I think I want to love prog now will you teach me

Gong - Camembert Electrique (starts with the killer fuzz-wah track You Can't Kill Me. "You" is also a good Gong album that is acid goodness thruough and through and ain't pansy Yes shit... Lord knows how many stoned revelations I had to that one as a teen.)

Can - Monster Magnet (Malcolm Mooney was the man...)

Arzachel - Arzachel (features members of Egg and also Steve Hillage. Some storming tracks, like the dark Arzachel and Garden of Earthly Delights... some blues wankery too, but that comes with the territory, I suppose)

Peter Hammill - Nadir's Big Chance (initially this sounded a bit too Genesis-y for me, but grew on me a lot. Sort of proto-punk and a perfect companion to Eno's Here Come the Warm Jets. Also an extremely depressing experience when alone and in a darkened room...)

King Crimson - Lark's Tongues in Aspic (i quite like this one, although my partners claims the title track sounds like a chat-show themetune... which is does I suppose... if you live in our acid warped world, but less so than 20th Century Schizoid Man)

Pretty much all Van Der Graaf up to Pawn Hearts... some is a bit lame, but man, White Hammer is a mindblower. On that note, how about Sabbath, or the Black Widow's laughable prog/metal/folk first album! ("Come, come, come to the sabbath!")

Dom - self titled (Astounding spacy folky shit... similar in feel to Flody circa More. REALLY, REALLY good. Don't get the reissue, though, since the 90s techno bonus tracks will really put you on a bum trip)

Hawkwind - Space Ritual (if you only get one Hawk album, make it this... brilliance from start to finish! Orgone Accumulator - I still can't work out if the lyrics are genius or profoundly retarded! Avoid all later stuff by Helio Creed. A friend of mine says it sounds like a giant baby stomping on your skull, but to me it sounds lame-O. Note that I added an O to that just to emphasise how lame it is.)

Chrome - Half Machine Lip Moves & Alien Soundtracks (Stooges/Hawkwind crossover?)

I dunno, prog comes in so many different flavours overlapping on almost every musical genre one can think of. All I can say is avoid anything that says "Illusions on a double dimple" on it.

If you're going to look for Gentle Giant, and I recommend it, some titles to get first. They made a good number of records. Freehand, Playing the Fool, the very first produced by Tony Visconti (never released in the US but pretty easy to find), Octopus. And if you want to hear what Gentle Giant sounded like at their least prog, also good, Giant for a Day.

Yes -- Fragile is wonderful place to start. Cue the laser or needle down on "Roundabout."

Atomic Rooster, I recommend, although they're not really prog. First album featured Carl Palmer on drums, though, and has a nice song about mental illness, "Banstead." Lots of Vincent Crane's best was about mental illness, well, because he was mentally ill and wound up committing suicide. There is a breadth of styles all linked by his very singular keyboard sound and songwriting. Early, with John Cann on guitar, they were a very brooding and dark-sounding hard rock band. Then, when they added Chris Farlowe as singer, they sounded like a poor man's James Brown-fronting a dark and brooding funky hard rock band. (I recommend "Nice 'n' Greasy" for that.) And, at one point, they sounded very late in their career like a more straightforward heavy metal band.

There's a lot of absorb with King Crimson. I tend to go back to the live record, USA, a lot. The CD reissue of it was expanded and quite excellent.

Triumvirat was an odd band that emulated Emerson, Lake & Palmer. A lot of their stuff should be in cut outs somewhere. "Illusions on a Double Dimple" or something like that had their poppiest moments. "Spartacus" was their concept album, I think.

Genesis has talked about a lot on ILM. The search function would be helpful.

Oddballs, maybe for cheap: If you see Flash in the cutouts, it's probably worth it. Yes' first guitarist, sent packing, made a couple records in the vein of his old band. Badger's "One Live Badger" was early 70's prog with strong guitar and a Christian slant, not that the latter interferes. Was reissued for cheap on Wounded Bird. Had a Dean cover, too, so someone must have expected big things.

Dunno if you've heard Popol Vuh. Aguirre and Sei Stille, Wisse Ich Bin are probably their "heaviest".

Univers Zero - Heresie, 1313 and Ceux De Dehors are all great, tread warily with their later releases though.

Others : Present, Soft Machine ("3" is the place to start), loads of stuff on Cuneiform. Take a look at progressiveears.com for more discussion of this area! Talking of which - Area. Also, Goblin.

