Best progressive rock album side
My intent is to seek albums which I may not own from the recommendations of you all. I ranked best sides of progressive rock albums on vinyl that I own and came up with the following list. I don't want it to undermine anything else that an artist has created. I love it all but as far as start to finish on one side this is what I came up with.
#1: Supper's Ready
#2: Terrapin Station
#3: Atom Heart Mother
#4 The Court of the King Crimson
#5 Echoes
Of course there are many more. Some may not be complete sides like Atom Heart Mother but the intent of the artisan was to make it a complete side. I had a very hard time deciding between #1 and #2. Both are very worthy in my mind.
@kacomess - somebody else who knows 'Pearls Before Swine'! I don't think I'd call them prog as much as Tom Rapp seemed more like the more surrealistic Dylan stuff. Their first album, 'One Nation Underground', is also excellent... I'm a big fan of Caravan and the whole Canterbury scene as well... Actually got to see them in Berkeley in the late 70's.... Zappa's early stuff on Verve is by far my favorite of his... |
I know it's a digression, but since you mentioned Zappa/Verve, the unnerving prescience of "Trouble Coming Every Day" on "Freak Out" keeps coming to mind. I saw the original Mothers line-up play at the Phoenix Star Theater shortly after "Freak Out" was released. A memorable show (almost on par with Capt. Beefheart at the "Fox West Coast Theater" (an abandoned cinema taken over as a concert venue) in Long Beach, CA circa 1972 where The Magic Band performed with "It's a Beautiful Day" |
Enough with the naysayers. The more music one listens to, the more one realizes there is great music in all genres from all periods of time. You have to be curious and seek it out with an open mind. Only close-mindedness would generalize quality of musicians based on genre. Absurd to say such things. That said, when recording quality comes into play some music is unfortunately simply unlistenable on a revealing system. It’s like people saying this tweak or that component must be overpriced and not be worth the money (or provide great sound quality) when they haven’t even hooked it up to their own system and listened. At the end of the day this hobby and the love of music or a passion. If you don’t have the passion and a desire to enjoy the journey find another hobby! |
