#1208 Soft Machine – The Soft Machine Vol. One

One of several bands who have taken inspiration from William S Burroughs. Whether that puts you off, or turns you on is a matter of taste, but for lovers of psychedelia, jazz-rock or early progressive rock, Soft Machine’s first album, the ambitiously titled Volume One, offers a smorgasbord of each, effortlessly sandwiched together in a …

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#542 Genesis – Foxtrot

Supper’s Ready was my first introduction to Genesis. I’ve already mentioned that awakening briefly when the randometer turned up Nursery Cryme early on. It was a life-defining moment when I realised that there was a world of creative sound-making that went way beyond what one generally heard on the radio and might trouble the Top …

#967 Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here

This album is a little like Queen’s A Day at the Races in comparison to A Night at the Opera, often considered the poorer cousin of the previous album’s greatness, but this is as wrong for Pink Floyd as it is for Queen. A Dark Side of the Moon was always going to be a …

#705 King Crimson – In The Court of the Crimson King

This is one of the most striking and extraordinary debut albums ever. Arguably never bettered by the band, and standing the test of time as an exciting and progressive piece of music. It also sports one of the best album cover designs, looking utterly splendid (and quite terrifying) in gatefold sleeve. I first came across …

#555 Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

This is undoubtedly the best Genesis album, despite strong competition from Selling England By The Pound. It also ranks (imho) amongst the best ever prog rock records. It’s just really bloody good, and it’s perhaps unsurprising that Gabriel left the band to go solo during the album tour, since the group in that makeup had …

#549 Genesis – Trespass

This is Genesis’s second actual album but first proper. In that this is where the prog rock elements of Genesis are first hewn from the rock. They may be a little rough and chunky round the edges, and they were to sharpen and polish them considerably for their subsequent release, Nursery Cryme, but all the …

#1065 Queen – Queen II

This is a poorly named album, Queen can do better than that. Although it’s a close follow up from their first album 'Queen' in terms of timing (they recorded it in the studio only a month after the release of Q1) it shows clearly how quickly they were progressing with ideas, musical inventiveness and a …