Help me for I have discovered Prog

Col_Decker

Obviously my record collection contains some Pink Floyd but I've never got into prog until last month. So far I'm having a bit of the Rush - Moving Pictures, Yes - Yes & Fragile, and Jethro Tull - Aqualung. So what am I missing (insert musical taste joke here)? Hit me up with some required prog listening, the crazier the better.

Jethro Tull = the perfect blend of musical craft and total lunacy. I expect there may have been some drugs involved. 

stickyfiddle

I'm afraid all you'll get from me on this is sympathy...

bloodandtears

Marillion - Script for a Jesters Tear
Marillion - Clutching At Straws
Early Genesis??

From Rush's Moving Pictures why not try the live album A Show Of Hands...

not_the_dj

For Yes you certainly need to check out  "Close to the Edge"

More modern stuff try Steven Wilson "The Raven that Refused to Sing..." he described it himself as his love letter to 70s prog.

Basher

Col_Decker said:

Jethro Tull = the perfect blend of musical craft and total lunacy. I expect there may have been some drugs involved. 

None. At least not where Ian Anderson was concerned. He dislikes them and the way people acted when they took them.

I think the goggle-eyed lunacy was just his schtick. The Americans in particular seem to find it hard to believe he wasn't off his head all the time. Still, the press lapped it up and it seemed to help them shift a few albums (along with the music).

not_the_dj

...also how about "Gentle Giant" they never quite made it to the big league but really interesting and a very British take on the genre.....oh and Kerry Minnear from the band gave me guitar lessons when I was at college.

ICBM

Genesis - Peter Gabriel era. I would recommend Trespass (very early, pre-Collins), Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound. I'm less keen on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway… although I know a lot of Gabriel fans love it. The earlier post-Gabriel albums are good too, although anything after Wind And Wuthering is barely recognisable as Prog.

ELP - patchy. Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery are probably the best albums. Some real genius but also a lot of self-indulgent twaddle with terrible lyrics. (ie stereotypical Prog .)

Alan Parsons Project, Asia… haven't listened to either of them for decades but I remember them as being quite Prog from back in the day.

EricTheWeary

I may be a noted disliker of prog so I'd have to classify Rush and Jethro Tull as my guilty pleasures. Fairport Convention have shared a bassist with Tull for many years and might be worth a listen.

If PhilakaPip were still around he'd be guiding you toward Caravan and their amazing guitarist ( Andy something?). Curved Air were getting some love on here the other day and it's a slightly different sound. I think you could probably also categorise Focus as prog, again amazing guitar and less pompous than many in the genre. 

proggy

Have a listen to King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King.

And as @ICBM has mentioned, anything by Asia, they're a brilliant band.

prowla

Well, you've started with some good 'uns there; I was just watching some Jethro Tull and they were really good!

Kansas - "Leftoverture" is a classic.
Uriah Heep - "The Magician's Brithday" and "Demons & Wizards" are great albums.
ELP are good, but more intense than enjoyable for me.

Most of Rush's stuff is good and "Moving Pictures" is their best; I like "A Farewell To Kings", "Grace Under Pressure", "Signals" and "Clockwork Angels". (Avoid "Feedback" - that's a clunker!)

"Close To The Edge" is probably my favourite album, with "The Yes Album" and "Tales From Topographic Oceans" and of course "Fragile", as you mentioned.

Rick Wakeman's solo stuff around his Yes days "King Arthur" and "Journey" are really good (he even did a show of King Arthur on ice, which was insane!); the two singers work together fantastically well.

Other bands include Greenslade, Renaissance, Nektar, Asia and Gentle Giant (as mentioned already).

Of course there are also Pink Floyd ("Wish You Were Here" is their best) and Genesis (it's "A Trick Of The Tail" for me).

english_bob

If you're sticking with the classic period of prog ('68-'74 ish) then I'd recommend

Yes- The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To The Edge - these are the three albums they're best known for, and probably their best. Listen to Tales From Topographic Oceans if you want to understand what people hate about prog. 

King Crimson- In The Court Of The Crimson King, Red. Bookending the initial run of King Crimson, made by two almost completely different bands (only Fripp is on both) but both equally brilliant. Most of what the band did in between is well worth a listen too - In The Wake Of Poseidon is basically more "In The Court...", Islands, Lark's Tongues In Aspic and Starless and Bible Black are more of a piece with each other, whereas Red is different from any of them - more accessible (which is not to say it's a pop record), better songs and a stripped-down band lineup.

After that I'm a fairly casual prog listener. I quite like Mirage by Camel, although it's more conventional rock music with lyrics about wizards and shit- way less crazy than Yes or KC. I come back to Caravan's In The Land Of Grey And Pink once in a while, but if I'm honest I prefer Yes/KC style terribly, terribly earnest prog to Canterbury-scene whimsy.

