First Prog Rock Album Ever

[Prog Snob]

So I am not sure if this has been discussed recently, but what does everyone think is or should be considered the first progressive rock album ever?   

[jammindude]

IMO...

First Prog Album: Sgt Pepper

First Prog Band: The Moody Blues

[rumborak]

Hmm, Sgt Pepper is more psychedelic rock though.
 In the court of the Crimson King maybe?

[ColdFireYYZ]

I've heard that The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack by The Nice is considered the first prog album but I'm not really sure.

[Pols Voice]

In the Court of the Crimson King is the obvious answer because of its impact and popularity, but there were a lot of "art rock" bands before that. Days of Future Passed is a contender for first prog album, but I've never felt the Moody Blues were totally progressive rock (they're one of my favorite bands, though). Procol Harum also did some prog-ish stuff pre-King Crimson.

[Unlegit]

In the Court of the Crimson King was definitely the first truly progressive rock album in my opinion, but there were plenty of albums and songs that prog artists took influence from before King Crimson, like Procol Harum's In Held ('Twas) In I.

[Prog Snob]

I was thinking Moody Blues, King Crimson, or Sgt. Pepper myself.  However I could be missing someone that did something earlier. 

Would you consider Procul Harum to have released any prog albums before King Crimson?  I never heard that album by The Nice but I am going to check it out right now.

[Cedar redaC]

The first real prog album was Images and Words. Anything else is blasphemy.

[Prog Snob]

Okay, this album (The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack) is really good!  So it is safe to say it predates King Crimson but I want to give it more of a listen to and check out Moody Blues, Sgt. Pepper and Procul Harum some more.

[Pols Voice]

I don't see Sgt. Pepper as a prog album. I think the Beatles were flirting with prog on Abbey Road, though. I Want You (She's So Heavy), which actually reminds me of stuff King Crimson did later, plus the whole medley.

[Prog Snob]

I see where you are coming from Pols Voice.   I just finished listening to the first Procol Harum album and I really don't see that being prog at all, but that is just my opinion.  I hear more of a bluesy influence in a lot of the music.  The first Moody Blues album is definitely not prog, though it still has some great songs on it.  I'll check out Days of Future Passed again. It's been a while since I heard that one.

[Pols Voice]

I'd say the Moody Blues' most proggy albums are To Our Children's Children's Children, which was recorded around the same time as In the Court of the Crimson King but was released a month later in 1969, and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, which came out in 1971 after ITCOTCK. Those bands sure loved long album titles...

[KevShmev]

Days of Future Passed may not be the correct answer, but it is more correct than In the Court of the Crimson King.  In fact, the Moodies keyboardist Mike Pinder was the king of the mellotron, an instrument mostly associated with prog rock, and he was even the one who introduced it to John Lennon, who subsequently used it in Strawberry Fields Forever.

[Prog Snob]

I am listening to Days of Future Passed now and I would definitely say it has prog elements but to call it a prog album, I am not sure. Nights and White Satin and Tuesday Afternoon, the two most well known songs from the album, I'd say are far from prog.  Some of the other tracks are just regular sounding songs from the 1960s.  So in a word, no I do not consider DoFP to be the first prog release.  I'd be more inclined to go with The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack as of now. 

Though Kev, I give more of a prog edge to In the Court of the Crimson King than Days of Future Passed. I think later Moodies albums probably sounded more prog but in this instance I want to give the slight edge to King Crimson.  Just my opinion though. 

[KevShmev]

Every song doesn't have to be prog for an album as a whole to be prog.  Is ELP's first album not prog because it has Lucky Man?  Of course not. 

Besides, the Moodies had released three prog albums before King Crimson's first, so even if you don't think Days of Future Passed is that proggy, In Search of the Lost Chord and On the Threshold of a Dream upped the prog a notch or two (the Have You Heard/The Voyage medley is very proggy), so their prog stuff still predates the KC debut.

[Ħ]

In the "History of Rock" class I took, they taught that ITCOTCK was the first progressive rock album.

[Prog Snob]

Every song doesn't have to be prog for an album as a whole to be prog.  Is ELP's first album not prog because it has Lucky Man?  Of course not. 

