There are certain albums every prog rock fan should have in their collection. If you don’t have any of these, I would recommend a trip to the record store to get them immediately.
10. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
Not just an album essential for proggers, but for music fans and audiophiles in general. This isn’t an album about blistering fast licks, but rather creating an atmosphere and taking the listener out of real life for 43 spectacular minutes. The songwriting is impeccable and the sound of this album is absolutely top notch, not to mention the cover art is one of the finest pieces of album art in music history.
9. 2112 – Rush
This is another record that belongs in the collections of more than just prog fanatics. This is, at its heart, a classic hard rock record done with progressive sensibilities and featuring an extended piece. If you have to own one Rush album, this is the one (though you should go out and get Grace Under Pressure and Hemispheres as well). This is an essential album for guitarists especially, as their role is occasionally downplayed in prog, while hear the guitar stands proudly front and center.
8. Birds of Fire – Mahavishnu Orchestra
Sometimes called a jazz fusion album, this record owes as much to Jimi Hendrix as it does to Miles Davis. This is possibly the greatest combination of the improvisation and tonal sensibilities of jazz with the raw aggression and energy of rock. This album is full of face-melting solos on guitar and violin, but also gentle and melodic moments. One gets a sense of Mclaughlin’s spiritual experiences that went into making this album. This band is the logical follow-up to Miles’ electric period albums (specifically Jack Johnson, on which Mcglaughlin was featured heavily) and also gives an idea of what Jimi Hendrix might have sounded like if he had lived to venture into prog, as he had intended.
7. Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
The first ELP album still stands out to me as their finest. Sure it’s a bit overindulgent at times, but it boasts some splendid songs, from the beautiful and lengthy “Take a Pebble” to the catchy little pop “Lucky Man”. Keith Emerson and Greg Lake turn is some impressive performances and Carl Palmer sure tries his darnedest not to be as bad as he usually is behind the drum kit. This album should satisfy your fix for rocked-out versions of classical pieces, as it shamelessly steals Bartok’s Allegro Barbaro (“The Barbarian”) and Bach’s French Suite in D Minor (the middle section of “Knife Edge”) in true ELP style. They should have given some credit to the composers, but the music still stands strong with these creative arrangements.
6. Roxy and Elsewhere – Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention
Roxy may very well be the finest live album of all time. The songs do not come from studio albums, as is the case with most live records, but after hearing these recordings, you’ll know exactly why they didn’t need to be redone in the studio; they’re that good. The band is easily Zappa’s strongest, and they certainly strut their musical stuff through Zappa’s trademark convoluted musical passages. The songs on this album are all hilarious and the energy of the band is palpable. Even Frank’s little blurbs of speaking to the audience are funny – I would never dream of skipping over his story of a menacing inverted ice-cream cone! This album always comes through when you simultaneously need a laugh and motivation to practice harder.
5. Romantic Warrior – Return to Forever
If anyone tells you that this is just a jazz album and not a prog album, they’re wrong. This is what happens when the best jazz players in the world decide it would be fun to do a progressive rock album. Headed by Chick Corea, this lineup of virtuoso musicians puts the rock players of the world to shame with the performances on this record. It’s energetic, groovy, bombastic, sensitive and has more blistering fast chops than any prog metal player could even imagine.
4. Thick as a Brick – Jethro Tull
This album is actually a parody of prog rock and concept albums, conceived by Ian Anderson after people lumped Aqualung into the concept album category. His response was to create the “mother of all concept albums” and to spoof bands like ELP and Yes with the humorous intent of Monty Python. He succeeded. Thick as a Brick boasts a single nearly 45 minute track that shows off the compositional brilliance needed to appropriately mock the great prog bands. The writing is superb, even if the story’s a bit dodgy, and, in departure from previous records, the sound of this album is absolutely top notch.
3. Selling England by the Pound – Genesis
If nothing else, you at least have to appreciate the brilliant pun that titles this album. Genesis fans often point to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as their finest work, but I disagree. This album is more concise, sonically superior and I believe boasts a better set of songs. “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight” is not just one of the strongest Genesis songs ever written, but one of the strongest songs ever written. The lyrics on that track – as well as the rest of the album – are deep and riveting, and Peter Gabriel’s voice is emotional and captivating. This is poetry. The songs are rich and textured and the listener can really appreciate the care that went into making this album.
2. Fragile – Yes
Whenever I’m asked to cover a song off of Fragile, my first response is to reject the idea, telling the band the harsh truth that it will never sound as good as the brilliant recordings on this album. This album features a set of classic prog pieces interspersed by individual pieces by each band member, four of which are brilliant. Bruford’s “Five Percent for Nothing” is really quite stupid, but it’s a good laugh and over after 38 seconds anyway. This is one of those gold-standard albums for prog rock. If you’re getting a CD, make sure to get one with “America” as a bonus track, because that track makes this amazing album even better.
1. In the Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson
This album IS progressive rock.
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