1. CloseTo The Edge - YES. This was my introduction to prog and so I owe a great debt to this album for discovering the prog rock genre.
2. Singring & The Glass Guitar - UTOPIA. An epic of epic proportions. It has everything from individual solo's, melodies by the score and of course Todd Rundgren's voice. Oh, it's also a fairy tale.
3. Tarkus - ELP. Three musicians at the top of their game. I always prefer the live versions though as Emerson improvises like only Emerson can.
4. Song of Seven - Jon Anderson. This choice might raise a few eyebrows but I love this song from his album of the same name. Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time I listen to it.
5. Six Degree's of Inner Turbulance - Dream Theater. Those who dismiss this band as being merely shredders on their instruments should listen to this epic track. They can write and perform beautiful music as good as anyone else when the mood takes them.

I just realised that four of my choices are actual album titles as well as individual songs. So remember this is asking for your top five epics and not albums.

In no order

LIZARD======KIng Crimson                         

• Gates Of Delirium
• Tarkus
• Suppers Ready
• Hemispheres
• Ars Longa Vita Brevis

mh.. it's a diffucult question... my top five epics i think that are:

- 2112 (Rush): I've grew up with these guys.. also i love this song... one of my favourites of Rush, it's a classic for all prog fans

 

-Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts I - X(Pink Floyd): it's a very special song. The mood of the song it's very beautiful, also the structure of the song. Roger Waters is a genius.

 

-Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (Dream Theater): this group is one of my favourites. When i bought this cd, i fell in love with the song

Nothing to say. A Very beautiful song. It's has all the faces of Dream Theater. A great 40-minute epic

 

-Close To The Edge (Yes): when i started to listen prog, that it was a lot of years ago, i listened to this song. All the changes of the song are great.

 

-The Narrow Margin (IQ): what a great song. i love it. IQ made it all with this song. it's has a very special mood also.   

1. Transatlantic- All Of The Above: Simply majestic, this goes on for half an hour, but it paradoxically feels like a 30 AND a 10 minute song at the same time. Brilliant lyrics and the msicianship is stunning.
2. Genesis- Suppers Ready: The archatypical prog epic that set the standard for decades, cleverly composed, with equally clever lyrics, musicianship and delivery.
3. Dream Theater- A Change Of Seasons: The epitomy of progressive metal in 25 minutes.
4. Pain Of Salvation- Beyond The Pale: Just short of 10 minutes but epic in every way, the highly charged culmination of a very emotional album.
5. Echolyn- Mei: Simply stunning.

• Caravan - Nine Feet Underground
• Mike Oldfield - Amarok
• Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
• Transatlantic - Stranger in your Soul
• Jethro Tull - Baker St. Muse
• Camel - Lady Fantasy

Hard choice!

Thing is, though, none of these tracks had really been "20-minute songs" in the truest sense. ALL of them essentially were several "conventional" pop and rock songs strung together with instrumental breaks instead of pauses, with a couple of reprises here and there to provide a proper feeling of "completion" at the end. Now, one may argue that that is actually the preferred way to approach a side-long track, and I of course love all of these to death (er, except Lizard. Lizard annoys me). But still, all of these tracks could easily be split into different songs and listened to separately (er, if you had that capability with your listening device).

So Yes took a different route, a route that was both simpler and more complicated than what had previously been attempted. And what was that route? Well, first of all, examine the basic structure of a pop-song, as mentioned in a comment below: Intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/middle8/instrumental-break/verse/chorus/outro. To this point, the general idea had been to make the basic verse and chorus melodies as compact as possible, with a minimal amount of development and deconstruction. But, smart men they were, Yes realized that this structure could just as well support lengthy, intensely developed and complex verse melodies. And so they went this route, and in essence created the world's first 19-minute pop song.

I know there are scores of articles out there on the musical structure of Close to the Edge.  It's at the top of the list by any objective standard..... as it should be. It was unique... and the quality speaks for itself. 

2. Tarkus

Fabuously subtle lyrically,  depending on how you read it... and musically...  far superior in shear display of talent than any of the other similar 'cut and paste.

will finish list later...  my suppers's ready...  hahahha.. Need to think on it as well. Those first two or sort of no-brainers in my book.

micky wrote: Thing is, though, none of these tracks had really been "20-minute songs" in the truest sense. ALL of them essentially were several "conventional" pop and rock songs strung together with instrumental breaks instead of pauses, with a couple of reprises here and there to provide a proper feeling of "completion" at the end. Now, one may argue that that is actually the preferred way to approach a side-long track, and I of course love all of these to death (er, except Lizard. Lizard annoys me). But still, all of these tracks could easily be split into different songs and listened to separately (er, if you had that capability with your listening device).

Do you know Aksak Maboul's "cinema" (RIO-style) ? It's  also very  cohesive musical piece, not a "suite" of different pieces -  although not a conventional "pop song" with verse and refrain. It's characterized by several musical "themes" which reappear in many parts of the piece, but always  a bit different arranged and in a different mood.

The "main theme" is even played forward and backward at the beginning and the end of the piece.

You

Fantomas - Surgical Sounds - Maybe the only piece of music that has ever actually frightened me. I feel like I am ripping on flesh and bone when I listen to this. This is primal and evil. I love ever bit of it...even the end.

1. Supper's Ready (Genesis): A complete epic in all the sense, narrates not only a battle bewteen good and evil but describes with sarcasm attitudes of British society, ends with a glorious Biblical reference to the Book of Revelations.
2. Song of Sheherezade (Renaissance): Fantastic narration based in the 1,001 Arabian Nights and Rimsky Korsakov's work, outstanding fom start to end
3. All the Seats were Occupied (Aphrodite's Child): It's a complete epic, a summary of all the Book of Revelations.
4. Thick as a Brick (Jethro Tull): Conceptual album? epic? No both at the same time, a wonderul  epic poem in all the sense.
5. Children of the Sun (Magenta): The author's version of ancient civilizations, has everything required for an epic.

INote: I used to place Close to the Edge as N° 2 but now I don't consider this song as an epic, it's one of the best long tracks ever but no epic narrations so it's outside the frames IMHO.

I'll list mine:

In no particular order: