10 Albums For Someone New

J-Man wrote: I'd give them a little bit of every type of prog. Some symphonic, some prog metal, a little bit of RIO, some psych and some progressive death metal. In no particular order: 1. Close to the Edge- Yes 2. Still Life- Opeth 3. Scenes From A Memory- Dream Theater 4. Foxtrot- Genesis 5. Snow- Spock's Beard 6. Wish You Were Here- Pink Floyd 7. Hot Rats- Frank Zappa 8. Abbey Road- The Beatles 9. The Sum of No Evil- The Flower Kings 10. Symbolic- Death

There's no RIO there, Zappa is Avant, and that album by him is Jazz Rock

You know, it really does depend where this "someone new" is, musically. For instance, I tried this very thing on a friend of mine recently who's into the heavier rock that gets airplay. So i suggested some Mastodon and I handed him Dream Theater, SFaM. It worked.

Tsevir Leirbag wrote: 10- Le Orme's Uomo di Pezza 9- Änglagård's Hybris 9- Univers Zero's Hérésie 8- Caravan's In the Land of Grey and Pink 8- Miles Davis' Bitches Brew 7- Genesis' Selling England by the Pound 7- Frank Zappa's Hot Rats 6- Dün - Eros 5- Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick 4- Van Der Graaf Generator's Godbluff 4- Gentle Giant's Free Hand 3- Pink Floyd's Animals 2- Genesis' Foxtrot 1- Yes' Close to the Edge

Yes - Fragile
Rush - Permanent Waves
King Crimson - Islands
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tear
ELP - Tarkus
Genesis - Foxtrot
Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink

   1.pink froyd;dark side of the spoon:
   2;dream thunder;imegares and wreads:
   3;king creamsons;inte spourt of the creamsons king:
   4;opeth;watersheader:
   5;dreaming theaters:six deegres of outer space:

OK, if I were talking to somebody new who wanted a list of prog albums to listen to, I'd probably refer him to the progarchives top rated album list and then tell him to omit all of the Floyd albums.

this is not very helpful. everyone's got a different idea of what albums are best for newbies. Although i agree with whoever said that the BIG albums are not necessarily the best ones to start out with (ex. Fragile or Yes Album over Close to the Edge)

but again, depends on the person. maybe they like classical music, and rock music, but never knew progressive rock existed. Someone gives them a copy of CttE and they crap themselves at how good the music is and cant believe theyve never heard of any of it before.

as a prog rock fan, i can say it was a slow (not too slow though) process, becoming a fan of all this music, what with being exposed to even so much more at the same time.

It's really hard to sum up every different "flavour" of prog into a 10 album list, but I would try to expose someone to as many different genres as possible.

Caravan - In the Land of the Grey and Pink
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Rush - Permanent Waves
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
Can - Tago Mago
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Henry Cow - Western Culture
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound

Even though I tried to space out my selections I still didn't cover any modern bands or metal, although I don't really know any metal anyways. I know that some of the ones I picked are the top album in there genre but they seem to me to be the best representatives of the genre they are from.

Tsevir Leirbag wrote: progkidjoel wrote: ^^Its alot less accessible than their other albums... Its great, but it takes more consideration than their other albums in my opinion. Still unmissable, and who knows, it might turn someone on to prog   That's what I think. What about Opeth? I'd recommend Still Life or Ghost Reveries

I only have DAMNATION, DELIVERANCE, STILL LIFE and BLACKWATER PARK...

For a beginner, I'd reccomend BLACKWATER PARK and STILL LIFE