:afro:

It was cool for a couple years...

About Van der Graaf Generator, I started at the beginning with their "H to He, Who Am the Only One" album... There was a great review on Prog Archives that made me listen. I knew I liked it, but wasn't sure why. Ha. I went back to it a couple times. By the time I knew most of the lyrics to Killer (3rd run around) I was hooked. Their other highly praised album was Pawn Hearts - amazing as well.

About The Bad Plus, I suggest the song "And Here We Test Our Powers of Observation" on Give and then "The Empire Strikes Backwards" on Suspicious Activity. That shows a good sample of their range. They also have covered (read: redone in free jazz) about ten songs from Tom Sawyer (Rush) to Barracuda (Heart). Great collection (5 albums and a live). Check that out if you'd like. :afro:

I've given both H to He and Prawn Hearts listen throughs without discovering much love for them, but I'd be willing to give both another shot one day in the future. They're pretty far down on my mental priority list though.

How about Gentle Giant or some of the Canterbury bands like Gong, Camel or Caravan?

I'll check out Bad Plus :)

I've gone through them. I'm partial to Camel and Gong. Gentle Giant I need to relisten to, but I felt content with. Haven't done any Caravan