Three best and worst years for prog

nick_h_nz wrote: I’m kind of with Pedro here, in that I don’t really believe there was ever a worst year. I guess I could go through my collection and find the year(s) with the least prog albums, but even then I still wouldn’t feel comfortable calling them the worst years. As for the best years, I think they are now and yet to come. Prog may not be as mainstream as it was in the inevitable ‘70s years of the classic era that will be given as best by many, but it is far more accepted and prevalent now. Bands and artists from quite disparate genres are making some quite wonderful prog albums. Simply because there are more genres now, and music across a far wider spectrum than in the ‘70s, there is far more scope for prog.  2020 and 2021 were amazing years for prog - in part because of covid lockdowns, necessity being the mother of invention and all that.

Sean Trane wrote: verslibre wrote: Cristi wrote: Sean Trane wrote: Worst: 85 until 90 Depends who you ask. 85 to 90 saw the creation and developing (for lack of a better word) of the progressive metal genre, so not bad at all if you ask me. That's right, buddy. Classic albums all around from the likes of Dream Theater, Fates Warning, King's X, Queensrÿche, Savatage and Watchtower. I rest my case!!!! exhibit B : Neo-prog

Looking at my personal Gnosis rating's by year:-

I'm not someone who generally really buys into best this or best that or worst this or that. All Prog years have produced great relevant music to my tastes, and excellent music that I don't care much for (I love 80s for RIO and various post-punk and experimental rock). That said, in terms of quantity in my collection, the early 70s probably would be hard to beat, I have found that post 80s, 1996 and 2016 are quite special to me. As for which early 70s, I will go with 1971 now.

1971 includes:
Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson (prog to me)
VdGG - Pawn Hearts
Can - tago Mago
Comus - First Utterance
Popol Vuh - In den Gärten Pharaos
Spirogyra - St. Radigunds
Jan Dukes de Grey - Mice and Rats in the Loft
Mgama - 1001 Degrees
Gentle Giant - Acquiring the Taste
Superister - To The Highest Bidder
Amon Düül II - Tanz...
Ash ra Tempel - st
Pink Floyd - Meddle
David Bowie - Hunky Dory (related anyway and one of my very favourite Bowie albums)
Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda (progressive anyway)
Faust - Faust
Earth & Fire - Song of the Marching Children
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain (related to me)
Ennio Morricone - Maddalena (a prog stretch) and
Una lucertola con la pelle di donna (maybe less of a stretch)
King Crimson - Islands

Were I to go for another early 70s year, or later 70s or 80s, I could list more than for 1996 and 2016, but I love these albums:

1996:

Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind
Art Zoyd - Faust* (*I list this as originally released in 1995, but this site and others seem to say otherwise)
Crrent 93 - All the Pretty Little Horses
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Cardiacs - Sing to God

2016:

David Bowie - Blackstar
Swans - The Glowing Man
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Bruno Pernadas - Those Who Throw Objects at the Crocodiles Will Be Asked to Retrieve Them (prog related enough to me)
Xiu Xiu - Plays the Music of Twin Peaks (prog related to me)
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity

As for the worst years for Prog, well those would be the pre-proto Prog years perhaps, or the year they don't exist even if that sounds a bit glib and silly. I find gems every relevant year, but some years I have not explored as much (like the last three and certain years in the 90s and 2000s I don't have much of). Had I been more diligent with taking part in Mirakaze's year polls then I would have a better idea but I do find those quite time consuming to put together especially as I commonly like to create fresh lists each time due to changing tastes and what I still remember.

yeah I guess I agree that 1985-1989 were probably the worst.

in a complete waste of time, I went through the top 100 for each year from 1969 until this year on PA, and worked out how many albums from each year I own. That completely ignores prog albums from that year that are not in the top 100, and I noticed many absences from my collection in the top 100s. But I figure it worked out as a rough guide to which years I found popular, even if it will never be as accurate as actually going through my collection. But that would have taken far more time than this did.

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote: Interesting approach, I'm intrigued, my version was pretty easy to check as I just had to write a quick check against my database of my collection in excel and run the numbers versus checking each years top 100 on PA. I'm now wondering what this would generate for me. I may be back.

Best three: 1972, 1974, 1975

nick_h_nz wrote: Nogbad_The_Bad wrote: Interesting approach, I'm intrigued, my version was pretty easy to check as I just had to write a quick check against my database of my collection in excel and run the numbers versus checking each years top 100 on PA. I'm now wondering what this would generate for me. I may be back. I don’t have a database of my collection, so I’d have to go through all my CDs and downloads to find the years of release. I knew the approach I took was not going to be 100% reliable or accurate, and would still take some time, but it still seemed the “easiest” way to go about it. 🤷🏻‍♂️