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10 Albums that lead you the way to Prog

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SteveG View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote SteveG Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 17 2022 at 05:51
King Crimson: In The Court Of The Crimson King. And 9 others.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nogbad_The_Bad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 17 2022 at 06:04
Top of my head from my teens and then a few at the end

Teens
Jean Michel Jarre - Equinoxe
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Supertramp - Crime Of The Century
Rainbow - Rising
Joy Division - Closer

College
King Crimson Larks Tongues In Aspic
Leonard Cohen - New Skin For The Old Ceremony
Gong - Flying Teapot
Hawkwind - Space Ritual

Waaay later (20 years)
Henry Cow - Leg End
Univers Zero - Ceux Du Dehors

There are a ton of others but they'll do.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hiram Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 17 2022 at 08:05
First:

Queen - Greatest Hits 1 & 2 and Innuendo
Metallica - "Black Album"

Then:

Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Led Zeppelin - I
Jimi Hendrix - The Ultimate Experience
some cheapo classic rock compilations
Jarre - Oxygene, Equinoxe and Magnetic Fields
"synthesizer greatest" compilations, especially Vangelis tracks on them
Einstürzende Neubauten - Strategies Against Architecture 2 and Ende Neu
some Finnish bands no one abroad has heard of

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote David_D Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 17 2022 at 08:45

As a teenager:
ELP - Trilogy
Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
Deep Purple - Fireball
Czeslaw Niemen - Enigmatic
Pink Floyd - DSOTM
Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy
Osibisa - Osibisa
Mike Oldfied - Tubular Bells
Rick Wakeman - Six Wives of Henry the VIII
Genesis - SEBTP
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire

Where I'm exactly today lead really many different albums at different times.


Edited by David_D - February 17 2022 at 14:50
                      quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Argo2112 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 17 2022 at 09:02
 This is a good topic (Going to make me think a little bit)
 I didn't dive in to the deep end of the pool with prog until the mid to late 80's.
 Some I remember early on that paved the way: 

  A few my brother had when I was young:
  * Renaissance - Live at Carnegie Hall
  * ELO - El Dorado
  * Tommy  - The Who
  * Yes - The Yes Album

 Some I discovered as a teen:
 * Asia - Debut
 * Beatles - 1967-1970
 * ELO - Face the Music & Out of the Blue
 * Supertramp - Breakfast in America
 * Yes - 90125
 * Rush - Moving Pictures
 * Genesis - Abacab



Edited by Argo2112 - February 17 2022 at 09:04
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote I prophesy disaster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 17 2022 at 09:42
Excluding Proto-Prog and Prog Related, early influential Prog albums include:
 
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Hawkwind - Space Ritual
Hawkwind - Warrior On The Edge Of Time
Supertramp - Crime Of The Century
Split Enz - Mental Notes
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery
Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow
Yes - Close To The Edge
Yes - Fragile
King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2022 at 03:56
Originally posted by nick_h_nz nick_h_nz wrote:

 Top Ten Influential Albums From My Pre-Teens



2. The Wombles - Remember You're A Womble

Still before I made my own musical choices, one of several albums of music bought by my mum and dad for my younger brother and I to listen to. Running a fine line between tribute and pastiche, The Wombles were so much more than a novelty act, with instantly recognisable parodies of artists and genres. I still have the Wombles in my collection - no longer the cassette bought for me and my brother, but my own cds. Given there was a Rick Wakeman pastiche, possibly the first prog I ever listened to? 😜



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardh Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2022 at 03:58
Only 2 from me

Paul McCartney and Wings - Band On The Run
The Who - The Who by Numbers

after that I was into ELP and the rest fell into place

however 10CC and Queen also helped me get there although I never owned any of their albums for a very long time.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Syzygy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2022 at 04:27
[QUOTE=richardh]
Only 2 from me

Paul McCartney and Wings - Band On The Run


Band on the Run was the first album I owned (I got it for Xmas) and I think that the multi part title track and the Moog solos made me more receptive to prog when I heard it. It was also the first album I enjoyed as an album.

A year or so later, as an impressionable 13 year old, I saw Tommy at the cinema and the soundtrack was another gateway.

Our neighbours had a son who was a couple of years older than me and had an enormous collection of about 40 LPs, including Selling England by the Pound and Rubycon.

Anyway, for me it would be

Band on the Run
Tommy

Selling England by the Pound
Tubular Bells
Ommadawn
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Dark Side of the Moon

'Like so many of you
I've got my doubts about how much to contribute
to the already rich among us...'

Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rednight Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2022 at 10:39
Off the top of my head?

