Best progressive rock album side

WAY too many great ones, among many subgenres to decide on just a few.

So, I will break it down by subgenre.

Also, let me state from the get go, that I am always saddened to see lists like these on various forums, with the complete lack of Italian bands listed. IMO, some of the best prog ever, came from Italy.

Classic prog:

Yes - toss up between Close to the Edge or Relayer, side 1

King Crimson - Lark’s Tongue in Aspic side 1, but this is close to a toss up with side 2

PFM - Per un Amico side 1

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Io Sono Nato Libero side 1

Genesis - Selling England side 1

Canterbury:

National Health - Of Queues and Cures side 1

Hatfield and the North - The Rotters Club side 2

Picchio dal Pozzo - S/T side 2 by a hair

Zeuhl:

Magma - Köhntarkösz Anteria it was released on CD, so there are no sides

Eskaton - 4 Visions side 1

Setna - Guerison CD only, no sides

Koenji Hyakkei - Viva Koenji Cd only, no sides

Avant-prog:

Thinking Plague - In Extremis CD only, no sides

Univers Zero - Uzed side 2

Art Zoyd - Berlin side 1

Henry Cow - Western Culture, side 2

Samla Mammas Manna - Måltid, side 1

Prog-metal:

Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane, CD only, no sides

The Contortionist - Language, CD only

Wolverine - The Window’s Purpose, CD only

I could name quite a few more per subgenre, and even though I did list mostly recordings from the 70’s, I could name quite a few bands from the last couple of decades that I believe are close to those of the 70’s.

Bands like: Anglagard (Sweden), Deus Ex Machina (Italy), Echolyn (USA), All Traps on Earth (Sweden), Aranis (Belgium), Il Tempio Delle Clessidre (Italy), and quite a few more have recordings that I place near the best.

This is mostly pretentious crap by second rate musicians.  I didn't even like most of it when I was young.

This thread should be changed to 'which are the most over-rated prog rock discs'.

Let me start.  #1  All of Genesis   #2 Most of Yes     #3  Some of Pink Floyd

Coming from someone who is obviously only familiar with the best known prog from the UK in the 70's. 

Obviously is ignorant to how many different directions prog has gone since 1974.

2nd rate compared to who? The vast majority of prog musicians are substantially better than almost all mainstream rock musicians. 

Probably the only musicians that are better than prog musicians, are jazz and classical. But, depending on the musicians in question, that could be debatable, since many jazz and classical musicians also play in prog bands . 

And then there is the entire subgenre of avant-prog, where almost every band within this subgenre has multiple members that are grads from classical conservatories, many of whom play in orchestras and chamber ensembles, along with their avant-prog gigs.

@clearthinker

It’s my privilege not to enjoy much of this which is pretentious twaddle.

By the way Dr Sardonicus is not prog rock and I do like it.

Well, that’s great, since the vast majority of prog is not pretentious, nor is it twaddle.

Spirit - Dr. Sardonicus is categorized as progressive rock, and a crossover with prog and psych, by just about every music site out there. Wikipedia only has it listed as prog. But none of their other recordings are. Something must be different about this record... Wonder what it could be?

I get it, you don’t like the limited bands you think of as prog, but since you do like Dr. Sardonicus, it just couldn't be prog. Your confirmation bias would not allow that.

Sorry that your knowledge of prog is so limited, that it only allows a very small percentage of music designated as prog through your filter. And thus, by default, anything that does not quite fit your narrow view, cannot be prog.

Well, isn’t that convenient?

Once again, there are many subgenres of prog, most of which sound nothing like Yes, Genesis, ELP, or any of he other few bands you allow by your filter..

 

 

@ricmci

Wow, this thread turned out way better than I expected it to. Some great recommendations to search for. I much more enjoy searching in record stores than ordering on line. Many mentioned, I already have. I think of those listed that I don’t have, I am going to start looking for Renaissance, Porcupine Tree, The Pineapple Thief, Godley & Creme, and the Marilyn Manson suggestions. They might be obtainable locally. Thanks again for the great posts.

Please do yourself a favor, and DON’T ignore the Italian bands!

Some of the best prog ever, came from (and still does) Italy.

PFM - Storia di un Minuto, Per un Amico, and L’isola di niente are as good musically as any of the better known Brits.

Same with, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - S/T, Darwin!, Io Sono Nato Libero

Plenty of others are right up there, too.

Il Balletto di Bronzo - YS / This is considered an acquired taste, due to being a bit dark and intense, but it is also brilliant. With a keyboardist as good as any of the Brits.

Museo Rosenbach - Zarathustra

Arti e Mestieri - Tilt / This is an incredible album, that kind of straddles the line between beautiful prog and fusion.

Le Orme - Uomo do Pezza, and Felona e Sorona

As much as I like Porcupine Tree and Pineapple Thief, for my tastes, they are a bit ’watered down’, maybe a bit too close to the mainstream for my tastes. I like Steve Wilson’s first 3 albums (Grace for Drowning, The Raven That Refused to Sing, Hand Cannot Erase) better then any Porcupine Tree albums.

