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PROG RELATED

A Progressive Rock Sub-genre


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Prog Related definition



No musical genre exists in a vacuum. Not all of the bands that have been a part of the history and development of progressive rock are necessarily progressive rock bands themselves. This is why progarchives has included a genre called prog-related, so we could include all the bands that complete the history of progressive rock, whether or not they were considered full-fledged progressive rock bands themselves.

There are many criteria that the prog-related evaluation team considers when deciding which bands are considered prog-related. Very few bands will meet all of this criteria, but this list will give an idea as to some of the things that help evaluate whether an artists is prog-related or not.

1) Influence on progressive rock - The groundbreaking work of artists like Led Zepplin and David Bowie affected many genres of rock, including at times progressive rock. Although both of these artists created rock music in a dizzying array of genres, both contributed to the ongoing history of progressive rock several times within the span of their careers.

2) Location - Progressive rock did not develop at the same time all over the world. It may surprise some people that as late as the mid-70s the US had very few original progressive rock bands that did not sound like exact copies of British bands. Journey was one of the first US bands to present a uniquely American brand of prog-rock before they eventually became a mainstream rock band. We have collaborators from all over the world who tell us which bands helped the progressive rock scene develop in their corner of the globe, even if those bands were like Journey and were known more for being mainstream rock bands.

3) Members of important progressive rock bands - Although most of the recorded solo output of artists like Greg Lake and David Gilmour falls more in a mainstream rock style, their contributions to progressive rock in their respective bands insures them a place in our prog-related genre.

4) Timeliness - Like many genres, prog-rock has had its ups and downs. In the late 70s and early 80s prog-rock was barely a blip on the radar. During this time artists such as David Bowie and Metallica released albums that captured key elements of the spirit of prog rock and did so while contributing their own original modern elements to the mix.

5) Integral part of the prog-rock scene - Sometimes you just had to be a part of the scene during a certain time period to understand how some bands fit with the prog rock scene of their time. Although Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Wishbone Ash may seem like mere hard rock bands, in their time they stood apart from other hard rockers with their more serious lyrical content and more developed compositions. Put simply, in the early 70s every prog-rock record collector usually had full collections of all three of these artists. These three bands were very much part of the prog-rock scene without being total prog-rock bands them selves.

6) Influenced by progressive rock - From the late 60s till about 1976 the progressive tendency was in full effect in almost all genres of music. Once again, as we enter the second decade of the 21st century a melting pot of prog-metal, math-rock, progressive electronics and post-rock influences have once again made a progressive tendency in rock music almost more a norm than a difference. Yet in other periods of musical history receiving influence from progressive rock could really set a band apart and make them worthy of our prog-related category.
Being influenced by progressive rock is hardly the only factor we look at, and in some periods of musical history it is almost meaningless, but still, it is almost a given that most of the artists listed in prog-related were influenced by the development of progressive rock.

7) Common sense - Nitpicking over the above listed criteria is not necessarily the correct way to evaluate a band for prog-related. Sometimes you just have to use some common sense and look at the big picture.
A very good way to describe prog-related would be to imagine an exhaustive book that covered the history of progressive rock. Would such a book include references to led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven', David Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold the World' or Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'? Probably so.
- Easy Money

Prog Related Top Albums


Showing only studios | Based on members ratings & PA algorithm* | Show Top 100 Prog Related | More Top Prog lists and filters

4.42 | 1344 ratings
LED ZEPPELIN IV
Led Zeppelin
4.48 | 462 ratings
BLACKSTAR
Bowie, David
4.35 | 952 ratings
QUEEN II
Queen
4.32 | 1138 ratings
PARANOID
Black Sabbath
4.30 | 1097 ratings
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
Queen
4.27 | 793 ratings
THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS
Bowie, David
4.24 | 1028 ratings
BLACK SABBATH
Black Sabbath
4.24 | 794 ratings
ARGUS
Wishbone Ash
4.20 | 885 ratings
SEVENTH SON OF A SEVENTH SON
Iron Maiden
4.21 | 620 ratings
RISING
Rainbow
4.15 | 854 ratings
POWERSLAVE
Iron Maiden
4.15 | 880 ratings
SABBATH BLOODY SABBATH
Black Sabbath
4.16 | 613 ratings
HUNKY DORY
Bowie, David
4.13 | 856 ratings
MASTER OF PUPPETS
Metallica
4.11 | 727 ratings
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
Metallica
4.20 | 301 ratings
REMAIN IN LIGHT
Talking Heads
4.09 | 906 ratings
MASTER OF REALITY
Black Sabbath
4.12 | 510 ratings
LOW
Bowie, David
4.16 | 345 ratings
SECRET TREATIES
Blue Öyster Cult
4.06 | 1011 ratings
PHYSICAL GRAFFITI
Led Zeppelin

