10 Albums that lead you the way to Prog
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Printed Date: November 27 2024 at 17:34
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Topic: 10 Albums that lead you the way to Prog
Posted By: CelticBhoy
Subject: 10 Albums that lead you the way to Prog
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 13:43
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Well, I guess most of us didn´t start their musical socialisation with Close to the Edge (What? YOU did? What a weird kid you must have been...). Anyway, name the 10 albums that in hindsight took you to where you are now. |
Replies:
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 13:53
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Posted By: nick_h_nz
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 14:13
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Top Ten Influential Albums From My Pre-Teens 1. Abba - Greatest Hits II I figure I'll start with Abba - because A is the first letter of the alphabet, and because the album in question wasn't one I owned. Rather, Abba is representative of the music my mum and dad listened to, and therefore what I listened to before I was able to make my own musical choices. As far as I can remember, although I'm sure they must have listened to more, I can think of only Abba, Neil Diamond, and Simon & Garfunkel, when it comes to what my mum and dad listened to. All of these, I still enjoy the music of - although, apart from S&G, they've not found a place in my collection. But, though I definitely prefer S&G, and own all their albums, I think Abba were probably the more influential. I can totally see why Steven Wilson said the pop vibe he was aiming for with his new album was that of Abba and ELO. They might be pop bands, but it's pop with an obvious progressive slant. I like to think that Abba's music opened my mind and my ears to much of the music I listen to and love today. Especially given the greatest hits compilation most played in the car was one that missed the earlier poppier music, for the more progressive later years. 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? 😜 3. Empire Strikes Back s/t Similar to the Wombles, this was not an album I chose, rather than one chosen for me. The difference between this and the Wombles is that the latter was for me and my brother, while this was just for me. It was my first experience of purely instrumental music, and I'm sure it helped me appreciate music without lyrical content - which I've found almost ever since, to be a relatively rare thing. I think of all my friends growing up in New Zealand, from childhood to adulthood, there were only two who liked instrumental music - both musicians. 4. Wham! - The Final This is the first cassette ever bought for me that I actually asked for. A fairly momentous thing, at least so it felt to me at the time. It was mine, and I chose it. And I played it until it wore out. I still like Wham! and often think of buying this on cd, but there's so many albums I want to buy, that this always gets pushed to the back of the list. The likelihood is that I will never own it again, but it was definitely influential, as well as a favourite. Perhaps not so influential in terms of bringing me to prog, of course…. 5. Duran Duran - the first three I couldn't say with any certainty what albums I had bought for me after Wham! but I know from that album, while I still received cassettes as Christmas and birthday presents, they were no longer a mystery. I might not know exactly what I was getting, but I knew it would be one of the many albums I'd expressed a desire for. Duran Duran were a band I loved on the radio, and the songs which I knew came from three different albums, and eventually I had them all given to me. And, again, like Abba, I think DD made pop with a progressive slant. 6. David Bowie - Let's Dance Over halfway through the ten albums, and I've still not reached the point where I'm buying any myself. But at this point, I am still only seven or eight. I'm not sure when you guys made your first purchases, but I was definitely not doing so at this age! I'm pretty sure this was the first Bowie album I owned (though it might have been Scary Monsters, as I know Ashes to Ashes was my absolute favourite Bowie song). I don't think any one artist has had as much influence throughout my life, as Bowie. It wasn't until much later, that he and his music began to mean as much to me as they do now - but it all started here. 7. Queen - Greatest Hits Strangely, while I know Wham! Was the first cassette I chose, if not bought myself; I'm not so certain when it comes to what I first bought myself. I'm almost positive it was Queen's Greatest Hits, and if it wasn't, it just goes to show how important I think this purchase was since it is the one I remember. The weird thing is that it is not what I knew or was expecting. I knew the Queen played on the radio, which was the Queen of the '80s (The Works and A Kind of Magic). Greatest Hits bares almost no resemblance to this later work - and, no, I didn't even know Bohemian Rhapsody prior to purchase. But this was the first of several similar lucky mishaps. (I knew Avalon-era Roxy Music, but bought their debut. I knew '80s Genesis, but bought Foxtrot. Etc.) Greatest Hits really led me down a rabbit hole, though. It took me totally away from the more commercial and mainstream pop I knew, and into weirder territories. I know the next Queen album I bought was Queen II - which was as weird in comparison with Greatest Hits, as GH was with the '80s radio Queen. Queen II remains my favourite Queen album. 