First Love - Big 6 and beyond
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Topic: First Love - Big 6 and beyond
Posted By: Rick1
Subject: First Love - Big 6 and beyond
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 07:07
Reflecting, as you do, with some friends about the joys of record buying, we talked about the emotional attachment to albums 'first owned' and not recorded on cassette tape off a friend's copy. This would involve saving up the money, getting a bus/train/walk to the record shop and making a careful purchase. So, as most prog fans take a punt on the 'big six', here are my 'first loves' - the first albums by artists I bought a physical copy of an album by them, plus other significant purchases in the prog category.
ELP - Pictures at an Exhibition Genesis - Genesis Live Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood King Crimson - Discipline Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Yes - Relayer
Others: Gong - Camembert Electrique Hawkwind - Roadhawks Hatfield and the North - The Rotter's Club Henry Cow - In Praise of Learning
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Replies:
Posted By: Easy Money
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 08:54
The very first albums I bought in the early 70s were: Deep Purple - "Deep Purple" Jethro Tull - "Stand Up" Alice Cooper - "Love it to Death"
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Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 09:16
Great topic, Rick...
ELP - Tarkus Genesis - Three Sides Live Jethro Tull - Broadsword King Crimson - Beat Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother Yes - Drama (I think)
Others: TD - Ricochet VDGG - Prawn Tarts Hawkwind - In Search Of Space Camel - Rajaz (My priniciple embarrassment... never invested until 1999, when this came out and I went to see them in Sheffield) Renaissance - Carnegie Hall Eloy - Ocean BJH - EiEE Moody's - Days Of Future Passed Rush - either Signals or GUP... maybe both together in 84 when GUP came out? Sky - 1 (Signed LP from Reddington's!) APP - Turn of A Friendly Card
I've enjoyed that; most therapeutic!
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Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 09:42
If I recall my first excursions to buy records as a teen, the first albums I purchased would be...
Alice Cooper - Killer/Love It To Death/School's Out (huge Coop fan in my early teens) Jethro Tull - Aqualung/Stand Up/Thick as a Brick Deep Purple - Made In Japan Black Sabbath - Paranoid/Sabbath Bloody Sabbath Led Zeppelin - IV/Physical Graffiti Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here/DSotM/Meddle The Moody Blues - Days of Future Past/On the Threshold of a Dream The Beatles - The White Album/Revolver/Abbey Road Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...
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Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 10:11
Big 6ELP - BSS Genesis - Trespass Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood King Crimson - ITCOTCK Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Yes - CTTE
The only ones of those that were in my first round of purchases were Genesis & Yes.
Other first purchases
Rainbow - Rising Supertramp - Crime Of The Century Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies Black Sabbath - Paranoid AC/DC - Highway To Hell Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast
------------- Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/
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Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 12:36
Jared wrote:
Great topic, Rick... |
Yes, indeed...just too many and too difficult to choose "the others". 
The First Six:
Czeslaw Niemen - Enigmatic ELP - Trilogy Osibisa - Osibisa Ekseption - Trinity Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Others: many, many, many
------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 13:21
Jared wrote:
Great topic, Rick...
ELP - Tarkus Genesis - Three Sides Live Jethro Tull - Broadsword King Crimson - Beat Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother Yes - Drama (I think)
Others: TD - Ricochet VDGG - Prawn Tarts Hawkwind - In Search Of Space Camel - Rajaz (My priniciple embarrassment... never invested until 1999, when this came out and I went to see them in Sheffield) Renaissance - Carnegie Hall Eloy - Ocean BJH - EiEE Moody's - Days Of Future Passed Rush - either Signals or GUP... maybe both together in 84 when GUP came out? Sky - 1 (Signed LP from Reddington's!) APP - Turn of A Friendly Card
I've enjoyed that; most therapeutic!
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I agree great topic and I like your list too.
Deep Purple - Fireball Yes - Close To The Edge Genesis - Foxtrot ELP - Tarkus Status Quo - Hello Jethro Tull - Benefit
------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake."
Music Is Live
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.
Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… <
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Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 13:22
Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:
Big 6<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">ELP - BSS <div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Genesis - Trespass<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Jethro Tull - Songs from the Wood<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">King Crimson - ITCOTCK<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Yes - CTTE<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;"> <div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">The only ones of those that were in my first round of purchases were Genesis & Yes.<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;"> <div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Other first purchases<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;"> <div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Rainbow - Rising<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Supertramp - Crime Of The Century<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Black Sabbath - Paranoid<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">AC/DC - Highway To Hell<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast<div style=": rgb248, 248, 252;">
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Fabulous list
------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake."
Music Is Live
Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.
Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… <
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Posted By: suitkees
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 13:45
My first Big Six purchases: ELP - either Pictures at an Exhibition or Tarkus, I'm not sure.
Genesis - Trespass Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
King Crimson - Lizard
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Yes - 90125 (my very first vinyl!)
(only Yes, PF and ELP were part of the very early acquisitions)
Other early purchases: Focus - Moving Waves (Focus II - my second vinyl) Marillion - Script For a Jester's Tear (third one, I think) Ange - Guet-apens
Eloy - Colours Grobschnitt - Rockpommel's Land
Kayak - Merlin Saga - Worlds Apart Triumvirat - Old Loves Die Hard
In that same period I also borrowed - and taped - quite some albums from the local library which had a very decent prog rock section (labeled "symphonic rock" back then)...
------------- The razamataz is a pain in the bum
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Posted By: rushfan4
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 13:51
The first record that I bought on my own was British Steel by Judas Priest.
As far as the big 6, I mostly went the compilation route:
Yes - Classic Yes ELP - The Best of ELP Jethro Tull - Original Masters Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason King Crimson - Three of a Perfect Pair (If I remember right) Genesis - ? Might have been We Can't Dance. I honestly don't remember
Rush - Caress of Steel
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Posted By: suitkees
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 13:57
rushfan4 wrote:
The first record that I bought on my own was British Steel by Judas Priest. |
Funny! When I went out to buy my first record, after spending a lot of time browsing through the bins, I finally listened to two records in the shop: Judas Priest's British Steel and Yes' 90125. Bought the latter and never bought an album by Judas Priest...
------------- The razamataz is a pain in the bum
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Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: January 13 2023 at 14:43
After having given it a hard try, here some others, very much related to the '70s:
Genesis - Trespass, NC, SEbtP Juka Tolonen - Passenger to Paramaribo Stomu Yamash'ta - Raindog Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire Secret Oyster - Sea Son Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Tarkus, BSS Focus - Moving Waves, Hamburger C. Pink Floyd - Saucerful, TDSotM, Wish You Were Le Orme - Felona e Sorona Banco - Darwin, Io Sono King Crimson - ItCotCK, LTiA, Red Van der Graaf Generator - H to He, Godbluff Jethro Tull - Aqualung Il Balletto - Ys Museo - Zarathustra Amon Düül II - Yeti, Wolf City Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear Clearlight - Symphony PFM - Photos of Ghosts Gong - Shamal Can - Ege Bamyasi Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene Voivod - Nothingface (the last one) Gentle Giant - Acquiring the Taste Khan - Space Shanty Caravan - ItLoGaP Camel - The Snow Goose Jean-Luc Ponty - On the Wings Wigwam - Being Bi Kyo Ran - debut Solaris - Marsbeli Kronikak Santana - Abraxas Yes - The Yes Album, CttE Algarnas Trädgård - Framtiden är Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Kornelyans - Not an Ordinary Life Return to Forever - Where Have I Weather Report - Black Market Eloy - Inside, Floating, Ocean Harmonium - Les Cinq Saisons Frank Zappa - Hot Rats
All of them vinyls except from a few ones to begin with. 
------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: January 14 2023 at 01:23
I had a lot gifted to me for B'Day and Xmas.
The only album by the Big Six I remember buying myself about 1977 was ELP -Pictures At An Exhibition (cassette) which I hated. I do still have a vinyl copy of Yes - Going for The One but god knows when I purchased that, probably early 80's. Had no interest whatsoever in Genesis, Floyd, Tull and only cared about Crimson's debut in those days ( that was a gift).