Latest Prog Related Music Reviews


 Presence by LED ZEPPELIN album cover Studio Album, 1976
3.37 | 724 ratings

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Presence
Led Zeppelin Prog Related

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

3 stars The difficult personal circumstances the band members were going through, with Robert Plant recovering from a serious car accident in Greece and both Jimmy Page and John Bonham in a tough battle with their addictions, cast a shadow over Led Zeppelin's near future. With no touring on the horizon and the urge to do something rather than fall into stagnation, the quartet decided that the best way to deal with the moment was to return to the recording studio, and the result was 'Presence' (1976), their seventh album, a work that took less than three weeks to complete.

Devoid of big production and frills (no keyboards, no acoustic elements), and focused on the most basic rock principles, 'Presence' travels an uneven path combining the brilliance of 'Achilles Last Stand' and its mythological references to the Trojan Achilles in a great guitar demonstration by Page, the best track by far on the album, the dense and choppy melodies of 'For Your Life' and 'Nobody's Fault but Mine', and the bluesy 'Tea for One', a heartfelt reflection by Plant with obvious similarities to 'Since I've Been Loving You' from 'Led Zeppelin III' sustained by Bonham's great percussive work in slow motion mode, with lesser tracks such as the insipid Funky airs of the burlesque 'Royal Orleans' and the nostalgic 'Hots On for Nowhere', or the monotonous and dull rockabilly of 'Candy Store Rock'.

It tasted like so little for such a great band, so little that one of the elements that attracted more attention than the music was the strange black object on the album cover and on the internal graphic packaging... The band's decline was giving its first warning sign.

2.5/3 stars

 The Miracle by QUEEN album cover Studio Album, 1989
3.15 | 419 ratings

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The Miracle
Queen Prog Related

Review by VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Review Nº 782

"The Miracle" is the thirteenth studio album of Queen and that was released in 1989. It was recorded when the band was recovering from Brian May's marital problems and Freddie Mercury's AIDS diagnosis. The album was originally to be called "The Invisible Man", but three weeks before its release, they decided to change the name to "The Miracle". The striking cover art utilized the Quantel Painbox, a computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics, which state of the art image manipulation technology, to combine photographs of the familiar faces of the four band members into one morphed image. The back cover of the album went a step further with a seamless of the bands' eyes. This album was considered their most energetic and interesting release of the 80's since "The Game".

"The Miracle" has ten tracks. The first track "Party" written by Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deacon is a song built around disharmonic vocals and drum beat from the drumming machine. I really think that we are in presence of a very weak song, without any kind of creativity and imagination. In my humble opinion, this is one of the worst openings for a Queen's album, only superseded by "Staying Power", the song that opens their album "Hot Space". The second track "Khashoggi's Ship" written by Queen is another rock song like the previous one. Unfortunately, it has more in common with that song that it should have. So, despite be a little bit better than "Party" is, it's a very repetitive song also without any kind of creativity and imagination. The third track is the title track "The Miracle", which was written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. It was the fifth and the last song to be chosen as a single from this Queen's album. It was released six months after the album. This is a very good and interesting song that represents, for me, one of the highlights on the album. It's a very creative song with some very complex musical arrangements. If such thing existed, we could call to it a true great progressive pop song. The fourth track "I Want It All" written by Brian May was the song chosen to be the lead single of the album. This is a great rock song, with full of mood changes and some nice guitar solos. It's a kind of a classic Queen's hard rock song that satisfies almost all rock fans and represents the second highlight on the album, really. The fifth track "The Invisible Man" written by Roger Taylor was the song released as the third single of the album. This is clearly a pop song with a synthesizer bass driven. It's a very fast song and very repetitive too, so typical for that pop era. Sincerely, I don't like particularly of this song and, as happened with "Party" and "Khashoggi's Ship", it represents, for me, another weak point on the album. The sixth track "Breakthru" written by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor was the song chosen to be released as the second single of the album. This is a good rock song with a nice gospel vocal overture, which rocks very fast, indeed. Despite I prefer other songs on the album, this one represents one of the best musical moments on the all album. The seventh track "Rain Must Fall" written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon represents, without any doubt, one of the weakest musical moments on the album, despite it has some great guitar work. Sincerely, I don't like of this song. It has the power to annoy me a little bit and it makes me a bit nervous, really. The eighth track "Scandal" written by Brian May was the song released as the fourth single from the album. The song is about the attention that Brian May and Freddie Mercury received of the press, involving Brian May's divorce and Freddie Mercury's health problems. It's a great and brilliant dark song with some great musical moments. This is, for me, another highlight on the album. The ninth track "My Baby Does Me" written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon is almost the same of "Rain Must Fall" and represents, therefore, another weak musical moment on the album. Both songs represent, without any doubt, the worst tracks on the album. But, "Don't Try Suicide" from "The Game" is much worse. The tenth and last track "What Is All Worth It" written by Freddie Mercury is, fortunately an excellent track. But, unfortunately, this is the best and only truly progressive song on the album. It's a song with great musical moments that reminds the good old Queen, which closes the album perfectly and beautifully.

