With all due respect, ( and i know from your point of view, you are just trying to give an explanation of Prog Rock ) I find your first paragraph to be a little patronizing ( although, i'm sure that's not intended )
If I wasn't open minded ( to any music ! ) then I wouldn't have bought this. I like many different genre's of music, ( been collecting music for 40 years + ) and although i'm not a collector of Prog Rock, doesn't mean to say I don't know what it's about, or understand it.
I'm well aware of light & shade, layers in music, ( For instance, Toto are my favourite band, they incorporate all these aspects in their music, but they're definitely not Prog Rock. ) these are elements in music that I like & look for most off all, but by " frantic ", I mean playing musical passages at a " hundred miles an hour ". It's just not for me. I feel the same way about Heavy Metal music....as Lizard King says, we're all different....and that applies to everything in life, of course.
I still stand by my point that songs like " Drive Home " & " The Raven That Refused To Sing " to me are not Prog Rock, or certainly not typical Prog Rock. You could take the main parts of all the songs actually, take away the Prog elements, for instance the intro to " The Holy Drinker ", or ending segment of " The Watchmaker " and they'd be better songs in my opinion. For me there's just too much going on, that's not needed.
I can see how that could come off as patronizing; I had some doubts about it when I wrote it. I was primarily trying to express the pernicious effects of putting music into genres that has, for me at least, colored my reception of some music, e.g. I had a total dislike of anything Pop as a teen and young man, so I tended to avoid bands that were highly popular in my teens, such that I neglected bands like Steely Dan, which once I gave a chance became one of my faves. I was definitely an elitist when younger, but have since learned the error of my ways (at least in this instance, hopefully). I like to think I have an open mind, but I know that labels still have negative effects on my perceptions; expectations can be very powerful. The bits about frantic passages was my attempt to explain their raison d'etre, but poorly expressed and much too pedagogical. I didn't mean to imply that you aren't open-minded, indeed I later acknowledged your open-mindedness in buying this in the 1st place.
As for playing at 100 mph, some of my fave passages fall in that category, but that can easily be overdone- but what constitutes being overdone is also in the eye of the beholder, of course. Chris Squire (bassist for Yes) once stated that Mahavishnu Orchestra, who's music was full of these type of passages, helped kill Prog. Whatever, music appreciation is definitely very subjective and whatever turns your crank is all good. I don't particularly care for Heavy Metal much either, but then that label may have caused me to miss out on some music that I would have really enjoyed. Some claim Zeppelin as the originators of the genre; I'm not sure about that, but I certainly love LZ. And I enjoy some Metal when experienced other ways, e.g. in a movie soundtrack.
As for Toto, def not Prog. I never got into them, but then they were popular back when my pop prejudices were in full bloom, so who knows what an open-minded listen of them would have wrought. I woulda guessed MJ was your fave, going by your avatar- another victim of my pop prejudice, but one partially redeemed by watching, then purchasing and fully enjoying This Is It. Some fantastic grooves that I had missed- and what a performer! He is as good a dancer as he is a singer. Still, I just have that BR and the subsequently acquired Thriller. I still don't put him in the same league as my musical heroes, but definitely a creator of some great music.
As for "typical Prog Rock," that's one of those unhelpful categorizations, imho. One of the nice things about Prog is its variety, so there's not a lot that's typical, though there are certainly common attributes. But as Steven said, there are many slower, softer songs/passages in Prog. Some albums include very tasteful guitar solos- ever heard "Mood for a Day?" Other songs are devoid of any frantic passages and have melodies that are much more apparent and accessible. I think Prog describes an attitude as much as a musical style: an attitude of doing something different, of combining elements that are common, but not commonly found together; a desire to push the boundaries; and an attempt to use musical expression in novel ways. I disagree that the songs would be better w/o the Prog elements, but again, that is wholly subjective.
I have a tendency to jump to defend Prog when I perceive it being slighted, since it has become so often reviled after it's heyday, and the remnants of my elitist days sometimes show up. When I was young, I definitely thought that Prog was "superior" music and that I was so much more evolved than the "dirty masses" whose tastes tended towards bubble gum. I know I have improved in this regard, though I wonder sometimes how much. The music these kids are listening to these days...
