progressive rock

Record #672: Heart – Dreamboat Annie (1975)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

It’s easy to take Heart for granted.

Their powerful blend of hard rock virtuosity and folk songwriting have made them an indelible part of the rock and roll canon. It’s almost impossible to listen to a classic rock station for more than three hours without hearing at least one Heart song.

But beyond enjoying every song I’ve heard of theirs on the radio, I’ve never had much of a desire to dig into their albums. However, after finding a copy of their debut Dreamboat Annie in a box of records given to me, one listen showed me just how foolish that oversight was.

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Record #661 – The Alan Parsons Project – Gaudi (1987)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Until recently, I had held the narrative that the Alan Parsons Project began as a wonderfully ambitious progressive rock outfit that shifted their sites on middle of the road pop rock as their career went on.

If nothing else, acquiring their entirely discography recently completely demolished that narrative. Chiefly, their tenth and final record Gaudi, which might be one of the most ambitious records of their career.

Read more at ayearofvinyl.com #alanparsonsproject #progressiverock #progrock #poprock #symphonicrock #vinyl

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Record #659: The Alan Parsons Project – Vulture Culture (1984)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

After The Eye in the Sky, Alan Parsons Project originally intended to release a double album as a follow up. Instead, they split the project into two records: Ammonia Avenue and Vulture Culture, released ten months apart in 1984.

Like its twin, Vulture Culture is another underrated gem, showcasing the Project’s effortless blend of progressive composition and infectious pop hooks.

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Record #658: The Alan Parsons Project – Ammonia Avenue (1984)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For the last decade or so, my understanding of the Alan Parsons Project’s discography was that the collective started strong with two prog rock masterpieces, had a couple uninspired albums in the middle, then had a return to form before dropping the magnificent The Eye In the Sky and hanging up the project.

But after a friend acquired several boxes of (mostly sealed) LPs and dropped them on me to take my pick of, I have since learned that they released four records after what I thought was their swan song. Ammonia Avenue, the first record after Eye, hits more than it misses, even if it’s still overshadowed by the record before it.

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Record #657: The Alan Parsons Project – Eve (1979)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I’ve been a die hard Alan Parsons Project for years. I Robot was one of the first records I purchased, and remains one of my favorites of that era. But as long as I’ve been collecting, I’ve passed up more copies of this record than I have total records in my collection.

The consistent low ratings I’ve seen in comparison to other records in the APP discography—as well as the album art, which was a rare miss by Hipgnosis—assured me there was nothing to miss.

But listening to it now, I realize that even at their worst, the Alan Parsons Project is still more inventive and infectious than most of their peers.

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Record #600: The Moody Blues – The Seventh Sojourn (1972)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

As a music buff, it’s a weird thing to dig deeper into a band you never gave much attention to, only to discover that they played such a pivotal role in the history of pop music.

And yet, here I am with the Moody Blues, who are often credited as the founders of progressive rock.

And while the previous two Moody records in my collection are undeniably prescient, The Seventh Sojourn finds them fighting to hold their own against a flood of contemporaries.

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Record #599: The Moody Blues – On The Threshold Of A Dream (1969)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

The hardest part of creating a groundbreaking masterpiece is what you do once it’s changed everything.

The Moody Blues were nobody special before the release of Days Of Future Passed. Then they released an album that transcended pop music and practically invented a whole new musical language (see: prog rock).

And then they continued their career? It’s one thing to carry on after a career-defining record several albums into your catalog. It’s quite another to practically start there. But listening to On The Threshold Of A Dream, their second post-Days offering, it feels like they weren’t too daunted by the task.

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Record #598: The Moody Blues – Days of Future Passed (1967)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

Across the history of pop music, there are certain years that feel more momentous than others. Moments in time where the social conversation, artistic trends, and brightest minds converge to create a hotspot of musical innovation that stands out among the arbitrary dividers of time.

One of those years is 1967, a year of psychedelic mastery that continues to unfold new masterpieces to me.

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Record #567: MGMT – Congratulations (2010)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

A hit song is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can thrust you into widespread acclaim. But on the other, it can pigeonhole you, your audience forever using your old stuff as a metric. Your work progresses, but your fans are stuck in the past. For a great example, remind yourself that “Creep” is still Radiohead’s biggest hit.

For another example, look to MGMT, who had three such songs. “Time to Pretend” and “Kids” especially were already several years old by the time they appeared on Oracular Spectacular. And overall, that synthpop sound wasn’t very representative of that record. If you just look at the neo-psychedelic freak folk on the deep cuts, Congratulations is a faithful follow up.

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