Spanning from early childhood to late teens (in chronological order) My list would be something like. Edit: I needed a top sixteen too as Lewian's The Dreaming-pick remided med that Kate Bush was missing from my list:

ELO - Time (found in my parents collection)

Pink Floyd - The Wall (found in my parents collection)

Metallica - Master of Puppets (All my friends were into them really. Love all 83-88)

Death - Leprosy (The most extreme music I had encountered up to that point. A natural part of being a young metalhead:)

Led Zeppelin - I-IV (got them all at once for Christmas)

Jethro Tull - Stand Up (more followed soon)

Genesis - Nursery Cryme (My first actual full blown Prog Rock album. A female friend was a fan after being   

 introduced to them from her big brother. The rest 70-76 followed whenever I could affort it)

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (the rest 69-74 followed whenever I could affort it)

Swans - Children of God (Borrowed from an older friend first. White Light etc... followed)

The Residents - Duck Stab/Buster and Glen (Also borrowed from the same friend along with Meet the Residents - started to obsessively collecting them)

Dead Can Dance - (St) (A girlfriend were into them. Love everything they ever released)

David Bowie - Hunky Dory (The album was played at some party. Got him complete 69-83 + Blackstar by now)

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love (I already knew I liked her through radio and videos. Plus that same girlfriend was 

 a fan. When I went to the counter to pay for it, I got it for free:) Love and own most of her discog)

Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure (Actually bought because of the cover. I only knew More Than This/India

 beforehand, which my parents ownes on #7. Soon bought everything)

The Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord. (Randomly borrowed it from the library:)

Kraftwerk - The Man-Machine (I knew a couple of songs from television. Now own everything 1970-1986)

-I think all of these have shaped me in one way or another. I never stopped loving - or listening to any of them. Well, I rarely really listen to The Wall and ISotLC in full anymore, but I know them by heart.

What are yours?

Some of the very first (I list one per artist, usually the first contact or the first I really got into):

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Watch

Pink Floyd - "Two Originals" (that was a double album with Piper and Saucerful of Secrets)

From my father's collection:

Jethro Tull - Aqualung

Novalis - s/t 

ELP - Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends

But then I figured out pretty soon that there is such a thing as "prog", but did I know that these were included? Honestly I don't know anymore. (I did know that KC, Yes, Genesis, VDGG, Camel and many others were part of it before I had any of their stuff.) Or rather, the connection between these and "prog" wasn't really clear to me.

Can - Soon Over Babaluma

Holger Czukay - Movies

Amon Düül II - Tanz der Lemminge

Tangerine Dream - Rubycon 

Kraftwerk - Mensch-Maschine

Some special cases:

Peter Hammill - Patience (I knew VDGG was prog but the first PH solo things I found out about didn't sound all too prog, and were respected by the music press as opposed to most of prog at the time)

Cardiacs - Live (it was clear to me that this was proggy but somehow they belonged to a different "culture" at the time)

Some discoveries I didn't think were prog at the time, and was later surprised to see in PA:

Kate Bush - Never For Ever

Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (my first contact was much before that, but the first two albums aren't prog for sure; the third one is probably controversial)

Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Japan - Tin Drum

Radiohead - Kid A

Kante - Zweilicht (in fact I was on PA before them, even though I knew them before I came to PA)

Not sure whether that's really the "first twenty" or so but for the moment I leave it at that (already edited...).

Like Saperlipopette, I still love all of these albums. 

I'll count Stand Up as my first album, though it was my dad who bought it back then: I just played it transparent

+/- in order of acquisition and they were my first albums - prog or not.

Harmonium - debut + 5th Season

Lewian wrote: I'm not quite sure what qualifies as I had no idea what prog is when I started to discover stuff, so obviously there was no way to associate them with prog at the time.

That's sort of my point. I wanted you to include albums you didn't associate with anything prog (and maybe still don't) when you first heard them, but are in the PA band/artist-index (like perhaps Kate Bush, Kraftwerk etc...). So that we get a bigger, broader, fuller story. I had heard of Prog when I got into Genesis and King Crimson... and I knew they were considered "classic prog". But everything listed before (and everything after except for The Moody Blues) is just music I found  to be good, different and interesting.  