1. Jethro Tull - A Passion Play
2. Jack Lancaster/Robin Lumley - Marscape
3. Genesis - A Trick of the Tail
4. Genesis - Nursery Cryme
5. Genesis - Foxtrot
6. Emerson Lake & Palmer - Trilogy
7. PFM - Chocolate Kings
8. King Crimson - Red
9. Camel - Mirage
10. Deep Purple - In Rock
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2022 at 11:21
It's a while ago now but mine would be something like -

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies and Muscle of Love
Genesis - Live and Nursery Cryme
ELP - Welcome Back My Friends and Trilogy
Wishbone Ash - Argus
Beatles - Sgt Pepper
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Rainbow - Rising
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saperlipopette! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2022 at 11:30
So it seems most of you were led on your way to prog by a bunch of prog albums. Fine, I can understand that approach too. But wouldn't it be more interesting to dig even further back than your first Genesis and King Crimson albums? Because we've "all" done that version before here several times anyway.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote I prophesy disaster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2022 at 12:17
Originally posted by Saperlipopette! Saperlipopette! wrote:

So it seems most of you were led on your way to prog by a bunch of prog albums. Fine, I can understand that approach too. But wouldn't it be more interesting to dig even further back than your first Genesis and King Crimson albums? Because we've "all" done that version before here several times anyway.
 
My list was the prog albums I'd come across before actually getting into prog. I was mostly into hard rock / heavy metal at this time. Indeed, Hawkwind - Space Ritual was probably more along the lines of hard rock / heavy metal than prog. In the case of King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King, I chose to include that because I had been hearing "21st Century Schizoid Man" on the radio for a few years and loved that track well before getting into prog or the album.
 
As for properly getting into prog, the following albums mark the transition:
 
Pink Floyd - Pipe At The Gates Of Dawn, Saucer Full Of Secrets, More, Obscured By Clouds, Meddle, Wish You Were Here, Animals
King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King (already included in my first list, but included here because the rest of the album represents a type of music new to me)
Genesis - Nursery Cryme, Wind & Wuthering
Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By
Van der Graaf Generator - World Record, Pawn Hearts, The Quiet Zone / The Pleasure Dome
Jean-Luc Ponty - Imaginary Voyage
Al Di Meola - Elegant Gypsy
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Between Nothingness And Eternity, Visions Of The Emerald Beyond
Santana - Moonflower, Lotus
Brian Eno - Before And After Science
Tasavallan Presidentti - Milky Way Moses
Jukka Tolonen - Crossection
 



Edited by I prophesy disaster - February 20 2022 at 12:29
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mathman0806 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2022 at 12:46
Albums that led me to prog were ones I got into in the early eighties, some actual prog but others tangential:

1. Rush - Moving Pictures
2. Zebra - Zebra
3. Blue Öyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin
4. Styx - Grand Illusion
5. Saga - World's Apart
6. Risky Business soundtrack (Tangerine Dream)
7. Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
8. Pink Floyd - The Wall
9. King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
10. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2022 at 16:09
Well, for me there was prog or not prog so it's not like there was some kind of bridge to prog. That being said I will list as many as I can that sort of led to me to being a prog fan even though I still kind of feel that it was sort of black and white (ie prog and not prog). However, I'll list some anyway. Also, keep in mind my prog journey is different than many because I first got into music in a big way at around age 12(1982) which wasn't exactly a time when prog was thriving so I sort of got into the genre through the back door.


The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers lonely hearts club band (someone bought it for me when I was a kid as a birthday present and sprayed pepper on it- I was supposed to guess what the smell was but I couldn't really make it out- she was sort of a weird lady anyway and even played the album before giving it to me as a present)

The Beatles - White album - As a kid(age 8) I was fascinated by revolution 9 but liked the whole album. I think hearing the Beatles at a young age made me aware of what rock bands could do even though I didn't think much about them being progressive or anything. 

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti - I think my brother bought it through a record club or something. It turned me into being a big fan of theirs.

Journey - Escape - I rode my bike to the local record store and was going to buy either this or the first Asia album; I wound up buying this for some reason. In hindsight it's maybe not much less prog sounding than the first Asia album. The extended instrumental part of "who's crying now" could be considered rather proggy. Yes, I realize their earlier stuff is considered closer to prog.

Yes -90125 This is the first one I bought by them. At the time I was mostly into Journey, Styx, Duran Duran, Def Leppard, etc (in other words bands who were popular at the time)

Yes - Classic Yes (my dad had the yes album but I wanted to explore them on my own so after 90125 this was the next one up and I bought it on cassette tape)

King Crimson - Islands (Oddly enough the first album I bought by them and it almost turned me off of the band completely)

The Tubes - same (Sometime after hearing Yes for the first time I started to listen to the Tubes because they were playing at the college near me so I wanted to get familiar with their music. They aren't typically considered prog but I think in some ways their weird music made me more open to different kinds of things) 

Genesis - Foxtrot (one of the first ones I heard by them)

Yes - Relayer (one of the first Yes albums I heard)

Yes - Fragile (I think I heard this before Relayer)

ELP - same (the first thing I heard by them)
 

