Top albums

[Nicky007]

These are the albums that have meant most to you - that have been a revelation to you, that you hold dear (not the ones you listen most to currently, or have listened most to, altho of course there will be an overlap).

We can also ask each other questions about these albums, why they mean so much and stuff ....

- Nicky

[Nicky007]

OK, guess I'll start - in the order of their revelation to me (to the extent that memory allows) 

Waiting For The Sun  (Doors)
Flowers  (Stones)
Their Satanic Majesties Request  (Stones)
Wheels Of Fire  (Cream)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Abbey Road
Cheap Thrills  (Big Brother and the Holding Company)
Zep II
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Tommy  (The Who)
Benefit  (Jethro Tull)
Atom Heart Mother  (Pink Floyd)
Santana I
Zep III
Meddle  (Pink Floyd)
The Dark Side Of The Moon
Seventh Sojourn  (Moody Blues)
Blind Faith  (Self-titled)
Metamorphosis  (Iron Butterfly)
Diamond Dogs  (David Bowie)
Yellow Brick Road
Sheer Heart Attack  (Queen)
Crisis? What Crisis?  (Supertramp)
The Wall
A New World Record  (E.L.O.)
Darkness On The Edge Of Town  (Bruce Springsteen)
Deceptive Bends  (10cc)
The Original Soundtrack  (10cc)
Dire Straits I
Dangerous  (Michael Jackson)
Going For The One  (Yes)
QE2  (Mike Oldfield)
Page Of Life  (Jon & Vangelis)
Tripod  (Alice in Chains)
Contagion
Scenes From A Memory
Ghost Reveries  (Opeth)
Isolate  (Circus Maximus)
This Godless Endeavor  (Nevermore)
The Twilight Chronicles  (Ten)
Zero Order Phase  (Jeff Loomis)
Nostradamus  (Judas Priest)
Age Of Impact  (Explorers Club)
Collision Course  (Royal Hunt)
Outworld I

- Nicky

[Nicky007]

It's natural that there are four Floyd albums in my list: My youth was all about Floyd 

- Nicky

[Peter]

Wow, ok, nostalgia and all is allowed, so here's my list, in no particular order... well maybe chronologically, which means, when I got to know them, not when they were made, which again could correlate, but not necessarily... anyways... So, if I were to show the aliens the most vital pieces of music for me, this would be my list. The bold ones are the albums I would bring if they also wanted to take me to their planet

Kraftwerk - Die Mensch-Maschine
Kraftwerk - Computerwelt
Both were my father's presents for my tenth birthday (1982), as audio cassettes. Still have them, they still work.

Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene
Tangerine Dream - Stratosfear
Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
Ultravox - Lament
Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement
Simple Minds - New Gold Dream
Human League - Dare
Talk Talk - It's my Life
Duran Duran - Rio
The Art of Noise - Who's afraid of...
Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Welcome to the Pleasuredome
Boytronic - The Working Model
Depeche Mode - Construction Time Again
Eurythmics - Be Yourself Tonight
Bronski Beat - The Age of Consent
The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4
R.E.M - Reckoning
Heart - Heart
Jethro Tull - The Broadsword and the Beast
Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going!
Marillion - Real to Reel
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood
Bruce Hornsby - The Way it is
Saga - Heads Or Tales
KLF - The White Room
Matt Bianco - Whose Side Are You On
Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Sting - Bring On The Night
Toto - IV
ZZ Top - Eliminator
Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Arena - Immortal
Arena - Contagion

...phew... quite lengthy, sorry.

[Draco chimera]

Contagion of course. Foxtrot was perhaps one of the first albums I ever listened to in its full length, so it definitely has a place in my list. I don't listen to it that often know, but I still know all the songs by heart - not the lyrics, because I was too young to understand english at the time I listened to it most, but the music. Musically, my father put me on the right track from the very beginning 
There are probably more albums I should cite here, I'll list them down as I think of them.

[PH]

Nice topic!

I'll have to think for a while...

[Nicky007]

...phew... quite lengthy, sorry.

Dont matter, Cap, on the contrary. Very interesting 

Wow, ok, nostalgia and all is allowed

Brings back loootta memories, donit 


It's interesting that there are only two albums that we both have:  The Wall and Contagion 

Guess there are a multitude of paths to Arena 


Several of your groups I missed entirely 

- Nicky

[Nicky007]

I still know all the songs by heart - not the lyrics, because I was too young to understand English at the time I listened to it most, but the music.

Musically, my father put me on the right track from the very beginning 

Dads can be very useful 

There are probably more albums I should cite here, I'll list them down as I think of them.

Yup, do that, Draco. Better still, note them for yourself along the way, and then make a full list, like Cap and me 

- Nicky

[Nicky007]

It's interesting: The albums group easily into the different periods of my life, but within periods the order is hazy.

