My prog picks as I followed the June countdown on Sea of Tranquility.

Sometime during the pandemic, I started the ritual of following along with the morning countdown episodes where Pete Pardo shares favorite albums of various years, and genres by decade. It airs at 8 AM central time zone, and the best part is that the community shares their own favorites in the comments. There’s some folks with pretty deep knowledge who have turned me on to some real buried treasures. It’s also the only video series I actually participate in the chat. For many it’s mainly a comforting social ritual to exchange pleasantries, with me trying to spark some nerdy music discussion topics with little luck. It is nice to virtually hang with people who have some interest in discussing music.

1. Yes – Close To The Edge (1972)
   My #1 pick is also the favorite album by David Weigel, who wrote The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock (2017). While Fragile has some of my favorite tunes, Close to the Edge is just a beautiful composition, a real work of art of a band at their pinnacle. It’s easy to joke about Jon Anderson’s hippie lyrics, but here he really does seem to break through to mystical realms. It’s probably no coincidence that I listened to this, along with the first three Black Sabbath albums and Troutmaskreplica at a young age (5-8) before I was able to understand them. They stayed in my brain, haunting my dreams and rewiring neural pathways, mapping out what music I would prefer for the rest of my life.
   
   
2. King Crimson – Red (1974)
   This album stands out in King Crimson’s catalog as their heaviest, and in many ways, their most uncompromisingly avant garde album that’s still somehow accessible. The wide range of bands that site this as an influence is amazing, from metal to indie, post-punk, noise rock, jazz-rock, post-rock and instrumental math rock. Timeless. It’s one of the favorites of Mike Barnes, who wrote one of the few major prog books, A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & The 1970s (2020).
   
   
3. Amon Düül II – Yeti (1970)
   The German Kosmische bands are generally their own category, but there’s definitely prog elements in many of them. Grown like fungus from a harry, hippie commune, the first incarnation managed one decent album in Paradieswärts Düül. However, it’s the offshoot that produced the most awe-inspiring music, starting with Phallus Dei (1969), translating to “God’s C**k.” The massive double album Yeti is even better, both heavier (lurching psychedelic guitar freakouts) and prettier (“Sandoz in the Rain”).
   
   
4. Wishbone Ash – Argus (1972)
   This got a lot of attention between Pete’s earlier pick and review of their ridiculously massive box set reissue. Anyone remember the Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, particularly Vol. 3, published in 1981? It featured a full page picture of Argus in the intro, and it reminded me of Darth Vader. It wasn’t until Iron Maiden had been regularly name-checking them that I finally heard the album in the 90s. The albums before and after are good but not exceptional blues boogie, but this one really stands out.
   
   
5. Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)
   I go back and forth on which is my favorite Floyd. I’m back to this one. Good to know they missed Syd Barrett almost as much as his fans did.
   
   
6. Yes – Fragile (1971)
   The first prog album I’d heard along with Black Sabbath at the tender age of eight. I’d put it on the backburner during college years, but like a lot of 70s favorites, worked their way back into my life. Prog was massively popular and nearly mainstream back then, but not so much in 2003, which is why I was surprised to hear “Heart of the Sunrise” in the trailer for The Brown Bunny (2003).
   
7. The Mahavishnu Orchestra – The Inner Mounting Flame (1971)
   I had to include this. McLaughlin shreds with more rock energy than many prog bands at the time.
   
   
8. T2 – It’ll All Work Out In Boomland (1970)
   This was my favorite discovery from the 2017 article in Classic Rock called “The 20 Great Lost Albums of British Rock, 1968-72” by Lee Dorian (Cathedral/Rise Above boss). He wrote:
   
   “More than just another progressive album with psychedelic tendencies, …Boomland is a straight-up classic of British rock. Everything about it (except maybe the sleeve) has a presence and mood that is enticing. Great lead vocals by drummer Peter Dunton and amazing lead guitar playing from young never-to-be guitar hero Keith Cross are mixed with heavy and softer passages layered with horns, piano and Mellotron. It’s an epic work and absolutely essential listening.”

9. Rush – Hemispheres (1978)
   This is the album that pushed Rush to the edge of physical and mental exhaustion, to the point where they decided it was time, after a “break” (two years between albums was a big deal back when bands were more productive) they would change direction. I have no problems with that, since it’s hard to imagine them improving on what they accomplished here with the epic “Cygnus X-1 Book II,” “The Trees,” and especially masterpiece “La Villa Strangiato” which I got to see on their Time Machine tour near the end of the set.
   
