Best progressive rock album side

One person mentions “modern bands”.

As for the rest, they prove that “audiophiles” are dudes in their 60s or 70s who believe that music peaked 40 years ago on major labels. Or are they stick bass players who think that Tony Levin is the height of taste and skill?

How many hZ/kHz of hearing have they lost? Did they ever have taste?

If I was 25 and interested in audio, I’d just buy a soundbar and stream Spotify from my phone after reading this thread.

Aren’t 90% of copies of Brothers In Arms owned by people who like good recordings more than they like good music?

Bye. 

@larshepping - Considering how many millions of copies 'Brothers In Arms' sold, I would say the answer to your last question is a distinct 'No'. 

I'm 70 and I've always liked to try to keep up with contemporary music. Some I like, some I don't, just like any other decade you'd care to name. What's 'good' or not depends on tastes, and mine differ quite a bit from most in my demographic..... 

Humble Pie

I'm sitting here listening to side 2 (of 4) of "Focus 3" and remembered this thread... Not saying it's the "best" side from any prog album, but it's pretty darn good.

Focus - "Focus 3" - Side 2

"Focus III"

"Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!"

Has anyone already nominated Procol Harum's "In Held Twas In I", the 5-piece suite filling almost all of side 2 of their Shine On Brightly album?

Can't believe no one's mentioned Soft Machine, Barclay James Harvest or Incredible String Band, all three progenitors of this genre. Barclay James Harvest was coincidently was first or one of first bands signed to Harvest Records, home of many early prog bands, I have multi volume vinyl and cd compilation of bands signed to  this label purchased many years ago.

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.

@bdp24 - Sure did!! Awesome piece of music. Used to know this guy who would play the entire thing on a saloon piano at a brewpub..... 

@larsman: Procol Harum’s first three albums include the contributions and influences of organist Matthew Fisher, whose musical education greatly informed the groups music (his organ part in "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" is well-known to have been copped from the J.S. Bach composition "Orchestral Suite No.3"). His departure after the A Salty Dog album resulted in them becoming imo basically just another English blues-based band, with guitarist Robin Trower moving from a supporting role to the focus of the group's style---guitar riffs instead of great chord progressions and melodies.

I didn’t see and hear Procol Harum live until after Matthews departure, on the tour in support of their Home album. Though they were still a very good band (particularly drummer B.J. Wilson), they played mostly songs from the Home album, which I did not at all care for. But soon after leaving the group Matthew made two albums (the first for RCA Records, the second A & M), which I quite liked (still do). Though Matthew is not nearly the singer Gary Brooker was (R.I.P.), I liked his new songs much more than those of Brooker.

@bdp24 - I was a huge fan of Procol Harum right up until 'Grand Hotel'. My favorite P.H. album was 'Home', and my opinion is quite different from your's on that matter, as I don't think they ever sounded like 'just another English blues-based band'! 😀 I wish I would have seen them on that tour that you did....

But differing opinions are good, and so sad about Gary Brooker, such a fantastic singer and music songwriter....

Oh @larsman, you’re quite right about PH not sounding "just like" any of the other English Blues-based bands; they couldn’t with Gary Brooker singing! My feeling is that they became "just another" English Blues-based band. Perhaps too fine a distinction?

At any rate, I knew several other early PF fans who, like you, liked the Home album just as much as the first three. It’s not the first time I’ve disagreed with someone about a musical matter ;-) . My favorite Fleetwood Mac album is Kiln House, for instance. I know a guy whose favorite album of theirs is Tusk, an opinion shared by few!

@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

@sns I think I remember listing Bundles.  I’ll go back and check.  

There are a lot of late British Invasion bands mentioned in the second/third pages of this thread that I just did not enjoy.  I gave good listens to Humble Pie, the Soft Machine, the Incredible String Band, and Procol Harum. I even saw several of them in concert, mostly as the opening bands for more major acts. I found the bands overwrought and under-inspired. On the other hand, I truly enjoyed the Hollies. Their harmonies may have been Beatle-esque but they did 'em one better.

@spiritofradio Yes, you did mention Bundles per Soft Machine.

Some of the entries I'd not considered as prog rock prior to looking up definition of the genre. Far wider based than I thought based on these various definitions.

As for prog rock bands live. I saw any number back in the day, yes, many didn't live up to studio recordings. The major issue as I saw it was inability of technology as it then existed, to replicate studio sound. Melotron notoriously difficult to set up, keep in tune. And then, recall these were mostly pretty extensive studio productions, pretty difficult to replicate live back in the day. One can't judge these bands by live performance only, production values very important component of the music. For some, highly engineered and heavy handed production are the antithesis of good music, for me perfectly acceptable for this genre. Doing the same thing to straight rock, blues based rock or other genres ruins it for me.

Some genres benefit from direct raw emotion no frills recording allows, not the same for prog rock. For me, prog rock entices through manufactured soundscapes for the aural senses,  and mind journeys that invite introspection and thought. Rather like classical and various forms of jazz in inviting the mind journeys. Hearing some Art Blakey and/or Glenn Gould  juxtaposed to the right prog rock makes for a nice listening session in my book.

Eloy Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes !

I don’t know if this qualifies, they came after the period that I associate with prog rock (late 60s-70s), and they are in fact associated with another genre, but:

Scraping Fetus Off the Wheel:

- Nail

- Hole

Great thread! Lots of stuff to research. 

Seems the tag “progressive” means something different to most of us. 

One that hasn’t been mentioned yet that I really enjoy is Klaatu self-titled. Side A if I had to pick one.

Some believed Klaatu were actually the Beatles.