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Top 10 Purely Instrumental Prog Albums
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Fischman View Drop Down
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    Posted: July 21 2018 at 20:06
Anglagard: Viljans Olga
Camel: The Snow Goose
Dixie Dregs: What If
Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Pictures at an Exhibition
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Allan Holdsworth: Hard Hat Area
Liquid Tension Experiment: Liquid Tension Experiment
Mike Oldfield: The Songs of Distant Earth
Soft Machine: Fourth
Rick Wakeman: The Six Wives of Henry VIII



Separate Fusion List:

John Abercrombe: Timeless
Billy Cobham: Spectrum
Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
Al DiMeola: Splendido Hotel
Eleventh House: Introducing the Eleventh House with Larry Coryell
Herbie Hancock: Sextant
Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mountain Flame
Jaco Pastorious: Jaco Pastorious
Return to Forever: Romantic Warrior
John Scofield and the Metropole Orkest: 54
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An instrumental usually avoids any sounds produced by the voice. Usually. An impromptu yelp may get a pass.
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chopper View Drop Down
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Points: 19943 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: June 01 2018 at 09:35
Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

objection, Your Honor. "The Snow Goose" is not purely instrumental; there is singing on several tracks, even if these contributions are only vocalizations (a musical term for "singing without lyrics", like "la-la-la")
That begs the question - is an instrumental something without words or something without any vocal sounds?
(e.g. is Hocus Pocus an instrumental if it has yodelling?).
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Also: Kotebel Cosmology
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Hergest Ridge
Six Wives Of Henry VIII
...Di Terra
1313
Lift Your Skinny Fists
Birds Of Fire
Glory Of The Inner Force
Suspension & Displacement
Agusa
Viljans Oga
Hadal Sherpa
Symphonic Pictures
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Way earlier in the thread someone listed "hybris" by Anglagard. I was listening to that not too long ago and while it is mostly instrumental there are a few sections with vocals(in swedish) on it. 
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I might come up with a list later and it will include jazz/rock fusion and post rock :)
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In no particular order:

Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever
Handmade Cities by Plini
The Way Forward by Intervals
Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield
The Joy of Motion by Animals as Leaders
In the Region of Summer Stars (1984) by The Enid
The Migration by Scale the Summit
Gazeuse by Gong!

And if I only do one per band, that's all I've got ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Ghost Dance - Jaimie Muir, Michael Giles, David Cunningham
Fred Taylor - Court of Circe
PSI - Horizonte
Pierre van der Linden - Drum Poetry
Terry Bozzio - Live in Japan 2007
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Originally posted by Mascodagama Mascodagama wrote:

Originally posted by Tapfret Tapfret wrote:

4. Bondage Fruit - VI
Nice to see I'm not the only fan of VI. They are all great really, but I do love that one.

Definitely the best of the instrumental BFs. Though I still think II is the best overall.

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Originally posted by The.Crimson.King The.Crimson.King wrote:

I don't have much purely instrumental prog in my collection so wanted to find out what others favourites are...my list:

1) Pictures at an Exhibition - Tomita
2) Symphonic Pictures - SFF
3) Phaedra - Tangerine Dream
4) Sketches of Satie - Steve & John Hackett
5) Symphonic Holocaust - Morte Macabre
6) UZED - Univers Zero
7) Red Queen to Gryphon Three - Gryphon
8) Marscape - s/t
9) Black Light Syndrome - Bozzio Levin Stevens
10) The Snow Goose - Camel

objection, Your Honor. "The Snow Goose" is not purely instrumental; there is singing on several tracks, even if these contributions are only vocalizations (a musical term for "singing without lyrics", like "la-la-la")


Edited by BaldJean - May 09 2018 at 09:47


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Originally posted by Tapfret Tapfret wrote:

4. Bondage Fruit - VI
Nice to see I'm not the only fan of VI. They are all great really, but I do love that one.
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There are so many great instrumental albums out there, it's nearly impossible to pick and rank just 10.  Part of what makes it difficult is my fairly recent foray into the Berlin School where I have found many great ones. What I can do is put a line of demarcation in an arbitrary chronological coordinate; say, 1990? 
Additionally, these are all ranked with A caveat of mood dependence. I also include some outside of PA. 