Conclusion: I can't agree with many of my colleagues here that consider "The Miracle" the best Queen's album of the 80's. By one hand, I'm absolutely convinced that Queen hasn't released any great studio album in the 80's. By the other hand I'm also absolutely convinced that "The Works" is their best musical studio work from that musical era. In my humble opinion, "The Miracle" is a non balanced album that oscillates between some very good songs and some very weak songs. "The Miracle", "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "Scandal" and especially "Was It All Worth It" are the only real good songs on the album. The other songs are average or even bad songs, really. Besides, on the subject of merely of progressive rock music, I can't see anything really progressive on it. In my humble opinion, after the 70's, the only great studio album from Queen is "Innuendo". However, "Made In Heaven" deserves also to be mentioned as an album with some great musical moments. So, this is another poor Queen's album that doesn't deserve more than 3 stars, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

 Physical Graffiti by LED ZEPPELIN album cover Studio Album, 1975
4.06 | 1011 ratings

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Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin Prog Related

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars After the versatile 'Houses of the Holy' and with overflowing popularity translated into extensive tours and packed stages around the world, Led Zeppelin, exhausted, took a break and only two years later released 'Physical Graffiti' (1975), their sixth album and the most extensive of their discography, mixing songs developed for the occasion with pieces discarded in previous years.

And it is in this context that the Englishmen sustain their unmistakable hard rock imprint with the undeniable blues influences in songs like the erotic 'Custer Pie' and its incisive guitar riffs, or the extensive 'In my Time of Dying' with Page using a 'bottleneck' to achieve that dense and slippery sound seconded by John Bonham's boxed percussion and Robert Plant's very successful singing, but above all with the hypnotizing and mysterious 'Kashmir' and its orientalized orchestrated melody, one of the best of the album.

The band also reaffirms their folksy leanings with Page's beautiful acoustic arpeggios on the instrumental 'Bron-Yr-Aur' (original from 1970) or the fractured 'Black Country Woman' (dropped from Houses of the Holy) with Plant and excellent harmonica playing, and they retain that laudable exploratory spirit with the progressive chords of John Paul Jones' hypnotic synthesizer and Page's bowing effect on the intriguing 'In the Light', the funky chords of 'Trampled Under Foot', Jones' electric piano on the melodic 'Down by the Seaside' and the refreshing 'Boogie with Stu' with the bluesy piano of esteemed sessionist Ian Stewart (both tracks recovered from 1971), before closing with the glam airs of 'Sick Again', a mention of Led Zeppelin's innumerable groupies.

Despite the enormous wear and tear caused by the self-demanding nature of the band on their way to the top, which left some after-effects in terms of the intensity of the proposal, 'Physical Graffiti' is a very good work and surely the last great album by Page and company.