- Nicky

[PH]

I love these kind of topics. So I'm brewing a very long post. I'll post it in a while.

[Bupie]

Simple Minds - New Gold Dream 
Duran Duran - Rio 
Jethro Tull - Crest Of A Knave 
Marillion - Misplaced Childhood 
Toto - IV 
Arena - Contagion 

Those above, I share with you.

I am pleased to see Crest of A Knave in your list, it must not be quoted very often on favorite albums lists but songs like Budapest or She Said She Was A Dancer are just brilliant.

I won't make a list but I will tell my personal story about some of my favorite albums when I find enough time. I'll begin with the prog ones 

[PH]

These are the albums that have meant most to you - that have been a revelation to you, that you hold dear (not the ones you listen most to currently, or have listened most to, altho of course there will be an overlap).

The more I think of it, the more I begin to think I don't understand entirely.
There are a lot albums I like, there are still a lot albums I love, but there are also albums that I don't "love", but which I still consider as a major revelation or a catalyst for my journey in prog.

I like Nicky's idea of putting the list in (more or less) order of chronological discovery.
Anyway, here are some of mine:

Genesis - "Wind And Wuthering"
In the beginning (although long after God created the heavens and the earth), I was only listening to Genesis. I started listening to them in 2004, when my dad introduced me to them by playing the song Duchess to me. It was then that I began to see the light, that it was good. I started listening to Genesis' albums after that. But only the Phil Collins albums, because I couldn't stand Gabriel's voice. More on that later. Anyway, "Duke" was a really cool album, the before mentioned Duchess was magical and I especially loved (still do) the instrumental song at the end of the album. But what really blew my mind, was the romantic "Wind And Wuthering". The guitar playing, and the synths... Man, the synths! It is total brilliance. I also liked "A Trick Of The Tail", but it was still a bit too quirky for me at that time. I created a mp3 disc with the whole Genesis discography on it and listened to all the Collins era Genesis albums. Nothing else.

Arena - "Contagion"
In late 2004, or possibly early 2005, a colleague of my dad's said to me, if you like Genesis, you should listen to Arena. So I downloaded "Contagion" off some obscure Russian mp3 website ( ). At first I thought it was awful! "This is nothing like Genesis, this is metal!" Hehehe. Yet somehow I kept going back to it. It intrigued me. And then, suddenly, I fell in love with it. Totally. This really set my Prog journey in motion, because Arena made me want to discover more music like this.

Arena - "The Visitor"
After clicking with "Contagion", I downloaded all the other albums and also put them on a mp3 disc. I remember how I thought that "The Visitor" was something special. It's a bit slower than "Contagion" but it has such depth. Not only musically, but also lyrically. Yet I couldn't figure out what it was about. I also remember buying this album at a stand at the Kino concert months later. Someone saw me buying it and said: "Good choice" and I replied: "I know."

Arena - "Songs From A Lions Cage"
To me, this album is the textbook example of Neo-Prog. Especially because of Clive's characteristic big sweeping synths. For some reason this album always brings back memories of my summer vacation in France, in 2005. I already knew this album by then, but this experience was so great, that I link this album to this moment every time I hear it. Sitting in front of the tent, watching the mountains and forest before me, while listening to this masterpiece. Thinking how it is possible that I never heard anything like that ever before... Musically, I have been kept in the dark my whole life. This album reflected the scenery I was looking at: strong, majestic and beautiful.

Genesis - "Selling England By The Pound"
Like I said before, I only listened to the Genesis albums on which Phil Collins was the lead singer. I couldn't help but think Peter Gabriel's voice was a bit strange. Until the day (or night) I fell asleep while listening to my Genesis mp3 disc and I woke up and found out the disc had started again from the beginning. I don't know which album or song I heard then (probably something like Nursery Cryme or Foxtrot), but suddenly I liked it a lot better. The music was much more adventurous than Phil's pop music. I started listening to the classic Genesis albums and fell in love with SEBTP.

Dream Theater - "Octavarium"
I learned of Dream Theater's eighth (but my first) album through a school teacher. Man, this was heavy stuff! It made me revise my initial thought about "Contagion". That album was no metal at all. These Dream Theater guys could play really fast. I just had to (wait for it) download all of their albums. Which led to...

Dream Theater - "Metropolis, Part 2: Scenes From A Memory"
...and...

Dream Theater - "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence"
SFAM and disc 2 of SDOIT are two sides of the same coin. Really love it that the songs are linked to each other. I really like concept albums. The first song of the first disc (and some songs on SFAM) were still a bit too heavy for me at that time. But after a while I also came to like them and was ready for "Train Of Thought".