   
10. Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom (1974)
    Like Peter Gabriel’s solo debut and much of Pink Floyd, this leans more toward art rock than prog, but this former Soft Machine drummer’s second solo album still has plenty of ties to the Canterbury Scene, and it’s just so brilliant and original, the prog scene is better for claiming this as its own. Produced by Nick Mason, it’s intensity is fueled by the aftermath of an accidental fall that crippled Wyatt, turning him from a jolly dadaist to a sad surrealist. But there’s still humor to be found in some of his celestial lyrics, along with incredible beauty.
    
    
11. Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
    My reactions to this album were quite a rollercoaster, from trying to like it and falling asleep to it, to appreciating it as a nap album, to bristling against it being vastly overrated, to gradually appreciating the sounds more and more. I still have doubts about it’s prog credentials, but at least it’s served as a gateway for some into deeper explorations.
    
    
12. Yes – The Yes Album (1971)
    This album made the U.S. top 40, so it makes sense that this would be the band that my neighbor’s absent dad had left behind for me to discover. I just love their sound — complicated yet clean, nimble, alternatively furiously rocking and dreamy. And they were an obvious influence on favorites Rush. It was appropriate that Geddy Lee got to induct them into the R&R HoF in 2017.
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13. Blackwater Park – Dirt Box (1972)
    I discovered this when Opeth named their breakthrough album after them in 2001. It’s some high quality progressive hard rock, blues/psych/boogie from Berlin, and perhaps doesn’t deserve this high of ranking, but that’s what the thrill of new discovery does. Although it has held up in the 22 years since. I’m looking forward more to spinning this up than it’s neighbors Pink Floyd and Yes.
    
    
14. Epitaph – Outside The Law (1974)
    I originally thought of including Queen here on the strength of “The Prophet’s Song,” but since I didn’t include ELO here for their prog pop, I left them off. Instead, we have the third and best album by Germany’s Epitaph, who fuse German prog, Wishbone Ash and Lynyrd Skynyrd into a brilliant fresh style, and really deserve a fancy deluxe reissue, or at least an exhumation and long deserved attention.
    
    
15. Soft Machine – Third (1970)
    A lesser known band except for Robert Wyatt and Canterbury Prog fans, they were hugely influential in the evolution from psychedelic to prog alongside Pink Floyd and Caravan. And on this album, jazz-rock. It’s surprising how this double mostly instrumental album is more popular than their more traditional sounding psych pop, but that goes to show how adventurous audiences were in 1970, hungry for innovation.
    
    
16. Rush – A Farewell To Kings (1977)
    This album seems to get overlooked by some Rush fans, which isn’t quite fair, as it’s sound is only slightly fine-tuned on Hemispheres, and it makes 2112 sound almost primitive in comparison. Arguably their first full-on prog album, and possibly the only band in the prog world who’s creative arc is ascending rather than plateauing in 1977.
    
    
17. Yes – Going For The One (1977)
    Prog was getting a sound beating by journalists just because it was no longer in fashion when two sevens clashed, but that doesn’t mean everyone paid attention and stopped listening to prog. This is one of four albums in my top 40 from ’77. Yes were still selling out arenas, and they were still awesome. This is coming from someone who loved most of the punk that came out that year.
    
    
18. Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (1977)
    A great start to Gabriel’s groundbreaking solo career, veering into art rock, but still with some recognizably prog elements, even on the hit single “Solsbury Hill.” Lucky for fans of his work with his old band, Phil Collins sounded quite a bit like Gabriel, and put out a couple satisfying albums before winding their way into mainstream pop, the AOR yang to Gabriel’s yin.
    
    
19. Epitaph – Stop, Look And Listen (1972)
    I fell in love with this German band’s first three albums a few years back and have returned to them regularly. They remind me of a more hard rockin’ Wishbone Ash, and on this, their second album, they even start to introduce some Southern Rock elements. Contemporary bands like Texas’ Crypt Trip has cited Epitaph as an influence.
    
    
20. Heldon – Stand By (1979)
    Starting with Électronique Guerilla (1974), Richard Pinhas from Paris has been an important pioneer in fusing prog rock, space rock and progressive electronic music with modular synths. As one astute RYM contributor put it, think Karl Schulze and Fripp in space smoking a doob. Along with solo albums, his final two 70s albums, Interface (1977) and especially Stand By, saw him at a creative peak, with his most future-forward, adventurous work yet, incorporating avant-prog with Zeuhl, Berlin School electronic and even a touch of metal (or even post-metal) on the colossal 14 minute Sabbath-visits-Düsseldorf closing title track.
    
