What album made you discover/like prog?

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Watch and then much of their other stuff, followed by Animals, WYWH, and the first two Pink Floyd albums. 

Edited by Lewian - July 11 2024 at 16:15

moshkito wrote: ThyroidGlands wrote: About three years ago, I listened to Focus III. For several months, I had been leaning towards listening to more complex music, but I had never listened to progressive rock. I didn't know what kind of music it was, but I really liked the album. When I looked up information about the band on the internet, I immediately recognized the brilliant Hocus Pocus (which up to that point I had found horrible). After that, I listened to Hamburger Concerto, which blew my mind after a couple of listens. So, we could say that Hamburger Concerto is the first prog album I listened to (I don't consider Focus III to be progressive rock). Hi, ERUPTION is the treat in that album ... a really special piece of  music.  And yes, HAMBURGER CONCERTO is also a very nice treat. As is other stuff in that album ...

Neon_meate wrote: Have you heard Quark by Jun Fukamachi?

That desperately needs a reissue.

Formentera Lady wrote: Back in 1982 my older brother left 2 cassettes on the living room table: Genesis - Three Sides Live and Supertramp - Paris. I was 13 and already knew how to operate the cassette player, so I put the cassettes in... and was completely blown away. I went to the library and tried to search, what kind of music that was. Later that year I bought my first vinyl on the flee market from my small pocket money: a used copy of Yes - Yessongs, because in the library I found the information, that this music might fit. That's how it all started. Btw, I still have the album!

That's called startin' at the top!

verslibre wrote: richardh wrote: Spirit Of The Age was great at least. I love the whole album actually and it's probably the only Hawkwind album that I can put up with it. (Bad nostalgia of a sixth form common room and Hawkwind were constantly on the stereo especially anything involving Michael Moorcroft bellowing out.) QS&C isn't my fave Hawkwind album but it rocks. I like "Damnation Alley" (based on Zelazny's book) a lot. You don't like Warrior on the Edge of Time, Choose Your Masques, Chronicle of the Black Sword...?

Aqualung, age 14. My older sister bought it because she played the flute in high school band and someone told her this guy was really good. I don't think she was expecting that kind of heaviness. Bungle in the Jungle was a hit at the time, but I thought it was kinda silly so I didn't really like it. Then I heard My God and thought - this is as heavy as Black Sabbath, but with a flute! Listening to that song while looking at the inner gatefold was a life-changer.

The Dark Elf wrote: Where I done growed up, tweren't nothin' called prog in them thar early 70s. Y'all either had good rock or bullsh*t.  So we listened to Yes, Tull, King Crimson, Zeppelin, Sabbath, Floyd, Genesis, The Who, The Allman Brothers, Traffic, Moody Blues, The Stones, Procol Harum, Santana, Bowie, Neil Young, T. Rex, Humble Pie, Mott the Hoople, Alice Cooper, and 60s stuff like The Beatles, the Doors, Hendrix, Janis, Cream, etc. The "genre" didn't mean jack. It was either good, or it was ignored.

I'm not sure I could say which album did it. I got to know a few ones out of coincidence before ever knowing what prog was. First, I was curious about Pink Floyd, so from them I did get first The Wall, though now it's far from my favourite from them. And then a friend lent me some mix tapes with several Floyd songs, and then I started to get all their albums. The same friend also lent me some Alan Parsons, and then I think I borrowed their first two albums (and then some more) before buying them myself. And she also lent me Myths and Legends from Rick Wakeman. Also, I borrowed several vinyls from my grandmother, including Hamburger Concerto from Focus (which she strongly recommended) and Cinquiem Saison from Harmonium (which I think she never gave much of a chance, actually). I also borrowed from her Live Bursting Out from Jethro Tull and Relayer from Yes, but they didn't click with me at the time. And then, because of the Wakeman connection, I did get curious about some more Yes (specially if it featured Wakeman) and looked out about them (and thus I ended up knowing PA), and did start getting their dyscography, starting with Fragile and Close to the Edge... and I guess that's the moment I officially started seeking prog.

moshkito wrote: presdoug wrote: ... I was reading a fairly recent interview with guitarist Steve Lukather, and he said something very original, that there are no "copycat groups" out there, that each artist is unique...and that is a perspective I have rarely heard said by anybody....I found it quite interesting.....so with that perspective, ELP are ELP , and Triumvirat sound like Triumvirat, and Yes are Yes, and Starcastle sound like Starcastle....and so on.... Hi, There weren't many copycats way back when and THAT IS THE REASON why we remember so many of them! But saying that TODAY, when we go through the list of each month, it is a completely different story ... not that many things are exceptionally "different" as the stuff was 50 years ago, and we are not able to appreciate it without comparing it to something else. None of us sits here and says that the Romantic Era in music was better than the Expressionistic Era in music, and it was obvious that it was a different time and place for each of those ... but we keep listing these bands in the same era as if it all was up in the last 5 years or so ... and that is something that is difficult to relate to a lot of "today's" audience. It's not that they don't listen to music, or don't like yesterday's stuff ... it is more that it is looked at as exactly the same as those were 50 years ago ... AND THAT IS NOT THE CASE at all! To me, they are all different ... and that is what makes me enjoy them even though some will say that this bands sounds like and that band sounds like, which for me is like saying Triumvirat sounds like ELP ... it takes the compositional side of Triumvirat out the window for me, and that is not fair to the musicians that tried so hard to do what they saw and thought was valuable.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, moshkito....