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Top 18 Progressive Rock Albums


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I remember first listening to Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of the Moon' back in 2007/08 time and was blown away by the journey the album took me on. Since then, I've been discovering many great progressive rock bands thanks to the likes of MS and Progarchives.com including Transatlantic, Rush and King Crimson. While it has occasionally been a challenging genre to appreciate (King Crimson's 'Red' took a few spins), it has become a genre I return to often.

So here are my favourites of the subgenre with my rating and release year:

(Score is an average of each album's song ratings, full list located here)

If you discovered any new albums or like the same sort of progressive rock, be sure to give this list a thumbs-up and leave a comment so more people can find these amazing bands!

My other lists:
Top 500 Albums (ordered & rated)
Top 25 EPs (also ordered & rated)
Top 200 Overlooked Albums (with genres)
Top 200 Overrated Albums (trigger warning)
So I Heard You Like Wintersun... (Time II find new bands)

Created by: nonZero | 17.10.2024



1. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
9.88/10 · Progressive Rock · 1973
2. Transatlantic - Bridge Across Forever
9.63/10 · Progressive Rock · 2001
3. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
9.60/10 · Progressive Rock · 1975
4. Rush - Moving Pictures
9.36/10 · Progressive Rock · 1981
5. King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
9.30/10 · Progressive Rock · 1969
6. Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura
9.25/10 · Progressive Rock · 2007
7. King Crimson - Red
9.00/10 · Progressive Rock · 1974
8. Rush - 2112
9.00/10 · Progressive Rock · 1976
9. Transatlantic - The Whirlwind
8.96/10 · Progressive Rock · 2009
10. Spock's Beard - V
8.92/10 · Progressive Rock · 2000
11. The Mars Volta - De-Loused In The Comatorium
8.88/10 · Progressive Rock · 2003
12. IQ - Dark Matter
8.80/10 · Progressive Rock · 2004
13. Jethro Tull - Aqualung
8.77/10 · Progressive Rock · 1971
14. Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
8.75/10 · Progressive Rock · 2013
15. Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick
8.75/10 · Progressive Rock · 1972
16. Rush - Hemispheres
8.75/10 · Progressive Rock · 1978
17. Villagers Of Ioannina City - Age Of Aquarius
8.75/10 · Progressive Rock · 2019
18. Opeth - Damnation
8.63/10 · Progressive Rock · 2003



Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
[ More lists by nonZero ]



Comments

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Comments: 4   Visited by: 13 users
17.10.2024 - 00:26
nonZero
Are there any must-listens I'm missing here?

I've listened to Porcupine Tree, Yes, Genesis and Marillion - all fantastic bands but I didn't enjoy them quite enough to make this list.

Some albums that you may expect to be on this list I might have included on my Top Progressive Metal Albums list.
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Top 500 Albums (ordered & rated)
Top 200 Overlooked Albums (with genres)
So I Heard You Like Wintersun... (Time II find new bands)
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17.10.2024 - 05:31
Roman Doez
Hallucigenia
Having no Yes album in the list is crazy

My immediate recommendations would be for you to check out Camel and Kansas, which are imo peak prog rock. Camel's first four albums are fantastic and Mirage might just be my favourite prog rock album ever. Kansas' first 5 are really great and the band only being known for "Dust In The Wind" and "Carry On Wayward Son" is doing them a massive disservice when they have so many bangers in store.

For lesser known stuff, I think Carol Of Harvest, Earth And Fire, Julian Jay Savarin or Renaissance all have some pretty cool releases worth checking out.

If you're open to weirder, more experimental stuff, I heavily recommend checking out Magma, Eskaton, Weidorje, Area, Koenji Hyakkei, Bondage Fruit or Pochakaite Malko, which all play some variant of zeuhl or avant-prog. Catherine Ribeiro mostly plays avant-folk but she has some more prog rock oriented albums, and I recommend checking out her whole discog in general.
Finally, for some weird half prog half jazz stuff, The Keith Tippett Group is worth checking out as well.
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17.10.2024 - 08:32
AndyMetalFreak
A Nice Guy
Contributor
There's some great album's on this, here's a few I'd recommend:

Yes - Close To The Edge

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus

Genesis - Selling England By The Pound

Eloy - Ocean

Edit: I just realized you weren't taken by Genesis or Yes which is a shame.
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17.10.2024 - 16:55
nonZero
Written by Roman Doez on 17.10.2024 at 05:31

Having no Yes album in the list is crazy

My immediate recommendations would be for you to check out Camel and Kansas, which are imo peak prog rock. Camel's first four albums are fantastic and Mirage might just be my favourite prog rock album ever. Kansas' first 5 are really great and the band only being known for "Dust In The Wind" and "Carry On Wayward Son" is doing them a massive disservice when they have so many bangers in store.

For lesser known stuff, I think Carol Of Harvest, Earth And Fire, Julian Jay Savarin or Renaissance all have some pretty cool releases worth checking out.

If you're open to weirder, more experimental stuff, I heavily recommend checking out Magma, Eskaton, Weidorje, Area, Koenji Hyakkei, Bondage Fruit or Pochakaite Malko, which all play some variant of zeuhl or avant-prog. Catherine Ribeiro mostly plays avant-folk but she has some more prog rock oriented albums, and I recommend checking out her whole discog in general.
Finally, for some weird half prog half jazz stuff, The Keith Tippett Group is worth checking out as well.

I've listened to some Kansas, but will be sure to check out more along with Camel. I'll check out the others, thanks for the recommendations!


Written by AndyMetalFreak on 17.10.2024 at 08:32

There's some great album's on this, here's a few I'd recommend:

Yes - Close To The Edge

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus

Genesis - Selling England By The Pound

Eloy - Ocean

Edit: I just realized you weren't taken by Genesis or Yes which is a shame.

I'll have to give Genesis and Yes another listen. But I'll be sure to check out the others you recommended - thanks again!
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Top 500 Albums (ordered & rated)
Top 200 Overlooked Albums (with genres)
So I Heard You Like Wintersun... (Time II find new bands)
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