The Greatest Albums of All Time...

[Mr. Swordfish]

Hey, now! I scored 15 out of 25, that I owned/own.
Do I win anything?

You win a list of ten essential Prog Rock albums to buy. Happy shopping!

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

You've an interesting definition of "prog rock" there.

As Potter Stewart put it so succinctly,

"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it..."

 

[Paul7777x]

 

[EJ3]

Hey, now! I scored 15 out of 25, that I owned/own.
Do I win anything?

Doesn't matter what you -and me- call them.

Those may have been essential back then but became nostalgia-rock.
Would 'Alt-rock' of this era be considered @Mr. Swordfish' prog-rock of yore?

Damn, I only have 11! But 8 of them I wouldn't want anyway (no matter what genre that they are called).
So my ratio for my personal list is 11/17ths!

 

[xanalog]

As Potter Stewart put it so succinctly,..I know it when I see it...

Justice Potter Stewart was a wannabe Yogi Berra!
History's greatest accidental philosopher.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

Damn, I only have 11! But 8 of them I wouldn't want anyway (no matter what genre that they are called).
So my ratio for my personal list is 11/17ths!

Which 8 are the furballs? Curious...

 

[EJ3]

Which 8 are the furballs? Curious...

I'm sorry, make that 9:
Third Soft Machine June 6, 1970
Grave New World The Strawbs February 1, 1972
Just Another Day in England Roy Harper September 28, 1973
Floating World Jade Warrior January 1, 1974
Hatfield and The North Hatfield and The North February 1, 1974
Another Green World Brian Eno November 14, 1975
Go Stomu Yamashta's Go April 30, 1976
Western Culture Henry Cow January 1, 1979
Oxygene Jean Michelle Jarre December 1, 1976 (and any of his other works)

 

[alvigg]

My search doesn't show All Things Must Pass. That is one of my favorites.

 

[tineared]

I have to pick two: Minstrel In the Gallery from Tull and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway from Genesis. Full disclosure, Lamb is a double album...

 

[xanalog]

I'm sorry, make that 9:
Third Soft Machine June 6, 1970
Grave New World The Strawbs February 1, 1972
Just Another Day in England Roy Harper September 28, 1973
Floating World Jade Warrior January 1, 1974
Hatfield and The North Hatfield and The North February 1, 1974
Another Green World Brian Eno November 14, 1975
Go Stomu Yamashta's Go April 30, 1976
Western Culture Henry Cow January 1, 1979
Oxygene Jean Michelle Jarre December 1, 1976 (and any of his other works)

You're such a copycat; those were all on my 10foot-poll list!

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

I'm sorry, make that 9:
Third Soft Machine June 6, 1970
Grave New World The Strawbs February 1, 1972
Just Another Day in England Roy Harper September 28, 1973
Floating World Jade Warrior January 1, 1974
Hatfield and The North Hatfield and The North February 1, 1974
Another Green World Brian Eno November 14, 1975
Go Stomu Yamashta's Go April 30, 1976
Western Culture Henry Cow January 1, 1979
Oxygene Jean Michelle Jarre December 1, 1976 (and any of his other works)

Hmmm. Seems like the common thread is that all of these are arguably "not really Prog Rock". Which is I suppose a valid criticism, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are bad albums. Unless you only listen to Prog Rock. But does anybody actually do that?

 

[xanalog]

Unless you only listen to Prog Rock. But does anybody actually do that?

I once listened to Pink Floyd's DSotM 3 times in a row, when it first came out on CD!

 

[EJ3]

You're such a copycat; those were all on my 10foot-poll list!

I'm sorry, I never saw your post or I would not have posted that.
I NEVER EVER post what someone else posted without atributing them.
But, I guess that it shows we both have good taste.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

I once listened to Pink Floyd's DSotM 3 times in a row, when it first came out on CD!

Is Dark Side of the Moon even a Prog Rock album? It's basically a half-dozen pop songs interspersed with sequencers set to auto play, some "smoove jazz" licks with a hired sax player, and sound effects courtesy of the BBC Sound Effects catalog. Clare Torry adds some interesting vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky", but other than that I've never understood what all the fuss is about.

Maybe I need to listen to it three times in a row. Or while watching the Wizard of Oz.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

No Linda Ronstadt, no Jackson Browne, no Eagles. How is that even possible? Also no Van Morrison, no Dianna Ross, no James Brown, no Supremes, no Frank Sinatra, no Tony Bennett, no Big Band, no Weavers, no Chet Baker, and no Willie Nelson. No Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartok, or any American composers in the classical idiom. Also no film soundtracks where many of our contemporary Beethovens and Mozarts (Hans Zimmer, baby!) are finding their preferred mode of composition for large orchestral works today.

Maybe, like a lot of these lists, it's really too small and reflects the limitations in the case of ones created by a LLM, or biases in the case of a live person.

 

[Paul7777x]

No Linda Ronstadt, no Jackson Browne, no Eagles. How is that even possible? Also no Van Morrison, no Dianna Ross, no James Brown, no Supremes, no Frank Sinatra, no Tony Bennett, no Big Band, no Weavers, no Chet Baker, and no Willie Nelson. No Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartok, or any American composers in the classical idiom. Also no film soundtracks where many of our contemporary Beethovens and Mozarts (Hans Zimmer, baby!) are finding their preferred mode of composition for large orchestral works today.

Maybe, like a lot of these lists, it's really too small and reflects the limitations in the case of ones created by a LLM, or biases in the case of a live person.

And the gerontology displayed here is erm… largely obvious.

But… Tony Bennett? Frank Sinatra? Big band??? Willie Nelson?

I can’t even grasp why they would be here.

 

[xanalog]

Is Dark Side of the Moon even a Prog Rock album? It's basically a half-dozen pop songs interspersed with sequencers set to auto play, some "smoove jazz" licks with a hired sax player, and sound effects courtesy of the BBC Sound Effects catalog. Clare Torry adds some interesting vocals on "The Great Gig in the Sky", but other than that I've never understood what all the fuss is about.

Maybe I need to listen to it three times in a row. Or while watching the Wizard of Oz.

Ummmm... drop the Wizard of Oz from the equation but do add a bit of a mind-altering chemical (of choice) that may allow you to groove to it.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

And the gerontology displayed here is erm… largely obvious.

But… Tony Bennett? Frank Sinatra? Big band??? Willie Nelson?

I can’t even grasp why they would be here.

As is the age and recency bias among some posters.

Even Rolling Stone had "Songs for Swinging Lovers" on its greatest albums list, and, at one time it had "Astral Weeks" rated as the 4th greatest album of all time. Somehow the title of the thread didn't say "Greatest Album released after 1995, unless, of course 1995 is when you consider time to have started. BTW, no Mariah Carey either, or Arianna Grande or SADE.

 

[Paul7777x]

“no Mariah Carey either, or Arianna Grande or SADE.”

Why on earth would there be? This is an old geezer forum by and large.

…But not that old.

This thread is overwhelmingly likely to feature albums first heard in formative years. That is, in this case, early teens to early twenties.

Those whose formative years included Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett and certainly ‘big band’ music are likely dead.

 

[DavidEdwinAston]

“no Mariah Carey either, or Arianna Grande or SADE.”

Why on earth would there be? This is an old geezer forum by and large.

…But not that old.

This thread is overwhelmingly likely to feature albums first heard in formative years. That is, in this case, early teens to early twenties.

Those whose formative years included Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett and certainly ‘big band’ music are likely dead.

No we ain't!