"Prog's crowning achievement" — Which LP is it?

I think the song "Red" itself is justifiably prog. "One More Red Nightmare" as well.

 

What actually happened was after making big statement after big statement the bands went a bridge too far (Tales From Topographic Oceans, A Passion Play etc) and when they weren't as big as their previous chart topping efforts they all retreated into relatively 'safe' albums. The British public like to think of rock musicians as wolves rather than sheep so abandoned prog in droves in favour of the more rebellious punk.

 

Foxtrot

I can understand the votes for Close to the Edge though. It's right up there.

 

I see where you're coming from but I never thought they couldn't co-exist whenever the prog side had something to say. For me the best prog album of 1977-8 was "Pink Flag". I still went and saw Yes later in 1978, although by then they were "then" and other stuff was "now".

 

pretty solid comments from wildstar

 

I agree, and I think the beauty of the whole thing is that they can co-exist - it's like the perhaps apocryphal tale about how after wearing a t-shirt proclaiming that "I hate Pink Floyd", John Lyndon stated (a few years later) that he actually loved Pink Floyd...

 

As usual, the majority of posts ignore the original premise of the thread - *not* your personal fave as most seem to have posted. As much as I love Pawn Hearts, Lamb Lies Down, etc etc....when sticking to the OP's thought I would have to say Close to the Edge or Brain Salad Surgery.

 

You could say that it's Yes' ultimate album. That is indisputable.

 

Hmmm...I see where you are coming from with that but in that vein I'd say Chairs Missing fits the "prog" (progressive) a bit better.

And on a slightly related note, from that era, I'd give a nod to The Stranglers with "The Raven" - while a lot of the classic prog bands were trying to streamline into simpler radio-friendly cuts and failing (like Love Beach) this band came from the other direction - kept their signature sound but added more non-4/4 timings - sometimes with members playing in different timings, loads of proggish synth lines, vocoders etc.

 

Probably Fragile.

 

Currently I'd probably plump for......... Motorpsycho - Here Be Monsters, from this year. The reason for that being that, "Prog" is not static it's meant to absorb influences as it grows and "Here Be Monsters" doesn't sound like the last 40 years never happened yet, it has all the classic hallmarks you expect from "Prog". I.M.S is an absolute killer of a track.

 

it has to be
THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY

it's so over-the-top conceptually
and you have to take into account the whole stage presentation with Peter and all the costumes...
that's all part of the "prog" too.

and those proggy arty lyrics!
I think it is definately the most lyrically
beautiful poetic imagery of any prog album.

and it's so totally self indulgent like all great prog albums.

AND.....it was made to be a film.
it's all so far reaching...

it's the total package.

 

If we can call "Pink Flag" prog, then to me "Chairs Missing" and "154" are equally magnificent...

 

Double thumbs up to the person that just mentioned Motorpsycho.

 

Again, Relayer .... Sticking with the OP, I truly do feel it's the apex of prog rock. It's a mean and uncompromising album that you can actually physically feel is pushing the medium of music forward ....

I would have said CTTE but I feel it's a step back from Fragile and not as fascinatingly nutzoid as Tales. The title track is epic but then, to my ears, Bruford is basically asleep on side 2. Makes sense that he quit moments later. It dogs the album for me though and the Yessongs versions smoke the entire studio recordings. Relayer actually tops itself as it unfolds and by the end of To Be a Over you really feel like you've been pummeled mercilessly and then sent out into bliss on a calm warm ocean.

I can't say enough about Chris and Alan on the album. They strike the perfect balance between being technical yet playing with sheer physicality, brutality and from the heart. You can really feel them throwing their entire bodies and souls into their playing.

 

I think that, like a lot of their punk era peers, they grew more expansive and experimental with each album, from the stripped down minimalism of Pink Flag to the sprawling soundscapes of 154 in just a couple of years. The Stranglers started doing bizarre concept albums, while the Damned dabbled in psychedelia and even a side long art suite ("Curtain Call"). After prog had exhausted itself, post-punk picked up the progressive mantle for a time. But of course, this is a whole different thread. . .

 

Yeah, but H to He and World Record are both better than Pawn Hearts, just saying.

 

Side 1 of Tales From Topographic Oceans.
Side 1 of Thick As A Brick.
All of Selling England By The Pound.
All of Brain Salad Surgery.

 

I'm also thinking the remix puts Tales up there with CTTE and Fragile.

 

I prefer H to He as well, though Pawn Hearts is no slouch. I need to revisit World Record. I dig most of it though they start to lose me with the extended jam. . .

 

Fripp would say no; the rest of the universe, save for a few stragglers, say yes.

 

Getting into personal prefs, for me the mid-70's VdGG was best represented by Still Life - it had all of the best VdGG elements to it, musically and lyrically...but all those VdGG records are pretty tops in my books.

 

Tales seems to be enjoying the Wilson bump here these days! As much as I enjoy his remix, it hasn't yet changed my underlying view of this project--that it was an ambitious, innovative but flawed effort, the point where their reach exceeded their grasp. I'll give them credit for pushing themselves beyond their limits right at the point where they were breaking through commercially. There are plenty of great moments but they do go astray at times too, particularly on side three, which is an unfocused and frustrating listen to me. Free improv was not really their strong suit, but then towards the end, they tack on the "Leaves of Green" section, which feels like an unrelated song, so "The Ancient" just doesn't hold together in the same way as "The Revealing Science of God" (the best thing here, hands down).

I think they were at their best when they struck a better balance between those exploratory tendencies and more focused composition. It's kind of funny because I often enjoy some of the more "out there", improvisational stuff with other bands--King Crimson, Gong, Soft Machine, Can, Area--but with Yes, I prefer the classic three to Tales and Relayer. I'm not afraid of an extended epic (now playing: Magma's Köhntarkösz!), but it's ok to do shorter tracks too when the material calls for it. As Mylene mentioned earlier, it seems like a lot of the big prog bands pushed themselves to the limit in '73-'74, sometimes with mixed results, before pulling back and trying to ride the changing musical tides.

 

Red, Brain Salad Surgery, In the Court, Wish You Were Here, Rock Bottom, Fragile, or Close to the Edge depending on the day...

JK

Faust