Kino - "Picture"
In my search for more music like Arena, it was just a matter of time before I would discover Kino. Their debut and only album is the very first album I ever bought. It's also the first band I've seen live (10 december 2005). Actually, now I think of it, that would be For Absent Friends, who were the support act. I loved (and still do) every song on this album. But what would you expect in a "Top albums topic"?

Ayreon - "The Human Equation"
I think I listened to this one thanks to James LaBrie's involvement. It was checking out side projects and solo albums by members of my favourite bands and this one was sooo good! And thanks to Ayreon I discovered a lot of other bands.

In less than a year, might even have been half a year, I discovered a lot of new music. Mostly by downloading whole discographies... I'm not saying this is true in all cases for everyone, but in my case, downloading definitely led to buying. I'm sorry if anyone is offended by my constant talking about downloading... it's just the way my life story goes. The good news is: it'll be fine in the end. It was an exciting time. After that 2005 summer vacation I joined this forum and I was exposed to a lot more music. Including...

Neal Morse - "One"
This was probably the first Neal Morse album I listened to. I was blown away by the bombast and the fun. Yes, I can imagine the musicians were having a great time recording these songs. Apart from the excellent music I was surprised that the lyrics were so radically Christian. They were so much better (deeper and biblical) than the lyrics in the christian music my friends and family were listening to. I still get emotional everytime I listen to The Creation ("Why? Why are you hiding? You were ashamed", etc: a brilliant rendition of the first turning point in human history.)

Transatlantic - "Bridge Across Forever"
After discovering Neal Morse's "One", "?" and "Testimony" (in that order) I craved for more. So Transatlantic and Spock's Beard were the next step. Although I think "The Whirlwind" might even be a bit better, "Bridge Across Forever" was special to me because it is my first Transatlantic album.

Porcupine Tree - "Deadwing"
"Deadwing" made a big impression on me when I first heard it. It's still one of my favourite albums of all time and I think the overall best of Porcupine Tree.

Porcupine Tree - "The Sky Moves Sideways"
This is the best of the early Tree albums. It's also the first real band effort. It's so trippy at times and really dark.

Frost* - "Milliontown"
I actively followed the making of "Milliontown" from its beginning till the end. I still remember listening to Black Light Machine on MySpace. I really liked how Jem kept in touch with his fans through podcast videos. The outcome of this album was phenomenal. A very fresh and modern Prog album.

A.C.T - "Last Epic"
I was searching through ProgArchives.com, obsessively searching for gems. I still remember that very moment when I randomly clicked the mp3 of a song called Torn By A Phrase and was totally blown away! Amazing! I downloaded ( ) the album and found out that every song was awesome. This album is a masterpiece! I downloaded the other albums. I went to a concert in 2007 were I finally bought all of their albums. Anxiously waiting for their next album, which I will buy instantly without hesitation. I think A.C.T is the first prog band I discovered on my own instead of 'my dad', 'a school teacher', 'through links with another band' or 'this forum'. It feels special.

These are all albums that were/are special to me and had a big impact on me personally. I have to say, these days there are albums that I consider to be better than the ones I posted above, but they didn't overwhelm me anymore. Probably because the bar is raised quite a bit now.

Perhaps my post is a bit beyond the purpose of this topic, but as you can see I'm very passionate about music. I just can't help it.

[Peter]

Those above, I share with you.

I am pleased to see Crest of A Knave in your list, it must not be quoted very often on favorite albums lists but songs like Budapest or She Said She Was A Dancer are just brilliant.

actually, this was a mistake. I meant: The Broadsword and the Beast
corrected that. Crest of a Knave has two or three songs I like, but it didn't click with me, I remember.

[Nicky007]

Thanx, guys, all very interesting 

The more I think of it, the more I begin to think I don't understand entirely.

We just do it the way it falls natural to us. You did it nicely, Paxi, lotta details. I might add some details myself ....

I'm very passionate about music.

I thought I was the one 

I had forgotten Collision Course in the first run, but it sure did make an impact on me 

- Nicky

[Iggy]

Must try harder with the 90's

70's
Mike Oldfield – Tubular bells
Rick Wakeman – Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Genesis – Wind & Wuthering, Selling England by the Pound
Yes – Fragile, Close to the Edge, Yessongs
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here, The Wall
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graphiti, Four Sticks
Beatles -  Abbey Road, Sgt Peppers
Nektar – Recycled
Jean Michelle Jarre – Oxygene
Pat Travers – Makin Magic
Focus – Moving Waves
Rush – 2112
ELP – Trilogy
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
ELO – Out of the Blue
Queen – A night at the Opera
Sparks - Propaganda
Monty Python – Monty Python's Previous Record

80's
Frank Zappa – Joe's Garage
Marillion – Script for a Jesters Tear
Jethro Tull – Broadsword and the Beast
Peter Gabriel – Peter Gabriel
Steve Hackett – Spectral Mornings
Richard Thompson – Daring Adventures
Lou Reed – Transformer
Ian Gillan – Mr Universe
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms

90's
They Might be Giants – Flood
Oasis – What's the story?

