Anyway my question yo you is what well know prog albums ( if any) have you discovered recently? 

 

I've never listened to any of Peter Gabriel's solo albums, so maybe it's time for me to give them a listen on YouTube.

It doesn't matter how you find it; it's all timeless! Foxtrot is exemplary progressive rock. It finds you when you're ready.

TAAB finally "hit me" last year, as well.

For my part, some of the classic Italian prog albums: the debut album by Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Felona e Sorona by Le Orme and Per un Amico by PFM.

I really like the first two, but I am a bit unsure of the last one...

Tull - Stormwatch. Pleasantly surprised how good that is for a 1979 release.

That may be the last classic prog album by the 'Big Six' I've acquired.

I now finally think I have everything by ELP, Yes, Genesis, Floyd , Tull and Crimson that is any good. I also have all the studio albums by Gentle Giant and everything by VDGG up to Still Life.

Camel - probably a band I'm lacking a bit. I don't own Rain Dances and that gets checked quite a bit on the forum as one of their best so maybe that will be the last one?!

Bit lacking on PFM but then they only struck gold very early and are well covered by compilations I own

I have all of Le Orme seventies albums but lacking a bit on Banco so that might one I can target as well.

electronic - I have a ton of Vangelis and Tangerine Dream but little or no Klaus Shulze 

Psychedelic Paul wrote: I didn't like the first three ambient albums by Tangerine Dream, but I loved all of their classic sequencer albums on the Virgin label.

 

I wouldn't call (their first album) Electronic Meditation "ambient"...not by a long shot! 

It was Rush first for me! I only got my first Steven Wilson album last summer, and I still don't own any PT, though I've heard a little bit and it seems good.

I think for most of us there are many artists we have not discovered or gotten into, I could probably list 20 artists.

I also even more recently listened to Peter Gabriel's first four albums. Good stuff.

I still haven't bought any Genesis album, but I have (and like) Hackett, Rutherford, Brand X, Anthony Phillips and Peter Gabriel. 

I must have something wrong because the Gabriel's album I like the most is Ovo.

Considering how tough so many things were at the time in 1972 and beyond, other than the albums that already had splashed the newer FM radio dial in full stereo and showing how great music could sound ... something that was not there before in radio as the AM band was cheesy sounding, not to mention the quality of the music that supposedly sold ... so yummy yummy sold millions? ... I'll take that dis-belief to my grave in the sky, thank you!

But one thing that was obvious then, was that the list for "imports" at Moby Disk, or the late Twoer Records in the Strip, or even the Warehouse in Westwood, was that all of these "imports" were not released domestically, and our buying started concentrating on the things that we could not get in America, or better said, were not released here.

As such, I would like to think that the number of "progressive" and "newer" material that we heard was far above the average and involved a lot of folks listed here, from those days, way before they were added to any database. Thus, we heard TD, KS, and a lot of the German and experimental scene in England (specially the HARVEST label stuff from the listing in the Hipgnosis Breakfast Cereal "ingredients" from an inner sleeve, of a Kevin Ayers album I believe ... not sure of that, but it was either that or Roy Harper.

In essence, between the early days of Guy Guden/Space Pirate Radio, we did not miss a whole lot, and a review of the listings I have of many of his shows between March 1974 (show started in January 1974) until the end of 1978 (over 300 hours!), when I had to go to the University ... show an incredible number of bands that no radio show EVER, before or after, has even come close to, and unlike many of the shows around the Internet, Guy has a touch for music and always seems to find some amazing things, and play them, and he genuinely enjoys and appreciates a lot of this music, which is to say a hell of a lot more than most "DJ's" around the Internet that think they represent "progressive" music.

There are many things I have heard that I didn't get, as the money was limited (imports were expensive!!), and it was nice to see them listed and considered ... but I do not have them in my collection, and even though I have heard them since, I still have not added them.

All in all, I would say that having been one of the few folks (along with Guy) that was not afraid to play the NEW MATERIAL and show it to an audience, really means that we missed very few opportunities since then ... but yes, there is always one or two bands missing, and in my case, believe it or not, it is almost always some American band ... !!! But when it came to a lot of European materials, we probably had for a while the best collection of music in the West Coast. And it really was more "thorough" than today's "collecto'files" whose tastes tend to be oriented to their favorite style, Rio, this or that. We had them all!

Not everyone. I have come to appreciate pre-Abacab Genesis only within the last 5-6 years. Before that it didn't click with me. Now I love it

Triumvirat - Illusions of a Double Dimple

Tull - Songs From The Wood, Heavy Horses, Minstrel in the Gallery, (next up A Passion Play)

ELP - First album, Tarkus, Trilogy

Porcupine Tree - Up The Downstair, The Sky Moves Sideways, Signify, Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape, Voyage 34: The Complete Trip 

That sums up my experience with 70s Genesis. One day it found me and clicked. 

And your life will be much better as a result!!!

