What are the most accessible prog rock albums? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

The thing with "accessible" is that different things are accessible to different people, and there is no "general wider audience" taste. For example, there is a big number of music lovers around who are not generally prog fans but appreciate Tool a lot, and I surely wouldn't think of their music as "most accessible", but in fact they are (maybe not "most" but quite), if the citerion is appreciation outside the "prog world".

That said, I tend to think that the timeless and global appeal of Dark Side of the Moon and maybe also WYWH is unmatched in the prog world.

Hi,

Honestly, and without meaning anything bad, if you have to concentrate on some silly detail about it all, then you are not into "music" ... just into your favorites.

There is a lot of music out there, and some fits and some doesn't into your request, but sadly, your request seems to be trying hard to simplify your ability to find these bands, and not get the proper feel about anyone's music, which is what all this is about.

It's not about you and I, the listener, and we have to stop that illusion (because we all have different ideas and requests!) ... it's about the art in it, and nothing else. And why would you want to remove a color from a painting? You're not the painter!

Music is the same in a different medium.

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com

moshkito wrote:

Hi,

Honestly, and without meaning anything bad, if you have to concentrate on some silly detail about it all, then you are not into "music" ... just into your favorites.

There is a lot of music out there, and some fits and some doesn't into your request, but sadly, your request seems to be trying hard to simplify your ability to find these bands, and not get the proper feel about anyone's music, which is what all this is about.

It's not about you and I, the listener, and we have to stop that illusion (because we all have different ideas and requests!) ... it's about the art in it, and nothing else. And why would you want to remove a color from a painting? You're not the painter!

Music is the same in a different medium.

Well, I believe you took the topic too existentially... It is a rather simple and straightforward question that meant to collect different opinions, and given the people that are using this particular forum, I though the answers might be interesting, and they are, so far. So, in a brief sum-up, my request was trying to get some insight into what the forum users consider 'an accessible prog album', which would allow me to compare between their picks and mine. I am sorry but I disagree with your deeply philosophical reply to my thread.

On a side note, I am curious why brought up the 'It's not about the listener' argument; And if we have to be realistic, it is often about the listener, and it has been like that for centuries, if I may say. After all, if all the music we are listening to daily (I guess this is the listening frequency of most forum users here) was not about the listener (to an extent), why would the artists that recorded it release it and not keep it all for themselves? It is an argument that could go on forever, because there are different aspects and points of view to this, but unfortunately this is not the point of the thread at all. Besides, I appreciate your reply, despite the fact that I find it redundant.

Edited by A Crimson Mellotron - August 21 2021 at 09:55

Logan wrote:

That's something that Pedro has brought up again and again in different threads. I've tried to argue against it, or at least present a different perspective, but the song remains the same. Anyway, I won't persist in continuing in this quite irrelevant to the intent route. Perhaps that topic should have its own thread and we can have a serious debate there, hopefully one that also involves dialectic (not about winning an argument, but more discussion and active "listening" to and consideration of other perspectives).
...

Hi,

Without the "media", for years the art, or any music was pretty much about who heard what. There might be some likes and dislikes, sort of like in a bar or a theater when the song is blah, or the play is getting too mushy and not interesting.

In general, and I don't mean that this is its "history", from the artist's point of view, the majority of the music has LESS to do with the audience, than it does with the ARTIST who has come up with an idea/vision, that allowed the piece of music to come alive, or the play, or the novel. In that "inner" world, there is a lot less about the audience than there is about your ability and mine to get an "approval" from someone else, although many usually would use their close friends whose thoughts they tended to trust, but rarely would they interfere with the actual work. (Check out the Philip Roth special! )

The 20th century is a perfect example of this "inner" thing that is not about the public or the "fan" as is better said today. The "individuality" of the work, has been the staple of the majority of the great arts ... and that has a lot less to do with the fan, or audience. Remember FZ? Getting upset and putting down the guitar and conducting the rest of the show!

The request from the OP is a problem FROM MY SEEING EYE. He is asking for an "external" view of the pieces of music, which is NOT the actual intent of the majority of the arts ... and this IN THE END will be far more confusing to the understanding and studies of the artist than any other ideas.

It's not about Pedro being different. It's about the difference between the inner artist, and what the outer fans want from an artist ... which to me (and I'm biased in favor of the artist ALWAYS) ... is just a thing for the 20th century fans, and not what will be remembered. Look ... how many songs do you remember and can quote a line from 450/500 years ago? Or 100 years ago for that matter so you can decide what to go listen to! To me, that's a sign of an inner dichotomy of what the arts/artist is all about!

Edited by moshkito - August 21 2021 at 10:49

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com

Originally posted by A Crimson Mellotron

A Crimson Mellotron wrote:

Fellow forum users, what are in your opinion the most accessible prog albums (doesn't matter which decade)?

These may be albums by very well-known bands or more underground acts that you believe (or they have proved so) to appeal to a wider audience.

I am curious to see what the recommendations will be. Smile

We have a sub-genre devoted to that sort of music... crossover. With that in mind, I don't think there is prog much more accessible than Supertramp, or perhaps The Alan Parsons Project, or for more modern listeners, Radiohead.

No, I know how to behave in the restaurant now, I don't tear at the meat with my hands. If I've become a man of the world somehow, that's not necessarily to say I'm a worldly man.

I'll go along with what my friend from a land down under said about Crossover Prog, adding the Moody Blues and Mike Oldfield to the previously mentioned Alan Parsons Project, Barclay James Harvest and Supertramp, but not Radiohead. Smile

Edited by Psychedelic Paul - August 21 2021 at 11:32

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love. Maybe her proggiest, and massively popular for good reasons.

The Residents - "Eskimo."

I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!!

I think sales generally lend a decent insight into what the general populace find the most accessible. Not that truly accessible stuff doesn't fall through the crack for some other reason (poor promotion, bad release timing, etc. etc.), but my gut feeling is that's the minority.

So certainly the answer would seem to be Dark Side Of The Moon.

Porg for short. My love of music doesn't end with prog! Feel free to discuss all sorts of music with me. Odds are I'll give it a chance if I haven't already! :)

Psychedelic Paul wrote:

I'll go along with what my friend from a land down under said about Crossover Prog, adding the Moody Blues and Mike Oldfield to the previously mentioned Alan Parsons Project, Barclay James Harvest and Supertramp, but not Radiohead. Smile

You mean Grammy winning, multi platinum selling Radiohead aren't accessible?

Ian

Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com

https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/

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