Our first fifteen favorite Prog Archives-albums

Sean Trane wrote: I didn't have an older brother/cousin to guide me either, but there was the perfect record shop next to my school with the most excellent owner, always listening to my returns on what I bought before and guided me to other albums and always hit the spot (very few misses). The dude looked a lot like Roger Earle of Savoy Brown (later Foghat) and owned the Records On Wheels in Mississauga.  Impossible to miss Harmonium's debut in the spring of 74 while still in Montreal, but by the fall I was in the greater Toronto area, and when I saw Crime of the Century in the ROW shop window, I knew I had to listen to that, so next day, I had enough money to take it home.  When I came back astounded by what I'd heard, I asked him for more of the same, and out I came with DSOTM and the next time was ITCKOFCK. Of course TAAB and Aqualung were right up there, as well. I did have an early near-miss with SEBTP at first, because I thought it was too weird-sounding (production-wise) but it clicked later, once I got ATOTT.

Jared wrote: Sean Trane wrote: I didn't have an older brother/cousin to guide me either, but there was the perfect record shop next to my school with the most excellent owner, always listening to my returns on what I bought before and guided me to other albums and always hit the spot (very few misses). The dude looked a lot like Roger Earle of Savoy Brown (later Foghat) and owned the Records On Wheels in Mississauga.  Impossible to miss Harmonium's debut in the spring of 74 while still in Montreal, but by the fall I was in the greater Toronto area, and when I saw Crime of the Century in the ROW shop window, I knew I had to listen to that, so next day, I had enough money to take it home.  When I came back astounded by what I'd heard, I asked him for more of the same, and out I came with DSOTM and the next time was ITCKOFCK. Of course TAAB and Aqualung were right up there, as well. I did have an early near-miss with SEBTP at first, because I thought it was too weird-sounding (production-wise) but it clicked later, once I got ATOTT.  Thanks for this Hugues; I'm always interested to read of the formative experiences of others. There appear to be a number of differences in our upbringings, which contributed to my backward development when it came to music, which I shall outline... 1) I didn't start buying any of my own music until 1983, by which time 'Prog' of any kind had an incredibly low profile. All the other kids at school were ironically more into the sort of stuff Greg lists in his polls than anything remotely prog. 2) I grew up in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of a village with a long (and expensive) bus ride to the nearest town, where there were only a couple of record shops. 3) I was one of four kids who didn't get much pocket money at all and was certainly not encouraged to spend it on music. My parents were quite erm 'Victorian' and vetted anything like this which came into the house... I was 16 by the time I got a modest allowance and the vetting relaxed a little. 4) The only exposure I got to any prog in early 80's Britain, would have been Tommy Vance's Friday Rock show, but you had to wade thru a tonne of hair metal before you heard anything more interesting. There were no mags I knew of and certainly nothing on the 3 channels of our TV screens at the time. 5) My father really disliked music as an art-form. I grew up in a house where the 'spoken word was king' and Radio 4 was on every morning and most weekends... Reading this back now, it's flipping amazing I ever got to hear anything worthwhile at all!

Cosmiclawnmower wrote: Jared wrote: Sean Trane wrote: I didn't have an older brother/cousin to guide me either, but there was the perfect record shop next to my school with the most excellent owner, always listening to my returns on what I bought before and guided me to other albums and always hit the spot (very few misses). The dude looked a lot like Roger Earle of Savoy Brown (later Foghat) and owned the Records On Wheels in Mississauga.  Impossible to miss Harmonium's debut in the spring of 74 while still in Montreal, but by the fall I was in the greater Toronto area, and when I saw Crime of the Century in the ROW shop window, I knew I had to listen to that, so next day, I had enough money to take it home.  When I came back astounded by what I'd heard, I asked him for more of the same, and out I came with DSOTM and the next time was ITCKOFCK. Of course TAAB and Aqualung were right up there, as well. I did have an early near-miss with SEBTP at first, because I thought it was too weird-sounding (production-wise) but it clicked later, once I got ATOTT.  Thanks for this Hugues; I'm always interested to read of the formative experiences of others. There appear to be a number of differences in our upbringings, which contributed to my backward development when it came to music, which I shall outline... 1) I didn't start buying any of my own music until 1983, by which time 'Prog' of any kind had an incredibly low profile. All the other kids at school were ironically more into the sort of stuff Greg lists in his polls than anything remotely prog. 2) I grew up in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of a village with a long (and expensive) bus ride to the nearest town, where there were only a couple of record shops. 3) I was one of four kids who didn't get much pocket money at all and was certainly not encouraged to spend it on music. My parents were quite erm 'Victorian' and vetted anything like this which came into the house... I was 16 by the time I got a modest allowance and the vetting relaxed a little. 4) The only exposure I got to any prog in early 80's Britain, would have been Tommy Vance's Friday Rock show, but you had to wade thru a tonne of hair metal before you heard anything more interesting. There were no mags I knew of and certainly nothing on the 3 channels of our TV screens at the time. 5) My father really disliked music as an art-form. I grew up in a house where the 'spoken word was king' and Radio 4 was on every morning and most weekends... Reading this back now, it's flipping amazing I ever got to hear anything worthwhile at all!   That sounds very similar to my experience; when i was much younger my mother was very religious and things were a bit, er, stiff (ie my Dad's 'secret' jazz and big band) but that (thankfully) passed and things became a lot more relaxed and open as i grew up so i was allowed to be a bit wilder than my older siblings. But we grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere.. and had no money. And i listened to Tommy Vance too and Alan Freeman's saturday afternoon show before that. Most of my contemporaries were Punks and metal heads which was ok but there were a couple of 'old hippy couples' i knew who lent me some very interesting records.. and things went from there