3.5/4 stars

 About Face by GILMOUR, DAVID album cover Studio Album, 1984
2.88 | 340 ratings

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About Face
David Gilmour Prog Related

Review by sgtpepper

3 stars The second solo album by Gilmour is quite different from the debut one, yet it still largely succeeds. Gilmour has a stellar help including Porcaro, Lord, Winwood etc. The overall sound is excellent and arrangements are decent, 80's oriented but not dated thanks to a live feeling. Gilmour uses his vocal well to complement the well composed and played material. The brass section adds a bit of Collins' and Earth,Wind and Fire spirit to the pot. Gilmour is one of the few prog-rock musicians who convey a great dose of emotions in their material both by guitar and vocals. Here he utilizes happy upbeat material but also solid ballads ("Out of the blue"). On the flip side, if you're expecting soaring guitar (in high amounts) or progressive rock a la 70's, it's not for you. The album has aged well and stands well next to his debut album.
 Budgie by BUDGIE album cover Studio Album, 1971
3.89 | 162 ratings

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Budgie
Budgie Prog Related

Review by Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

5 stars Blues based Rock was my first love when it comes to music, not really discovering this until my late teens but 70's AEROSMITH became my first favourite band based on "Rocks", "Toys In The Attic" and their "Live Bootleg" records. And my first concert was seeing them in the late seventies at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. I dropped them like a bad habit when I heard AC/DC for the first time, and it was "Highway To Hell" and I couldn't believe the energy, Bonn's vocals and Angus' guitar, they were the band. LED ZEPPELIN, CREAM, BLACK SABBATH were also the bands I loved back in the day.

This is a rare album and band that I didn't know about back then or believe me they would be included in that list of bands I just gave, and this the debut from 1971 is my favourite from them. Heavy bare bones Blues based music fuelled lyrically by out of control testosterone levels I'm sure. AC/DC had to have heard of this band. A trio with a setup RUSH would later employ of a singing bassist with a high pitched voice along with drums and guitar. These guys can play, and they were uncompromising as a band when it came to their music, gigs, record deals etc. They would never sell out. You like us or you don't. Whatever. Rodger Bain BLACK SABBATH's first producer took them under his wing and was a huge help. Rodger would discover JUDAS PREIST as well who opened for BUDGIE back in those early days.

I love this album. We get two lighter tracks that almost act like buffers for us, a relief from the onslaught. The thing is these two songs total just over 2 1/2 minutes(haha). The rest is gravy and then some. Six killer tracks that have been very influential bringing many bands to mind who would come upon the scene later on. I mean they should have got royalties for "Radar Love" as the bass line and even vocal style at times screams "Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman". What a song though. Burke the bassist and singer cries out the lyrics and he is awesome. And how about him playing bass in that Jazz style on this one at times and elsewhere on here. The man can play.

That closer "Homicidal Suicidal" is one I can even imagine belting out the chorus with Burke if I had knew this back in the day. Some inventive lyrics on this one and I like the way they repeat themes, just so good. The opener "Guts" gets the juices flowing and when the vocals step aside the guitarist lets it rip. Love "The Author" the way it starts slow then around 2 minutes in they hit the "on" button it seems like. The other two tracks "Rape Of The Locks" where the guitarist shows his stuff and he has plenty of stuff, including an intense instrumental section with jazzy bass along with "All Night Petrol" with that nice heavy groove. Bass is killer here.

My music right here.

 Coda by LED ZEPPELIN album cover Boxset/Compilation, 1982
2.49 | 333 ratings

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Coda
Led Zeppelin Prog Related

Review by VianaProghead
Prog Reviewer

3 stars Review Nº 781

"Coda" is the ninth and last studio album or a compilation album, as you wish, of Led Zeppelin, released in 1982. It's a collection of unused tracks taken from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's musical career, and so, it could be heard as a quasi compilation album of unreleased tracks in the same tradition of other albums such as "Odds And Sods" of The Who and "Basement Tapes" of Bob Dylan. It was released two years after Led Zeppelin had officially disbanded following the death of their drummer John Bonham. The word "coda", meaning a passage that ends a musical piece following the main body, was therefore chosen as a title. So, it represents the end of the musical career of a great band.

