[Neil T]

A little while back I discussed a very old definition of prog rock but in retrospect I don't like my use of the word "repetetive" in describing the alternative. I think the word suggests "boring" which wasn't my intent. A better word would have been "cyclical".

I still like my original definition that "progressive" is (or was originally) a technical term describing music that progresses from theme to theme as opposed to the cyclical nature of other popular forms.

To me, a lot of the music being discussed here falls under the broader, more inclusive umbrella of "art rock" which includes various other musical forms including jazz rock, some of the more complex hard rock and ambient (all of which are popular here).

Under that definition...
Child in Time is progressive, Speed King isn't.
Stairway to Heaven is progressive, Black Dog isn't.
Most of the Gabriel era Genesis songs are, most of the Post Gabriel songs aren't.
Awaken is progressive, Don't Kill the Whale isn't (Find My Way Home though, is - it doesn't HAVE to be long).
Dark Side of the Moon is, though the individual track on it mostly aren't.
Most Beatles songs aren't but Seargent Pepper the album is.

Frankly, I think what we play here would be far better described as "Art Rock" rather than "progressive" because otherwise we keep having to expand the term progressive to include anything we find complex enough to be interesting which loses the original meaning which defined a whole revolution in the art form and besides we already have that inclusive term which describes exactly that.

What we're listening to here is "Art Rock" which includes Prog Rock as one of it's leading lights but includes other musical forms with high artistic merit, too.