8. Rush - Moving Pictures I bought this without ever having heard a Rush song. In fact, in my entire time in NZ I never heard a single Rush song, apart from those I purchased. The only reason I knew of the band at all was because of bubble gum. There used to be a type of bubble gum which was a disc designed to look like a record (with grooves and hole, etc.) and which came in a replica album sleeve. Every one was different, and most were unfamiliar to me. When I happened to see Moving Pictures in a record store, and recognised it as the album from the bubble gum, I bought it on impulse. If anything, it's possibly more influential for that impulse buy than for any other reason. Because that was pretty much the first time I ever bought something without knowing anything about it, based just on the cover. I've done so, ever since - though it was easier to do in those simpler times, when it was harder (or sometimes impossible) to sample music before you buy. (In a similar situation to Queen, Rush also provided another rabbit hole. The next Rush I bought after MP was 2112 - which almost might have been a different band.) 9. Split Enz - Enz of an Era I loved the Enz, or (again) what I knew of them from the radio. This compilation introduced me to some of their earlier material, and my next Enz purchase was Mental Notes - no tracks of which were on the compilation, which was why I chose it. You guessed it - rabbit hole, again! Split Enz's debut remains my favourite of theirs, and is one of the most overlooked and underrated prog albums. 10. U2 - The Unforgettable Fire I bought this (my first U2) album, because I loved Pride. I expected Pride to be my favourite song on the album, but it ended up my least favourite. I still love this album. It's my favourite U2 album, and yes, I still like U2. 😜 Fire is a very Eno-esque album. He's produced many albums by many bands, but very rarely is his stamp so indelibly marked as it is here. I definitely feel like my appreciation for a lot of different sounds and styles (maybe even post rock) started out from my love for this album. So there we go. Somewhat done on the fly, but I feel that's best as gut instinct and the first albums to come to mind, are probably more influential than if I were to sit down and think about this more. But that is just the pre-teenage years. There's a theory that the music you listen to in your teens is the most influential, though not necessarily what you will listen to long-term; and that the music you listen to in your mid-twenties is likely to be what you listen to for the rest of your life. I've compressed the theory somewhat, but google will help you if you want to read more. Every couple of years social this theory gets passed around in the form of lists of the ten most influential albums from one's teenage years. I definitely think the influences from pre-teen experiences are just as important, and possibly even more so. While I can identify how my music tastes changed in my teens, what I was exposed to in my pre-teens remains very much present in my current tastes. Strangely, I found this lost harder to compile than that for me pre-teens, which again makes me wonder if the influences of teenage influences are perhaps overstated, and those of the pre-teens overlooked unduly. The first thing I had to think about, though, was how to work out what my teen years were, so long ago they were! 😱 Technically they are from the end of 1988 to the end of 1995, but it made more sense to me to look at the period from 1 Jan 1989 to 31 Dec 1995, rather than from 5 Sep 1988 to 4 Sep 1995, as educational years run from Jan-Dec in New Zealand. Thus, 1989 was my first year of high school, and due to not going to university immediately after high school, 1995 was my first year of university. When I started thinking about this period, a lot of albums immediately came to mind - and I mean, a lot! It took quite a bit of thinking to whittle them down. But I think the following are quite representative of the…. Top Ten Influential Albums From My Teenage Years By now I was already listening to bands and artists like Genesis, Rush, Queen, Roxy Music, and David Bowie (to name just a few) that were within the greater prog universe, before my teen years, and they actually became less significant in my teen years. Mainly, because my teen years were (for the most part, and with the odd exception) thoroughly miserable. 1. Singles OST 2. The Crow OST These two soundtracks spoke to the miserable teenager that I was, and introduced me to so much music I was, and would have likely remained, unaware of. I might have heard of some of the bands, but had never bothered to investigate. I bought several albums from bands featured on these soundtracks, without listening to them (because that was what we did in those days), just because I loved so many of the tracks on the soundtracks. The bands from The Crow, especially, started to broaden my musical horizons considerably. 3. Dirt - Alice in Chains I had heard of Alice in Chains, but not heard anything from them until I bought the Singles soundtrack. I bought Dirt, and I was blown away. If anything could speak for teenage misery, this could. This may well have been the most-played album of my teenage years. It also spurned a somewhat addictive phase of buying many bands from the Seattle or Pacific Northwest area. And given that, despite a media-given label, most of these bands sounded nothing like each other, again my musical horizons were broadened. 