"Coda" has eight tracks. The first track "We're Gonna Groove" was a song co-written by Ben E. King and James A. Bethea with the original title "Groovin". It's a live track recorded on 9 January 1970 in London and was edited with guitar overdubs. This track was originally stated for inclusion on "Led Zeppelin II" and kicks off the compilation album with the heavy, funky blues so common on the early band's works. Lyrically, it's a song with a high energy and an excellent musicianship, being just a plain of a pure Rock'n'Roll song. The second track "Poor Tom" was written by Page and Plant and is an outtake from "Led Zeppelin III". It tells us the story of the eponymous railroad worker whose clairvoyance leads to the knowledge of his wife's affairs. Musically, it opens with a solid drum riff and with Plant dinging softly. The drums are the predominant instrument through the early musical stages of the group and this song isn't an exception. However, it's very curious and extremely rare for the highlight on an acoustic song to be the drums. The third track "I Can't Quit You Baby" was written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Otis Rush in 1965. It was included on Led Zeppelin's debut studio album in 1969. It's an edited live track recorded on 9 January 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall, in London. It's a song heavily influenced by the blues riffs and the slow bass drumming. This live version is better than the original with nice guitar solo and the sound just seems tighter than on the original studio take. It's a nice flashback into the early days of the group. The fourth track "Walter's Walk" was written by Page and Plant and is an outake from "Houses Of The Holy", possibly with later overdubs. It's perhaps Led Zeppelin's rawest song on the album. It opens strong with the guitar followed by a solid drumming. Plant's vocals, although strong, sound like they are in the background. The musicianship is very strong and despite being a good song is probably one of the weakest tracks on the album. The fifth track "Ozone Baby" was written by Page and Plant and is an outtake from "In Through The Out Door". It opens very promisingly, and musically it continues all over the song. Plant's vocals are very good, as always. He sings very well in tune with the music, and its upbeat guitar riffs and fills with a nice solo too. It makes of this song as one of the best tracks on the entire compilation. I probably would have liked to have seen it on "In Through The Out Door". The sixth track "Darlene" was written by Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham, it's also an outtake from "In Through The Out Door". This is another good song with a great beat and where Jones makes a great piano job, once again. Plant's vocals are once more great and the way that it put his vocals back up Page's interesting guitar line, make this song being catchy and nice to hear. The seventh track "Bonzo's Montreux" was written by Bonham and was recorded in 1976 at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland. It's a four minute drum solo taken from one of Bonham's sound checks at Royal Albert Hall. It can be compared to "Moby Dick" in that they are both drum solos, although, aside from that, they are slightly different. It doesn't open and close with Page taking the centre stage and Page added some electronic effects over the solo in the studio. This is a great track and shows for the last time, just how great Bonham was, really. The eighth and last track "Wearing And Tearing" was written by Page and Plant, is another outtake from "In Through The Out Door". This is a musical effort to mirror the growing popularity of the punk movement at the time, and it imitates its style. The chaotic musical atmosphere of the track provides an excellent background for Plant's stylishly sung vocals. However, I've never was a great fan of punk, really. But, it's a fresh song, for the time, and I don't dislike it.

Conclusion: As a true album, "Coda" isn't definitely, to anyone, one of the favourite albums of Led Zeppelin. It was composed of the left over stuff from the band, even if Led Zeppelin's throwaways are better than most groups usually make at their best. This is definitely an album that would be labelled only for hard core fans, even thought that the world is full of them. It's one that every Led Zeppelin's fan should save in the last. It's an album that only a real Led Zeppelin's fan would or could really enjoy, if your musical collection of pre "Coda" isn't complete yet, I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone. Concluding, "Coda" is definitely not the Led Zeppelin's best musical work. It's not a bad album, but not a good start off to listening to Led Zeppelin's music. Fans of the band, like me, will probably enjoy it to an end, as I do. It's non-essential, but as a posthumous work for Bonham's, it's a very emotional album for the group and fans too.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

 Houses Of The Holy by LED ZEPPELIN album cover Studio Album, 1973
3.95 | 980 ratings

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Houses Of The Holy
Led Zeppelin Prog Related

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars After "Led Zeppelin IV" as the high point of their meteoric rise to the top of the rock scene, the English band left their comfort zone and opted to venture into new and challenging paths, the end result of which was "Houses of the Holy", their fifth album.

Distanced from the dense guitar riffs and thick instrumental walls of the previous album, Led Zeppelin presents a collage of styles from the very beginning of the album, with Jimmy Page's clean guitars close to progressive sonorities in the hyperactive "The Song Remains the Same", the acoustic folk overflown by the invaluable contribution of John Paul Jones' evocative mellotron in the beautiful ballad "Rain Song", and the Celtic reminiscences of JJR Tolkien's work in the boisterous "Over The Hills And Far Away", a piece sustained by Page's rhythmic acoustic riffs and John Bonham's mastery on percussion.

But the styles that are furthest away from the band's recognisable frontiers come with the American Funky of "The Crunge", a piece that doesn't quite manage to take off, the jubilant and persistent Groove of "Dancing Days", and the unsuspected "rock" reggae of "D'yer Ma'ker", in a clear demonstration of the exploratory concerns of Page and company.

