What’s the first prog album you bought?

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   Given the age range of the members here, thought it would be interesting to know the first prog album you bought, when you bought it, & why.......

For me, it was Uriah Heep's 'Greatest Hits' - my neighbour had bought this when it first came out (approx 1973??) - don't know why.... she was into the Carpenters, Donnie Osmond et al    .

She played this to me, a mere 10 year old child, and I was hooked from the first chords of 'Gypsy' onwards; when I heard 'The Wizard' I knew I had to have this album, so bought it from her for the princely sum of £1.00 (2 weeks pocket money in those days...).

Barring a couple of years in the late '70s when I thought I should be into punk (  sorry - peer pressure & all that  ), and a continuing love of good heavy metal (hey, I had long hair in those days), I never looked back.....  I concentrated on finding 2nd hand (ie cheap) copies of Uriah Heep albums, then my brother in law played me Yes, Genesis & Floyd - the rest, as they say, is history

Edited by Jim Garten

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Jim Garten Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Retired Admin & Razor Guru Joined: February 02 2004 Location: South England Status: Offline Points: 14693	Topic: What’s the first prog album you bought? Posted: March 05 2004 at 03:53
	Given the age range of the members here, thought it would be interesting to know the first prog album you bought, when you bought it, & why....... For me, it was Uriah Heep's 'Greatest Hits' - my neighbour had bought this when it first came out (approx 1973??) - don't know why.... she was into the Carpenters, Donnie Osmond et al . She played this to me, a mere 10 year old child, and I was hooked from the first chords of 'Gypsy' onwards; when I heard 'The Wizard' I knew I had to have this album, so bought it from her for the princely sum of £1.00 (2 weeks pocket money in those days...). Barring a couple of years in the late '70s when I thought I should be into punk ( sorry - peer pressure & all that ), and a continuing love of good heavy metal (hey, I had long hair in those days), I never looked back..... I concentrated on finding 2nd hand (ie cheap) copies of Uriah Heep albums, then my brother in law played me Yes, Genesis & Floyd - the rest, as they say, is history Edited by Jim Garten
	Jon Lord 1941 - 2012

Stormcrow Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 05 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 400	Posted: March 05 2004 at 05:26
	If memory serves.... given my "age range" that might be problematic, but.... I blew my birthday money to come home from the record store clutching "In The Court Of The Crimson King" and "Ummagumma" tightly in my clammy (but not bivalve) little hands. Even had money left over from that ten dollar bill. Those were the days.

Paco Fox Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 10 2004 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 500	Posted: March 05 2004 at 06:41
	I could say it was Dire Straits 'Love Over Gold'. Ok, ok, I know many of you would torn your clothes off for me saying that record is prog. So I'll say that the first record I listened to knowing it was prog was 'Thick as a brick'. I had a vague notion about the genre. Some time later, afriend introduced me to Camel. But that story has alredy been told... (in the 'Snow Goose' thread)

Jim Garten Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Retired Admin & Razor Guru Joined: February 02 2004 Location: South England Status: Offline Points: 14693	Posted: March 05 2004 at 07:15
	Nothing wrong with Love Over Gold - damned good album & the closest Knopfler ever got to prog
	Jon Lord 1941 - 2012

dude Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 30 2004 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1338	Posted: March 05 2004 at 08:01
	I was never a Dire Straits fan but i loved "Telegraph Road"..BRILLIANT!!!. the first prog album i ever bought was probably "A FAREWELL TO KINGS" by RUSH i saw them on a late night national rock show back in the early 80's here in my country and was blown away by Xanadu!!!

Aerandir Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: February 21 2004 Location: Greece Status: Offline Points: 62	Posted: March 05 2004 at 08:35
	Pink Floyd - The wall if it's consider prog, otherwise Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the moon. but the album that really changed my music influence was Dream Theater's - Awake
	That which doesn't kill you, postpones the inevitable

dude Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: January 30 2004 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 1338	Posted: March 05 2004 at 08:44
	AERANDIR: the WALL is as prog as you can get!!!.I actually did not like "The Wall" it did not do much for me(except for "Comfortably Numb"....That guitar solo at the end...WOW!!) but "Dark Side Of The Moon"..not only is it a prog classic!,it is a history making,MUSIC classic.There is nothing i could say about this album that has not been said already!!

Vibrationbaby Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 13 2004 Status: Offline Points: 6898	Posted: March 05 2004 at 09:27
	My first prog album was not aprog album but a prog single, yes a prog single, Hocus Pocus by Focus ( the shorter 3:25 version ) which I played the crap out of before buying the Dutch Masters compilation which had the full six minute version plus that killer "fast version". I can`t remember what was on the second side of the single because at the time as an 11 year old child I was more interested in Hocus Pocus. Other early prog albums I owned were Gentle Giant Octopus, Jethro Tull`s Thick As A Brick and Yessongs. The live version ofPrepetual Change is still one of my all-time favourite prog tracks.

