The Show That Never Ends

The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock

By: David Weigel

Narrated by: Rudy Sanda

The Show That Never Ends is the behind-the-scenes story of the extraordinary rise and fall of progressive ("prog") rock, epitomized by such classic, chart-topping bands as Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Emerson Lake & Palmer, and their successors Rush, Styx, and Asia. With inside access to all the key figures, Washington Post national reporter David Weigel tells the story with the gusto and insight prog rock's fans (and its haters) will relish. Along the way he explains exactly what was "progressive" about prog rock, how it arose from psychedelia and heavy metal, why it dominated the pop charts but then became so despised that it was satirized in This Is Spinal Tap, and what fuels its resurgent popularity today.

©2017 David Weigel (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Enjoyable Tale of Musical Omphaloskepsism

Listening to The Show That Never Ends made me nostalgic for the distant future, Oh!

Good but too narrow in focus

Great detail on a few artists, but I was disappointed that the scope was so narrow. He leaves out Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson and Frank Zappa/Mothers, for example. King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and ELP were only a part of Prog Rock!

Interesting story but...

It's a good recollection of a music genre that I enjoy and I'm guessing for anyone that has enjoyed some prog rock. This might be one that I wish I'd read the written version of so that the really awkward accents the narrator used frequently could have been avoided. To me it seemed that Yes is given more attention to than other bands. Still an informative listen.

Worst. Narrator. Ever.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He mispronounced band names, song names, and character names. The lead character in "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" is not "rah-EL"! If the narrator took a few moments to zip through YouTube and listen to some pronunciations for song titles in particular, the book would have been much better. This aging prog-rock geek, for one, would have given it a better review.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me mad. For a book about meticulous musicians and the meticulousness, it was shoddily read. Ugh, I'm still furious over it.

The worst accents in audiobooks

The story is great; the narrator, however, gets cute and decides to try on thick accents. The problem is, they're Dick Van Dyke In Mary Poppins bad. And often just incorrect. Despite being born in Scotland, Ian Anderson doesn't sound like Scrooge McDuck.

When he started mispronouncing Moog, and giving Steve Howe a cockney accent, I bailed. I'd rather have Siri read the book to me.

I learned a lot, but wish there was more

I enjoyed this book, and learned a lot. This is especially true of the central prog bands such as Yes and ELP. If there is a flaw to the book, it is simply that the author focuses so heavily on a few bands during the late 60s and 1970s that some of the history that would most interest me is given limited consideration. For example, Styx is mentioned a few times, but not really discussed. Albums like Yes's 90125 are given limited coverage relative to Yes's earlier work. As a child of the 80s, I would have liked more information on subjects such as these. However, and in fairness to the author, these are not central events/bands in the history of Prog rock, so I guess I can't really complain. Overall, this is an excellent, informative, well-written book.

meh

I like his political writing his talent does not translate. this book is rather scattered and overlooks the last decades influx of focus on prog influenced music no mention of phish Umphrey's Mcgee or even more mainline prog bands like Gordian knot. its a skip.

From Genesis to Revelation to Apocalypse

That was the name of the first Genesis album -- From Genesis to Revelation -- which was then shortened. Dave Weigel's review of progressive rock follows it from its genesis in the late 60s to when it became a revelation to the world of music in the 70s to its apocalypse in the 80s under the weight of its growing pretention -- if I had room, I'd add resurrection to the list, thanks to YouTube reaching a worldwide audience of prog rock fans who never bought into its demise.

My first concert ever was Yes, King Crimson, and Procol Harum in 1971 -- the latter, the headliners, were the only ones well known to American audiences at the time. Two years later, I saw Pink Floyd debut Dark Side of the Moon in the U.S. at Radio City. From 1973 through the first Lamb tour, I saw Genesis every time they came through New York City. So yeah, I'm a prog rock fan -- despite numerous detours through Deadheadland, alt rock, grunge, Americana and blues (which I play) and whatever else interests my ears, trying to never get too parochial about it.

You can tell Weigel, despite being way too young to hear this music when it first came out, is fan who knows his material in depth -- I can certainly tell by him starting things off, after a prologue about the fan base, with Daevid Allen, the head pixie of Gong, an outfit not very well known except to hardcore prog listeners (though Weigel not paying much attention to the Radio Gnome trilogy is an unfortunate omission). As a musician, I can't tell if Weigel himself plays any instrument -- there is a ton of discussion of the music itself, in some detail.

The bulk of the story is about Yes, King Crimson, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, as it should be, they being the Divine Trinity of Prog Rock. Genesis, Jethro Tull, Rush, and Mike Oldfield get their fair share of attention. Pink Floyd is surprisingly under-represented, as are the first big prog rock bands, Procol Harum and the Moody Blues. I'm personally disappointed that there is no mention at all of one of my favorites, Stackridge, though I recognize that they are virtually unknown in the U.S.

Ultimately, this is a book that will be of full value to prog fans, even if they might (like I just did) dispute some details here and there. The big question to me as a reviewer of subjects that I may or may not already be well acquainted with is whether there is any level of interest to those who are not fans -- in this case, I'm going to err on the side of caution and say that if you're a Genesis fan who doesn't remember when Peter Gabriel was the lead singer or only know Yes for Owner of a Broken Heart or don't already know what a curmudgeonly genius Robert Fripp is, yeah, maybe not.

The narration, as others have pointed out, is mediocre at best. Rudy Sanda has a lengthy resume but nothing you ever heard of, so not an A-lister, and you can tell. Especially mispronouncing names and titles and places -- although as much blame for that has to go to the director/producer for not making sure the narrator gets them right.

Great book, but narrator should have been coached or edited

The book itself is really good, but the narrator was hard to listen to at times. His constant mispronunciation of Moog was maddening, among other odd quirks where it was clear he was taking some uninformed creative liberties.

An interesting overview

A good listen. I learned about a few bands I had never heard of.
I got the impression that most of the material was gleaned from magazine articles and published books.
I can't decide whether the author actually likes Prog. At times admiring, and at others dismissive. You always get the feeling, through the book, that the Prog story will not end well.
The performance was adequate, but did not add to the book. A few mispronunciations along the way. (Moog rhymes with vogue)
For the Prog fan, there will plenty of "oh yeah, I remember that". Those memory pictures make this book worth the price of admission.
Welcome back my friends!