4. Greatest Hits II - Queen 5. Outside - David Bowie I hadn't really listened to either Queen or Bowie for years, despite both being some of my first musical purchases. But after Freddy's death, I (along with many others, I'm sure) went out and purchased Greatest Hits II on cd, and then started buying my way back through their catalogue. (I already had Greatest Hits, Queen, Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack on cassette, which were some of my earliest musical purchases, but in my Queen spree, I upgraded these albums to cds) I think my mum was quite glad of this slightly addicted musical phase I went through, as it was some of the only music I listened to that wasn't black and dark and depressing! In terms of Bowie, I had liked him for ages, but the last thing I had bought from him was (again, on cassette) Never Let Me Down. I sort of lost interest in him, probably because the NZ media had lost interest in him too. I don't recall ever hearing any Tin Machine on the radio, and the only song I ever heard from Black Noise was Jump. Outside was the album that brought me back into Bowie, and remains one of my favourite of his albums (second only to Blackstar). Technically, it was released outside my teen years (albeit only by a couple of weeks), but there's no doubting the influence of this album, in my future musical life. 6. Neil Young - Sleeps with Angels I never disliked Neil Young, but I wasn't really familiar at all with a lot of his discography. Until Sleeps with Angels, I associated Neil Young with the songs like Heart of Gold that were played on the radio, and assumed that's what he always sounded like. This album blew me away, and I ended up buying quite a bit of Neil Young. When his next album was released with Pearl Jam as his backing band, a couple of my musical worlds briefly collided. 7. Extreme - III Sides to Every Story In my pre-teens, and probably the first couple of years of my teens, listening to longer songs was not unusual, because of the bands I listened to. But as I became older, shorter songs became the norm. I think teenage years are often those when angry young folk turn to punk or metal, etc. Because "grunge" hit during my teenage years, then those bands were my punk/metal. Regardless, even though I knew, owned, and enjoyed longer songs, it wasn't until Extreme and Neil Young (above) that I started listening to longer songs again. Extreme was also influential for me, in that they were not really a socially acceptable band to like. (Not that I was a socially accepted teen anyway, but generally speaking a lot of what I listened to, was what a lot of other people listened to also.) And a realisation, I guess, that I didn't really care what other people thought of what I listened to. That's a pretty important realisation to come to, and one I think a lot of people never do. After all, how often do you hear someone ask about or talk about a "guilty musical pleasure". I have no guilty pleasure. Why should I feel guilty about listening to something I like? 8. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine Like nothing else I owned or listened to. Although I enjoyed quite a bit of the hip hop I heard - and particularly the New Zealand hip hop which sounded noticeably different to my ears than the US hip hop, it would be a few more years yet before I bought any hip hop (and yes, I do have a lot of hip hop albums in my collection), I have a feeling Rage Against the Machine was really my gateway into hip hop, even if it is not really a hip hop album per se. I don’t think I would likely ever have made the effort, despite enjoying what I heard, had I not bought RATM. Like Korn (below), this album is influential in how much it forced me (or, I guess, I forced myself) to expand my musical horizons. I think after RATM, I never dismissed an album without listening to it again, nor a genre. 9. Korn - Korn This is a weird one, and it's only influential in retrospect. I certainly never realised at the time, what this album purchase would do for me. It's also an album, that shows me just how different an influential album list can be from a favourite album list. This would never be on a favourite albums of my teenage years, but I can't deny it a place on a list of the most influential albums of my teenage years. I'm pretty sure I didn't even like this when I bought it. I think I bought it as a protest or a statement, or some equally silly miserably teenage idea. It was the heaviest, angriest thing I'd ever bought, and the vocals were the harshest I'd ever bought. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't managed to get used to the vocals in Korn, I'd never have managed to listen to Opeth, who were my gateway drug into a world of extreme metal. In more general terms, listening to Korn, generated an interest in heavier music in general. Up until Korn, the heaviest you'd hear in my music would be Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, or some of the heavier Seattle bands. 10. Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons This is the luckiest album on the list, as I didn't purchase it. A friend brought it back from Japan. He'd bought it over there, and found it not to his taste, so gave it to me because he thought I would enjoy it - which I did. (He's changed his mind subsequently, and I think he did end up buying the album again, for himself.) Again, this was released outside my teenage years by a couple of weeks, and it was another couple of weeks or so before it was mine - but I still stand by my reasoning that sticking to the educational years in which my teenage years existed makes more sense than when I actually turned 13 or 20. As aforementioned, I already liked Rush, so this wasn't completely unfamiliar to me - but it was like Rush on steroids. Dream Theater were not easily available in NZ at the time (and I have no idea if they are now, since I now live in the UK), so one of the first albums I bought while visiting the US in Dec 95 was Awake. A couple of honourable mentions, now. Unlike my preteen list, I decided to ignore any albums which I listened to, that were not released in the period I have ascribed to my teenage years - no matter how influential they might have been. One of those was a compilation released in early 1995 (and therefore in my teenage years), but as it was of music released before my teens, I ignored that. Other influential, but out of time, albums I first listened to in my teens, that led to further discoveries of those groups and similar sounds: Black Sabbath - Paranoid Joy Division - Permanent Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here Other albums which were contemporary, but didn't quite make the list: Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary Temple of the Dog - Temple of the Dog But ultimately I still feel that the music of my pre-teens was probably more influential than that of my teenage years. And I also think post-teen years still have so many influential albums. Of course, to make a post-teens list would be completely impossible, unless I somehow decided to stop discovering new music. So there are still influential albums for me to this day. 🤗 ------------- https://tinyurl.com/nickhnz-tpa" rel="nofollow - Reviewer for The Progressive Aspect |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 14:27
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Welcome Kaya. I likely will have to edit this post later as I'm on my phone waiting for someone. 1. Gary Numan and Tubeway Army - Replicas I had heard this as a child since my bro had it and I just loved it. Even though it's not Prog really, it has qualities that I think helped pave the way for me. I always veered to quirky and the strange in a way. 2. Alan Parsons Project - I Robot I got into this at the same time as Replicas. 3. Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother 4. Cream - Wheels of Fire 5. Kraftwerk - Man Nachine Numan had paved the way for this. 6. Focus - Hamburger Concerto My teacher has this record and I played it a lot. 7. Gryphon - Midnight Mushrumps See above 8. Yes - Fragile My friend had this and I really fell for it. Interestingly, I did not like Close to the Edge, and still have not acquired the taste. 9. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway I heard this at a playhouse bar during N after show party. Harless Heart in particular gave me goosebumps. I didn't know what it was, and it too me years to find it (I could have tried harder, okay?). That I think eventually led me to Prog Archives. 10. Art Zoyd - Musique pour l'odyssee Really tje thousands of others I soon got into after matching amazon sample with Hairless Heart. I had remembered Gabriel in it. I'll say Art Zoyd was a really important one to help me keep paying attention to Prog umbrella music. I found that I love chamber orog and RIo, and I discovered many more experimental ones. Also getting into electronic music like Kitaro was very important. Maybe Kitaro should be at 9 with the album Oasis. Also, Laurie Anderson's Big Science is another album that I think paved the way. |
Posted By: Grumpyprogfan
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 14:54
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When I was growing up in the 70's prog was not called prog. I was listening to...Kansas,Frank Zappa, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Return to Forever, Jean Luc Ponty, Dixie Dregs, Weather Report, etc. Question for all here. When was prog labeled prog? My guess is the early 90's. Anyone know for sure? |
Posted By: progaardvark
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 15:15
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Before I ever bought my first record, I listened to a lot of stuff in my Dad's collection that lead me in this direction: Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd - Animals The Moody Blues - This Is the Moody Blues Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue Electric Light Orchestra - On the Third Day Electric Light Orchestra - Olé ELO (this had 10538 Overture and Kuiama on it) The Beatles - 1967-1970 (the album where I first heard I Am the Walrus) Steve Miller Band - Fly Like an Eagle Steve Miller Band - Book of Dreams Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti Various Artists - Heavy Metal - 24 Electrifying Performances (double LP from 1974 that had Yes' Starship Trooper, plus tracks from Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, T. Rex, and Dr. John, among others) My Uncle Eddie loaned us an 8-track of Yessongs which we listened to in the car So, I guess that's my top 10 (really 14). All in my pre-teen years. When I started buying records in the 1980s, it was a continuation of the above named bands and AOR radio that let me continue in that direction. Some diversions followed, plus a dry spell during my college years. Magna Carta tribute albums in the mid-1990s, plus the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock website reignited the flame. ------------- ---------- i'm shopping for a new oil-cured sinus bag that's a happy bag of lettuce this car smells like cartilage nothing beats a good video about fractions |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 15:26