Albums I remember purchasing back in the day Aphrodite's Child - 666 Tubeway Army - Replicas Kayak - Periscope Life Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells IQ - The Wake Vangelis - China
tbh my memory is very vague. When CD's became more common place then I just purchased loads of the things especially during the 90's and 00's.
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Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: January 14 2023 at 02:01
Already owned (via my dad): Stand Up
Then (+/- in order) in 74:
Crime Of The Century Harmonium debut Selling England Dark Side (then Meddle)
In The Court Aqualung (then TAAB) Grey & Pink
Machine Head or In Rock Paranoid Zoso Zeit (I hated it)
(I didn't buy Tarkus and CTTE until late 75 or possibly later if memory serves me well)
etc...
------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword
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Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: January 14 2023 at 03:15
Ten most memorable early album purchases back in the mid-1970's:-
Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet or On Your Knees Camel - Moonmadness Justin Hayward & John Lodge - Blue Jays The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning Demis Roussos - Forever and Ever Queen - Sheer Heart Attack Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth
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Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: January 14 2023 at 04:55
First very memorable Prog-related:
Deep Purple - Fireball Black Sabbath - Vol. 4 Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy Golden Earring - Moontan
------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 08:36
Some more of the very memorable purchases related to post-'70s :
Asia Minor - Crossing The Line Tool - Undertow Djam Karet - Reflections From The Firepool Änglagård - Hybris
Fates Warning - The Spectre Within Aesma Daeva - Frigid Beauty
Gunesh - Looking At The Earth Green Carnation - The Acoustic Verses
Los Jaivas - Alturas de Machu Pichu Indukti - S.U.S.A.R.
Marillion - Script Psychotic Waltz - Into the Everflow Anekdoten - Vemod The Mars Volta - De-loused
Porcupine Tree - Coma Divine Riverside - Second Life Syndrome
Most of them CDs, the rest vinyls.
------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 09:50
I lived a sheltered life apparently. Didn't know about Prog really until I was in my 40's so the purchases that stand out for me in the mid seventies which were close to being first buys for me were Rush's A Farewell To Kings and Led Zeppelin IV which I bought during a high school field trip to Toronto where we had a couple of hours to shop or do whatever. Me and a buddy went into Sam The Record Man and I picked those two up. I always remember the teacher asking me what I bought as we were getting back on the bus and showing him he almost smiled but the girl behind me had a Mike Oldfield record she bought called Tubular Bells or something like that and he made a big deal about it.
------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart"
"Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN
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Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 10:06
Psychedelic Paul wrote:
Ten most memorable early album purchases back in the mid-1970's:-
Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet or On Your Knees Camel - Moonmadness Justin Hayward & John Lodge - Blue Jays The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning Demis Roussos - Forever and Ever Queen - Sheer Heart Attack Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth |
Your tastes haven't changed much have they?
------------- Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/
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Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 10:25
Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:
Psychedelic Paul wrote:
Ten most memorable early album purchases back in the mid-1970's:-
Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet or On Your Knees Camel - Moonmadness Justin Hayward & John Lodge - Blue Jays The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning Demis Roussos - Forever and Ever Queen - Sheer Heart Attack Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth |
Your tastes haven't changed much have they?
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No, my musical tastes have just broadened out more over the years into a whole new world of prog I never even knew existed before discovering ProgArchives and I still love those ten listed albums just as much today as when I first bought them nearly fifty years ago, which reminds me, Demis Roussos is coming up soon on my Greek prog blog, under Prog Related. 
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Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 11:19
Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:
Psychedelic Paul wrote:
Ten most memorable early album purchases back in the mid-1970's:-
Blue Oyster Cult - On Your Feet or On Your Knees Camel - Moonmadness Justin Hayward & John Lodge - Blue Jays The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning Demis Roussos - Forever and Ever Queen - Sheer Heart Attack Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth |
Your tastes haven't changed much have they?
