Best Prog Rock?

[Btbp]

I had mentioned in a previous post that Prog Archives - Invalid Link Removed - was an an excellent resource for all information regarding just about any Prog band you could possibly think of. After doing so I decided to do a rundown of each band listed in the poll to find out how each was categorized. Here are the results:

Rush - Heavy Prog

Pink Floyd - Psychedelic/Space Rock

Genesis - Symphonic Prog

King Crimson - Eclectic Prog

Tool - Experimental/Post Metal

Dream Theatre - Progressive Metal

ELP - Symphonic Prog

ELO - Crossover Prog

Yes - Symphonic Prog

Incidentally, I looked up Steely Dan to see how they might be categorized due to the respect they garner from the advanced musical tastes of most Prog fans, and they were categorized as Jazz Rock/Fusion which I think is reasonable. So look up all of you favorite Prog and Prog related bands and see what everybody else thinks about them.

Also, for all of you Mellotron fans out there, here is another fun site for you: Planet Mellotron

Firstly, good about those sub-genre breakdowns, and secondly, cool site! New one to me, and at a first glance, I like what I see so far, for example, a good review on my favorite Mahogany Rush album Planet Mellotron Album Reviews: M3

I saw Magma in there too.....

 

[matthewbrown]

always worth a post in a Prog thread:

Invalid Link Removed

I have to point out that "flute solo" has meaning outside of prog, despite what this article asserts. Marshall Tucker featured a flute solo, and plenty of Tull wasn't prog (although give them props for getting a tune with 5/4 meter on the pop charts).

 

[projectapollo]

Or Camel! What about Camel?

My thoughts, exactly.

 

[Basshappi]

I'm liking the fact that some folks are taking me to task for my list. That shows passion for the genre. I too am fallible, so let's refer to those not listed as "honorable mentions" as others have expressed in this thread.

Try not to think of it so much as "taking you to task" as the enthusiastic and well-intentioned desire to reveal to the nascent fan the true depth and breath of Progressive Rock!

 

[Dabndug]

King Crimson is actually at least four radically different bands, three of which would have a claim to the title.

My pick would be the John Wetton era KC, with the early Adrian Belew and Greg Lake eras close behind.

 

[projectapollo]

I'd classify Genesis as prog pop.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, prog-pop?

 

[lordradish]

Who?

Someone needs to learn about non-classic rock prog.

 

[projectapollo]

I've been going back and forth between the greatest Prog album of all time, It's either Close to the Edge or Dark Side of the Moon. Currently, it's DSOTM, because it's a bit more accessible. But I could just as easily pick CTTE.

Yes, Relayer is height of prog-rock to me. CTTE, And You & I, is up there too.

 

[lordradish]

We're not talking about personal favorites here. We're talking about the best.

Right, and some of those ones you don't know about certainly contend for that. Gentle Giant was way more cutting edge and prog than most of these bands, in terms of sheer pushing the envelope.

 

[lordradish]

This^
That you didn’t know any band on my list, yet include ELO in your poll, speaks volumes. I would understand that you included Dream
Theater and Tool to not be stuck in just the classic era, but then, where is Marillion, Porcupine Tree, Mars Volta...Spock’s Beard, even? When exactly was this first vote, and who determined it? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that anyone’s ‘best’ be a favorite?

And why would ELO be on there, at all?

 

[lordradish]

Yes, Relayer is height of prog-rock to me. CTTE, And You & I, is up there too.

CTTE makes for the best repeated listenings, IMO. Relayer used to be my fave, but Sound Chaser just wears me out, now.

 

[Basshappi]

Yes, Relayer is height of prog-rock to me. CTTE, And You & I, is up there too.

I truly believe that The Gates of Delirium is one of the greatest pieces of music of the 20th century. The symphonic version is the ultimate performance of it.

 

[ChrisBowsman]

Primus is my favorite... Alt Prog(?) band.

 

[lordradish]

But don't forget, most chicks weren't into prog rock. No love songs. Lots of prog rock aficionados back in the day were A/V crew guys (like me) and just weren't as popular with the ladies as we wished. Looking back, prog rock was probably the main culprit...

Going to a prog rock concert still looks like a celibate-middle-aged dude convention.

 

[lordradish]

But Kansas isn’t prog.

A lot of that American stuff like Kansas and Styx was wannabe-prog. It just had this layer of cheese on it that couldn't click with me.

 

[lordradish]

I'd classify Tool as prog metal and Genesis as prog pop.

Pre 1980 Genesis ain't really pop.

 

[lordradish]

Prog is similar to pornography.




You may not be able to define it, but you know it when you hear it.

Yeah, but a lot of women dig pornography, so, no.

 

[projectapollo]

Having come of age in 1975, I was very much into pro-rock. I'll vote Genesis' The Land Lies Down on Broadway, Yes' Relayer, Camel's Nude, Kansas's Masque, Peter Gabriel's Security, Gentel Giant's Power and the Glory as the best of the classics. King Crimson's Discipline was great and put an exclamation point on that era.

In 1979, I received an assistant engineer credit on an A&M records release working with Ray Shulman (producer) from Gentle Giant. That was cool for a 21 year old recording engineer from Pittsburgh and GG fan. The head engineer on the project went on to record Rush's Moving Pictures Tom Sawyer record in Montreal.

The above is a vote not a proclamation for all those reading this thread with their hair on fire that a best can never be proclaimed or the categories are not right or whatever fun-crushing complaint that comes up.

Fast forward and its Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson (formerly of Purcupine Tree) EVERY DAY.
In the prog-metal area, no one has mentioned Hakken. The bass and drums in Hakken are mind-blowing locked in and complex and tasty.

 

[lordradish]

Of that list, Pink Floyd, with the conditions being: 1) I don't like prog rock, 2) the earlier the Floyd, the better, 3) I don't consider them a hardcore, or pure prog rock band...which is probably why they are my pick here, and 4) even though they are considered a prog rock band, the stuff I like the most of theirs is their least "proggy" stuff.

Starting with The Dark Side of the Moon, their albums start getting pretty bad to me. I don't like them at all past Wish You Were Here. To me, there is a slow and steady decline from the first note of their first album, all the way through their career. They're one of those bands. Yes, you know them. The ones who did not at any time get better from one album to the next – only worse. Same with Jethro Tull. Same with Iron Maiden. The Ramones. The list could go on.

Most of those other bands are near-total sonic garbage to me. Prog rock is really the pits of rock to me. It's too damned adult, mature, well behaved, self-serious, [largely] humorless, etc. And it's funny in that while it was deliberately trying to push boundaries and change music – to be liberal and progressive – it actually comes off as extremely conservative and middle-of-the-road compared to earlier forms of rock music. I'd rather hear hair metal (which I absolutely despise, and which drives me up the wall if I have to hear it).

That said, I dig some King Crimson, and a little bit of ELP, though. And I can tolerate Rush's first album. (And I like The Move, which is the roots of ELO).

I disagree with all of this, but damn, well-said.

 

[Jim622]

Though they are great musicians, I never considered Rush progressive rock. To be truthful I never truly considered Rush for much at all. Just never connected.

ELO I would say was progressive for the instruments used, but not the music.