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The best prog album of all time?
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presdoug View Drop Down
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Points: 8614 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote presdoug Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2019 at 20:41
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Originally posted by handwrist handwrist wrote:

Soft Machine's Third could be perfect, but Facelift is more noise than song, and it seems like filler right at the start.
Its probably not many that would pick Facelift as a personal favorite but for the album experience I certainly wouldn't want Third to be without it.

Originally posted by handwrist handwrist wrote:

So for me it's a tough choice between Camel's The Snow Goose and Acquiring the Taste by Gentle Giant. They are both perfect albums. But I'd go with Camel because it's just so iconic of a perfect sound - whereas GG is more oddball.
The one flaw for me with Snow Goose is that it doesn't really excite me the way my favorite music does (and not like Mirage). I like it quite a lot and enjoy playing it every once in a while but I wouldn't give it more than four stars. If I had to choose between those two I'd go for the oddball. Oddball is good.
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Originally posted by Triceratopsoil Triceratopsoil wrote:

obviously it's Merci

LOL

maybe Giant for a Day?
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obviously it's Merci
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Points: 135 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote handwrist Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2019 at 12:38

It's weird because some of my favourite bands don't have perfect albums, there's always a song or two that are just short of the brilliancy of the rest - Caravan's In the Land of Grey and Pink could be perfect, but has that short little nuisance in the middle. Soft Machine's Third could be perfect, but Facelift is more noise than song, and it seems like filler right at the start. Zappa's albums in general are a mixed bag, despite his genius - and even Joe's Garage, which is flawless in its three acts, is not really representative enough of prog rockery, too much on the fringes, to be considered best of all time. Same with Christian Vander and his vulcanic piece of genius called Lava, I mean, Magma. I feel the title of the best prog of all time, the one you would choose to show someone, can only come from Britain.

Having said that I don't think we should choose obvious choices like Pink Floyd's Dark Side or The Wall, or Genesis, or KC or even ELP. For me the best representative of prog rock has to be one that is both iconic, but yet not mega popular, as I think that a certain snobbery, that 'hidden gem', not for everyone, quality is part of what prog rock was, is and always will be.

So for me it's a tough choice between Camel's The Snow Goose and Acquiring the Taste by Gentle Giant. They are both perfect albums. But I'd go with Camel because it's just so iconic of a perfect sound - whereas GG is more oddball.
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I could make sense of this if the question would be something like "what do you think is the ultimate album to represent prog", because my real personal favourites are probably too niche to fit here. The album I rank highest out of the top 100 (that one could maybe call "standard choices") is Discipline. Discipline is not quite as niche as most of my other top choices, but cannot really represent prog, as it takes a distinctly new and different turn in some respects. Out of those that are always named I'd probably choose Thick As A Brick, which is probably the most homogeneous of them all (contested by Dark Side of the Moon). Close to the Edge is not a bad choice for this kind of question, it just showcases so many essential elements in a good and at times spectacular way... except that this comes with a certain "showing off" factor that stops me from ranking it in the top spots of my personal list.

Thick as a Brick and Discipline would probably make a wonderful pair of best albums to represent prog, or let's say the prog I like, the "mainstream prog" that is. (I'm not bringing up Czukay, Talk Talk or Cardiacs here.)

By the way, I don't think "no weak track" is a good criterion, because an album that I really love takes risks and surprises, and I will forgive the odd step that seems wrong to me. As it happens, though, TAAB and Discipline have no such steps.



Edited by Lewian - May 19 2019 at 06:32
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As for humour in music in general, it seems to me that humorous songs usually have stupid music, so I'm generally not a fan of humour in music. But if the artist produces great music along with humorous lyrics, then I have no problem with the humour. An example of humour in a track I like a lot is "In Every Dream Home A Heartache" by Roxy Music. Also, I purchased the Godley & Creme album "Consequences" specifically for its humour.
 
 
 
 
 
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Originally posted by BaldFriede BaldFriede wrote:

Originally posted by I prophesy disaster I prophesy disaster wrote:

Although Tarkus is high on my list of favourite albums, it is not a perfect album because it has "Are You Ready Eddy?" at the end, which is short enough and positioned not to affect the greatness of the album, but it does prevent it from being perfect (as required by the opening post).

