Moving Waves
Artist: Focus
Community Score: 8.07

The album that boosted Focus into at least semi-fame outside of continental Europe, Moving Waves blasts off with their hit single, "Hocus Pocus." Built around a killer guitar hook by Jan Akkerman and a series of solo turns by the band, this instrumental replaced "Wipeout" as a staple of FM radio. The bizarrely hilarious vocal and accordion solos... Read More

Lord of the Rings
Artist: Bo Hansson

The best of Bo Hansson's albums, and one of the few progressive rock instrumental recordings that still holds up on repeated listening. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy provide the inspiration for a series of strange, other-worldly tracks that transcend their source material. Hansson's keyboard playing is quite unlike the work of such... Read More

The Dark Side of the Moon
Artist: Pink Floyd
Community Score: 8.51

By condensing the sonic explorations of Meddle to actual songs and adding a lush, immaculate production to their trippiest instrumental sections, Pink Floyd inadvertently designed their commercial breakthrough with Dark Side of the Moon. The primary revelation of Dark Side of the Moon is what a little focus does for the band. Roger Waters wrote... Read More

Hero and Heroine
Artist: The Strawbs

The group's ballsiest album to date, a surging, hard-rocking follow-up to Bursting at the Seams, which debuted a new lineup, Richard Hudson, John Ford, and Blue Weaver having left to form their own group. In their places, ex-Nashville Teens keyboardman John Hawken and the more muscular rhythm section of Rod Coombes and Chas Cronk make their... Read More

Per un Amico
Artist: PFM
Community Score: 9.70

This is PFM's brilliant follow up to Storia di Amico, both of which are considered progressive rock classics, and for good reason. The diversity, complexity, and integrity of the music here is as fine as anything produced during the early '70s from other prog rock giants such as Yes, Genesis, or King Crimson. The lyrics are in Italian and, while... Read More

Storia di un Minuto
Artist: PFM
Community Score: 9.50

The debut recording from Italy's favorite sons of progressive rock. The band had been appearing as special guests in support of bands such as Procol Harum, Deep Purple, and Yes, in addition to playing several festivals. Their hard work paid off, and the result is this excellent recording. Recorded live in the studio, PFM proved they were every... Read More

Fragile
Artist: Yes
Community Score: 8.40

The band's breakthrough album, dominated by science-fiction and fantasy elements and new member Rick Wakeman, whose organ, synthesizers, Mellotrons, and other keyboard exotica added a larger-than-life element to the procedings. Ironically, the album was a patchwork job, hastily assembled in order to cover the cost of Wakeman's array of... Read More

Bursting at the Seams
Artist: The Strawbs
Community Score: 10.00

The 1998 remastering of the Strawbs' best album (A&M 540-936-2 is the new catalog number) sports the finest sound of any of their CDs, which, by itself, would make this purchase worthwhile -- the detailed notes and the presence of three bonus tracks -- the shorter, punchier single version of "Lay Down," "Will Ye Go," and "Backside" -- only add... Read More

Home
Artist: Procol Harum
Community Score: 7.00

The group's hardest-rocking classic album is, beyond some superb vocalizing by Gary Brooker, principally a showcase for Robin Trower's high-powered guitar and a rock-hard rhythm section, with B.J. Wilson only a little less animated than Ginger Baker on some of the music. Procol Harum had a split personality by this time, the band juxtaposing... Read More

Photos of Ghosts
Artist: PFM

The group's phantasmagorical debut English-language album (sung phonetically), originally released on ELP's Manticore label, is filled with beautifully melodic, classically based songs; strong inclinations toward psychedelia; and a refreshingly open and airy sound, free from the thick Germanic textures of competing classical rock bands.... Read More

McDonald & Giles
Artist: McDonald & Giles
Community Score: 4.50

Following the meltdown of the original King Crimson lineup, Ian McDonald and Michael Giles brought brother Peter Giles back, which helps to account, in some ways, for the resemblance of this album to the 1968 Giles, Giles & Fripp recordings -- though the songs here tend to go on at some length, combining prog rock's traits of length and multiple... Read More

Camembert Electrique
Artist: Gong
Community Score: 4.50

This is a classic, the epitome of the band's early Daevid Allen phase with Ph.P.'s (pothead pixies) in full, blazing glory. In its infancy, Gong was a unique prog rock band that branched out in all directions at once while most other prog bands chose simply one path or another. Camembert Electrique is a testament to that. The band's eclectic... Read More

The Yes Album
Artist: Yes
Community Score: 8.37

The album that first gave shape to the established Yes sound, build around science-fiction concepts, folk melodies, and soaring organ, guitar, and vocal showpieces. "Your Move" actually made the U.S. charts as a single, and "Starship Trooper," "Perpetual Change," and "Yours Is No Disgrace" became much-loved parts of the band's concert repertory... Read More