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zwordser View Drop Down
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    Posted: January 10 2021 at 16:22
Some of you may remember and/or participated in this post from 2016:


...For which Magnum Valletaja asked PA member to submit lists of (up to) 300 of their personal top Prog tracks, ranked 1 to N. He then compiled results for the "Top Prog Tracks of All Time" in a separate post:
 

I've kept my list as an Excel spreadsheet, and with some time on my hands last year, I decided to dig it up, re-work it, and add more tracks (mostly "glaring omissions" and new listens).  It's now too big to just post openly here, but I keep it stored in my Onedrive folder at the following link if anyone's interested in seeing it (Hyperlink was not working, but I think cut-paste into browser might):
 
 
 I've added a lot of extras too (columns and tabs) which I won't go into here (much of it self-explanatory). It's really just a snapshot in time, as I seem to want to change it every time I look again. The value for me personally has been more in the process of listening and thinking about great Prog Rock compositions (i.e., what is it about a particular track that I like and/or makes it "great", and why would I rank it lower/higher than another) than in the ranking result itself.
 
 
Curious if anyone still has their list, or have added to it since ??  Or, even if you didn't participate in the 2016 post, if you have a list of your top tracks, or at least think about ranking your personal favorite tracks....


Edited by zwordser - January 10 2021 at 16:47
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iluvmarillion View Drop Down
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Points: 3242 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote iluvmarillion Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 10 2021 at 20:32
Good luck. I think it's a massive job to list songs on an Excel spreadsheet and write comments for each one. Even though Prog is just one genre of music with several sub-genres there are still thousands of songs to assess and even after naming a thousand songs you could equally name another thousand which deserve equal merit of discussion. How you put them in any coherent order from best to least best is too monumental a task. Only way to do it without going crazy would be to have a personal favorite list of say your top 20 songs and add to it each year.
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Points: 6737 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nick_h_nz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2021 at 02:21
^Yeah, this is something beyond my comprehension. I can’t even rank my favourite songs for any one given year, let alone all time. In fact, just coming up with a list for one year is really hard.

I think I could possibly come up with a list of songs that are all time favourites, but there’s no way I could ever rank them.
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I could come up with a top 50 probably, but then I would get bored. It's just the way I am. I lack focus.
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I still have my list, which has 214 entries, but haven't updated it in the meantime. A quick look at the top 10 shows that I'm still by and large happy with them... some permutation can of course always happen.
Holger Czukay - Der Osten ist Rot - Träum Mal Wieder
Can - Ege Bamyasi - Spoon
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock - After the Flood
Björk - Homogenic - Yoga (Royal Opera House live version)
Cardiacs - Big Ship - Big Ship
The Beatles - Revolver - Tomorrow Never Knows
Björk - Debut - Human Behaviour
Pink Floyd - Meddle - Echoes
Camel - Camel - Never Let Go (Live Record version)

OK, having Bjoerk twice is overdone a bit, so I relegate Human Behaviour to rank 11-20 (but this would still be the one track I'd put in a time capsule in a spacecraft that has some message from the humans to other cultures out there in space) and add:
David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees - Brilliant Trees
...and I'd put in Echoes higher. 


Edited by Lewian - January 11 2021 at 03:46
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Points: 1280 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ronstein Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2021 at 04:05
As my Spotify mix has just under 7000 songs on it and it's a fraction of what I listen to, I don't think I've got enough years left. That's the problem with having been an avid music lover for in excess of 60 years LOL 

Edited by Ronstein - January 11 2021 at 04:06
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chopper View Drop Down
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Points: 20030 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2021 at 04:56
Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

I could come up with a top 50 probably, but then I would get bored. It's just the way I am. I lack focus.

That's about 45 more than I'd manage. Making lists doesn't really interest me.
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Originally posted by chopper chopper wrote:

Originally posted by Blacksword Blacksword wrote:

I could come up with a top 50 probably, but then I would get bored. It's just the way I am. I lack focus.


That's about 45 more than I'd manage. Making lists doesn't really interest me.




