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Top 10 Prog Folk Albums
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Hadn't realized Moulettes were in Folk so had to redo my list

1. Roy Harper - Stormcock
2. Dead Can Dance - Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun
3. North Sea Radio Orchestra - I A Moon
4. Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
5. Comus: First Utterance
6. Moulettes - Preternatural
7. Jan Dukes De Grey: Mice and Rats In the Loft
8. Jack O The Clock - All My Friends
9. John Martyn - Solid Air
10. The Decemberists - The Hazards Of Love
11. Tim Buckley - Starsailor
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Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

I'm not really interested in the designation PA makes regarding progressive folk, particularly since Fairport Convention, Pentangle and Steeley Span aren't included.
...

Bingo!

Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

...
2) Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief
From a progressive folk standpoint, Liege & Lief was as important to the British Folk genre as Bob Dylan going electric was to American folk, Fairport indeed had finally abandoned the Dylan songs dotting albums up to Unhalfbricking and switched full-scale to songs with wholly Old English themes (and in the process, sent other bands scrambling to the local libraries to find volumes of Child Ballads to plunder). The amazing thing about the album, and the skill employed by Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, et al., is that the original songs on the album had the same feel and scale as the 16th century ballads like Tam Lin, Reynardine and Matty Groves.
...

Outstanding write up ... and Reynardine's version is one of the prettiest things ever recorded in my mind!

Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

...
3) Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Released in 1968, this is perhaps the first truly "progressive folk" album. The lyrics are poetry in motion, more refined than anything Dylan did, and four of the compositions are extended reflections of 7-10 minutes.
...

Love the album and still have it ... funny thing, never thought of this album or Van Morrison as blues, folk, this or that ... it was just Van Morrison! And this is not his only great album!

Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

...
4) Roy Harper - Stormcock
"One Man Rock and Roll Band" is the apt definition of this album, save for the timely assistance of one S. Flavius Mercurius (Jimmy Page) and David Bedford with occasional organ and orchestration. It is an album that is quite rightly mentioned in the same breath as "progressive folk" because everything about it, the lyrics, the compositional structure and the song lengths are the basic definition of the genre.
...

Absolutely ... the sad thing for me being that the tendency in PA is to glorify the top ten, and someone who couldn't careless about the top 10K will never ever get even listened to ... I can see it now someone else trying to review Roy's long pieces ... rambling lyrics and horrible voice ... etc etc etc ... it's uncanny and insane, and is something that has been disrespected in music for a long time ... almost all GREAT folk artists have been disrespected a lot more than rock folks have ... but it takes someone who doesn't care what you think, or I think, BECAUSE IT'S HIS MUSIC ... NOT YOURS!

Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

...
5) Pentangle - Basket of Light
Folk jazz, particularly as employed by the legendary acoustic guitar masters Bert Jansch and John Renbourn in crafting traditional songs into something else altogether, makes this a worthwhile listen to anyone who uses the word "progressive". I'd probably throw in their next album Cruel Sister as well with the incredible 18-minute version of Jack Orion.
...

I've given up talking about this band ... in the earlier days I did ... A LOT ... because it was one of the early things I first got attached to in America ... after Paul Butterfield, Bob Dylan and a couple of other things that were big in the Chicago area in the late 60's that did not have anything to do with my getting my head beaten up!

The musicianship alone, should always have this listed in a top of the tops ... but no ... DE ... it doesn't have a 12 layer of keyboards and some one playing it to make it "progressive" and it will never get the recognition because the majority of youngsters are only going to listen to the big 5 and the top ten -- maybe -- before deciding that their metal is better! And listening to Pentangle right after one of those?

I would probably fire that DJ!

Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

...
7) Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
What? Led Zeppelin? From a progressivity standpoint, Zeppelin ignored the monster-hit that was Led Zeppelin II/Whole Lotta Love ...
...

As much as I like LZ and have all the albums, I think I would leave this one behind ... from a performance standpoint and type of work, this music was a lot more than just rock'n'roll and it belongs in a "progressive" environment for their outstanding shows. There was a massive reason why the bootlegs in those days sold like hot cakes!

Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

...
Steeleye Span - Below the Salt / Parcel of Rogues
...