Edited by David_D - September 06 2024 at 12:01

Jared wrote: verslibre wrote: Tangerine Dream – Exit (I went through the entire bin and this LP stood out) Wasn't that just a great experience as a teen? When money was (always) tight, you scrabbled thru the bargain bin in the corner clutching at straws for inspiration, taking a punt and finding a real gem like that for 3 or 4 £? Those were the days, my friend...

It spake to me.

I don't recall what I paid, but it was still a "full-price" record at the time. having only been out a few years. Maybe it was a tenner.

One point for The slider :-)

Saperlipopette! wrote: Spanning from early childhood to late teens (in chronological order)

Btw: during the years I obsessed with Genesis, King Crimson and Jethro Tull - I also tried an album each by Gentle Giant, Van Der Graaf Generator, Yes and a few more that I located in the Prog-section. But nothing had the same appeal to me. Only when I got back to them years later, it clicked (with Yes it has never truly clicked though). So while The Residents was instant love, most of the regular Prog took some getting used to. It's quite common for me. Loved Univers Zero and Art Zoyd the first time I heard them, while Camel and Renaissance did nothing for me (now I love all four).

mellotronwave wrote: One point for The slider :-)

Sean Trane wrote: I didn't have an older brother/cousin to guide me either, but there was the perfect record shop next to my school with the most excellent owner, always listening to my returns on what I bought before and guided me to other albums and always hit the spot (very few misses).

I neither had any older siblings or cousins for guidance, plus my parents had no interest in music whatsoever. Their whole lives they never owned any equipment capable of playing music other than a radio, and then they mostly listened to spoken word broadcasts.

For me the big discovery started at Xmas 1970 when I received my own radio as a gift, and could finally listen to what I wanted in my own room... tho then we were in the pre-local stations era so music was pretty much limited to BBC Radio One, Radio Luxembourg, and the odd pirate station (when you could pick them up) such as RNI (Radio Nordsee international), Radio Caroline, or Radio Seagull. It was at my school mates' places that I first listened to albums by the likes Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, ELP, or Santana.

Edited by Floydoid - September 08 2024 at 12:35

Saperlipopette! wrote: Sean Trane wrote: Yessss, my dad was a jazz fan (mostly swing) and a classical fan (lots of records at home), and my mom was more into music hall type of stuff (Piaf, Montand, Dietrich, Brel, etc...), so yeah, there was a lot of music home, including jazz greats spending the night at home Your parents sounds/sounded awesome. Actually there's nothing they were into that I couldn't enjoy myself.  -I don't mean to complain. My parents had decent to normal tastes. The best of what they got according to me was: The Kinks, Beatles, The Troggs(!), a beautiful Bacharach/David-collection, Jimi Hendrix Smash Hits, Golden Hour of Donovan, ELO - Time, loads of ABBA, two Pink Floyd-albums, a bit of Queen, 1980's U2, 1970's Chris DeBurgh, a couple of Bruce Springsteen's (not a fan, but he's got some gems), Tom Waits, Nazareth... and about a dozen "basic" classical records (but very important to me)... could be much worse.