Anyway, great list/selection.

APP: Turn Of A Friendly Card

BJH: Everyone is Everybody Else (Still is)

Black Sabbath: Sabotage

Deep Purple: In Rock

ELO: ELO II

Genesis: Foxtrot

Hawkwind: Hall Mountain Grill

JMJ: Oxygene

Kansas: Leftoverture

Led Zep: Physical Graffiti

Marillion: Script

Rush: Permanent Waves

Sky: Sky 1

Tangerine Dream: Ricochet

Yes: GfTO (it isn't now, of course)

there was other PA stuff knocking around at the time, such as Moodies, Andreas Vollenweider, Pallas & Styx to name a few, but none would have got into the top 15.

I know this will shock and sadden you all, but I really didn't get my teeth into Floyd, Camel, Oldfield, Eloy & Tull until my early 20's (Having no older brothers, uncles or friends who liked Prog)... expel me from PA if you wish  

Wasn't that just a great experience as a teen? When money was (always) tight, you scrabbled thru the bargain bin in the corner clutching at straws for inspiration, taking a punt and finding a real gem like that for 3 or 4 £?

Those were the days, my friend... 

Doesn't matter who bought it imo. Parents, siblings or a friend records that you got into is fair game. I bought my own copy though. After someone had brought a Living in the Past-cassette along on a school trip (side one and two was played on the bus). I wanted to buy that one really, but the record store didn't have it. I went for Stand Up after about 30 seconds of A New Day Yesterday in the listening booth. It was the perfect introductory album.

A chronological list is impossible for me because during the mid-to-late '70s, I was being exposed to music quite frequently and therefore do not recall which albums I got when or in what order. Also, I won't include Prog Related or Proto-Prog. Anyway, the following list is as close to chronological as I can recall:

 

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Tangerine Dream - Rubycon

Supertramp - Crime of the Century

Split Enz - Mental Notes

Hawkwind - Space Ritual

Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Works

Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow

Jeff Beck - Wired

Split Enz - Dizrythmia

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd - A Nice Pair (a double album of "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and "A Saucerful of Secrets")

Pink Floyd - Meddle

Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds

Pink Floyd - More

Pink Floyd - Relics

Pink Floyd - Animals

Yes - Close to the Edge

Yes - Fragile

Faust - Faust IV

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Emerson Lake & Palmer

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King

Genesis - Nursery Cryme

Genesis - Wind & Wuthering

Rare Bird - As Your Mind Flies By

Van der Graaf Generator - World Record

...

 

 

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (I was big into the fab four as a kid)

"       "        - The White Album

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffitti

Yes - Fragile

"     - Relayer

King Crimson - Larks tongues in Aspic

"       "           - In the Court of the Crimson King

Rush - Signals (the first I bought by them so still kind of a sentimental thing)

"       - Hemispheres

ELP - Same

Gentle Giant - Octopus (probably my favorite GG)

Kansas - Leftoverture (I think this was the first or one of the first Kansas albums I heard)

Camel - The Snow Goose

Marillion - Misplaced Childhood

Marillion - Clutching At Straws 

That's 15 so I'll quit while I'm ahead. ;)

PS I regret leaving out Genesis (definitely a careless omission). Selling England by the Pound should be in there so I'll just say it's number 16 although it should probably be sandwiched in between Yes and King Crimson.

^That's an interesting list as well so why not:). I've never personally thougth of Depeche Mode in the context of Progressive Rock. In regards to the others ones I know of from your list, I guess at some point while listening "hey, this is actually kind of proggy" has at least crossed my mind. Nothing strikes me as equally obvious as Stereolab did. I would surely get behind a Strawberry Alarm Clock though. Dif Juz are probably obscure enough to never have been suggested by anyone.

I prophesy disaster wrote: A chronological list is impossible for me because during the mid-to-late '70s, I was being exposed to music quite frequently and therefore do not recall which albums I got when or in what order. Also, I won't include Prog Related or Proto-Prog. Anyway, the following list is as close to chronological as I can recall:

I made up my own rules on the spot. Just to limit my selection and hopefully make it somewhat interesting in a PA-context. It can be read as a suggestion more than a demand. Everyone should do their version in the way that feels right for them, I guess. 

