FULL LIST: ALL Epics by Every Major Prog Band - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Hello again, everyone! I have a compulsion of sorts to create random stat-based lists that are subsequently turned into Spotify playlists (see my past threads Top 300 Prog Rock Tracks (based on RYM ratings) or Top 500 Prog Metal Tracks (based on RYM ratings)), and this time it has taken me to creating a list of all epic songs by every band featured in ProgArchives' top 250 albums with at least 500 ratings.

While the theme was self-explanatory, I had to come up with an answer to these three deceptively simple questions to even begin working on the list:

- What is an epic?

There's no single answer! Some songs get more done within a shorter length than much longer tracks, yet it seemed like length would be the simplest metric to uphold. A quick Google search for how long an epic needs to be got me to this very website's forums, where the most common response in the poll was over 15 minutes. This is exactly what I used as the cutoff line. This means Yes has 7 songs in the playlist, Genesis and King Crimson have 1 each and Pink Floyd has 4 for instance.

- What is prog?

Again, some kind of metric was expected, so I went with the ProgArchives database and the tags over at RateYourMusic to decide what would and what wouldn't make the list. For instance, Devin Townsend and Porcupine Tree both have prog-unrelated ambient tracks above 15 mins that I excluded for that reason. I don't personally feel Tangerine Dream until after Phaedra is prog, but the tag over at RYM says 'Progressive Electronic', so I followed the rules I'd established myself. I generally relied on tags where I clearly lacked knowledge of a given artist's ouevre, but there may still be rough imperfections that with some cooperative work could be alleviated.

- What is a song?

Another question that makes me sound braindead, without which the idea cannot really be adequately fulfilled. Is Shine On You Crazy Diamond a single song or two? What about Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence? Knowing more about the artist's intention each individual case would surely help, and I mostly used my intuition to see it through, so in some cases it's a bit arbitrary.

Spotify playlist

Here comes the full list. 259 epics total by 73 unique artists, with the Spotify playlist reaching 96 hours 44 minutes in running time.

