"Classic Rock Presents Prog" readers' all time best prog albums

xp Awaken is the only time Rick Wakeman will ever give you an orgasm.

That's what they told his wife, but still she married him

also even though i kinda do find queensryche loveable....i don't really think operation mindcrime is prog per se....

it's mostly just conventional 80s metal songs stitched together by a loose "narrative" and a lot of heavy political jive talk....just doesn't really feel prog to me even though queensryche always got billed as prog metal, they don't do any exploratory type instrumental sections, no real feel of any kind of questing type soloing thing (or conversely any real mind garden type psych sonic landscapes either)...i dunno...listen to it and tell me if you think different but to me being a really pretentious metal concept album does not prog make

i mean...i dunno...is "band on the run" a prog record? is ziggy stardust?

Morning sex was never her thing :(
xp

The Crim I would have voted for (Larks' Tongues) isn't on here, so fuckit, no vote.

Free Hand is my faves Gentle Giant album (tho of course Octopus has the best cover).

I voted for "Nursery Cryme", it wasn't a difficult choice, it's one of my favourite records ever in any genre.

Magenta & Spocks Beard GTFO, jesus! Terrible. Spock's beard I'm kind of convinced actually finished the genre off, and I do think it's a dead genre now. Certainly very little I've heard since they hit (cough) "big" has grabbed me in any way whatsoever. Spocks Beard are the prog oasis,and symph is prog's equiv. of post britpop/dadrock guitar sludge, I guess.

so geir loves it?

Also, Matt H is so so OTM about "Operation Mindcrime", actually most "prog-metal", Dream Theater and all their followers, it's just fancy athletic-achievement metal really, very little that's progressive about it to my ears.

So is this the Opeth album of choice?

Apparently the least metal one, at least according to the article in the mag.

prog might harbor the most remaining exciting finds. something tells me though that a magazine called classic rock presents prog, with a list like that (where's le orme?), isn't gonna end up being all that helpful of a lost treasures guide

This is the furrow that's already been plowed over and over, man. Going back to the days of loads of CD reissues, through to over-entitled mp3 bloggers begging for praise for the shit they "discover" and "share", ppl have been doing the crate-digging thing for a long, long tim w/progressive music. I heard many, many micro-releases when I worked at the used rekkird store and in retrospect there wasn't a lot to hold the interest, long term. Lots of rare releases w/one good bit and a shitload of filler. enough ones without even that.

So is this the Opeth album of choice?

Add me. I love IQ, although I might actually like their post reunion stuff from the mid 90s onwards better than the somewhat too "new wave-ey" 80s stuff.

Also, Matt H is so so OTM about "Operation Mindcrime", actually most "prog-metal", Dream Theater and all their followers, it's just fancy athletic-achievement metal really, very little that's progressive about it to my ears.

Agree about "Operation Mindcrime", and possibly a lot of Dream Theater (the Dream Theater track in the "Prognosis" CD coming with the Prog mag sounded too me like 90s Metallica, although at their best and catchiest). But early Dream Theater definitely had some moments where you can hear the prog elements in their music. Even including a couple of really complex 20 minute suites.

pashmina, not to be argumentative, but wake me up next time a lost prog band outside of mp3 bloggers and micro-collector circles gets this kind of treatment http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5124
you see it almost every day with psych, garage, post-punk, what have you, never with prog rock bands. could be that prog rock just is inherently no good, some might say, but that's pretty unlikely

You know, what prog needs for the revival (because there is a revival) to really get the attention of the media is for one new prog band to be really huge. And that band has to be obviously prog, not metal (see Dream Theater, Opeth) or indie (see Radiohead, Muse).

I guess the closest contender out of today's crop would be Porcupine Tree, who sell more copies each time around, and are constantly extending their fanbase.

I tried to listen to that last Porcupine Tree album, but jesus christ those lyrics about playstations and disaffected teenagers were worse than a fuxxxoring Korn song.

i don't really care if there's a revival or not, but the media blackout since the late 70s or early 80s or whenever is really fucking boring. i get the point already that rock critics want readers to think they're too hardboiled or whatever to admit they listen to yes, but what i don't get is how come the prevailing fetish for obscurity completely ignores 70s prog rock bands from sweden or finland or wherever that no one's ever heard of. wouldn't mind being tipped to some of those every now and then alongside reviews of like the latest arthur russell or j-dilla unearthing

I tried to listen to that last Porcupine Tree album, but jesus christ those lyrics about playstations and disaffected teenagers were worse than a fuxxxoring Korn song.