Ok, that's twelve so I guess I cheated. Sorry about that. Wink




Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - February 20 2022 at 16:12
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote dr wu23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 20 2022 at 16:13
Long time ago....in a galaxy far far away...
Beatles-Sgt Pepper
The Doors - 1st and Strange Days
Jefferson Airplane-Volunteers
Moody Blues- Days Of and In Search Of 
Procol Harum- 1st and Shine On
Tull-Stand Up
Argent-st
Uriah Heep-st
Pink Floyd-Ummagumma
Spirit-12 Dreams
KC-In The Court ....
....lot of interesting things were out  when I started college in August 1969 but Court was what really got me into looking for more bands like them.
l






Edited by dr wu23 - February 20 2022 at 16:17
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote emisan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 21 2022 at 01:49
Nothing spectacular here.
About 22-25 years ago, I discovered Pink Floyd (A Momentary Lapse of Reason, The Division Bell, Live at Pompeii, Echoes - The Best of Pink Floyd) and Yes (Talk)
Then in 2002, Dream Theater became my fav band (Scenes for a Memory, Images and Words, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Falling Into Infinity, Awake).
I also was a big fan of classic rock (Queen, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Doors, Dire Straits, etc).
Prog was the next logical step.


Edited by emisan - February 21 2022 at 01:56
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lewian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 21 2022 at 07:40
Originally posted by Saperlipopette! Saperlipopette! wrote:

So it seems most of you were led on your way to prog by a bunch of prog albums. Fine, I can understand that approach too. But wouldn't it be more interesting to dig even further back than your first Genesis and King Crimson albums? Because we've "all" done that version before here several times anyway.

I listened to some other music before, but I wouldn't say that it led me to prog (with the Beatles as possible exception but even there I'm not so sure). Personally I don't think prog needs to be introduced by "lighter stuff" if you know what I mean. I'm somehow under the impression that I would have loved Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Pink Floyd earlier, had I heard them earlier. I can't remember any prog that I had heard at a younger age (I mean before getting properly into music incl. prog) that I wouldn't have liked. That may not be true if we're talking about the age of 5 or so, but then "gentle introduction" wouldn't have helped either.

I needed time and some kind of introduction for Stockhausen, but not for Pink Floyd or say Novalis or Jethro Tull.


Edited by Lewian - February 21 2022 at 07:42
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Saperlipopette! Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 21 2022 at 08:07
Originally posted by Lewian Lewian wrote:

Originally posted by Saperlipopette! Saperlipopette! wrote:

So it seems most of you were led on your way to prog by a bunch of prog albums. Fine, I can understand that approach too. But wouldn't it be more interesting to dig even further back than your first Genesis and King Crimson albums? Because we've "all" done that version before here several times anyway.

I listened to some other music before, but I wouldn't say that it led me to prog (with the Beatles as possible exception but even there I'm not so sure). Personally I don't think prog needs to be introduced by "lighter stuff" if you know what I mean. I'm somehow under the impression that I would have loved Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Pink Floyd earlier, had I heard them earlier. I can't remember any prog that I had heard at a younger age (I mean before getting properly into music incl. prog) that I wouldn't have liked. That may not be true if we're talking about the age of 5 or so, but then "gentle introduction" wouldn't have helped either.

I needed time and some kind of introduction for Stockhausen, but not for Pink Floyd or say Novalis or Jethro Tull.
I wrote that it was fine and that I could understand the approach. But I do suspect quite a few are answering on "autopilot" without really thinking how they sort of found the music they were predisposed to love. At some point in early childhood I learned that I was drawn to music that had more to offer than a pretty melody or a catchy tune. Otherwordly sounds, unusual atmospheres... anything but plain rock or pop always had me alert. So I tried to reconstruct the steps from I was five years old to sometime in my late teens. I stopped at the record just before the flood of Crimson, Tull and Genesis and that's my choice, my experience and not everyone else. But it seems to me that some are just replying what their ten most important progalbums are - and not really thinking about what led them there.    
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 21 2022 at 09:04
Originally posted by Saperlipopette! Saperlipopette! wrote:

So it seems most of you were led on your way to prog by a bunch of prog albums. Fine, I can understand that approach too. But wouldn't it be more interesting to dig even further back than your first Genesis and King Crimson albums? Because we've "all" done that version before here several times anyway.
Well, the problem here is that before 'prog' was even a thing it was early RnR, soul, jazz, classical or pop music. As a pre-teen it was pretty hard to be exposed to jazz or soul in my household. As for classical it was Mantovani or religious music based off of classical tunes so no real help there. That leaves early RnR and pop music. I had my own 'Transistor' AM portable radio from the time I was about 8 yrs old. I do recall the Beatles (Yellow Submarine), Rolling Stones and the 5th Dimension (Age of Aquarius) as well as The Monkeys, The Archies and Herman's Hermits (I'm Henry the Eighth I Am). Maybe they played the Doors and Jefferson Airplane but it doesn't stick in my head. The Ed Sullivan Show was a main vehicle for music exposure. I do remember stuff like Shocking Blue - Venus, Tommy James and the Shondelsl - Crimson and Clover and Tom Northcott - Who Planted Thorns In Miss Alice's Garden as well as Crosby Stills & Nash - Marrakesh Express being influential listens at the time.


Edited by JD - February 21 2022 at 09:08
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