Originally Posted by tore

Camel - Music Inspired by the Snow Goose (1975)



This album, often just called "The Snow Goose", is Canterbury band Camel's third album based on Paul Gallico's book "The Snow Goose: A Story of Dunkirk". The story from the book has a few twists but includes a disabled war veteran named Rhayadar and a young girl called Fritha who nurture a wounded goose back to health as their friendship blossoms. Camel's take on it is an instrumental album which follows that story musically and is very melodical as well as often soothing and beautiful. Each song segues seamlessly into the next and musical themes are visited and revisited, often in slightly different ways across the album. It is also fairly accessible and widely regarded as one of Camel's finest efforts. As such, it is a classic album of the Canterbury scene and is, of course, warmly recommended!

Originally Posted by Anteater

It Bites - The Tall Ships (2008)


I'll begin by saying this is undoubtedly the best progressive rock/pop-rock crossover album I've had the pleasure of getting my grubby paws on in recent years, driven by punchy arrangements, vocal harmonies up the wazoo and some good ol' fashioned guitar virtuosity to keep things from completely sinking into more commercial territory...all whilst remaining catchier and more enjoyable to listen to than anything that's been on radio for over a decade.

A bit of backround though - It Bites were originally one of those quirky anomalies of the mid 80's, blending 70's Genesis-like grandeur and instrumental virtuosity with pop trends from the era, yet ultimately synthesized these disparate elements far more effectively than most of their neo-prog. peers..including Marillion! They had their 15 minute of fame in 1984 with a little hit from their debut, 'Calling All The Heroes', but even that song was undoubtedly the proggiest thing to hit #1 airways since the mid 70's...a feat you don't see too often.

Anyway, this album came out two years ago after the band reformed in 2008 (after a 19 year hiatus!) with a new lead guitarist and vocalist (John Mitchell, who sang with experimental neo-proggers Frost* and played guitar with Arena).

The Tall Ships may surprise you at first with its deceptively mainstream leanings in places, but give it time -- there's a lot more to these songs than meets the ear.

Originally Posted by Kinda Blue

Wishbone Ash – Argus (1972)

Widely regarded as their best album, this is the album in which they finally found themselves. After struggling with making something that sounded original in their two previous albums, they came up with this; Argus – a unique blending of all the different styles of music they had tried out earlier – a rather folk-ish prog rock album with lyrics touching on, not so uncommonly, medieval themes. But what I think makes this album so good is definitely the instrumentation. The dual lead guitar just works so well! I do also believe Argus was one of the first albums with such an extensive use of twin-lead guitar. So yeah, if you haven’t heard this album yet, I suggest you do your homework for once!