My favorite is Elegant Gypsy by Al Di Meola :)
Yup, It does have quite a bit of shredding, but i don't think "shred" should be taken as a turn-off here. Some of it can be good. This is shredding with a lot of musicianship behind it. Not like any of those 80s neo-classical metal shredders.
Here's the first track, just an indicator of what's to come(the intro sounds like something tool have copied :p: ) -

^ Guitarist for Return to Forever.

Yeah, I've been meaning to check them out as well. Romantic Warrior is high on my list of 'to get' albums. I just don't have time to give it a listen atm :(
Hmm, maybe you can send one of those? I'll give it a listen soon.

I tend to find that in the end I actually do not care as to the genre as long as I like it. Cop out? Sure. That is just the way it is. A prog instrumental and a folk jig for example side by side make no difference to me.

You defenders of Classical need to remember, that many of those composers would be considered "progressive" musicians of their time. So, technically, I think you could be justified in including them. That's MY opinion, anyhow. But yes, Prog has the best instrumentals. Especially when you include "progressive" instrumental Jazz/Fusion bands, like RETURN TO FOREVER. Very "Prog" in style.

But for the traditional Prog Rock bands...

EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER
RUSH
ALAN PARSONS PROJECT

Each of those have too many great instrumental tracks to mention them by name.

You should just get the 2 CD "Anthology" disc that came out, earlier this year. It has the ENTIRE "ROMANTIC WARRIOR" album, plus all the crucial tracks from the four albums that were done by the core quartet. It'll blow your friggin' mind.

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