One of the plusses of bands that use made up languages ...

btw I wasn't kidding about Cheer Accident, they are a band i think lots more ppl would love if there weren't relegated to the weirdo midwest skronk rock skin graft records ghetto...they are TOTES prog and very unique and distinctive

Cheer Accident is great ... that other prog Skin Graft band with the long name that there's no way I'm gonna spell right without looking up is pretty awesome, too. Actually, I like a lot of Skin Graft bands ...

I guess I must be out of date. Such items did exist though - I do remember a whole bunch of these replica vinyl reissues, in some cases quite perfect copies of the original issues of such items as....er....that goddam awful thing w/Bill Nelson playing a solo on it that used to go for shitloads of cash & probably still does (googles) Holyground! that's it, terrible, there was a whole slew of such items at the end of the eighties? Replicas of Vertigo Swirl albums, private pressings, T2's "It'll all work out in Boomland", Bachdenkel (who I remember were actually pretty decent in parts), Eloy's very first album, every inch of recording tape from out of Tony Hill's cupboard and so on. We used to order 5 or 6 of each one from a dutch distrib, and sell them to obsessive prog crate digger guys who would never even ask to hear them (probably never played 'em either). Longer ago than I thought I guess. A lot of it came out of Germany IIRC. there was usually an accompanying CD re, which I'd usually buy, I still have the Holyground one for some reason.

I can imagine ppl picking up on the more obscure '80s neo recs, Galahad's releases, early 12th Night cassettes and so on, if they don't already. The whole prog crate-digging scene in the late '80's was always more abt rarity/"look what I found" that the actual music, probably hasn't changed much. Do you remember Ptolemaic Terrascope mhen it first started? They were all over that whole prog rarity thing, I remember them selling reissues of Tangle Edge's album, praising the thing because it was a ltd edn, not mentioning the music so much, except to slag on IQ, Pendragon etc b/c their shit, not being ltd edn, would not have some specious cash value attached once it sold out! Of course I bought the bloody thing, and it wasn't all that (though their 2nd was much better I thoght)

blablabla enough drunken ramblings

oh yeah skin graft is the best! but yeah most of 'em aren't like explicitly prog...but i guess maybe i would argue us maple was more "progressive" than say spock's beard or opeth

Anyway, to answer the question, I think I'm going to vote for Meddle. Such a great Floyd album that hasn't been played to death. The real answer is Hawkwind, my favorite album on the list by far, but I feel like that so isn't real prog.

xp Luttenbachers got more prog post-Skin Graft

even Relayer?

I honestly can't really choose between The Yes Album, Close to the Edge, Relayer, Tales from Topographic Oceans and Going For the One. Even Fragile and Tormato are close. Good point that someone made re: Going for the One's slight departure from prog, but like I say, "Awaken" is so orgasmically awesome (as well as enough other tracks from that album t justify it) that I'm sticking to it (like I can rescind my vote now, anyway) despite my love for all the aforementioned.

And outside of Yes, I might well have gone with Nursery Cryme.

Oh, and I 100% agree that Olias ought to have been on this list.

"Awaken" is a terrific number, it's true. I think it's my favourite out of all of Yes' pieces.

xpost

yeah honestly though i'm not sure luttenbachers got BETTER though, saw them last a couple years ago and it was pretty pro metal vibe, liked the more free jazz/speed metal apocalypse vibe of early daze....

xxxxxpost

i can't even choose in this poll but i will say meddle was a record i hadn't heard until this year and really converted me over to post-syd floyd who i hadn't really liked that much

olias should totally be on that list. listening to helium's magic city right now, which should totally be on that list too. as should the latest usaisamonster. as should a million other albums i've probably never heard of. list is a good snapshot of how critically neglected the whole prog thing is, which only matters because it's not bad sometimes to be exposed to new stuff to check out, like tangle edge (thanks pashmina) and cheer accident (thanks sarahel)

xp I saw one of their last Bay Area shows three years ago, and it was great. I actually think some of the songs would be better - and I feel almost heretical saying this - played a little more slowly. The last album had a song with vocals that was pretty proggy and was really interesting. I'd have been interested to see that developed further, but alas.

