prog album compilation: how to even this list out?

Update (05/14/2006):
Well, I ultimately decided to split up my list into two: One for 70's prog-rock and one for modern prog-rock. Here are how the final lists are shaping up:

70's prog:
(1969) king crimson - in the court of the crimson king
(1970) van der graaf generator - h to he who am the only one
(1971) caravan - in the land of grey and pink
(1972) gentle giant - octopus
(1972) yes - close to the edge
(1973) emerson lake & palmer - brain salad surgery
(1973) mahavishnu orchestra - birds of fire
(1974) camel - mirage
(1975) pink floyd - wish you were here
(1976) genesis - a trick of the tail
(1977) jethro tull - songs from the wood
(1978) jethro tull - heavy horses
(1979) pink floyd - the wall
(1981) rush - moving pictures
(1983) marillion - script for a jester's tear

Modern prog:
(1992) anglagard - hybris
(1992) dream theater - images & words
(1999) dream theater - metropolis part 2 scenes from a memory
(1999) liquid tension experiment - liquid tension experiment 2
(2001) pain of salvation - the perfect element i
(2001) tool - lateralus
(2002) pain of salvation - remedy lane
(2002) porcupine tree - in absentia
(2004) ayreon - the human equation
(2005) opeth - ghost reveries
(2005) riverside - second life syndrome

Pretty decent, or needs a lot of work?

Original Post:
(I had to change the topic from "top 5 albums" to this one since the discussion - as well as my purpose for starting the thread - just evolved into tweaking this list of albums that I've come up with. I hope that's okay, and I hope you guys would help. I think this would be a more fruitful discussion rather than simply asking what the top prog albums are. Peace! )

Anyway, I went on around the different discussions I've been following, plus some "top prog albums" lists and I took a shot at a decent album lineup to introduce myself to this genre.

Things I wanted to take into consideration regarding the album list:
*** I didn't want to saturate the compilation with albums only from one specific time period, although if you guy would see, there are quite a lot of albums from the 70s, only a few from the 80s and 90s, and it picks up a bit around 2000. But I'm thinking that's maybe acceptable since in my understanding, a lot of the great prog rock albums were released in the 70s right?
*** I also didn't want to focus on a certain sub-genre. Although I didn't want the compilation to be too varied either.

Here's the list:
(1969) king crimson - in the court of the crimson king
(1971) jethro tull - aqualung
(1971) van der graaf generator - pawn hearts
(1972) yes - close to the edge
(1973) genesis - selling england by the pound
(1973) gentle giant - in a glass house
(1975) camel - the snow goose
(1975) pink floyd - wish you were here
(1981) rush - moving pictures
(1992) anglagard - hybris
(1999) dream theater - metropolis part 2 scenes from a memory
(2001) pain of salvation - the perfect element i
(2004) ayreon - the human equation
(2005) riverside - second life syndrome

What do you guys think? Good intro to prog rock or it could use a lot more tweaking? I've noticed a lack of albums from the 80s - or is that because no prog album from the 80s really compares to prog albums from the 70s?

Taking these things into consideration, maybe you guys could suggest which albums I could take out of this list and what I could include for it TO BE AS EVEN AS POSSIBLE - both with regards to the time periods, and to the prog sub-genres involved.

Thanks a lot!

Edited by lastdodobird - May 14 2006 at 03:23

thanks. glad to be here :) maybe if I get enough replies, I could compile them and post the overall results...

...although I would think that's already been done before?

anyway, thanks for the quick reply!

Edited by Ghandi 2 - May 12 2006 at 22:57

Prog Rock:
Close To the Edge
Selling England By The Pound
Wish You Were Here <---- best out of these 3

Thick as a Brick

And now I'm going to list one of the BEST albums of the 00's: Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven

Yay I get to recommend favorite things...one album by each...

