Imagine you had a friend who revealed that they had no idea what Prog was. After the spluttering and shaking of head in disbelief, you undertake to educate them. "But wait," they say."I am just about to go on a long road trip. Give me ten albums that will educate me about this Prog stuff".
What albums do you give them, and why?
If he's an Oz rocker 10 albums of Kylie. If he's a Kylie fan 10 of AC/DC. Stick a copy of sergeant pepper and Milliontown in and you're sorted
Quote from: Rook on April 29, 2014, 09:33:02 AM
Imagine you had a friend who revealed that they had no idea what Prog was. After the spluttering and shaking of head in disbelief, you undertake to educate them. "But wait," they say."I am just about to go on a long road trip. Give me ten albums that will educate me about this Prog stuff".
What albums do you give them, and why?
When is your friend leaving?
Is the vehicle fitted with a record player?
Will the sleeves get damp on the trip?
If he has only got a record player he's stuffed because I've only got cd's and downloads
Maybe up there you use "album" specificaly to mean a vinyl record, but elsewhere it is used to denote a collection of songs. An album can be released on Vinyl, CD, Cassette, download, 8 Track, Minidisk etc. For example: http://www.apple.com/au/itunes/charts/albums/
album (ˈælbəm)
— n
1. a book or binder consisting of blank pages, pockets, or envelopes for keeping photographs, stamps, autographs, drawings, poems, etc
2. one or more CDs, cassettes, or long-playing records released as a single item
3. a booklike holder containing sleeves for gramophone records
4. chiefly ( Brit ) an anthology, usually large and illustrated
[C17: from Latin: blank tablet, from albus white]
Quote from: lyn on April 30, 2014, 11:27:41 PM
Will the sleeves get damp on the trip?
Not if they use an umberella.
Rook, does this mean the Beatles White Album is a tautology?
In a moment of madness I'll go for a strait answer.
Every 3rd album that was on Jem's list when he researched prog.
It spawned Milliontown 8)
Wuss
Quote from: owen on May 01, 2014, 11:27:34 AM
Wuss
OK then
Hemispheres - Rush, reason La Villa Strangiato
Triology - ELP, one of my first, if not the first prog album
Wish you were here - Pink Floyd, longest chord in the history of prog
Live at the Rainbow - Focus, Hocus Pocus still alive today
Here's mine:
*Pink Floyd - The Wall. The grand daddy of concept albums (not the first, I'll admit, but pretty definitive IMHO)
*Yes - Close to the Edge. Or Fragile. Or Relayer. But Probably CTTE.
*Jethro Tull - Aqualung. Demonstrates some of the folk leanings in Prog nicely.
*Rush - Moving Pictures. Look, people on the American continent can do it too!
*Dream Theater - Images and Words. The album that launched a million "me too" Prog Metal bands
*Cynic - Focus. Death Metal plus Mahavishnu Orchestra equals technical brilliance.
*Periphery- Periphery. To cover the modern Djenty end of prog.
*Marillion - ooh, what to pick. Would like to pick both a Fish and a Hogarth album to cover bases, but... I'll go with Brave, 'cause it is a corker and a personal fave.
*Symphony X - The Odyssey. Pantera meets Malmsteen meets Queen, and at a pinch it can give a nod to the Power Metal regions of Progdom.
*Frost* - The Rockfield Files. A nice collection of songs from everyone's fave band
Blimey, it seems a bit wrong to not be including any King Crimson or Genesis, and Neoprog got a bit of a short shift there; no IQ, Arena, Saga, Pallas. Also seems wrong to miss Fates Warning, who were just as influential to early Prog Metal as Rush and Dream Theater. But I think I at least got most of the flavours of Prog covered in a somewhat accessible manner.
Quote from: Mikey on May 01, 2014, 10:17:37 AM
Every 3rd album that was on Jem's list when he researched prog.
I don't suppose such a list is extant?
Quote from: Rook on May 01, 2014, 07:00:00 AM
Maybe up there you use "album" specificaly to mean a vinyl record, but elsewhere it is used to denote a collection of songs. An album can be released on Vinyl, CD, Cassette, download, 8 Track, Minidisk etc. For example: http://www.apple.com/au/itunes/charts/albums/
album (ˈælbəm)
— n
1. a book or binder consisting of blank pages, pockets, or envelopes for keeping photographs, stamps, autographs, drawings, poems, etc
2. one or more CDs, cassettes, or long-playing records released as a single item
3. a booklike holder containing sleeves for gramophone records
4. chiefly ( Brit ) an anthology, usually large and illustrated
[C17: from Latin: blank tablet, from albus white]
No, I was just teasing ;) Up here we sometimes call it "taking the p*ss"!
Still working on my list...
List by year of release:
- King Crimson - Red (1974)
- Genesis - A Trick of the Tail (1976)
- Rush - Power Windows (1985)
- Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory (1999)
- Frost* - Milliontown (2004)
- Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet (2007) (Alt. Choice is Deadwing)
- It Bites - The Tall Ships (2008)
- Karnivool - Sound Awake (2009)
- Periphery - Periphery II (2012)
- Big Big Train - English Electric: Full Power (2013)
It's so difficult to make a list that doesn't exclude really commendable bands/albums.
With prog being so much about changing things going forward you could make the list using just one prog band alone and it would probably still work.
