Why Do you prefer Prog over other music genres?

Indeed, Jon Anderson used his voice more as an instrument than being too concerned about the meaning of what he was saying.

I think Yes is a poor example. We don't hear the lyric, we hear the voice as an instrument which is why it is possible to appreciate a lyric in a language we do not speak or understand.

Indubitably true but the mode of creation is not reflected in the level of appreciation. Sure there are those who value such things but that is not what I was getting at when I talk of validation and elevating it to something it is not. Here I refer to the belief that Progressive Rock has progressed so far from its roots to be completely divorced from the genre(s) of Rock music that spawned it, that Progressive Rock should be afforded equal status with Art Music (as some but not all forms of Jazz have been) alongside Classical Music. To me this appears to be more to do with (self) aggrandisement of the listener and their esoteric musical appreciation than any concrete analysis (or understanding) of the music itself.

Aesthetics and the appreciation of beauty is defined by taste. Taste has little regard for how or why the music was created or the level of sophistication in the composition or performance - without that [taste] pizza would be merely fancy cheese on toast. [though I prefer a well made Welsh rarebit to cheese on toast and cheese on toast to pizza, but that's by-the-by, I'm just not a fan of cooked tomatoes and inedible oven-baked dough - for me pizza is a snack that has been elevated to a main meal merely by increasing its size and any satisfaction gained from it soon diminishes as the temperature drops during the course of gnawing your way across the plate - the last mouthful is seldom a pleasure]. We can all appreciate something we don't necessarily like (I appreciate Miles Davis as an innovator, musician and composer but I gain no pleasure listening to him or his music) - why I like or prefer listening something is for the pleasure I get from it and not to slake a thirst to hear it. If I were dehydrated I would not differentiate any branded bottle water from municipal tap-water ... or pond water if it were a matter of life or death, then I don't drink water for pleasure (and anyone who does is just weird).

Sure as Richard Feynman says (and I'm fond of quoting), understanding the science of a flower only adds to the aesthetic, I agree that with the aesthetic appreciation of music understanding the esoteric behind it can only add to the pleasure, it can never subtract. [well, not quite never, I'm sure I could think of many contrary examples]. But if the pleasure wasn't present beforehand then... *shrug*.

If we can analyse the aesthetic and replicate it then Prog that is "made by numbers" would be aesthetically comparable to the original yet it so often becomes a disappointing simulacrum of that which it attempts to emulate - the aesthetic of what appeals is not contained in the mechanics of 'going through the motions', but even then because of "taste" and "pleasure" there could be examples of following a well-worn template producing a more enjoyable piece of music. There are no absolutes. I've not heard sufficient Starcastle to posit that their best is more pleasurable to Yes at their worst.

Generally speaking I don't have anything against most Prog lyrics, they are better than most lyrics in other modern music. But besides, I am with you here, singer-songwriters are supposed to be a sort of poets who sing, modern-times troubadours, so if their lyrics are bad they basically have no reason of existence. For Prog music lyrics are not the raison d'etre, if they are good it is a welcome bonus but they are not a necessary ingredient for good Prog.

And within my limited capabilities as a player, when I manage to play some Prog songs I enjoy it enormously, it's so much more fun to play than anything else.

Nor do I.

I don't define the music I prefer by genre alone, nor can I honestly say I prefer one genre over another. If it hits the pleasure-centre of my brain then I'm going to be happy regardless of the genre of music it is. I don't sit here counting the number of beats in a bar, analysing the degree of complexity in the composition or marvelling at the dexterity and skill of the performers; I listen to music for the emotional responses it creates - and for some Prog is as sterile and un-emotive as an Open University lecture about 17th century crop-rotation on the Somerset Levels while others can get the James May "fizz in the nether regions" at the merest mention of a new release by their favourite artist (for me that could be Pink Floyd, The Enid, PoS, Opeth, Philip Glass, Siouxsie Soiux, The Cure or Fields of the Nephilim for example - it's genre-non-specific). I am unmoved by Jazz (to be pedantic, I am moved to switch it off) and that shares many of the characteristics that most applaud in Progressive Rock - for all it's technical, compositional, structural and other musicological similarities with Progressive Rock, Jazz remains outside the pleasure zone for me.

I spend a lot of time here because there is more to talk about in the field of Progressive Rock, (my interest is mainly in the history and the modern perception of that history, but it's not limited to that either), this is because what we currently regard as Progressive Rock is broad (but not necessarily very deep) and impinges on other areas of music that also interest people, such as jazz-fusion, folk, psych, metal, electronic and avant garde (however, NOT classical).

But very little of that talking ever seems to be about the music - sure we have endless debates about "what is Prog", tiresome "X is better than Y" discussions, the perennial "who invented Prog" arguments and the countless "X is/is not Prog" bickering and they never resolve so are doomed to repeat ad infinitum. But when we start to talk about the music it all falls apart, or takes the path of least resistance and/or results in a round of self-congratulation, patting ourselves on the back for liking music that we believe is more erudite and more worthy than those we regard as lesser forms of music (like Pop or Grunge or R&B). 

In that respect Prog fans have a lot in common with Audiophilists - we all know what it is when we hear it but we cannot express that empirically and when we make any attempt to rationalise it we fail ... miserably (in the ten years of this forum's existence we have never produced a universally agreed answer to any question regarding Progressive Rock and we have [not] produced a robust definition of "what Prog is" - we cannot even reach a consensus on ItCotCK). Like those who make bold claims about a piece of esoteric hardware that plays no integral role in the performance of an audio system we attempt elevate the music we like to something it is not in order to validate the buzz we get from listening to it. I see no need for this: like what you like without justification or validation.

/edit silly typo corrected.

You have mentioned almost all the non-prog artist who I'm used to like