Might be worth checking out Soft Machine too- more jazz than rock, but definitely weird. They're a potential gateway to the crazy world of Miles Davis' "electric period" and early jazz fusion too (like prog, fusion eventually disappeared up its own arse, but the early days were great) - if you like mid-period Soft Machine you'll probably enjoy Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way, and probably The Inner Mounting Flame by The Mahavishnu Orchestra.


If you're not desperate to stick to just the "pure" prog from the right time period, Steven Wilson's stuff is a good shout, and the second run of King Crimson ('80-'84) is well worth checking out- very different again from anything the '68-'74 KC did. Discipline is the one to start with, it's fantastic.

I also really like an American band called White Denim- their earliest and most recent stuff doesn't fit the prog tag so well, but have a listen to D and Corsicana Lemonade.

english_bob

EricTheWeary said:

If PhilakaPip were still around he'd be guiding you toward Caravan and their amazing guitarist ( Andy something?). 

I think you're thinking of Camel, and Andy Latimer. 

octatonic

King Crimson.

In the Court is my least favourite of theirs.
Disciple, Larks Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, Red, Thrak, Vroom, B'Boom, Beat, 3 of a perfect pair and construKtion of light are all better albums imho.

not_the_dj

english_bob said:

EricTheWeary said:

If PhilakaPip were still around he'd be guiding you toward Caravan and their amazing guitarist ( Andy something?). 

I think you're thinking of Camel, and Andy Latimer. 

Indceed, on behalf of PhilakaPip we should insist on "Snow Goose" being included in this thread.

Col_Decker

Cheers guys. BTW this all started when our band leader came to us all excited saying we'd asked by a venue if we could support some chap called Martin Barre and his band at a gig. Who's he I asked ....

Anyway we couldn't do the gig as they only wanted a 3 piece outfit. Bugger.

axisus

I'm a massive prog fan, it's my favourite thing.

Lots of good stuff mentioned. 

A few of my essential prog records:

Yes: Going for the one

ELP: triple live album

Genesis: Selling England by the pound

Marillion: Script for a jesters tear

Marillion: Fugazi

Pendragon: Masquerade overture

Big Big Train: English electric full power

Big Big Train: The Underfall Yard
Dream Theater: Images and words
Dream Theater: Scenes from a memory

english_bob

prowla said:

"Close To The Edge" is probably my favourite album, with "The Yes Album" and "Tales From Topographic Oceans" and of course "Fragile", as you mentioned.

   I really wanted to like "Tales". Honest I did. The three albums preceding it are bloody marvellous (and yes, I'd probably put "Close To The Edge" right up there as one of my favourites too, but "Tales" is overlong and monumentally dull.

Jalapeno

Early Genesis - pure prog, probably up to Trick of the Tail.  They survived Gabriel's departure, but once Steve Hackett left the rot set in.

But more endorsements for King Crimsom, Steve Hackett, and Steve Wilson from me

TheBigDipper

Yes - up to and including "Relayer"
Genesis - up to and including "A Trick Of The Tail"
Van Der Graaf Generator - "Pawn Hearts", "Godbluff", "Still Life" and "World Record". Their recent stuff since 2005 (esp. "A Grounding In Numbers" ) is an example of old gits still being creative rather than retreading old ground and becoming their own tribute act.
Magma - "Mechanik Destruktiv Kommandoh" 
King Crimson - apart from the three made in the early '70s with John Wetton and Bill Bruford, the three made in the '80s with Adrian Belew and Tony Levin are also great - "Discipline", "Beat", "Three of a Perfect Pair". 
Steven Wilson - "Hand. Cannot. Erase" is a joy and an emotional journey from start to finish and should only be listened to in one go. 

JezWynd

TheBigDipper said:

Van Der Graaf Generator - "Pawn Hearts", "Godbluff", "Still Life" and "World Record". Their recent stuff since 2005 (esp. "A Grounding In Numbers" ) is an example of old gits still being creative rather than retreading old ground and becoming their own tribute act.

Good call. H to He is an excellent album. Is Pawn Hearts the one with A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers? Very prog!

Gentle Giant, Magna Carta, Fruup, all progish.

EricTheWeary

english_bob said:

EricTheWeary said:

If PhilakaPip were still around he'd be guiding you toward Caravan and their amazing guitarist ( Andy something?). 

I think you're thinking of Camel, and Andy Latimer. 

Ahh, that's the one. He sent me some stuff once and I think I upset him by saying it was nonsense about wizards but with great guitar solos. In retrospect I was probably a bit rude...  ...but great guitarist though...