Pre-1990

1. Banco -...di Terra
2. Univers Zero - Used
3. Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
4. Tangerine Dream - Stratosphere 
5. Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries
6. Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
7. Bill Bruford - One of a Kind (I give a free pass to the Alice in Wonderland recitation on "Fainting in Coils")
8. Kitaro - Oasis
9. Richard Pinhas - Chronolyse
10. Brand X - Livestock

Post-1990

1. Exivious - Exivious 
2. Nebelnest - Nova Express
3. Happy Family -Tosčco
4. Bondage Fruit - VI
5. Alex Machacek (McHacek) - Featuring Ourselves
6. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones -UFO TOFU
7. Gordian Knot - Gordian Knot
8. Squintaloo - Über Bord
9. Djam Karet - Heavy Soul Sessions 
10. Spastic Ink - Ink Complete

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Wow, this is the first thread where I love each and every single album posted <3
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Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson
Herbie Hancock - Man Child
Herbie Hancock - Thrust
Weather Report - Heavy Weather
Billy Cobham - Total Eclipse
Billy Cobham - Crosswinds
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire

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Mine favorites would include, generally in order: 

  1. Brand X, "Masques" 
  2. Tangerine Dream, "Phaedra" 
  3. Jeff Beck, "Blow by Blow" 
  4. Return to Forever, "Where Have I Known You Before?" 
  5. Al Dimeola, "Land of the Midnight Sun" 
  6. Mahavishnu Orchestra, "Birds of Fire" 
  7. Larry Fast, "Synergy" 
  8. Gong, "Espresso" 
  9. Fripp & Eno, "No Pussyfooting"
  10. Fripp & Summers, "I Advance Masked."  
Lots of good choices out there!  


Edited by cstack3 - May 08 2018 at 23:12
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It's surprisingly tough to come up with a good list, especially if you take JR/F or Prog Electronic albums out of the equation. My list of favourites would look something like this:
  1. Maneige - Maneige
  2. Gotic - Escenes
  3. Alas - Pinta Tu Aldea
  4. Gryphon - Red Queen To Gryphon Three
  5. Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior
  6. PFM - Stati Di Immaginazione
  7. Syrinx - Qualia
  8. Jukka Gustavson - Valon Vuoksi
  9. Dedalus - Dedalus
  10. Anglagard - Viljans Oga
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Camel - Snow Goose
Ozric Tentacles - Waterfall Cities
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Uzva - Uoma
Ragnarök - Ragnarök
Hidria Spacefolk - Symbiosis
Taipuva Luotisuora - 8
Wintergatan - Wintergatan
Juha Kujanpää - Kultasiipi
Mike Oldfield - Hergest Ridge

These are the ones I could name instantly. I listen to a lot instrumental music so I have dozens of favorites, mostly folk, fusion, spacerock and a lot of ambient, dub and psytrance.
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Liquid Tension Exp - S/T
Return To Forever- Romantic Warrior
Al Dimeola -Elegant Gypsy
Jeff Beck- Blow By Blow
Jeff Beck Wired
Ozric Tentacles-The Floor's Too far Away
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats ( Ok, one song w/ vocals here)
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Bird of Fire
Dixie Dregs - Bring em Back Alive
Bozzio Levin Stevens - Situation Dangerous


Edited by Argo2112 - May 08 2018 at 13:44
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Originally posted by Raff Raff wrote:

On the other hand, some of my top albums of the past few years - for some odd coincidence - feature one vocal track:

Herd of Instinct - s/t
D.F.A. - 4th
Accordo dei Contrari - Kublai
 
Those guys are really good! (So are the other two.)
 
Originally posted by Bitterblogger Bitterblogger wrote:

Though not all is prog, Jeff Beck's There and Back.
 
Blow by Blow and Blue Wind, too.
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