A friend of ours used to make funny comments about this band ... from Maddy's horrible cackle to what's an electric guitar doing here?

Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

...
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde / The Basement Tapes
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
...

BonB deserves its "prog folk" designation and is STILL a masterpiece of an album that I am not sure or convinced that most folks here that worship at the altar of the "progressive Gods" ... will actually sit down and listen to it in its entirety. I've even heard some folks say that one song is "tired" ... and I think that he meant that he has heard it one too many times!

Nick, is a different story. I've had one of his albums for 45 years, and I liked it, and I could never figure out how people were comparing him to Syd and others around the time ... and last year I got the other albums, which my sisters already had and I had heard them before at that time. I think the way that these were recorded and put together, makes this a "progressive" album, as I'm not sure it would sound as good if it was just him and his guitar ... which is always a massive issue. But it was lovely material!

Lastly ... France and specially Spain, have a massive history of "folk" music, and in Spain a lot of it is courtesy of the gypsy music, which was always quite "progressive" in that it already  mixed different things into its thread of a song or a piece of music to dance and fly to. The biggest issue in Spain, is that many of these feature the Spanish Guitar and folks will immediately tune out the folk element ... some examples of which you can find in the band CARMEN ... specially their 2nd album (1st was more rock and the 3rd more JT -- who stole the bass player and killed the band!)

Thanks for your entry ... it is massive!
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Latest poll update:-
 
1. JETHRO TULL - Thick as a Brick (202 points)
2. COMUS - First Utterance (100 points)
3. ROY HARPER - Stormcock (85 points)
4. JAN DUKES DE GREY - Mice and Rats in the Loft (53 points)
5. ALAN STIVELL - Renaissance on a Celtic Harp (52 points)
6. SPIROGYRA - St. Radigunds (50 points)
7. TIM BUCKLEY - Starsailor (40 points)
7. PTARMIGAN - Ptarmigan (40 points)
9. PENTANGLE - Cruel Sister (36 points)
10. CARMEN - Dancing on a Cold Wind (35 points)
 
 Just under the radar:-
 
11. PERRY LEOPOLD - Christian Lucifer (33 points)
12. PERERIN - Teithgan (30 points)
12. JETHRO TULL - Songs from the Wood (30 points)
12. JETHRO TULL - Minstrel in the Gallery (30 points)
12. JETHRO TULL - A Passion Play (30 points)
12. PENTANGLE - Basket of Light (30 points)
12. THE DECEMBRISTS - The Crane Wife (30 points) 
12. THE GHOST - When You're Dead - One Second (30 points)


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - March 15 2020 at 08:15
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Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

I'd love to have included the votes for Harmonium in my Prog Folk poll, but they're in the Symphonic Prog section of PA. Smile


shameless pro-UK xenophobia on your part TongueLOL
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

good to see Clannad, Jan Dukes, North Sea Radio Orchestra, Horslips

Question:  Have you heard Moving Hearts?  They were Christy Moore's next band after Planxty.  Their s/t is on my list
 

The name does not sound totally unknown to me, but I have not heard their music.
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1. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
2. Moulettes - Preternatural

( that's all I can do from the PA definition)

Others that would not count for various reasons ( but all are Folk related imo)
3. Claire Hammill - Voices
4. Al Stewart - Last Days Of The Century
5. Suzanne Vega - s/t
6. Wolf People - Fain
7. Steelye Span - Dirty Rotten b*****ds
8. Fairport Convention - Liege an Leif
9. Enya - Watermark
10. Vangelis - Odes (ft Irene Papas) 
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This is only PA Prog.Folk albums - if it was any Folk album would be different 

Jethro Tull - Minstrel In The Gallery

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

Midlake - Antiphon

Flor De Loto - Flor De Loto

Dead Can Dance - Into The Labyrinth

Gryphon - Midnight Mushrumps

Tim Buckley - Happy Sad

Ian Anderson - The Secret Language Of Birds

Iona - Another Realm

Fuchsia – Fuchsia



Edited by tamijo_II - March 15 2020 at 01:46
Same person as this profile:
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I must admit that I haven't actually listened to 10 different prog folk artists. So here are my favourite 5 star prog folk albums that I have actually have heard:

