150 most important Prog albums
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Topic: 150 most important Prog albums
Posted By: dymanic
Subject: 150 most important Prog albums
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 00:38
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Hi all, As a relative prog newbie I'm trying to compile a list of the "Most Important" prog albums from the birth of prog through to about 2000. This will be the basis of a listening project to attain more insight into the genre. I've looked around a fair bit and it's easy to find people's "Essentials" or "Best of" lists but this isn't necessarily what I'm talking about here. What I mean by important is albums which contributed to the development of progressive rock in a significant way, furthering the advancement of the genre or taking it in new directions. I'd like to get a good overview of all the important subgenres too. Obviously this will have a fair bit of overlap with Essentials or Best Of lists but the emphasis is different. It's easy for an album you hate to be important to the genre, or for one of your favourites to not be important at all. I'm looking to include 150 albums over the time period so I'm guessing there's also room for a lot of the "Best" albums too, I'm not looking to be overly dogmatic about it. Any suggestions / resources anybody can point me to? Even particular album suggestions would be helpful. Apologies if this is an already answered question.
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Replies:
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 01:12
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Try here. http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?salbumtypes=1" rel="nofollow - http://www.progarchives.com/top-prog-albums.asp?salbumtypes=1 ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: dymanic
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 01:17
| Thanks, but how do I distinguish between "most important" and "most popular"? |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 01:24
Good question, because the popular albums are, well a lot of times, the important ones  but I am confusing you with this. The top above includes the highest rated albums, so it's a good place to start. |
dymanic wrote:Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 01:25
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There' an algorhythm based on ratings/reviews total number and values. It's a weighted calculation. It can't guarantee that's important vs popular, but being this a prog oriented site I assume that the reviewers know what they are writing about. Anyway, the number of reviews is an indicator of popularity, while the rating average is specific to the value. Collaborator's proper reviews vs rating only are weighted 20:1 It's the best that the site can offer and it's based on numbers. ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: dymanic
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 02:58
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Thanks guys. How about off-site resources covering the development / evolution of Prog from the early days, preferably with reference to specific albums? Are there any good books or other sources people could recommend?
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Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 03:03
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There's a number of books of this kind. The one I have liked the most is unfortunately in Italian and I don't think it has ever been translated. It's simply "PROG - A suite 50 years long" by Donato Zoppo Let me see if there's an English edition. It starts with Moody Blues. ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: octopus-4
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 03:06
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No. It looks like it has been released in Italy only ------------- I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 03:08
you could also check each subgenre page and see the artists and albums mentioned there, things are explained clearly.
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Posted By: TheH
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 03:44
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Try this one: https://strawberrybricks.com/the-book" rel="nofollow - https://strawberrybricks.com/the-book
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Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 07:46
| Maybe you can look at the bands that were pioneers in different sub-genres, which produced those albums that made a difference and sparked a trend into the prog spectrum. 150 albums is a lot, so you might reconsider that amount, because undoubtedly, you'll have to deal with a lot of opinions on this matter. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 09:28
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Important is rather subjective just as favorite is. Not everyone considers album x to be the most important. I think if you were to use a filter on here for no less than 1000 ratings that would give you an idea of the most important. It would all depend on who you talk to. If you talk to a metal fan they would say one of the earlier Opeth albums or images and words by Dream Theater are the most important. If you don't like metal you could skip those and the same thing with any other prog subgenre. Ultimately you have to decide. You can't go so much by consensus or what others say. I agree with just using the search button and going through the top 100 or so and using filters as they suit your tastes. Also, you could look on youtube and search "most important" or "best prog rock albums" of all time or use google too etc. If you google "prog rock albums" or "best prog rock albums" etc. then a whole bunch of mostly classic album covers will appear. "Close to the edge" by Yes and "in the court of the crimson king" by King Crimson usually appear among the first three or four. "Selling England by the Pound" by Genesis is usually not far behind them. Good luck. |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 14:17
| Fun project!!! |
Posted By: Jaketejas
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 14:54
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If you mean pioneering, then I think you'd have to consider including Watchtower's Control and Resistance for progressive metal, which predates DT's I&W by 3 years. Opeth formed the same year C&R was released. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 15:08
Energetic Disassembly was released in 1985, quite unique for that time. Savatage, Fates Warning, Queensryche, Crimson Glory, Heir Apparent, all did great music before DT ever did. In fact most them influenced DT
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 15:15
| ^I agree. Unless we count Rush or maybe Uriah Heep(or even some KC) Watchtower were the first real prog metal band. Queensryche? Not so much. Lol. More like metal meets art rock. I just don't think they were challenging or complex enough even though they obviously do get the prog metal label. That said I haven't heard their earliest albums just Operation Mindcrime and Empire. So maybe they were true prog metal then toned it down a bit. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 15:19
artsy heavy/power sounds right for QR they are important for the genre, their music until Promised Land was great.
