Progressive rock is by far and away the largest segment of my collection. Happy to say that I continue to love this genre just as I did when it first made its appearance in my life some 45 years ago. Because it's the largest, the number of titles I let go might seem relatively large, but it's only a small fraction of what I own. I'm including various prog subgenres here too. Neo Prog is another style that I've really become nostalgic about. I'm not so much interested in new variations of the sound or contemporary groups though, so those will struggle to survive (I have very few like that anyway). Mostly I'm interested in the 80s variety with some holdovers into the early 90s (plus bands that continued on like IQ). One subgenre I don't care for is what is known as Modern Prog. Later Porcupine Tree, RPWL, Flower Kings, Pineapple Thief, Spock's Beard, Riverside, that kind of stuff. I never had much of that to begin with. I felt more and more distanced from my prog brethren starting in the late 90s and that continues to this day. A completely different approach to progressive rock than where I come from. They like it - I don't. The retro prog renaissance of the 2010s brought me back strong to "modern day" prog. I probably have too much of that as well, but for now, all are making the grade. Someday I'll have to sharpen the knife more. But I have a lot more rope to use before that happens.
Mind Gallery - Guilty Until Proven Rich. 1995 private. Fine Genesis styled instrumental prog from Canada. Just not enough meat on this bone.
Miguel Rios - La Huerta Atomica. 1995 Si-Wan (1976). Probably more like Art Rock than prog. Fairly vocal heavy. Rios is no progger, but comes from the singer songwriter school. Similar to some Italian artists of the day looking to spread their wings into more experimental fare. Not a bad album at all.
Deluge Grander - Oceanarium. 2017 Emkog. Some notes from 2018: "I need more time with this one. It's quite dense. Not liking the lack of a real drummer, and the tinny AM radio production. Hopefully it opens up for me, but I see this as the weakest of the 4 albums to date.". I'm quite fond of the other Deluge Grander albums but something is seriously amiss with this title.
Mary Newsletter - Del Perduto Coraggio. 2000 Mellow. A well done, Pink Floydish styled prog album with psychedelic overtones. No peak moments though.
Maldoror - L'arbre-Cimetière. 2004 private. This one was a toughy. You really have to be in the mood for the French Theatrical prog of Ange and Mona Lisa to get into this album. And I do appreciate both bands - in smaller doses. But this was just too much to handle.
Warm Dust. 1995 Red Fox (1972). This was paired with Peace For Our Time, which I've since acquired the original UK LP. Double whammy here: 1) It's a pirate. I've dumped just about all of those out of the collection over the years. 2) This, their 3rd album, is a significant drop off in quality from the first 2. Not near as progressive, and more standard rock fare. So I'm not bothering to get the LP. None of these ever did get reissued legit.
Witsend - Cosmos and Chaos. 1993 Entropy. I have a soft spot for this title, which I credit for helping to bring back the Midwest USA style of prog rock which I enjoy so much. They evolved into Syzygy, and it's there the band really took off. This album is more of a hodge-podge demo styled record. Had to go.
Minimum Vital - Atlas. 2004 Musea. You won't find too many fans out there that are as enthusiastic about Minimum Vital than me. I love their blend of heavy instrumental prog with Medieval European melodies. Sarabandes is among my favorite albums of all time. But they've thrown in a couple of Just-OK albums over the years. And this is one of them. It's too much digitalitis for me. Not that Minimum Vital were ever a 70s styled analog band, but they took it a bit far here.
Madrigal - On My Hands. 1996 InEarVisions. Honestly I don't remember much about this title. It was part of a recent bulk buy of prog CDs that were very cheap (2022), and most of which were great. This one didn't move the needle, but it wasn't offensive either. It's already sold.
Knight Area - The Sun Also Rises. 2004 The Laser's Edge. I can take or leave modern variations of neo prog. The music is recognizable and very good. But there's no emotional pull here. I feel like I'm reminiscing about old girlfriends - with a new girlfriend. Bad analogy to use with my wife I think...
Satellite - A Street Between Sunrise and Sunset. 2003 Metal Mind. As above.
Kotebel - Mysticae Visiones. 2001 Musea. Kotebel is a band I've written extensively about in the past. Their later albums are fantastic. This one still needed more ingredients and a better recipe. I could say the same for their next album, and then they caught fire.
King Crimson - Official Bootleg - Live in Argentina 1994. 1995 Discipline Global Mobile. This was a thrift shop find. I'm just not a big fan of this era of King Crimson, though I did see them live in Denver near this time.
Priam - 3 Distances / Irregular Signs. 1998 Musea. Some of these modern instrumental prog albums come across as too cold for me these days. Good album though. I still have the second, which will be evaluated eventually.
Porcupine Tree - Signify. 1996 Ark 21. This is where I begin to lose Porcupine Tree. I really like its predecessor though.
Terutsugu Hirayama - Castle of Noi. 1988 Crime. I had a hard time letting this go, even though I knew objectively this kind of 80s digital prog coming from Japan was no longer to my liking. At one point I had most of the Teru's Symphonia albums too. Japan was the most active scene in the late 80s for progressive rock, and at that point in my life, it all sounded good! They're all sold off now - this was the last one. End of an era.
Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom. 1998 Thirsty Ear (1974). My original notes say: This one is highly revered by many of my friends. No matter how hard I try, I can't get into it that much. I received a comment that stated: "Re. 'Rock Bottom' - I too have never been able to fathom why it is so revered. It has never resonated with me despite being a big fan of all the various Canterbury bands."
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