A recent essay in the Boston Phoenix found evidence for a revival of interest in the previously debased genre of prog rock. Why not? There is a certain slice of humanity � bored, suburban males in the early 1970s and lacking in social skills � for whom this kind of music was almost an article of faith. Behind the closed bedroom doors with their Phi Zappa Krappa poster, Jethro Tull, Yes and Emerson Lake and Palmer provided the liturgical music for the awkward coming of age rituals of the era � my era, incidentally. So for guys like me, a return to this music is one part embarrassment and one part guilty, giddy pleasure.

For those of us looking for something to spin as we contemplate our 30th high school reunions, may I suggest The Iridium Controversy, thinking man�s prog rock (complete with cover painting by Roger Dean!) from a band that has never been embarrassed by the genre. And why should they be? The Birdsongs avoid all the excesses of prog rock � wanky, endless solos, extended jams, and teenage-journal-meets-C.S. Lewis lyrics � while reminding us why we were drawn to the music in the first place: the love of intricate, well-made compositions and admirably well-schooled instrumental technique (there are no vocals here). These are virtues that your English comp or shop teacher could understand, and passion (or even what passed for it during sophomore year) was never part of the formula anyway. Hey, the really bad kids listened to the Stones, didn�t they? The theory goes that a comet that struck the earth 65 million years ago (and identified by a thin layer of iridium in the soil) wiped out the dinosaurs. Don�t believe it. A few of them still roam the earth, and they�re as nimble-witted as the dull, hairy mammals who supposedly replaced them.