The musical mosaic reserves for its final stretch the experimental progressive exercise that the vaporous and aquatic tension of "No Quarter" proposes with a stupendous work on Jones' atmospheric synthesizers, Robert Plant's voice loaded with effects and Page's saturated riffs in one of the best passages of the album, and "The Ocean", the track that comes closest to the band's hard rock roots.

"Houses of the Holy" is another of Led Zeppelin's great albums, and like "Led Zeppelin III", it has achieved widespread recognition over the years.

3.5/4 stars

 Greg Lake & Geoff Downes: Ride The Tiger by LAKE, GREG album cover Studio Album, 2015
3.46 | 17 ratings

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Greg Lake & Geoff Downes: Ride The Tiger
Greg Lake Prog Related

Review by MellotronBoy37

3 stars The first lights from the ELP from 90's

ELP never ends at last. In 1983, Asia makes a Budokan Show with Greg Lake on vocals singing Only Time Will Tell (a most famous Song for Asia around the world) at side of Carl Palmer. In 1985, ELP haved a plans to return, but Palmer was have a long gigs (or shows) with Asia because your third album. In Palmer's place, Cozy Powell, a Heavy Metal drummer, take a drums and a percussion. This project makes born the Emerson, Lake & Powell and your first and unique album from 1986.

This album do a relative sucess with Touch and Go single. In 88, a 3 band bring back Palmer to drums, but Greg Lake stayed occuped with a mysterious work.

In Greg place, Robert Barry take a vocals of this line-up. Still in 88, Greg reunites with a Yes keysman, Geoff Downes, and produced this album.

The sound of this work is a oriented for a Hard Rock in a plus with synthetizers, while constructs a true Power Rock. Three of this songs are a revisited from ELP in 1990. Money Talks turns into a Paper Blood, a Country Prog song from Black Moon, in 1992. Meanwhile, Affairs of The Heart, gained a definitive and better version in Black Moon too. The great modification is for Street War. The new arrangments are a so diffrent for your early version. In the In Hot Seat album, this song is most accelerated.

The other songs have a great energy, but continues with a pop feelings from 80's (particulary, i'm like a 1980 sonority). This album it's was a produced in 1987 to 1988, but, i don't known the labels holding this at to 2015, one year before Greg Lake's pass.

Well, in 1980, Greg Lake take a distance from Prog, and navigate in a 80's Power Rock (at last i feel King Crimson in Someone in your first album, Greg Lake (1981)). Any Prog references are so shift here, but is a certanily a good register. 3 stars.

 Led Zeppelin IV by LED ZEPPELIN album cover Studio Album, 1971
4.42 | 1344 ratings

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Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin Prog Related

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars The fact that the general reception of "Led Zeppelin III" was not as expected, hit the band's self-esteem and especially Jimmy Page's, who considered it the best album of the three released up to that time. And so the fourth album, "Led Zeppelin IV" (although officially untitled by the musicians' decision), had a meticulous creative and production work to harmonise its intense hard rock vein with folk and blues influences.

The first part of the album is outstanding and there is nothing to be wasted, with pieces with the necessary ingredients to make up timeless anthems of the genre: Page's dense riffs in the lusty "Black Dog" and the incendiary "Rock and Roll", Celtic reminiscences in "The Battle of Evermore" with the contribution of Page on mandolin and English singer Sandy Denny, and the perfect electro-acoustic combination of the immortal "Stairway to Heaven" with the growing instrumental wall built by John Paul Jones and John Bonham and crowned by Page's portentous guitar solo and Plant's heartbreaking phrasing, one of the band's and the genre's flagship songs.

Although in the second half the rushed "Mystic Mountain Hop" marked by Jones' electric piano and the orientalised "Four Sticks" lag a little behind the rest of the pieces, "Going to California", a beautiful acoustic tribute to the Canadian singer Joni Mitchell, and the infallible blues of the parsimonious "When the Levee Breaks" (an adaptation taken from the American singer Memphis Minnie) interpreted in the way that only the British can do, maintain a superlative level and bring the work to a close.

The album of the portrait of the mysterious peasant hunched over with a bundle of branches on his back hanging on a peeling wall, would become one of the cornerstones of the genre and would raise the band to the top of the rock scene.

