Timeline of progressive rock

  Here's my current rough draft of my Timeline of Progressive Rock. If I were banished to a Desert
     Island, and could only take a hundred or so titles, this is what I would listen to. Or if it were 1971
     again, these are the albums I would buy (if only I knew then what I know now !)

  1969

       YES  (first album)
     IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING
      STAND UP (Jethro Tull)
      UMMAGUMMA
     
  1970

   MAY    BENEFIT  (Jethro Tull)
   JUN
   JUL    TIME AND A WORD
   AUG
   SEP
   OCT   TRESPASS
   NOV   EMERSON, LAKE AND PALMER (1st album)
   DEC  

  1971

   JAN
   FEB
   MAR   THE YES ALBUM  (# 7 UK)
   APR   AQUALUNG    (#7 US / #4 UK)
   MAY   IN THE LAND OF GREY AND PINK  (Caravan)
   JUN   TARKUS  (#9 US / #1 UK)   (FIRST PROG ALBUM TO GO #1 ?)
   JUL   
   AUG   ACQUIRING THE TASTE  (Gentle Giant)
   SEP  
   OCT   PAWN HEARTS  (van der graaf generator)
              MOVING WAVES  (Focus)
   NOV   NURSERY CRYME  (#39 UK)
              PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION  (#10 US / #2  UK)
   DEC  THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME (Mahishnu Orchestra)
              MEDDLE

   1972  (the "golden age" of prog begins !)

   JAN    FRAGILE  (#7 UK / #4  US)
   FEB    STORIA DI UN MINUTO  (PFM)
   MAR   BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO  (these dates for the italians are just "estimates" !)
   APR   THICK AS A BRICK  (#1 US / #5 UK.......FIRST PROG ALBUM TO HIT #1 IN US)
   MAY   
   JUN    SPACE SHANTY  (Khan, featuring Steve Hillage)
               UOMO DI PEZZA  (Le Orme)
   JUL    LIVING IN THE PAST  (#3 US / #8 UK)
               TRILOGY  (#5 US / #2 UK)
   AUG
   SEP    CLOSE TO THE EDGE (#3 US / #4 UK)
               PER UN AMICO  (PFM)
   OCT    FOXTROT  (#12 UK)
   NOV    DARWIN !   (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso)
   DEC    OCTOPUS  (Gentle Giant)
                FOCUS 3
_____________________________________________________________________________

         that's it for now.....i've completed this timeline up to 1975. will stop here, though to get feedback.
              .......this to me is close to the "epicenter" of classic prog.  Especially Sep/OCT '72 when
                       both CLOSE TO THE EDGE and FOXTROT were released within a month of each
                       other !  

I don't understand this project. Normally desert islands don't allow "only 100 or so". It's easy to put albums in chronological order, it's a lot tougher to name the importance of albums based on when they were released and the events that made them important to the scene.

Nice list but so many definitive albums are missing - i have spent a long time researching and making prog polls on each of the prog years here, and it takes some effort to come up with 15 or 10 albums per year but it is possible.

  Nice list but so many definitive albums are missing - i have spent a long time researching and making prog polls on each of the prog years here, and it takes some effort to come up with 15 or 10 albums per year but it is possible.

carlmarx38 wrote:   Nice list but so many definitive albums are missing - i have spent a long time researching and making prog polls on each of the prog years here, and it takes some effort to come up with 15 or 10 albums per year but it is possible.           Do you agree with the above post to include Magma (debut), Soft Machine (debut),              and VdGG ?  (btw, most of my release dates are from "Strawberry Brick's Guide to              Progressive Rock", I'm going on faith that they are mostly accurate)

Yeah include those definitive albums on your list. Check the polls too if you need help as I used Strawberry Guide too, but the PA have a better guide also. I would include the debut albums of all the eclectic bands that began the genre.

   
      Yeah include those definitive albums on your list. Check the polls too if you need help as I used Strawberry Guide too, but the PA have a better guide also. I would include the debut albums of all the eclectic bands that began the genre.

            check out my other blog entitled "Genesis of prog Rock : when did it all begin ?" In which I
           am exploring the myth of whether "Court of the Crimson King" was the first "true" prog album.
                 I made a short list of albums there : PROCOL HARUM, PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN,
                  DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED, early Zappa/ Mothers, CARAVAN, and SOFT MACHINE.

              (This Timeline thing is sort of connected to that blog, as I wrote both of them at the same
                 time, more or less ).

                 Let me know if you can help with the historical perspective, as I would really like to
           develop this idea further, (either on or off the Forum pages).  I'm American, and don't have
            much sense of what it was like for prog fans who were there at the time (1969-71).
                  How many early prog fans knew about the Canturberry scene when Caravan/ Soft
              Machine first started ?  Did Magma, Gentle Giant, etc., have any visibility when their
                debuts first came out ? (they sure weren't on the charts, as far as I know).      

Excuse me, but wasn't Sgt. Pepper one of the first progressive albums?  Surely it should get an honorable mention.

himtroy wrote: Not more of this Sgt Pepper is prog rock stuff.  Just because it's a concept album?  Piper at the Gates of Dawn was recorded on the same dates as Sgt Pepper and is at least 10 times as progressive.

ghost_of_morphy wrote: himtroy wrote: Not more of this Sgt Pepper is prog rock stuff.  Just because it's a concept album?  Piper at the Gates of Dawn was recorded on the same dates as Sgt Pepper and is at least 10 times as progressive. Piper is pure psychedelic.  Prog elements don't show up until Saucer.

Hi,

Edited by moshkito - April 19 2010 at 19:52