Halfvalue.com : 25 Essential Prog Albums by 25 Essential Prog Bands

Rick Fonte "Prog Completist" (Austin, TX)
Qualifications: Prog Archivist and Completist

Selling England By The Pound by Genesis
$10.98 Used & New from: $7.01
The Peter Gabriel era reaches its artist fullfillment on this album. Moonlight Knight is one of their best epics, Wardrobe their best single, and More Fool Me a picture of what's ahead under Phil.

Going for the One by Yes
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Not the most obvious choice but features their best all out rocker (title), their best epic (awaken) and their best single (stories) - Besides everyone already has Fragile.

Brain Salad Surgery by Emerson Lake & Palmer
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No brainer. Karn Evil #9 is the most successful ELP track ever with each member adding to it, "Still" probably their best single, "Jerusalem" a fine example of classical reworking, "Benny" for fun

In The Court Of The Crimson King: 30th Anniversary Edition by King Crimson
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Its hard to think of KC as one band instead of three - but this is the album that influenced everything else on this list.

Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd
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Their last great PROG album before Waters essentially coopted the band. An elobarate full-length theme album (preferred over concept album). Great singles, Crazy Diamond amazing epic.

H to He, Who Am the Only One by Van Der Graaf Generator
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Most underrated band in PROG rock. Fripp guests. Lyrically one of the most intriguing bands ever. Not for the faint of ears ... the next logical step from KC's dissonance explosion.

For Your Pleasure by Roxy Music
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Ferry and Eno - the birth of new wave? Pop Dissonance. If you ? Roxy, check out "Every Dream Home" - breathtaking

If I Could Do It All Over Again I'd Do It All Over You by Caravan
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The best of the so-called 'canterbury' school, more jazzy and more humorous. Amazing time-signiture dexterity (title, Hello) and their best epic (inappropriately named "Can't Be Long...")

Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull
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One song - the best of all epics. Try to find the original LP so you can better enjoy the brillant packaging. They had bigger hits before and after but this album is THE Tull statement on prog.

Mirage by Camel
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Hard to pick something other than SNOW GOOSE - but this album is heavier and has vocals and is a better example of what Camel was - the best symphonic prog (i.e. Genesis, Yes, Elo) that never broke.

Face the Music by E.L.O.
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Some of their strongest singles (Strange Magic, Evil Woman) with state of the art production values - is it Prog ? Come on, listen to Fire On High and bow before Mr. Lynne.

Vols. 1 & 2 by Soft Machine
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Some prefer later Softs but I like the vocals... besides its all here in its infancy anyway. Canterbury Jazz, huge underground act. This is two albums so I guess I'll be fair and go with vol 1.

Octopus by Gentle Giant
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Think Tull's "Songs from the Wood" multiplied like ten times and you have the complex harmony of KNOTS. Their triumph, and, probably least commercially viable album.

Zenyatta Mondatta [Digipak] by Police, The
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The obvious end result of canterbury jazz and roxy music pop ... is it PROG? I think so. Behind My Camel is far more proggy than anything on ELP's LOVE BEACH from the same year.

Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh by Magma
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French dissonant operatic explosion, sing in a made up language - it has to be heard to believe. Live recordings of this piece are even more amazing

Queen II by Queen
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They obviously had bigger albums but this, with Rush, is the birth of Art Metal or Art Glam Metal, whatever. Check out Ogre Battle and White Queen... might be a concept album but only Freddy knows

Misplaced Childhood by Marillion
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Neo-prog gets a bad name. Open your mind with album. Probably the best example of what Genesis would have sounded like in the 80's if Gabriel had stayed.

Joe's Garage: Acts I, II & III by Zappa, Frank
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It's hard to pick one specific Zappa album, so I'll go with this and songs like "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee" and be done with it. The only true US prog? Discuss.

In Search of the Lost Chord by Moody Blues, The
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It's sad to see one of the bands that got me into prog slip this far but... Standout album, one of their most lyrically interesting and musically complex. Reexamine how prog got started. I will too.

You (Radio Gnome Invisible, Pt. 3) by Gong
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Wanna witness the birth of Trance music? This band shares roots with Caravan, Soft Machine, Camel but their sound is 100% Gong. The first 5 seconds of this still make me laugh out loud.

2112 by Rush
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Hasn't aged a day. Their peak before an endless 30 year decline. You probably own it already but this list would not be complete w/o it and putting Farewell to Kings on instead is silly..

Even in the Quietest Moments by Supertramp
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But I'll go obscure with this one. The kings of Prog Pop. Production and Songwriting masterpiece. Some of their most adventurous music.

Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Alan Parsons Project
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Producer's dream project - the first APP album features an all star cast (Orson Welles, Arthur Brown) amazing arrangements, catchy creepy songs and enough bombast to kick your eye into the sky.

Ashes Are Burning by Haslam, Annie
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Probably the best outing from this symphonic prog group - indian and russian influences +female singer make this a different mix than most prog - amazing melodic bass

Live by Curved Air
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I didn't mean to relegate the women to end of the list, really. And I know a live selection is questionable but this is the way to hear this band. p.s. Stewart Copeland (of the police)a later member

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