Excellent

4/4.5 stars

 Led Zeppelin III by LED ZEPPELIN album cover Studio Album, 1970
3.94 | 1012 ratings

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Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin Prog Related

Review by Hector Enrique
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Led Zeppelin were on the crest of the wave with their revolutionary "I" and "II", and hence the expectation for their next release was enormous, with a growing legion of fans eager to receive more voltaic shocks that Jimmy Page's riffs and Plant's powerful and erotic voice brought with them, and, as sometimes happens, the results would not necessarily be the expected ones. And a bit of that happened with "Led Zeppelin III" (1970), an album divided into two large segments with dissimilar orientations.

The first segment approaches (with the exception of "Friends") the hard rock sound of the band, as with Page's guitar riffs, John Bonham's intense percussion and Robert Plant's demonic screams in the combative "Immigrant Song", with the dark ezquizophrenia of "Celebration Day" and the anxious riffs of the lively "Out of the Tiles" and, on the other hand, the deep blues influences of the band, the deep blues influences are also present in the plaintive "Since I've Been Loving You", a very solid instrumental progression (courtesy of the Jones/Bonham duo) that supports Page's masterful guitar ramblings and solos and Plant's heartbroken singing giving his life in every verse, in one of the best moments, if not the best, of the album.

The second segment, nevertheless, shows a significant turnaround, no more thunderous and saturated walls of sound, and the Englishmen's undeniable taste for acoustic nuances takes over: the folk arrangement of "Gallows Pole", a traditional song of probable 18th century Anglo-Saxon origin, the beautiful and melancholic grey tone of "Tangerine", the reflective "That's The Way", attributable to the Page/Plant duo's inspirational sojourn in rural Snowdia (Wales), a place that also lent its name to the percussive agility of the also folk "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp", all tracks that make for an unexpected and unbeatable unplugged set. The haunting "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper", which borrows elements from legendary American blues representatives like Bukka White and Fred Mc Dowell, closes the album with a nod to the band's singer/songwriter friend Roy Harper.

Despite the initial feelings of bewilderment and suspicion generated by the unpredictable drop in revolutions, "Led Zeppelin III" is a great album (including its psychedelic cover art), and with hindsight it has achieved the recognition it deserved.

Very good.

4 stars

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Prog Related bands/artists list

