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Second Tier early 70s UK Progressive Rock Bands
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enigmatic View Drop Down
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I am relaxed, I am very relaxed. I turned 60 this year, with high blood pressure, so I have to be relaxed. I am here to talk about music, find some friends, not enemies.
Can I ask you to remove non-UK bands, and successful, charted UK bands like Colosseum, Procol Harum, Greenslade Traffic and Family from the list. Just to avoid confusion. TIA.

Edited by enigmatic - December 17 2021 at 09:33
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Ok, I just changed it so the words "not all of these are from the UK" is in bolded text. I hope that's good enough for you. ;) 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - December 17 2021 at 09:30
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Originally posted by enigmatic enigmatic wrote:

AFlowerKingCrimson - yep, I was one of the contributors to this list and the guy who collected all the votes and summed them up. You should not post the list here. Plenty of the bands/albums don't fit the criteria I listed in my first post. They are not from UK, plenty albums not from early 70s and some of them are well-known bands with Top 100 albums on UK charts.


Oh ok. I didn't know that you were involved. Also, to be honest I don't see what harm it is having that list in this thread especially since I said not all are from the UK. I think about 90 percent are from the UK anyway. Again, I don't see what the big deal is though or see the harm in having it on here. I think we all need to relax a bit sometimes and not worry about the small stuff. Wink


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - December 17 2021 at 09:28
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enigmatic View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Hugh Manatee Hugh Manatee wrote:

I personally think that "Epic Forest" is the best Rare Bird release.

Isn't it a beauty and challenge of progressive rock? We, progressive rock fans can't agree on anything. 
Put 5 progressive rock fans in one room (with different background/age) - ask them 5 questions:
1. What are the Big 5 bands of prog-rock?
2. What are 5 the greatest prog-rock albums?
3. What do you consider as first prog-rock album ever recorded?
4. What was the first progressive rock group?
5. What is the best Rare Bird album?

and they all give you different answers.

My favorite Rare Bird album, by far is "As Your Mind Flies By".


Edited by enigmatic - December 17 2021 at 09:27
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enigmatic View Drop Down
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AFlowerKingCrimson - yep, I was one of the contributors to this list and the guy who collected all the votes and summed them up. You should not post the list here. Plenty of the bands/albums don't fit the criteria I listed in my first post. They are not from UK, plenty albums not from early 70s and some of them are well-known bands with Top 100 albums on UK charts.

Edited by enigmatic - December 17 2021 at 08:44
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Hugh Manatee View Drop Down
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No Paladin I see.

I personally think that "Epic Forest" is the best Rare Bird release.
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Interesting list. These kinds of bands are often referred to as proto prog(even though progarchives has a slightly different definition of what that is). Anyway, several years ago another prog website had a ranking of the top 100 (or so) albums that fall more or less into this category. Not all of these are from the UK though. Here is a non ranked, alphabetized version of that list:

2066 & Then - Reflections!
A-Austr Musics from Holy Ground
Abacus - s/t
Ache - De Homine Urbano
Ache - Green Man
Affinity - s/t
Aquila - s/t
Arc - At this
Arcadium - Breathe Awhile
Arzachel - s/t
Battered Ornaments - A Meal You Can Shake Hands With In The Dark
Battered Ornaments - Mantlepiece
Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You
Beggars Opera - Act One
Beggars Opera - Pathfinder
Beggars Opera - Waters of Change
Black Widow - Sacrifice
Bodkin - s/t
Bram Stoker - Heavy Rock Spectacular
Burnin' Red Ivanhoe - M144
Burnin' Red Ivanhoe - WWW
Catapilla - Changes
Catapilla - s/t
Cirkus - One
Colosseum - Daughter of Time
Colosseum - Valentyne Suite
Comus - First Utteranace
Cressida - Asylum
Cressida - s/t
Culpepers Orchard - s/t
Czar - s/t
Dear Mr. Time -Grandfather
Diabolus - s/t
Earth & Fire-same
East of Eden - Mercator Projected
East of Eden - s/t
Egg - The Polite Force
Egg - s/t
Fairfield Parlour - From Home to Home
Family - Family Entertainment
Fantasy - Beyond the Beyond
Fantasy - Paint a Picture
Fields - s/t
Frumpy - Frumpy
Fuchsia - s/t
Fusion Orchestra - Skeleton in Armour
Fuzzy Duck - s/t
Galliard - New Dawn
Galliard - Strange Pleasure
Gnidrolog - In Spite of Harry's Toenail
Gnidrolog - Lady Lake
Gracious - This is... Gracious!!
Gracious - s/t
Gravy Train - Ballad of a Peaceful Man
Gravy Train - Second Birth
Greenslade - s/t
Greenwood, Nicholas - Cold Cuts
High Tide - Sea Shanties
High Tide - s/t
Indian Summer - s/t
Jan Dukes de Grey - Mice & Rats in the Loft
Jody Grind - Far Canal
Jonesy - Growing
Julian Jay Savarin - Waiters on the Dance
Julian's Treatment - A Time Before This
Kestrel - s/t
Khan - Space Shanty
Kingdom Come - Galactic Zoo Dossier
Kingdom Come - Journey
Krokodil - An Invisible World...
Locomotive - We Are Everything You See
Love Sculpture - Forms & Feelings
Manfred Mann's Chapter Three Vol. 1 & 2
Marsupilami - Arena
Marsupilami - s/t
Mellow Candle - Swaddling Songs
Missing Link - Nevergreen!
Odin - s/t
Orange Peel - s/t
Out of Focus - Wake Up
Out of Focus - s/t
Pete Brown & Piblokto - Thousands on a Raft
Pete Brown & Piblokto - Things May Come and Things May Go but the Art School Dance Goes on Forever
Parlour Band - Is a Friend?
Procol Harum - Shine on Brightly
Quatermass - s/t
Quicksand - Home is Where I belong
Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By
Rare Bird - s/t
Raw Material - Time is...
Room - Pre-Flight
Samurai - s/t
Sandrose - s/t
Second Hand - Death May Be Your Santa Claus
Skin Alley - s/t
Spring - s/t
Still Life - s/t
Subject Esq - s/t
T2 - It'll All Work Out in Boomland
The Greatest Show on Earth - Horizons
Titus Groan - s/t
Tonton Macoute - s/t
Touch - s/t
Tractor - s/t
Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die
Warm Dust - And It Came To Pass
Web - I Spider
Wind - Seasons


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - December 17 2021 at 09:39
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enigmatic View Drop Down
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Refugee and Greenslade were not extremely popular or successful, but both bands were known in the 70s.
Almost everyone who followed the top prog-rock bands knew about Refugee and Greenslade too.
I had Refugee album and 2 Greenslade albums (Bedside Manners Are Extra, Spyglass Guest( taped from Polish radio station on those large 7 inch reel magnetic tapes, few months after they were released. The copyright laws weren't obeyed in Poland, so you could hear and tape entire albums from the public radio. There were no records stores in Poland selling foreign LPs in 70's or 80s. Only Polish record labels had their stores selling LPs recorded, pressed by them. They only way to discover new music was through the radio, word of mouth and record conventions. Warsaw had a large flea market where small area was designated for record collectors. How these people obtained the LPs? Either purchased abroad by family members or mailed by a friend/cousin. Only government officials, high ranked university professors, journalists, radio/tv personalities, sportsmen/sportswomen, musicians (by permit) were allowed to travel abroad. I was lucky, my close friend from high school had a university professor in the family who travelled often to Germany for different conferences. I used to give him small lists of LPs to purchase if... I had some extra cash.Smile


Edited by enigmatic - December 17 2021 at 07:36
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richardh View Drop Down
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Greenslade is the only obvious one that springs to mind. 4 great albums but never quite got themselves promoted so to speak.

I'm assuming that Refugee may not count as Moraz is Swiss?!

EDIT - Just noticed that Greenslade are ruled out so unless Refugee count then I don't have anything!



Edited by richardh - December 17 2021 at 01:38
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enigmatic View Drop Down
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I don't think it has been mentioned yet - Tonton Macoute - s/t (1971).
I forgot to include it in my initial post. Very interesting and melodic jazz influenced progressive rock with  sax, clarinet, flute, organ and vibes besides usual instruments. Highly recommended!
I've seen Top 110 British prog albums list posted by Psychedelic Paul. Even he likes does album! Smile

Next but not least - Darryl Way's Wolf. All 3 albums released by this band are worth checking. My favorite is "Canis Lupus" from 1973 with Ian McDonald as a producer and guest musician.



