Horn and Rabin dumbed - down YES ! They were just another radio - friendly rock band !

It's a very good point Harold. Personally speaking ( and I'm not speaking bad of Rabin ) I'm just wanting to talk about Trevor Horn's influence and production on the very 80's sounding 90125. His work with Frankie Goes To Hollywood , Art of Noise, in fact all of the Zang Tumb Tuum label acts had a very ' house sound ' , and the very clever part of his expert production techniques was to still have the ' YES ' sound, but bring it up to date in that new decade. In that same year I was starting to get hooked on Marillion's Script LP , so although was aware of this new direction of YES , came to be a massive fan of classic YES through Marillion , if you get my thought process. It was part of being a teenager in the early part of the 1980's. YES have been present the whole of my life-time being born in '67... incredible. 😍🎵🎵🤘

Good album.

Your videos are very informative. Thanks. -Wayne (Australia)

Love that Lamb Lies down was #1! Great job Harold!

I wanted to watch this but your audio is way too low.

Some fantastic albums Harold have a great day

Amazing list of great albums Harold. I have a very special place in my heart for the Dire Straits Alchemy Live album too . Back in the late 80's I used to buy a lot of hi-fi equipment. It was kind of an obsession ( prior to married bliss if you like ) , and a CD copy of this amongst others with fabulous sound quality , came along with me... I must have heard ' Once upon a time in the West ' a hundred times... and still play this incredible double album fairly regularly to this day. Loved the video Harold , I'll go and spin Equinoxe now. It's been a while. 😍🎵🎵🤘

Great list!

You have a thing for live albums Harold! Nice list. There are a few albums that have had a significant effect on me throughout my life - some of them the same as your picks... Yes - The Yes Album The first Yes album (and first prog album) I had ever heard. The harmonies and complexity were mind blowing. Genesis - A Trick of the Tail The first Genesis album I'd heard, which started a lifelong love affair with their music for me. ELP - Brain Salad Surgery I'm a classically trained musician, and to hear classical music played by rock musicians in this way was fantastic. Karn Evil 9 pretty much blew me away. The Enid - Six Pieces Again, like ELP, the classical influences were mind blowing. Incrediblely talented musicians who I used to follow to gigs all around England! Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene The first progressive electronic album I bought on the back of the Oxygene 4 single. I liked the rest of the album better - really atmospheric and futuristic. Hawkwind - Space Ritual I remember buying this as a kid because I liked the cover art! Mind melting music that just takes you to another place. UK - Danger Money Really technical and incredible songs which brought the great John Wetton to my attention, who immediately became a major musical influence on me. What a musician that man was. Very nice man too, had the pleasure of meeting him before a gig many years ago. Asia - Asia The hype before this album was released over prog musicians doing AOR was strange, and I didn't think it was possible. But what an album that of course is mainstream, but is proggy, technical and bombastic all at once. Brilliant. Patrick Moraz - i Patrick's first solo album which IMO he has never bettered. I love the fusion elements and myriad of other influences on this crazy record. Rick Wakeman - Criminal Record I liked Rick already as a member of Yes and this was the first solo album of his I bought. Tremendous pieces, with Statue of Justice and Judas Iscariot being standouts. Yes - Going for the One I wouldn't say it was the best Yes album (or the best prog album) like you, but it does contain three of my top ten favourite prog songs - Parallels, Turn of the Century and the best prog piece ever composed, Awaken. Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tear I've loved Marillion in both lead singer incarnations since they started. This is the first of their albums I bought. IQ - Dark Matter IQ are one of these neo-prog bands that never did as well as Marillion. They deserved to, but they were never going to write the hit singles. A brilliant band which included Martin Orford (who was part of John Wetton's solo band) for many years , and this for me is their best album - dark, moody and menacing, and include's IQs "Supper's Ready" in Harvest of Souls. Pink Floyd - The Wall Not the best Floyd album but it's the very first one I heard. The storyline had a profound effect on me, and the effects and charcterisation are incredible.

You didn’t get the title correct. It’s not “one” (1) it’s “equals one” (= 1)

That's a very fair rating, not great but still good.

I haven't heard the Asia album Astra for such a long time. I will have to dig it out. Enjoyed the video Harold. 🎵🎵😍🤘

Great episode Harold

Some decent albums there but only 1 or 2 favourites for me.

Great video Harold. Peter Gabriel's third album was one of the first LP's I ever bought.. love all his work. I would have to choose Marillion's Misplaced Childhood as the 80's best. Cheers Harold. 🎵🎵😍

PS I am in a group called UNIT and much of our work is heavily influenced by progressive rock groups such as Egg, King Crimson and others although I am reluctant to call us a progressive rock group because, quite frankly, I don't believe any of us are technically accomplished enough to deserve such an epithet!

