What was the best year for prog?

David_D wrote: There have been many subjective answers here, but I have certainly the impression that the OP is asking for some more objective ones, meaning, not just based on personal tastes and preferences.

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - September 13 2024 at 10:38

Saperlipopette! wrote: The Dark Elf wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: ^Oh ok. Not sure how I missed Nursery Cryme then. I know a lot of people don't like the "thin" production on it but I've never really noticed that much (same with Going for the One which people complain about).  Nah, Cryme is the first "proper" Genesis album in my book. As far as 1971, it is the first real explosion of prog, krautrock, progressive soul, progressive folk, experimental electric, fusion rock/jazz, and even rock bands with prog pretensions (ie. Zeppelin, The Who, Heep, Purple, Alice Cooper, Sabbath, etc.).  For me that year is 1970. Although would have ended up voting for 1971 I think it's weird that it's not one of the options in the poll. Most classic progbands released a much stronger album in 1970 than they did in 1976.

1970 is awesome. Magma's debut, Soft Machine's Third, VdGG's The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each, OtherAmon Düül II's Yeti, Linda Perhacs' Parallelograms, Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, Supersister's Present From Nancy, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Gentle Giant's s/t, Miroslav Vitous' Infinite Dance, Pentangle's Cruel Sister etc.

I will go with 1971 for VdGG's Pawn Hearts, Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson, Can's Tago Mago, Comus' First Utterance, Igor Wakhévitch's Docteur Faust, Gentle Giant's Acquiring the Taste, Ash Ra Tempel, Bjorn J:son Lindh's Från storstad till grodspad, Spirogyra's St. Radigunds, Popol Vuh's In den Gärten Pharaos, A.R. & Machines's Die Grüne Reise, Earth & Fire's Song of the Marching Children, Egg's The Polite Force, Roy Harper's Stormcock etc.

Every Prog year has lots of awesome and relevant releases in my collection, but some have more than others. I approach these topics subjectively based on what I know, remember, and even my mood. While I think it would be fair to say that Prog has had its classic peak years, my tastes cover a spectrum of music. For my collection, I don't care much if it's even considered Prog. I like lots of different kinds of music from lots of years. One can think of these sorts of things as just trying to think through a way to come to a year. I would not pooh-pooh that. It can be creative. And I think it's good to be challenged to think out of ones own boxes, and into others, and try to come up with an answer using some methodology. We are challenging each other every time we come up with such topics, and to me that is fun. Wish more did topics, more support of each other's topics, that there was a wider variety of topics, and a wider appreciation of kinds of topics and more discussion in polls. But no complaints, the forum is not as lively as it once was.

2019 for me.

I also think 1973.

Out of my alltime favorite albums, I took only those that were made in the 70s, and counted how many records from each year of that decade there were on my list. And it turns out that 1976 is the winner (9 albums), while 1978 is second place (8 albums). :)


*Though, keep in mind that my list consists of prog music from all over the world, and not just the 1st World Commonwealth countries.

1972 for me, though the whole era was fantasic.

Ten good reasons why 1973 was the best year for prog. 

Hrychu wrote: 1959 is also generally considered the best year for Gibson Les Paul. ;P

Criswell wrote: Psychedelic Paul wrote: 1973 for me. The year of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, Renaissance' Ashes Are Burning and Genesis' Selling England by the Pound, to name just three.  Concur with 1973...add Brain Salad Surgery, Tales, 6 Wives, & Future Days (CAN)...

And DSOTM….