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Barclay James Harvest - Gone to Earth Camel - Moonmadness Electric Light Orchestra - Disco VeryJon & Vangelis - Private Collection Justin Hayward & John Lodge - Blue Jays The Moody Blues - This is the Moody Blues
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth YES - 90125 |
Posted By: JD
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 15:52
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Not sure if you're asking what albums I bought that led me here or what albums I heard to get here. So
let me offer this. I have a cousin who is 4 years older than me who
grew up in Toronto while I lived in London (much smaller town). But
whenever we visited them I'd hang out with her and her friends. I was
exposed to much as a wee tyke. But we're talking music here...a lot of
what I heard was along the lines of The Allman Brothers Band, Jeff Beck, Grand Funk Railroad, Steppenwolf,
James Gang, Alice Cooper. that sort of thing. But as far as buying
albums, as I recall my first album purchase was The Archies when I was 10. However,
the first real rock album purchase was Emerson Lake and Palmer's debut. I
was a tender 13 yrs old. So it looks something like this... (and some of these were 8-tracks) Emerson Lake and Palmer - Emerson Lake and Palmer 1970 Paul & Linda McCartney -
Ram 1970 Cat Stevens - Tea For The Tillerman 1970 Deep Purple - Fireball 1971 Deep Purple - Machine Head 1972 Emerson Lake and Palmer - Tarkus 1971 Yes - Fragile 1971Alice Cooper - Killer 1971 Emerson Lake and Palmer - Trilogy 1972 Argent - All Together Now 1972
------------- Thank you for supporting independently produced music |
Posted By: BrufordFreak
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 16:12
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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Demons and Wizards In-a-gadda-da-vida Houses of the Holy Remember the Future Fragile A Trick of the Tail Relayer Crisis? What Crisis? Mëkanïk Dëstruktïw Kömmandöh ------------- Drew Fisher https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/ |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 16:18
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What led me to prog. My dad is mostly to blame, here are some of the albums that he played in the 70s that informed my prog tastes later on: The Beatles | 1967-1970 Moody Blues | To our Children’s Children’s Children Santana | Caravanserai Rod Stewart | Sing it Again Rod Steely Dan | Aja Boz Scaggs | Silk Degrees Gino Vannelli | Brother to Brother Camel | Breathless ELO | Face the Music Jean-Michel Jarre | Equinoxe Frank Zappa | Hot Rats ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 16:18
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The Beatles set me up for really good music at the age of 8 or 9 (that was mid-seventies, so their lifetime was already over) - first experience: Yellow Submarine, the film. Aged 12 or 13, Manfred Mann's Earthband's Watch blew me away like nothing before; shortly after I discovered Pink Floyd, I first heard "Two Originals" (their first two albums put together), then Animals. My father helped to grow my taste by having some Novalis, some ELP, and Aqualung in his collection, even though he'd hardly ever play them in 1979/80 anymore (but I would). Next experience that really widened my horizon was to hear Tangerine Dream (Rubycon). Around that time, Eloy (Floating first) were to become my favourite band for a few years. My big draw in the direction of experimental music came with the wonderful Step Across the Border film by Fred Frith and others. On top of that I give credit to what I now call my "personal big 5 prog bands", all of which added something unique and important to my taste when I discovered them... King Crimson bursted into my world when I saw them playing Discipline live (opening for Genesis), Can with Tago Mago & Soon Over Babaluma plus Holger Czukay's solo Movies, Art Zoyd with Phase IV and Berlin, Talk Talk, a band I had loved already when they did synthpop, later created post rock with Spirit of Eden; already in the eighties Cardiacs hit me big time with their Live album. |
Posted By: HolyMoly
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 18:02
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I also specifically remember record shopping with my dad (which we still do to this day) and he came across “In the Court of the Crimson King”. He recommended I buy it because I liked Pink Floyd. So I did (for $5) and that was my intro to Crimso. ------------- My other avatar is a Porsche It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle if it is lightly greased. -Kehlog Albran |
Posted By: The Dark Elf
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 19:02
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All pre-teen listening in the early 70s... King Crimson - Court of the Crimson King Jethro Tull - Aqualung/Thick as a Brick The Beatles - Revolver through Abbey Road Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys Alice Copper - Killer/Schools Out Yes - The Yes Album/Fragile The Doors - LA Woman David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust Deep Purple - Made in Japan ------------- ...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology... |
Posted By: enigmatic
Date Posted: February 16 2022 at 19:58
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I have to say interesting idea for a thread. In 1970-71 as 9-10 years boy, I used to listen and tape from the radio single songs by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Kinks, Moody Blues, Procol Harum. The following year, I got into more heavier bands like Cream, the Doors, Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, Budgie, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple. I was still listening to single tracks only, my favorite songs from various albums by these bands. The full albums that led me to listen to progressive rock (1973 - 74) were: Wishbone Ash - Argus Argent - Nexus Led Zeppelin - IV Budgie - Never turn your back on a Friend Deep Purple - In Rock Pink Floyd - Relics (first vinyl record that I bought together with my older brother) Genesis - Selling England by the Pound Yes - Close to the Edge Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon Jethro Tull - War Child (first JT album that I heard on the radio) |
Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 00:42
Interesting... as was the rest of your post, but as these are both represented on my own list. -I suppose these quite random discoveries either in my parents
collection, or heard from friends... maybe just a snippet
of sound on TV/in a movie/series... I found myself
always enjoying the more adventurous parts of any album I stumbled over.
Where they incorporated influences from world/folk music, electronic,
classical... anything that wasn't just conventional rock caught my ear... Here's some vital discoveries from early childhood up to my late teens (1-5 = my parents collection) ABBA - Arrival (Loved all ABBA, but played that title track over and over. Which could easily have been the postludium on a prog album) I don't have the specific album, but very relevant for leading the way to prog: The handful of classical music-compilation
LP's in my parents collection. Nothing sophisticated, basically "classical
music greatest hits". I loved them and played them all the time. Enough for me to seek out more Bach,
Beethoven, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Grieg... when I had a little
money on my own to spend. The two first classical CD's I bought for my
own money was a mid-priced
Tchaikovsky-collection that included the 1812 Overture and a Vivaldi-collection containing all The Four Seasons violin concertos:) The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (For its strange "exotic" sounds and melodies. Psychedelic I've come to learn. I skipped the "normal songs" such as the title track, Getting Better, Lovely Rita, Fixing a Hole... to get to Lucy In The Sky.., Within You..., A Day In The Life, Mr. Kite... admittedly I also loved vaudeville-inspired or "novelty-Beatles" tunes such as When I'm Sixty-Four and With a Little Help...) Electric Light Orchestra - Time (my parents weren't cool enough to own any Kraftwerk-albums, so this was my introduction to electronic music. Packed with lovely pop songs and beautiful harmonies + thanks to the mindblowing sounds of vocoder and those "brutal" synth licks - gave it an outer space/sci-fi feel. I vividly remember that feeling while sitting on the living room floor, listening attentively) Pink Floyd - The Wall (for me a little like ELO. Unusual sounds in between straight rock songs that helped me "feel the concept" and transport me into the album's universe - although I didn't understand a single word) Metallica - ...and Justice for All (Compared to the other metal I had heard (I owned this one before Master of Puppets) this was uncomparably ambitious and next level... it felt like a true artistic achievement. Still does really) -at the same time I was digging backwards and discovering: Led Zeppelin - IV (Once again I mainly stayed for the songs that weren't "plain" Rock And Roll - which I suppose I've learned to appreciate more nowadays) Jane's Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual (that B-side really took me places unlike any other alternative rock ever had before - or after) The Residents - Duck Stab/Buster & Glen (Whohoo! Finally home. This was the far out and disturbing stuff I had been looking for all my life. I just knew music could sound like this, but I had never really heard it outside of a weird sound here and there in movies, theaters, on televison... Somebody had to actually make these otherwordly sounds, but who and where were they? Thanks older friend for lending me this, Meet The Residents + in retrospect the no less important Children of God by Swans) Gryphon - The Collection (I really wanted medieval music and I though I found it here. I was "always" looking for that fairy-talish flute & drum dance-tunes I had heard in movies - where the action took place centuries ago. I suppose I wanted an album full of Brave Sir Robin and that's how I stumbled over regular prog)
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nick_h_nz wrote:Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 01:00
Difficult to cite 10, when the first albums I bought with my own money were Crime Of The Century and Harmonium's debut in 74 at age 11. In other words, I started with "prog". I guess I should certainly cite Tull's Stand Up (bought by made dad on the strength of Bourée (loved the artwork) and Hair's Broadway Musical soundtrack (given to him). I also spend a fair amount of time discovering The Beatles and Stones between 69 & 74 - along with many french singers of the times (from Brel to Lama to Aufray to Ferrer and Nougaro), but while all are still much appreciated by yours truly, did that lead to "prog"? Not so, IMHO. Maybe The Beatles did somewhat, but I certainly hadn't bought an album either until much later.
