Caravan - s/t (3.67)

[Egg - s/t (3.68)]

Genesis - From Genesis To Revelation (2.59)

[King Crimson - In The Wake Of Poseidon (3.78)]

Rush - Fly By Night (3.31)

Yes - Time And A Word (3.25)

Other 4-star albums include:

Jethro Tull - This Was (3.31)

Rush - s/t (2.87)

Supertramp - s/t (3.47)

Supertramp - Indelibly Stamped (2.56)

Van Der Graaf Generator - The Aerosol Grey Machine (3.25)

Yes - s/t (3.23)

As always, thanks for any feedback 

Good topic, thanks!  

Steve Miller Band The Children of the Future (9/10)

Captain Beffheart Save As Milk (10 /10)

Tonny Williams Lifetime Emergency! (10/10)

It's A Beautiful Day s/t (8/10)

The Doors  s/t (10/10)

The Doors Strange Days (10/10)

Jefferson Airplane Surrealistic Pillow (8/10)

Spooky Tooth  Suppernatural Fairy Tales (9/10)

Steely Dan Can't Buy a Thrill (9/10)

the best in their catalog. 

Genesis first album was a false start

Yes first album is very underrated. Tony Kaye and Peter Banks were much more influential and they were hanging onto a more sixties approach that was less about the prog band they became. Steve Howe coming into the band changed them into a fully fledged prog band and perhaps made people disregard the earlier material.

Rush were Led Zep wannabies that turned into ELP/King Crimson wannabies before they found their own path. I guess if you love the hard rock version of Rush then the earlier material is worth checking out but for me its very dated and I would rather listen to the real thing (Led Zep)

As an ELP fan its interesting that the general prevailing view is that their best album is their debut. Its also backed up with the rating which is about 4.3 whereas the next 3 studio albums are about 4. All those rating are respectable and many people knock a mark off BSS for Benny The Bouncer. For me that debut is not as exciting or interesting as Trilogy or BSS but then if you like a band a lot then you naturally believe in the idea of 'development' with ideas being progressed and perfected. The idea that they went down hill after the debut is in fact an insult. Should they really have split up before Tarkus? Well the funny thing is that they almost did when Keith Emerson presented his new compositions to the other two. Lake's response - you can go and record that on your solo album! Well they got past all that and Tarkus was ELP's only British No 1 album. Trilogy for me is the album where Lake matures both vocally and lyrically before BSS pushes symphonic prog to new levels with Karn Evil 9 , but it does have that pesky Benny The Bouncer track. Oh no!!

In general prog bands peak around their 4th and 5th albums although you have to factor in line up changes and the King Crimson that recorded ITCOTKC and Red are essentially two completely different bands.

This.  

And Piper at the Gates of Dawn def deserves a mention here.

But there are a lot of fine debuts...........KC, ELP, Kansas, Rare Bird, Spring, Floyd, Gentle Giant ( I still play that one more than the later ones), etc...

 

Of course I agree.......I also enjoy Yes, KC, Genesis, ELP first albums.

 

Also Tubular Bells has always gotten a lot of rotation time on my turntable

Its not underrated on PA