Thanks for a great thread. Already picked up about 4 or 5 of the beginners albums listed. (Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash, Comus, Caravan and Rush)

I took a liking to all the albums on the first spin except for the Rush album, after the third or fourth song it seemed to just lose its impertice and become stagnent. Gonna give it another shot later on...

Well Permament Waves and Moving Pictures kinda marked the bands shift towards more synth heavy pop rock territory, though there's still a lot of prog underneath it all.

Their late 70s stuff was more straight up prog.

On a related note, this is something I need to point out.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...emispheres.jpg
http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/yes/11-1.jpg

Is that the same naked dude? It's like he wondered onto that Yes cover, mistaking it for a Rush album.

Cool that you're checking stuff out :) Most of the albums are quite different and should cater to different tastes, so it makes sense that someone like yourself won't like all of them. Caravan's my personal favourite from the bunch you got and if you like it, you should also check out their widely regarded magnum opus (though opinions like my own differ) "In the Land of Grey and Pink" which is has a more folky sound and is often regarded as the quintessential Canterbury album (see Canterbury scene on wikipedia if you're unsure what it means and wanna find out).

http://pixhost.ws/avaxhome/56/7a/000a7a56_medium.jpeg

Listen to it on : Spotify / Last.FM

I personally rate "For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night" just a little higher, but this is also a magnificent album full of charm and has songs about flings, drugs, imaginary utopias and other things. Also, the album feels very english in a sense, more so than plump girls.

edit :

I've added Spotify links for those who have that program and also last.fm links to albums on the list in the fashion seen above :D This allows for easy sampling (last.fm) or even easy access to the whole album for free (spotify). Last.fm you know how works and clicking the spotify links will open that program and show you that album.

I saw this album on Comus's list of 1001 albums a week or two back and downloaded it then and I have to say I was very impressed. The title track was a belter.

Is Comus's other album worth checking out? I have heard some very negative views on it.

According to our own Comus, that album is a total let-down compared to the first so I haven't actually given it a spin yet. From what I've gathered, they abandoned the unique sound from their debut.

I personally would have changed the Tull album to Aqualung and the beginners guide track of Floyd's Wish You Were Here to One Of These Days or Childhood's End maybe but other than that top work fellas.

Aqualung's great, but Thick as a Brick i see as testing the waters for whether or not you'd be a real fan of prog

Nice list. I only hope there is only more to come. There is more to come, right?

I'm not sure about picking Moving Pictures for a rush Prog album. I think Caress of Steel, Farwell to Kings, or 2112 would have been a better pick. Maybe next round, if there is one.

I think it would be good if this thread could serve as a recommendations thread for prog albums and I'd love it if people would make some recommendations with descriptions and perhaps some album art! :)

I'll probably write some more - for example some of the albums in the advanced listeners list could be better described and of course there are the albums that didn't make any of the lists ..

I also think there's a rough agreement that we'll try to write reviews for those albums in the beginners list which do not have reviews yet as well (f.ex Thick as a Brick). If anyone would like in on any of that, just do it and consider letting us know by PMs first or afterwards if you think it's appropriate!

I'm on it. :D