Your Favourite Prog Album Of All Time (excluding the Big 6)

[Lopez]

For me, it's the Strawbs' either From the Witchwood or Bursting at the Seams. Tough choice.

[moecurlythanu]

Never heard of them.

[moecurlythanu]

Didn't think about that, but now that you say it, it's obvious. And then you've got, as others have suggested, Gentle Giant, though somehow, I never considered them one of the "Big" bands.

Well, they certainly had some measure of success, you don't get to make how many albums if you don't, but you're right, they were 2nd tier.

[Rarebird]

Let's pick the obvious:
Hoelderlin - Live Traumstadt

Tomorrow it might be another one.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Quadrophenia.

[mogrooves]

Soft Machine - Vol. II

[Garden Dreamer]

If you don't make it a Big 7 and include Rush, then "Hemispheres."

Otherwise, AD INFINITUM s/t.

[mozo-pg]

The Big Six is a bit subjective as people have different views. For me, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, ELP and Gentle Giant

Lots of interesting picks!

[Dana5140]

Magma: Kohntarksoz as well.

[simon moon]

Way too tough to pick only one, impossible, actually...

These could all make the list for me. Ask me again tomorrow, and many of them would be different.

Magma - KA
Banco - Io Sono Nato Libero
Eberhard Weber - Colours of Chloe
National Health - Of Queues and Cures
Deus Ex Machina - Equilibrismo da Insofferenza
Thinking Plague - In Extremis
Il Balletto Di Bronzo - YS
PFM - Per un Amico

What is the current "Big 6" list?

Is it by quality, fame, etc?

[Johnkil]

Hybris - Anglagard

[helicase]

Pulsar - Pollen

[simon moon]

The Big Six is a bit subjective as people have different views. For me, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, ELP and Gentle Giant

Lots of interesting picks!

Yeah, if we're talking what I consider the highest quality bands, my 'Big 6' would be: Genesis, King Crimson, YES, Gentle Giant, PFM and Magma.

But if the 'Big 6' is based on name recognition or record sales, then it would obviously be a lot different.

[JohnL]

Renaissance - Ashes are burning

[bill g]

Just one?? Hmm, either Hatfield? Per Un Amico? Uzva-Uoma? either Mr. Sirius? Tubular Bells 2003? Nope, can't decide

[hFx]

Another vote for Hemispheres. But on the other hand, Rush is included in my Big 6

[mozo-pg]

That limitation is very... limiting.

Okay then, I'll give another vote for PFM - Per Un Amico. Absolutely gorgeous album. On another day it would probably be the first Celeste album.

I think the first Celeste album is simply brilliant.

[moecurlythanu]

What is the current "Big 6" list?

Is it by quality, fame, etc?

"Big" is a term commonly used about artist to denote success/popularity/visibility etc. Gentle Giant were huge in the 70s, but they were probably only bigger than Pink Floyd for one year, 1973. I still recall the picture of Giant on the cover of Rolling Stone with the caption "Giant Killers Conquer America." I was too young, but my friend's older brother still talks about catching the Giant at one of their 3 night sellout run at Soldier Field.

[NogbadTheBad]

So this is the Big Six discussion thread? Oh goodie I'd misplaced the previous 47 versions.

[bill g]

So this is the Big Six discussion thread? Oh goodie I'd misplaced the previous 47 versions.

Yes good then I can once more argue my deeply held conviction on why each of my 6 should be THE six, none of which I can remember.

[Duncan Glenday]

Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts

^^ This.

Or ... Camel - The Snowgoose.

Or ... Focus - Hamburger Concerto.

Or ...

[moecurlythanu]

Maybe Fantasy -Paint a Picture.

[Mythos]

Far East Family Band: Nipponjin

[GuitarGeek]

"Big" is a term commonly used about artist to denote success/popularity/visibility etc. Gentle Giant were huge in the 70s, but they were probably only bigger than Pink Floyd for one year, 1973. I still recall the picture of Giant on the cover of Rolling Stone with the caption "Giant Killers Conquer America." I was too young, but my friend's older brother still talks about catching the Giant at one of their 3 night sellout run at Soldier Field.

Interesting. I never knew they had been on the cover of Rolling Stone. Isn't it ironic, dontcha think?

I guess my perception of Gentle Giant not being as big as the other bands is, I guess, somehow, they sort of slipped out of visibility during the 80's. Yeah, they broke up, I know, but even the individual band members seemed to disappear off the face of the Earth. No solo albums, no forming new bands, etc.

So, those of us who grew up in the 80's, and initially knew of the then contemporary works of Yes, Crimson, Genesis, etc (or even Asia and GTR...I'm young enough that my initial knowledge of Yes, Crimson, and ELP was they were names on the resumes of the members of Asia), there's no equivalency for Gentle Giant. I think I heard them mentioned here and there a couple times, in Keyboard magazine and a couple other places, but it really wasn't until the 90's that I ever heard any of their music.

So in a way, in my mind, at least, Gentle Giant belongs more in the same level as VDGG, Hatfield And The North, Caravan, the Italian bands, etc, though I fully realize that for those who are even just a few years older than me, that might not be the case.

(come to think of it, I think I might have heard of VDGG and Hatfields before I heard of Gentle Giant, as I remember a kid I knew in the tenth grade, that'd be 88-89, telling me about VDGG, and Steve Stevens mentioned PFM, Hatfields, and Flash in a piece he wrote for Guitar World magazine about his favorite prog rock records)

And my apologies for derailing the discussion by asking my initial question. I just know there's a lot of debate of exactly who the "big bands" were of progressive rock, though the responses indicate a level of obviousness that had escaped me at the time of asking. Maybe I was thinking too much about the Doctor Who DVD's, Blind Lemon Jefferson CD's and Uriah Heep t-shirts I was waiting for in the post at the time.

[Trane]

So this is the Big Six discussion thread? Oh goodie I'd misplaced the previous 47 versions.

Just to make sure, I made it a big 10: ELP, Yes, Genesis, GG, VDGG, Camel, Floyd, Crimson, Tull, and, one more space for anynoe's other wish (Mahavishnu, Soft Machine, Caravan, etc..) .