Besides, the Moodies had released three prog albums before King Crimson's first, so even if you don't think Days of Future Passed is that proggy, In Search of the Lost Chord and On the Threshold of a Dream upped the prog a notch or two (the Have You Heard/The Voyage medley is very proggy), so their prog stuff still predates the KC debut.

Obviously that is not my insinuation.       Dream Theater have plenty of non-proggy songs so that doesn't strip them of their prog metal title.  However in this case, I think most of DofP is far from prog. So while we can cite it having some proggy elements, I don't think labeling it the first prog album is a fitting laurel for it.  Like I stated earlier, I definitely think the two Moodies albums following were more proggy than DofP. 

This goes back to our previous discussion regarding whether or not DT shows jazz influence in their music based on whether or not they wrote a whole song or just contained snippets of jazz influenced parts.   What percentage does it take to give something certain label? 

[Sketchy]

I think ItCotCK is definitely prog, and if nowhere else, the prog starts there, but I'm also tempted to consider A Saucerful Of Secrets as the first prog album, or certainly proto-prog. I mean, just give Let There Be More Light a blast. That's prog happening right there.

[Mladen]

I'd say The Beatles and Pink Floyd paved the way for King Crimson's debut, which, in my opinion, is the first prog rock record.

[rogerdil]

The Soft Machine - Volume Two

[Man-Erg]

I'm not sure which is the first, but In the Court of the Crimson King is arguably the most important and influential.

[KevShmev]

In the "History of Rock" class I took, they taught that ITCOTCK was the first progressive rock album.

Ah, so they got it wrong, too, eh?

Every song doesn't have to be prog for an album as a whole to be prog.  Is ELP's first album not prog because it has Lucky Man?  Of course not. 

Besides, the Moodies had released three prog albums before King Crimson's first, so even if you don't think Days of Future Passed is that proggy, In Search of the Lost Chord and On the Threshold of a Dream upped the prog a notch or two (the Have You Heard/The Voyage medley is very proggy), so their prog stuff still predates the KC debut.

Obviously that is not my insinuation.       Dream Theater have plenty of non-proggy songs so that doesn't strip them of their prog metal title.  However in this case, I think most of DofP is far from prog. So while we can cite it having some proggy elements, I don't think labeling it the first prog album is a fitting laurel for it. Like I stated earlier, I definitely think the two Moodies albums following were more proggy than DofP. 

This goes back to our previous discussion regarding whether or not DT shows jazz influence in their music based on whether or not they wrote a whole song or just contained snippets of jazz influenced parts.   What percentage does it take to give something certain label?

Okay, give either of those the first prog album label, then.

There is no set percentage or anything like that; you can just tell.  Sounds inexact, but when I listen to the early Moody Blues, I hear prog rock.  If lots of flute and mellotron didn't scream prog back in the 60s, I don't know what else did.

[Prog Snob]

In the "History of Rock" class I took, they taught that ITCOTCK was the first progressive rock album.

Ah, so they got it wrong, too, eh?

Every song doesn't have to be prog for an album as a whole to be prog.  Is ELP's first album not prog because it has Lucky Man?  Of course not. 

Besides, the Moodies had released three prog albums before King Crimson's first, so even if you don't think Days of Future Passed is that proggy, In Search of the Lost Chord and On the Threshold of a Dream upped the prog a notch or two (the Have You Heard/The Voyage medley is very proggy), so their prog stuff still predates the KC debut.

Obviously that is not my insinuation.       Dream Theater have plenty of non-proggy songs so that doesn't strip them of their prog metal title.  However in this case, I think most of DofP is far from prog. So while we can cite it having some proggy elements, I don't think labeling it the first prog album is a fitting laurel for it. Like I stated earlier, I definitely think the two Moodies albums following were more proggy than DofP. 

This goes back to our previous discussion regarding whether or not DT shows jazz influence in their music based on whether or not they wrote a whole song or just contained snippets of jazz influenced parts.   What percentage does it take to give something certain label?

Okay, give either of those the first prog album label, then.

There is no set percentage or anything like that; you can just tell.  Sounds inexact, but when I listen to the early Moody Blues, I hear prog rock.  If lots of flute and mellotron didn't scream prog back in the 60s, I don't know what else did.

I definitely don't think it is ItCofCK. After hearing The Nice - which predates that's album - I would give it to them before King Crimson....and Moody Blues.     

