Print Page | Close Window

Top Underrated or Unknown Albums

Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13374
Printed Date: March 06 2025 at 03:18
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Top Underrated or Unknown Albums
Posted By: Flip_Stone
Subject: Top Underrated or Unknown Albums
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 12:52

Some of those obscure prog. albums and groups deserve more attention.  Here's a starter list:

FIREBALLET - Night on Bald Mountain

CURVED AIR - Second Album*

NEKTAR - Remember the Future

ESTA - Meditterean Crossroads

BRUFORD - One of a Kind

SAGA - Worlds Apart

RENAISSANCE - Novella*

*female lead vocals

 




Replies:
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 14:10
Mother Gong - "Fairy Tales"
Roman Bunka - "Dein Kopf ist ein schlafendes Auto"
Captain Beyond - Same

Of Nektar I'd rather recommend "Recycled" and not "Remember the Future", which has a very weak chorus, accompanied by a one-note bass, that gets repeated again and again and in my opinion ruins the album, as good as it may otherwise be.


-------------


BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.


Posted By: DeadGhost
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 14:12
Fates warning - still life


Posted By: Elta31
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 15:57

     Ok, now we have something here. I'll do my best...

Pell Mell-Marburg

Spektakel-self titled

Apollo-self titled(German lyrics)

Siddartha-Weltschmerz

Steel Mill-Green Eyed God

Cravinkel-Garden of Loneliness

Czar-self titled

 

Well, that's all for now. I'm still on a quest to find new bands from the early 70's. I just ordered Arzachel, Colosseum, and Ragnarok. They should arrive next week. I'll keep posting if I find anything good...



Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 16:23

There have been many of these threads, and I always enjoy these as it's great for newer prog fans to delve into prog's lesser known back pages.

I disagree on 'Recycled'- I have it, and whilst I enjoy it, I find it has less to offer than any of the other Nektar albums I have in 'Tab In The Ocean', 'Remember The Future' and 'Down To Earth', which have something new to offer every time I play them. 'Recycled' is swamped in synthesisers, and for me, this is one band that was arguably better with just the hammond organ. But I respect your opinion, BaldFriede. And I agree totally on Captain Beyond- what a classic!

Glad to see Curved Air's 'Second Album' namechecked- one of my fave 70s prog albums. Check out 'Air Cut', which is heavier and features the teenage Eddie Jobson playing his heart out on synth and violin.

'Czar' is another favourite- 'Beyond The Moon' is a fave track of mine, and the whole album is drenched in mellotron.

 



Posted By: Tony Fisher
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 16:45

Here are a few which I own and love yet hardly anyone here will know:

The Tain & The Book of Invasions - Horslips

Toward the Sun - Druid (very Yes influenced but damn good. The follow up Fluid Druid has its moments too)

In the Region of the Summer Stars and Aerie Faerie Nonsense - The Enid

Fully Interlocking - Solution (Cordon Bleu is also brilliant but my ex wife threw it out, which is why she is ex!)

QE2 - Mike Oldfield

 



Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 16:57

Yeah I think Druid's first album was decent from what I heard of it a few years ago. I agree on it being Yes influenced, but not to the point of Starcastle, where there's hardly any originality and just cloning.

Some of my faves:

Spring

Gravy Train- Ballad Of A Peaceful Man

Beggar's Opera- Waters Of Change

Rare Bird- Rare Bird, As Your Mind Flies By

Fields- Fields

Audience- House On The Hill

 



Posted By: annt
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 17:03
I really like Ed Starink's original material. He's the guy behind many of the infamous "synthesizer greatest" albums , but he is an excellent composer and I recommend his work from early 80's. I think his albums are quite hard to get, however.


Posted By: Xanadu
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 17:12
Originally posted by Flip_Stone Flip_Stone wrote:

Some of those obscure prog. albums and groups deserve more attention.  Here's a starter list:

FIREBALLET - Night on Bald Mountain

CURVED AIR - Second Album*

NEKTAR - Remember the Future

ESTA - Meditterean Crossroads

BRUFORD - One of a Kind

SAGA - Worlds Apart

RENAISSANCE - Novella*

*female lead vocals

 

As for Nektar I wouldn't count them as unknown or underrated nor should I call them "obscure". But thats me.

What about May Blitz - 2nd of may

 

 



-------------
"Oh, yes, sitting-the great leveler. From the mightiest pharaoh to the lowliest peasant, who doesn't enjoy a good sit?"


Posted By: Bj-1
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 17:21
  • Symphony X - Symphony X
  • Symphony X - The Damnation Game
  • Dream Theater - When Dream & Day Unite
  • Meshuggah - Contradictions Collappse
  • Supertramp - Supertramp
  • Brand X - Do They Hurt?
  • Passport - Looking Thru

 



-------------
RIO/AVANT/ZEUHL - The best thing you can get with yer pants on!


