Prog ages well, doesn't it?

Knobby wrote: In the 80s with electro-dance everyone was using moogs & cheese-synths and even then they were making grunts that prog was dated. So much so nowadays if the fact is that synths have gone into disuse.

It's strange how old music that I myself love sounds dated for me, like post-punk, rockabilly, classical, ebm, death metal, grunge, and modern stuff too. 

There is a difference between music that shows its age and music of its age. Certainly instrumentation and production has a huge part to play in that - the tone of a particular guitar/amp combo, the sound of a monophonic analogue synth or electric piano, and my previous example of Airconditioning is an example of that for sure - it's tonality is very 70s sounding, (Sonja's singing hasn't been tainted by the need to sound like Annie Hasalm or Stevie Nicks..). But there is also the style to consider too - and the 70s does have very distinct styles of Prog (it's not all Symph, Canterbury and Krautrock) - we would not have people decrying/praising modern regressive prog if there wasn't a stylisic simularity between that and "golden era" prog.

Gerinski wrote: I guess part of the effect I mean is that Prog in the line of the 70's is still pretty much being made today, while most other of the styles I mentioned in the OP are not (unless meant for a retro-movie or things like that). If you hear now a song in the style of the Beatles' 'She Loves You' you are immediately transported to the beat times (as in the movie Backbeat), if you hear now a song like late 60's psychedelic fuzz-but-folky-tinted song in the style of, say, Iron Butterfly, you are transported to the late 60's, if you hear something in the style of Boney M's Daddy Cool you are transported to the mid 70's, if you hear a song in the style of Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' you are transported to the early 80's, and so on.

I would call that "music that defined an era" (in the collective consciousness) and by that reasoning Prog would never fit the brief because for most people Prog does not define the 70s, even in grown-up rock (that would be Zeppelin).

Gerinski wrote: Dean wrote: Gerinski wrote: I guess part of the effect I mean is that Prog in the line of the 70's is still pretty much being made today, while most other of the styles I mentioned in the OP are not (unless meant for a retro-movie or things like that). If you hear now a song in the style of the Beatles' 'She Loves You' you are immediately transported to the beat times (as in the movie Backbeat), if you hear now a song like late 60's psychedelic fuzz-but-folky-tinted song in the style of, say, Iron Butterfly, you are transported to the late 60's, if you hear something in the style of Boney M's Daddy Cool you are transported to the mid 70's, if you hear a song in the style of Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' you are transported to the early 80's, and so on. I would call that "music that defined an era" (in the collective consciousness) and by that reasoning Prog would never fit the brief because for most people Prog does not define the 70s, even in grown-up rock (that would be Zeppelin). Sure, I agree, and that's an important reason why I think that Prog does not sound as dated as those other styles (even if for the people who know a bit, it did define an era from 1970 to 1974).

Needless to say, I disagree with your assertion. Firstly, Prog doesn't define that era (whereas Glam Rock does for most people, including jaded Prog fans) and secondly, music that defines an era does not necessarily sound dated. There is timeless Prog and dated Prog from the same era, not all of it travelled well.

As was said by others, I guess we only connect the sound to the era because we know that the "pattern" of music was a carachteristic of that decade.
For example, when I was younger and knew much less about pop music through the ages, I could think some 80s ballad was made on the year before (in the 2000!).

I guess I can agree with some bands, and on certain albums. However, I remember when I first heard Wakeman, with the Arthur album, it sounded so dated and odd... of course now after years of listening to it and loving it, I just can't hear what sounded so weird about it at first. More recently, when I just got into Camel, they did sound very old... obviously 70's... needless to say I loved them. Right now I don't seem to hear anything particularly dated on most of the 70's or 60's bands that I listen to regularly, because I'm very used to them, but for someone who isn't into prog they may just as well find them rather dated indeed.

I think certain albums have a timeless appeal - and that is true for many genres. You can listen to The Band's first two albums and not rightly ascertain their vintage if you were unaware of the release dates. Perhaps because the great albums are so oft imitated. You listen to The Pogues' Rum Sodomy and the Lash or If I Should Fall From Grace With God and they don't sound dated because Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys are, for the most part, recycling old Pogues bits.

King Crimson and certain Tull albums have that same appeal.

I tend to like the groups that sound timeless and hold up to the test of time--there are lot's of fav groups on this site that don't meet that threshold for me---but I'd still take a listen now and then. One is ELP.

I think ITCOCK sounds very dated. Soft machine I and a few others after sound very dated. Jade Warrior released and Last Autumns Dream sound very dated. I think Voyage of the Acolyte sounds very dated. I like/love these albums, though, so I don't think stuff sounding dated is just reducible to what one doesn't like. I kind of agree with Gerinsky on balance that Prog tends not to sound dated.