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 17:22
| ^ Yep. Apparently very much a mixed bag after that. I have heard that Operation Mindcrime 2 is ok and the later post Geoff Tate albums are pretty good but other than that mostly forgettable which is a shame because at one point they were one of the best at what they did. I still think "silent lucidity" is one of the best power ballads that Pink Floyd and Rush never did. |
Posted By: Jaketejas
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 18:49
| My first Queensryche album was Rage for Order. It was definitely different, but these days I probably wouldn't put it in the same subgenre of prog as Watchtower. Yes, Billy White was also amazing on Energetic Disassembly but Control and Resistance with Ron Jarzombek is, to me, on a different plane as far as prog complexity. It is too bad Ron injured his hand on that tour. I'm saying this all with the utmost respect for Billy White. I had the great pleasure of having heard some of BW's funk stuff as well back in the 80s pre-Dokken. He can play classical guitar as well. Very talented. Fates Warning absolutely! DT deserves great respect, too, but I don't believe they were pioneers of their genre. Rather, my view is that they popularized it, which itself is a tremendous feat of accomplishment. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 19:14
| A lot of metal bands could be described as different in the mid to late eighties to early 90's such as Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Janes Addiction, Voivod, Guns N Roses(yes, you read that right :P), Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Tool. Obviously not all prog metal. The burgeoning alternative metal scene and even grunge was different than what came before it also. |
Posted By: TenYearsAfter
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 19:14
The book Rocking The Classics by Edward Macan is an excellent source for your quest I think, good luck. My personal recommendation: Vanilla Fudge is one of the most overlooked proto-prog bands, this USA band from the late Sixties inspired Deep Purple, Uriah Heep and Yes (according to members of those bands).
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Posted By: Jaketejas
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 19:20
| Good list AFKC. Many of those bands are definitely worthy of consideration. Slash could write a long and sweet melodic solo! |
Posted By: dymanic
Date Posted: June 17 2019 at 23:19
Thanks, that's exactly what I mean, maybe my wording needed work... Thanks everyone for your responses, I'll put in some hard yards myself and post a draft list back here to see what you all think.
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 18 2019 at 00:37
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It's subjective admittedly but the PA top 100 is not the be all and end all. Albums are often rated on their completeness and consistency rather inspiration or importance. One obvious example is Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Tarkus. One of the most important albums of the genre by one of the major bands. You could also argue that as The Nice - The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack and Procol Harum - Shine On Brightly were very important to the early development of the genre , they should be listened to at least once. Perhaps it's just easier to check out artists rather than look for specific albums. I suggest For 1967-1969 ( early development) The Beatles Frank Zappa The Nice King Crimson Procol Harum The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown Coloseum Deep Purple Led Zeppelin 1970-1975 (the peak of prog) Emerson, Lake and Palmer Genesis King Crimson Yes Pink Floyd Jethro Tull Van Der Graaf Generator Gentle Giant Camel Mike Oldfield PFM The Mahavishnu Orchestra Can Magma Caravan 1976 - 1982 ( the lean years) Rush Eloy UK Vangelis Tangerine Dream Be Bop Deluxe 1983-1993 (The Neo Prog years) Marillion IQ Pallas Pendragon 1994-present ( the prog revival) Anglagard Anekdoten Spocks Beard Arena Porcupine Tree Haken Steve Wilson Riverside Opeth The Mars Volta It's far from being everything I realise but I doubt many could argue that these have been the 'major players' in prog from 1967 to the present day. |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: June 18 2019 at 03:10
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Missing out. The Flower Kings, Transatlantic and The Tangent...tut tut ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: Foxprog
Date Posted: June 18 2019 at 03:53
Job well done!
