A FAREWELL TO KINGS

As a reviewer, I try to say good and bad things about an album, because it is much more helpful to first time listeners than being overtly one or the other. How am I supposed to do that with this album?

"A Farewell to Kings" was the first real 100% prog rock album I ever listened to, and one of the main reasons I came to this site in the first place. For me, It is the personification of 'prog rock'- equal parts rock jamming and experimental meandering. If a prog album or band has unequal amounts of these two magical factors, then it tends to miss the mark for me. Too much basic rock, and it becomes too mainstream and predictable; too much meandering and it becomes unlistenable.

'A Farewll to Kings' hits the proverbial nail right on the head. Right from the magnificent one-two punch of the opening title track and the mighty 'Xanadu', I knew straight away what this genre called 'prog rock' was all about. Then was the hit single 'Closer to the Heart', giving me my first ever example of a 'hit' prog song; 'Cinderella Man', showing me that prog can sometimes be strightforward rock; 'Madrigal', showing me that prog bands can write excellent slow songs; and then the closing track 'Cygnus X-1', which, like Xanadu, was an introduction into prog epic style.

I really cannot recommend this album enough; especially to first-time prog listeners- if they like this it's a good chance that they will like the majority of stuff listed on this site. If you take the genre name 'prog rock' very literally, then it is easy to imagine that rock + 'prog' = Rush.