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

Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories
Artist: Barclay James Harvest

Like the work of Buffalo Springfield or the Moody Blues in the first go 'round, you'll need to take it on faith that the Baroque touches on Barclay James Harvest & Other Stories were effective for their time. The fuzzed guitars, mellotron, bongos, heavy orchestration, and dreamy arrangements may sound stilted today, but strip them away (or... 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

Cyborg
Artist: Klaus Schulze
Community Score: 8.00

From the early days of electronic experimentation in the pop field, Klaus Schulze's second solo album still today it stands as one of the most powerful examples of ambient pulse music ever conceived. The dense layers of rhythm and synthetic tone colors melt into a seamless, flowing soundscape of melody, motion and spatial effects. It's a... Read More

Irrlicht
Artist: Klaus Schulze
Community Score: 8.75

Schulze's solo debut is a masterful album featuring some of the most majestic instances of space music ever recorded, all the more remarkable for being recorded without synthesizers. "Satz Gewitter," the first of two tracks and the highlight here, slowly progresses from oscillator static to a series of glowing organ lines, all informed by... 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

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

Broken Barricades
Artist: Procol Harum
Community Score: 10.00

Despite the departure of organist Matthew Fisher, Procol Harum survived, and this album is ample proof. Fisher was one of the prime architects of the Harum sound, and his work on such classics as "Shine on Brightly" and, of course, "Whiter Shade of Pale" underline that. Procol continued as a four-piece, and it was indeed a good thing that they... 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

Hamburger Concerto
Artist: Focus
Community Score: 5.95

Focus had well proven their ability to write rocking instrumentals by the time of this release. Their catalog, although consisting of four albums, rarely had a dull moment between them. Hamburger Concerto is equally consistent, much of it being prime Focus material. The Akkerman-written "Birth" and "Early Birth" are examples of Focus fully... Read More

Barclay James Harvest/Once Again - ONE WAY
Artist: Barclay James Harvest

One Way reissued Barclay James Harvest's first and second Harvest albums on a single disc in 2003. Both Barclay James Harvest and Once Again are similar in that they fuse rock and classical music similar to Genesis, the Moody Blues, and ELO. Once Again was especially ambitious, as it features the London Symphony Orchestra throughout. Fans should... Read More