Prog love

First prog album you heard and your memories?

octopus-4 wrote: The first I consciously loved was ELP Trilogy but I already knew some artists without having heard the word "prog" before. I was about 10 years old. Curiously one of my first 45rpm was RPI: Delirium - Jesahel

Delirium's Dolce acqua was my first prog album, and my first prog love, at the age of 11. The English-speaking bands came a few years later.

ELP - Debut. I was 12 or 13 at the time and I was mesmerized by The Three Fates, Tank and the cool ending to Knife-Edge. Became an instant Prog-head and never looked back.

Tarkus and Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire when I was 14 years old (32 years before). As Octopus-4 said: "I already knew some artists without having heard the word "prog" before." My uncle was a great Drummer and his taste impressed mine.

Edited by SteveG - September 13 2015 at 14:13

The very first was Abbey road (half prog I know), then Genesis Live. 

In the Court of the Crimson King, A Question of Balance, Days of Future Passed, Tommy, We're Only in it for the Money, and the White Album are what got me headed in the prog direction back around 1970, when I was 9 years old. Shortly thereafter, albums like The Yes Album, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Aqualung, Thick as a Brick, Nursery Cryme, and Foxtrot are what got me totally hooked.

Nothing too exciting, Rush's "2112" way back in 2012. Don't listen to it anywhere near enough nowadays unfortunately, but it would still comfortably fit in my top 50-ish records. I don't think I was that conscious of what prog was at that time. It was only when I soon after began getting into King Crimson's debut, then Close To The Edge, and Selling England that I had an idea of what "progressive rock" was. Anyway, my memories of 2112 were listening to that 1st side over and over like a pop song, and being completely blown away by how consistently powerful and adventurous these 3 guys could be for 20 whole minutes. By the point I'd discovered "A Farewell To Kings" and "Hemispheres", they knocked off Led Zeppelin from my 'favourite band' slot.

Isn't prog love what happened to micky and Raff?

All I can say with definiteness is the first prog albums I owned.  They came along before I became a full fledged fan and those were Rick Wakeman's Journey To The Center Of The Earth and King Arthur, which I got through Columbia Record Club.  I also had a copy of Kraftwerk's Autobahn, which may have been in the same CRC order.  My brother and his friend, who were older, were prog fans at the time and so I was exposed to a lot indirectly. 

It may have been ELP's Brain Salad Surgery, which a cousin had.  I really liked Toccatta.
It may have been Jethro Tull's Warchild.  I remember a family trip and my brother had the 8-track.  He handed it up to the front seat to be played and I remember thinking, cool, Jethro, which I was thinking of The Beverly Hillbillies.  As I recall that 8-track didn't stay in the player very long. 
I also remember hearing the Theme From Tommy when the family was headed off the interstate towards Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.  That may have been on another of my brother's 8-tracks or possibly even on the radio, but I think it was on tape.

Also might have been a single in there.  Focus Hocus Pocus got airplay on local commercial radio as I recall.  That actually predates just about everything.  I had a little mono transistor radio.


Edited by Slartibartfast - September 13 2015 at 16:36