It's losing its appeal, I must admit. Ranking such a big list would also be impossible.
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Points: 51135 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote progaardvark Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2021 at 07:22
I started a spreadsheet many years ago with the intention of buying a portable mp3 player. These would be songs I would load onto it. I didn't rank them, just filed them into "must have" and "great" categories. The size of the mp3 player would determine if only the "must have" songs would fit on it or both. I never bought the player and I have a spreadsheet that has over 3700 songs in it. I'm nuts.
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Points: 3895 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dougmcauliffe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 11 2021 at 07:42
Tough one, here we go, a rough top 15... er 16.... 1 per artist (except Camel):

Song Within a Song - Camel
Lunar Sea - Camel
Song For America - Kansas
Baying of the Hounds - Opeth
Under a Glass Moon - Dream Theater
The Runaway - Gentle Giant
Ommadawn Part 1 - Mike Oldfield
From Silence to Somewhere - Wobbler
Without Walls - IQ
Despuis L'Automne - Harmonium
The Collapso - National Health
Natural Science - Rush
Winter Wine - Caravan
First Regret/Three Years Older - Steven Wilson
Matte Kudasai - King Crimson
Flight Over Rio - Al Di Meola 


Edited by dougmcauliffe - January 11 2021 at 07:43
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zwordser View Drop Down
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Originally posted by iluvmarillion iluvmarillion wrote:

Good luck. I think it's a massive job to list songs on an Excel spreadsheet and write comments for each one. Even though Prog is just one genre of music with several sub-genres there are still thousands of songs to assess and even after naming a thousand songs you could equally name another thousand which deserve equal merit of discussion. How you put them in any coherent order from best to least best is too monumental a task. Only way to do it without going crazy would be to have a personal favorite list of say your top 20 songs and add to it each year.



It is/was "massive", but I admit, I kind of enjoyed it, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought. I already had the pre-made list from 2016; I then made a list of tracks I wanted to add, scanned through the existing list, chose a spot for each track (that's the third tab on my spreadsheet if you've seen it), and thought about how it compared to the 5 or so tracks above and below it--then made adjustments.  I found that my first top 100  didn't change much, but it was a lot of moving around tracks below that.

Also, make note of what I said about the process being more valuable than the result (lots of close listening--its better, often, to listen to prog rock that way than just casually, or as background).  

Still, you're right, I think for some people, it would drive them crazy.  Maybe you need to be a little crazy like me.Wacko   And, of course, you need a lot of time (which I had last Fall, when I completed it).  

Anyway, at least for now, I'm not going to add to or change the list..   If I ever do get back to it, I'll probably break it down by groups of sub-genres to make it more manageable.
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Let me do a one per artist variety based on my 2016 list...

1. Genesis - Foxtrot - Supper's Ready
2. Pink Floyd - Meddle - Echoes
3. Magma - Köhntarkösz - Köhntarkösz
4. Yes - Close to the Edge - And You and I
5. Rush - A Farewell to Kings - Xanadu
6. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery - Karn Evil 9
7. Discipline - Unfolded Like Staircase - Canto IV (Limbo)
8. Big Big Train - English Electric (Part One) - Summoned by Bells
9. Gentle Giant - The Missing Piece - Memories of Old Days [260]
10. Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick - Thick as a Brick
11. Magellan - Impending Ascension - Estadium Nacional
12. Alquin - The Mountain Queen - The Dance
13. Focus - Hamburger Concerto - Hamburger Concerto [91]
14. Echolyn - Echolyn - Some Memorial
15. Deluge Grander - Heliotians - Saruned
16. Alejandro Matos - La Potestad - Pertenencia
17. UK - Danger Money - Carrying No Cross
18. Tangerine Dream - Ricochet - Ricochet [150]
19. Iona - Journey into the Morn - Bi-se I Mo Shuil part 2
20. Anekdoten - Until All the Ghosts Are Gone - If It All Comes Down to You
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Points: 67 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GolfBoi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2021 at 07:38
Hello,

I've also been on a quest to make a list (actually, a number of lists) of essential or best ever prog songs. I did consult the topic you linked to; however, with only 18 members participating in it you're sure to have a lot of bias (bias towards the likes of Yes can hardly be blamed however). If one or two members happen to like one obscure song a lot, it will blow that song's objective prominence in the progressive rock style out of proportion due to the sheer poverty of the sample size. 

