TOP 100 Progressive Music Albums

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   Thanks for the welcome.  I've been a non-lurking member of your sister/brother site progressive ears for a few years now, and I've been using progarchives as a reliable resource for prog about the same.  I've learned of many bands and albums from this site that I might not have had progarchives not been here.  I've been a diehard progger since the early 70s when, still in my teens, I was exposed to Genesis, King Crimson, ELP, Yes, and all the great bands that were popular at the time.  And that was notable, because one could hear a track from Yes Fragile on FM one moment, followed by a Black Sabbath or Blue Oyster Cult track and then maybe Foghat or Elton John.  Those days have changed, of course.  Dramatically, and not for the better.  Thank God for the internet, the bridge that connected all of us! 

I think I understand that many, if not most, of the bands/albums I listed are already reviewed.  It's possible I misunderstood the purpose of a top 100 proto-prog list.  Let's see how close I am...

The purpose of a top 100 genre list, in this case proto-prog, is to list the best 100 albums that genre had to offer.  That seemed pretty clear to me, but by all means correct me if I'm wrong.  If that's the case, and I believe it is, how does 33 of the 100 albums end up coming from one band?  Deep Purple, whom I am a BIG fan (MK II mainly) put out some 4 studio albums and 1 great live album from 1970 to 1974 when Gillan and Glover both left the band before Burn.  That makes 5 albums.

Proto-prog is a sub-genre of progressive rock that generally refers to bands in the late 60s and early 70s that played a more sophisticated rock music but was not necessarily "progressive".  Look anywhere on the 'net and you'll read names like Cressida, Spring, Gracious, Colosseum, Manfred Mann, Gnidrolog, Indian Summer, Still Life, and so many of their kind it's fairly obvious to anyone who takes the time to read up on this early movement (which is generally considered to have had its beginning in Great Britain).

Not one of those bands or their albums are mentioned in the top 100 proto-prog list, yet Deep Purple has 33, only a handful of which were actually recorded before 1972!  They had 3 or 4 albums before 1970 and another 3 or 4 after, which in my count comes to 8 at the most, not 33.  How many reviews do you suggest I read before that improbable figure begins to make sense?  Or is it because the other 28 Deep Purple albums that make up the bulk of that list aren't reviewed that qualifies them for inclusion?  If that's a primary criteria, then wouldn't the Carpenters or Blood, Sweat & Tears be on that list, since they have not been reviewed?

Admittedly, I'm not the most tactful person on the planet and for that I'm truly sorry.  I don't wake up each morning thinking of ways to piss people off.  The only reason I joined this forum was from shock.  You guys can run your site any way you like, but if want input from folks who might know a thing or two about the whole genre of progressive rock music, I'm available and I'd love to share what I know.  After consuming prog ravenously for over 35 years, I might just know a thing or two.

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.

Maybe you can explain to me why Deep Purple has 33 albums in this list and classic proto-prog bands like Cressida, Gracious or Spring have 0.  Please explain to me how a live album by DP recorded in 2001 qualifies as proto, when a classic album by Still Life recorded in 1971 on the Vertigo label does not.  Hey, I'm not trying to crap in your corn flakes here.  I guess I could have tempered my comments a bit so I didn't sound like I thought the people who created the list were idiots.  I'm sure there's a good reason.  I just didn't see one at the time.  But I'm all ears.

Enlighten me.  This might be fun.  Or maybe you'll tell me that David Bowie's latest album is proto-prog, and I'll just go find another forum to join.  It's no sweat off my balls.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Web is actually Samurai, they just changed their name. While they may be the same band with a new name, Brainchild has nothing to do with Greenslade.  Lennie Wright of Web and Samurai did produce Brainchild's album, which explains why they share a similar sound/style, not to mention the album cover design too.  But Dave Lawson left Samurai to form his own band: Greenslade.  So, saying that covering Greenslade amounts to covering Samurai or that covering Samurai is the equivalent to covering Brainchild is like saying Allan Holdsworth is Canterbury because he played on a couple albums with Bill Bruford, who happened to play with National Health and Gong for a short time.  Rich Wakeman was a guest keyboardist on a couple Black Sabbath albums, so does that make him a metal keyboardist?

In the words of our beloved Mike Meyers who played the host of "Cawfee Tawk" on SNL, "Talk amongst yourselves..."

prog on!

Edited by proglamaniac - July 06 2006 at 21:34