Win The Batlord Over to Prog
 

I'm thieving the idea behind Janszoon's "Win Janszoon Over to the Beatles" thread. Suck it, Jans.

As some of you know, I don't really give much of a **** about prog. I've dug some of it, but in general, it makes me snooze, or at least even if I dig it my attention starts to wander after a while since I have the attention span of a gnat. But I still haven't listened to that much of it.

So, feel free to post album recs to try to change my mind. Just keep in mind that I'm a metalhead, prefer accessibility, and have no real grasp of technicality. Previously I've dug a bit of King Crimson---though I really haven't listened to that much of them---, I actually enjoyed Asia's debut a few weeks ago, and love Queensryche.

Depending on how many, if any, recs I get, I might not get around to it all, or at least not for a while, but what I listen to I'll review in this thread.

P.S. Though I have stolen Jans' idea, I still give him no credit.


Already Reviewed...

Albums

Rush - 2112

Rush - Hemispheres

miRthkon - Vehicle


Songs

Genesis - "The Knife"/Marillion - "Forgotten Sons"/Twelfth Night - "Creepshow"

If you're gonna do it, might as well start with one of the founders of the *cough* genre. Still stands the test of time.

Actually I'd say 2112 has dated quite a bit, I'd go wit Hemispheres if you're looking for proggy Rush.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GJJSe4YnhYU/maxresdefault.jpg

I thought about that (actually, my favorite), but wanted to start off with something that would be more 'roots' grounded. I looked at tracklistings for everything after their debut and when all the smoke cleared, 2112 was the winner.

Will write more on this later, but I just wanted to say that the title track is fantastic.

Alright I think that's fair enough.

Try miRthkon - Vehicle for a little avant-prog zaniness. Also try Etron Fou Leloublan - Batlages for some of the best RIO has to offer. They're both pretty accessible.

I think you might enjoy the rabble-rousing images and violence in this early Genesis song... Give it a chance. It's quite heavy for a prog band.

The reason you enjoy the Asia debut so much, is that it's AOR and not prog. The whole concept of Asia was that they were a supergroup of prog artists dedicated to doing shorter tracks, that were radio friendly, slick enough for MTV and designed to fill out rock arenas in the early 1980s, they were literally artists jumping onto the AOR bandwagon.

Yeah, I would not call Asia prog in any sense of the word, despite having ex-members of Yes and ELP in it.

While you're at it, have one of the greatest songs Marillion ever wrote (don't worry about the radio-tuning bit at the beginning, it's only a few seconds)

and since you like creepy/horror stuff, you may get something out of this classic...