By this time (1972 - see thread above), I was already in Nektar, Ange, Banco, Renaissance, Roy Harper, Kevin Ayers, Amon Duul 2, Can, Kraftwerk, Neu, Guru Guru, Kraan, TD, KS and so many other bands that the this album did not exactly shake my booties ... and it wasn't until SEBTP that I got into Genesis some more, but i kinda dropped it after TLLDOB, and instead took up one of the great composers I have ever known, in ANTHONY PHILLIPS ... his music was far more intuitive and creative than Genesis ever became, which was just another pop band for my tastes. A good band, mind you, but no longer my tastes!

 

Well, it was a 5-star album to me anyway, but then again, I've been accused of overrating albums before.  

That one right there's a good one to start!  Other wise titled PG3

I had a couple songs on cassette, recorded from vinyl years ago.  Serious years.  Recorded well before the second live record came out.  

Since then, I've worked hard to complete my studio discography from Yes.  Never replaced the live records, thinking those versions inferior.

Psychedelic Paul wrote: I used to have Emerson, Lake & Palmer's first album on CD many years ago, but I gave it away for free. I wouldn't have done that though if I'd known I was going to be a member of a Prog_Rock website in several years time.

 

the compilation that you have though (mentioned on another thread) does the business . With ELP, a good compilation suffices , and I say that as a fan. That said it hasn't stopped me buying 7 re-issues or so of Brain Salad Surgery. 

I rate the Mahavishnu Orchestra's first three albums , Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire , and Between Nothingness and Eternity, very highly . 

Would be interested to know what you think of 'Birds of Fire' . Very different line up and far more fierce sound from 'Emerald Beyond'.

Hi,

Not really. You just do not spend time and money on things that are less essential ... for example, in the 70's I didn't need to spend a cent, and wouldn't, on Elton John ... that's not to say that he wasn't good ... but with KS/TD/AD2/CAN/BANCO/PFM and so many other things wanting to come home ... guess what you got ... and I was not interested in the Eric Clapton album, either, or Kris/Barbara new album that raised album prices!

Our interest then, and I agree that it was not the "normal" form, of hit-ridden and obsessed folks (like here!), but there was much better and greater music out there, that too many folks did not wish to hear ... and if you think this is not important of valuable ... Guy Guden and his Space Pirate Radio is still the most important "new music" person EVER ... and we're talking 46 1/2 years later ... so my next question ... where is your focus?

Ours was new music ... too many here it's just the top 5!

My older brother took me to see Yes perform live at the end of 1973. They played 'Close to the Edge' , all four sides of 'Tales'....and 'Roundabout' as an encore. 

Didn't take to 'Tales' at all. Over the decades that followed , didn't listen to much Prog, and the only Yes album I owned was 'Relayer' until well into this century. 

Now really appreciate 'Tales ' . I know that the album caused a rift in the band and Rick Wakeman left ( for the first time) as was not happy with it. It may not be Yes' best  work, but get a lot from listening to 'Tales' ...and even enjoy the lyrics which seem quite obtuse even by Prog standards. 

Good post. My own opinion back in 1973 is that the band had performed it as a 2 hour jam without the preamble of a Jon Anderson introduction. They should have left out performing Close to the Edge which is itself a fairly complicated piece of music and which the audience are going to be comparing Tales to. Band goes off stage at the end and then returns with Jon explaining the work to the audience. Then they do Roundabout as an encore. Looking at it realistically though Tales was never going to work live on stage without the buy-in from Rick Wakeman who according to one account was eating curry during one of the performances. 

Hi,

At the Long Beach Arena, they went straight to "TALES" and then they took a wee break and came back and did "CTTE" ... and the encore after that was "ROUNDABOUT", and I think they did one more thing but I am not sure what it was now.

It doesn't matter to me that Rick was eating "curry" or "cereal" ... all musicians, sometimes eat something between bits for the sake of a bit more energy, specially people that burn energy fast. The only comment I ever had of Rick is that he never respected this piece of music, and until the day that he grows up and does a piano version of it in its entirety, to me, he is just a "musician" that knows "notes", not an "artist" that lives and dies with the music! It doesn't matter if something you did is not "great" to your this or that ... what matters is that your name is attached to it, and trashing it is counter productive and does not help the fans' understanding of the piece, which is not as simple as ... jane got a gun ... or brown sugar ... simplistic stuff that in reality is more of a finger to the strength of lyrics as an art form, by bringing it down to a pedestrian level. MIND YOU, that some of these end up being really good and well done, so the criticism is not an attempt to say all of these lyrics stink ... but the context is the issue and how it is brought out. And Rick still has not grown up ... but he'll take the money home real quick ... !!!!

I knew a few songs off Foxtrot, then only last month I sat down and listened to the whole thing.

Loved it so much and I honestly never thought I would..