1. Thick As A Brick - Tull ...although SFTW is more folky
2. The Tàin - Horslips
3. Leige And Leif - Fairport Convention.....I know, I know, they are prog-related but what a ground-breaking album.
3. Dancing On A Cold Wind - Carmen
4. Barafundle - Gorky's Zygotic Mynci ....hey Sean Trane, any news on getting these guys into Prog-folk on PA...I put in my suggestion months ago with no answer.
5. Avocet - Bert Jansch .....yep, prog-related but really prog folk album
6. The Nine Maidens - John Renbourn....same as above re Bert Jansch
7. Basket Of Light - Pentangle
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1. Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
2. Comus: First Utterance
3. Roy Harper: Stormcock
4. Judy Dyble / Andy Lewis: Summer Dancing
5. Tim Buckley: Starsailor
6. Piirpauke: s/t
7. the Pentangle: Basket Of Light
8. Strawbs: From the Witchwood
9. Spirogyra: St. Radigunds
10. Los Jaivas: Alturas De Macchu Picchu

Have to re-do my list, because really didn´t come into my mind Roy Harper & Tim Buckley are also in progfolk (in PA:s logic they could have been crossover prog or prog related or even symph prog).


Edited by Mortte - March 14 2020 at 23:10
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Originally posted by Logan Logan wrote:

Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

great choices!  Noticing Pearls Before Swine appearing on several lists, I would like to say that the main reason they don't quite make it for me is that one song about the Children that I not only dislike but feel it doesn't fit in with the album at all.  Usually I turn a blind eye (deaf ear!) to glaring missteps but can't in this case.  Question  which Tom Rapp album should I hear next?

Love that Mr Stivell's album is getting a lotof kudos as well


I agree with you on that song as well, Ken.  I think you mean "Tell Me Why."  

Although for me, there are a song or two from most that I could live without, most of his music and songwriting just speak to me.  Least favourites for me are One Nation Underground, City of Gold and Familiar Songs [which I think was done without his knowledge at the time]) although there are individual songs even within One Nation and City of Gold that appeal to me.  One part of my LP collection that has never left my hands, no matter how poor I got.  


actually I like "Tell me Why" quite well.  The one I'm thinking of is called "God Save the Child".  It sounds like the record company asked him to do it.  Probably my fave is "Rocket Man".  So so sad
   Oh, I see....my endquote is from "God Save the Child," but I love the idea of it..  Rocket Man is wonderful, I so agree.  Once when I was living in LA, Ray Bradbury was on public radio and I called in, he'd never heard it.  I sent him an LP of it and got a lovely response from him.  I love the title track, too, The Use of Ashes.  Sublime.


"God Save the Child" is a favourite of mine, and I rather felt it fit well with various others on the list, else I wouldn't have included it in my recent "25 folk songs" poll. To each his or her own tastes. The Use of Ashes is a solid five star album for me.   The whole album s magnificent. I might have gone for another, but including a representative from that album was a no-brainer for me.

As for the discussion on the Pentangle, that is quintessential Prog Folk, and was an early one I got into from that category (starting with Basket of Light).   I think I've played Cruel Sister the most of that band over the last couple of years. I love it.

EDIT: By the way, I had rather expected Neutral Milk Hotel to be in PA. Looking back on an early discussion, it was at one time. Good stuff in or out of PA per my tastes. And of course Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left is one of my very favourite albums. It warms the cockles of my folkie heart to see this topic doing well, and such a lot of discussion. No music touches me in quite the same way that folk music can (progressive, folk-rock, or not).
  There is something about songs that are stripped down.  And I do love God Save The Child.  Both "The Use of Ashes," and "Cruel Sister," are masterpieces.  
"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

great choices!  Noticing Pearls Before Swine appearing on several lists, I would like to say that the main reason they don't quite make it for me is that one song about the Children that I not only dislike but feel it doesn't fit in with the album at all.  Usually I turn a blind eye (deaf ear!) to glaring missteps but can't in this case.  Question  which Tom Rapp album should I hear next?

Love that Mr Stivell's album is getting a lotof kudos as well


I agree with you on that song as well, Ken.  I think you mean "Tell Me Why."  

