Search:

I agree with:

David Sylvian
Eno
Hackett's 1st 4 solo albums better than anything the band did after he left.
Pekka Pohjola solo being better than Wigwam.
Steve Wilson solo better than P-Tree
...

The OP makes it pretty clear in the title of the thread, they are referring to MODERN prog, "2023-The greatest year of modern progessive music ever...EVER!"

Then again, they refer to modern prog...

Count me as another who thinks that 2023 has been the strongest year in quite a while.

To add to the great list in the OP, I would add:

Canterbury:
Amoeba Split - Quiet Euphoria
Homunculus...

It starts at 2:00, which I forgot to put in the OP.

The grand opening of the Rare Guitar Gallery in Orange County, Ca.

The infamous Keith Emerson modular synth will be fired up, making noise, with hands-on demo.

Paul Whitehead will be there,...

Between Nothingness and Eternity - Mahavishnu Orchestra

Nothing At All - Gentle Giant

How could I have skipped over so many ECM artists?!

Ralph Towner
Keith Jarrett
Terje Rydal
Pat Metheny

To name a few.

Zappa
Holdsworth
Pharaoh Sanders (as leader, as guest, he has a huge catalog)
Elliott Carter (my favorite composer, composed consistently great, challenging music, up until the day he died in...

Life is way to short, and there is so much great music being released on a constant basis, to waste time with any guilty pleasures.

Especially fuzak.

And no, Pat Metheny is not fuzak. Please do...

Let me add a few more that should be on my list:

Scatter The Atoms That Remain - Emancipation Suite / Absolutely amazing 'spiritual jazz'. So glad that someone out there is doing world class jazz...

Pretty good year for me!

Too many to list to keep it at just 5, so I will go over a bit.

Mary Halvorson - Ameryliss / Killer avant-garde jazz release by this very creative guitarist/composer....

Yeah, I'm almost there.

Still buying plenty of prog, mostly avant-prog, but quite a bit in all subgenres.

I am also buying plenty of jazz. Mostly contemporary. ECM is still a consistently great...

The Spirit Carries On - Dream Theater

Not today, but yesterday evening.

I started with Cynic, "Ascension Codes" from 2021.
...

I'm going to have to go with @rcarlberg on this.

I own some quite high end planar magnetic headphones, Audeze LCD-3. And a Lehmann headphone amp to drive them.

I also own a pair of speakers...

The day after ELP played at the Long Beach Arena (1977) for the "Works" tour, PFM played at The Roxy.

"Oh, I'll see them next time they're in town". Turned out, 'next time' I was able to see them...

Early 2000's.

Present was playing at a club in Silverlake, off of Sunset Blvd. I was not feeling well, but figured I'd go anyway. I got there early, so I got to hear a good chunk of the...

Black Rose Immortal - Opeth

I almost forgot about Solstice Coil.

Some pretty good quality prog. Vocals could be better, but instrumentally good.

https://www.facebook.com/solstice.co.il/

The other Avishai Cohen, this one plays trumpet. He records for ECM, so not exactly jazz-rock, but has enough complexity and intensity to push many of the same buttons.

Oz Noy - very creative jazz...

I said the above in post #14, I might as well 'put my money where my mouth is', so to speak.

My top twelve, no particular order:

Yes - Close to the Edge
Genesis - The Lamb
PFM - Per un Amico...

No, he was not right.

Parsons was describing a small subset of audiophiles, not the majority.

I belong to the largest audiophile club in the world, The LA Orange County Audio Society. I have...

Why do those listening methods have to be mutually exclusive? Seems like a bit of a false dichotomy to me.

I have a fairly high end system, and consider myself an audiophile, but the vast...

Lady Fantasy - Camel

Sure, that's low hanging fruit.

Sorry...

No RIO/Avant-Prog, no Canterbury, no Crimson, no Magma. I'm out...

Glad to see PFM, but Per un Amico or Storia, or L'isola di niente are more deserving than Cook.

And As far as...

One of my top 10, or higher, favorite composers.

He left us with a lot of incredible music.

Right up there with Charles Wourinen and Elliott Carter for me.

I am most likely going to the LA performance 4/1.

Still haven't completely made up my mind, but definitely leaning that way.

Brilliant album! As was "Crafty Hands".

Great musicianship, brilliant melodies, sense of humor, haunting at times.

"Better Late..." and "The Muse Awakens" are also quite good, if one thinks...

Radio Gnome Invisible - Gong

The World Became the World - PFM

(kind of low hanging fruit)

Robbery, Assault and Battery - Genesis

Spectral Mornings - Steve Hackett

Joe's Garage - Frank Zappa

Forward We Ride - Windchase

Harvest - Opeth

Jack in the Green - Jethro Tull

Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta - Bela Bartok

Pictures of a City - King Crimson

Frank Zappa at the LA Sports Arena.

We had pretty good seats on the floor, not too close. But the venue had so much uncontrolled reverb that everything was unintelligible. Big wall of mush. We...

Wooden Smoke - Mike Keneally

Ship of Fools - Van Der Graaf Generator

Winterthru - Echolyn

Einstein on the Beach - Philip Glass

I am a bit surprised by this thread.

I always thought that the kind of 'naïve surrealism' style of Trespass, Nursery Crime, and Foxtrot were pretty highly thought of.

I think they do a great...

There are a few decent recordings on that list...

But seriously, 2021 releases by Manna/Mirage, Acordo dei Contrari, Ghost Rhythms, Celeste, French TV, Panzerpappa, SKE are all better than...

Easy Money - King Crimson

Are Friends Electric - Tubeway Army

Cat Food - King Crimson

Magic is a Child - Nektar

My brief, but humorous Brand X story from one of the Roxy gigs in '79, with Phil.

Lumley (or was it Robinson?) hits a note on his Prophet synth, and the thing puts forth a nasty sound, then goes...

European Things (hommage à Frank Zappa) - After Crying

Dream and Reality - Grobschnitt

Last night, it was:

Bruno Maderna - Oboe concertos 1 (1963), 2 (1967), & 3 (1973)

Kind of stark, but equally mysterious.

The Art Ensemble of Chicago - Nice Guys

Show Me the Way - Nektar



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKHY3pMEUJs

Time's Enconium - Charles Wuorinen

La conquista della posizione eretta - Banco del Mutuo Sorcosso

(The conquest of the upright position)

Supper's Ready - Genesis

Yeah, I went for the low hanging fruit...

I did a search, but could not find any mention of them anywhere here. I am a bit surprised, since I feel I am a bit late to the party for these two jaw dropping musicians.

17 year old Texas...

Trace of Blood - Pain of Salvation