Btw: My own list was relatively accurate, but also just as close to chronological as I can recall.

I had all these either on cassette or vinyl and to the best of my recollection were my 'primers'.

Wings - Band On The Run

The Who - By Numbers

Yes - Tormato

You mean you learnt to appreciate the musical architecture of this album whilst still a teen?

Now, that's what I call precocious!!  

I didn't have an older brother/cousin to guide me either, but there was the perfect record shop next to my school with the most excellent owner, always listening to my returns on what I bought before and guided me to other albums and always hit the spot (very few misses). The dude looked a lot like Roger Earle of Savoy Brown (later Foghat) and owned the Records On Wheels in Mississauga. 

Impossible to miss Harmonium's debut in the spring of 74 while still in Montreal, but by the fall I was in the greater Toronto area, and when I saw Crime of the Century in the ROW shop window, I knew I had to listen to that, so next day, I had enough money to take it home. 

When I came back astounded by what I'd heard, I asked him for more of the same, and out I came with DSOTM and the next time was ITCKOFCK. Of course TAAB and Aqualung were right up there, as well.

I did have an early near-miss with SEBTP at first, because I thought it was too weird-sounding (production-wise) but it clicked later, once I got ATOTT. 

.

Thanks for this Hugues; I'm always interested to read of the formative experiences of others. There appear to be a number of differences in our upbringings, which contributed to my backward development when it came to music, which I shall outline...

1) I didn't start buying any of my own music until 1983, by which time 'Prog' of any kind had an incredibly low profile. All the other kids at school were ironically more into the sort of stuff Greg lists in his polls than anything remotely prog.

2) I grew up in the middle of nowhere, on the edge of a village with a long (and expensive) bus ride to the nearest town, where there were only a couple of record shops.

3) I was one of four kids who didn't get much pocket money at all and was certainly not encouraged to spend it on music. My parents were quite erm 'Victorian' and vetted anything like this which came into the house... I was 16 by the time I got a modest allowance and the vetting relaxed a little.

4) The only exposure I got to any prog in early 80's Britain, would have been Tommy Vance's Friday Rock show, but you had to wade thru a tonne of hair metal before you heard anything more interesting. There were no mags I knew of and certainly nothing on the 3 channels of our TV screens at the time.

5) My father really disliked music as an art-form. I grew up in a house where the 'spoken word was king' and Radio 4 was on every morning and most weekends...

Reading this back now, it's flipping amazing I ever got to hear anything worthwhile at all!  

I also really started to explore American West coast 60s & 70's, German and Italian bands as well as the more underground British progressive. Then i had a spell where music didnt feature so highly in my life until about 1993 when i started to re-discover and explore again.

So my list of most important 15 lps from my early years is:

Mike Oldfield- Tubular Bells (and Hergest Ridge, which i connect to more (emotionally) than TB

Rick Wakeman- Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the round table

Camel- Mirage

Focus- Focus (budget Polydor compilation album)

Barclay James Harvest- Time Honoured Ghosts

Stackridge- Friendliness

Hawkwind- Hawkwind (first lp i bought with my own pocket money..99p)

Genesis- Seconds Out

Genesis- Trick of the tail

Jeff Wayne's War of the World

Rush- Farewell to Kings

Caravan- land of grey and pink

Roy Harper- Bullinamingvase (one of those days in England)

Sensational Alex Harvey band- Live

Barclay James Harvest- Live Tapes (worked part of my summer school holiday potato picking to save up to buy this!)

The first 6/7 were tapes my brother brought home and the rest were (some) of the first lps i saved up to buy myself.

That sounds very similar to my experience; when i was much younger my mother was very religious and things were a bit, er, stiff (ie my Dad's 'secret' jazz and big band) but that (thankfully) passed and things became a lot more relaxed and open as i grew up so i was allowed to be a bit wilder than my older siblings. But we grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere.. and had no money. And i listened to Tommy Vance too and Alan Freeman's saturday afternoon show before that. Most of my contemporaries were Punks and metal heads which was ok but there were a couple of 'old hippy couples' i knew who lent me some very interesting records.. and things went from there

Very much so.... I skirted around this in my above description, but control thru religious zeal was very much a factor for me too, and once again, my Mother was the driving force... and I was the oldest, with three younger sisters.