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Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: June 18 2019 at 12:45
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I like this look at the progression of prog in the first part of the book...the second part lists bands and albums but not the 'best 100' , it's alphabetical.The reviews are mixed on the book but when I first started buying more obscure prog ( I already owned the classic bands...)...it was helpful in many ways. https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Rock-Files-Jerry-Lucky/dp/1896522106" rel="nofollow - https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Rock-Files-Jerry-Lucky/dp/1896522106
------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 18 2019 at 23:47
All excellent bands indeed as are Big Big Train, Pineapple Thief, Wobbler ,Anathema etc. My list could have been a lot longer but then I was trying to stick to 'important' bands in the development of the genre. There are a lot of bands that are great to listen to but have not really added much in pushing boundaries. I realise its a highly subjective topic though.
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Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: June 19 2019 at 09:51
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Hasn't this topic/debate taken place thousands of times here on PA? ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: dymanic
Date Posted: June 19 2019 at 19:54
If so, maybe you could point me in the direction of some of those previous threads? That was kind of my question in the first place (along with an apology in case it had already been answered).
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Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: June 19 2019 at 21:50
Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! Genesis! Yes! King Crimson! ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: June 19 2019 at 22:02
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The Shaggs -------------  https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: dymanic
Date Posted: June 20 2019 at 00:02
Holy sh*t. One of the best things I have ever heard, thanks for the tip (You owe me a keyboard)
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Posted By: admireArt
Date Posted: June 26 2019 at 00:04
| Tangerine Dream-RUBYCON-1975 |
Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: June 26 2019 at 01:25
Pre-1972! No, wait1 Post-1972! 
I'm honestly surprised someone hasn't yet! I swear I see them all the time. Not being douchey just observing, good sir! Welcome! ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: June 27 2019 at 07:52
That part is easy ... you probably won't find the real gems in "progressive" listing ... and you won't even give the Edgar Broughton Band a serious listen (as an example),, or even the Incredible String Band, or Guru Guru (early days) for a bunch of stuff that is far more progressive than the so many copies of the original stuff listed. The only thing I would like to suggest ... is this ... listen to TARKUS in its entirety by ELP, and then play Rachel Flowers doing TARKUS on piano. Then play ELP's version again. Then play Rachel's version again .... YOU WILL FIND THAT HALF OF THE THINGS LISTED DON'T STAND UP TO REAL MUSIC ... and stuff that should be considered some of the greatest compositions in rock music ... because we are so damn stuck on the popular thing, and the fame ... to the point that we don't even know what MUSIC is, or EVER has been! When you can make out that distinction, you will find the albums that matter. Until then, the suggestions here will confuse you so bad (including me because you won't even consider what I said!), that you can not possibly continue even listening to anything we said ... today, or yesterday. Hopefully you can learn/pickup something along the way ... but trying to learn college style through Wiki and the Notes thing ... good luck is all I can tell you, after 55 years of listening to all this music ... not just "progressive". ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 27 2019 at 23:54
| I love Rachel Flowers but I would also point towards Keith Emerson's Three Fates Project that was recorded with a German Orchestra not many years ago . This was his last solo album and a life long ambition fulfilled to bring ELP's music back to it's classical origins. It's great though that Rachel is helping to keep the music and memory alive. |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: June 29 2019 at 01:19
I think that I would like to see some of these new folks get a bit of the curiosity that we had 40/50 years ago, when we found so much of this music, that is still being appreciated. To me, that is the real value of "progressive" past just about anything else that we can say and suggest. It's tough, because what I said could be construed as being a negative, and it is not ... it is way more of a challenge and asking the fan to get out of his "mode of listening", and learn something about music, just like we did a while back. This is the great value of the arts ... and that memory will last a lifetime! Anything else, even suggestions will be forgotten by tomorrow, and left behind with ... I bet ... not a very good listening exercise, something that we had to do then, because we paid dearly for the album ... there was no media discussing most of it, and the one that did a little (Melody Maker and Rolling Stone) went out of their way to make fun of a lot of things and call them ... the best example was calling Tangerine Dream some washing machine music, which really only says that critic had no ear for music whatsoever ... even a washing machine has more interesting music, than his comments. I just hope that this person sees this point, although I imagine that folks brought up on mp3's and samples and rap, are not likely to give a lot of these things a serious listen to find out what made them tick. ANDWHAT MADE THEM TICK is the reason why we call it "progressive" and still talk about it 50 years later ... the appreciation of that alone, is major! ... if we can get it to the heads of new listeners. It's the same process, that allows us to listen and appreciate music that goes back 500 years and more! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: June 30 2019 at 02:19
