Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt sat down with Prog to share his take on progressive rock and how bands like Yes and Genesis help shaped the genre. The guitarist revealed one album from Yes’ discography that ‘messed with his DNA.’ He expressed:
“Some Yes albums messed with my DNA – f*cked up my head a bit in a good way. ‘Close To The Edge’ was a massive album for me: putting on a pair of headphones, the twists and turns of it really engaging me, just like ‘Queen II’ did – now that album just didn’t stop.”
Besides being really into the ‘Close To The Edge’ album that Jon Anderson gave vocals to, Nuno also shared his top album from Genesis’ catalogue. He added:
For me, the big Genesis records were stuff like ‘Trick Of The Tail’ and ‘…And Then There Were Three.’ The heaviness of some of those songs really turned me on. But if somebody said I had to throw the collection away and just keep one, it would be ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.'”
Nuno went on to explain what Yes and Genesis both brought to the prog scene that made him appreciate them more than others. The guitarist said:
“What I loved about both Genesis and Yes was that they had what I call ‘simplexity.’ They were complex, but you could still latch on to a melody or a lyric. You can want to impress people, but whether fast or slow, you’ve still got to have an emotionality connected to what you play.”
In addition to Yes and Genesis, the guitarist have given praises to several other bands in previous interviews. When Nuno was interviewed by A Radio Rock last summer, he shared his top picks. Nuno explained:
“… If there were the pages of rock and roll that we said, ‘Okay, who is at the front and the back of the book?‘ I think we would agree it will probably be The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, and that’s the pop side of things, and here’s the rock and roll side, and then everybody else is just in the middle.”
You can read Nuno Bettencourt’s interview with Prog here and listen to ‘Close To The Edge’ below.
