Chronological Comparisons of bands

Debuts
1. In the Court of the Crimson King
2. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
3. This Was
4. Yes
5. From Genesis to Revelation

Seconds
1. Stand Up
2. In the Wake of Poseidon
3. Trespass
4. A Saucerful of Secrets
5. Time and a Word

Thirds
1. The Yes Album
2. Benefit
3. Lizard
4. Nursery Cryme
5. More

Fourths
1. Aqualung
2. Foxtrot
3. Fragile
4. Islands
5. Ummagumma

Fifths
1. Close to the Edge
2. Thick as a Brick
3. Selling England by the Pound
4. Larks' Tongues in Aspic
5. Atom Heart Mother

Sixths
1. Meddle
2. Starless and Bible Black
3. A Passion Play
4. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
5. Tales From Topographic Oceans

Sevenths
1. A Trick of the Tail
2. Red
3. War Child
4. Relayer
5. Obscured by Clouds

Eighths
1. The Dark Side of the Moon
2. Minstrel in the Gallery
3. Going for the One
4. Wind & Wuthering
5. Discipline

Ninths
1. Wish You Were Here
2. ...And Then There Were Three...
3. Beat
4. Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!
5. Tormato

Tenths
1. Songs From the Wood
2. Animals
3. Duke
4. Three of a Perfect Pair
5. Drama

Elevenths
1. The Wall
2. Heavy Horses
3. THRAK
4. Abacab
5. 90125

6 X 6 Classic Prog Favourites:- Barclay James Harvest; Camel; Caravan; The Moody Blues; Procol Harum; & Renaissance (studio albums only)

Awesome to see people coming up with others for lists, and yes, I don;t take the exercise very seriously, but for me it's a fun and strangely rewarding challenge. List-making helps me re-focus.   It;s quite like meditation for me, only not. :)   That is the way I at first wanted to do it and should have stuck with the plan. I will try one with Caravan and Camel later (two serious classics) but wanted to do an artist one. While all of these were making albums in the 70s up, it is not a classic Prog list like the other two I presented. It's Bowie, Bush, Hammill and Wyatt. I then thought of adding Peter Gabriel, doofus (sp?) forgetting, but I am running late.

Debuts:
1. The Kick Inside (Kate Bush)
2. Fool's Mate (Peter Hammill)
3. The End of an Ear (Robert Wyatt)
4. David Bowie (David Bowie)
Seconds:
1. Rock Bottom (Robert Wyatt)
2. Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night (Peter Hammill)
3. Lionheart (Kate Bush)
4. Space Oddity (David Bowie)
Thirds:
1. The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage (Peter Hammill)
2. The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie)
3. Never for Ever (Kate Bush)
4. Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (Robert Wyatt)
Fourths: (the hardest yet and in no way definitive)
1. Hunky Dory (David Bowie)
2. The Dreaming (Kate Bush)
3. In Camera (Peter Hammill)
4. Old Rottenhat (Robert Wyatt)
Fifths:
1. Hounds of Love (Kate Bush)
2. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (David Bowie)
3. Nadir's Big Chance (Peter Hammill)
4. Dondestan (Robert Wyatt)
Sixths:
1. Aladdin Sane (David Bowie)
2. Shleep (Robert Wyatt)
3. The Sensual World (Kate Bush)
4. Over (Peter Hammill
Sevenths:
1. Cuckooland (Robert Wyatt)
2. The Future Now (Peter Hammill)
3. Pinups (David Bowie)
4. The Red Shoes (Kate Bush)
Eights:
1. Aerial (Kate Bush)
2. Comicopera (Robert Wyatt)
3. pH7 (Peter Hammill)
4. Diamond Dogs (David Bowie)
Ninths:
1. A Black Box (Peter Hammill)
2. Young Americans (David Bowie)
- not heard: Director's Cut (Kate Bush)
- archival (I would not count): Radio Experiment Rome, February 1981 (Robert Wyatt)
Tenths:
1. 50 Words for Snow (Kate Bush)
2. Station to Station (David Bowie)
- not very familair with: Sitting Targets (Peter Hammill)
- collaboration not familiar with: For the Ghosts Within (Wyatt/Atzmon/Stephen)
Elevenths:
1. Low (David Bowie) (great album, imo)
- don't know: Enter K (peter Hammill)
n/a Kate Bush
don't know, don't count archival: '68 (Robert Wyatt)
Twelths:
1. 'Heroes' (David Bowie) - deserving of top spot even with no competition
- don't know: Loops and Reels (Peter Hammill)
- don't know enough and collab: KiTsuNe / Brian the Fox (The Future Eve & Robert Wyatt)

Jared wrote: I've looked at this thread Greg and looked again.... but I find it next to impossible to rate these albums as its continually having the greatest bands and many of the greatest albums competing against each other. I can't put them in an order because it often depends on my mood (or even phase of life!) as to which I would choose, but I'd rather not do without any of them... except for some of the later Crimson ones, maybe? I know that probably sounds very lame, because everyone else seems to have managed it without too much trouble, but you can't ask me to choose between CttE, SEBTP & TaaB!!?? They are the best albums by all three bands!!

I think that's mature, Jared, and you're not the only one. I recognise a kind of ridiculous futility in the exercise myself. And If Peter were still around I might get a post about making sport of art. Of course he had a good point, but I approach these from a rather different perspective. When voting in a poll or doing some like this, I tend to go with my feeling at that moment. I don't think in terms of best, more "Which of these would I most like to listen to right now?"   Or I go on a whim, or toss a mental coin. Then toss that mental coin again if I don't like the result. :lol:

At different times I would favour different ones, and what most interests me now commonly is not what would have most interested me in past years. As people we change all the time, and I choose based on the feelings of the moment at the time of choosing, not how it might have affected me yesterday, or how I liked it ten years ago etc.

I actually have been kind of surprised to pretty commonly see people write something like, "I am voting for x because it was my first favourite of these", or "It my first of these so it gets my vote." I understand the nostalgia factor, but I'm more inclined to go with ones that I fell for more recently, played most recently, or in the case of ones where I have know all for a long time, just based on my whim or mood of the time. Today I might well list those in a different order (

I'm please to see people who appreciate a variety of albums across bands and don't just go with a "favourite band" no matter what album it is up against.

I was Watching My Kitchen Rules 10 last night, an Australian program, and Manu, who is one of the food judges said something like, "I love food. And if I don't love a certain food now, I learn to love it" is response to someone with very limited tastes. I'm pleased to see the lack of band fanboyism that is apparent across lists. Mind you, those are five big name classics. If I did, say, Dream Theater and Univers Zero, then it would be more divided into factions.

Greg: You raise a lot of interesting points there, but because of (all of) our historical attachments to the bands you initially included, it is practically impossible to keep nostalgia at bay when deciding.  SEBtP & CttE in particular are so heavily welded to the 16/17 year old Jared who thought they were 'out of this world' that they have remained at the top of the tree ever since and it would be almost impossible to dislodge them... they are fixtures and fittings of my Prog mind. 

Edited by Jared - November 03 2024 at 13:37