Yikes.... 

Glad I'm of an atheist/agnostic background, though my grandparents were all 4 practicing Scatholic 

Yessss, my dad was a jazz fan (mostly swing) and a classical fan (lots of records at home), and my mom was more into music hall type of stuff (Piaf, Montand, Dietrich, Brel, etc...), so yeah, there was a lot of music home, including jazz greats spending the night at home (Memphis Slim et al... , but that stopped when my dad saw them fixing junk), because my dad helped organize concerts in clubs but that was before we left for Canada (I was 7, and don't have much concert souvenir - probably didn't attend many).

To avoid the allowance pocket money spending issues with parents; me & my two younger brothers delivered newspaper after school, which was comfortable income for kids our age. It doesn't mean that we didn't get anything from our parents (we did get "normal" amounts - whatever that meant), but it doesn't mean they were that relaxed on discipline . 

.

 1967: The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kH3L9CRYvGAW2D1bj_2vx0JYvSpe74Wvw" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kH3L9CRYvGAW2D1bj_2vx0JYvSpe74Wvw

 1972: Renaissance - Prologue  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D831F451F324FD8" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D831F451F324FD8

 1973: Renaissance - Ashes Are Burning -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kLlzvwRGj185pGq9yYhveAzan1m0qWHbQ" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kLlzvwRGj185pGq9yYhveAzan1m0qWHbQ

 1973: Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_4sZCLlr0" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv_4sZCLlr0

 1974: Renaissance - Turn of the Cards -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lbUiF3mgChPZsCVm33AO0_o3Rpc1qH6fs" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lbUiF3mgChPZsCVm33AO0_o3Rpc1qH6fs

 1974: Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HVDIPmbCnE" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HVDIPmbCnE

 1974: Tangerine Dream - Rubycon -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd6XL_IOS3I" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd6XL_IOS3I

 1975: Hayward & Lodge - Blue Jays -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l1Hr46rQ8oA1IGGodOHI0AFZxJefwJ-eA" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l1Hr46rQ8oA1IGGodOHI0AFZxJefwJ-eA

 1975: Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlNi-zZF6wI" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlNi-zZF6wI

 1975: Tangerine Dream - Ricochet -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM1Wc6ha_ic" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM1Wc6ha_ic

 1975: Camel - The Snow Goose -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o51kWja3Rrw" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o51kWja3Rrw

 1976: Camel - Moonmadness -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYIBtjTeIFM" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYIBtjTeIFM

 1976: Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3hueHdzYSI" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3hueHdzYSI

 1977: Rick Wakeman - White Rock -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kkYuJUyku6MfvESHSFRTuinx36mpqchCU" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kkYuJUyku6MfvESHSFRTuinx36mpqchCU

 1977: Barclay James Harvest - Gone to Earth -  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lVED_Dbce_ZX9KdJ_t-r0Ck_3EYCSpQvg" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lVED_Dbce_ZX9KdJ_t-r0Ck_3EYCSpQvg

No prog albums by Caravan, Dead Can Dance, ELP, The Enid, Genesis, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Nektar, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum,  Spooky Tooth, the Strawbs, Traffic or Wishbone Ash until after 2010. 

I surely like this idea of a thread (not quite new as far as I remember), but if I have to feel good about my list, I need to include some non-PA albums and to tell what I don't consider to be Prog (Progressive Rock).  Otherwise, my list consists of albums I got in early to mid-'70s, being a teenager, and there's some chronological order in it. 

^ It's a kind of my proto-Prog or proto-progressive period, and I'd still say, that was some good listening. 

David_D wrote: Black Sabbath (UK) - Vol. 4 (not Prog) Deep Purple (UK) - Fireball (not Prog) Moody Blues (UK) - Seventh Sojourn (not really Prog) Procol Harum (UK) - In Concert with the Edmonton Orchestra (not really Prog) Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles (USA) - Live! (not on PA) Ten Years After (UK) - Rock & Roll Music to the World (not on PA) T. Rex (UK) - Slider (not on PA) Alice Cooper (US) - Billion Dollar Babies (not on PA) Led Zeppelin (UK) - Houses of the Holy (not Prog) Osibisa (Africa) - s/t  (not Prog but progressive) Golden Earring (NL) - Moontan (not Prog) Savage Rose (DK) - Dødens Triumf (not really Prog)

Prog or not, all relevant in a progressive rock context methinks. Among other titles I'm glad to see Slider, an album I actually listened to earlier today.

