phanan
Blue Crack Addict
Please vote for the tracklist you LIKE THE MOST.
Welcome to the FINAL of the B&C Prog Island Album Game! This competition is essentially edition 2.5 of the Desert Island Album Game, serving as a mini-tournament bridging the gap between the second and third editions, and we are trialling some new format ideas. This tournament alters the basic premise of the game a little. Instead of being stranded on a desert island and seeking the best tracklist to enjoy while there, we're heading off to Prog Island to savour the best that the prog genre has to offer. There is a strong emphasis in this competition not just on good individual songs, but on creating a cohesive work of musical art.
In the semifinals, GibsonGirl defeated Screwtape2 in a very close match, winning 5-4, while phanan overcame liamcool by the score of 7-3. Since we won't be doing a third place game for this competition, Screwtape2 is awarded third place as his overall record is better than liamcool's (2-2 vs. 1-3).
The totals for our two finalists are as follows:
Forum name: total competition points, won, lost, votes for, votes against, votes difference
phanan: 8, 4, 0, 29, 15, +14.
GibsonGirl: 8, 4, 0, 31, 19, +12.
Since both finalists are undefeated, if the final ends in a tie, the winner will be decided based on overall votes difference.
The final features phanan against GibsonGirl. Below are the tracklistings.
Forum name: phanan
phanan writes: When I set out to do this, I briefly considered constructing it around a certain theme, but in the end, I decided that the best theme was to present an overall snapshot of how vast the progressive rock music genre is, from its early beginnings in the late 60's to now. Consequently, a majority of the artists represented here are well-known, and a good portion of the selections will be ones that are quite familiar to most people. But it's the beauty of arranging those songs in a certain way (and mixing them in with either more obscure titles or cuts that break away from the traditional progressive vein), that tend to give them a certain musical freshness when you listen again. Let's face it - you're not going to hear Anathema and Kraftwerk back-to-back very often, but it's amazing how the two songs by these artists work so well together in this sequence (due in no small part to the major presence of the vocoder on both). Same thing with King Crimson and Can. Who knew that such a well-known epic with quite the sudden ending would work well being followed by a 3 minute tour-de-force of improvisational and experimental sounds with strange vocals. But hey, that's what progressive rock is all about, isn't it?
I have several important notes to a few of the tracks listed here. The third song is by Asia. Yes, this is the supergroup from the 80's that became a brief sensation in the corporate rock world, but by the dawn of the 1990's, this group as we knew it ceased to exist, and transformed itself into more of a progressive entity. Having only one original member during this era (Geoff Downes, the keyboardist), they took on an entirely new sound that worked on some albums and misfired on others. Their crowning achievement came in 2001 with the album Aura, a beautiful piece of work that is highlighted by "Free". Take a listen for yourself and tell me they're the same group (the original members have since reformed though, which is a shame, because they'll never match what this other version came up with at times).
There will be other selections that people unfamiliar with progressive rock may raise an eyebrow at. Electric Light Orchestra? You mean ELO? They're not prog! To be fair, they did take a turn to a more conventional rock sound as their albums progressed, but in the early 70's, they were as progressive as anyone else. There certainly weren't too many bands out there combining rock with classical music. I'd say that's progressive. And Kraftwerk are the true pioneers of electronic music, creating a unique sound never heard before. Why? Because they were progressive.
Finally, when you look at my listing, I will be indicating the original albums where the selected songs come from, because people should know where to look first if interested in hearing more. However, for the purposes of this playlist, two selections will not technically be drawn from those albums due to different edits being available, or for sound quality purposes. The first is "The Cinema Show" by Genesis. You'll find this song on the classic Selling England By The Pound album, but the version on my playlist actually comes from the Platinum Collection, which has better sound quality and a nice fade out that worked well here for sequencing purposes. Also, with ELO's "Mister Kingdom", a version from the Flashback box set was used because of the use of a fade out, whereas with the original album it's on (Eldorado), it goes right into the next song. Other than those two, everything else is the original album version.
Enjoy!
