An appropriate introduction.......

Mostly Autumn - Shrinking Violet

Or

Porcupine Trees - baby dream in cellephane

Either "Dogs", "Lady Fantasy", "Tarkus", "Grendel", "Close to the Edge" or "Supper's Ready"... it's just so hard (not to mention unfair to the progger to be), to provide in one single dosage the needed amount of music to hook the victim on prog rock!

 

Edited by landberkdoten

I think I would try them out with Solar Music Live and then try them out with some shorter tracks such as Lucky Man by ELP and The Wizard by Uriah Heep.

Hi there, what a great site, I just joined, and I can see I have a lot of ground to cover. I will do it with pleasure!

I'd consider several songs/groups as a way to introduce someone to prog - probably starting with the more accessible and those that made it to the mainstream, such as Kansas' "Dust in the Wind", Tull's "Thick as a Brick", Yes' "And You and I" or "All Good People", ELP's "Lucky Man", etc. I'd want someone to get a feel for prog and also notice the differences between it and straight-ahead rock...then I'd move onto music that defines the genre more, especially from a historic standpoint; I'm thinking some choice cuts from Genesis' "Selling England by the Pound", and "Trick of the Tail", lessee, everything by Yes from "The Yes Album" through "Going for the One", ( I'm a big, big fan of Yes from this era ) ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery", "Trilogy" Spock's Beard's "Beware of Darkness" or "V" There's an album by Ambrosia called "Somewhere I've Never Travelled", which is amazing prog, but not "out there" by any means...lately I've been getting into a band from Sweden called Ritual - same deal.

And that's just an intro!

Speaking of intros, hi, I'm Amy, aka Roan's Lady. My user name, for those who may not know, is derived from the story of Roan in Yes' "Turn of the Century", which is to me, one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of music and poetry ever to be created.
I see some names I recognize from other places on the 'net, a nice surprise! As is discovering this site, which looks to be a new addition to my musical playground. Looking forward to lots of exploration here!

Roan's Lady wrote: Hi there, what a great site, I just joined, and I can see I have a lot of ground to cover. I will do it with pleasure! Speaking of intros, hi, I'm Amy, aka Roan's Lady. My user name, for those who may not know, is derived from the story of Roan in Yes' "Turn of the Century", which is to me, one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of music and poetry ever to be created. I see some names I recognize from other places on the 'net, a nice surprise! As is discovering this site, which looks to be a new addition to my musical playground. Looking forward to lots of exploration here!

Welcome, Amy! It's always nice to have another lady here (Gdub can only do so much!) -- sometimes we need the perspective! I hope that you fare better here than your namesake did in the song!

It is a truly lovely song, though, isn't it? It has moved me, a mere brute of a man, to tears more than once....

Beauty in art (and, in life: love, truth, honour, compassion, etc.) is very important to me. The same species that makes landmines for laughing children to step on also creates magnificent symphonies and operas, great poems and books, lovely sculptures and paintings. To create beauty is to be elevated to the stature of the angels. Perhaps art is the one thing which we could point to, to stave off our destruction by any "vengeful God."

Enough -- the ever-cynical young death-metal fans are squirming!

Welcome again, and BEWARE THE ADVANCES OF THE EVIL CLOWN and the RED LOVER!

I have a friend who is a huge fan of the psychedelic movement, so I decided to play him Transatlantic's cover of Proctol Harum's In Held (Twas) in I, and ever since he has been addicted to prog.

Another friend of mine is a fan of Electronica, so I played him Saga's 13th generation, and he just loved the groove.

This, of course, is because prog transcends all styles of music, and instead draws from them all to create superior music.

Interesting idea Nerevar, and having given this quite a bit of thought (I really should get a life), I think I'd agree with Certif1ed on this one with Firth Of Fifth -

It has a fairly straightforward song structure, yet contains some of Gabriel's finest lyrics and one of his best vocal performances - on top of this, you have splendid solos by Banks and (especially) Hackett.