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 I'm not so sure about that, whatever Paul says.
------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 11:37
Big 6
Pink Floyd - Animals Genesis - Live King Crimson - ITCOTKC Jethro Tull - Broadsword and the Beast Yes - Yessongs ELP - I've got to admit I never bought an album of them; my father had a few and I would tape them and others from friends; I only bought stuff when there were mp3/flac files around
Before those I had
Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Nightingales and Bombers (and more of them) The Beatles - 1967-1970 (and more of them)
Pink Floyd Animals was the first that was not Manfred Mann and not Beatles; after that I bought lots of stuff in pretty short time from flea markets at 5 DM or so, first Tangerine Dream, Can, Amon Duul II, Camel, Renaissance, Cure, Comsat Angels and many others within probably half a year.
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Posted By: Cosmiclawnmower
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 12:06
I had loads of tapes initially, a real mix of heavy metal, Mike oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Camel, Focus etc recorded from my older brother and mates older siblings but the first vinyl lps i bought with my own money from summer jobs as a teenager were:
Hawkwind 1st lp Barclay James Harvest Live tapes Camel A live record Genesis Seconds out Pink Floyd Animals Blue Oyster Cult Cultosaurus Erectus Rush A farewell to Kings Roy Harper Bullinamingvase (one of those days in England) Caravan Land of Grey and pink Steve Hillage Green
and loads of others that flooded in from second hand and junk shops once i got the bug! At a quid a throw i could afford to try lots of things on spec.
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Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 12:32
My first purchases were (between maybe '83, as the earliest, and '91):
Pink Floyd - Relics (vinyl) The Who - It's Hard (cassette tape) Yes - Fragile (cassette tape) Pink Floyd - Animals (cassette tape) Rush - Hemispheres (cassette tape) Kitaro - Oasis (cassette tape) Laurie Anderson - Big Science (cassette tape) Kate Bush - The Kick Inside (CD) Kate Bush - Lionheart (CD) A few Clannad albums (CDs) Supertramp - Crime of the Century (CD)
If going outside what is in PA, then I would include Bauhaus, various Enya albums, and some other things in that period. Most of the music I listened to were from my older brothers' extensive collections, and my friends and their older brothers collections when I was a youth in the 80s. And I had many albums that had been given to me (various Led Zep's, Gary Numan's, Alan Parsons Projects, The Cure's....)
------------- "Questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself" (The Prisoner, 1967).
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Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 12:56
Strange as it may seem, I didn't own any albums by the so-called Big Six back in the seventies.
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Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: January 15 2023 at 13:52
Psychedelic Paul wrote:
Strange as it may seem, I didn't own any albums by the so-called Big Six back in the seventies.  |
Whatever to think about it, those were close to
Camel - Moonmadness Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth
------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: January 16 2023 at 14:32
My "first" encounters with the Big 6:
Yes - Fragile ELP - Tarkus Pink Floyd - Meddle Jethro Tull - Stand Up King Crimson - ITCOTCK Genesis - Genesis Live
------------- The Prog Corner
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Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: April 14 2025 at 02:38
nice thread gentle bump
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Posted By: Octopus II
Date Posted: April 14 2025 at 09:23
Big 6 ELP - Emerson, Lake & Palmer Genesis - Selling England By The Pound Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Yes - Close To The Edge
Others: Camel - The Snow Goose Hawkwind - Space Ritual Supertramp - Crime Of The Century Procol Harum - Grand Hotel Man - Back Into The Future Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
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Posted By: AlanB
Date Posted: April 14 2025 at 09:55
The first albums I bought with my own money weren't prog albums. They were The Slider (T Rex), Symphonies For The Seventies and Mozart In The Seventies (Waldo De Los Rios) and a cassette of Argus (Wishbone Ash). The first prog Big 6 albums I bought were The Yes Album and Wish You Were Here. I also had Rain Dances, Moonmadness, Breathless and A Live Record by Camel.