Although for me, there are a song or two from most that I could live without, most of his music and songwriting just speak to me.  Least favourites for me are One Nation Underground, City of Gold and Familiar Songs [which I think was done without his knowledge at the time]) although there are individual songs even within One Nation and City of Gold that appeal to me.  One part of my LP collection that has never left my hands, no matter how poor I got.  


actually I like "Tell me Why" quite well.  The one I'm thinking of is called "God Save the Child".  It sounds like the record company asked him to do it.  Probably my fave is "Rocket Man".  So so sad
   Oh, I see....my endquote is from "God Save the Child," but I love the idea of it..  Rocket Man is wonderful, I so agree.  Once when I was living in LA, Ray Bradbury was on public radio and I called in, he'd never heard it.  I sent him an LP of it and got a lovely response from him.  I love the title track, too, The Use of Ashes.  Sublime.


"God Save the Child" is a favourite of mine, and I rather felt it fit well with various others on the list, else I wouldn't have included it in my recent "25 folk songs" poll. To each his or her own tastes. The Use of Ashes is a solid five star album for me.   The whole album s magnificent. I might have gone for another, but including a representative from that album was a no-brainer for me.

As for the discussion on the Pentangle, that is quintessential Prog Folk, and was an early one I got into from that category (starting with Basket of Light).   I think I've played Cruel Sister the most of that band over the last couple of years. I love it.

EDIT: By the way, I had rather expected Neutral Milk Hotel to be in PA. Looking back on an early discussion, it was at one time. Good stuff in or out of PA per my tastes. And of course Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left is one of my very favourite albums. It warms the cockles of my folkie heart to see this topic doing well, and such a lot of discussion. No music touches me in quite the same way that folk music can (progressive, folk-rock, or not).

Edited by Logan - March 14 2020 at 22:37
Duos for fave acts
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Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

I'm not really interested in the d
3) Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Released in 1968, this is perhaps the first truly "progressive folk" album. The lyrics are poetry in motion, more refined than anything Dylan did, and four of the compositions are extended reflections of 7-10 minutes. Blues, folk, jazz, gypsy violins, harpsichords, string sections and Van the Man be-bopping about and stretching words into jazz notes make this an integral album.
  Always in my personal top 10.  Stunning.
"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

^ I admit that's a great quote Tongue
Glad you think so, too.  I have found it to be true.
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Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

I'm not really interested in the designation PA makes regarding progressive folk, particularly since Fairport Convention, Pentangle and Steeley Span aren't included. Which is silly from the standpoint of the folk movement. So, I'll just amble through albums I think are progressive folk as well as being important in the evolution of folk in the late 60s and 70s. 

1) Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood
The apotheosis of the British Folk Rock movement. Certainly, one could point to other Tull acoustically-driven albums like Stand Up, Aqualung or Minstrel in the Gallery  as somewhat folky, but in reality they offer various shorter acoustic songs drawn around hard rock tunes and epics like quiescent punctuation marks. With SFTW, you see Ian Anderson drawing particularly from the more sylvan aspects of British folklore and immersing the album in that ethos. There's the folk epic "Velvet Green" (which has more time changes than the first two Yes albums), the sea-chantey-meets-Bach interlude within the monstrous "Pibroch (Cap In Hand)", the wild fife of "The Whistler", the full-blown English myth of "Jack In The Green", and the the apt intro which divulges the kitchen prose and gutter rhymes which comprise the rest of the album. It also ushers in the triad of Tull albums that maintained that British folk rock feel. Plus, a front-line, gold and platinum band making British folk music was an acknowledgement and affirmation for the whole Brit-folk scene.

2) Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief
From a progressive folk standpoint, Liege & Lief was as important to the British Folk genre as Bob Dylan going electric was to American folk, Fairport indeed had finally abandoned the Dylan songs dotting albums up to Unhalfbricking and switched full-scale to songs with wholly Old English themes (and in the process, sent other bands scrambling to the local libraries to find volumes of Child Ballads to plunder). The amazing thing about the album, and the skill employed by Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, et al., is that the original songs on the album had the same feel and scale as the 16th century ballads like Tam Lin, Reynardine and Matty Groves.

3) Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Released in 1968, this is perhaps the first truly "progressive folk" album. The lyrics are poetry in motion, more refined than anything Dylan did, and four of the compositions are extended reflections of 7-10 minutes. Blues, folk, jazz, gypsy violins, harpsichords, string sections and Van the Man be-bopping about and stretching words into jazz notes make this an integral album.

4) Roy Harper - Stormcock
"One Man Rock and Roll Band" is the apt definition of this album, save for the timely assistance of one S. Flavius Mercurius (Jimmy Page) and David Bedford with occasional organ and orchestration. It is an album that is quite rightly mentioned in the same breath as "progressive folk" because everything about it, the lyrics, the compositional structure and the song lengths are the basic definition of the genre.

5) Pentangle - Basket of Light
Folk jazz, particularly as employed by the legendary acoustic guitar masters Bert Jansch and John Renbourn in crafting traditional songs into something else altogether, makes this a worthwhile listen to anyone who uses the word "progressive". I'd probably throw in their next album Cruel Sister as well with the incredible 18-minute version of Jack Orion.

6) Harmonium - Si l'on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison
Both a progressive and a concept album (Les Cinq Saisons, The Five Seasons, for the Quebecois-impaired), is just as remarkable for featuring the Ondes Martenot, which is a theremin on Hammond organ steroids. Lush and beautiful, as I am French-deficited they could be calling me a c*cksucking a**hole and I wouldn't care, it is just so transcendentally moving.

7) Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
What? Led Zeppelin? From a progressivity standpoint, Zeppelin ignored the monster-hit that was Led Zeppelin II/Whole Lotta Love and shocked fans and critics alike by doing whatever the hell they wanted on their next album; in this case eliminating psychedelia altogether, limiting their brand of hard rock to just a few songs, and opting instead for traditional blues, folk blues and folk rock, throwing on the occasional banjo lead, Middle-eastern inspired folk and crazy-ass drop CFCFAF tuning just for the hell of it. This was the template for the more folk and progressive offerings found on Zeppelin IV, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti, and separated LZ from the run-of-the-mill Cream-like blues-rock bands of the time. They gave other blues-rock bands like Jethro Tull the impetus to break the mold and move their sound along.

8) Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
From a singer/songwriter standpoint, Joni Mitchell left everyone else in the dust in the first half of the 1970s. Court and Spark is the genesis of the more jazz-related offerings on Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira,except I think Joni maintained a more conversational folk attitude on this album. As a female artist, she proved one could write complex compositions with intricate lyrics and still sell albums, rather than just being a vacuous siren warbling vacant words over pop melodies.

9) John Martyn - Solid Air
Solid Air (the title track an ode to Martyn's friend Nick Drake) is about as jazzy you can get and stay within the folk atmosphere. To describe the album, you basically mumble the words "jazzy-folk-blues-spacerock." It is that esoteric. One will never listen to "blues" again the same way after hearing John Martyn stretch old blues legend Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman" into whatever the hell "I'd Rather Be the Devil" turned out to be. Gender-bending till it done broke.

10) Comus - First Utterance
It is the ultimately weird, savage, blood-thirsty cult prog album of all time. But the acoustic guitar work is ultimately cool and the singing of Bobbie Watson is ethereal. Hey, they were so weird that David Bowie in full Ziggy Stardust drag came out to watch them.

Other not-prog folk albums with progressivity:

Steeleye Span - Below the Salt / Parcel of Rogues

Neutral Milk Hotel - In Aeroplane Over The Sea

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde / The Basement Tapes

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife / Hazards of Love

Pentangle and Decemberists are both in prog folk on PA BTW
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I'm not really interested in the designation PA makes regarding progressive folk, particularly since Fairport Convention, Pentangle and Steeley Span aren't included. Which is silly from the standpoint of the folk movement. So, I'll just amble through albums I think are progressive folk as well as being important in the evolution of folk in the late 60s and 70s. 

1) Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood
The apotheosis of the British Folk Rock movement. Certainly, one could point to other Tull acoustically-driven albums like Stand Up, Aqualung or Minstrel in the Gallery  as somewhat folky, but in reality they offer various shorter acoustic songs drawn around hard rock tunes and epics like quiescent punctuation marks. With SFTW, you see Ian Anderson drawing particularly from the more sylvan aspects of British folklore and immersing the album in that ethos. There's the folk epic "Velvet Green" (which has more time changes than the first two Yes albums), the sea-chantey-meets-Bach interlude within the monstrous "Pibroch (Cap In Hand)", the wild fife of "The Whistler", the full-blown English myth of "Jack In The Green", and the the apt intro which divulges the kitchen prose and gutter rhymes which comprise the rest of the album. It also ushers in the triad of Tull albums that maintained that British folk rock feel. Plus, a front-line, gold and platinum band making British folk music was an acknowledgement and affirmation for the whole Brit-folk scene.

2) Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief
From a progressive folk standpoint, Liege & Lief was as important to the British Folk genre as Bob Dylan going electric was to American folk, Fairport indeed had finally abandoned the Dylan songs dotting albums up to Unhalfbricking and switched full-scale to songs with wholly Old English themes (and in the process, sent other bands scrambling to the local libraries to find volumes of Child Ballads to plunder). The amazing thing about the album, and the skill employed by Richard Thompson, Sandy Denny, et al., is that the original songs on the album had the same feel and scale as the 16th century ballads like Tam Lin, Reynardine and Matty Groves.

3) Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Released in 1968, this is perhaps the first truly "progressive folk" album. The lyrics are poetry in motion, more refined than anything Dylan did, and four of the compositions are extended reflections of 7-10 minutes. Blues, folk, jazz, gypsy violins, harpsichords, string sections and Van the Man be-bopping about and stretching words into jazz notes make this an integral album.

4) Roy Harper - Stormcock
"One Man Rock and Roll Band" is the apt definition of this album, save for the timely assistance of one S. Flavius Mercurius (Jimmy Page) and David Bedford with occasional organ and orchestration. It is an album that is quite rightly mentioned in the same breath as "progressive folk" because everything about it, the lyrics, the compositional structure and the song lengths are the basic definition of the genre.

5) Pentangle - Basket of Light
Folk jazz, particularly as employed by the legendary acoustic guitar masters Bert Jansch and John Renbourn in crafting traditional songs into something else altogether, makes this a worthwhile listen to anyone who uses the word "progressive". I'd probably throw in their next album Cruel Sister as well with the incredible 18-minute version of Jack Orion.

6) Harmonium - Si l'on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison
Both a progressive and a concept album (Les Cinq Saisons, The Five Seasons, for the Quebecois-impaired), is just as remarkable for featuring the Ondes Martenot, which is a theremin on Hammond organ steroids. Lush and beautiful, as I am French-deficited they could be calling me a c*cksucking a**hole and I wouldn't care, it is just so transcendentally moving.

7) Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
What? Led Zeppelin? From a progressivity standpoint, Zeppelin ignored the monster-hit that was Led Zeppelin II/Whole Lotta Love and shocked fans and critics alike by doing whatever the hell they wanted on their next album; in this case eliminating psychedelia altogether, limiting their brand of hard rock to just a few songs, and opting instead for traditional blues, folk blues and folk rock, throwing on the occasional banjo lead, Middle-eastern inspired folk and crazy-ass drop CFCFAF tuning just for the hell of it. This was the template for the more folk and progressive offerings found on Zeppelin IV, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti, and separated LZ from the run-of-the-mill Cream-like blues-rock bands of the time. They gave other blues-rock bands like Jethro Tull the impetus to break the mold and move their sound along.

8) Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
From a singer/songwriter standpoint, Joni Mitchell left everyone else in the dust in the first half of the 1970s. Court and Spark is the genesis of the more jazz-related offerings on Hissing of Summer Lawns and Hejira,except I think Joni maintained a more conversational folk attitude on this album. As a female artist, she proved one could write complex compositions with intricate lyrics and still sell albums, rather than just being a vacuous siren warbling vacant words over pop melodies.

9) John Martyn - Solid Air
Solid Air (the title track an ode to Martyn's friend Nick Drake) is about as jazzy you can get and stay within the folk atmosphere. To describe the album, you basically mumble the words "jazzy-folk-blues-spacerock." It is that esoteric. One will never listen to "blues" again the same way after hearing John Martyn stretch old blues legend Skip James' "Devil Got My Woman" into whatever the hell "I'd Rather Be the Devil" turned out to be. Gender-bending till it done broke.