I think if this song were played to anyone with a liking of well played music, whatever that may mean to them, this would point them at Genesis for a second listen, and thence........... who knows?

Just not Pallas - OK?

Roan's Lady wrote: Hi there, what a great site, I just joined, and I can see I have a lot of ground to cover. I will do it with pleasure! I'd consider several songs/groups as a way to introduce someone to prog - probably starting with the more accessible and those that made it to the mainstream, such as Kansas' "Dust in the Wind", Tull's "Thick as a Brick", Yes' "And You and I" or "All Good People", ELP's "Lucky Man", etc. I'd want someone to get a feel for prog and also notice the differences between it and straight-ahead rock...then I'd move onto music that defines the genre more, especially from a historic standpoint; I'm thinking some choice cuts from Genesis' "Selling England by the Pound", and "Trick of the Tail", lessee, everything by Yes from "The Yes Album" through "Going for the One", ( I'm a big, big fan of Yes from this era ) ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery", "Trilogy" Spock's Beard's "Beware of Darkness" or "V" There's an album by Ambrosia called "Somewhere I've Never Travelled", which is amazing prog, but not "out there" by any means...lately I've been getting into a band from Sweden called Ritual - same deal. And that's just an intro! Speaking of intros, hi, I'm Amy, aka Roan's Lady. My user name, for those who may not know, is derived from the story of Roan in Yes' "Turn of the Century", which is to me, one of the most beautiful and moving pieces of music and poetry ever to be created. I see some names I recognize from other places on the 'net, a nice surprise! As is discovering this site, which looks to be a new addition to my musical playground. Looking forward to lots of exploration here!

Hi Amy/Roan's Lady. Good suggestions and let me add my welcome to you. I hope you like what you see and stick around for some of the more 'robust' conversations. Lots of interesting guys and girls here who are never short of an opinion or two but are nearly always fun to hear from. There are a few of individuals here (no names - reedlover, velvet clown, gdub, peter, threefates, blacksword, james, etc, etc) who have had me rolling around on the floor with laughter a few times. Clever and funny people.
 

Nerevar wrote: I don't really agree with the way a lot of you want to introduce people to prog. It shouldn't be about showing the recipient the most accessible prog tracks, to see if he/she likes it. Those tracks doesn't really stimulate the person the right way at all. If you wanted someone to like Haggis, the first step wouldn't be serving them lamb chops. Those of our fellow brethren only waiting to be converted to prog rockers, should be shown prog for what it really is, not for the easily digestable exceptions, which most people are bound to like anyways. My introduction to prog was simply a friend of mine playing some ELP, and I was just baffled by the complexity and ingenuity of the music and just wanted to know where I could get hold of some more. I belive some people, which have been malnutritioned by poppy, predictable music, will show a genuine interest for complex music, if presented to it the right way. It should be unnecessary to recruit under false pretences and provide the smoothest ride possible. Back in the days, they used to baptize new seamen by throwing them off the boat, only attached to a line of rope, and pull them around for a while. A rather rocky start, but a real testimony to the hardship they would face later on. So, give people a real taste of prog pie with all of its magical flavors, and if they don't respond to it all... their loss.

My thoughts exactly. Generally I play people Close to the Edge, as it was the track that got me into prog and I think is very indicative of the whole progressive mindset. Beauty, majesty and complexity. Rock, Folk, Jazz and Classical elements.  Fantastic musicianship and some brilliant solos. If that doesn't appeal to them then in all honesty prog ain't gonna be their thing. You could play any pop fan Lucky Man or a Genesis ballad and they'd be pefectly happy but it wouldn't be a gateway for them to real progressive music at all. As soon as things got that little bit too adventurous they'd still turn off, so why not just give them the real thing and see what happens? Out of the seven friends I've made to sit through CTTE for its entire 18 minutes, only one has enjoyed it, but since then I've been feeding him slowly on a diet of Yes, Caravan and Gentle Giant. It's starting to take effect.

Look here Useful Idiot...this post was on page 2 which indicates it is still relatively new.