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Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: April 14 2025 at 12:40
Nice. I discovered most of these a couple of decades later as I wasn't around when they were new. They all still have a very special place in my heart:
...I have to start with two albums I located in my parents collection as a child:
Pink Floyd - The Wall ELO - Time
...much later:
Kraftwerk - The Man-Machine The Residents - Duck Stab/Buster and Glen Swans - Children of God Dead Can Dance - St Genesis - Nursery Cryme Jethro Tull - Stand Up The Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord King Crimson - In the Court... Curved Air - Second Album Pink Floyd - Piper (second discovery, it counts for me) Tortoise - St
...later:
VdGG - H to He... Peter Hammill - Silent Corner... Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear Magma - St/Kobaïa Univers Zero - St/1313 Gentle Giant - Aquiring the Taste Caravan - If I could... Camel - Mirage Hatfield and the North - The Rotter's Club Soft Machine - Volume Two Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Herbie Hancock - Crossings Gong - You Can - Ege Bamyasi PFM - Storia di un Minuto BSM - Io Sono Nato Libero Le Orme - Collage
Never genuinely fell in love with Yes, ELP, Rush... (but I like some Yes quite a bit - and a little Rush)
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Posted By: Finnforest
Date Posted: April 14 2025 at 13:09
Well, I started with cassette tapes and can't really remember much about the order of things with those. I recall I did own Moving Pictures, Long Distance Voyager, Paradise Theater, and Three Sides Live on cassettes.
Then I do recall with more clarity that the two first vinyls I bought after getting a turntable were "Fragile" and "Dog and Butterfly." I very quickly owned the complete Yes canon in short order. Yes were my gateway band.
------------- ...that moment you realize you like "Mob Rules" better than "Heaven and Hell"
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Posted By: Big Sky
Date Posted: April 14 2025 at 23:13
I really started buying albums in 1980-81. To best of my memory:
Yes: Yes Album (1980) ELP: Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends (1980) Genesis: Abacab (1981) Jethro Tull: M.U.- The Best of Jethro Tull (1982 - 83) King Crimson: Larks Tongues in the Aspic (1982 - 83) Pink Floyd: Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd (2001 - 02)
Styx: Pieces of Eight (1979) Supertramp: Breakfast in America (1979) Gentle Giant: Three Friends (1981) Rush: Moving Pictures (1981) Mahavisnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame (1982)
Either Styx or Supertramp was my first proper album I bought and I'm pretty sure it was in 1979. I was still in Jr. High.
Yes and ELP, once I bought those first two albums, the money I made cutting grass in the Summer and raking neighbors yards in the Fall went to buying Yes and ELP records. Same with Gentle Giant.
Genesis was a little later. Heard the title track Abacab and bought in short order. It was my brother who bought the Genesis and Rush records. When I started college in 1984 I went bought my own copies.
Pink Floyd. Borrowed friends albums. First actual PF I bought was Echoes, although my wife owned DSOTM.
King Crimson. After I bought LTIA, Red and Starless and Bible Black I bought shortly thereafter.
Mahavisnu Orchestra. This began my fusion phase. RTF, Al Dimeola, Dixie Dregs, Pat Metheny, etc, etc started finding their way into my album collection.
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Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: April 15 2025 at 01:45
I have to say I didn't always buy the best or most obvious ones first.
Yes- 90125, Classic Yes, Fragile, relayer (my dad had the yes album-that was all by them-so I probably first heard his copy of that)
Genesis - From Genesis to Revelation, Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, Genesis (shapes)
ELP - Same
King Crimson - Islands (yes, this was my first purchase), In The Court of the Crimson King, Larks Tongues in Aspic, A young person's guide to king crimson, Three of a Perfect Pair
Pink Floyd - The Final Cut (maybe my first prog or prog related album I bought) My uncle (RIP) was a fan so I heard most of them first through his collection.
Rush - Signals (other than that I heard them through my brother's friend who was a fan)
Gentle Giant - Three Friends, Octopus
Camel - Mirage, Snowgoose, The Single Factor (all on cassette tape and I barely knew who they were but saw bands compared to them a lot in prog catalogs so was curious)
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Kansas - Leftoverture
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood, Clutching At Straws
Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed, In Search of the Lost Chord, On the Threshold of a Dream
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Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: April 15 2025 at 01:55
AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:
I have to say I didn't always buy the best or most obvious ones first.
