phanan
Blue Crack Addict
Please vote for the tracklist you LIKE THE MOST.
Welcome to the fourth heat of the B&C Prog Island Album Game's second round! 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 second heat of Round 2, GibsonGirl came from behind and edged The Supertracklist, 6-5. The table for Group 1 is now:
Forum name: total competition points, won, lost, votes for, votes against, votes difference
GibsonGirl: 4, 2, 0, 18, 9, +9.
liamcool: 2, 1, 1, 11, 11, 0.
Axver: 2, 1, 1, 10, 15, -5.
Supertracklist: 0, 0, 2, 10, 14, -4.
The third heat of Round 2 is still underway and has a day to go. Currently, Screwtape2 leads hardyharhar 6-2. Please don't let this tournament die. This heat features phanan against notAxver. 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: notAxver
notAxver writes: What do most people associate with prog? Huge sprawling epics as long as a whole month. Apparently, this is actually perceived as a negative quality. Accordingly, the point of this tracklist is to show how progressive musicians can successfully overcome limitations. These limitations are both external and internal: the former are those factors that demand short compositions, and the latter are those factors that state that long compositions can become repetitive and excessive if one becomes lazy or indulgent. The songs in this tracklisting show that some ideas simply cannot be adequately realised in 5 or even 10 minutes. To create the full artistic effect, more time, care, and attention is required, and the limitations must be discarded. Subjugation Of The Limitation is made for people who believe in music as an artform.
Subjugation Of The Limitation
1. Transatlantic - "All Of The Above" - SMPT:e (30:59)
2. Porcupine Tree - "The Sky Moves Sideways (Alternate Version)" - The Sky Moves Sideways (2004 remaster) (34:34)
3. Green Carnation - "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" - Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness (60:06)
4. Dream Theater - "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (live)" - Score (41:30)
5. Neal Morse - "The Door" - Sola Scriptura (29:13)
6. Incredible Expanding Mindfuck - "Gospel According To The I.E.M." - I.E.M. (12:59)
7. Spock's Beard - "The Great Nothing" - V (27:03)
Total runtime: 3 hours, 56 minutes, 24 seconds
UP NEXT: Axver vs. The Supertracklist
Competition master list.
Have fun and vote!
Welcome to the fourth heat of the B&C Prog Island Album Game's second round! 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 second heat of Round 2, GibsonGirl came from behind and edged The Supertracklist, 6-5. The table for Group 1 is now:
Forum name: total competition points, won, lost, votes for, votes against, votes difference
GibsonGirl: 4, 2, 0, 18, 9, +9.
liamcool: 2, 1, 1, 11, 11, 0.
Axver: 2, 1, 1, 10, 15, -5.
Supertracklist: 0, 0, 2, 10, 14, -4.
The third heat of Round 2 is still underway and has a day to go. Currently, Screwtape2 leads hardyharhar 6-2. Please don't let this tournament die. This heat features phanan against notAxver. 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: notAxver
notAxver writes: What do most people associate with prog? Huge sprawling epics as long as a whole month. Apparently, this is actually perceived as a negative quality. Accordingly, the point of this tracklist is to show how progressive musicians can successfully overcome limitations. These limitations are both external and internal: the former are those factors that demand short compositions, and the latter are those factors that state that long compositions can become repetitive and excessive if one becomes lazy or indulgent. The songs in this tracklisting show that some ideas simply cannot be adequately realised in 5 or even 10 minutes. To create the full artistic effect, more time, care, and attention is required, and the limitations must be discarded. Subjugation Of The Limitation is made for people who believe in music as an artform.
Subjugation Of The Limitation
1. Transatlantic - "All Of The Above" - SMPT:e (30:59)
2. Porcupine Tree - "The Sky Moves Sideways (Alternate Version)" - The Sky Moves Sideways (2004 remaster) (34:34)
3. Green Carnation - "Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness" - Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness (60:06)
4. Dream Theater - "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (live)" - Score (41:30)
5. Neal Morse - "The Door" - Sola Scriptura (29:13)
6. Incredible Expanding Mindfuck - "Gospel According To The I.E.M." - I.E.M. (12:59)
7. Spock's Beard - "The Great Nothing" - V (27:03)
Total runtime: 3 hours, 56 minutes, 24 seconds
UP NEXT: Axver vs. The Supertracklist
Competition master list.
Have fun and vote!
Last edited:
Especially great transitions on tracks 5-10...I'm a big fan of the King Crimson track. It was also used in the film Children Of Men, if I recall 