Oh, alright
Sergeant Pepper: Beatles
Close to the edge: Yes
The hounds of love: KB
Remedy Lane: Pain of Salvation
Milliontown: *
Moving pictures: Rush
Picture: Kino
Crime of the century: Supertramp
In Absentia: Porcupine Tree
Seconds Out (is that cheating?) : Genesis
So no Tull or ELP. I'll change my mind in the morning
Fruupp - Modern Masquerades
Hawkwind - Hall of the Mountain Grill
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffitti
Steve Hillage - Green
Barclay James Harvest - Octoberon
Rush - Grace Under Pressure
Twelfth Night
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet
Frost* - Experiments in Mass Appeal
DS - RPM
That'll do for today! It will probably change by tomorrow...
I'm probably the worst person to ask for a list of Prog, as my range of prog that I listen to is quite narrow.
So here are the albums that got me into prog in the order that I discovered them
Dream Theater - Images & Words
Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb sun
Spock's Beard - The Light
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Devin Townsend - Terria **
Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever
Frost* - Milliontown
It Bites - The Tall Ships
Kino - Picture
** Whilst not everything Devin Townsend produces would be considered prog rock by most, in my opinion Devin is one of the most progressive artists around constantly evolving and changing the style of music he produces.
Quote from: lyn on May 01, 2014, 09:19:37 PM
DS - RPM
Shurely shome mishtake! :o
(The cheque's in the post Lyn...)Allowed myself 5 of the old guard and 5 of the new(er) bands.
Rush – Moving Pictures (a 3 man symphony orchestra)
Genesis – Trick of the Tail (I'm a huge PG fan but this is the 1st album I got into of theirs)
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (Shine On – nuff said!)
Yes – Talk (could have gone for CTTE, GFTO or 90125 but I think strikes the balance between complexity & accessibility)
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (I prefer Incantations & Ommadawn but classics don't get much bigger)
Frost* - Milliontown (I don't need to say anymore here, do I?)
It Bites – The Tall Ships (masterpiece)
Marillion – Misplaced Childhood (hook them in with Kayleigh and then explore more)
IQ – Subterranea (modern concept double album – so much better than Topo Oceans...)
Porcupine Tree – Deadwing (Mr Wilson is a modern prog icon. Not much in it between this & Fear of a Blank Planet)
Hmm, tricky, especially as has been already said this list could change from day today, and what some call prog may not be what others would. "One man's saint is another man's fool, one man's hot is another man's cool." But ok here goes.
War of the worlds, Jeff Lin
Nersary Crimes, Genesis
Spectral Mornings, (No Hackett on this list yet? Really?) :)
White White Album Album, Beatles
GFTO, Yes
Million Town, erm can't remember who did that one
War and Peace and Other Short Stories, Sean Filkins
The Black Forest, Agents of Mercy (There's that many bloody bands Roin Stolt has been in, but thats just one of my favourites)
The Underfall yard, BBT
Beneath the Waves, Kompendium (Got it 3 weeks ago and can't stop listening)
I'd also say to my prog ignoramus friend of which I have many, "If you've got a spare couple of bags, i'll chuck in every Hackett release, every Genesis release, and ... oh scrap that its just gonna get silly." Also as a free bonus i'd burn them a copy of my new album which I shouldn't do cos i'm rather hoping to sell some and it's not been released yet.
Interesting to see other people mentioning beatles. I tried to explain to a couple of my mates when we were all having a few bevies about prog. They were beeing extremely disparaging about it, and I said "Do you like Queen a Night at the opera? Do you like Beatles white album? Do you like Hendrix? Do you like the doors? Well you probably like prog then." I thought they might actually strike me. Lol
Not exactly easy... only 10? Hard to do the smorgasbord of prog in that little meagre selection :D
Anyway... my choices:
Clutching at Straws - probably my favourite of the Fish era
Genesis - accesible, poppy, but still with proggy elements.
Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds - one of my earliest exposures to prog I guess :)
Moving Pictures - again, accesible prog from my all-time favourite band
Omce Around The World - As DS went moder iB, I'll go for the classics :D
Wish You Were Here - what DS said!
The Yes Album - having heard this live yesterday... essential stuff!
Images and Words - the original and the best :)
The Philadelphia Experiment - <carlsberg>Probably the best live album in the world...</carlsberg>
The Wake - post punk prog didn't get much better...
Well, it looks like I'm going to have to order "The Tall Ships". It Bites wasn't on my radar at all untill after getting in to Frost*, and I perused a bit of the old stuff on youtube and to be honestr wasn't blown away. Then when "Map of the Past" came out and you lot made such an ado about it here, I picked it up, and it was Damn good. So it you lot are picking "The tTall Ships", implying it might be better...
I think I need to go a second round, and there was a lot of crossover with other choices here:
War of the Worlds - Jeff Wayne. My introduction to Prog.
Genesis - Foxtrot. Or really any of the early albums.
Three of a perfect pair - King Crimson. "No, there isn't anything wrong with your stereo. It is supposed to sound like that." Actual quote.
Cluching at Straws - Marillion. Any of the fish ones would do though.
Deadwing - Porcupine Tree.Might upgrade a few indy rock fans to Prog fans with this one...
Empire - Queensryche. Hearing this was a revelation. THAT! That is the kind of music I want to make!
Metallica - ...And Justice for All. First album I ever bought, and stamped indelibly on my rhythm guitar playing and writing. I count it as Prog Metal.
For Love and the Art of the Making - Beyond Twilight. Have you heard this album?
Fates Warning - Parallels. Probably their most commercial, but an accesible gateway to the world of FW.
The Visitor - Arena. Or Immortal? Either way...
And there are still more!
I love Map of the Past, but yes, I think that Tall Ships is better. And if you want even more, with maybe a titch more rockiness, grab Picture, by Kino.
"Jeff Lin?" Hahahaha. Did I smoke something without realising?
Deffo agree with Rog