Random Shuffle July 07, 2022 - Prog Rock Epic Edtn

I did a a random shuffle consisting only of progressive rock epics this time.

Tool - Reflection was the fourth, and only modern, track to show up, so I added it as a bonus at the end, since everything else is from the 70s/80s. I excluded live tracks and only included each artist once.

Tracks skipped: Rush - Xanadu (repeat artist), Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (somehow an acid rock track got thrown into the mix)

Rush - Camera Eye:

Jethro Tull - Thick As a Brick Pt. 1 (I could only find a remaster):

Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning (with the grumpy American cover art):

Kansas - Song For America:

[Bonus] Tool - Reflection:

Edit: I really had to think on this one. Tool was definitely not it, no contest with them; however, it hard between Rush, Jethro Tull, Renaissance, and Kansas. Renaissance has better songs, and this one really just can't compare to the other three (the live version at Carnegie Hall, however, is a different story -- that would have won the vote for me, probably, but I excluded live songs...). Rush also has better songs, and while this one can compare, imo, to the other two, it just lacks the iconicness that the other two have. Took me a while to decide between Jethro Tull and Kansas, but I chose Kansas. Other days I may have chosen Jethro Tull. The reason I chose Kansas is because 1.) it was likely my first exposure to progressive rock waaay before I really understood what the genre was, so I am much more familiar with this one than anything else here; 2.) It's jam packed. For it's relatively short length compared to the other epics here, it feels like there is more happening because of how full the sound is. It might just be because I'm more familiar with it I can hear all the elements better, but even then I still think there is just more happening, despite it's more commercial format (eg, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus, etc.) relative to the others; 3.) it's just so iconic. The material it deals with (European colonization of America) is done so well... there's a reason it's so accesible.

My second choice would be just as easy, because as far behind Tool as it is, the Tull track is still a considerable margin ahead of the rest.

Bronze medal to Rush.