best 80s PROG ALBUM

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   THIS IS PROGRESSIVE ROCK in the 70's! 

1. SYMPHONIC ROCK 

Italy (approximately 1972-77) 

Arguably one of the most successful schools 

influenced by the stylistic pioneers of the mid to late 

60s/70s. Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco del 

Mutuo Soccorso, Le Orme, Latte E Miele, Museo 

Rosenbach etc. 

France (70s-early 80s) 

There are at least two threads of the symphonic 

school in France's impressive musical heritage. 

Some bands were influenced by the British pioneers 

such a Yes and King Crimson while others were 

more influence by the "theatrical rock" of Genesis. 

The former include Atoll, Pulsar, and Carpe Diem. 

The latter, categorized as such due to their use of 

costumes and stage presence, include Ange and 

Mona Lisa. 

2. PROGRESSIVE ROCK 

Art Rock 

Another term often used interchangeably with 

progressive rock, art rock implies rock with an 

exploratory tendency. Another definition of "art rock" 

describes music of a more mainstream 

compositional nature, tending to experimentation 

within this framework. Early Roxy Music, David 

Bowie, Brian Eno's 70s rock music, and Be Bop 

Deluxe serve as examples of the latter definition. 

Blues Rock 

Blues rock evolved into more experimental 

permutations from John Mayall, Cream and the 

Yardbirds to Steamhammer, Colosseum, 

Groundhogs, Tonton Macoute, and Bakerloo, due 

largely to the incorporation of psychedelic and jazz 

influences into the music. A similar evolution is 

encountered in the United States with bands like the 

Allman Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. 

Krautrock(70s-mid 80s) 

A term that usually describes the highly influential 

German rock of the early 70s, especially bands 

associated with the Ohr, Brain, Pilz, and Kosmische 

music labels. The varying styles falling under this 

umbrella were influenced by both German 

experimental electronic music and the psychedelic 

rock and beat of the late 60s. These range from the 

Ohr and Kosmische label's wild tangle of acid rock 

and electronica such as Ash Ra Tempel, Cosmic 

Jokers, Guru Guru and Tangerine Dream to the 

more rhythmically insistent, post-psychedelic 

experimentations of Faust, Neu, Kraftwerk and Can. 

Proto-Progressive 

Where late 60s psych ends and early 70s 

progressive rock begins is often referred to as 

proto-progressive, due to the music's embryonic 

similarities to the earliest progressive rock groups. 

While this is accurate as far as the definition of 

"proto-" goes, another common definition of this term 

is sort of as "almost progressive," artists which 

might bear some resemblance to the genre, but are 

not commonly considered as such. Some widely 

varying examples of what might be considered 

"proto-prog" are The Beatles circa Magical Mystery 

Tour and Sgt. Peppers ..., Tommy and Quadrophenia 

period Who, Procol Harum, Traffic, early Deep Purple 

and Uriah Heep. 

Psychedelic (Rock) 

A major precursor to the progressive rock of the 70s 

is the psychedelic rock of the late 60s, which is too 

vast a field to cover in detail here yet is intertwined 

inextricably with its musical offspring. This 

genre/qualifier covers a large amount of territory in 

common with progressive rock and mostly concerns 

itself with a mind-expanding approach associated 

with hallucinogenic and surreal imagery and its 

equivalent musical relationship. Bands falling within 

this style are often cross-genre (see VIII. 

Unclassified for examples) and vary from the early 

pioneers such as the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, 

Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Country Joe & The 

Fish, Small Faces, and Strawberry Alarm Clock. 

3. BY COUNTRY 

Britain (late 60s to mid 70s) 

There were many groups considered "progressive 

rock" at the dawn of the 70s which probably do not fit 

at all into most of the above schools. Many of the 

groups were associated with pioneering labels like 

Vertigo, Deram, Dawn, Transatlantic, Neon, Harvest, 

Charisma and Island. There were rock groups 

exploring eastern stylings such as Marsupilami, 

Samurai, Jade Warrior and East of Eden and heavy 

post psychedelic rock like High Tide and Jody Grind. 

Some of the more guitar jam oriented groups like 

Man and Wishbone Ash explored lengthy rock 

ruminations without succumbing to the highly 

structured music of the time. Bands such as Jethro 

Tull, Van Der Graaf Generator and Family were 

defined by their vocalist's signature, some of them 

achieving great success especially in mainland 

Europe. Other important groups of the era include 

the Strawbs, Raw Material, Second Hand, and 

Gnidrolog. 

Holland (early 70s) 

Dutch musicians also exhibited strong tendencies 

towards new forms of rock, influenced immediately 

by the psychedelic rock from across the channel and 

the Atlantic. The country's rock scene had a head 

start with one of the earliest psychedelic/progressive 

groups Group 1850. Focus became quickly notable 

for its combination of rock, classical, and ancient 

music. Other important Dutch progressives of the 

era included Golden Earring, Alquin, Solution and 

Finch, all of whose stylistic tendencies don't verge 

overwhelmingly in any one direction. 

Denmark (70s) 

Denmark had a very fertile but continually ignored 

underground whose progressive variations rarely fit 

comfortably into any particular style (fusion greats 

Secret Oyster are one exception). Perhaps the most 

unrecognized scene in progressive rock. 

Sweden (70s to present) 

The Swedish rock underground has always 

produced a wide variety of high-quality music. There 

were several bands in the 70s that paralleled that of 

Germany's Kosmiche music, such as Algarnas 

Tradgard, International Harvester, Flasket Brinner, 

and Trad Gras och Stenar. The Silence label in 

Sweden was notable for introducing many rock 

bands (including several of the above) who 

displayed a certain traditional touch such as early 

Samla Mammas Manna, Kebnekaise, Ragnarok, 

and Triangulus. A noteable modern practitioner of 

this notably Swedish rock style is Grovjobb. 