Classic prog rock...
Yes - Relayer
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Genesis - Foxtrot
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Camel - Camel


Prog Metal...
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade of Gray
Dream Theater - Images and Words
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
Shadow Gallery - Tyranny


Newer prog albums...
Marillion - Marbles
King Crimson - The Power To Believe
The Mars Volta - Frances The Mute
VanDerGraaf Generator - Present
Meshuggah - Catch 33

definetly:

Etron Fou Leloublan - Batelages
Can - Tago Mago
Fantomas - Delirium Cordia
Univers Zero - 1313
Shub-Niggurath - Les Morts Vont Vites

starting with easy stuff is for newbies.

A less sarcastic list would look more like this:

King Crimson - Red
Genesis - Nursery Cryme
Yes - The Yes Album
Rush - Moving Pictures
and if possible, Semiramis - Semiramis (to touch on the equally virtuous italian scene)

lastdodobird wrote: Oh, and I have listened to DSotM already... actually years ago... and I remember being pretty indifferent about most of the album except "Great Gig in the Sky", which I thought was an awesome, awesome track. I better listen to the album again.

It's quite poppy and overrated IMO... listen to Wish You Were Here and Animals, those are true masterpieces. If you like them, you might want to try some of Floyd's earlier stuff: Meddle, Atom Heart Mother, Ummagumma(VERY avnt garde and weird, that's why it's my favorite album of theirs but many people hate it, so be careful with that one)

lastdodobird wrote: Ooohh.. and I just noticed that there's a "Top 100: Prog Archives most popular titles" section on the front page... I guess I could rely on that too to some extent huh?

Definitely. It's a great guide for beginners


Edited by The Miracle - May 12 2006 at 23:40

1. Foxtrot- Genesis

The Miracle wrote: lastdodobird wrote: Ooohh.. and I just noticed that there's a "Top 100: Prog Archives most popular titles" section on the front page... I guess I could rely on that too to some extent huh? Definitely. It's a great guide for beginners

Darn, now I wish I'd seen that section before creating this thread. Now I sound so redundant.
Anyway, this discussion might still bring up a lot of interesting things not included in the prog top 100 list.

Re: Pink Floyd. Yeah, I'll be trying my luck with Wish You Were Here instead of DSotM. Thanks!

Cheesecakemouse wrote: Its a hard one to figure out, because a lot of prog can be hard going, what music do you listen to now? if it is Jazz, try Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return Forever and King Crimson's album Lizard.  If you like easy listening try Camel Snow Goose and some of Mike Oldfield If you like metal try the prog metal bands If you are into sonic Youth and alternative bands of the 90s I'd recommend Kraut Rock If you like comedy in you're music try Primus and Frank Zappa. There are hundreds of other possibilities, but tell us tastes, because the best place3 to start can be what you're most familiar with, because prog is a very broad style of music unlike say hip hop or punk, a lot of bands sound completely different, and some you mind find terrible but after some serious listening you may love. So what do you listen to?

Well, my musical taste is really, really very broad. I love jazz, classical and rock music in genral - also metal. I don't go for most mainstream acts because most of them have honestly started to bore me (although some, like the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album is somewhat ok). I'm more into the indie rock genre. However, for the past few months, what's really been floating my boat is post-rock/instrumental rock/math rock: Like Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Don Caballero, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and the like. I find the genre very aurally stimulating

I don't know if this would help, but I've got a last.fm profile --> http://www.last.fm/user/lastdodobird/


Edited by lastdodobird - May 12 2006 at 23:56

Well I'd try Phish, a poprular indie group, Krautrock groups, Can, Faust and Neu!, King Crimson albums Larks tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bibleblack and Red. All thses groups have had (excapt maybe Phish because they are in the indie scene) a tremendous impact on the underground scene of the 90s and today. Also  Van der Graft Generator; Still Life, Pawn Hearts and H to he who am the only one In terms of Jazz Mahavishnu Orchestras albums; Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire.

Edited by Cheesecakemouse - May 13 2006 at 00:14