Yes, thanks for this correction, as I took the title from an old list, I made of the first records I got, and I wasn't so thorough with this title.

Thus: T. Rex - The Slider

-I don't mean to complain. My parents had decent to normal tastes. The best of what they got according to me was: The Kinks, Beatles, The Troggs(!), a beautiful Bacharach/David-collection, Jimi Hendrix Smash Hits, Golden Hour of Donovan, ELO - Time, loads of ABBA, two Pink Floyd-albums, a bit of Queen, 1980's U2, 1970's Chris DeBurgh, a couple of Bruce Springsteen's (not a fan, but he's got some gems), Tom Waits, Nazareth... and about a dozen "basic" classical records (but very important to me)... could be much worse.

they weren't that cool (discipline was a rule)

Outside Stand Up and Hair's Broadway OST, they never had anything close to rock records at home and never really listened to it, though my daéd did keep an eye on what I was listening to.

They never had a hi-fi chain (which I bought my first in 76 aged 13), as my dad only owned two 3in1 stereo elements, with a t/t on top of the unit.  Conflicts arose, because I was "monopolizing" his Phillips installation and therefore the living room (or "The Den"), so I quickly came to the conclusion that my future Yamaha hi-fi would find room in my bedroom.

.

I'm not sure I actually liked it that much, but the artwork was fascinating! 

This T. Rex album was maybe the only much Pop-influenced one I liked as a teenager.

My introduction to prog rock was from my Dad, who had an eclectic range of music he liked. He grew up with 1950s American rock, but also liked big band music and some prog rock from the 1970s (though at the time, at least in our circles, never knew it as prog rock. My first favorites were albums my Dad regularly played in the late 1970s. These included:

1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

2. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

3. Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record

4. Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue

5. Electric Light Orchestra - Olé ELO

6. The Moody Blues - This Is the Moody Blues

As we progressed into the early 1980s, my curiosity led to dig deeper into my Dad's collection for albums I can't recall him ever playing for us. These included:

7. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

8. Electric Light Orchestra - On the Third Day

9. Pink Floyd - Animals

10. The Beatles - 1967-1970 (the blue album)

This one is not on PA, but has tracks from several prog bands, including my first listen to Yes (Starship Trooper)

Various - Heavy Metal - 24 Electrifying Performances

My Mom at this time listened to the same ELO albums, but also listened to Disco compilations and the Carpenters. I still like the Carpenters to this day.

Around 1983 I started my own record collection. The first records I added were through the the Columbia House mail order thing at the time. I believe the deal was 12 albums for a penny and then I had to buy 5 or 6 albums at full price within a year (anyone remember the exact details?). Columbia House was advertising this on TV at the time and I believe this marketing gimmick went into the 1990s. I believe I submitted my selections on a form I got out of a magazine. I don't actually recall all 12 of those albums, but some expanded my journey into prog:

11. Yes - 90125

12. Yes - Classic Yes

13. Genesis - Genesis (the shapes album)

14. Electric Light Orchestra - Time

15. Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages

So, that takes me to my first 15. Additional albums came through listening to local Philadelphia radio stations WMMR and WYSP in the 1980s (like the Alan Parsons Project and Rush). The bands from the 15 above were also explored backwards to their debuts. By 1990 I had about 330 LPs. I took a break from buying during my college years, but returned to buying around 1995. At first this was replacing my LPs with CDs but I started discovering newer prog bands initially through the covers compilations that Magna Carta records produced and the online Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock which existed many years before Prog Archives.

King Crimson- In The Court Of The Crimson King

Jethro Tull- War Child

Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here

Al Di Demeola- Elegant Gypsy

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer- Brain Salad Surgery

ELO- Debut 

Rush- Hemispheres

Gentile Giant- Octopus

Jeff Beck- Wired

Frank Zappa- Over-Nite Sensation

Pink Floyd- Animals

Kansas- Left Overture 

Santana- Festival

Jethro Tull- Heavy Horses