Lace up your fringed boots, grab your favorite woodwind and your ticket for the Renaissance Faire: this week, Charlie, Henry, and Bill dive into the anti-cool heart of prog rock via a pair of mid-70s Jethro Tull masterworks: 1974’s “War Child” and 1975’s “Minstrel in the Gallery.” Turning from the hyper-extended musical excursions of “Thick as a Brick” and “A Passion Play,” the band’s return to song is also an introduction of spikier melodies and tighter conceptions. Discussed: dressing in doublet and hose, loving (or hating) the movie Time Bandits, a word to the wise about choosing “Bungle in the Jungle” at Karaoke, and an alternate universe in which a certain glam rock icon replaced Ian Anderson on vocals.

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Sailing the Topographic Oceans of a musical obsession that never got anybody a date, three friends revisit the Genesis of their Yesterdays, from the Court of the Crimson King to the Thickest of all Bricks, from Peter Gabriel dressed as a sunflower to a flautist who proved that “Dickensian rat-catcher as rock god” was a viable career option. Henry Tenney, Charlie Nieland and Bill Tipper invite you to join them on a triple-disc, extended-Mellotron-solo journey through the astounding, perplexing, (sometimes) agonizing Embarrassment of Prog.

New episodes will be posted weekly here. You can also subscribe on the podcast player of your choice: Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora, with more (including Apple) coming shortly.

Episode 1: Enter Wuthering
Charlie, Henry, and Bill begin their journey into wild musical excess with a voyage to 1976 London, as the band Genesis records its first album (“A Trick of the Tail”) after the departure of its flamboyant lead singer Peter Gabriel and follows it up with the most Englishly-titled album in rock, “Wind and Wuthering.” Discussed: the music of loss, putting your overture at the end of a record, Phil Collins’s big moment, maybe having a little too much synth freedom and a hidden jukebox musical.