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Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s.
PROG ARCHIVES intends to be the most complete and powerful progressive rock resource. You can find the progressive rock music discographies from 12,504 bands & artists, 75,615 albums (LP, CD and DVD), 2,061,626 ratings and reviews from 69,300 members who also participate in our active forum .
- 3 min
- Jon Dolan,Brandon Geist,Jon Weiderhorn,Ryan Reed,Kory Grow,Reed Fischer,Richard Gehr,Dan Epstein,Will Hermes
- Happy the Man, ‘Happy the Man’ (1977) Formed in a James Madison University dorm room, Washington, D.C.- based Happy the Man recorded three venerated, mostly instrumental prog albums in the late 1970s, striking a seductive middle ground between sax-driven jazz-fusion lunacy (circa Zappa's One Size Fits All) and synth-heavy meditative twittering.
- Ruins, ‘Hyderomastgroningem’ (1995) Beaming down from the far reaches of the prog-rock galaxy, this Japanese drums and bass duo slam together mathematically improbable meters and dissonant blasts of rhythm with nonsense wails or demonic growls.
- FM, ‘Black Noise’ (1977) Superficially, Toronto-based FM had a lot working against them: Aside from Rush, Canada was never a prog hotbed, and the band released its debut album in 1977, as many of the genre's originators were fading.
- Crack the Sky, ‘Crack the Sky’ (1975) American rockers aren't known for their prog ambitions, and the bands that did push the boundaries usually slipped through the commercial cracks.
- Premiata Forneria Marconi: Photos of Ghosts
- Marillion: F.E.A.R.
- Badger: One Live Badger
- Genesis: Selling England by The Pound
- Procol Harum: Exotic Birds & Fruit
- Marillion: Misplaced Childhood and Clutching at Straws
- Rush: Hemispheres
- Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans
- Camel: Mirage
- Supertramp: Crime of The Century
The Italian band Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) was the first second-generation prog band, cutting their teeth on Jethro Tull and King Crimson covers. By the time of their American debut, they’d found their own style, with a strong sense of pastoral melody and European folk influences (their heavier rock side would come out in time). Purists prefe...
Marillion’s second incarnation with singer Steve Hogarth is still a bit underrated, despite his being in place since 1989. Though they’ve done pop on occasion, the Hogarth-led band took its cue from the Brexit and Trump era to go conceptual once again in 2016 (the title stands for “F… Everyone and Run”). F.E.A.R is less about specific politics than...
Perhaps the most obscure entry on a list of greatest prog rock albums, Badger was keyboardist Tony Kaye’s short-lived post-Yes band, along with Jon Anderson’s pre-Yes bandmate David Foster on bass and vocals (Anderson produced this live album, from a show that Yes was headlining). Kaye plays some of his finest recorded solos and the rhythm section ...
Though they were through with side-long tracks, Genesis’ imagination continued to run wild on Foxtrot’s followup, with Peter Gabriel inhabiting a rogue’s gallery of characters and the band’s playing getting more muscular; “Firth of Fifth” and “The Cinema Show” became oft-played career standards. And wonder of wonders, the whimsical “I Know What I L...
Though many Procol Harum diehards will always prefer the Robin Trower era, the band was even grander on this later effort with the equally fine Mick Grabham on guitar. The first half of Exotic Birds & Fruitreaches a heavenly peak with the extended ballad “The Idol,” and Side Two offers “Butterfly Boys,” one of the funnier slaps a prog band has ever...
Original singer Fish’s tenure with Marillion, which only lasted four albums, ended with two conceptual epics. Misplaced Childhoodis often considered the peak, since it had two indelible singles (“Kayleigh” and “Lavender”) and dealt with the timeless prog theme of loss of innocence and the end of a pivotal love. Yet Clutching at Straws is in retrosp...
Hemispheres was the deepest into prog that Rush ever got, with a side-long piece full of interlocking musical themes and a fascinating storyline (about two civilizations that represent the left and right sides of the brain). Flip it over and there’s “La Villa Strangiato,” Rush’s longest, trickiest, and most impressive instrumental. There are also c...
History tends to give this one a bad rap: With four side-long pieces based on Hindu Shashtric scriptures, it’s got to be dense and impenetrable, right? Wrong: Most of Tales From Topographic Oceansis as gorgeously melodic as anything Yes ever did, and the band charges hard, newly fortified by drummer Alan White. To name just one moment, Rick Wakeman...
At this early stage, Camel was perched midway between prog and fusion: Their second album Mirageis two-thirds instrumental (the next, The Snow Goose, had just one brief vocal), and it’s largely hinged on the interplay of keyboardist Peter Bardens and guitarist Andy Latimer, both dazzling soloists. But Mirage also has “Lady Fantasy,” their most roma...
Though it produced a major UK hit (and one that predated punk) with “Bloody Well Right,” Crime of The Centurywas actually Supertramp’s deepest album, with songs about a tortured soul’s descent into madness: “Rudy,” “Hide in Your Shell” and “Asylum” form a highly emotive and rather dark trilogy. It makes it even more surprising that Supertramp becam...
- Brett Milano
- 5 min
- Yes, "Close to the Edge" From: Close to the Edge(1972) How did Yes do this? Seriously? Even beyond the vast emotional impact of "Close to the Edge," this 19-minute rock symphony is a marvel of construction — like any towering skyscraper or suspension bridge.
- Genesis, "Supper's Ready" From: Foxtrot(1972) It's a guaranteed eternal perfect prog-rock song. But it's also demented: Peter Gabriel delightfully inscrutable text nods to Egyptian pharaohs, Christian theology, Greek mythology, "Winston Churchill dressed in drag" and shadowy, supernatural beings; meanwhile, the band cooks up everything from layered 12-strings to treated pianos to carnivalesque pop hooks — and somehow it all hangs together, adding up to a 23-minute spectacle longer than most sitcom episodes.
- King Crimson, "21st Century Schizoid Man" From: In the Court of the Crimson King(1969) We'll all be debating "the first prog song" until we're dead, but it's hard to argue against "21st Century Schizoid Man."
- Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody" From: A Night at the Opera(1975) Queen are one of those classic fringe-prog bands. A good portion of their early work fits the bill of grandiosity — on the other hand, no one's mistaking "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" for a Yes tune.
Jun 9, 2023 · The 50 Best Prog Rock Bands Ever. Ranging from the genre’s earliest groups to modern-day stalwarts, we count down the best of the best. Published on. June 9, 2023. By. Brett Milano. Rush -...
Jun 7, 2021 · Progressive Rock Guide: A Brief History of Prog Rock. Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 • 4 min read. Since the 1960s, progressive rock has pushed the boundaries of rock n' roll music to incorporate longer song forms, conceptual lyrics, and advanced composition techniques.