Somehow radio didn't have that much an impact on me during 70/73 (I never really understood how, since it would only do so after I started buying records. CHUM FM (Toronto) and CHOM FM (Montreal). Later CILQ (Toronto) and WKRP (Cincinati)   would also play roles.It didn't mean that during those times (70-73), that I was unaware of The Doors, Cream, Zep, Purple & Floyd, though. But how I was aware of them is a bit blurry to me. .
------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: Zeph
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 02:31
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Probably can’t remember them all, but the absolute clear cut album that made me go «wow» was Deadwing. That’s where I define the start of my prog career. Muse Porcupine Tree Tool |
Posted By: koresea
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 03:43
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I don't have a top 10 because it was with prog that I start to dig into the music and listen to albums, so I have a few albums that conducted me to prog Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Iron Maiden I was 13 when I first listened to Iron Maiden, to this day is still my favorite band and it's they who showed me that music can have some "deepness" into it Classical Music Searching for more meaningful music I started to listen to classics like Bethoven, Vivaldi and Mozart. This is not a Album but I think was a important step in my way to prog Endless Forms Most Beautifull - Nightwish I'm not into this symphonic metal stuff anymore, but I love this album in high school, and is one of the first things I listen to mix genres into it Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd My first prog album, I was just blown away by the psychedelic aspect of it and the incredible lyrics, I listened to it at 17 years old so the messages about adulthood are very meaningful to me, that was just becoming an adult. At that time me and my friends in school just listened to Pink Floyd 24/7 Chronicles - Rush Here things started to get serious, rush greatest hits were a turning point to me and made me very curious to know about the so-called "prog-rock". This is my favorite prog band until today In the Court of Crimson King - King Crimsom Man... When I listened to this I decided to just sell my soul to the prog gods and listen to everything that has the "progressive rock" label into it |
Posted By: Blacksword
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 03:52
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Black Sabbath - Sabotage Somewhere in Time - Iron Maiden Abigail - King Diamond War of the Worlds - Jeff Wayne Michael Schenker Group - Debut album The Wall - Pink Floyd Rising - Rainbow Exit stage Left - Rush Sgt Pepper - The Beatles Oxygene - Jean Michel Jarre ------------- Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy! |
Posted By: lazland
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 05:10
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Interesting thread. As with most other people my age, I listened to a lot of stuff on vinyl owned by my parents. The albums I have the most memory of are: Simon & Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water. A classic, which my mother adored. I still regard the Only Living Boy in New York as being one of the loveliest songs ever written Dvorak, New World Symphony. My earliest introduction to classical music John Denver, Live in London. I still love this man’s voice and his environmental message, which was rather ahead of its time David Essex, All The Fun of the Fair. Fantastic fun, with some great tunes as well Don Maclean, American Pie. Vincent especially was a stunning achievement In addition, my next door neighbours at the same time were heavily into classic/heavy rock, and this was my first love before being introduced to prog. My favourites of the time were, and generally remain; Deep Purple, In Rock and Machine Head Black Sabbath Debut and Paranoid Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, the debut, and Rising ------------- Enhance your life. Get down to www.lazland.org Now also broadcasting on www.progzilla.com Every Saturday, 4.00 p.m. UK time! |
Posted By: SteveG
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 05:51
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King Crimson: In The Court Of The Crimson King. And 9 others. ------------- This message was brought to you by a proud supporter of the Deep State. |
Posted By: Nogbad_The_Bad
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 06:04
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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. ------------- Ian Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-avant-jazzcore-happy-hour/ |
Posted By: Hiram
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 08:05
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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 |
Posted By: David_D
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 08:45
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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.
