The Best Prog Rock Album in the World…Ever – Various Artists
This is one of the last CDs I bought. A wicked compilation showcasing a massive range of prog bands covering Canterbury scene, Zappa and even the first sprouts of New Romanticism.
Disc 1 is a fantastic introduction to the genre. Titans of prog like Genesis, Yes and Hawkwind join ELP, Focus and Jethro Tull to coax you in to the dreamy world of Prog. A kind of Prog 101.
Then onto the medium stuff. Disc 2 features Oldfield, Procol Harum, Barclay James Harvest before mellowing and evolving into Roxy Music (wtf?) and ELO (Wtfwtf?).
Finally, disc 3 dips into the obscure. The bands that only true prog fans talk about in whispers over pints of real ale, pot bellies and beards. Camel, Egg, Greenslade and solos from both Hillage and Hackett.
This is a phenomenal compilation. I used to loan it out as a kind of intro to Prog for people who needed educating in the finer points of Progressive Rock. I could turn the whole thing into a lecture on progressive rock and waffle on to interested parties for over 3 hours about it and yet still only cover the first 2 discs.
Sadly there is some prog missing. Pink Floyd doesn’t feature nor does Triumvirat or Rush. Not even a sniff of King Crimson (though probably for the best) and Thotch…well…that must surely be an oversight. Or perhaps their omission is down to licensing issues which, as we know, is guaranteed to spoil anything music related in order to line the fat pockets of recording company executives. Including blogs about personal record collections.
You want this compilation if you even want to begin to understand why Prog is such a fabulous genre. You want this compilation before you start dating that guy with the strange smell from the IT department. You want this compilation. Just for the music….
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