If ITCOTCK was all as good as Schizoid Man, it'd be out in front, but it's a great example of an album whose reputation basically hinges on the fact that it has four ok-to-very-good tracks and one stone-cold game-changing best-song-of-decade contender

truth. spoken.

I kind of think of myself as a prog fan, but the majority of the albums listed are prog of that very middle class, genteel, pompous and/or whimsical kind that bugs and/or bores the shit out of me. there's a distinct lack of edgier, noisier stuff, along the lines of magma, thinking plague, volta, shining, cardiacs, ruins, sleepytime, meshuggah, etc.

(theoretically opeth should qualify, but I've never heard anything by them that was even remotely tolerable. the heavy stuff lacks real impact and the 'progressive' side seems to amount to interminable waffle)

comes down to tool vs hawkwind vs crimson vs gong. therefore crimson it is. red it is.

but the majority of the albums listed are prog of that very middle class, genteel, pompous and/or whimsical kind that bugs and/or bores the shit out of me. there's a distinct lack of edgier, noisier stuff,

Yeah, that's where I'm at with this list, too. I also have a knee jerk loathing for anything involving Phil Collins.

Basically this is more the best symphonic rock albums ever than the best avant garde/experimental albums, and that is probably because the Prog magazine will appeal to those of us who love the former, while those who love the latter are more likely to read The Wire instead.

Sharp!!!!

DISTANCE!!!!

geir, italians did symphonic prog way better than lots of items on that list. you know that, right? that list is more like a cynical newby's impression of what some kind of prog canon is than any kind of authoritative assessment of such

dudes just remember that probably like you can tolerate things that are fancy pants fussbudget because they are mind expanding and rock, geir can tolerate things that are mind expanding and rock because they are fancy pants fussbudget

like any rocking going on in geir's world is collateral damage

Well, I think prog fans are very much aware of more experimental prog acts, krautrock etc. They have even featured articles on them already. But people who consider themselves fans of prog just aren't into that. They are usually either metalheads who got into more complex metal and converted to prog fans, or they are Genesis/Yes fans. Those who are into Can or Gong or whatever are more likely to be into Velvet Underground and Captain Beefheart in addition than to be into Genesis and Yes.

Rock Bottom but not Soft Machine?...hmmm

I don't think I'm really a prog fan, I just like a few bands that are considered prog.

Also, M@tt, "Meddle" might actually be my favourite Floyd song. (Is that even prog?)

Also, M@tt, "Meddle" might actually be my favourite Floyd song. (Is that even prog?)

There is no song called "Meddle", you mean the album?

I suppose the 25 minute epic that was "Echoes" is prog enough anyway....

geir i am a yes and can and velvet underground fan, always have been, but not so much those others you mention. genesis is okay here and there but largely boring. steve hackett's first solo album is way more appealing to me than any single genesis album. i respect what beefheart was up to but rarely choose to listen to him aside from the occasional binge. and gong has always been much more intriguing to me in theory than listening to them ever has been. i am sure i am not changing your worldview by going into all that though

My head says VDGG and my heart says 2112.

Fuck, yes, sorry, meant "Echoes"!

pig lib!

the week that was

Write-in vote for "Love Beach".

Voted Crimso's Red. Might have voted for Signals by Rush or Abacab by Genesis if those were on the list, but those obviously speak less to their being the best prog album ever, but more to being at the right place at the right time in my life (though c'mon, Abacab is awesome).

moving pictures is good but it's one of the least proggy rush records

It's more prog than every subsequent Rush album, surely?

I really love The Lamb but I don't think it's any proggier than Moving Pictures. It mostly feels like some epic keyboard-heavy pop record to me. I'll give Close to the Edge the, um, edge for that reason. I haven't listened to Pawn Hearts in a while though. I should put it on.

voted close to the edge. might've voted the lady in the lake by gnidrolog, einsjäger & siebenjäger by popol vuh, journey to the centre of the eye by nektar, or released by jade warrior, but that list sucks