| # | Artist | Song (click to play) | Album | Year | CD label |
| 1 | Yes | Beyond and Before | Yes | 1969 | Atlantic |
| I think most people's Yes collection begins with _The Yes Album_, which is a shame because their first 2 albums are quite excellent. These first 2 albums have the line-up of Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks (on guitar), and Tony Kaye (on keyboards). Peter Banks is a very capable guitar player and brings in some jazzy elements, and some powerful crunchy guitar. When listening to these early albums, it is evident that Steve Howe modeled his stlye after Peter Banks on these early albums. In addition to the original songs on the album, there are cover-songs of the Byrds and the Beatles. | |||||
| 2 | Jethro Tull | My Sunday Feeling | This Was | 1968 | Chrysalis |
| Jethro Tull's first album is more blues oriented than their later albums. In these early days, the band forged together a mix of jazz, blues, folk, rock, and classical into an original sound that is one of the most influential on the early 70's progressive bands. There are some pretty great blues-rock moments like Cat's Squirrel featuring the Clapton-like guitar playing of Mick Abrahams. But, I am glad that Martin Barre took over the duties of guitar on the next album, because his playing was more forward looking and eschewed the grand-standing blues-guitar solo style. | |||||
| 3 | Cream | World of Pain | Disraeli Gears | 1967 | RSO / Polygram |
| Cream is one of the first power trios, along with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Clapton first garnered fame in the Yardbirds, but, dropped out of the band because of the pop direction the band was moving in. He reputation then grew with a short stint in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. The Cream then formed in 1966 and released _Fresh Cream_, which has some nice moments, but, does not yet show what they were capable of. _Disraeli Gears_ finds them continuing to develop an electrified American blues with strong psychedelic colorings. It's a pretty great album and one of my favorites when I was a wee lad. Still sounds great. | |||||
| 4 | Yardbirds | Shapes of Things | (Beckology) | 1965 | |
| It is very difficult to figure out what the actual Yardbirds album releases were. There are hundreds of compilations, archives, best-of's... At this time in the sixties, a lot of bands were relegated to releasing singles and foregoing the LP treatment. I recorded this track from Jeff Beck's _Beckology_ compilation. This track is truly remarkable for the time that it was recorded (1965), particularly because of Jeff Beck's guitar playing. Waves of distorted guitar, feedback and a spine-tingling guitar solo that must have sparked the imaginations of many aspiring guitar players. Jimmy Page was the bass player in the band at this time. In the 1996 movie "Blow Up", you get to see the Yardbirds perform 2 songs in a night-club, wherein Jeff Beck smashes guitar on stage. Jolly good fun. | |||||
| 5 | Family | The Chase & See Through Windows | Music in a Doll's House | 1968 | See For Miles |
| This is Family's first album, which is possibly their best. It is an incredibly original forward looking psychedelic progressive album. The usual rock instruments are supplemented with sitar, violin, cello, mellotron, and some occasional some horns. Roger Chapman's vocals are unusual and powerful. The band continued to be mildly progressive, but, were a bit closer to hard-rock. | |||||
| 6 | Pink Floyd | Julia Dream | Relics | 1968 | Capitol / Harvest |
| This album collects some singles from the Syd Barrett era of the band, like "Arnold Layne" and "See Emily Play", as well as a couple of tracks from _Piper at the Gates of Dawn_ and the soundtrack _More_. After their first album, Syd Barrett, who was the leader of the band at the time, starting flipping out and the future of the band was uncertain. But, with the addition of David Gilmour the band went on to become one of the best and most important rock bands ever. This song is one of my favorite songs by any group. The melody of this song runs through my mind all the time, even if I have not listened to it in months. | |||||
| 7 | Traffic | Dear Mr. Fantasy | Mr. Fantasy | 1968 | Island |
| This is the first album of Traffic and the best of their 3 albums to be released in the 1960's. This original lineup included Dave Mason, who went on to a very prolific solo career and was probably more successful than Steve Winwood in the 70's. The music is sometime raw and in your face like the title track and other times is more pop-psychedelic. The band in this era probably did not contribute much to the progressive movement as their song structures were pretty standard. But, you can hear the influence of Steve Winwood's vocals in many early 70's progressive bands. | |||||
| 8 | Soft Machine | Why are We Sleeping ? | The Soft Machine | 1968 | One Way Records |
| Soft Machine's first album is certainly one of the most influential albums on the progressive music scene. Just as you can hear the Soft Machine's influence pervade many other later bands, you can hear earlier influences in the Soft Machine. In Lullabye Letter, for example, you can Louie Louie, and in Hope for Happiness you hear Purple Haze. This is the only album which includes Kevin Ayers, who went on to a prolific solo career (of which I had heard nothing). Though the music has a lot of elements of 60's psychedelia and art-pop, it is very progressive | |||||