '60s, Yes were already starting to chip away at the boundaries of what rock and roll could do. While the likes of Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman weren't in the band just yet, hearing Jon Anderson's brilliant vocal range alongside Chris Squire's bass guitar was enough to give them a recognizable sound that was willing to expand a lot further than the worlds of jazz rock and blues. This was becoming rock and roll by way of classical music, and Roundabout could really be considered Yes' greatest symphony.

Which is strange considering that the song wasn't supposed to be a full fledged song at all, originating as Steve Howe messing around on the acoustic guitar before the rest of the band decided to flesh it out into something different. Spanning across 8 minutes, you can hear the moods distinctively change at every corner, from the verse's heavy bass groove to the chorus where everything lays out, as Anderson talks about mountains coming out of the sky.

Though Steve Howe may have started with the basic idea, every single member of the band manage to leave their stamp on this song, from Chris Squire's amazing bass licks to Rick Wakeman's classical style arpeggios on the organ and Bill Bruford going off the rails in the bridge section with an almost samba like beat to keep the groove going. There were many more epics to come like on songs like Close to the Edge or The Gates of Delirium, but this is where the real magic of these musical titans started to take shape for the first time.