What's your progressive top 5

5, you could have made it 10, much easier then. 

Genesis - Seconds Out

Steve Hackett - Voyage of the Acolyte

Steve Wilson  - Grace for Drowning

Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

Marillion - Script for a Jesters Tear

Rush - Hemispheres, Moving Pictures

Genesis - SO

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

Yes - Fragile.

To-days list as Lontano says, 5 is difficult. Ask tomorrow and it may/will be different.

Who is counting ...... 

Prog/Rock (20 Great albums)

01. Eldorado - The Electric Light Orchestra

02. Valentyne Suite - Colosseum 

03. Brain Salad Surgery - Emerson Lake & Palmer

04. Aqualung - Jethro Tull

05. The Alchemist - Home

06. Pawn Hearts - Van Der Graaf Generator

07. In The Court of The Crimson King - King Crimson

08. Sheet Music - 10CC

09. Every Good Buy Deserves Favour - The Moody Blues

10. Erpland - The Ozric Tentacles

11. Once Again - Barclay James Harvest

12. Ring of Hands - Argent

13. In The Hearing Of - Atomic Rooster

14. Friens, Friends, Friends - Audience

15. The Roaring Silence - Manfred Mann's Earth Band

16. Crime of the Century - Supertramp

17. Ashes Are Burning - Renaissance 

18. Octopus - Gentle Giant

19. Spooky Two - Spooky Tooth

20. The Man in the Bowler Hat - Stackridge

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Prog/Folk (5 Albums that are great, but not Prog/Rock in the usual sense)

1. Anthems In Eden - Shirley & Dolly Collins

2. Sandy - Sandy Denny

3. The Garden of Jane Delawny - Trees

4. Liege & Lief - Fairport Convention

5. Parcel of Rogues - Steeleye Span 

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Psych/Rock (5 Very influential albums)

1. Sgt Pepper - The Beatles

2. SF Sorrow - The Pretty Things

3. Odessey and Oracle - The Zombies

4. Mr Fantasy - Traffic

5. Death Will Be Your Santa Claus - Second Hand

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Psych/Folk (5 Very interesting albums)

1. The 5000 Spirits or The Layers of An Onion - Incredible String Band

2. Just Another Diamond Day - Vashti Bunyan

3. The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter - Incredible String Band

4. The Machine That Cried - String Driven Thing 

5. Gryphon - Gryphon

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Canterbury Scene

1. Whatevershebringswesing - Kevin Ayers & The Whole World

2. Land of Grey & Pink - Caravan

3. Rotters Club - Hatfield & The North

4. Fifth - Soft Machine

5. Rock Bottom - Robert Wyatt

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Greenlandic Progressive Album

1. Sumut - Sume (in fact probably my favourite Greenlandic record from any genre). 

Of course, I've left some great records out that could be considered Prog/Rock, but I stuck 'em under Rock/Space in iTunes and there's loads of great German records too. 

I never think of US bands as Prog which is just as well or it would be a case of

Welcome Back My Friends To The List That Never Ends ..... . 

Y'all will think I am joking, but I am not.

The Decemberists "Hazards Of Love"

add it to whatever other four of your choice.

regards

Jeff A

The Decemberists "Hazards Of Love" is a great album, I think it is their best. 

Guy - some big mistakes in your ISB selection (psych/folk category)! 

The Hazards of Love had my single favourite comment from a review (The Guardian):

Some self-imposed rules here; nothing post '80 and no more than two Genesis albums in my top 5.

So, counting down...

5) ELO - Out of The Blue.  It could so easily have been Eldorado.  This one often gets overlooked, yet despite the hits, it's pure prog through and through.  Hey, it manages to dedicate an entire LP side to a themed suite - The suite in question is Concerto For A Rainy Day. And you get to build a cardboard spaceship...

4) Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed.  Two superb songs here.  The entire album split into times of the day. The London Festival Orchestra.  A progressive landmark, and better in parts than you remember, so go and give it another listen.

