This document provides recommendations for prog rock albums for beginners to listen to, including seminal albums by Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Rush, and Italian prog bands. It recommends starting with Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, Close to the Edge by Yes, Selling England by the Pound by Genesis, In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson, and albums featuring long compositions by ELP. More recent prog influences in bands like Dream Theater, Opeth, and Radiohead are also highlighted.

1. Prog: A Lesson For Beginners.

2. You probably have heard this album
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of The
Moon Stuff you should know
• This is a kind of prog called
Space Rock.
• IT’S GOOD BECAUSE IT
SOUNDS LIKE SPACE.
• SPAAAAAAACEEE
• Always listen to albums like
these in the order they
were intended to be
listened to.

3. Pink Floyd: Beyond the Dark Side
• Some people think that
Dark Side of The Moon is
the only Pink Floyd
album. They have a lot of
other amazing ones.
• My favorites are
“Meddle” and “Atom
Heart Mother” You’ll
really enjoy them. After
you hear those, you can
listen to any Pink Floyd
album and love it.

4. The Holy Trinity

5. Yes
• Yes is an absolute fantastic band because they
were part of the original progressive rock
movement and had a very unique sound at
the time.
• The album you should start with is Fragile
because you’re going to like Roundabout the
first time you hear it, no matter what. Close to
The Edge and Relayer are the albums you
should also buy to start out.

6. Genesis
• Genesis was a prog band
before becoming a pop band.
Their music was theatrical and
whimsical. Peter Gabriel was
their lead singer and he wore
elaborate makeup to show the
characters in his songs. The
albums you should first are
“Selling England By The
Pound”, “Nursery Cryme”, and
“Foxtrot”. Be sure to look up
performances on YouTube
because they’re truly beautiful
performances.

7. King Crimson
• King Crimson is a very
important band in the
progressive rock movement
because they had a more
heavy and technical sound.
Greg Lake was in this band in
the beginning, then he was in
Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
King Crimson had a huge
influence on progressive
metal. The album you should
hear first is “In The Court of
The Crimson King”, then
“Larks’ Tongues in Aspic” then
“Red”

8. Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Here’s another holy
trinity, but this time
they’re all in one band!
Emerson, Lake and
Palmer was very keyboard
driven, and they had a
unique vocalist and odd
time signatures and long
songs broken into
multiple parts. Songs to
start with are “Take A
Pebble”, “Lucky
Man”, “Trilogy” and
“Tarkus”

9. Italian Prog!
• Italian musicians are also
known for their
progressive sound. The
three most popular are Le
Orme, Banco Del Mutuo
Soccorso, Premiata
Forneria Marconi. These
bands are symphonic and
jazzy. Key albums are
“Felona E
Sorona”, “Darwin” and
“Per un Amico”

10. Rush
• There is so much to say about Rush but I’ll try
not to overwhelm you. Rush is a band with 3
people with musical talent that is above and
beyond excellence. Their music takes a huge
amount of skill and patience and they should
be respected for that. The first album you
need to hear by Rush is definitely 2112 and
just about every other album by them.

11. New Prog
• More recent bands have kept the spirit of the
progressive rock movement alive in their
music by fusing the prog style and techniques
into their own to create a whole new sound.
Albums like “Awake” by Dream
Theater, “Heritage” by Opeth, “Ok Computer”
by Radiohead, and“In Absentia” by Porcupine
Tree are some of the more well known
examples of this.

12. Prog Metal
• Progressive Metal is absolutely fantastic because it
brings progressive elements into heavy metal, which
you can tell is a great combination.
• Some of my personal favorite albums are “Operation
Mindcrime” by Queensryche, “Images and Words” by
Dream Theater, “Still Life” by Opeth.
• Megadeth is progressive thrash metal but Dave
Mustaine doesn’t want to admit it even though
everyone knows it. Just listen to Symphony of
Destruction, Holy Wars, or…. Oh well. I’m rambling.
And to conclude this Powerpoint…

13. List of other big important prog bands
to look up
• Camel
• Greenslade
• Van Der Graaf Generator
• Eloy
• Gentle Giant
• Triumvirat
• Mahavishnu Orchestra