10 best
i agree (or can see why they were picked) on 8 of the 10. don't think #10 is prog and i was never a PF fan so i can't speak for that one.
10 best
i agree (or can see why they were picked) on 8 of the 10. don't think #10 is prog and i was never a PF fan so i can't speak for that one.
"She said you are the air I breathe
The life I love, the dream I weave."
Unevensong - Camel
They're good songs, but no. They're not "the best" ones.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Well he's picked the worst song on Trick of the Tail for starters...
useless list. entirely subjective and utterly half-witted. and how many more time will we have to endure that wretched punk-killed-prog?
Part 1/2: The Sixties (imo):
Strawberry Fields Forever (1967) by The Beatles
April (1969) by Deep Purple
The Court of the Crimson King (1969) by King Crimson
Legend of a Mind (1968) by Moody Blues
Soul Sacrifice (1969) by Santana
The Weaver's Answer (1969) by Family
Dada Was Here (1969) by Soft Machine
The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet (1966) by The Mothers of Invention
Shhh / Peaceful (1969) by Miles Davis
Prvo svetlo u kući br. 4 (1969) by Korni Grupa
My thought exactly.Originally Posted by Stevie B
He writes like the guy that just discovered prog and compiled a list from the popular albums he's just listened to. I'd also like to know what he means by the "divisive" Fragile album?
Part 2/2: The Seventies (imo):
Stagnation (1970) by Genesis
Awaken (1977) by Yes
You Can't Kill Me (1971) by GonG
Man Erg (1971) by Van Der Graaf Generator
A Passion Play (1973) by Jethro Tull
Lunar Musick Suite (1976) by Steve Hillage
Birds of Fire (1972) by Mahavishnu Orchestra
Song To The Pharoah Kings (1974) by Return to Forever
Little Red Robin Hood Hit The Road (1974) by Robert Wyatt
Take a Pebble (1970) by Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Last edited by Svetonio; 06-06-2016 at 03:05 AM.
I can never participate in lists of this kind. For starters, I haven't listened to nearly enough music - how can I possibly pick the "Ten Best Prog Songs", when I haven't even heard the vast majority of the prog songs out there? A question like that only starts to make sense if you're asking Progbear, or Mogrooves, or Wallace The Masterman, or some other mega-collector who has actually heard a substantial portion of the music. And, I don't know about you, but my mind doesn't work that way - I don't listen to "Red", and think, "this is the greatest prog song ever." Although I do listen to it and think, "This is really good."
Plus, with prog, there's the question of what constitutes a "song". I think that "Close to the Edge" could be called a song, as it has a loose, greatly expanded version of song structure, filled with internal variation but still a reasonably clear AABA. I don't think "Supper's Ready" or "Thick as a Brick" can - they're suites of shorter songs tied together by connected lyrics and a few musical themes.
About the closest I could come would be picking out my personal "Big Five bands" - more like a "Big Ten", in my case - and selecting the best or most characteristic work of each. Would that, then, constitute a "Ten Best"? I don't know. Of a sort, sure, but it would still leave out the work of so many relatively minor but excellent bands.
i only posted it because i thought the guy was pretty close. even if some of the songs aren't necessarily the best by those artists, i like the fact that he gave kudos to Camel. he wasn't totally ignorant in other words.
"She said you are the air I breathe
The life I love, the dream I weave."
Unevensong - Camel
Yeah, I mean 'I Know What I like' over 'Firth of Fifth'? Really? 'A Trick of the Tail' over 'One For The Vine'??? 'One More Red Nightmare' over 'Starless'? Or better yet, nearly anything on the first 5 KC albums?? I hope nobody outside the prog world actually sees this list and thinks this is the best of prog.
With the "Big 6" bands, I heard the material at a time when I focused on individual songs, and know them due to a long history with them. However, these days, I tend to think in terms of albums, not songs. So with newer artists, I could talk about albums I think are really good. Not so much with individual songs from those albums.
Well, at least he's got Close To The Edge, Thick As A Brick and Supper's Ready in there.
So there's that.
The Prog Corner
Nothing by Gentle Giant. I wipe my ass with this list.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
I'd like to know myself what the writer of the "10 Best Prog Songs" meant by calling Yes' "Fragile" LP 'divisive'. That album was a big hit (in 1972) and still a fan favorite to this day.
Last edited by Yellow Jester; 06-03-2016 at 02:59 PM. Reason: correction
And nothing from ELP, U.K., The Nice or Frank Zappa. Not a good list.
All nice songs. And from His point of view the best. A couple of them are close to being on my list.
My list changes all of the time, and then there is that categorization/pigeonhole thing with Prog, prog is/isn't.
My best list would not be fit for wiping the asses of ( probably ) many on PE.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
i'm surprised that Genesis' Your Own Special Way didn't make that list.
Alphabetical order only
Asylum - Supertramp
Blood on the Rooftops - Genesis
Echoes - Pink Floyd
Heart of the Sunrise - Yes
Hunting Girl - Jethro Tull
One More Red Nightmare - King Crimson
Pantagruel's Nativity - Gentle Giant
Peaches en Regalia - Frank Zappa
Rhayader - Camel
Tarkus - ELP
Who would pick Trick of the Tail and I Know What I Like while also picking Suppers Ready, Close to the Edge and Nimrodel?
10 best prog songs: tough to narrow it down, but this would be my list (at least today) and in no particular order: A Chord Change, Can-Utility and the Coastliners, Close to the Edge, Inca Roads, There's No Place Like Homerton, Magnum Opus, Scheherezade, Man Erg, Stardust We Are, Starless.
Like others in this thread, I struggle with the notion of "best" when it comes to art of any kind. It's too subjective to allow for definitive judgments. This list is a good case in point because it's narrowly focused on two or maybe three sub-categories of prog, leading to an overabundance of Yes and Genesis tunes (as much as I enjoy them). Where's prog-metal? Prog-industrial? World-prog?
About the only use these types of lists have is to provoke debate about the merits of the form in general and how some of the best songs achieve their effects. The notion of pitting works by wildly divergent artists against it each other is about as interesting as watching children playing with action figures argue over which character is more powerful--Hulk or Superman? (The answer, btw, is Hulk--it's always Hulk.)
I can't argue with his list. I like most of those songs as much as I like anything else that I could add to it. It's hard to limit it to 10 because there's about 50 I could add to any "best of" list, but ordering them would be near impossible.
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A gentleman is defined as someone who knows how to play the accordion, and doesn't.
Couldn't believe it when I saw that dud listed! Of all the songs listed that's the only song of the respective bands that they never played live, that in itself tell you all you need to know about trick of the Tail!
Oh, well, since you asked,, in NO particular order:
Shades - Echolyn (the original version, not the redo)
I'm Freaking Out - Dixie Dregs
Indiscipline - King Crimson
The Good Don't Last - Spock's Beard
Country And Eastern Music - Jan Hammer & Jerry Goodman
Love In Our Hands - Pinnacle ( ! )
The Ancient - Yes
Karn Evil 9 - Emerson, Lake and Palmer
A Passion Play - Jethro Tull
Supper's Ready - Genesis
<<And, I don't know about you, but my mind doesn't work that way - I don't listen to "Red", and think, "this is the greatest prog song ever." >>
Me too. I think some people keep a running list like this, but not me.
Also, I know what I like is far down the list of Genesis tunes for me.
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