For modern bands, check out:

Riverside (Poland)

All Traps on Earth (Sweden) Only 1 album, but it’s pretty amazing.

Echolyn (USA) I like their earlier stuff (Suffocating the Bloom, As The World) than their later stuff. Great complex vocal harmonies, quite complex, world class musicianship.

After Crying (Hungary) Kind of chamber-prog sort of stuff, with amazing melodies and musicianship.

Anglagard (Sweden) Uncompromising, full on prog, with some Genesis, Gentle Giant and King Crimson influence. Quite complex, lots of dynamic contrasts, lots of changes. Despite the 70’s influences, they make it sound fresh. This is the band most often credited with beginning the 2nd golden age of prog, beginning in the early 90's.

Anekdoten (Sweden) Began life in the 90’s a King Crimson cover band, so their first 2 releases are in that vein. But then they went in their own direction. Went a bit in ambient-prog direction for a while, but their latest from 2015, Until All Ghosts are Gone, is more intense.

Deus ex Machina (Italy) One of the best Italian bands from the more recent era. Ridiculous musicianship. The lead vocalist has a 5 octave range, and great intonation, but can be a bit of an acquired taste. They also can lean a bit toward the avant-garde side every once in a while, so, YMMV. But they are not trying to pander to the mainstream side of prog. Just pure, no holds bared, prog.

Have you ever checked out the site: Gnosis2000

Great site for searching out great prog by year.

@kacomess 

I’m not sure how "progressive rock" is defined.

So, I am going to be 'that guy', and bring up the "what is prog" discussion.

For me, prog, is not a style of music (it's barely a genre), in the same way country, blues, punk, etc are.

Prog has more to do with the structure of the music, than any sort of surface veneer and style the music may have.

One could play just a few example songs of the above genres (country, punk, blues), and get a pretty good idea about how the majority of the rest of the genre sounds. Sure, there are differences between interpretations, but at their core, they have their attributes that define them. Blues for example, has to be in minor pentatonic scales, or it is no longer blues. 

But what could someone nail down about how prog sounds, by playing something from: Yes, Gentle Giant, National Health, Magma, Univers Zero, Can, Area, Pain of Salvation, Anglagard, Samla Mammas Manna, Bruford, Gong, Il Balletto di Bronzo, Henry Cow, etc?

These bands, literally sound almost nothing like each other. 

The thing that defines all the above bands as prog, for me, are all or most of the following attributes, in no particular order: a very high level of musicianship, complexity (chord progressions, time signatures, arrangements, syncopation, etc), deep and broad levels of emotional content, (sometimes) long format pieces, nonstandard song format, avoidance of verse>chorus>bridge song format, avoidance of catchy hooks, influences from disparate types of music (classical, jazz, folk, Eastern), sometimes use of dissonance.  

There is no specific sound a band has to have to be prog, but there are certain other attributes (those above), a band has to have to be prog.

For example, the modern technical-metal bands, Cynic, Tesseract, The Contortionist, sound almost nothing like prog bands from the 70's, but they are certainly prog. Ridiculously high level of musicianship, very complex, very emotional, nonstandard song formats, jazz-fusion influences, are all there.

 

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@sns 

By the way, I'm a boomer NOT solely dedicated to reminiscing. I regularly stream music from virtually all genres and eras, prog rock stands up over time as legitimate genre. Some great musicianship, composition and explorations, certainly there can be excess, but what genre doesn't have it's filler.

I am also a boomer, but my tastes in music have never stopped evolving.

The vast majority of people have their tastes in music set by their early 30's. Most people have a large nostalgia component in the music they listen to. As you mention about reminiscing, many people seem to want the music they listen to, to be music that was part of the 'soundtrack' of their youth.

Music tastes stop at age 30

The things I like in music are, most or all of the following* (no particular order): high level of musicianship, complexity, deep and broad range of emotional and/or intellectual content, avoidance of verse>chorus>bridge song format, (usually) extended song structure, avoidance of an obvious 'hook'.

Within those attributes, I am pretty genre agnostic, so to speak. As long as music has all or most of those attributes, I will most likely enjoy it.

Since I enjoy music with these attributes, more than any particular 'style' of music, I was able to get into prog-metal and technical-metal in my 50's, despite not really being a metal fan previously. 

I was also able to get into modern classical music in my 50's, despite not being much of a classical fan previously.

All the following have all or most of those attributes, and are the genres and subgenres I listen to. Prog and most of its subgenres (avant-prog, Zeuhl, Canterbury, classic prog, prog-metal, technical-metal), jazz and many of its subgenres (post-bop, fusion, avant-garde, M-Base, chamber-jazz), and classical (avant-garde, serial, modernism, contemporary).

Yes, I still listen to plenty of prog from the 70's, but it is not about reminiscing or nostalgia for me. Either the music holds up on its own merit, or it doesn't. But I also listen to plenty of recent prog as frequently as the 70's stuff.

*it's not as if I consciously chose to only like music with these attributes, I just noticed at one point, that music that did not fit them, was uninteresting to me