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

Wow, Geir, your thought processes are strange. I'm not piling on, just sayin'. Obsessive weird mentalism is one of the things I love about ILM.

Amen to that!

I wish Soft Machine and (yeah, right) Hampton Grease Band were options, but I'll go with Fragile - "Roundabout" is the perfect prog tune that you can actually hum along to, for what that's worth.

Geir, this isn't a poll about Symphonic Rock, nor is prog rock only Symphonic Rock. Those bands are prog rock and liked by prog rock fans (enough to vote them into the magazine clearly).

Rush have many many heavy metal/heavy rock lovers as fans but it doesn't make them heavy metal. Pink Floyd , Yes and Genesis are certainly not exclusive to fans of prog rock either.
I'd wager that plenty of people who bought records by Rush,Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd don't own any other "prog" records. So dismissing VDGG and King Crimson because they're avant garde is silly.

Yes - The Yes Album

I think I should have voted "Close To The Edge;" It's close.

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

Pawn Hearts is the only VdGG I own. It's one of the more genuinely surprising and innovative rock albums I know, although I think side B is better than side A. I've noticed a few people have said it's not their best. What other albums should I get? I'm downloading Still Life now.

I also would have like to see the Plastic People on the list. Also, Thinking Plague, U Totem, Ruins, Imahoritsuneotatsuyayoshida.

Maybe Mew and Battles if they're including those other recent albums?

xp yep, Still Life is their best IMHO. It's the second one from their first reformation period, 1975-6. Godbluff runs it a close second.

The albums from the first period are more baroque and proggy, and Pawn Hearts is certainly the best of those. I could go on about VdGG all day but I'll stop there for now.

So dismissing VDGG and King Crimson because they're avant garde is silly.

No, no, but they are atypical of the rest of the stuff on this list. Or, "Red" is, not neccessarily "In The Court Of The Crimson King" (which is actually the forefather of them all).

Btw. if there is one band I miss on the list (besides Flowers Kings), then that would be Moody Blues.

Geir, how do you feel about the lack of Brutal Prog on the list?

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.

yeah those are dumb (although I like that record now), Steven Wilson's solo album is hundreds of times better, and maybe better than anything PT ever released. It's really, really good.

but i gave you life
WHAT ELSE COULD YOU DO
to do what was right
I'M PERFECT! ARE YOU?

aside from the krautrock question...

if stuff like queensryche and moving pictures and opeth counts as "prog".......should zappa have been on the list?

Yeah, at the very least One Size Fits All should have been on the list, for Inca Roads alone.

i mean he was doing really convoluted/conceptual/chopsy stuff in the mid-60s...but maybe he doesn't count cuz he's more earthy and sarcastic than fanciful

if stuff like queensryche and moving pictures and opeth counts as "prog".......should zappa have been on the list?

I guess he could have. But the prog fans didn't vote for him, however they did vote for Queensryche and Rush.

well yeah i know, i just think the interesting thing about this list is not like "oh yes is better than king crimson" or vice versa but rather i've never really thought about what makes something "prog" or not....

it's kinda tricky because there's a whole bunch of things i think about when i think about prog that are shared by things that i don't think are prog but maybe they are? or not....

so far in life i've been sort of on the prog=porn old school "i know it when i see it" definition

I have never really liked the term "Progressive rock" at all, because that means it's supposed to be "progressive" and it isn't. I mean, even from day one, most of the most famous prog was rather "regressive", in that it took a huge influence from 18th and 19th century classical music.

Thus, I like the term Symphonic Rock better. I realize the term doesn't fit with everything that falls under the prog umbrella, but I would say about 80-90 per cent of the albums in this list could be classified as symphonic rock. Which kind of implies which style typical prog fans tend to prefer anyway.

(though c'mon, Abacab is awesome)

Hells yeah it is, and it's one of the things people call me IRL.

"Abacab" is among my least favourite Genesis albums, and probably their least prog album of them all. At least the subsequent three albums all had some lengthy and complex album tracks in addition to all those hit singles.

i'm not that familiar with how ilx works anymore, is it possible to create like 70 new logins just so i can throw the vote in favor of Dream Theater: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

i've never even heard it but come on that fucking title man

dude even YOU have had better titles than that in your time

"captain reverend gandalf jesus" for a start

no i am in awe of how awful it is...the people in high school who made fun of me for listening to dream theater were right

yes, they were. but then they dared to question primus and you PUNCHED them with righteous indignation

That Dream Theater number "Overture 1928/Strange Deja Vu" is actually pretty awesome in its ott way. If all their shit was like that, they'd be great.

"Abacab" is among my least favourite Genesis albums, and probably their least prog album of them all. At least the subsequent three albums all had some lengthy and complex album tracks in addition to all those hit singles.

abacab has a lot of forward-thinking compositions on it though; it's not symphonic but it is progressive. I wouldn't say that about the subsequent three records (although I like the self titled one a lot too).

Symphonic=progressive IMO. But then, I hate the "Progressive" term, really, because I don't want symphonic rock to "progress" in the slightest from its classical roots.

you dont say

akm otm about stephen wilson's latest. it's one of my favorites so far this year

kismet strikes, in the form of a cheer accident dusted list featuring many of the albums discussed here. if you're interested, scroll down
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/838

"I mean, even from day one, most of the most famous prog was rather "regressive", in that it took a huge influence from 18th and 19th century classical music."

I call bs. Name one thing on the "Yes Album" or Fragile, except for the short Brahms thing, that has a classical influence.

geir you are missing out on a lot if you think that amon duul and popol vuh have more in common with the sex pistols than genesis

Can't see Geir liking much by Amon Duul II, but I reckon he'd certainly like a lot of Popol Vuh (post electronic and pre-raga/folk rock stuff) if he actually bothered listening to it

which he wont

I have heard one great album by Popol Vuh, but that was another Popol Vuh. :)

really weak family isn't on this list. they pack side-long suites into two-three minute songs, with vocals peter gabriel and the comus dude totally stole

What about "Mood for a Day", Bill?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

they pack side-long suites into two-three minute songs

Impossible :)

Their debut was great, the followup was good too. But I see them more as late 60s psych pop than prog.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

who voted for dream theater?

!!!!

Hurrah! VDGG didn't need my vote. Relayer did.

Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 1

haha what?

I am astonished how many people voted btw.

Guys I freaking made my old roomie action figures of John and Rael (w/removable wang) & one of the snake-women.

Yeah, that's a bit surprising but maybe everyone thought as I did? Did you give it the one vote?

It is possibly my favourite album for long road trips.