Bands/Artists Country
10CC United Kingdom
14 BIS Brazil
801 United Kingdom
ABEDUL Spain
ABSOLUUTTINEN NOLLAPISTE Finland
ACIDENTE Brazil
AERODROM Yugoslavia
AGNUS DEI Austria
DON AIREY United Kingdom
ALBERO MOTORE Italy
ALWAYS ALMOST United States
THE AMBER LIGHT Germany
AMBROSIA United States
JON ANDERSON United Kingdom
ARIEL Australia
ASIA United Kingdom
ATLANTIS United States
PETER BARDENS United Kingdom
SYD BARRETT United Kingdom
LUCIO BATTISTI Italy
BEAU DOMMAGE Canada
BIJELO DUGME Yugoslavia
BLACK SABBATH United Kingdom
BLACKFIELD Multi-National
BLODWYN PIG United Kingdom
BLUE ÖYSTER CULT United States
JEAN-PASCAL BOFFO France
THE BOLLENBERG EXPERIENCE Belgium
DAVID BOWIE United Kingdom
BRAM STOKER United Kingdom
BUCKETHEAD United States
BUDGIE United Kingdom
BYZANTIUM United Kingdom
JOHN CALE United Kingdom
CARNEGIE United States
CASA DAS MÁQUINAS Brazil
THE CHURCH Australia
CITY Germany
CITY BOY United Kingdom
CLOUDS United Kingdom
STEWART COPELAND United States
CRUACHAN Ireland
MARTIN DARVILL & FRIENDS United Kingdom
BRIAN DAVISON'S EVERY WHICH WAY United Kingdom
FABRIZIO DE ANDRÉ Italy
CHRISTIAN DÉCAMPS France
DEUS Belgium
DIABOLUS United Kingdom
DIR EN GREY Japan
DRAGON New Zealand
DREAMLAND United States
ER. J. ORCHESTRA Ukraine
ESQUIRE United Kingdom
EVOLVE IV United States
EX CATHEDRA United States
EXIT Switzerland
FAIRPORT CONVENTION United Kingdom
THE FIRE THEFT United States
FLIED EGG / EX STRAWBERRY PATH Japan
FLIGHT 09 Uzbekistan
FLYING COLORS United States
FOTHERINGAY United Kingdom
ELOY FRITSCH Brazil
FUGATO ORCHESTRA Hungary
AVIV GEFFEN Israel
DAVID GILMOUR United Kingdom
GORDON GILTRAP United Kingdom
ROGER GLOVER United Kingdom
GOD BLESS Indonesia
GODLEY & CREME United Kingdom
GOLDEN EARRING Netherlands
GROUNDHOGS United Kingdom
GTR United Kingdom
GUDDAL (YNGVE) & MATTE (ROGER T.) Norway
GYGAFO United Kingdom
THE HAPPENINGS FOUR Japan
HAPPY END Japan
HELP YOURSELF United Kingdom
KEN HENSLEY United Kingdom
ROGER HODGSON United Kingdom
HORIZONT Sweden
INDIGO Austria
IRON MAIDEN United Kingdom
JACKSON HEIGHTS United Kingdom
BERT JANSCH United Kingdom
JAPAN United Kingdom
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE France
JON & VANGELIS United Kingdom
BRYAN JOSH United Kingdom
JOURNEY United States
KALEVALA Finland
ERIC KAMPMAN United States
KESTREL United Kingdom
KING'S X United States
KINO United Kingdom
KLAATU Canada
KORNELIJE KOVAč Yugoslavia
KREUZWEG Germany
GREG LAKE United Kingdom
LANA LANE United States
LED ZEPPELIN United Kingdom
GEDDY LEE Canada
LIFE United Kingdom
ALEX LIFESON Canada
JOSIPA LISAC Yugoslavia
JON LORD United Kingdom
MAGELLANMUSIC United States
MAGNA CARTA United Kingdom
MAGNUM United Kingdom
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Sweden
MÅNS MOSSA Sweden
GERARD MANSET France
PHIL MANZANERA United Kingdom
NICK MASON United Kingdom
MASTERPLAN Multi-National
MATTER OF TASTE Austria
PETER MATUCHNIAK United States
MAX WEBSTER Canada
MERCURY REV United States
METALLICA United States
MINDFIELDS Poland
MOONDANCER Japan
MUSE United Kingdom
NATURE AND ORGANISATION United Kingdom
NOW United States
OFFENBACH Canada
OM ART FORMATION Bulgaria
OYSTERHEAD United States
JIMMY PAGE - ROBERT PLANT United Kingdom
THE PARLOUR BAND United Kingdom
ALAN PARSONS United Kingdom
SHAWN PHILLIPS United States
PHISH United States
I POOH Italy
DAVORIN POPOVIć Yugoslavia
PRIMUS United States
QUEEN United Kingdom
RAIN FOR A DAY Germany
RAINBOW Multi-National
JOHN RENBOURN United Kingdom
TERRY RILEY United States
LAZA RISTOVSKI Yugoslavia
ROCKFOUR Israel
MIKE RUTHERFORD United Kingdom
SADISTIC MIKA BAND Japan
SATIN WHALE Germany
THE SAVAGE ROSE Denmark
IRMIN SCHMIDT Germany
SERÚ GIRÁN Argentina
WILLIAM SHELLER France
SIGNS OF ONE Canada
DAVE SINCLAIR United Kingdom
PETER SINFIELD United Kingdom
SLINT United States
SOLSTICE COIL Israel
STEELEYE SPAN United Kingdom
STRAWBERRY FIELDS Poland
STREAM OF PASSION Netherlands
STYX United States
SUI GENERIS Argentina
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS United Kingdom
SVANN Poland
SYMPHONIC SLAM Canada
SYNERGY United States
SYNOPSIS Estonia
ALDO TAGLIAPIETRA Italy
TALKING HEADS United States
TAMOUZ Israel
TANTALUS United Kingdom
TIRED TREE Sweden
TITANIC Norway
TOY MATINEE United States
TRAVELLERS Poland
TRIANGLE France
TRIANGULUS Sweden
TRICANTROPUS Spain
TRIUMPH Canada
STEVE VAI United States
ANNEKE VAN GIERSBERGEN Netherlands
VANGELIS Greece
OLIVER WAKEMAN United Kingdom
SCOTT WALKER United Kingdom
WALRUS Japan
JOHN WETTON United Kingdom
WHALEFEATHERS United States
WHEATSTONE BRIDGE United States
WHIMWISE United Kingdom
WHITE United Kingdom
ROBIN WILLIAMSON United Kingdom
WISHBONE ASH United Kingdom
THE WISHING TREE United Kingdom
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ZON Canada

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