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Top 10 Progressive Rock Albums


John Black

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Dark Side of the Moon, and Meddle Pink Floyd

The Yes Album and Close to the Edge, Yes

2112, Rush

Lark's Tongues in Aspic, King Crimson

Black Noise, FM

Brain Salad Surgery, Emerson, Lake and Plamer

Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Genesis

 

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5 hours ago, Azapro911 said:

Hold on...how come Close To The Edge makes the list but Fragile doesn't???

Or better yet, the epitome of prog rock, Tales from Topographical Oceans? I would say The Lamb Lies Down... is a better album overall then Selling England is but both are great. The best prog rock Rush album has to be either 2112 or Hemispheres but my vote goes to the latter since it is probably one of the most complex album ever recorded, not very accessible to most but it sure makes a statement.

Loved the Frank Zappa One Size Fits All as this is a very underground record even among Zappa fans but man, what a brilliant album.

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On 1/29/2016 at 2:49 PM, Azapro911 said:

Hold on...how come Close To The Edge makes the list but Fragile doesn't???

I love them both but Close To The Edge is more proggy than Fragile.

For ELP, I'd vote for Brain Salad Surgery over the debut. For Rush, Hemispheres is by far their most progressive over Moving Pictures. 

Good list though.

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6 hours ago, the chase said:

I love them both but Close To The Edge is more proggy than Fragile.

For ELP, I'd vote for Brain Salad Surgery over the debut. For Rush, Hemispheres is by far their most progressive over Moving Pictures. 

Good list though.

I'm not a prog-rock fan, but I love early to mid period Rush, and I fully agree, Hemispheres is seriously underrated, definitely better than Moving Pictures.

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Just now, JohnOsbourne said:

I'm not a prog-rock fan, but I love early to mid period Rush, and I fully agree, Hemispheres is seriously underrated, definitely better than Moving Pictures.

Hemispheres definitely their most intricate and technical music. Moving Pictures is far more accessible.

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I view side two of Farewell to Kings and Hemisphere as one work, and I agree it (they?) is one of my favorite progressive works, better, overall, than 2112.

Close to the Edge has it all, an entire album of the kind of music hinted at on The Yes Album and Fragile in songs like Heart of the Sunrise, Starship Trooper and Perpetual Change.

Brain Salad Surgery is by far the best thing ELP ever put out, 86 hours of recording for a 45 min. album, I think Karn Evil 9 may be the ultimate expression of the progressive sound.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is the best Genesis album, so rich and deep that I still notice new details after 40 years of loving it!

Lark's Tongues in Aspic is my favorite progressive album, the textures and moods are so unique yet immediate, it a great album to asses the quality of your sound system!

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Wow! I can't believe I forgot about the truly timeless and epic 2112! Thanks for the reminder, folks! :) But as epic as 2112 is, for me, Caress of Steel, is right up there with the likes of 2112Moving Pictures and Hemispheres. There is something so hypnotic about that album! I just can't figure out what! I have noticed that quite a few Rush fans out there, deem this album to be pretty 'unfocused'. But I am one of those fans who even loves songs like I Think I'm Going Bald. So, you can imagine how bowled over I am, about songs like The Fountain of Lamneth and The Necromancer

Anyway, after giving this a lot of thought (believe me, it wasn't easy at all!), if I had to choose just one album by Rush, to include in a list of my favourite progressive rock albums of all time, I would choose Caress of Steel, over the more radio friendly Moving Pictures and over Hemispheres (even though it contains the timeless and epic La Villa Strangiato) . 

Right, I better stop before I turn this thread into a mini-Rush thread! :lol: 

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9 hours ago, Kiwi_Zep_Fan87 said:

Wow! I can't believe I forgot about the truly timeless and epic 2112! Thanks for the reminder, folks! :) But as epic as 2112 is, for me, Caress of Steel, is right up there with the likes of 2112Moving Pictures and Hemispheres. There is something so hypnotic about that album! I just can't figure out what! I have noticed that quite a few Rush fans out there, deem this album to be pretty 'unfocused'. But I am one of those fans who even loves songs like I Think I'm Going Bald. So, you can imagine how bowled over I am, about songs like The Fountain of Lamneth and The Necromancer

Anyway, after giving this a lot of thought (believe me, it wasn't easy at all!), if I had to choose just one album by Rush, to include in a list of my favourite progressive rock albums of all time, I would choose Caress of Steel, over the more radio friendly Moving Pictures and over Hemispheres (even though it contains the timeless and epic La Villa Strangiato) . 