00's
IQ – Dark Matter
Spocks Beard – V
Ayreon – The Human Equation
Porcupine Tree – In Absentia
Arena – Contagion
Rain - Cerulean Blue
Therion – Gothic Kabbalah
Roger Waters – Amused to Death
Galahad – Empire's Never Last
Anathema – Judgement, Weather Systems
Gazpacho - Night

[PH]

Must try harder with the 90's

How about some Arena, Spock's Beard, Anathema, IQ, The Flower Kings, Ayreon, Marillion, Dream Theater? Just a few ideas.

[Nicky007]

Sparks - Propaganda

OK, another Sparks fan 

Rather unusual 

However, in my case, I wouldnt say that they were a revelation - but very enjoyable 


Yeah, Iggy, guess you're just those years younger, you missed the excitement of Meddle, Zep II, Cheap Thrills 

I'd say you're a bit softer than me. Never got into Alice in Chains, Opeth, Nevermore ?

- Nicky

[Iggy]

How about some Arena, Spock's Beard, Anathema, IQ, The Flower Kings, Ayreon, Marillion, Dream Theater? Just a few ideas.

The years are when I first heard the CD's not when they were made.

Alas I was unaware of Arena, IQ Spocks beard etc. in the 90's

OK, another Sparks fan 

Rather unusual 

However, in my case, I wouldnt say that they were a revelation - but very enjoyable 


Yeah, Iggy, guess you're just those years younger, you missed the excitement of Meddle, Zep II, Cheap Thrills 

I'd say you're a bit softer than me. Never got into Alice in Chains, Opeth, Nevermore ?

- Nicky

I am softer 

I took you atyour word at the top of the post. They are all Albums that grabbed me at the time not necessarily the best Albums.

It was a gut list rather than a desert island disc list.

I still remember where I was when I first heard Recycled - Nektar

[funkster]

Police - Regetta de blanc - first album i bought
Duran Duran - Rio - fave early teenage album
Iron Maiden - Live after death - first proper "metal" album and still an amazing live album
The Beatles - Abbey road - Liverpool's finest 
Marillion - Anaroknophobia - album that brought me back to them and into prog
Metallica - Master of puppets - further into metal and my intro to thrash
ABC - Lexicon of love - most glorious pop album of all time

Good thread this

[Nicky007]

It was a gut list rather than a desert island disc list.

Mine was too, Iggy - altho they all are very listenable today too 

Police ... ABC

Is this all the revelation there is in your life, Funky ?

Iron Maiden - Live after death - first proper "metal" album and still an amazing live album

Yes, after a heap of Zep, Priest, and Sabbath albums, One Of These Days, Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, and lots more 

But maybe you meant your first metal album ?

The Beatles - Abbey Road - Liverpool's finest 

Yup, one of the absolute greatest rock albums 

- Nicky

[Bupie]

Is this all the revelation there is in your life, Funky ?

Do you mean that Police was a lesser band that should not have moved Funkster ? As far as I am concerned, if I had to pick a track that synthetises everything I love about music, So Lonely would be my choice. Police had a distinctive sound of its own, a bunch of great songs in their catalogue and they made a huge impact on a whole generation (let's say almots everybody that was born in the 60's). Where I differ from Funkster is that I would pick Outlandos over Reggata 

I won't try to sell you ABC too since it's hard to pretend that they were an essential band but Beauty Stab is a great album that I still play rather often. So once again, I join Funkster but I pick Beauty over Lexicon 

[Nicky007]

Do you mean that Police was a lesser band that should not have moved Funkster ?

Bupie, what I meant was that Cap, Iggy and I listed some 40 groups each, while Funky had only 7, and Funky and Cap are about the same age 

I won't try to sell you ABC too since it's hard to pretend that they were an essential band

To say the least. I know over 2000 bands - more or less - so I know my rock ABC, and I'v never heard of the band ABC 

- Nicky

[Iggy]

Bupie, what I meant was that Cap, Iggy and I listed some 40 groups each, while Funky had only 7, and Funky and Cap are about the same age 

To say the least. I know over 2000 bands - more or less - so I know my rock ABC, and I'v never heard of the band ABC 

- Nicky

I bet if you heard some ABC songs you would recognise them.

I think Trevor Horn might have produced their albums.

[Peter]

I bet if you heard some ABC songs you would recognise them.

I think Trevor Horne might have produced their albums.

Oh yessss, the almighty Trevor Horn. You will find a large number of albums he produced in my collection.

[Nicky007]

I bet if you heard some ABC songs you would recognise them.

Give me a couple of links, Bupie ... 

- Nicky