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You are not the only one.
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Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: April 15 2025 at 09:03
Hi,
I did not start in pop music and fan driven radio music at all. But I had already started listening to a lot of things in Brazil, as dad got a record player so he could play his collection of classical music, with lots of opera!
We did get, in Brazil, albums by The Beatles and Rolling Stones, that we kinda heard on the radio which was a treat on that record player for us, but we had to play it very low to not bother mom and dad!
By the time we came to the USA, it was Sgt Pepper's, Their Satanic Majesties' Request, Blonde on Blonde and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band ... and from then on Moody Blues (Nights in White Satin ... but it was the long piece with the orchestra that really got me going ... far out!!!) ... so that by the time, I got into what became known as "progressive" my tastes in music were varied and not strictly mandated by a song, or album that was in the top listing of nothing but imaginary sales!
One of the first things I did get ... ELP's Pictures At An Exhibition, since it was one of my favorite pieces ... and also Alan Stivell, that sister had brought from France, and that first Harp album, that was absolutely far out and neat ... and it kinda busted up the idea of "progressive music" for me ... for a long time, and when it all became known as "art rock", it was closer to the truth of it, but again, it was mandated by record companies so their own product was better, by making sure it was listed way up and above the other stuff!
Genesis (SEBTP), Nektar (ATITO), TD (Phaedra), all came on the same night by Guy Guden on one of the first apartments we shared. It was too much, and I went back to my earphones and Hawkwind's Space Ritual! At that time I was also hearing YES, and picked up The Yes Album for the song that was being played on the radio ... I've Seen All The Good People. Jt I had heard way back to their first or 2nd albums as well as Fairport Convention. Gong, Hatfield & The North, Henry Cow, Dagmar and all those folks came later during Space Pirate Radio time, after January 1974. It was during the 1972 time that we heard Amon Duul 2 and Can, on the same night, along with Kevin Ayers, and Roy Harper, as a friend of ours was housing a large record collection for someone that obviously had been involved with a radio station ... and I suppose that all became the main stuff in the very first weeks of the Space Pirate Radio shows. I had all the Led Zep albums and several bootlegs of theirs, and it was at that time that I found a lot of PF bootlegs which were all far out and led me to all their early stuff, not quite the Syd Barrett stuff at all, until the following year.
From January 1974 on, most of the "new" stuff was based on what we got as albums from various places in LA, along with my scavenging of albums in the LP used bins ... which got me Quatermass, Triad/Spontaneous Combustion, Byzantium, (one of Guy's favorites at the time), and a few other things, like Family (Anyway!) ... and these fit nicely along with my SF/LA collection of stuff ... I had all The Doors and Iron Butterfly, for example, as well as Stoneground, Coven, and several other local folks.
Peter Hammill came home from the used LP bins. H to He was the album and I loved it ... it was a poetic voice and singing that I like, as much as Jim M.
But remember, that in LA, just like any big cities, you get a lot more stuff ... and I got to go to the Aquarius Theater (In its old home) and see HAIR, and across the street got to see 2001 in the Cinerama Dome, which was an experience that you did not need to get stoned for! Both those shows in one night was totally far out! And I bought the soundtrack for HAIR ... and never touched a Three Dog Night single ... !!!
Imports, which were so much a part of SPR in the early days, dominated the new releases, and many of them were on a different time scale and released much later ... though things were changing quickly and the releases were getting in sync way better within a few years, but it made for GONG and a lot of other European bands a bit more to get into and appreciate. But we already had Banco, PFM, Vangelis and others way before they were released here.
Completely different time scale for music, and not dominated by the numbers at all ... which made it all much better and interesting ... you didn't know anything and were about to get a heck of a surprise ... and one of mine was Quatermass ... I think I wore out 2 or three copies!
------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com
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