Right, I better stop before I turn this thread into a mini-Rush thread! :lol: 

Caress of Steel is another Rush album that doesn't get the respect it deserves.  Hard to call it prog-rock though, although I suppose there are indications of where the band was going in that regard.

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I think this is a fair overview , but I have to mention that about half of these releases are so far out of the "rock"

umbrella that many rock fans would have taken the stylus off the turntable in less than a minute. My fave, Tales

From Topographic Oceans, to me (well 3/4 of it) is like some classical masterpiece. But it is so different and alien

from anything heard before(Zappa , even way further out) that in the 70's , sure, you might get stoned and play

this stuff at a party. But you do that now ?? I love all the stuff on the list, and other mentions, but Yes got as huge

as they did by mixing in many quite a lot of beautiful melodies and usually(not always) keeping a tighter rein on

the intentional weirdness . I love King Crimson, but as some (or a lot) of their music is designed to irritate, how

many albums in a row can you listen to without starting to feel seriously disturbed ??

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5 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

I think this is a fair overview , but I have to mention that about half of these releases are so far out of the "rock"

umbrella that many rock fans would have taken the stylus off the turntable in less than a minute. My fave, Tales

From Topographic Oceans, to me (well 3/4 of it) is like some classical masterpiece. But it is so different and alien

from anything heard before(Zappa , even way further out) that in the 70's , sure, you might get stoned and play

this stuff at a party. But you do that now ?? I love all the stuff on the list, and other mentions, but Yes got as huge

as they did by mixing in many quite a lot of beautiful melodies and usually(not always) keeping a tighter rein on

the intentional weirdness . I love King Crimson, but as some (or a lot) of their music is designed to irritate, how

many albums in a row can you listen to without starting to feel seriously disturbed ??

Good point, progressive rock becomes very bloated, very quickly if taken to the extreme as you mentioned...not to mention downright weird and tedious to the average listener. As much as I love the Zappa albums I have to be in a rare mood to listen and appreciate them otherwise they can make me feel like punching a badger.

Caress of Steel is an awesome album and The Necromancer is one of my favorite songs period. As far as a thematic, progressive song this one is perfect. It takes you on a journey through several movements yet remains fresh and not overblown or pretentious like King Crimson or even Hemispheres. The Necromancer, for me, is the perfect example of what prog rock sounds like when done right.

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I acknowledge the new progressives, Tool and Primus are excellent(saw Primus live), but for my ears if you don't have

some recognize able snippets of melody or rhythm or harmony, yes, the music may be totally innovative, but there is

no anchor or solid ground to hold onto. I remember as a teenager many girls had Yes concert t-shirts on, Floyd too,

but Floyd especially with Gilmour was very on top of not having much aimless filler on their albums. Yes certainly

had some excesses but Jon Anderson often sung very accessible melodies, and Steve Howe could rock out a bit,

not just be trapped by "prog politeness" or much of any limitation.

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10 hours ago, IpMan said:

Caress of Steel is an awesome album and The Necromancer is one of my favorite songs period. As far as a thematic, progressive song this one is perfect. It takes you on a journey through several movements yet remains fresh and not overblown or pretentious like King Crimson or even Hemispheres. The Necromancer, for me, is the perfect example of what prog rock sounds like when done right.

Excellent post lpman! I couldn't have put it better myself! Songs like The Necromancer and The Fountain of Lamneth are some of my favourite songs of all time! :D 

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This album was and is still considered to be a classic of the genre. The cover was done, naturally, by Patrick Woodroffe, although it doesn't show it on the above - weird as it does on You Tube.

I got into this band as it contained a tack called " Gangsters" which was a theme tune for show on the BBC in the seventies. If you've never heard it - well give it a spin !

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2 hours ago, chillumpuffer said:

Oh here's a pic of the album:

 

 

th.jpg

I bought "Time and Tide"  the week it was released, I played at least twice a day for a month then sold it on. IIRC it's playing time was about 29 mins.......edit.... Ah...32 mins.............

 

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