10) Comus - First Utterance
It is the ultimately weird, savage, blood-thirsty cult prog album of all time. But the acoustic guitar work is ultimately cool and the singing of Bobbie Watson is ethereal. Hey, they were so weird that David Bowie in full Ziggy Stardust drag came out to watch them.

Other not-prog folk albums with progressivity:

Steeleye Span - Below the Salt / Parcel of Rogues

Neutral Milk Hotel - In Aeroplane Over The Sea

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde / The Basement Tapes

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife / Hazards of Love


Edited by The Dark Elf - March 14 2020 at 21:41
...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
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Thunder Perfect Mind???
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^ I admit that's a great quote Tongue
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Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

great choices!  Noticing Pearls Before Swine appearing on several lists, I would like to say that the main reason they don't quite make it for me is that one song about the Children that I not only dislike but feel it doesn't fit in with the album at all.  Usually I turn a blind eye (deaf ear!) to glaring missteps but can't in this case.  Question  which Tom Rapp album should I hear next?

Love that Mr Stivell's album is getting a lotof kudos as well

I agree with you on that song as well, Ken.  I think you mean "Tell Me Why."  

Although for me, there are a song or two from most that I could live without, most of his music and songwriting just speak to me.  Least favourites for me are One Nation Underground, City of Gold and Familiar Songs [which I think was done without his knowledge at the time]) although there are individual songs even within One Nation and City of Gold that appeal to me.  One part of my LP collection that has never left my hands, no matter how poor I got.  

actually I like "Tell me Why" quite well.  The one I'm thinking of is called "God Save the Child".  It sounds like the record company asked him to do it.  Probably my fave is "Rocket Man".  So so sad
   Oh, I see....my endquote is from "God Save the Child," but I love the idea of it..  Rocket Man is wonderful, I so agree.  Once when I was living in LA, Ray Bradbury was on public radio and I called in, he'd never heard it.  I sent him an LP of it and got a lovely response from him.  I love the title track, too, The Use of Ashes.  Sublime.
"Into every rain, a little life must fall." ~Tom Rapp
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Points: 8951 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 14 2020 at 20:30
Originally posted by Snicolette Snicolette wrote:

Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

great choices!  Noticing Pearls Before Swine appearing on several lists, I would like to say that the main reason they don't quite make it for me is that one song about the Children that I not only dislike but feel it doesn't fit in with the album at all.  Usually I turn a blind eye (deaf ear!) to glaring missteps but can't in this case.  Question  which Tom Rapp album should I hear next?

Love that Mr Stivell's album is getting a lotof kudos as well

I agree with you on that song as well, Ken.  I think you mean "Tell Me Why."  

Although for me, there are a song or two from most that I could live without, most of his music and songwriting just speak to me.  Least favourites for me are One Nation Underground, City of Gold and Familiar Songs [which I think was done without his knowledge at the time]) although there are individual songs even within One Nation and City of Gold that appeal to me.  One part of my LP collection that has never left my hands, no matter how poor I got.  

actually I like "Tell me Why" quite well.  The one I'm thinking of is called "God Save the Child".  It sounds like the record company asked him to do it.  Probably my fave is "Rocket Man".  So so sad
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Points: 8951 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 14 2020 at 20:28
Originally posted by moshkito moshkito wrote:

Originally posted by Nogbad_The_Bad Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

1. Roy Harper - Stormcock
...

Now ... that's far out ... someone that deserves to be in the list ... I really like the period of "The Unknown Soldier" and "Jugula +4", "Headquarters" and "One of these Days in England" ... incredibly great stuff and the lyrics? Yeah, rock music lyrics sometimes are just ... farts in the wind by comparison!

And I guess that no one has heard MALECORNE ... ??

oh yes I have heard Malicorne, but not enough I admit. There is a creepiness to their sound that I enjoy, especially on "Almanach", which would probably be in my top 50 or so


Edited by kenethlevine - March 14 2020 at 20:32
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