If everything else here floats your boat, then Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come has moments, particularly on "Galactic Zoo Dossier."

In Hearing Of... carries on in the same vein. Featured the singer would would go on to be Cactus fourth album, Ot 'n' Sweaty, the same guy who was the singer for Leaf Hound. Like "Death," it's of the most straightforwardly heavy rock records Crane did. It's not as dark and sinister-sounded as the former.

Then, you might go for the debut.

With Made in England, Farlowe came on board and John Cann left, replaced by another guitarist. This was the start of the band sounding funky, led by a soul-shouter singer. It's definitely a different style although Crane's brooding atmospherics and riffs on the B3 are still dominant. The band got a better handle on it for Nice 'N' Greasy which brings back the hard rock back into the mix more prominently. The expanded version is very good but it's still a change from early Atomic Rooster. It's the kind of thing you'd decide you like if Crane's songwriting and air really grabs you in the earlier material.

An album called Atomic Rooster was made during the NWOBHM and made to fit in with what those fans were listening to. It's their most metal. Headline News followed, and then the band broke up. The former is better.

Well, he did say he wanted 'heavy'...

I think a lot of the problem is that 'prog' stuff that was considered 'heavy' sorta pales in comparison to today's heavy standards. Perhaps checking out the progg-ier end of the hard-rock spectrum might be a good idea? Good call on Kingdom Come!

Re: my initial post, I accidentally put the bit about Helios Creed in the Hawkwind bit, I shouldn't drink as much while posting, but hey, it's New Year's Eve and my housmate keeps plying me with bourbon.

Yeah, indeed!

eww. good advice though. i remember a time when these plains were covered by $5 copies of wolf city...

Any love for ELP on this thread?

Gentle Giant have heavy moments in their songs, but they are the veritable stereotype of the foppish/dainty/British prog band, so I don't know if that would be your thing if you are specifically seeking out 'heavy' stuff.

On the other hand, I'd say you should listen to them anyway, even if they're not a 'heavy prog' band. For me, the best prog bands are the ones who can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.

Getting into Prog sometimes means overlooking flowery "players" passages; Yes are a great example of thia - inbetween the muso pretension, they rock like fuck. Try the last part of "Starship Trooper" and see what I mean. But if you enjoy VdGG's heaviness, listen to as much VdGG as you can get hold of, plus Peter Hamill's solo stuff - they operated in a World of their own.

Gracious
Dust
Spooky Tooth
Juicy Lucy
Savoy Brown
Uriah Heep
Three Man Army
Gun
Frijid Pink
Lucifer's Friend
T2
Babe Ruth
May Blitz

Manfred Mann Earth Band's "Solar Fire" is heavy prog. Be careful with that catalog, though, as that particular album was an exception.

i don't necessarily agree w/this. i think almost everything i've heard from them (up to a certain point) is great. i even got the album from 76 w/that fucking "douche in the night song" and it's good.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf800/f857/f85785sehi4.jpg

Didn't say it wasn't good. Just don't think it has much to offer someone into hardcore prog. Definitely a band that did it's own thing, though.

Savoy Brown really mined the heavy white blooz rock side of things and will always be one of my favorites. "A Step Further" is almost a pure boogie album, really entertaining. "Blue Matter" had the great performance of Lousianna Blues. Getting to the Point is really purist. Street Corner Talking was their best rock and roll album. Simmonds could go all over the place.

scott, have you been to amoeba SF? or just SF in general?

Doctors Of Madness - Figments Of Emancipation

Savage Rose vs. Sadistic Mika Band vs. Curved Air vs. Nectar vs. Be-Bop Deluxe vs. Hackamore Brick

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/9932/oly_keyb.htm

anyone ever hear patrick moraz's mainhorse album? i used to like that thing.

Me too, Sundar. I was just trying to help Clammy's Yesophobia.

And whoever did the hilarious Marcello skit ought to know that he's a big VdGG fan.

Another good Rush one is "Moving Pictures". Possible con is that it's less proggy, but pro is that Geddy Lee tones down the shrillness of his singing somewhat. Standouts are "Tom Sawyer", which is the ultimate statement of Rush w/synthesiser - they take this wack sound, which most other bands would have binned as being way too gimmicky, and build the entire song around it. Also good is "Witch Hunt", which burbles along in its corny horrorshow way until they bring the synthesiser in, at which point it's like being hit w/a brick wall.