When I saw the title of your video I smiled...because it could be claimed (justifiably or not) that 'prog rock albums from the '80s' is a contradiction in terms, like 'military intelligence'. Both Yes and Genesis consciously attempted to mutate into commercial pop groups during the 1980s. Genesis were successful...Yes were not. I alert the attention of readers to 2 videos made by Spinning Prog: When Did Genesis Go Bad and When Did Yes Go Bad? One might argue that both groups took the word 'progressive' literally and therefore 'progressed' into a new musical idiom. Hm. Well, possibly, but do the results justify such 'progression'? Note: I am aware plenty of people of a certain age might be accused (unfairly) of being biased in favour of those 1970s albums and singles due to their age. Well, I did not discover progressive rock (or indeed any form of pop music) until 2002. Prior to then I only listened to baroque and modern classical music. This means my response to this music is not based on nostalgia. Abacab and Big Generator were as new to me as Selling England By The Pound and Fragile! Perhaps the most successful groups (in terms of aesthetics, not commerciality) were those formed in the decade such as Marillion, IQ and Pendragon although even IQ dallied with pop music for a couple of years in their turbulent career. Anyway, as usual, your video included groups entirely new to me so, also as usual, it was educational as well as entertaining.

Good ranking, glad you included A Secret Wish.

Thank you Harold. I’ve learnt a lot from your show. I’m now a huge Italian Prog Rock fan. - Aussie Vinyl Guy(You tube Channel)

Forgotten to mention Genesis with Duke and Genesis with Genesis from 1983. Also Simple Minds with New Gold Dream and Sparkle In The Rain.

My favourite Deep Purple related project is The Gemini Suite (1971) by Jon Lord with the London Symphony Orchestra under Malcolm Arnold, himself a superb composer. I consider this a vastly superior work to the more widely celebrated Concerto For Rock Group & Orchestra. It is not technically a 'Deep Purple' album, of course, as only Lord, Glover and Paice are featured soloists on it, the others being guitarist Albert Lee (who I much prefer to Blackmore) and singers Yvonne Elliman and Tony Ashton. I mention all this purely because the work has given me so much pleasure over the years and I recommend it if any readers are not acquainted with it.

Well, I don't consider The Beatles progressive rock BUT without The Beatles, prog rock would either never have happened or started much later. Revolver, Peppers and the White Album definitely point proto-progressive rockers in the right direction!

good work

I'm 24 and totally new to prog rock. The only group's I'm into at present are Tangent, UNIT and Myth Of Logic and that's only because I heard about them via The Prog Corner and Spinnin Prog. Your videos are the best (for me) because they make it easy for me to decide where to start and investigate further.

Great list Harold!

Outstanding albums Harold have a great day brother

👍👍 Excellent Harold. Justifiably The Lamb is deserving of top spot , but on another day so would be Tales from Topographic Oceans , and the same with The Wall... Personally , somewhere on the list I would put Soft Machine Third , great video. 🤘😍

Those are all great albums, nowadays more prog albums than not are double, sometimes not for the best.

My top five studio ranking: 1. Machine Head 2. Burn 3. Perfect Strangers 4. In Rock 5. Stormbringer Very good show Harold!

Pawn Hearts for a beginner, that's a difficult listen

Here we go again...proof I really do need to go out more. Instrumental Animals The Who: The Ox. The Who: Dogs, Part 2. Curtis Knight & The Squires: Hornets Nest. Zoot Money & The Big Roll Band: The Cat. Black Sabbath: Rat Salad. The Graham Bond Organisation: Camels & Elephants. The Graham Bond Organisation: Waltz For A Pig. Episode Six: Jackdaw. Cream: Cat Squirrel. Cream: Toad. Curved Air: Cheetah. Camel: Flight Of The Snow Goose. Genesis: What Gorilla? Manfred Mann’s Earth Band: Sloth. Jethro Tull: Cat Squirrel. Jethro Tull: Serenade To A Cuckoo. Jethro Tull: The Pine Marten. The Bluesbreakers: Rubber Duck. The Bluesbreakers: Blue Fox. Green Bullfrog: Green Bullfrog. Cats Squirrel by Cream barelky qualifies as an instrumental because Jack Bruce interrupts proceedings with his 'alright, alright, alright' nonsense and in Jackdaw by Episode Six, Ian Gillan does whisper 'jackdaw' now and then. Green Bullfrog, if anyone is interesed (or even cares) is a 'band' put together by Derek Lawrnece in 1971 to release an album. It features Jon Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Albert Lee, Jim Sullivan and Ian Paice plus other famous people whose names I've forgotten. Ye gods, I really do need to return to my work. This definitely suggests I have to much free time on my hands. Anyway, if anyone else wants to add to this list, feel free to do so.

PPS To Neil36619 - your introduction to prog rock is almost identical to that of Cheung Yiu Munn who was our flute player and bass guitarist from 2002 to 2011. He discovered progressive rock when he was 16 via ELP and Yes. In fact, it is was he who introduced me to progressive rock in 2002 when he joined our group. Before that I only listened to classical music because I dismissed ALL rock and pop music as irrelevant. How's that for musical snobbery? You have a wealth of music ahead of you. I recommend Gentle Giant 'Octopus' although their music requires 3 or 4 listens before any of it starts to make sense.

