Originally Posted by tore (Post 919949)

Harmonium - Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison (1975)

http://img11.nnm.ru/5/4/2/3/2/542329...59d88_full.jpg

French Canadian band Harmonium has a short discography of only 3 studio albums. Si on avait.. is their second album and commonly considered their magnum opus. Although not the most obvious pick to newcomers of the genre, the album is still widely appreciated by progheads. To give you an idea of just how much, it currently sits at #14 in progarchives list of the 100 best prog albums throughout the ages which is impressive, I think, considering most of the places above it are filled by the giants of the genre like King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Pink floyd and Genesis who have a lot more albums in their discography and, likely, a lot more fans.

In other words, their ranking in the list is more likely due to the strength of the album rather than people just voting up their favourite band and this record is indeed a good one. Reverby flutes, acoustic guitar, layered harmonious vocals and beautiful melodies is what this album is about. Well, there are some other things thrown into the mix as well of course. Anyways, for a prog album, it is not very challenging, but rather easy to get into and very comfortable on the ears. There are 5 songs in all, each one meant to represent one season with the 5th being the "new" season .. I guess a bit like the fifth element.

Anyways, I guess some here will know this one well and for you who don't, consider this a warm recommendation :)

Originally Posted by Anteater (Post 919996)

Hmn, I've got an interesting suggestion for this week as well, though some might find it a challenge. :love:

Mike Oldfield - Amarok (1990)

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Far better than the ever-lauded Tubular Bells IMO, this 60 minute, 1 track effort from the master of ambient-prog is Oldfield's finest moment. Like previous works, Oldfield is responsible for most of the eclectic instrumentation. Worldbeat atmospherics, stabs at synthwork which wouldn't be too far out of place in a Legend of Zelda game, insanely good guitar and bass and loads of percussion are but a few of the things you'll hear in Amarok, but such is but a modest overview of how grand this suite is and I couldn't do it justice in 10 paragraphs, much less this one.

But basically, this is top class world-prog. fusion, and one of the 90's Holy Grails of prog. for those interested, so hope a few of you give it a whirl. xD