    
21. Rush – 2112 (1976)
    When Rush made the transition from struggling hard rock band with proggy tendencies about to be dropped from their label, to proto prog metal deities who ignored the corporate pressures, followed their muse and sounded like no one else, winning over a devoted audience. I daresay the demand to write “hit singles or else” have killed many bands, and if WWRD (what would Rush do) wasn’t a thing, maybe music would be better if it was.
    
    
22. Genesis – Foxtrot (1972)
    Of the most popular prog bands, I’ve enjoyed most of what Genesis did in the 70s, but I struggled to pinpoint a particular album that stood out as a clear favorite. After some recent deep listening, I settled on their fourth album as the one that holds my attention all the way through, kicking off with perhaps their best song, “Watcher of the Skies.”
    
    
23. Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts (1971)
    I don’t listen to this a lot, but it’s so intense that it’s hard not to rate this as the best instance of VDGG at their most powerful. Nothing matched this really in that territory until King Crimson’s Red.
    
    
24. Crack The Sky – Crack The Sky (1975)
    Crack The Sky were formed in Ohio, and later based in Baltimore. Their impeccably recorded fusion of art rock, prog pop and hard rock was just catchy enough to get nationwide radio play, though “Ice,” “She’s A Dancer,” and “Surf City” never became hits. With John Palumbo’s similarity of vocal tone to Peter Gabriel’s, one might have almost mistaken some tracks for Gabriel’s first post-Genesis project. Despite Rolling Stone designating their self-titled debut as album of the year, they coasted below the radar throughout their lengthy career. They somewhat strove for an AOR polish, but also steadfastly stuck to art rock experimentation that never manifested in the kind of popularity that Kansas and Styx enjoyed, nor Genesis and Gabriel. Nevertheless, their first album stands the test of time as a lost classic.
    
    
25. Jethro Tull – Thick As A Brick (1972)
    Jethro Tull and Genesis are two bands that I admire and have most of their key albums, but never truly fell in love with their material. I could still happen! This is the only album from the two that made my top 30, as it’s undeniably an important classic.
    
    
26. Van Der Graaf Generator – The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome (1977)
    What I said yesterday for Godbluff. VDGG hold their own next to the wave of punk and post-punk here, and their influence is felt in the scene.
    
    
27. Van Der Graaf Generator – Godbluff (1975)
    Malcolm McClaren was furious when Johnny Rotten served as a guest DJ on Capital Radio in 1977, because he dispelled the manufactured image that he was a slavering neanderthal, or at least a depraved speedhead. Instead, Rotten demonstrated by playing Can, Captain Beefheart, and a solo track from Van Der Graaf Generator’s Peter Hammill, that he was a cultured music snob. Luckily for McClaren, the people who read the dailies or were outraged by the Grundy appearance gave 0 f’s about what really goes on in his head, and the Sex Pistols machine rolled on. Rotten was seen later chatting with Hammill at a gig, and by the end of 1978, his new band Public Image Ltd. clearly showed the influences. I love Godbluff because in hindsight, it’s ferocity could be seen as an influence on some punk, and even more post-punk.
    
    
28. The Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds Of Fire (1973)
    I already had my list made when Pete mentioned excluding jazz fusion, but I feel they deserve a mention in a prog list, as they are massive influence in delving into Asian classical music, expanding the global palate for other bands in the future. And the unmatched virtuosic ferocity! Birds of Fire, igniting a scene that some were already, unfairly, considering bloated and out of touch.
    
    
29. King Crimson – Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (1973)
    A college roommate had most of the King Crimson albums, but he also had way too much Zappa, so I was suspicious of his tastes. It took a couple more years before I properly dove into the world of King Crimson after first going through a Henry Cow/Art Bears/Fred Frith phase. How are those related? Prog adjacent challenging music with avant garde credentials. I learned that I liked pretty much everything Robert Fripp was involved with through the 80s.
    