I don't think Il Rovescio Della Medaglia is that obscure for RPI, but I will always applaud people taking the time to explore Italy's magnificent prog scene, especially if they get past the big three RPI bands (who are all well deserving of their positions). I'm jealous of and impressed by your prog record collection though! Most of my prog records are limited to the big 6 and Rush, as a lot of the other stuff (especially non-English) is plain hard to find where I live. I would LOVE to have Osanna on vinyl, lol. 

I have had many classic rock albums I have listened first recent years (for example Bob Dylan´s Freewheelin & Highway 61 Revisited). I think reason is I am interested all kinds of music and just haven´t got enough time to all I want to listen.

But Foxtrot I heard first time in the eighties, not immediately started to love it (as not any other Genesis album that time) but when it hit it hit hard!! Not listen it often these days, but always it sounds so great!

Hi,

My feeling is that too many folks are not "aware" of the arts during their lifetime ... if they were, knowing that things existed out there that were different than the top ten that you have heard too many times, you would have checked out a few more things.

It's the same here, today, and when you look at a lot of posts, too much of it is just subjective comments, that do not pay attention to the time or place, or care as to how/why they were big then ... and you know that today, no one would give a darn and that not even a small dildo pipe was going to help STEELY DAN get better known ... at UCSB when I was there (78/82), girls used to make fun of guys sucking on that pipe for the load of dope ... 

Today, compared to yesterday, there is a lot more music, and places like PA are instrumental in seeing that it is (at least) listed, although my preferences would be to not immediately shuffle that band to the closet on the left where you have 74 albums gathering dust that you probably don't remember what they sound like or are about! BUT, YESTERDAY, (late 60's and 70's) no one knew a lot of these bands ... and the only way to get to them, was if you TUNED YOUR EARS to something different ... and that PFM, BANCO, ANGE, AD2, CAN and so many other bands made it ... was because many of us were listening to so many different things ... and heck ... one trip to Moby Disk in their old location in Van Nuys (Victory Blvd), and you get a headache WITHIN 5 MINUTES .... why? The amount of choices was insane and you would end up getting something "safe" and "known") like PH or VdGG because you had no idea what all the other stuff was about.

"Recent discovery" is more about many folks here waking up and finding ... wow ... there was music then! There had always been music at all times in many places around the world ... but you did not hear any of it because you were into so much of the pop/rock stuff that is supposedly better for you ... like not make you as well versed in the arts ... something the Republicans have been trying to kill for 40 years ... why? Most educational moneys were ending up in "liberal" education and arts, and this, unfortunately for them means ... it makes people more intelligent, and some republicans were making sure that the public did not get more intelligent! 

Good thing that thing haven't changed ... or have they?

(but I love other 70s prog like Camel, Gentle Giant, Yes, King Crimson, etc etc etc)

Keep going at least through the Schmoelling years

Do you not like Genesis or have you just not gotten around to them yet?

Wow. If you don't mind me asking what have you gotten around to so far? 

Eh, the best one is a toss up between Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England, The Lamb, and A Trick. England sits in the middle of the range of sounds and styles each of these present, so that's probably why it gets pushed as the best one. No doubt it's incredible, but it has some pretty controversial tracks (More Fool Me and The Battle Of Epping Forest), for the most part Foxtrot and A Trick Of The Tail don't have any highly disputed tracks like those, and Nursery Cryme and The Lamb don't have very much in the way of majorly disliked tracks either. 

Starting with England could be a great choice, but I personally would recommend Foxtrot or A Trick Of The Tail first, as I find both of them much more consistent and Foxtrot especially has more fun idiosyncrasies to sink your teeth into. But then Supper's Ready isn't the most accessible 23 minute epic in the world, lol.

I actually started (as far as prog genesis goes) with Nursery Cryme and Wind And Wuthering, neither of which really hit with me for a long time, but now I love them.

Hi,

It was vastly different for me ... by that time, I was already FULL BLAST into the European bands, and things like Genesis, seemed not as valuable or important as things from Spain, Italy, Germany or France, to mention a few ... and I lost interest. There are only 2 albums by that band that I really like ... and the others are nice listens, but nothing as great as the many things from all over Europe. That band was over for me, big or not, lots of money or not!

It's strange to me that some folks continued with it, just because it was "progressive" when it's "progressiveness" can be counted in one hand!

I just can't compare 'Emerson Lake and Palmer' the album to anything else that seemed to be happening at the time. Really want to explore the Classical music influences that inspired ELP's music at the time. 

Yes, obviously it's about personal tastes. In Greg Lake's autobiography -'Lucky Man' - he claims that the song was needed as a filler for the first album. ELP hadn't been together for long, and there seemed to be a lot of pressure on them to deliver enough material for an album. And they were a few minutes short . Can see that outside of Britain 'Lucky Man' as a radio-friendly single helped the band reach a wider audience. There was no guarantee that ELP would get noticed or appreciated across the Atlantic, or in Europe. 

 

The Barbarian comes from Béla Bartók (Allegro Barbaro).