3) Pink Floyd - Meddle.  Echoes - and the rest is rather good too.

2) Genesis - Trespass. The Knife.  Almost the perfect prog album, but the boys weren't quite there yet...

1) Genesis - Nursery Cryme. Musical Box, Giant Hogweeds, Fountains of Salmacis...  just about the perfect prog album and one I return to over and over.

And not forgetting Harold the Barrel who cut off his toes and served them all for tea.......

So let's follow the challenge and add a couple of albums:

Ayreon - The Human Equation

Roine Stolt - The FlowerKing

Unitopia - The garden

Pain of Salvation - Be

Phideaux - Number Seven

Porcupine Tree - Fear of a blank planet, and....

Sorry I only realized what was progressive for 2 years, since my chief (synthesizer genius who got courses by internet from the organ player of Dream Theater himself) explained it to me that his favorite band Dream Theater was progressive rock...he always wanted to become better and some day all classic music and metal is annoying, no challenge anymore.

So definately  Dream Theater which I begin to like and understand.

Today I read that Marillion was prog...I always loved them- Fugazi is in my ears their masterpiece....

I imagine that these bands could also be "called" a little bit progressive even if it's called Grunge-who cares

Pearl Jam

perhaps

Alice in Chains

Ministry

perhaps Smashing Pumpkins...but I don't like them

hf

It's obviously difficult to classify 'progressive' as a genre. I was under the impression that the progressive period only spanned a short period from the late '60s to the mid '70s when it was largely killed off by punk.

In no particular order, here are a few of my favourites but it depends on my mood:

Crazy World of Arthur Brown ST Track

Steamhammer MkII ST CBS

Black Cat Bones 'Barbed Wire Sandwich' Deram Nova

Sam Apple Pie ST Decca

Groundhogs 'Blues Obituary' Liberty

Jethro Tull 'Aqualung' Chrysalis

Khan 'Space Shanty' Deram

Caravan 'ITLOGAP' Deram

Whalefeathers ST Blue Horizon

Clark-Hutchinson 'A=MC2' Deram Nova

Tempest ST Bronze

Emerson Lake and Palmer ST Island

+ many more

The correct answer is, of course...

Pawn Hearts

Godbluff

Still Life

H to He Who Am The Only One

The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other

In Second Place...

Red

Lizard

Larks Tongues in Aspic

Starless and Bible Black

In the Court of the Crimson King

Solo Prog

The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage

Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night

In Camera

Nadir's Big Chance   - Punk Prog!

Over

Miscellaneous prog

L

Fish Rising

(Music inspired by) The Snowgoose

Mirage

If I could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You

Steven Wilson...

Signify

The Sky Moves Sideways

Stupid Dream

Lightbulb Son

In Absentia

Back in the day, in my teenage years I was regarded by my friends as 'Mr Prog'.  Having to boil down to five rather than even the proverbial Desert Island's eight is a torture!  If I really have to boil it down to five, this is probably it.  In the end, five mainstream classics of the genre rather than more 'niche' stuff.  (And hope it's not cheating, but the first three are live for best content bang-for-buck.  So, for example, I get the whole of ELP's Tarkus and Karn Evil 9.)

In no particular order:

Jethro Tull: Bursting Out

Genesis: Seconds Out

ELP: Welcome Back My Friends

King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King

Pink Floyd: Meddle

If I could have the 'Desert Island eight', I'd add some more contemporary pieces, which I guess some would consider not to be Prog at all...

Elbow: Asleep in the Back

Muse: Origins of Symmetry

Portishead: Live NYC Roseland

Bert,

This question has come up in many forms over the years on here.

You might like to do a search?

You will find many wonderful lists of Prog albums.

I can never pick 10, so a top 5 will be right out.

I have so many great prog albums ,I just find it to hard to choose.

Listening to Zappa  now on BBC Radio 6 music.

Stu.