I started my music listening career in 80's thrash metal, but quickly moved to other rock-related genres, and I've always had a soft spot for long tracks, complex melodies and other proggy stuff. I mostly tend to gravitate towards 60's, 70's and 80's stuff, with the odd album from the 90's and beyond thrown in.

Since the golden age of prog was long over by the time I was born, and the average millenial doesn't talk about semi-obscure bands from 50 years ago that much (believe it or not), online sources like this site and forum are very useful! I mean, they don't teach you about Italy's active prog scene in the 70's at school after all. Since a lot of modern proggy artists are usually rather underground, Progarchives has also been responsible for introducing me to contemporary artists like Hiromi, black midi, and Naxatras.

My favorite artists are Zappa (as you might have guessed), The Beatles (as you might have also guessed), Pink Floyd (Animals remains my favorite 'pure' prog album), Steely Dan, Black Sabbath, The Alan Parsons Project and Slayer. I am, however, very slow at collecting and listening to new stuff (I get about 4 or 5 new CDs a month), so there's probably more stuff I don't know about than stuff I do. For example, I really got into Nursery Cryme a couple years ago, and it took me until a few months ago to finally get a second Genesis album in my collection. At the same time, it's exciting to know that there are still many bona fide prog classics I have yet to experience!

Anyway, I hope to contribute some reviews and forum posts now and then!

Hiromi is one of my faves also! Lots of great prog after the 90's. If you like Zappa, I recommend Mike Keneally,  Bubblemath, Mirthkon, and Wippy Bonstack. Steely Dan is an unique act and none compare! Yes, there is a ton of great classic prog, but the last ten years of prog has been awesome. 

Anyway, post away and enjoy the journey. 

 

Welcome aboard brother !

Back in the late 70's, while touring out in the east coast of Canada, we were playing at the Fleet Club in Halifax. A dutch destroyer was in port and several of the crew offered us a tour of the ship and a meal in the mess.

A great group of guys.

Yeah, I've been trying to find more post-80's artists that are to my liking. My preference is generally the earlier decades though for reasons like production-style and stuff. And I still have so many great albums to hear from that era that it's tempting to just stick to that since it's 'easy'. There's a ton of variety these days but that also makes it harder to sift through everything. But every once in a while I gotta get out of that comfort zone, or I would've never heard of, say, Ozric Tentacles!

And yes, nothing compares to Steely Dan! Definitely one of those artists where the "if you like X, you should check out Y" recommendations never seem to hit the spot. Then again, SD's discography never bores.

Hope you enjoy the site! 

Interesting you immediately mention Dutch folks on a ship, JD. Often when I talk to non-Dutchies, our gravitation towards all things water comes up...

And I checked out your reccomendations, Grumpyprogfan. miRthkon kinda blew me away!