Prog Discoveries Since Joining PA?

• Comus
• Ozric Tentacles
• Porcupine Tree
• RPWL
• Genesis
• Yes
• Transatlantic
• Jethro Tull
• ELP

Circus

Glass Hammer

Ayreon

Riverside

Pain Of Salvation

Hatfield And The North

Opeth

Threshold

.....and many more. Thanks to PA i've discovered some fantastic music. Thanks guys.

Really interesting this thread -
seems like the vast majority of people making a
thorough investigation of the site have never heard
Italian Symphonic Prog of the 70s before, me
included.
before coming to the site I had no idea of the
existence of bands like PFM, Banco and Quella
Vecchia Locanda and even if I had heard of them I
probably would have dismissed them out of hand as
bad europop, prog-lite.
I realise this is narrow-minded but I would have
been judging them on past exeperiences of
continental pop music (most of it's rubbish).
I think it proves two things:
1. The value of MP3 downloads (illegal or not). I was
able to dip a toe in the Italian water, liked what I
found and after immersing myself for a while and
confirming my appreciation for the the music went
out and bought a load of it. Thus I didn't do anythign
harmful to the artists except sample their wares and
then bolster their incomes and...
2. Imagine what could have happened with these
bands in the 70s if more people like us had had
access to their records. How big could they have
become? A crying shame and mostly because most
of us can't stand listening to lyrics in a language
other than English. Shame! If we had embraced it a
little more maybe we would have got an absolutely
phenomenal third album from Quella Vecchia.
maybe PFM wouldn't have fragmented their impetus
in the vain search for US and British approval (with
English singing)

Actually, it seems to hint at something else too:
melodic symphonic rock is where most people's
tastes lie? Is that true?

Everon so far... I'm going to try Magellan & Glass Hammer next... when I can afford it!

Harmonium

Shub Niggurath

Aka Moon

National Health

...to name just a few (although the only one of these four I hadn't heard of earlier is Harmonium, the rest I've heard good things about, but it's only thanks to PA that I got the chance to check them out)

My short list so far:

Aufklarung (good)
Crack (very good)

Before I joined I had done lots and lots of research so I was already familiar with bands that suite my prog taste. I enjoy this forum for other reasons!

Really interesting thread !!!!

Fantômas wrote: I'm just too new in this forum, so I didn't know any new band, yet. This site seems to be quite instructive in Symphonic Area, but as some of you might guess, I hate it. Especially italian one.

Wow, you are like my foil.

King Crimson
ELP
Alan Parsons Project
Magma
Rick Wakeman
Renaissance
Marillion
Yes
Genesis
Gentle Giant
Van Der Graaf Generator

Tony:

Excellent question and good thread.  Despite my "integral" involvement in PA for the past (could it be?) year-and-a-half, there were many bands I had not heard of prior to joining.  Among those which I ended up liking to one degree or another are:

After Crying
Alusa Fallax
Anglagard
Archive
Arena
Ark
Aufklarung
Balletto di Bronzo
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso
Carpe Diem
Carptree
Cervello
Citizen Cain
Clepsydra
Cliffhanger
Collage
Comus
Echolyn
Galleon
HorizonT
IQ
Locanda Della Fate
Mezquita
Mongol
Museo Rosenbach
Opeth
Pendragon
Quella Vechia Locanda
Tangent

To these I add groups that I had heard about, but never actually heard until I joined PA:

Camel
Caravan
Can
Deus ex Machina
Dream Theater
Focus
Gong
Gryphon
Hatfield and the North
Mars Volta
National Health
PFM
Spock's Beard
Tangerine Dream
VDGG

Quite a list!  I can safely say that PA has been a truly educational and instructive experience for me!

Peace.