Edited by enigmatic - December 16 2021 at 18:49
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Yummy.






Edited by Atavachron - December 16 2021 at 17:22
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Hugh Manatee View Drop Down
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Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:


Great list...have all of those except for Aardvark, Fuzzy Duck and Greatest Show....even have a handful on original vinyl.
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That Fuzzy Duck album is excellent IMHO. It's a real shame that they only released that one album.
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dr wu23 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by enigmatic enigmatic wrote:

I'd like to dedicate this thread to lesser known UK prog-rock bands from early 70s.
Why UK? Why early 70s? The best progressive rock scene, best years for prog-rock at least IMO.

I have to admit, I am a total sucker for good and old early 70s prog-rock.
I've been searching for these hidden treasures for many years now and I am curious if anyone on PA can share with me his/her list of favorite second tier UK prog-rock bands/albums.

Let's define second tier prog-rock bands as unsuccessful bands that managed to release 1-2 albums in early 70s that sold poorly, never reached UK Top 100 charts and shortly after that they vanished.
I am sure there are some exceptions from this rule. I can find at least couple UK bands that managed to release 3 or 4 albums during their music career in early 70s (Beggar's Opera, Jonesy), 
but none of these albums was successful in terms of the sales.
We should definitely include them. We can also include archival recordings - albums recorded in early 70s, but released for the first time much later as an archival release.

I would definitely exclude the big UK bands included in "TOP 20 Favorite Prog-Rock Bands" list (recent thread hosted by Psychedelic Paul) and bands that had at least 1 album in Top 100 on UK charts 
(for instance: Curved Air, Caravan, Renaissance, Atomic Rooster, Greenslade, Procol Harum, Moody Blues, Soft Machine, Traffic, Strawbs, Hawkwind, Family and probably few more that I don't recall right now).

My favorite 30 second tier early 70s UK albums include but are not limited to (one album per band, in alphabetic order):

Aardvark - s/t (1970)
Affinity - s/t (1970)
Beggars Opera - Waters of Change (1971)
Bram Stoker - Heavy Rock Spectacular (1972)
Catapilla - Changes (1971)
Comus - First Utterance (1971)
Cressida - Asylum (1970)
Diabolus - s/t (1972)
Fantasy - Paint a Picture (1973)
Fields - s/t (1971)
Fuchsia - s/t (1971)
Fuzzy Duck - s/t (1971)
Gnidrolog - Lady Lake (1972)
Gracious - s/t (1970)
Greatest Show on Earth, The - Horizons (1970)
Indian Summer - s/t (1971)
Jody Grind - Far Canal (1970)
Jonesy - Keeping Up (1973)
Julian's Treatment - A Time Before This (1970)
Marsupilami - s/t (1970)
Odin - s/t (1972)
Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By (1970)
Raw Material - Time is... (1971)
Samurai - s/t (1971)
Skin Alley - s/t (1970)
Spring - s/t (1971)
Still Life - s/t (1971)
T2 - It'll All Work Out in Boomland (1970)
Titus Groan - s/t (1970)
Web - I Spider (1970)

I wasn't sure what to do with Khan, Egg, East of Eden. East of Eden had a successful album ("Snafu", No. 29 on UK charts and single - "Jig-A-Jig"). Khan and Egg are pretty well know by now and get lots of "airtime" on PA. Well, I will leave it up to you. All 3 bands and their albums would be in my Top 30.


Great list...have all of those except for Aardvark, Fuzzy Duck and Greatest Show....even have a handful on original vinyl.
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enigmatic View Drop Down
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BrufordFreak - nice list! Mellow Candle, Fruupp (both from Ireland but close enough based on style and geography), Egg, Khan, Gnidrolog - all amazing bands.

Edited by enigmatic - December 16 2021 at 17:03
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enigmatic View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Cosmiclawnmower Cosmiclawnmower wrote:

Marsupilami cos they were great and they lived and practised on a farm very near where i grew up!