I found the DDM top 100 perhaps more representative of prog as a whole, and if you like quantity over quality resulting from certain bands being favoured above others I wonder if you have tried using Sonemic's song chart feature (not yet incorporated in the RateYourMusic system). 

Most likely a manual list picked by a dedicated journalist/enthusiast or group would be most effective in making the best top prog tracks list there ever has been. So I suppose your revision of glaring omissions would be the best list then. Smile
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Points: 1383 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote zwordser Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2021 at 10:33
Originally posted by GolfBoi GolfBoi wrote:

Hello,

I've also been on a quest to make a list (actually, a number of lists) of essential or best ever prog songs. I did consult the topic you linked to; however, with only 18 members participating in it you're sure to have a lot of bias (bias towards the likes of Yes can hardly be blamed however). If one or two members happen to like one obscure song a lot, it will blow that song's objective prominence in the progressive rock style out of proportion due to the sheer poverty of the sample size. 

I found the DDM top 100 perhaps more representative of prog as a whole, and if you like quantity over quality resulting from certain bands being favoured above others I wonder if you have tried using Sonemic's song chart feature (not yet incorporated in the RateYourMusic system). 

Most likely a manual list picked by a dedicated journalist/enthusiast or group would be most effective in making the best top prog tracks list there ever has been. So I suppose your revision of glaring omissions would be the best list then. Smile


The idea of creating an authoritative list of the top Prog songs/tracks is, perhaps, a good project, as long as the criteria/method for creating the list is well defined. But its not quite the point of this post.  Anyone's Personal list, including my own, is not meant to be authoritative: bias is built in (and should be--else its not really a personal list).  I was just sharing/explaining my list again and seeing if others had made/modified theirs.  

True that I and others originally created our lists for Magnum Valletaja's compiling project.  I think it was a good method to determine what the "best" prog tracks are (i.e., go to a website dedicated to Progressive Rock, conduct a survey of the members' favorite songs, and do a statistical study to determine the top tracks).  You're right that the sample size was a bit small.  Perhaps MV will do it again in the future; he might get a greater response a second time. Not sure he will, though--it was a major project which I'm sure took a lot of work on his part.

To your last paragraph: that "dedicated...group" could be the PA collaborators/reviewers.  They could get together and decide on a list, similar to how they make picks of the top albums for each year.  They probably won't.  Just focusing on whole albums is probably enough for them.





Edited by zwordser - January 23 2021 at 10:39
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The Anders View Drop Down
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I'll go with one track per artist. Not necessarily my favourite song by each artist, but my favorite track that can be described as prog or, in many cases, as art rock...

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - "Il Giardino del Mago" (Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, 1972)
The Beatles - "A Day In the Life" (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967)
David Bowie - "Blackstar" (Blackstar, 2016)
Burnin Red Ivanhoe - "Oyizl" (M 144, 1969)
Can - "Halleluwah" (Tago Mago, 1971)
Faust - "Krautrock" (Faust IV, 1973)
Genesis - "Firth of Fifth" (Selling England By the Pound, 1973)
King Crimson - "Moonchild" (In the Court of the Crimson King, 1969)
Mew - "Hawaii" (No More Stories, 2009)
Miracle Musical - "The Mind Electric" (Hawaii Part II, 2012)
The Moody Blues - "Dawn Is a Feeling" (Days of Future Passed, 1967)
Mike Oldfield - "Tubular Bells pt. 1" (Tubular Bells, 1973)
Neu! - "Hallogallo" (Neu!, 1972)
Pink Floyd - "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" (Wish You Were Here, 1975)
Queen - "The Prophet's Song" (A Night At the Opera, 1975)
Radiohead - "Paranoid Android" (OK Computer, 1997)
Roxy Music - "The Bogus Man" (For Your Pleasure, 1973)
Sigur Rós - "Starálfur" (Ágætis byrjun, 2000)
Talking Heads - "The Great Curve" (Remain in Light, 1980)
The Who - "Underture" (Tommy, 1969)
Frank Zappa - "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny" (We're Only in It for the Money, 1968)
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^ Damn, that Hawaii: Part II album from Miracle Musical is insanely good!
I already know most of the others, but thanks for mentioning 'Miracle Musical'!
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