1. Porcupine Tree - "Even Less" - Recordings (14:06)
2. Dream Theater - "Metropolis, Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper" - Images And Words (9:32)
3. Asia - "Free" - Aura (8:12)
4. Spock's Beard - "At The End Of The Day" - V (16:29)
5. Tangerine Dream - "Cloudburst Flight" - Force Majeure (7:26)
6. Genesis - "The Cinema Show" - Selling England By The Pound (10:49)
7. Kansas - "The Pinnacle" - Masque (9:37)
8. Electric Light Orchestra - "Mister Kingdom" - Eldorado (5:08)
9. King Crimson - "The Court Of The Crimson King" - In The Court Of The Crimson King (9:26)
10. Can - "Spoon" - Ege Bamyasi (3:04)
11. Crack The Sky - "Ice" - Crack The Sky (4:38)
12. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "Knife Edge" - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (5:06)
13. Yes - "Starship Trooper" - The Yes Album (9:27)
14. Rush - "The Camera Eye" - Moving Pictures (10:59)
15. IQ - "Failsafe" - Subterranea (8:57)
16. Pure Reason Revolution - "The Twyncyn/Trembling Willows" - The Dark Third (7:16)
17. Porcupine Tree - "Anesthetize" - Fear Of A Blank Planet (17:45)
18. Anathema - "Closer" - A Natural Disaster (6:19)
19. Kraftwerk - "Europe Endless" - Trans Europe Express (9:39)
20. Vangelis - "Pulstar" - Albedo 0.39 (5:46)
21. Pink Floyd - "Echoes" - Meddle (23:31)
22. Tangerine Dream - "Sequent C'" - Phaedra (2:17)
23. Transatlantic - "Bridge Across Forever" - Bridge Across Forever (5:33)
24. The Third Ending - "Fingerprints" - The Third Ending (28:25)
Total Time: 239:21
Forum name: GibsonGirl
GG writes: I must have gone through at least twenty different ideas and track combinations before eventually settling on this playlist. I wanted to include a few songs with progressive elements that wouldn't scare away anyone at Interference trying prog for the first time, as well as songs that would appeal to seasoned fans of the genre. As a result, my list is a bit 'mainstream' at times (if you could use that word to describe prog, ha) with one or two songs that are not strictly progressive but are certainly influenced by it. And what would a prog competition be without a concept? I started off with Pink Floyd's "Echoes" for a reason - some songs (but not all, for the sake of variety) subtly 'echo' other songs on the playlist. Some of these 'echoes' are more obvious (e.g. "Echoes" and "The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning" share a lyric in common) and others are more obscure (e.g. there is a small vocal melody in "Let It Grow" that sounds rather similar to one in "Dogs".) I did this to create an extra sense of cohesion between artists who are all very different. There were four songs that I simply had to leave off, and those have gone into my 30 minute
contribution for the Supertracklist. Check out the long Eloy suite for some fantastic music (just try to ignore the horrible German accent on the vocals)
and "It's A Long Road" from Supertramp's incredibly under-rated debut album. Hope you enjoy it.
1. Pink Floyd - "Echoes" - Meddle (23:28)
2. Nektar - "Let It Grow (Radio Promo)" - Remember The Future (3:51)
3. Genesis - "Firth Of Fifth" - Selling England By The Pound (9:37)
4. Kayak - "Reason For It All" - See See The Sun (6:30)
5. Yes - "Siberian Khatru" - Close To The Edge (9:00)
6. Utopia - "Hiroshima" - Ra (7:15)
7. Gentle Giant - "Three Friends" - Three Friends (5:26)
8. Änglagård - "Jordrök" - Hybris (11:11)
9. Camel - "Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider" (9:17)
10. Supertramp - "School - Crime Of The Century" (5:34)
11. Kayak - "Trust In The Machine" - Kayak (8:18)
12. Van Der Graaf Generator - "Man-Erg" - Pawn Hearts (10:21)
13. Pink Floyd - "Dogs" - Animals (17:08)
14. Roger Waters - "4:50 AM (Go Fishing)" - The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking (6:59)
15. David Gilmour - "Murder" - About Face (4:59)
16. King Crimson - "One More Red Nightmare" - Red (7:07)
17. Queen - "Bicycle Race" - Jazz (3:02)
18. Rush - "Beneath, Between And Behind" - Fly By Night (3:04)
19. David Sylvian & Robert Fripp - "20th Century Dreaming (A Shaman's Song)" - The First Day (11:53)
20. Passengers - "United Colours" - Original Soundtracks 1 (5:30)
21. Ozric Tentacles - "Jurassic Shift" - Jurassic Shift (11:04)
22. Richard Wright - "Along The Shoreline" - Broken China (4:36)
23. Pure Reason Revolution - "The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning" - The Dark Third (11:56)
24. Porcupine Tree - "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" - Deadwing (12:02)
25. Marillion - "Chelsea Monday" - Script For A Jester's Tear (8:17)
26. Ayreon - "Time Beyond Time" - Into The Electric Castle (6:04)
27. Porcupine Tree - "Radioactive Toy" - On The Sunday Of Life (10:00)
28. Anathema - "One Last Goodbye" - Judgement (5:23)
Total runtime: 03:58:52
Competition master list.
Have fun and vote!