No. of Songs	Band	Song
7	Yes	Close to the Edge
		The Revealing Science of God (Dance of the Dawn)
		The Remembering (High the Memory)
		The Ancient / Giants Under the Sun
		Ritual (Nous Sommes du Soleil)
		The Gates of Delirium
		Awaken
1	Genesis	Supper's Ready
4	Pink Floyd	Atom Heart Mother Suite
		Echoes
		Shine On You Crazy Diamond
		Dogs
1	King Crimson	Lizard
2	Jethro Tull	Thick as a Brick
		A Passion Play
3	Van Der Graaf Generator	A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers
		Meurglys III (The Songwriters Guild)
		Squid/Octopus
3	Rush	The Fountain Of Lamneth
		2112
		Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres
2	Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso	Il giardino del mago
		Canto nomade per un prigioniero politico
3	Änglagård	Höstsejd
		Ur vilande
		Snårdom
4	Frank Zappa	Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra And Chorus
		The Mothers Of Invention \| The Little House I Used To Live In
		Big Swifty
		The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary
1	Harmonium	Histoires Sans Paroles
5	Wobbler	Hinterland
		Clair Obscur
		Imperial Winter White
		From Silence to Somewhere
		Merry Macabre
2	Caravan	Nine Feet Underground
		The Dabsong Conshirtoe
1	Renaissance	Song of Scheherazade
1	Supertramp	Brother Where You Bound
7	Dream Theater	A Change of Seasons
		Octavarium
		Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
		In the Presence of Enemies
		The Count of Tuscany
		Illumination Theory
		A View from the Top of the World
1	Museo Rosenbach	Zarathustra
1	Steven Wilson	Raider II
2	Peter Hammill	Gog Magog (In Bromine Chambers)
		Flight
9	Mike Oldfield	Tubular Bells
		Hergest Ridge
		Ommadawn
		Incantations
		Taurus II
		Crises
		Amarok
		Music From The Balcony
		Return To Ommadawn
7	Porcupine Tree	Phase I
		Phase II
		Phase III
		Phase IV
		The Sky Moves Sideways
		Moon Loop (Improvisation)
		Anesthetize
1	Opeth	Black Rose Immortal
1	Mahavishnu Orchestra	Hymn to Him (with London Symphony Orchestra)
8	Magma	Riah sahiltaahk
		Kohntarkosz
		Köhntark
		Mëkanïk zaïn
		De futura
		K.a
		Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré
		Zess (Le jour du néant)
1	Robert Wyatt	The Animals' Film
1	Chick Corea	Sometime Ago / La Fiesta
5	Marillion	Grendel
		This Strange Engine
		Ocean Cloud
		Interior Lulu
		Gaza
2	All Traps On Earth	All Traps on Earth
		Magmatic Warning
1	Hatfield & The North	Mumps
3	Focus	Eruption
		Anonymus Two
		Hamburger Concerto
2	Edge Of Sanity	Crimson
		Crimson II
2	Emerson, Lake & Palmer	Tarkus
		Karn Evil 9
1	Riverside	Second Life Syndrome
7	IQ	The Last Human Gateway
		The Narrow Margin
		Harvest Of Souls
		Without Walls
		For Another Lifetime
		The Great Spirit Way
		Fallout
1	Bubu	El Cortejo de un Día Amarillo
1	Pain of Salvation	The Passing Light of Day
1	Il Balletto di Bronzo	Introduzione
1	TOOL	7empest
15	Tangerine Dream	Alpha Centauri
		Birth of Liquid Plejades
		Nebulous Dawn
		Origin of Supernatural Probabilities
		Zeit
		Atem
		Phaedra
		Rubycon
		Madrigal Meridian
		Force Majeure
		Tangram
		Mojave Plan
		Sphinx Lightning
		Green Desert
		Livemiles
3	Phideaux	Chupacabras
		Waiting For the Axe To Fall
		Snowtorch
6	Big Big Train	The Underfall Yard
		The Wide Open Sea
		East Coast Racer
		A Mead Hall in Winter
		Brooklands Sequence
		Atlantic Cable
2	Eloy	Land Of No Body
		Atlantis' Agony At June 5th, 8498, 13 p.m. Gregorian Earthtime
4	Haken	Celestial Elixir
		Visions
		The Architect (feat. Einar Solberg)
		Messiah Complex
2	The Mars Volta	Cassandra Gemini
		Tetragrammaton
8	Transatlantic	All of the Above
		My New World
		In Held ('Twas) in I
		Duel with the Devil
		Stranger in Your Soul
		The Whirlwind
		Into the Blue
		Kaleidoscope
3	Discipline.	Into the Dream
		Before the Storm
		Rogue
12	Motorpsycho	Demon Box
		The Wheel
		JAGA JAZZIST HORNS
		Suite: Little Lucid Moments
		Gullible's Travails
		Through the Veil
		Ratcatcher
		Big Black Dog
		A Pacific Sonata
		The Crucible
		N.O.X. IV: Night of Pan
		Chariot Of The Sun
4	Soft Machine	Facelift
		Slightly All The Time
		Moon In June
		Out-Bloody-Rageous
1	Uriah Heep	Salisbury
12	Neal Morse	A Whole Nother Trip
		The Creation
		The Separated Man
		The Door
		The Conflict
		The Conclusion
		So Many Roads
		Seeds of Gold
		World Without End
		Alive Again
		Not Afraid, Pt. 2
		Beyond the Years
5	Beardfish	Sleeping In Traffic
		Until You Comply/Entropy
		And the Stone Said: If I Could Speak
		Note
		If We Must Be Apart (A Love Story Continued)
1	Devin Townsend	Singularity
8	Spock's Beard	The Light
		The Water
		Time Has Come
		Flow
		At The End Of The Day
		The Great Nothing
		From The Darkness
		Jaws Of Heaven
1	Comus	The Malgaard Suite - Live in 1972
6	Sylvan	A Fairytale Ending
		Artificial Paradise
		Chapter 2: Share the World with Me
		Chapter 3: The Words You Hide
		Chapter 4: The Waters I Traveled
		Chapter 5: Farewell to Old Friends
1	Kate Bush	An Endless Sky Of Honey
2	Gryphon	Midnight Mushrumps
		(Ein Klein) Heldenleben
2	Symphony X	The Divine Wings of Tragedy
		The Odyssey
4	Moon Safari	We Spin the World
		Methuselah's Children
		Other Half of the Sky
		Lover's End Pt. III: Skellefteå Serenade
2	Arena	Moviedrome
		The Legend of Elijah Shade
3	Gazpacho	Dream of Stone
		Space Cowboy
		Sapien
3	Liquid Tension Experiment	Three Minute Warning
		When the Water Breaks
		Ya Mon
7	CAN	You Doo Right
		Halleluhwah
		Aumgn
		Bel Air
		Animal Waves
		Cutaway
		Graublau
6	Amon Düül II	Phallus Dei
		Yeti
		Syntelman's March of the Roaring Seventies
		Restless Skylight-Transistor-Child
		Chamsin: The Marilyn Monroe-Meomorial-Church
		Tatzelwurmloch
1	Hawkwind	You Shouldn't Do That
2	Nektar	A Tab in the Ocean
		Remember The Future
1	The Alan Parsons Project	The Turn of a Friendly Card
10	The Flower Kings	Stardust We Are
		Garden of Dreams
		I Am the Sun
		The Truth Will Set You Free
		Devil's Playground
		Love Supreme
		Driver's Seat
		Monsters & Men
		Love Is the Only Answer
		Numbers
2	Karmakanic	Send a Message From the Heart
		Dot_God the Universe and Everything Else No One Really Cares About, Pt. I
4	Pendragon	Not Of This World
		World's End
		The Wishing Well
		Comatose
4	Anubis	Disinfected and Abused
		The Passing Bell
		A Room with a View
		Pages of Stone
3	Echolyn	Mei
		Shades
		Island
2	Comedy of Errors	Wonderland
		Summer Lies Beyond

