The Masterpieces from the ’Big 5’

Progger wrote: People seem to forget that Genesis only became 'big' in the 80's. If were talking purely about prog rock then Genesis cannot be considered a top 5 band!

Genesis - Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound and maybe A Trick of the tail
Pink Floyd - Meddle, Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals
Yes - Fragile, Close to the Edge
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
ELP - none

Winter Wine wrote: I wonder where Andrew is???!! I'd like to see what he says

Here i am!!! Five Stars Album??? OK;

YES:

1. The Yes Album
2. Fragile
3. Close To The Edge

GENESIS:

1. Selling England By The Pound
2. Foxtrot
3. Nursery Crime

KING CRIMSON:

1. Lark's Tongues In Aspic
2. In The Court Of The Crimson King
3. Starless And Bible Black (or Lizard)

ELP:

1. Pictures At An Exhibition
2. Brain Salad Surgery
3. Elp
4. Trilogy

PINK FLOYD:

1. Atom Heart Mother
2. Meddle
3. The Dark Side Of The Moon
4. The Wall

I would like to add some other bands:

GENTLE GIANT:

1. Octopus
2. Three Friends
3. Acquiring The Taste
4. Gentle Giant

CAMEL:

1. Moonmadness
2. The Snow Goose
3. Mirage
4. Rain Dances

CURVED AIR:

1. Second Album
2. Phantasmagoria
3. Air Conditioning

JETHRO TULL:

1. Thick As A Brick
2. Aqualung
3. Stand Up
4. Benefit

RENAISSANCE:

1. Ashes Are Burning
2. Scheherazade And Other Stories
3. Turn Of The Cards

VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR:

1. Pawn Hearts
2. H To He - Who Am The Only One
3. The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other

CARAVAN:

1. In The Land Of Grey And Pink
2. If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You

GONG:

1. Radio Gnome Invisible Part 2 - Angel's Egg
2. You
3. Radio Gnome Invisible Part 1 - Flying Teapot

STRAWBS:

1. Just A Collection Of Antiques And Curios
2. Grave New World
3. From The Witchwood

FAMILY:

1. Family Entertainment
2. Music In A Doll's House
3. Fearless

BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST:

1. Gone To Earth
2. Everyone Is Everybody Else
3. Octoberon

FOCUS:

1. Focus 3
2. Hamburger Concerto
3. Moving Waves

 

Edited by ANDREW

Yes

• CTTE
• Relayer
• Tales

Pink Floyd

• Ummagumma
• Wish You
• Meddle

Genesis

• Nursery Cryme
• Foxtrot
• SEBTP

ELP

• BSS

King Crimson

• ITCOTCK
• Red

(I need to hear more KC)

Winter Wine wrote: ^ I love Octopus but I would never put it before Foxtrot or The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Genesis had FOUR albums I would give 5 stars to, and they deserve it!!!!

in a popularity contest sure...  if talking shear creativity, musical ambition and all that jazz.  I would put Octopus before a great many albums.  It was a truly progresssive album.

The only GENESIS album that I would give five stars is Wind and Wuthering!

My selections:

Yes - Close To The Edge

Genesis - none

King Crimson - The Night Watch

ELP - none

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

 

Yes also produced a near-masterpiece in Relayer, although the sense of structure isn't as strong as CTTE.

I like Genesis a lot, but I don't think any of their albums deserve 5 stars.If disc 1 of The Lamb is considered as a seperate entity that would qualify as a masterpiece of progressive rock.

King Crimson have always been at their best live, and The Night Watch is the 1974 band at their absolute best. That concert was also used for over half of Starless and Bible Black, probably their best 'studio' album.

I'm not much of a fan of ELP, although there are some tracks that I love to bits. The debut album and Trilogy were their strongest albums, but even then the standard isn't consistent.

Wish You Were Here is the most fully realised of Floyd's albums, although DSOTM and Animals both come close.

 

A few alternative suggestions:

1. Magma - Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh
2. VDGG - Godbluff
3. Gentle Giant - Octopus
4. Gryphon - Red Queen to Gryphon 3
5. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom

Without which no prog collection is complete.

Progger wrote: BTW, GENESIS NEVER MADE ONE MASTERPIECE. A MASTERPIECE IS A FLAWLESS PRODUCTION AND GABRIEL ERA ALBUMS ARE SO POORLY PRODUCED, SO WHEN YOU REVIEW A GENESIS ALBUM YOU SHOULD USE A FOUR STAR SYSTEM!