Welcome to the FINAL of the B&C Prog Island Album Game! This competition is essentially edition 2.5 of the Desert Island Album Game, serving as a mini-tournament bridging the gap between the second and third editions, and we are trialling some new format ideas. This tournament alters the basic premise of the game a little. Instead of being stranded on a desert island and seeking the best tracklist to enjoy while there, we're heading off to Prog Island to savour the best that the prog genre has to offer. There is a strong emphasis in this competition not just on good individual songs, but on creating a cohesive work of musical art.
In the semifinals, GibsonGirl defeated Screwtape2 in a very close match, winning 5-4, while phanan overcame liamcool by the score of 7-3. Since we won't be doing a third place game for this competition, Screwtape2 is awarded third place as his overall record is better than liamcool's (2-2 vs. 1-3).
The totals for our two finalists are as follows:
Forum name: total competition points, won, lost, votes for, votes against, votes difference
phanan: 8, 4, 0, 29, 15, +14.
GibsonGirl: 8, 4, 0, 31, 19, +12.
Since both finalists are undefeated, if the final ends in a tie, the winner will be decided based on overall votes difference.
The final features phanan against GibsonGirl. Below are the tracklistings.
Forum name: phanan
phanan writes: When I set out to do this, I briefly considered constructing it around a certain theme, but in the end, I decided that the best theme was to present an overall snapshot of how vast the progressive rock music genre is, from its early beginnings in the late 60's to now. Consequently, a majority of the artists represented here are well-known, and a good portion of the selections will be ones that are quite familiar to most people. But it's the beauty of arranging those songs in a certain way (and mixing them in with either more obscure titles or cuts that break away from the traditional progressive vein), that tend to give them a certain musical freshness when you listen again. Let's face it - you're not going to hear Anathema and Kraftwerk back-to-back very often, but it's amazing how the two songs by these artists work so well together in this sequence (due in no small part to the major presence of the vocoder on both). Same thing with King Crimson and Can. Who knew that such a well-known epic with quite the sudden ending would work well being followed by a 3 minute tour-de-force of improvisational and experimental sounds with strange vocals. But hey, that's what progressive rock is all about, isn't it?
I have several important notes to a few of the tracks listed here. The third song is by Asia. Yes, this is the supergroup from the 80's that became a brief sensation in the corporate rock world, but by the dawn of the 1990's, this group as we knew it ceased to exist, and transformed itself into more of a progressive entity. Having only one original member during this era (Geoff Downes, the keyboardist), they took on an entirely new sound that worked on some albums and misfired on others. Their crowning achievement came in 2001 with the album Aura, a beautiful piece of work that is highlighted by "Free". Take a listen for yourself and tell me they're the same group (the original members have since reformed though, which is a shame, because they'll never match what this other version came up with at times).
There will be other selections that people unfamiliar with progressive rock may raise an eyebrow at. Electric Light Orchestra? You mean ELO? They're not prog! To be fair, they did take a turn to a more conventional rock sound as their albums progressed, but in the early 70's, they were as progressive as anyone else. There certainly weren't too many bands out there combining rock with classical music. I'd say that's progressive. And Kraftwerk are the true pioneers of electronic music, creating a unique sound never heard before. Why? Because they were progressive.
Finally, when you look at my listing, I will be indicating the original albums where the selected songs come from, because people should know where to look first if interested in hearing more. However, for the purposes of this playlist, two selections will not technically be drawn from those albums due to different edits being available, or for sound quality purposes. The first is "The Cinema Show" by Genesis. You'll find this song on the classic Selling England By The Pound album, but the version on my playlist actually comes from the Platinum Collection, which has better sound quality and a nice fade out that worked well here for sequencing purposes. Also, with ELO's "Mister Kingdom", a version from the Flashback box set was used because of the use of a fade out, whereas with the original album it's on (Eldorado), it goes right into the next song. Other than those two, everything else is the original album version.
Enjoy!