Dan Bobrowski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 02 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 5243	Posted: March 05 2004 at 10:53
	I had two older brothers who bought EVERYTHING. It was after they flew the nest in the late seventies that I had to part with my own cash. I would have to guess that the U.K. album was the first I actually spent my own money on. I remember recording my brothers albums onto eight track, carefullly holding my watch and trying to time each track so as not to cut a tune in half (god I hated that). My first CD purchases were: Allan Holdsworth "Sand" / Pink FLoyd "Momentary Lapse of Reason" / Rush "Hold your Fire." They were all released about the same time and I just bought my first cd player. As I recall, that cd unit cost about $345. The same unit sells for $40 to $70 today. " Edited by danbo

Marcelo Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: February 15 2004 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 310	Posted: March 05 2004 at 16:07
	Genesis' "Selling England By The Pound" was the first. After to hear in the radio "Firth of Fifth" (yes, it isn't a joke, once upon a time was possible to turn on the radio and find the Genesis, Yes or Floyd long themes), I told myself: "I MUST buy this album!"... It happened almost 30 years ago!

StarshipTrooper Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 22 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 201	Posted: March 05 2004 at 16:20
	Dark Side Of The Moon or One of my Yes albums. Hard to remember now. I was into heavy rock more than prog at the time.


Alexander Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 02 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 237	Posted: March 05 2004 at 21:00
	Darkside of The Moon.
	On A Dilemmia Between What I Need & What I Just Want

maani Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Founding Moderator Joined: January 30 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2632	Posted: March 05 2004 at 22:30
	Well... Depending on our definition of prog, my first prog album was probably In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly, or possibly something by Cream. However, if those don't qualify, the first prog album I bought with my own money (i.e., not turned onto it by either older brother or friend) was In the Court. (Okay, I admit to being old...) Peace.

Peter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: January 31 2004 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 9669	Posted: March 06 2004 at 00:34
	Hmmm. It's very tough to recall. I must have burned those memory braincells that very night.... I had an older sister, whose teenaged gang introduced the 12 year-old me to the stuff around 1972, when Foxtrot came out. If Uriah Heep - The Magician's Birthday (I was into reading horror, and swords & sorcery) doesn't count, it was probably The Lamb, or Starless and Bible Black. But I was a seasoned prog fan (Yes, ELP, Tull, Genesis), with little allowance, before I was buying my own albums.... My first "album" ever was a 45 single (50 cents or so!): The Archies (aka Tommy James) "Sugar Sugar." Corny-cutsie! Ha! Soon after I moved into CCR singles, starting with "Hey Tonight." Let's ROCK! CRANK IT UP on the little pink plastic portable mono player! Groovy! Blue and red lightbulbs in the basement ceiling for an "apache-tied" soc-hop! Have you seen my peace medallion? Sigh. Ah youth, I hardly knew ye.... Wahhhh! PS: I also cried (boyish-manly tears)when the Beatles broke up. 'Strewth, Dude Edited by Peter Rideout
	"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.

RobJ Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Groupie Joined: February 17 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 43	Posted: March 06 2004 at 02:54
	I would have to say In the Court of the Crimson King which was in my car CD player today. A minor correction Danbo, you had ONE older brother who bought everything, the other one probably still has the first dollar he ever made.

richardh Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 29285	Posted: March 06 2004 at 04:54
	ELP -Pictures At An Exhibition .Cost £2 in 1976! I absolutely hated it!! Luckily I got a copy of 'Tarkus' about a year later and that kick started my life long love of prog rock.

Joren Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: February 07 2004 Location: Netherlands Status: Offline Points: 6667	Posted: March 06 2004 at 07:07
	I don't really remember what was exactly my FIRST prog album, but I think it was 90125 by Yes (because I liked 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart'). Otherwise it would be 'Space Metal' by Star One...

Glass-Prison Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 08 2004 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 453	Posted: March 06 2004 at 13:52
	Well, I happen to be only 16, and a young newcomer to the prog scene, but in a short two years of being a proghole, I must say, I have simply become infatuated with the music. My first prog record would have to be 2112, by rush. My guitarist (I'm a drummer, btw) recommended it to me when I was just 14, and just beginning to appreciate music (Thanks mostly to high speed internet and a program called KaZaA). nevertheless, I popped into kazaa to download some rush tunes. the first tunes I remember were YYZ and Limelight; after that I found a copy of 2112 itself. Within a few months, I had the entire rush collection on cd. Other CD's I listened to in that early stage were Dark Side(Whom I was turned on to by my brother), in the Court, Malmsteen's Rising Force (I know it's a stretch...) and The Lamb Lies down on Broadway(Which sat on my CD rack for two years before I finally learned to appreciate it.). Recently I have acquired other bands, such as Yes, ELP, and Dream Theater (once again thanks to my guitarist). Now, however, I'm trying to turn other people on to prog, a difficult task indeed.

Tauhd Zaïa Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: February 18 2004 Location: France Status: Offline Points: 340	Posted: March 06 2004 at 14:02
	Bonjour ! Foxtrot and maybe Abbey Road in 197.. (I'm so old ? )
	The State Of Grace Is Achieved

arqwave Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: March 21 2004 Location: Mexico Status: Offline Points: 177	Posted: April 06 2004 at 02:21
	YES - UNION, i bought it because of the high reviews of that time, then RUSH -PRESTO, i think those things were around 1991... peace