------------- quality over quantity, and all kind of PopcoRn almost beyond |
Posted By: Argo2112
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 09:02
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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 |
Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: February 17 2022 at 09:42
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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 ------------- 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. |
Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 18 2022 at 03:56
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Posted By: richardh
Date Posted: February 18 2022 at 03:58
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Only 2 from me 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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Posted By: Syzygy
Date Posted: February 18 2022 at 04:27
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[QUOTE=richardh] Only 2 from me 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 |
Posted By: Rednight
Date Posted: February 20 2022 at 10:39
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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 ------------- "It just has none of the qualities of your work that I find interesting. Abandon [?] it." - Eno |
Posted By: chopper
Date Posted: February 20 2022 at 11:21
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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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Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: February 20 2022 at 11:30
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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. |
Posted By: I prophesy disaster
Date Posted: February 20 2022 at 12:17
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 ------------- 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. |
Posted By: mathman0806
Date Posted: February 20 2022 at 12:46
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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 |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: February 20 2022 at 16:09
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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.  |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: February 20 2022 at 16:13
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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 ------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: emisan
Date Posted: February 21 2022 at 01:49
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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.
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Posted By: Lewian
Date Posted: February 21 2022 at 07:40
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.
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Posted By: Saperlipopette!
Date Posted: February 21 2022 at 08:07
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Posted By: JD
Date Posted: February 21 2022 at 09:04
------------- Thank you for supporting independently produced music |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: February 21 2022 at 09:04
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Hi, This is not easy, and it is a story that many here can not relate to, I don't think. By the age of 10/11/12 I was already hearing a lot of classical music as dad loved it and even wrote an incredible number of poems (all published!!! in many of his books!) to some of it. By the time Beatles and Rolling Stones showed up I got into them, but for me, this was an expression that classical music lacked ... it was almost like classical music was far out and neat, but way way way too formal ... it lacked individuality, at least within the terms those two showed in songs that were totally different. A lot of the composers that I heard were "the same" in all their albums, with maybe one or two pieces that stood out! Coming to America in 1965 was scary ... no English, but at the house we stayed for the first month, I got to hear many things, one of the most enjoyable? BLONDE ON BLONDE ... and that was very cool, despite my not quite having any idea what Bob was saying. From then on, in Madison WI, the rest is all history and about the time, and all the names that were a part of the subversive and anti-establishment groups ... and they were not quite conventional at all ... CSNY and the more exploratory folks were my "progressives" ... and they still are. However, they helped me get into this thing a bit by the left door ... through the Harvest Breakfast Collection of Ingredients, and eventually to hearing some neat things like Can, AD2 and some others, in 1972, that busted out the doors altogether. But for me, things like The Moody Blues, Procol Harum, The Nice and a few others were already "progressive" in the sense that they were doing a lot more than just a pop song ... so by the time the so called top 5 as we describe them today, came around, they were good and fine, but to me a part of the history of it all and I did not feel, exactly that they were better than all the others ... they were all a part of the whole story and adventure that we call MUSIC! ------------- 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 |
Posted By: miamiscot
Date Posted: February 21 2022 at 14:32
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I grew up in a house where Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck were played alongside The Beatles and Frank Zappa. By the time I heard Yes, ELP and King Crimson (around 1975) I was prepared!!! ------------- The Prog Corner |
Posted By: Steve Wyzard
Date Posted: February 22 2022 at 09:50
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1. Led Zeppelin: In Through the Out Door 2. Supertramp: Breakfast in America 3. Deep Purple: Deepest Purple 4. Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti 5. Styx: Paradise Theater 6. Queen: The Game 7. Rush: Moving Pictures 8. Styx: The Grand Illusion 9. Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy 10. Genesis: Abacab
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