1. Porcupine Tree - "Even Less" - Recordings (14:06)
2. Dream Theater - "Metropolis, Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper" - Images And Words (9:32)
3. Asia - "Free" - Aura (8:12)
4. Spock's Beard - "At The End Of The Day" - V (16:29)
5. Tangerine Dream - "Cloudburst Flight" - Force Majeure (7:26)
6. Genesis - "The Cinema Show" - Selling England By The Pound (10:49)
7. Kansas - "The Pinnacle" - Masque (9:37)
8. Electric Light Orchestra - "Mister Kingdom" - Eldorado (5:08)
9. King Crimson - "The Court Of The Crimson King" - In The Court Of The Crimson King (9:26)
10. Can - "Spoon" - Ege Bamyasi (3:04)
11. Crack The Sky - "Ice" - Crack The Sky (4:38)
12. Emerson, Lake & Palmer - "Knife Edge" - Emerson, Lake & Palmer (5:06)
13. Yes - "Starship Trooper" - The Yes Album (9:27)
14. Rush - "The Camera Eye" - Moving Pictures (10:59)
15. IQ - "Failsafe" - Subterranea (8:57)
16. Pure Reason Revolution - "The Twyncyn/Trembling Willows" - The Dark Third (7:16)
17. Porcupine Tree - "Anesthetize" - Fear Of A Blank Planet (17:45)
18. Anathema - "Closer" - A Natural Disaster (6:19)
19. Kraftwerk - "Europe Endless" - Trans Europe Express (9:39)
20. Vangelis - "Pulstar" - Albedo 0.39 (5:46)
21. Pink Floyd - "Echoes" - Meddle (23:31)
22. Tangerine Dream - "Sequent C'" - Phaedra (2:17)
23. Transatlantic - "Bridge Across Forever" - Bridge Across Forever (5:33)
24. The Third Ending - "Fingerprints" - The Third Ending (28:25)
Total Time: 239:21
Forum name: GibsonGirl
GG writes: I must have gone through at least twenty different ideas and track combinations before eventually settling on this playlist. I wanted to include a few songs with progressive elements that wouldn't scare away anyone at Interference trying prog for the first time, as well as songs that would appeal to seasoned fans of the genre. As a result, my list is a bit 'mainstream' at times (if you could use that word to describe prog, ha) with one or two songs that are not strictly progressive but are certainly influenced by it. And what would a prog competition be without a concept? I started off with Pink Floyd's "Echoes" for a reason - some songs (but not all, for the sake of variety) subtly 'echo' other songs on the playlist. Some of these 'echoes' are more obvious (e.g. "Echoes" and "The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning" share a lyric in common) and others are more obscure (e.g. there is a small vocal melody in "Let It Grow" that sounds rather similar to one in "Dogs".) I did this to create an extra sense of cohesion between artists who are all very different. There were four songs that I simply had to leave off, and those have gone into my 30 minute
contribution for the Supertracklist. Check out the long Eloy suite for some fantastic music (just try to ignore the horrible German accent on the vocals)
and "It's A Long Road" from Supertramp's incredibly under-rated debut album. Hope you enjoy it.
1. Pink Floyd - "Echoes" - Meddle (23:28)
2. Nektar - "Let It Grow (Radio Promo)" - Remember The Future (3:51)
3. Genesis - "Firth Of Fifth" - Selling England By The Pound (9:37)
4. Kayak - "Reason For It All" - See See The Sun (6:30)
5. Yes - "Siberian Khatru" - Close To The Edge (9:00)
6. Utopia - "Hiroshima" - Ra (7:15)
7. Gentle Giant - "Three Friends" - Three Friends (5:26)
8. Änglagård - "Jordrök" - Hybris (11:11)
9. Camel - "Nimrodel/The Procession/The White Rider" (9:17)
10. Supertramp - "School - Crime Of The Century" (5:34)
11. Kayak - "Trust In The Machine" - Kayak (8:18)
12. Van Der Graaf Generator - "Man-Erg" - Pawn Hearts (10:21)
13. Pink Floyd - "Dogs" - Animals (17:08)
14. Roger Waters - "4:50 AM (Go Fishing)" - The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking (6:59)
15. David Gilmour - "Murder" - About Face (4:59)
16. King Crimson - "One More Red Nightmare" - Red (7:07)
17. Queen - "Bicycle Race" - Jazz (3:02)
18. Rush - "Beneath, Between And Behind" - Fly By Night (3:04)
19. David Sylvian & Robert Fripp - "20th Century Dreaming (A Shaman's Song)" - The First Day (11:53)
20. Passengers - "United Colours" - Original Soundtracks 1 (5:30)
21. Ozric Tentacles - "Jurassic Shift" - Jurassic Shift (11:04)
22. Richard Wright - "Along The Shoreline" - Broken China (4:36)
23. Pure Reason Revolution - "The Bright Ambassadors Of Morning" - The Dark Third (11:56)
24. Porcupine Tree - "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" - Deadwing (12:02)
25. Marillion - "Chelsea Monday" - Script For A Jester's Tear (8:17)
26. Ayreon - "Time Beyond Time" - Into The Electric Castle (6:04)
27. Porcupine Tree - "Radioactive Toy" - On The Sunday Of Life (10:00)
28. Anathema - "One Last Goodbye" - Judgement (5:23)
Total runtime: 03:58:52
Competition master list.
Have fun and vote!
Last edited:
Congrats, GG. You have this one locked, methinks. 
Thank you.