I don't object to "Are Your Ready, Eddy?". To quote Frank Zappa: "Does humor belong in music"? Answer: Yes it does! So I like tracks like "Are You Ready, Eddy?" and the equally disliked "Jeremy Bender".
 
I don't object to the humour (the subject matter). I just don't like the track for whatever reason. And yet I don't have a problem with "Jeremy Bender" (or "Benny The Bouncer" from Brain Salad Surgery).
 
 
 
 
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Points: 10261 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BaldFriede Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2019 at 05:26
Originally posted by I prophesy disaster I prophesy disaster wrote:

Originally posted by Atavachron Atavachron wrote:

The one that probably influenced more musicians than any other to get into prog -

Related image

 
 
Although Tarkus is high on my list of favourite albums, it is not a perfect album because it has "Are You Ready Eddy?" at the end, which is short enough and positioned not to affect the greatness of the album, but it does prevent it from being perfect (as required by the opening post).

I don't object to "Are Your Ready, Eddy?". To quote Frank Zappa: "Does humor belong in music"? Answer: Yes it does! So I like tracks like "Are You Ready, Eddy?" and the equally disliked "Jeremy Bender".


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I consider Pawn Hearts to be not just a perfect album, but a step above all other albums (that I know). That is because there is something about Pawn Hearts that I don't get from other albums.
 
 
 
 
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Points: 4772 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote I prophesy disaster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2019 at 05:09
Originally posted by Atavachron Atavachron wrote:

The one that probably influenced more musicians than any other to get into prog -

Related image

 
 
Although Tarkus is high on my list of favourite albums, it is not a perfect album because it has "Are You Ready Eddy?" at the end, which is short enough and positioned not to affect the greatness of the album, but it does prevent it from being perfect (as required by the opening post).
 
 
 
 
 
No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man.
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Points: 10261 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BaldFriede Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2019 at 04:33
"And You And I" is a bit too sugarcoated for my taste, which is why "Close to the Edge" is not the masterpiece that most people think it is. I prefer pepper to sugar.


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Points: 27956 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: May 19 2019 at 03:10
So I have to eliminate Brain Salad Surgery (damn that weak Karn Evil 9 track) and go for CTTE.

Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford , Squire and Howe were the ultimate prog line up. However Fragile does have higher musical peaks imo just not as consistent.
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Yeah, Close to the Edge is hard to beat.
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I am fine with it being Close to the Edge, a most creative and impressive album.
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Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

I'd say Close to the Edge.   It was a "perfect storm," a band of amazingly talented musicians who found their groove together & captured lightning in a bottle.  

Bruford's drumming on the album is under-appreciated in my opinion, it is some of his very best work!  

I saw them on the Yessongs tour, Sept 22, 1972.   I was expecting to hear the AM radio hit "America" and hadn't heard a single song off of CTTE, so imagine my surprise!!  They played like the devil was chasing them.  

There are many worthy albums to mention (Foxtrot, SEBTP, etc.) but they all have some minor weak point or slow song....CTTE had none.  


I guess when you saw them it was already with Alan White? Did the band even get a chance to play the album live before Bruford left? I think I remember he didn't.
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Pawn Hearts...with the The Lamb and Topographic Oceans rounding out the top 3 Wink
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

Originally posted by BaldJean BaldJean wrote:

"Close to the Edge" is an o.k. album; I would give it 4 stars. "Relayer" is much better; it is a lot more daring. "Close to the Edge" is just too conventional to be a 5 star album

Conventional compared to Magma maybe. LOL

I like a challenge when listening to an album. "Relayer" is definitely more challenging to listen to than "Close to the Edge".

now "Pawn Hearts" - that is an album I could agree upon. but many don't like it, or VdGG in general. which is one of the reasons I could agree upon it. the best works of art are often controversial.

but generally speaking there is no such thing as "best prog album", simply because de gustibus non est disputandum

Edited by BaldJean - May 18 2019 at 11:25


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Originally posted by jamesbaldwin jamesbaldwin wrote:

Ok, well, 

We have to understand what it means best prog album of all time. 

It could mean 

1) the most progressive opera, or 
2) the most beautiful progressive opera.



It could also mean the most popular album, in terms of sales -- in which case Pink Floyd's DSOTM would win.
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CTTE, conventional?
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