Posted By: SevenColoured
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 17:23

José Cid - 10.000 Anos Entre Vénus E Marte

http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_CD.asp?cd_id=3537 - http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_CD. asp?cd_id=3537

 

 



Posted By: Lorak
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 19:03
Mallard - In a Different Climate
White Witch
Fugs - any LP
Crow
Groundhogs

All 60's and 70's mostly unknowns



-------------
Two heads are better than one, but if you want something done right, do it yourself.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but better safe than sorry.
Look before you leap, but he who hesitates is lost


Posted By: lucas
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 19:24

Jordan Rudess - 'Listen'

Janison Edge - 'the services of Mary Goode' (neo-prog with female vocals)

Orphan Project - 'Orphan found'

Gordon Giltrap - 'The peacock party'

Adrian Snell - 'Fireflake' (christian prog-rock)

 



-------------
"Magma was the very first gothic rock band" (Didier Lockwood)


Posted By: Tony Fisher
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 19:31
Originally posted by lucas lucas wrote:

Gordon Giltrap - 'The peacock party'

Sir, you are a genius. I've known for some time there was a glaring omission from this site and couldn't figure who it was; this is it.

Gordon Giltrap's first 4 albums were exceptional, classic prog, yet he's not here. He needs to be added without delay.



Posted By: horza
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 19:32
gordon giltrap is excellent - heartsong was a brill track - it may be commercial but so what

-------------
Originally posted by darkshade:

Calling Mike Portnoy a bad drummer is like calling Stephen Hawking an idiot.


Posted By: Catholic Flame
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 19:35

Sky - Sky2

The United States of America


Posted By: Violenza
Date Posted: October 21 2005 at 20:19
Ahvak (Israeli RIO)


Posted By: valravennz
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 01:51
  • Timothy Pure - Blood of the Berry
  • Gravy Train - Staircase To The Day
  • Colosseum - Daughter of Time
  • Pavlov's Dog - Pampered Menial
  • Black Widow - Come To The Sabbat

 



-------------

"Music is the Wine that fills the cup of Silence"
- Robert Fripp




Posted By: Chris S
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 02:56

Bo Hansson - Attic Thoughts

Gravy Train - A Ballad Of A Peaceful Man

Gravy Train - Staircase To The Day

Mike Oldfield - Amarok

Strawbs - From The Witchwood

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - The Good Earth

Caravan - Better By Far

Camel- Nude



-------------
<font color=Brown>Music - The Sound Librarian

...As I venture through the slipstream, between the viaducts in your dreams...[/COLOR]


Posted By: gabbel ratchett
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 03:10

Aorta - self titled

St. Elmo's Fire - Artifacts Of Passion

Of Montreal - The Sunlandic Twins

Eardance - Seek Opposites

Ozone Quartet - Live At Local 506

Sufjan Stevens - Come On, Feel The Illinoise!

Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (by strategy)

Shawn Phillips - Collaboration

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come - Galactic Zoo

Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star

Shadowfax - Watercourse Way

 



-------------
dead things don't talk too well, they've got a shaky sense of diction.


Posted By: Logos
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 04:42
Ars Nova - The Goddess of Darkness

Solefald - In Harmonia Universali
Age of Silence - Acceleration

Hidria Spacefolk - Symbiosis

Taipuva Luotisuora - I (Finnish space rock band. If you're interested, try some of the songs on their website, http://koti.mbnet.fi/crud/luotisuora/ . Especially the track "Music for kortela space hood elevators" is awesome. This band is totally underground even in Finland.)


Posted By: theBox
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 05:02
the list is huge and endless.... there are soooo many bands that should be cosidered first division but will sadly be always obscured by (great nonetheless) that monopolize the top 100. just to name a few:

   1. Mezquita
   
   2. La torre del Alquimista.

   3. Citizen Cain

   4. Happy the man

   5. Pollen

   6.Echolyn
 
   7.Sebastian hardie

   8.Iconoclasta

   9.Simon says

  10. Quaterna Requiem

   And that's only in the symphonic front...
    Oh well...


-------------


Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 05:44
An album that deserves a LOT more attention is Peter Hammill's opera "The Fall of the House of Usher". Anyone who likes dark prog should check it out. Be warned though: No drums or percussion on this album, at least not in the 1999 version (which is the better one; the 1990 version still had drums, which didn't really fit though, and it was a good move of Hammill to remove them).This album is not a silent one though, although there are no drums.

-------------


BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue.


Posted By: philippe
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 05:55
  • Harmonia - Deluxe
  • Arthur Brown - The crazy world of Arthur Brown
  • Bobby Callender - Rainbow
  • Eroc - Eroc I
  • Mythos - Mythos
  • Dzyan - Electric silence
  • Third Ear Band -Alchemy
  • Parzival - Legend
  • Conrad Schnitzler -Blau
  • Lard Free - Spiral Malax

 

 



Posted By: Pseud0
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 21:54
comus - first utterance is probably the most underrated album of all time




-------------


Posted By: Evolver
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 22:11

Altered State: Dos

Simply amazing album.  Completely overlooked.

Oingo Boingo: Oingo

Their last studio recording. More prog than you might expect. Elfman put a lot of what he learned about orchestral composing into that one.  Too bad they broke up after that one.

 



-------------
Trust me. I know what I'm doing.


