Bands Truest To The Genre?

Kati wrote: Hi Xonty, great post! To me The Beatles considering their era, they were and are to date fundamental and ground-breaking in terms of progressive music. They experimented with several instruments inc. the French horn and the Sitar among many others just to name a few, also to me they were the first to produce a metal track which is Helter Skelter :) Also they did not take stupid things seriously and made some silly tracks (i.e. I AM A walrus), I love silly tracks

I agree; the same thing is with The Who.

Triceratopsoil wrote: ghost_of_morphy wrote: Slartibartfast wrote: Show me a band truest to the genre and I'll show you a band that hasn't put out a lot of albums... The Flower Kings are continually knocked for being derivative of the best prog bands.  I think that qualifies them for being truest to the genre and also disproves your statement. I think you miss the point of the thread.  The assertion being made is that a band has to push the boundaries and release new, original, interesting material to be true to the idea of progressive rock... not live 1973 pipe dreams.

Which is what I meant to say in my earlier rambling post

Erm, I feel a bit embarrassed to appear as if I am taking up cudgels for Flower Kings, but I cannot think of a single band that was ALWAYS experimenting and trying COMPLETELY new ideas.  Not even KC or Zappa would pass that test.  If that's the premise of the thread, then it's overambitious and unrealistic.  Every band or artist goes through periods of (relative) coasting along or settling down in terms of style.  Poseidon is by no means a radical departure from ITCOTCK nor is SABB from LTIA.  As for the "band/artist that keeps true to the GENRE of prog rock" (quoting from the OP, only capitalising the word genre), TFK does qualify.

Crimson seems the obvious answer to me. A core band to the genre, always experimenting and evolving. The depth of the discography and the continued relevance makes them more significant than others.