I want to know which you consider the best and worst out of these three debut albums by progressive bands:
(1) Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
(2) Genesis - From Genesis to Revelation
(3) Porcupine Tree - On the Sunday of life...
Why these three? Firstly, because I have them all in one format or other; secondly, because they have in common the fact that they all represent artists very much feeling their way, and sound very little like what the respective bands did later on which made their reputations in the world of prog. There were various reasons for this: big lineup changes, changes in management, and in the case of Sunday it's really just Steven Wilson recording under the name of a fictional band. Obviously the production on each of these albums is somewhat below par compared with what we are used to hearing on their later output
For my money, I think Sunday > FGTR > Piper.
Piper is a real mess. The good bits are very good, but there is an awful lot of noodling and some rather childish lyrics, a bit like The Wiggles might sound if they went psychedelic.
FGTR has a small number of songs that I think show reall songwriting talent. The rest of them are not great, but are a nice listen. It's best not approached as a prog album, more like good clever pop.
Sunday - well, when I first heard this, I had heard most of the later PT albums, so as you can imagine my reaction was one of WTF? Surprisingly I have got to like it quite a lot. Like Piper, it is a real hodge-podge, as you would expect considering it's basically a compilation of material previously released on cassette, but I enjoy nearly all of it, even the crazy pieces like Space Transmission. I normally skip Linton Samuel Dawson, and sometimes also Queen Quotes Crowley. Importantly, this album has It Will Rain For a Million Years, which I still consider a contender for the best closing track of any Porcupine Tree album.
Discuss.
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