I completely disagree. I don't care about production at all; what counts for me is the music. There are several albums that are poorly produced but which deserve 5 stars, in my honest opinion. Not that I think any Genesis album should get 5 stars, except perhaps for "The Lamb", but the reason for that is definitely not the quality of production. It is probably a typical male viewpoint; for me as a woman some badly produced albums get 5 stars, like "Vital" by Van der Graaf Generator. Yes, the sound is muddy, but the music blows you away. Nothing but 5 stars for an album like "Vital".

Progger wrote: BTW, GENESIS NEVER MADE ONE MASTERPIECE. A MASTERPIECE IS A FLAWLESS PRODUCTION AND GABRIEL ERA ALBUMS ARE SO POORLY PRODUCED, SO WHEN YOU REVIEW A GENESIS ALBUM YOU SHOULD USE A FOUR STAR SYSTEM!

The production on Trespass and Nursery Cryme isn't great. But on Foxtrot!!! It gives it such an amazing atmosphere! and the songs and general feel of the album! 5 stars EASILY. Without a shadow of a doubt! And what about the production on Selling England and The Lamb?? That was 73/74, production had become excellent by that point, and they're also 5 star albums!!

FragileDT wrote: Winter Wine wrote: FragileDT wrote: Progger wrote: micky wrote: masterpieces from the Big 6 (can't have Genesis without Tull...  in my book)   hmm...Yes:The Yes AlbumCttE YessongsTFTORelayerGFTO(that was a run of brilliance not matched in prog IMO) Agreed Mickey, those six albums are all masterpieces. The reason why YES are considered to be the ultimate prog band! No other band had the same consistency as YES, no one even came close! Yes was consistant? News to me. Yes are probably the most consistent band in progressive rock, they've left their mark in every decade, and still producing great work. Excellent group. PS - Micky you left out Fragile I would disagree 100%. Yes began with YES and Time and a Word. Both good albums but not yet resembling the prog sound (Time and a Word being the transition album.) Than we have 3 albums that people may consider masterpieces (the Yes album, Fragile, CTTE) following by an excellent live album Yessongs. Now we have Tales. We all know the controversy with that album. Next we have Relayer and Going for the one which most people consider great albums (as do I.) Now the great division. The transition album into the crap period for yes: Tormato. I consider Drama a diversion of yes (not really a Yes album) but if you do consider it an all out yes album it is their last fantastic one. This next period is full of terrible non prog music. 90125, Big Generator, Union, Talk, Open Your Eyes. Terrible, Terrible, Terrible, Terrible. Maybe a good song here and there but nothing even worth mentioning. The next era includes that Ladder and Magnification. The Ladder was decent, nothing too special while I found Magnification to be the first pretty good Yes album in a long long time (since Drama.) Now... you call that consistant? EDIT: Yes had just as many fantastic 5 star albums as terrible 1-2 star albums. Just thought I'd note that also. And I LOVE yes so don't think I'm bashing them for the sake of it. I'm just stating that they weren't consistant.

For me the first two Yes albums are simply fantastic, maybe not prog but that doesn't mean they're bad! They didn't suddenly become good when they started writing longer songs!! They were excellent right from the start!!! Both highly consistent and 4 stars.

Then, Yes, they had the three 5 star gems. And then comes 'Topographic Oceans', personally I can see why some people call it crap and why some people call it the greatest Yes album. For me it is the 'Die hard Yes fan album' I quite like it, it's certaintly ambitious and it doesn't quite hit the mark and I can hear some padding, but I feel it is a 4 star album and a wonderful listen.

Relayer and Going for the One, you could call it 'The second golden period of Yes' as I feel they are both 5 stars, and the solo albums in between (Olias of Sunhillow, Fish out of Water) show an extremely high amount of creativity.

Tormato, I haven't heard enough to judge, but I doubt it's as bad as some say, even if it does not reach the same dizzying heights as the albums before it.

Drama and 90125 are excellent. I don't care if I get ridiculed, to me, they are both just fantastic. But Drama is a little better.

Then I agree, the band did stumble. Talk however was a sign of the band picking up, then from 'Keys to Ascension' onward the group have been simply amazing. Maybe not 'Open Your Eyes' but that's not really a Yes album! hehe