What albums would you advice a classic rock fan?

Led Zeppelin : IV
Deep Purple : Machine Head
Golden Earring: Moontan
APP : Tales
Kansas : Leftoverture
Styx : The Grand Illusion
Uriah Heep : Magician's Birthday
Kraftwerk : Autobahn
Tangerine Dream : Stratosfear
10CC : The original soundtrack
Dire Straits : Love over gold
Manfred Mann's Earth Band : Nightingales and Bombers
Pink Floyd : Wish you were here
Barclay James Harvest : Octoberon
...

Wippy Bonstack - 22
Steely Dan - Aja
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Kansas - Leftoverture
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Pink Floyd - Animals
Mike Keneally - Sluggo!
Gentle Giant - The Missing Piece
The Aristocrats - Culture Clash

The Dark Elf wrote: Logan wrote: If that person is already a classic rock fan, then I might very well expect that they already know many albums listed. Pretty basic classic rock standards there. Led Zep, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen and Supertramp are huge names in classic rock -- classic rock 101 (an FM station here and also a first year university course reference). If it's specific fan, I believe in tailoring the recommendations to the individual. Find out what they know and like and then extrapolate from that. That said, I have turned more than one classic rock fan onto King Crimson with Red and others, but I had an idea of their tastes already. Exactly. I would find it hard to believe that a "classic rock fan" would be unaware of Yes, Tull or Floyd -- all staples of classic rock stations. Perhaps they have lived under a rock, and are not aware of the term "prog rock" when they listen to Traffic's "Low Spark of High Heeled Boys", or Tull's "Aqualung" or basic Yes like "Roundabout". Perhaps they are unaware of early Genesis (Peter Gabriel was in Genesis? Next you're going to tell me Paul McCartney was in The Beatles). Foxtrot might be an interesting segue. Or just blow their mind completely with King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man".

They might well not associate it with Prog and a lot of that classic rock by so-called Prog bands is not what I would call quintessential Prog music. Prog is such a nebulous label and is so amorphous. But if they really are "fans" of classic rock, they are liable to know stuff by those bands. Maybe not full albums, a lot would still use radio or something like it to get to know stuff sand would be more song oriented

When I first heard "Aqualung" and "Roundabout" (both of which are only of my first mix tapes) I had not associated them with Prog, but then I was not yet really familiar with the Prog term. And even when I got to know what Prog was better I did not think of Pink Floyd as Prog, nor would I have thought of Genesis as Prog because I knew it from the 80's hits. I would sooner create a collection of tracks, and try to base it what you specifically know they like, than recommend albums to a lot of listeners. Of course a lot of bands who made Prog albums also made non-Prog tracks or not so Prog tracks. Those less-Prog tracks can be good gateways... Don;t hit them with a one hour The Flower Kings noodle-rama-fest for instance.

These are some albums that worked for me in PA before I was familiar with the Prog term, but different people will react differently.

Focus - Hamburger Concerto
Gryphon - Midnight Mushrumps
Camel - The Snow Goose
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were here, Animals and more
Alan Parsons Project - I Robot
And Tubeway Army - Replicas (okay, not Prog, but I adored it when I was eight)

I would have loved King Crimson as a teenager. Khan's Space Shanty is one I turned someone onto in real life. I even got one classic rock woman who barely knew of Prog into Magma via "Theusz Hamtaahk". For various ones who also like more modern music, I would recommend black midi. Generally I would steer clear of things like Neo-Prog.



Edited by Logan - April 26 2024 at 10:52

^ That's true. Even when I felt like I had a really great handle on what people wanted and I thought I knew their tastes really well, I have been surprised that something did not resonate, and something that I thought might not appeal as much by the same artist or on the same album, as well as by altogether different artists, appealed much more. People are complex and each have their own associative pathways which is a significant when it comes to what resonates. And, just thinking out loud, even if if I know someone loves, say, Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and I know that Milk's "Stories of Courageous Odysseus" is very similar they might see/hear Milk's as merely an inferior sound-alike. That you will like B because it's similar to A does not necessarily follow.

Edited by Logan - April 26 2024 at 11:36

It's extremely unlikely that a classic rock fan would not know prog. I met someone at college (and eventually roomed with him) and he was a huge AC/DC fan but was well aware of bands like Rush and Genesis. They held little or no interest to him but he did like certain proggy things like for instance I had a copy of Yes - Tormato at the time and he loved playing the track Release, Release. It was quite ridiculous the amount of times I came back in the room and he was playing that thing and he was getting his rocks off! However there was little chance i could get him into early Yes. I never stayed in contact so god knows whether his tastes have changed but I always think of him when AC/DC are ever on the radio!

Jeffro wrote: Gnik Nosmirc wrote: - Rush / Rush This is an odd choice. If I wanted to show someone Rush with a slice of prog, but not overwhelm them I would probably pick Permanent Waves or maybe even Fly By Night.

Rush's Hemispheres worked for me, and that was long before I was seriously into Progressive Rock. I became obsessed with that album as a teen, as well as Yes' Fragile which I discovered at about the same time. Mileage will vary depending on the individual. Here in Canada, classic rock fans who listen to classic rock radio would be familiar with lots of Rush anyway as they have quite a few songs that are in steady rotation (including the song "Fly By Night").

While recognising that it depends on the classic rock fan, I would like to hit various of them with some Magma; maybe Üdü Ẁüdü. It may help as a Magma conversation starter if you bring your friend to a wet tee-shirt contest where you had convinced or bribed one of the contestants to wear a Magma tee. Some moisture really enhances the Magma logo, imo.

Catcher10 wrote: CAN~Tago Mago........Push them into the deep end of the pool with no life vest.

No no no, give then Island's Pictures

Frets N Worries wrote: Catcher10 wrote: CAN~Tago Mago........Push them into the deep end of the pool with no life vest. No no no, give then Island's Pictures

Peter Hammill's vocal style makes Van der Graaf Generator an even better option.

Frets N Worries wrote: Moyan wrote: Frets N Worries wrote: Catcher10 wrote: CAN~Tago Mago........Push them into the deep end of the pool with no life vest. No no no, give then Island's Pictures Peter Hammill's vocal style makes Van der Graaf Generator an even better option. I must be crazy, but I fell in love with Hammill/VDGG from the first listen.

Certainly, the Van der Graaf Generator music is ideal for a newbie to start with.