Elbow frontman Guy Garvey has long embraced the "prog rock without the solos" tag for his band, explaining that he spoke up about the influence of progressive rock in the late 1990s precisely because the genre was unfashionable and rarely acknowledged at the time. He argues that much of the music being celebrated in the press then owed a clear debt to bands like Yes, Genesis and King Crimson, yet few artists admitted it, singling out Radiohead's refusal to cite Pink Floyd as an influence as "ridiculous."

Garvey traces his prog roots to childhood, having been played Genesis records by his sister as a baby, and cites Selling England By The Pound and A Trick Of The Tail among his favourite albums. After meeting guitarist Mark Potter at sixth-form college in 1990 and joining his band alongside bassist Pete Turner and drummer Richard Jupp (with Potter's brother Craig later added on keyboards), Garvey introduced the group to Yes, buying Potter a copy of Close To The Edge to demonstrate its guitar work—an album that also inspired Craig to take up the organ.