FINALLY! I was waiting for a confirmation that I am not the only one who thinks that Marsupilami were great. Both albums are essential, IMO. There is a short video of them performing at Isle of Wight festival on YT. Unfortunately they didn't do too well. If I remember correctly some issues with out of tune mellotron.
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Not so unknown, but perhaps at the time:
Mellow Candle
Pererin
The Woods Band
Fotheringay
Egg
Trees
Agincourt
Khan
Gnidrolog
Fruupp
Cymande
The Amazing Blondel
Babe Ruth
Osibisa
Drew Fisher
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Originally posted by Cosmiclawnmower Cosmiclawnmower wrote:

Arcadium 'Breathe a while' .. Hmm actually thats 1969 but its a great early (proto) UK prog lp..

Right, and it's an obscure band, as well.
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Arcadium 'Breathe a while' .. Hmm actually thats 1969 but its a great early (proto) UK prog lp..

Quicksand 'Home is where i belong'.. great band from South Wales

Marsupilami cos they were great and they lived and practised on a farm very near where i grew up!

Stackridge.. again a great West Country band.. 2nd tier?? Hmm a bit underrated in my view.. those first two lps are just essential.

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enigmatic View Drop Down
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moshkito - I am glad you mentioned the name Edgar Broughton Band. I've been on different progressive rock forums since 1995 when I purchased my first PC. I've met many different people and some of them had very high regards about the EBB. "Wasa Wasa" by many is considered one of the greatest albums recorded in 1969.
When comes to the music from early 70s, I am more of a fan of eclectic prog, symphonic prog, space-rock, Canterbury scene. progressive folk, so that's why the EBB is not included on my list of favorite uncharted, second tier UK bands from early 70s.
Should they be listed on PA? Absolutely, I totally agree. Most likely together with another band from the same period: Pete Brown & Piblokto!


Edited by enigmatic - December 16 2021 at 11:37
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Originally posted by enigmatic enigmatic wrote:

Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

Just a few I can think of here...apologies that it's quite folk oriented and that there are repeats from above

Beggars Opera - Waters of Change
Decameron - they made 4 albums but never made much impact
Fresh Maggots - lots of acoustic guitar but also acidic lead guitar
Forest- like a kinder gentler ISB
Third Ear Band - "The Magus" was recorded in 1972 and not released till 2004.  It would have been revolutionary at the time
Amazing Blondel - maybe too prolific to be called obscure - Elizabethan folk rock
Paul Brett Sage - first album is great
Dancer - Tales of the Riverbank - another one from 70s not released until 2000s
Fuchsia - debut from 1971 was their only album until 40+ years later when they released a 2nd album that I actually think was better
Nigel Mazlyn Jones - "Ship to Shore" is excellent
Magna Carta - peak was "Lord of the Ages"
Pererin was around at the end of the 70s but the style is quite earty 70s with some Runrig thrown in.  First 2 albums are exceptional
Strange Days - sole album is really good
Tir Na Nog - Tear and a Smile is excellent
Bran - precursor to Pererin - Hedfan and Ail Ddechra are both good
Fruupp - 4 albums I think, all good
Gracious - 2 good albums
Jade Warrior - used to be obscure, but now it's unclear.  debut is highly recommended
Jonesy - they have appeared on the occasional best prog albums list which they in no way deserve, but they are good
Loudest Whisper - Children of Lir is good
Salamander - Ten Commandments is decent
Sallyangie - sole album made by the teenage Mike and Sally Oldfield
Spriguns - decent but not very undistinguished UK folk rock
Spring - their s/t isn't really obscure anymore

Kenethlevine - thank you for your contributions to this thread. Very nice list! Some of them I've never heard before, so I will definitely check them out (Paul Brett Sage, Nigel Mazlyn Jones, Tir Na Nog, Pererin). There are some excellent bands/albums you listed that are on my Top favorite second tier British bands: Spring, Gracious, Beggars Opera, Jonesy, Fuchsia. And the rest, some of them I haven't played for years. Thanks for reminding me about these albums. It's time to revisit them. 

my pleasure.  I have reviewed all of them and you can get a sense of whether you might agree or disagree from my critiques
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