Prog: When The Debut's Their Greatest!

   Thought I would start a thread on progressive rock groups whom you feel had their greatest album being their debut record. Obviously, artists with one album only is a no brainer, but otherwise, who qualifies? From any era, or prog category....

Of course, this is pretty subjective, as beauty "is in the eye of the beholder"...

My entries for prog groups whose best, for me, is their debut, are:

King Crimson
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Brainstorm
Libra
Dedalus
Beggar's Opera
Atomic Rooster
Spyro Gyra
Synergy
Badger
Ambrosia
Flash
Pell Mell
Starcastle
Alan Parsons Project

Edited by presdoug - June 25 2025 at 11:47

Top 12 Debut Prog Albums

Asia - Asia
Geoff Downes & New Dance Orchestra - The Light Program
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
England - Garden Shed
The Enid - In the Region of the Summer Stars
Fantasy - Paint a Picture
Fruupp - Future Legends
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Magenta - Revolutions
Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tear
The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
Rare Bird - Rare Bird

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - June 25 2025 at 11:42

Asia (although to be fair I haven't heard all of them)
ELP
Anglagard




Not King Crimson because my favorite is LTIA.

As far as ELP goes it is stellar debut but I'm not a big fan of Knife Edge which although not ruining the album does bring it down a notch for me. So BSS is my favourite by them (but admittedly BTB doesn't do that any favours either)

King Crimson gotta be Red and I don't listen to ITCHYCOCK as much as I used to (terrible dated production?!)

Asia's debut I would certainly go with.

The Nice - The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack. I think with the guitarist David O'List they were more exciting than without.

I'm struggling to think of many bands in the modern era for this. Lifesigns debut sticks out above their other 2. That's a stellar release. Dave Kerzner's debut New World is a masterpiece imo and sticks out way ahead of his future offerings which have been signifcantly underwelming to me.
That's all about I can think of for the moment.

Saperlipopette! wrote: It only means that the debut is a/my personal favorite, and not in any way that I don't enjoy more of the ones listed: Weather Report Neu! Ash Ra Tempel Magma Area Eskaton PFM Steve Hackett Family (except in this case, I only like this one album) Arti E Mestieri Nektar Elephant9 Abus Dangereux Kraan Black Widow

I find very little to argue with this list (I've taken some out)

richardh wrote: The Nice - The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack. I think with the guitarist David O'List they were more exciting than without. I'm struggling to think of many bands in the modern era for this.

Yesss fot Thoughts of ED

This said, within the realm of "prog", it's indeed much harder to find debuts that are their best albums, since indeed, the bands generally took one or two albums before reaching their strides.

Outside of prog, there are hundreds of bands where the debut (or their second album) is the best they did, because that's when they were still fresh and saiying most everything they needed or wanted to say: Journey, Aerosmith, Meatloaf, Triumph, Doors, Sabbath, etc...


.

Anglagard - Hybris
elephant9 - Dodovoodoo
Dave Gilmour - s/t
The Muffins - Manna/Mirage
Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance

BrufordFreak wrote: The Doors Picchio Dal Pozzo Homunculus Res U.K. Utopia Charlie Mariano U2 Anthony Phillips The Nice Strawberry Alarm Clock David Axelrod Ptarmigan Seven Impale Boston Hatfield and the North Kayo Dot The Mars Volta Swans Spirogyra Bondage Fruit Cynic

You consider The Doors, U2, Strawberry Alarm Clock and Boston to be prog?


I'll say that the Doors should be considered proto prog but usually aren't (I think they are proto on this site though).

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - 12 hours 32 minutes ago at 16:31

Saperlipopette! wrote: It only means that the debut is a/my personal favorite, and not in any way that I don't enjoy more of the ones listed: Return To Forever Weather Report Neu! Ash Ra Tempel Magma Area High Tide Eskaton PFM Kayo Dot Steve Hackett Family (except in this case, I only like this one album) Arti E Mestieri Nektar Elephant9 Univers Zero Abus Dangereux Kraan Agitation Free A.R & Machines Deuter East of Eden Rainbow Peter Bardens Black Widow

Good point; having the debut as a favorite is not meant to dismiss the value of later releases...