    
30. Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans (1973)
    Despite Yes being the first prog band I heard at a young age, I was more about Queen, Cheap Trick, Styx and ELO, which were suitably age appropriate. After discovering Rush (at the ripe old age of 11), I read that Yes were an influence on them early on, but Tales was often used as a cautionary tale of prog gone wrong, off the rails, the epitome of pretentious self-indulgence along with ELP. Whatever man, it may be partly those things, but it’s still also awesome!

Bubbling Under

Rush – Fly By Night (1975)
My list is going to include a lot of prog hybrids, as I was a fan of only a couple of the pure prog bands. When I was around 11-12, I circled back to 1975 and bought albums from that year by Queen, ELO, Led Zeppelin and Rush, who were starting to get proggy but were still more of a hard rock band. Definitely my favorite of that batch at the time, their progression in hindsight is a pretty fun creative arc to track.

1. Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (WB, 1973) | UK
2. Yes – Close To The Edge (Atlantic, 1972) | UK
3. Black Sabbath – Sabotage (WB, 1975) | UK
4. King Crimson – Red (Atlantic, 1974) | UK
5. Amon Düül II – Yeti (Liberty/Revisited, 1970) | Germany
6. Wishbone Ash – Argus (MCA, 1972) | UK
7. Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (Capitol, 1975) | UK
8. Yes – Fragile (Atlantic, 1971) | UK
9. The Mahavishnu Orchestra – The Inner Mounting Flame (Columbia, 1971) | USA
10. T2 – It’ll All Work Out In Boomland (Decca/Lion, 1970) | UK
11. Rush – Hemispheres (Mercury, 1978) | Canada
12. Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom (Thirsty Ear, 1974) | UK
13. Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon (Harvest, 1973) | UK
14. Yes – The Yes Album (Atlantic, 1971) | UK
15. Rush – A Farewell To Kings (Mercury, 1977) | Canada
16. Traffic – John Barleycorn Must Die (Island, 1970) | UK
17. Blackwater Park – Dirt Box (BASF/Second Battle, 1971) | Germany
18. Epitaph – Outside The Law (Polydor, 1974) | Germany
19. Soft Machine – Third (CBS, 1970) | UK
20. Rush – 2112 (Mercury, 1976) | Canada
21. Budgie – Never Turn Your Back On A Friend (MCA, 1973) | UK
22. Uriah Heep – Look At Yourself (Mercury/Sanctuary, 1971) | UK
23. Uriah Heep – Demons And Wizards (Mercury, 1972) | UK
24. Peter Hammill – The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage (Charisma, 1974) | UK
25. Budgie – In For The Kill! (MCA, 1974) | UK
26. Yes – Going For The One (Atlantic, 1977) | UK
27. Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel (Mercury, 1977) | UK | Bandcamp
28. Rush – Fly By Night (Mercury, 1975) | Canada
29. Peter Hammill – Nadir’s Big Chance (Blue Plate, 1975) | UK
30. Budgie – Budgie (MCA/Roadracer, 1971) | UK
31. Epitaph – Stop, Look And Listen (Polydor, 1972) | Germany
32. Supertramp – Crime of the Century (A&M, 1974) | UK
33. Jade Warrior – Floating World (Island, 1974) | UK
34. Yes – Relayer (Atlantic, 1974) | UK
35. Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (Atlantic, 1974) | UK
36. Heldon – Stand By (Cunneiform/Rune, 1979) | France | Bandcamp
37. Genesis – Foxtrot (Atlantic, 1972) | UK
38. Van Der Graaf Generator – Pawn Hearts (Charisma/Caroline, 1971) | UK
39. Crack The Sky – Crack The Sky (Lifesong, 1975) | USA
40. Genesis – Selling England By The Pound (Atlantic, 1973) | UK
41. Jethro Tull – Thick As A Brick (Chrysalis, 1972) | UK
42. Van Der Graaf Generator – The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome (Charisma/Blue Plate, 1977) | UK
43. Van Der Graaf Generator – Godbluff (Charisma/Blue Plate, 1975) | UK
44. The Mahavishnu Orchestra – Birds Of Fire (Columbia, 1973) | USA
45. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – The Impossible Dream (Mercury, 1974) | UK
46. King Crimson – Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (Atlantic, 1973) | UK
47. Yes – Tales From Topographic Oceans (Atlantic, 1973) | UK
48. Strawbs – Hero And Heroine (A&M, 1974) | UK
49. Heldon – Interface (Cuneiform/Rune, 1978) | France | Bandcamp
50. Roy Harper – HQ (Science Friction, 1975) | Ireland

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