| The one thing that I love hearing about is the experiences of people who regularly went to see bands in that period 1967-1973. It was an incredible time and I was just a bit too young to be involved. My own discovery of prog was really from radio (Radio Caroline were really important in that respect) and then all the CD re-issues in the 80's and 90's. The chance to sample music through streaming is now really important for younger folks and I would be very careful about just dismissing that but it's good to see Vinyl has made a comeback and that is heartening. Lets be a bit more encouraging can I suggest? Give those new to the genre to take a breath at least! |
Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: July 01 2019 at 11:43
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My first prog gig was Genesis at earls court in 1977...I would have loved to have seen the selling england gig at the free trade hall in 1973... ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 01 2019 at 23:47
| I would have loved to have seen any gig in the seventies! I wasn't really a fan of prog other than ELP at the time so never occurred to me to go and see any of the bands. I would have love to have seen Genesis at the Lyceum in 1980. There is some footage of the gig on one of the CD reissues and it's phenomenal . They even did The Knife as an encore! |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: July 02 2019 at 03:51
Honestly, there are many things that were worth seeing, a lot more than GENESIS, or any other big band out there. For example ... before PF made it big, it has a reputation for the stoniest concert out there ... and it was a far out experience in quadraphonic sound, that started and ended with sound effects and songs in between ... the songs became part of a story so to speak ... that was fun to FEEL, since you could not SEE anything ... and it helped with the older idea of the drugs in the 60's to "expand" your mind ... and it still is a great idea, except that we don't listen anymore and we want songs, not ideas! And specially, the songs that we know and love! (Can you see DSOTM and TW coming? Yep!) I saw BABE RUTH, and Janita Hahn made Iggy Pop look like an idiot that had to thrash himself on stage to get any attention to his band ... to see the worship at the Whiskey A Go Go of this show related to that band, was not only pathetic and sick, it was boring! But only half the audience saw BABE RUTH who put on a magnificent show. I wanted to see SEVENTH WAVE ... why? 7 keyboard players together. Never have I seen or heard of a tape of those shows in Hollywood, but I can't imagine that they were crap ... they probably were so mind warping that everyone hated electronica from that day on ... the whole concept certainly disappeared and died for some reason! LE ORME, had a residency in LA (Smogmagica time) and the weird side of it, was ... I don't remember a concert listed anywhere, and apparently they did do some shows here and there! The LA scene, by the 70's had already started falling apart, after Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin fell out of it ... the energy that was centered on individuality and creativity seems to have died with them, and was replaced even further and stronger by the megahit ... and it was at this time that Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles and such begun to make their moves ... and honestly ... they were boring by comparison, even though people nowadays think the Eagles were great because of the folks in their line up ... in my case in Santa Barbara, and friends, Boz Scaggs would have been more interesting, as would have been HOT TUNA, which was a much better MUSIC show ... that was not about hits or songs ... it was about some rather nice trippy stuff! ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: July 03 2019 at 00:25
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I can't really disagree of course. Just as aside one of my older friends lived in Croydon (London) in the early seventies. On one particluar evening you could have gone and seen Elton John at the larger venue ( might have been Fairfields Hall but the conversation was had a long time ago and my memory isn't good) but across the road in a club there was a young man by the name of David Bowie performing. Naturally the Bowie gig was packed out like the Black Hole of Calcutta! Oh how times have changed!
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Posted By: M27Barney
Date Posted: July 04 2019 at 11:13
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Moshkito hates genesis so its not suprising that he reels off a list of bands nobody has heard of...well moshkito, I saw a few gigs in the early eighties that trump yours...The brilliant dagaband at manchester university, opened with a track called paraplasma which was better than anything that ELP did. 35 minutes of moog, organ and piano that was so bombastic it blew my mind...how they didnt get that down on vinyl is the prog cryme of the century... ------------- Play me my song.....Here it comes again....... |