Early "Lost" Prog Classics?

[Buddhabreath]

Greetings Comrades,

What I have in mind is an album with no significant sales (did not break the Billboard 100 as a general gauge), was recorded in the late 60s or early 70s, and you think is a unique contribution to progressive rock as you define the idiom.

My first choice: Aorta - Aorta (1968). Why? For me this group from Chicago recorded an Album encompassing a blend of studio wizardry, memorable songs, excellent musicianship, vocals, arrangements and production values. This has it all for the time and genre and while not a masterpiece in my view, this qualifies as a lost prog classic.



I hope to discover other gems through your replies. 

[Svetonio]

I'd like to recommend the U.S. band Food and their album Forever Is A Dream from 1969.

[MoZo]

Pentwater, anyone?

[regenerativemusic]

Always a great idea for a thread. I'm sure more will be surfacing in the next decade.

I have been going through a lot of these lately. I like Nick Drake's work, and any kind of progressive folk, progressive not meaning "sounds like ELP, Yes, or Genesis" but progressive in the sense of harmonic innovation or bringing more things in from classical than popular music usually does.

This album has some weaker songs but some of the stronger moments are worth hearing.

Roger Rodier - Upon Velveatur (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Urqd9iMG4s

A lot of the stuff I'm finding that I like I don't think a lot of others on here might like because it's very rough and different sounding than the heavily produced popular prog rock. But it's that rough sense of very low budget productions I also like, as well as hearing the classics done in great studios with great engineers. Some of the more interesting music can be found searching on keywords like xian psych folk.

There is some really strange, fascinating stuff arising, like this guy Dave Bixby, who developed a recent cult following after his album from around 1970 was discovered, and eventually he resurfaced. It's more a study in human nature for me, than music that I'll probably come back to a lot. There is at least one documentary about him.

[mogrooves]

What I have in mind is an album with no significant sales (did not break the Billboard 100 as a general gauge), was recorded in the late 60s.

[regenerativemusic]

GRACIOUS - GRACIOUS! - U.K. UNDERGROUND - FULL ALBUM -1970
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTWu66EyqY4

[ronmac]

Nektar "A Tab in the Ocean," which, I think, fits the chart performance criteria.

[Dana5140]

This was one of the best: Touch

[Progbear]

The “lost” album I am looking for actually seems to be really lost: the demo tape by the all-woman proto-prog band Ariel. Three of the five band members founded the folk-rock trio The Deadly Nightshade.

[bondegezou]

The “lost” album I am looking for actually seems to be really lost: the demo tape by the all-woman proto-prog band Ariel. Three of the five band members founded the folk-rock trio The Deadly Nightshade.

Lots of history about them in the comments after this article: http://bubblegumsoup.blogspot.co.uk/...r-moppets.html

Henry

[Bytor]

Julian Jay Savarin - Waiters on the Dance maybe? Some psych and futur prog elements into a great and cohesive album.

[walt]

Baba Scholae-69 was recorded in(you guessed it) 1969,and was finally released a couple of years ago.Well worth a listen or two,imo.

[TheH]

Baba Scholae-69 was recorded in(you guessed it) 1969,and was finally released a couple of years ago.Well worth a listen or two,imo.

Awesome album with a fantastic sound for that time..

[Lopez]

This was one of the best: Touch

My choice as well. Featured on keys is Don Gallucci, former Kingsman who's cheesy organ riff opened the garage national anthem, "Louie, Louie."

[walt]

In 1985,Gareth Williams(ex This Heat) and Mary Currie released a cassette album titled Flaming Tunes.It was re-issued for the first time on cd a couple of years ago.It has a DIY feel and a fragile yet compelling set of tunes.Check it out.

[Progbear]

Julian Jay Savarin - Waiters on the Dance maybe? Some psych and futur prog elements into a great and cohesive album.

I think you’re thinking of A Time Before This by Julian’s Treatment. Released in 1970 but probably recorded back in 69, at least partially. WOTD didn’t come out until 1973, but may have been recorded earlier (and is my preferred of the two, but they’re both pretty enjoyable). BTW, the books they’re based on are heinous!

[Buddhabreath]

Thanks for the suggestions - definitely going to dig into Food and Baba Scholae, the Food album sounds intriguing based on the you tube tracks so far... cheers.

[Paulrus]

Neither of these is quite as "lost" as other suggestions here, but I'd add Mogul Thrash's one and only album to the collection. It sort of fit in with the "rock with horns" trend of the era but was much more uncompromisingly heavy, IMO. And of course, Wetton.




And this was discussed elsewhere recently, but the debut by Lucifer's Friend is one of those "How in the HELL did this not break big?" kind of records.

[Progbear]

That debut LF wasn’t really “prog,” more hard rock with obvious (really obvious in the case of the above track, think these guys heard “The Immigrant Song”?) LZ/DP influences. The follow-up added some Gentle Giant/prog to the mix. I guess the reason they never really clicked was that they never really settled on a style, just jumping around from genre to genre on a whim. Navigating their minefield of a discography is a frustrating exercise as a result.

Actually, I heard that one of their early albums was the biggest-seller by a German band pre-Autobahn. I also heard that their American distributor completely ripped them off, stealing all the money from their US record sales.

[Supersonic Scientist]

I too always thought "Why weren't LF HUGE !!!" They deserved to be that is for sure.

[Enid]

Two particular albums that were already "cut-outs" when I bought them in '78 were Variations by Andrew LLoyd Webber and Elements by Roger Glover. Unfortunately they do not apply to this thread, but I couldn't help mentioning them. Variations is a Progressive Rock take on Paganini including Gary Moore as a Progressive Rock guitarist throughout and Rod Argent on keys. Elements is like a instrumental Prog Rock epic of sorts divided into themes. Lucifer's Friend were mentioned in this thread and I believe the second album.."Where The Groupies Killed The Blues" entered the world of Bella Bartok and King Crimson which was actually a bit opposite of their debut. "In Action" by The Pink Mice was also very good.

[JKL2000]

Pentwater, anyone?

I have at least one Pentwater CD. Very good, too.