Posted By: Fantômas
Date Posted: October 22 2005 at 22:18
Pop Group - For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?
Rain Tree Crown - Rain Tree Crown
Cromagnon - Orgasm
Godz - Contact High with The Godz
Von LMO - Red Resistor
Les Rallizes Denudes - White
Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno - Just Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno
Conrad Schnitzler - Con '72
Ice - Bad Blood
Kinski - Airs Above Your Station
Lightning Bolt - Ride The Skies
Mono - Walking Cloud And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined
Pain - Nothing Remains The Same
Simply Saucer - Cyborgs Revisited
Shub Niggurath - Es Morts Vont Vite
White Noise - An Electric Storm
Sunn O))) - White2

And many, many others... But these were the firsts that came to my head...



-------------
And above all, is punk


Posted By: Eetu Pellonpaa
Date Posted: October 23 2005 at 07:23

http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_CD.asp?cd_id=5935 - RUFUS ZUPHALL "Weiss Der Teufel" !

http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive_rock_discography_CD.asp?cd_id=5597 - THE SPACIOUS MIND "Cosmic Minds at Play" also...



Posted By: jotah15
Date Posted: October 23 2005 at 13:38
Originally posted by Logos Logos wrote:

Ars Nova - The Goddess of Darkness

Solefald - In Harmonia Universali
Age of Silence - Acceleration

Hidria Spacefolk - Symbiosis

Taipuva Luotisuora - I (Finnish space rock band. If you're interested, try some of the songs on their website, http://koti.mbnet.fi/crud/luotisuora/ . Especially the track "Music for kortela space hood elevators" is awesome. This band is totally underground even in Finland.)





-------------


www.sudakarock.com (try it!)


Posted By: jotah15
Date Posted: October 23 2005 at 13:55
Solaris - Martian Chronicles




-------------


www.sudakarock.com (try it!)


Posted By: Mategra
Date Posted: October 24 2005 at 04:43

Some albums in random order:

Savage Rose - Dødens Triumf
Motor Totemist Guild - Shapuno Zoo (included in "Archive Two")
Taylor's Universe - Experimental Health
Toyah - Ophelia's Shadow
Siren Circus - Solid poems on a ghost of a subject
In The Labyrinth - Dryad
The Sea Nymphs - s/t
Katzen Kapell - s/t

Dagmar Krause, Anthony Moore & Peter Blegvad (aka Slapp Happy) - Camera



Posted By: anael
Date Posted: October 24 2005 at 18:45



-walter wegmüller. tarot
-sergius golowin. lord krishna von goloka
-jan dukes de grey. mice and rats in the loft
-triumvirat. mediterranean tales (its so underrated)
-eloy. inside (its so underrated, too)
-franco battiato. fetus
-opus avantra. introspezione
-alan sorrenti. aria
-capitolo 6. frutti per kagua
-claudio rocchi. viaggio
-moving gelatine plates. the world of genius hans
-schicke fuhrs frohling. symphonic pictures
-six organs of admittance.
-mushroom. early one morning
-akinetón retard. akranania
-mona lisa. avant qu’il ne soit trop tard

-------------


Posted By: chamberry
Date Posted: October 24 2005 at 19:06
one band that is  really underrated in progarchives is...

MAGO DE OZ

listen to GAIA and  give those guys a (well needed and apreciated) chance.

thank you



-------------



Posted By: Man Erg
Date Posted: October 25 2005 at 12:44
T2 - It'll all Workout in Boomland / T2
Walter Wegmuller - Tarot
Synanthesia - s/t
Trees - Garden of Jane Delawney / On the Shore
Mark Fry - Dreaming with Alice
Jan Dukes de Gray - Sorcerors / Mice and Rats in the Loft
Pete Brown and Piblokto - Things may Come...
Blodwyn Pig - Head Rings Out
Dr Strangely Strange - Heavy Petting / Kip of the Serenes
Third Ear Band - The Magus
Broselmaschine - s/t
Nucleus - Elastic Rock / Belladonna
Witthauser and Westrupp - Trips und Traum



-------------

Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb.


Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: October 25 2005 at 16:55

Originally posted by Man Erg Man Erg wrote:

T2 - It'll all Workout in Boomland / T2
Walter Wegmuller - Tarot
Synanthesia - s/t
Trees - Garden of Jane Delawney / On the Shore
Mark Fry - Dreaming with Alice
Jan Dukes de Gray - Sorcerors / Mice and Rats in the Loft
Pete Brown and Piblokto - Things may Come...
Blodwyn Pig - Head Rings Out
Dr Strangely Strange - Heavy Petting / Kip of the Serenes
Third Ear Band - The Magus
Broselmaschine - s/t
Nucleus - Elastic Rock / Belladonna
Witthauser and Westrupp - Trips und Traum

Top stuff! Great to see someone else actually likes Piblokto- 'Living Life Backwards' is a superb single, and the albums are stunners...

I love Blodwyn Pig's two albums, plus the first T2 one also.




Print Page | Close Window

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Copyright ©2001-2014 Web Wiz Ltd. - http://www.webwiz.co.uk