top ten albums

(retrieved from progarchives.com forums) This list is not locked and is probably just plain wrong, as I doubt I've heard even a twentieth of the good stuff from any era at all. I'm taking from everything I love, not just progressive rock - although it does seem to occupy most of the list. from my position of relative ignorance: 10. Jun Togawa - Tamahime-sama My favourite pop album and one of my favourite singers - she can do punky, strident, lolita-esque and everything else I love. The songs are all memorable, and there's enough post-punkiness and invention on here for it to be more than just the usual j-pop fluff. This spot could also take a random Bjork album but Ms. Togawa deserves more praise. 09. Super Furry Animals - Guerrilla This is basically the pinnacle of all Beatles-inspired rock music. Nothing but another SFA album - maybe Radiator or Rings Around the World - compares. Let it never be said that I can't appreciate melody. ;P 08. Einstuerzende Neubauten - Halber Mensch I should really have picked one of the first two, or else a Throbbing Gristle piece but I've always found Halber-Mensch more memorable even though it's less "noisy" on the surface and this does highlight my tastes - even outside rock music I pick an album progressing towards it. 07. Boris - Amplifier Worship Most crypto-important "metal" album I've ever heard. This is from when Boris weren't well-known but I'm not complaining. I could just as easily swap in some Voivod but you dorks say they're prog. ;) 06. Shub-Niggurath - Les Morts Vont Vites Mood-wise, the darkest album I've ever heard - this has more effect on me than Throbbing Gristle or funeral doom or drone or anything else you care to name. It's also very well written chamber "rock" with endless suspense. 05. Picchio dal Pozzo - Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi If you ever need your saxophone desire sated... this is very dense early-Henry Cow styled rock ensemble playing with a solemn tone. I reviewed this and gave it five stars. Also an italian album to placate micky and Ghost Rider (other choices here are Stormy Six's "L'Apprendista" and Opus Avantra's debut) =P 04. Wha-ha-ha - Shinotukiwa Betsu Everyone's been talking about this one on the forums for the last few months. I'd just like to add that I chose this instead of something by a Boredoms or a Tatsuya Yoshida project because it's easier on the ears - as well as being an album I can enjoy at any hour in the day it is my crypto-conversion tool for introducing other people into truly stupid and odd music. =) 03. Henry Cow - In Praise of Learning I need my harsh and polemic music and this is perhaps the greatest example - a perfect mix between deep and uncopyable songwriting and beds of moody ensemble improvisation. Other choices were everything by the Art Bears (obviously) and also Floh de Cologne's "Mumien" which is like the krautrock version, but I don't like krautrock enough to put it high on a list like this. 02. King Crimson - Starless and Bible Black Has Fracture on it. Other choices were The Great Pretender, and any other compilation or live disc with Fracture on it. ;P 01. Magma - Kohntarkosz This one is a summation of my tastes as proved by the previous nine - catchy when it needs to be, deep, thoughtful and dark. The epic itself remains my favourite piece of music and it's so different from everything else (even the Orff comparison doesn't work so well with Kohntarkosz) that it's a natural "favourite album." I know, there's no symphonic rock on this list. Sorry =P