[rumborak]

Wow, listening to The Nice's "Rondo" right now. Massive ELP vibe!

[masterthes]

Sgt. Pepper's is more conceptual and psychedelic than prog

[Elite]

I'm not sure which is the first, but In the Court of the Crimson King is arguably the most important and influential.

I guess this, especially in prog's early days.

[masterthes]

and yeah, didn't the Moody Blues' albums come out before ITCOTCK?

[Prog Snob]

and yeah, didn't the Moody Blues' albums come out before ITCOTCK?

Yes, their first few albums did. 

[rogerdil]

ITT: dismissing albums earlier than the one you choose as "psychedelic" (or ignoring them altogether)

[KevShmev]

Wow, listening to The Nice's "Rondo" right now. Massive ELP vibe!

For sure.  It helps that Emerson often featured some of it in the encore jam ELP always did where he beat the hell out of his hammond organ.

[rumborak]

ITT: dismissing albums earlier than the one you choose as "psychedelic" (or ignoring them altogether)

Well, psychedelic rock is a distinct genre, and you have to draw the line somewhere. Did Sgt Pepper influence the budding prog scene? No doubt. But if you've ever seen the movie "Wonderwall", you know where The Beatles' main focus lay in those days. It was not complex meters and massive chord inversions, it was creating a soundtrack to their drug consumption.

[Dr. DTVT]

Depending on how you define it...

I had Queensryche back in the 1990, and got O:M shortly after that.  Had no idea it was prog metal at the time.

Dream Theater was the first progressive band that I knew as progressive, but I didn't discover them until 1998.

[rogerdil]

ITT: dismissing albums earlier than the one you choose as "psychedelic" (or ignoring them altogether)

Well, psychedelic rock is a distinct genre, and you have to draw the line somewhere. Did Sgt Pepper influence the budding prog scene? No doubt. But if you've ever seen the movie "Wonderwall", you know where The Beatles' main focus lay in those days. It was not complex meters and massive chord inversions, it was creating a soundtrack to their drug consumption.

Yeah, can dig that.  Don't consider Pepper's prog either.  Reading thread again, guess I'm more bitching about my own "answer" being glossed over, which probably be considered "psychedelic" though much more prog than Pepper.  (Anyone heard it?)  ITCOTCK may be most influential of early ones (though that is debatable - how influential is KC really), but the first?  (Pink Floyd is 100 times more influential than KC in my opinion, though I personally like KC more than PF).

[Jaq]

This is one of those benefit of hindsight things that's always kind of funny to read, since people champion Album X or Album Y as being "the first" when the truth is, back then, critics and fans alike were still looking for a way to define this new genre. Retroactively, it became progressive rock, but at the time? Some people called it prog, some people called it art rock, and I can tell you that it's highly unlikely they called Crimson King prog when it came out. To properly answer this question, you have to agree on what MAKES prog. I see the Moody Blues and the Beatles as being influences on what became prog, but I don't see them as making prog albums. I think you could argue, convincingly, that in terms of what prog BECAME, The Nice was the first true prog band, but In The Court Of The Crimson King is the album where the subgenre began to gain commercial acceptance. But the evolution of music is such that it's really hard to pinpoint the exact moment a genre came into existence as it's happening. You can really only do that backwards, and even then, it depends on how knowledgeable you are about the music of the period.

[Prog Snob]

ITT: dismissing albums earlier than the one you choose as "psychedelic" (or ignoring them altogether)

Well, psychedelic rock is a distinct genre, and you have to draw the line somewhere. Did Sgt Pepper influence the budding prog scene? No doubt. But if you've ever seen the movie "Wonderwall", you know where The Beatles' main focus lay in those days. It was not complex meters and massive chord inversions, it was creating a soundtrack to their drug consumption.

Yeah, can dig that.  Don't consider Pepper's prog either.  Reading thread again, guess I'm more bitching about my own "answer" being glossed over, which probably be considered "psychedelic" though much more prog than Pepper.  (Anyone heard it?)  ITCOTCK may be most influential of early ones (though that is debatable - how influential is KC really), but the first?  (Pink Floyd is 100 times more influential than KC in my opinion, though I personally like KC more than PF).

I didn't even see that post rogerdil.  I am actually not familiar with that album but I'll give it a listen to.