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Prog bands that pass the 5 album test
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someone_else View Drop Down
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Points: 24338 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote someone_else Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 23 2021 at 02:15
Very few have achieved a consecutive series of 5 or more great albums:

Anekdoten: Vemod thru Until All the Ghosts Are Gone
Big Big Train: The Underfall Yard thru Grand Tour1
Genesis: Nursery Cryme thru Wind and Wuthering
Gentle Giant: s/t thru Interview
Pink Floyd: Ummagumma thru Animals
Yes: No.

Bands with a major or minor hiatus:
Van der Graaf Generator: The Least We Can Do thru Still Life (hiatus: Pawn Hearts)
Yes: The Yes Album thru Going for the One (hiatus: TfTO)


1I should yet take some time to listen to Common Ground in its entirety.
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Points: 20030 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 23 2021 at 02:22
Originally posted by someone_else someone_else wrote:

Bands with a major or minor hiatus:
Van der Graaf Generator: The Least We Can Do thru Still Life (hiatus: Pawn Hearts)
Yes: The Yes Album thru Going for the One (hiatus: TfTO)


This just goes to prove how subjective this all is, given that Pawn Hearts is at number 13 in the PA Top 100 and TFTO is just under 4 stars.
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Originally posted by I prophesy disaster I prophesy disaster wrote:

Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

to clarify the OP was suggesting a Test and assuming it's inherent importance. I believe consistency is overrated , and why I think King Crimson were so important than ELP, Yes or Genesis . They had variation of ideas much more so than those bands and perhaps even more importantly influenced contemporary artists and bands. That's a more real test imo.
 
The test isn't about consistency of ideas, it's about consistency of quality. And King Crimson, in spite of their eclecticism, do have eight consecutive albums above 3.8.
 


really missing the point I'm trying and failing to get across it seems. Progressive rock was never about consistency in any form and quality is largely subjective. I get very annoyed with the whole consistency thing. Bands can always remain consistent (quality and ideas) if they don't take chances. Its just too easy ultimately to keep honing the same idea. My feeling since I was 12 years old is that this is an anathema to creativity and evolution. Nothing changed my feeling on this. However you can value whatever you want at the end of the day. I'm not telling people how to think or how to live their lives just pointing out there is no empirical test for greatness. I have copied the OP below for reference and highlight in bold the offending bits.

 

The 5 album test is a test for all time greatness for a musical artist. To pass the test, an artist must have 5 consecutive albums that are “great”. Great is obviously subjective, but that’s what makes this so interesting! What are some bands you think qualify, and what is their five album stretch? I’ll start with a couple easy ones:

1. Rush (2112, AFTK, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures)
2. Genesis (Foxtrot, SEBTP, TLLDOB, Trick of the Tail, W&W)

What else do you got?
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Points: 1063 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TheLionOfPrague Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 27 2021 at 19:13
Floyd from Meddle to The Wall (ObC is a soundtrack, but I think it's great anyway)
Genesis from Nursery Cryme to ATOTT
ELP from s/t to BSS (I usually don't include live albums but Pictures counts for reasons already mentioned)
Yes from The Yes Album to Going for the One
Crimson I'm not sure. Everything from the debut to Discipline is good enough, but some of them for me just arne't too good, like SABB and Lizard. Also I'm not as fond of Larks' as many others are. I rate Poseidon more than many do, same for Islands. I'd say no. Same for Tull. Many great albums, but there's some not that great in between because they were releasing albums too often. VDGG, Camel, Gentle Giant and Rush also don't make it for me, similar situation to Tull and Crimson, some not that good albums in between.
I shook my head and smiled a whisper knowing all about the place
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[QUOTE=Sacro_Porgo] Yes pass based on ratings, and they have not just 5, but 6 in a row, that do it.

The Yes Album ~ 4.31
Fragile ~ 4.46
Close To The Edge ~ 4.67
Tales From Topographic Oceans ~ 3.90
Relayer ~ 4.37
Going For The One ~ 4.05

Unfortunately, TFTO breaks the string and is mostly excess baggage.
"It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno
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Galahad

1. Sleepers
2. Following Ghosts
3. Year Zero
4. Empires Never Last
5. Battle Scars
6. Beyond the Realms of Euphoria

Genesis

1. Nursey Cryme
2. Foxtrot
3. Selling England By the Pound
4. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
5. A Trick of the Tail
6. Wind & Wuthering

Pendragon

1. The World
2. The Window of Life
3. The Masquerade Overture
4. Not of This World
5. Believe
6. Pure
7. Passion
8. Men Who Climb Mountains
9. Love Over Fear

Rush

1. 2112
2. A Farewell to Kings
3. Hemispheres
4. Permanent Waves
5. Moving Pictures
6. Signals
7. Grace Under Pressure
8. Power Windows

Yes

1. The Yes Album
2. Fragile
3. Close to the Edge
4. Tales From Topographic Oceans
5. Relayer
6. Going for the One
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Points: 40709 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July 29 2023 at 09:09
Working my way backwards, YES still passes the five album test, for me anyway, even if for no one else here. Tongue
 





Edited by Psychedelic Paul - July 29 2023 at 09:09
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I can't actually come up with any prog bands that pass this test. There are a bunch I know that have at last five great albums and a bunch that have four consecutively great albums, and some with a combination of the two. But none that have five consecutively great albums... with perhaps maybe two exceptions.

Kansas: eponymous - PoKR might be a stretch of five great albums; I just need to listen to Masque and revisit eponymous before I can say they pass this test, as I'm not yet familiar enough with these albums

and

Yes: either eponymous or Time and a Word (I'm not familiar enough with either) through either Close to the Edge (if the former) or TfTO (if either the former or the latter) [I'm not familiar enough with TfTO, yet either]

Subterranean Masquerade currently has released four great albums; if their fifth album is as great as their previous four, they'll certainly pass the test so just gotta wait for that fifth album (which to my knowledge has yet to be confirmed)

Bands that don't make it but come close for me:

Orphaned Land: 5 of their 6 albums are great, but All is One, which is wedged between two of the great albums, is not a great album. They have four consecutively great albums, one not great album, and one more great album

Rush has five great albums, and four consecutively great albums: Caress of Steel through Hemispheres and Moving Pictures. Unfortunately, Permanent Waves breaks the streak for me, and thus they don't pass.

Renaissance has five great albums, with a streak of three: eponymous and Illusion, and then Ashes are Burning through SaOS. Prologue breaks the streak. While Novella and ASfAS are good, they're just not quite great imo.

Neurosis has four to five or six great albums imo, depending on whether you consider Neurosis and Jarboe to be a canonical Neurosis album worthy of being judged, here. The Word as Law, Through Silver in Blood, Times of Grace, AStNS, and Neurosis and Jarboe are great albums. I haven't fully listened to Souls at Zero yet, so I can't say how I feel about it, but I've always been turned off by the production on this one. Enemiea of the Sun is the one that makes the band fail the test - its good, but not great.

Pelican: Five of their six albums are great, but their fourth album, What We All Come to Need, just doesn't cut it and breaks their streak.

Queen's first four albums are great. Then in 1991, Innuendo was also great. The buncha mediocre to straight up bad albums in between (except for Jazz, which was decent) is what fails the test for them.

Cardiacs is a band that could potentially pass this test, I just need to listen to their discography in full. I like everything I've heard them yet, but they're still too unfamiliar for me.



Edited by bardberic - July 29 2023 at 14:55
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