Eight II

Far Corner - Risk was my album of the year that year. Otherwise it would have been Thinking Plague, elephant9 or Anna von Hausswolff

Sonar > Thinking Plague

essexboyinwales wrote: Mellotron Storm wrote: BrufordFreak wrote: 2018 to be sure. However, I voted for The Magus due to a feeling that its highly-unusual sound needed some lovin' here. Right? 2018 was in my opinion the last great year for our music. My opinion of course, but covid seems to have affected 2019 and the years that followed. Seeing as Covid didn’t kick off until March 2020 I don’t see how it could have affected 2019! Which I thought was a great year…..

The question often becomes, how informed an opinion is it? My opinion commonly is that if you find a year weak then you just have not explored enough, and/or your interests are, and net is, too narrow. And I don't care to differentiate if it's Prog or not commonly (I don't like the Prog/non-Prog dichotomy often).

2019 had various really great releases for my ears -- it's not one of the strongest years for me, but there are thousands of albums I have not heard that I might get to like if I heard them. I have Lingua Ignota's Caligula at number one (would not be to all tastes to say the least). From 2020, I love Cisnienie's The Brass Album. 2022-2024 were really great years for me in terms of both quantity and (subjective) quality of releases. I did step-up my listening for those years which no doubt made a difference. The more you hear, and the more diversity you can appreciate, the more you might find to appreciate. I sound like a broken record, but at least from the late 50s up, every year is a great year for me as I know releases that I love. Quantity is not my main gauge. I only have two kids but still find them great and would not exchange them for ten different kids. I would have liked one more, but we decided to stick with two.

By the way, this is just an angle of mine (a perspective). I'm not claiming that you are wrong in finding 2018 to be the last great year for music. Of course how much you are into and how much you know is going to be a factor.

Edited by Logan - 8 hours 3 minutes ago at 12:56

Saperlipopette! wrote: either Elephant9-Dodovoodoo or Anna Von Hausswolff-Dead Magic. I have to think about it.

I went with Dodovoodoo as it didn't have any votes. When it came out it was so refreshing, and it has given me a lot of listening pleasure over the years. And if you ever get a chance to catch them live, you've got something to look forward to. A real beast of a power trio.

Olape wrote: Diagonal's debut.

Yes! I was hoping for a vote for this incredible debut. A large 7 piece band that draws on the seventies in different ways.

Mormegil wrote: Pendragon, followed by Ayreon.

Glad to see them get vote. I must admit the Ayreon album doesn't do much for me but it was cool to see all the guests from various styles being part of that.

Saperlipopette! wrote: either Elephant9-Dodovoodoo or Anna Von Hausswolff-Dead Magic. I have to think about it.

Dodovoodoo has it's fans including myself. I guess the thought was with this trio was to play in the style of Miles Davis during his electric period of the early seventies. I wish the electric piano was more in play than the organ but I'm not complaining too much. Great band.

Mellotron Storm wrote: Cristi wrote: There it is! Of course that FATES WARNING connection is strong with Zonder and Vera as your rhythm section.

Well, Kevin played on A Pleasant Shade of Gray and later on Disconnected.

Logan wrote: Anna von Hausswolff's for me. 1998 is a favourite year of mine. My avatar is of a 1998 release and my favourite concert happened in 1998 (but released in 1999) and a couple of my favourite concerts were released that year. Fabulous year. And 2008 has one of my very favourite albums with Portishead's Third (I consider it to be prog related anyway). With 2018, I really love Dead Magic, which gets my vote. I also like the Elpehant9, Far Corner, and UTO particularly. I have preferred the earlier Thinking Plague releases, but should play in Extremis again, which was the first TP album I heard. Last time I heard it I enjoyed it more than I did when I bought the album in I think 2004. I did enjoy the All Traps too.

For 1998 I didn't include Bruford Levin Upper Extremities which is possibly my favourite from that year. Also there's an album by Smith/Coster/Coryell record called "Cause And Affect" which is great. Siddhartha from Turkey released their debut that year. Love that record. As far as what I listed for '98 I'd go with Kevin Moore's Chroma Key record over In Extremis.
Always enjoy your thoughts.

Far Corner – Risk.