PS I've just subscribed to your channel because I watched this video again and I'm really impressed that you treated European groups with the same respect usually accorded only to groups from Britain (where I live) and America. I can recommend another Italian group, too: Deus Ex Machina. Their album Cinque (from 2001) I recommend for people who are interested in more recent progressive rock. Their singer, Alberto Piras, is amazing!

What? WHAT? In your whole video you did not once mention these 2 magic words: GENTLE GIANT! Shame on you, sir! However, you compensated by giving us a brace of (to me) unknown groups from the Netherlands. I am acquainted only with Focus so I shall forgive you for omitting Gentle Giant...but only just! Here, how about this for an idea: a video that focuses on Progressive Rock Singles. I know for some people that may seem an incongruous coalition but often a band would release a 7" single and 1 or both tracks never appeared on an album and the tracks were really good. These discs come instantly to mind. Ambrose Slade: Genesis / Roach Daddy Cat Food / Groon Jethro Tull: A Song For Jeffrey / One For John Gee ELP: Fanfare For The Common Man / Brain Salad Surgery Atomic Rooster: Tomorrow Night / Playing The Game Egg: Seven Is A Jolly Good Time / You Are All Princes Curved Air: It Happened Today / When You Blow Yourself Up The Family: Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens / Gypsy Woman The Family: 2nd Generation Woman / Hometown The Family: Today / Song For Lots The Family: Strange Band / The Weaver’s Answer The Family: In My Own Time / Seasons Pink Floyd: Point Me At The Sky / Careful With That Axe, Eugene VDGG: People You Were Going To / Firebrand VDGG: Theme One / W MMEB: I Who Have Nothing / Mann In A Jam Genesis: I Know What I Like / Twilight Alehouse Gryphon: Glastonbury Carol / Crossing The Styles Both Van Der Graaf singles are excellent and, of all the progressive groups, The Family were the one who openly embraced the 7" single as a format to promote their group. I suspect there are umpteen I've forgotten or not inclouded through ignorance but you can see where I'm at with this list. W, Twilight Alehouse, When You Blow Yourself Up...tracks that merit our attention (in my biased opinion) which are lost because they never appeared on an album.

PPS Also, purely by accident, recently I discovered 3 new groups...Deus Ex Machine from Italy, UNIT (from, I think, Scotland) and Refugee...then I realised Refugee are from 1975 (basically The Nice with Patrick Moraz instead of Keith Emerson) and sadly only released one album...while on further investigation I found UNIT are not a proper progressive rock group - they venture into prog territory for certain tracks (i.e. At The Academy, Sun Cycle, Earth Is Finite and others). Deus Ex Machina are probably my favourites at present...what a voice that vocalist has!

An interesting selection. I'm not qualified to agree or disagree so I bow to your superior knowledge of the genre. However, maybe you can answer a question that's intrigued me for many months now. Why does Italy seem to have more progressive rock groups than any other nation in the world? PS Focus are one of my favourite groups although I also enjoy Ekseption...rock the classics!

Hmm...not one of my favourite groups, mainly because I absolutely loathe and detest Ritchie Blackmore...monumentally over-rated guitarist and a prize pillock, too...but the other 4 (Lord, Gillan, Glover, Paice) are damned fine in my book, especially Mr Lord and Mr Glover. If I had to choose 1 album by the band it would be either In Rock or Machine Head. Better still, give me neither of them and in their place, give me Focus instead! Now that's more my kind of band. PS However, The Gemini Suite by Jon Lord is one of my favourite LPs of all time...and Albert Lee shows why he's a vastly superior six stringer to Wretched Crapmore...so there! PPS I discovered your channel after seeing you on that video by Sea Of Tranquility where you discuss Yes.

I hoor you a beetje slecht harold

I would just throw them in at the deep end with Tales from Topographic oceans 😁

As a 12 year old my intro was Pictures At an Exhibition - still ( with Yessongs) my fave live progressive.

That's a great starter kit for a newbie.

Audio is very low…

I gotta say... "Hamburger Concerto" is my favorite Focus album. PFM - "Jet Lag" kicks with that fretless bass. Cool new stuff (to me) Thanks. Peace on earth.

Huge band with a fantastic catalogue. Thank you for your content!

OMG! What a brilliant list. I've only just got into prog so I don't know lots of them. My all time top 5: 1. Phil Collins - Serious Hits Live 2. Chris De Burgh - High on Emotion 3. Dire Straits -Alchemy 4. Queen - Live Killers 5. The Mormon Tabernacle Boys Choir Go Groovy.

Sir, you are evidently a sophisticate! To judge by your taste I think you would enjoy the following 'Prog' albums: 1. The Mormon Tabernacle Boy's Choir Go Groovy, 2. Pop Goes Stockhausen - Various Artists, 3. Jacob Rees-Mogg Sings The Hits Of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Nice one Harold

Harold completely agree with your number 1 choice, saw the Achtung Baby tour ( two dates , Sheffield arena probably the pick as only held 12000 ) amazing album.

Looks like you pulled every live album from your collection, prog or not.