What was the first Prog Album?

Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (1956)

I haven't been around these forums enough to know but I will say this is a pretty interesting discussion and I am interested to see if someone finds something that is earlier.

ITCOTKC is the correct answer.But there are important strands that lead to this.Ars Long Vita Brevis,Days Of Future Passed,Sgt Peppers and Procal's debut are all massively important of course.

scatterplot1 wrote: I'd say drug induced late 60's psychedelic stuph like Traffic "Dear Mr. Fantasy" or Iron Butterfly "InnaGadaDaVida" and "Ball".  Some of the songs on those albums certainly met the criteria for prog. Then there was Byrds "Eight Miles High" and "The Notorious Byrd Brothers". Then there were the long Doors tunes from "Strange Days", etc....

In My Humble Opinion About  Progressive Rock Music ! As A 57 Years old Prog Fan , There Was No Progressive Music Before 1970 , The Psychadelic Mania , Progressive Blues Rock  , Jazz Fusion , and Symphonic Prog Rock Start to Be Recognized ( World Wide ) in 1971 . 2 Years After Woodstock , , in 1971 , Things Start To Happen , Competition Between Bands , Solo Artists , Label Companies , Radio Stations , NewsPapers & Magazines ( I Can't Really Count Hundreds of Them ) Start To Believe That A New Impact is Gonna Happen In the Music Business ! The Start Was From Europe ! England , France , Germany , Italy , Holland , Belgium , Greece , Ireland , Spain , Austria , &  Scandinavia ( as a Pilot , I Was Witnessing Things Happening ) Progressive Rock Music Wasn't Tolerated in America , as a Continent , With Some Exceptions ! The Beatles , The Doors , Elvis , Canned Heat , G,S,N,& Y , Traffic , Hendrix ,  Ten Years After  & Cactus , Gave in their compositions at that time a new Blend to the Primal Category of Music , Classical , Rock , Blues & Jazz , and for sure Pop Music ! Who Can Say That the 22 minutes of Get Ready's Rare Earth is Not Progressive Music ! I Believe no One , But Things Start to Happen Really in 1971 , the Competition between Bands & Label Companies was Really At Very High Levels ( i use to have a music magazine based in Lebanon , but distributed in the Middle East ) But Yes , Maybe The Floyd's , The Crimson's , Yes , Caravan , The Softs & Genesis got the Chance to be Listed on the Wall of Fame as the Ancestors , and Yes , They're Damn Good , but there is more than a thousands of bands & artists , that contributed one way or another in the Making of 5 Generations of Proggers around the World !

Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues (released in November 1967) should be the first prog rock album, as well as the first symphonic prog album.

The discussion of "What is the first progressive album" should end when you listen to Days of Future Passed. -- quote from one of the reviews.

Edited by Arnold_Layne - July 24 2010 at 09:34

I Believe this Discussion is not gonna end the way it must be , so keep on progging your way !!!

I don't know which was the first, and it depends what one means by Prog, but I just want to mention that I consider David Axelrod's 1968 album, Song of Innocence, to be a kind of Prog (as PA music goes), and I love it.

Logan wrote: I don't know which was the first, and it depends what one means by Prog, but I just want to mention that I consider David Axelrod's 1968 album, Song of Innocence, to be a kind of Prog (as PA music goes), and I love it.