Best Albums for a beginner

Hey, So I am trying to get my dad into Prog and I want to find a classic prog album to show him, that has prog tendencies and shows him what prog is but it is a good introduction into it. His favorite bands are Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, and Van Halen, if that helps. 

Edited by CalebBarth - April 03 2020 at 13:01

CalebBarth wrote: Hey, So I am trying to get my dad into Prog and I want to find an album to show him, that has prog tendencies and shows him what prog is but it is a good introduction into it. His favorite bands are Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, and Van Halen, if that helps.

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - April 03 2020 at 12:00

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: CalebBarth wrote: Hey, So I am trying to get my dad into Prog and I want to find an album to show him, that has prog tendencies and shows him what prog is but it is a good introduction into it. His favorite bands are Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, and Van Halen, if that helps.  It's kind of funny how we now live in a day and age when younger fans who are in their 20's(or teens)are more likely to discover prog than their parents(who are in their 40's or 50's). Anyway, I suggest Porcupine Tree(Stupid Dream and later), The Mars Volta(John Fruscianted has guested with them so there's the RHCP connections), Umphrey's McGee(have jam band elements too) and maybe Riverside. Not sure what else. There's a lot out there and others on here will probably be able to make more recommendations. There's also the classics. How aware of prog is he? Is he at least somewhat familiar with Yes, Genesis, Rush and Pink Floyd. My guess would be he at least knows the last two fairly well.

 

Logan wrote: I'm going to suggest that he give Opeth's Damnation a try.

My recommendations for classic prog to beginners:

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: CalebBarth wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: CalebBarth wrote: Hey, So I am trying to get my dad into Prog and I want to find an album to show him, that has prog tendencies and shows him what prog is but it is a good introduction into it. His favorite bands are Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, and Van Halen, if that helps.  It's kind of funny how we now live in a day and age when younger fans who are in their 20's(or teens)are more likely to discover prog than their parents(who are in their 40's or 50's). Anyway, I suggest Porcupine Tree(Stupid Dream and later), The Mars Volta(John Fruscianted has guested with them so there's the RHCP connections), Umphrey's McGee(have jam band elements too) and maybe Riverside. Not sure what else. There's a lot out there and others on here will probably be able to make more recommendations. There's also the classics. How aware of prog is he? Is he at least somewhat familiar with Yes, Genesis, Rush and Pink Floyd. My guess would be he at least knows the last two fairly well.   Yeah, one of his favorite bands is Rush (forgot to mention them earlier), and he knows some Floyd stuff. He is familiar with later Phil Collins-lead Genesis If you don't mind me asking how old is your dad(sorry I'm a demographics freak ;)). He's probably around my age and most people my age weren't exposed to much prog unfortunately and so often don't discover the genre at al. Anyway, I would suggest for him to dig deeper into Floyd(the more obscure stuff ie pre Dark Side), older Rush(70's stuff), earlier Genesis(PG era and pre 80's in general)and also Yes(the band called Yes)especially their 70's material and also maybe ELP. So basically explore the "basics" first.  To the more modern bands I mentioned earlier I'll also add Marillion to the list(even though these days they are technically hardly "modern"). He possibly knows the song "Kayleigh" so maybe the misplaced childhood or clutching at straws album from them. Edit: Essential prog listening for the beginner: Yes - Close to the Edge Pink Floyd - Wish you were Here King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King Rush - Moving Pictures (or hemispheres) Genesis - Selling England by the Pound ELP- same Jethro Tull - Thick as a brick (or aqualung) Kansas - Leftoverture (kind of an odd recommendation since it's not that common but I'll mention it anyway especially since Kansas is a band who are often unfairly left off these kinds of discussions)

 

CalebBarth wrote: Cristi wrote: ^ Does he want to get into prog? Because if not, it looks like you are forcing your taste onto him. Nobody likes that.    We are playing the music that each of us likes to see if our horizons can be expanded

Have to say about Floyd "Wish You Were Here" is ok album for the beginners, but I prefer "Animals" and "the Wall" much more. And if Floyd really hits, then "Meddle" and "Atom Heart Mother" are must!

Mortte wrote: Have to say about Floyd "Wish You Were Here" is ok album for the beginners, but I prefer "Animals" and "the Wall" much more. And if Floyd really hits, then "Meddle" and "Atom Heart Mother" are must!

CalebBarth wrote: Logan wrote: I'm going to suggest that he give Opeth's Damnation a try.   Thank you I will check that out! Do you have any more classic prog (ELP, Yes, Genesis) reccomendations?

I was thinking "Did I misread your opening post?" and miss the classic expectation, but I see you edited it to specify classic prog (good to try to explicitly point out such edits to the post if someone responded else it looks like they got it wrong).

Anyway, perhaps he would like to try Pavlov's Dog (if mostly because the singer reminds me of Geddy Lee), maybe Gravy Train, and this I wanted to suggest before, but thought it might be a little out there, but it's a brilliant album I think, Khan's Space Shanty.

EDIT: Hopefully you might be able to get your dad to post here and tell us how it went. By the way, how familiar with Prog would you consider yourself to be? Of course you know your dad's tastes better than we do. It would be helpful to get a feel for what you yourself know in Prog.


Edited by Logan - April 03 2020 at 13:53