best instrumental prog albums?

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HAMMAR- Two great albums, but I do not consider them as instrumental.

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Yeah hi Hammar, good point about the albums not being instrumental. Technically all albums are instrumental, but I suppose you mean instruments playing the dominant role in a song. I think in 'Selling England' the instuments a big role in songs like 'Firth of Fifth' and 'Cinema Show'. With 'Gabriel 3' their not as dominant in the album but the instruments are just as important as the lyrics in creating his dark, eerie atmosphere.

That's why I chose those two albums, but in many aspects your right.

 How about that Anglagard -- Epilog,  Maani?

As I recall, you didn't despise it, and I quite like it.  100% instrumental.

Focus were mainly instrumental, too.

Then there's Tangerine Dream! 98.6% instrumental!

Peter Rideout wrote:  Anglagard -- Epilog

I love it.

Finch - Beyond Expression

In Spe - Concerto for Typewriter in D

Anglagard - Hybris and Epilog

Finnforest

Djam Karet - Reflections From The Firepool

Trace - Trace, Birds

National Health - Playtime

Gryphon - Red Queen to Gryphon 3

SFF - Symphonic Pictures, Sunburst

Wurtemberg's "Rock Fantasy 9" is another forgotten and excellent instrumental album.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Variations on a Theme of Paganini. (Oh yes it is!)

Twelfth Night - Live At the Target (what a classic!!!).

Interesting that "The Snowgoose" and "Hamburger Concerto" are considered instrumental albums, even though both do actually have vocals. (I do agree by the way).

I guess though the important point is that they don't have lyrics as such, just sounds. In that case, given that Yes' lyrics are written very much with the sound of the words in mind, not the lyrical content, I'll nominate "Close to the edge"!

Gaston

Alas you has to contend with old foogies like me, who come from a less cluttered and less organised period, and regret that modern  society  loves its pigeonholes (for example, how many variants of electronic dance and rap are there???). There was simplicity of ideas in the mid to late 60's - progressive because there was a perceptable change by hybridising with two or more musical genre, rock because it had rock rhythms, instrumentation, amplification. Hence jazz, folk, world, classical/serious were hydridised in a variety of ways. Anything that gave a new edge to rock and/or pop. 

 Nice liked their jazz (roots back to Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out); check out King Crimson Collectors Club issues, especially the Mel Collins/Wallace/Burrell period to hear them covering of Pharoah Saunder (Denver Radio recording??)!!! Where is the cut off point between Soft Machine the prog band and Soft Machine the jazz rock band? Bill Bruford has alway said he was trying to play jazz drums with Yes - and Jamie Muir was a avante jazz percussionist, who helped push Krimson further into the free rock/jazz area; Keith Tippett plays free jazz piano for Krimson. There are late 70's Genesis tunes which wouldn't seem out of place in the Brand X repertoise for obvious reasons - and why employ specificially a jazz rock drummer and jazz rock guitarist for live gigs? Have you heard Darryl Stuermer and Holdsworth together on Enigmatic Oceans? Caravan experimented with jazz ideas in their second album, before largely abandoning that area to their friends and  fellow Canterbury men (i.e Machine). John McLaughlin does his Hendrix inspired rock album with Devotion. ETC ETC.

Plenty more evidence to go but as you state:

However, to concede a little, imo, Prog and Jazz fusion actually run into each other on the continuous list of how music meshes and melds into each genre.

No real problem with this concept. As ever, you have your opinion which I respect, although I will try to change this through (I hope) good examples to support my arguement. However, I still don't accept that what we understood in the 60's should unnecessarily be altered by what pundits concoct in the 80's. The same applies to the post-punk/anti-prog writers who have long managed to skew the history of rock against prog (see my recent letter on Paul Connolly writings in the London Times' art sections).

What about the best instrumental piece?

To move beyond those great albums mentioned above I would suggest few tunes would beat ELP's Barbarian, Toccata and Hoedown, even if they didn't make the orignals themselves. Or if that should count one could as easily put in Tank, Abbadon's Bolero and  Karn Evil 9, 2nd Impression.