France (70s) 

Almost like there was a delay on the influences from 

overseas, France developed a surprisingly 

innovative rock scene in the early 70s that still 

remains a separate entity from all the various styles 

of music the French have added to over the years. 

4. AVANT ROCK 

Rock In Opposition (RIO) 

Chris Cutler, original member of the British musical 

collective Henry Cow and the man behind the 

scenes at Recommended Records in England, had 

this to say about RIO: "RIO short for Rock In 

Opposition was named to give some identity to a 

festival we (Henry Cow) ran in London in the Spring 

of 1978 ... The only groups ever involved were: Henry 

Cow, Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden), Etron Fou 

Leloublan, (France) Stormy Six (Italy), Univers Zero 

and Aqsak Maboul (Belgium), Art Zoyd (France) and 

Art Bears." 

5. JAZZ FUSION 

Canterbury 

This genre, named by the town in Kent, England 

where the musicians in the mid-60s group The 

Wilde Flowers hailed from (a band which was 

progenitor to both the Soft Machine and Caravan), 

drew on varying elements of classical architecture. 

Although the Soft Machine and Caravan were the 

only groups to originate from Canterbury itself. The 

styles of the artists adopted under the Canterbury 

genre varied from the psychedelic whimsy of 

Caravan, the increasingly jazz-rock Soft Machine, and 

the sly song structures of Kevin Ayers onto some of 

the most intricate rock ever created in Hatfield and 

The North and National Health. Canterbury music 

also overlapped with British jazz-rock (see below), 

space rock pioneers Gong, classical rock in Egg, 

RIO forefathers Henry Cow and melodic progressive 

group Camel. 

Zeuhl 

The term Zeuhl came from the genre's progenitor 

Magma as part of the band's invented language 

meaning "celestial." Magma brought in a wide 

number of influences from Orff, Stravinsky and 

Bartók to Coltrane and R&B to create one of the most 

influential and original progressive rock styles of the 

time. Bands that fall under the Zeuhl rubric vary from 

offshoot bands such as Weidorje and Zao. 

6. PROGRESSIVE ELECTRONIC ROCK 

Germany (70s) 

The advent of electronic music in Germany, 

especially through the work of Stockhausen and the 

influence of the psychedelic era, was largely a 

product of the krautrock legacy. The most famous 

progenitors of progressive electronic rock music are 

Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream, solo), Conrad 

Schnitzler (Tangerine Dream, solo), Klaus Schulze 

(Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, solo), and 

Manuel Gottsching (Ash Ra Tempel, Ashra, solo), all 

who began their formative careers on the genre's 

preliminary label, Ohr. These musicians evolved with 

the burgeoning technology of the era to become four 

of the most prolific and influential artists of their time, 

all changing face over the course of time to cover an 

unequalled amount of territory. This primary school 

of electronic music was the dominant influence for 

most of the other schools in this section. 

Berlin School 

Music typified as Berlin School is inherited from the 

70s German pioneers in the style, especially that of 

Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. It is 

recognizable by its prevalent use of sequencers to 

give the music a rhythmic pulse behind a layering of 

electronic atmospheres. Berlin School music is the 

dominant European style even today, from its roots 

through its myriad of modern progenitors, from the 

completely derivative to the far removed. Early Berlin 

School artists include Wolfgang Bock and Albert Von 

Deyen. 

7. UNCLASSIFIED 

Several roads from the previous sections lead to the 

Unclassified. In rock, jazz, folk and electronic, the 

groups considered avant-garde (avant-rock, 

avant-jazz and avant-folk) verge in the direction of the 

unclassified as the conventions of the operative 

music are thrown aside. Some excellent examples 

of the Unclassified where all these musics meet 

include Pierrot Lunaire's Gudrun, a place where no 

particular style is the mainstay and elements are 

juxtaposed in unusual ways in a strange, alchemic 

cocktail. Älgarnas Trädgård's Framtiden Är Ett 

Svävande Skepp, Förankrat i Forntiden is a similar 

hybrid, although resulting from the psychedelic 

school years earlier and covering enough influences 

to make any single reference point invalid by default. 

Italian pop artist Franco Battiato spent a long 

number of years in the 70s creating an unparalleled 

stream of albums that seemed to flirt with just about 

every genre mentioned here so far, from the strange 

electronic and folk experimentations of Foetus to the 

later minimalist electronic works of the mid to late 

70s. 

I see in the 80s only a small amount of british 

progressive rock left and the germans carrying on 

with progressive electronic rock a little stronger into 

the mid 80s. South America being pretty healthy. 

Remnants here and there.

Edited by DallasBryan

Poll Question: I CAN HANDLE THIS!
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Peter Gabriel - 3	26	[59.09%]
Synergy - Audion	1	[2.27%]
Holger Czukay - On the Way to the Peak of Normal	2	[4.55%]
Yes - 90125	9	[20.45%]
Tangerine Dream - Hyperborea	3	[6.82%]
Gandalf - Magic Theater	1	[2.27%]
Art of Noise - whose afraid of....	2	[4.55%]
Bernard Xolotl - Last Wave	0	[0.00%]
Klaus Schonning - Lorian Arabesque	0	[0.00%]
Johannes Schmoelling - Wuivend Reit	0	[0.00%]
Airto Moreira - The Other Side of This	0	[0.00%]
Michael Shrieve - The Big Picture	0	[0.00%]
This topic is closed, no new votes accepted