I digress, anyway.

Nektar, as mentioned above, are a good pick, especially "A Tab in the Ocean", Eloy have a stack of good tunes, though also an equally-sized stack of sub-Floyd drear, so try before you buy. "Inside" is enjoyably bleak & sinister in places.

Cardiacs are great, though sometimes they aly it on a bit fucking thick. I have an album called "heaven born and ever bright", parts of which sound like they took a stranglers 12" album played it at 78rpm , and based their sound on that. "Cardiacs Live" OTOH, is much better, rocking, heavy & progressive as fuck.

Has anyone mentioned Pavlov's Dog yet? Kind of a 2-album wonder, I forget which of the 2 is better, but "Pampered Menial" and "At the Sound of the Bell" are weird & heavy & intense in places.

Though they probably have a reputation for AOR cheese (fair enough, given that they wrote "Dust in the Wind", FFS), a couple of Kansas' earlier albums are worth scouring the bargain bins for. "Song for America" and "Leftoverture" both have a heavy, thick, gungy sound - 2 keyboard players, guitar (maybe 2 guitars? I forget) electric violin - and feature this relentless driving feel which = really effective. Shortly after "Leftoverture" they suddenly went from being great to sucking, as if someone had thrown a switch.

High Tide were Tony Hill from the Misunderstood and Simon House pre-Hawkwind's band. They mixed Black Sabbath-ish heavyness w/folk rock. Their first 2 albums ("High Tide" and "Sea Shanties" have sections where they lose the thread quite dramatically, but OTOH, when they're together (about 2/3 of the time) it's some of the heaviest music ever recorded. I don't know if this really counts as "prog" tho, although just about thee only plavce I ever read about them is on prog review/discussion sites.

OK, I have to get some work done, so I'll just mention 2 other brit '70's bands who never seem to get any props anywhere, and who seem to have been totally forgotten - Family and Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come. You can't really go too far wrong w/either!

i was excited to see that arkarma has reissued the first album by Byzantium, chaz jankel's old pastoral prog band. the original went for hundreds of dollars and it's supposed to be great. i only have their first major label album.(which i like. and their second major label album is supposed to be a lot better. maybe someone will put that one out.)

Very heavy stuff from French band led by Richard Pinhas - kind of a cross between Red-era Crimson and Tangerine Dream. *Lots* of guitar, and great drumming. Hypnotic and kind of oppressive. Check out Interface

To respond to the first person's question, you may like Balletto di Bronzo's album "Ys"; it's very heavy. Many people seem to say that it takes a few listens before it sets in, but it's an amazing record.

since i always have to: if you like hard & heavy rock that is also quite progressive, buy the one and only album by Keith Relf's Armeggedon. actually, buy the first Captain Beyond record too. These are obvious records that any serious fan of 70's rock should own, but i need to make sure that everyone has copies. okay?

http://music.search.ebay.com/armageddon_Records_W0QQcatrefZC12QQcoactionZcompareQQcoentrypageZsearchQQcopagenumZ1QQfromZR10QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ3QQfstypeZ1QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsacatZ306QQsaprchiZQQsaprcloZ

Where Is The Love For Bobby Caldwell?? No, Not THAT Bobby Caldwell! Bobby Caldwell of Captain Beyond & Keith Relf's Armageddon & Johnny Winter And & Rick Derringer Fame!!

Kingdom Come is great too. as is Captain Beyond. as is most everything mentioned so far. altho I only have one Eloy lp and never play it. I was pretty disappointed.

when I see there is thread about some assumably lame indie dorks called Spank Rock ... I can only think of the mighty "Spunk Rock"
..

Never considered them progressive but if you're going to enjoy some of the Brit band already mentioned here, Man has something to offer.

I should restate, that at the very least several Akarma are boots.
See this thread:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.music.progressive/browse_frm/thread/2ef1a659f9feb62a/ae7cfa790e994ff1?lnk=st&q=Akarma+Bootleg&rnum=1&hl=en#ae7cfa790e994ff1

But I figure if at least several are boots, why bother supporting the label as a whole.

The Mauro Moroni in the thread is the founder of an Italian progressive label (Mellow Records), so he's a pretty credible source.

I have that on cd actually. And a few other Man 2nd hand lp's.