Here are the Band Rankings according to the number of epics they are represented by on the list:

15 Tangerine Dream
12 Motorpsycho, Neal Morse
10 The Flower Kings
9 Mike Oldfield
8 Magma, Transatlantic, Spock's Beard
7 Yes, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, IQ, CAN
6 Big Big Train, Sylvan, Amon Düül II
5 Wobbler, Marillion, Beardfish
4 Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Haken, Soft Machine, Moon Safari, Pendragon, Anubis
3 Van Der Graaf Generator, Rush, Änglagård, Focus, Phideaux, Discipline., Gazpacho, Liquid Tension Experiment, Echolyn
2 Jethro Tull, Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso, Caravan, Peter Hammill, All Traps On Earth, Edge Of Sanity, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Eloy, The Mars Volta, Gryphon, Symphony X, Arena, Nektar, Karmakanic, Comedy of Errors
1 Genesis, King Crimson, Harmonium, Renaissance, Supertramp, Museo Rosenbach, Steven Wilson, Opeth, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Robert Wyatt, Chick Corea, Hatfield & The North, Riverside, Bubu, Pain of Salvation, Il Balletto di Bronzo, TOOL, Uriah Heep, Devin Townsend, Comus, Kate Bush, Hawkwind, The Alan Parsons Project

And to top it off, have a Top 30 Longest Prog Epics!

1.    77:00 Transatlantic – The Whirlwind
2.    72:00 Mile Oldfield - Incantations
3.    59:26 The Flower Kings - Garden of Dreams
4.    57:04 Tangerine Dream – Livemiles
5.    49:28 Echolyn - Mei
6.    49:18 Mile Oldfield - Tubular Bells
7.    48:49 Magma - K.a
8.    46:21 Magma - Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré
9.    45:06 Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
10.    43:50 Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
11.    43:00 Edge of Sanity – Crimson II
12.    42:09 Mile Oldfield - Return To Ommadawn
13.    42:05 Kate Bush – An Endless Sky of Honey
14.    42:02 Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
15.    40:19 Tangerine Dream – Tangram
16.    40:00 Edge of Sanity – Crimson
17.    38:09 Mile Oldfield - Hergest Ridge
18.    37:57 Magma - Zess (Le jour du néant)
19.    36:25 Mile Oldfield - Ommadawn
20.    36:12 Phideaux – Snowtorch
21.    35:44 Beardfish – Sleeping in Traffic
22.    35:40 Nektar – Remember the Future
23.    35:32 Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways
24.    34:58 Tangerine Dream – Rubycon
25.    33:38 Neal Morse – World Without End
26.    32:32 The Mars Volta – Cassandra Gemini
27.    31:54 Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
28.    31:45 Frank Zappa - Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra And Chorus
29.    31:44 Moon Safari – Other Half of the Sky
30.    31:28 Magma – Kohntarkosz

I hope any of the resources above can be of some use, and I'm curious what possible improvements to the list could be welcome.

One thing on my to-do list at present would be to continue the list with other bands' epics. Say, why exactly do Comedy of Errors and Anubis have representation on the list but Collage and La Maschera Di Cera don't? An exhaustive list of every notable prog epic ever recorded would be great to have sometime down the line.

I'm digging the playlist generated as a result of this project, and I'll be looking to correct or consider correcting some of the inconsistancies that no doubt permeate the list based on what is pointed out in this thread.

Edited by Trickster F. - July 14 2023 at 23:37