On Facebook, Chris McGarel posted his favorite albums of all time. It’s an excellent list. I’d like to do the same, and I’m hoping all of the Progarchists will as well at some point. But, I’m not quite ready to be so definitive yet. So, instead of a “best of,” I offer a list of 101 favorites, subject to change over time. Two weeks before turning 46. . . with a bit of humility and more than a bit of awe, I offer the following 100 in (according to group name) alphabetic order.
ABC, Lexicon of Love
Advent, Cantus Firmus
Arjen A. Lucasen, Lost in the New Real
Ayreon, Human Equation
Ayreon, Timeline
Beatles, Magical Mystery Tour
Big Big Train, English Electric (vols 1 and 2)
Big Big Train, The Difference Machine
Big Big Train, Far Skies, Deep Time
Big Big Train, Underfall Yard
Big Country, Steeltown
Blancmange, Happy Families
Bryan Ferry, Boys and Girls
Catherine Wheel, Chrome
Chris Squire, Fish Out of Water
Cocteau Twins, Heaven or Las Vegas
Cosmograf, When Age Has Done Its Duty
Cosmograf, The Man Left in Space
Echo and the Bunnymen, Heaven Up Here
Echo and the Bunnymen, Porcupine
Flower Kings, Paradox Hotel
Flower Kings, Space Revolver
Gazpacho, Night
Gazpacho, Tick Tock
Genesis, A Trick of the Tail
Genesis, Seconds Out
Genesis, Selling England by the Pound
Glass Hammer, Lex Rex
Glass Hammer, Perilous
IZZ, Darkened Room
Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood
Kate Bush, The Hounds of Love
Kevin McCormick, Squall
Kevin McCormick, With the Coming of Evening
Kingbathmat, Overcoming the Monster
Love Spit Love (self titled)
Kansas, Leftoverture
Marillion, Brave
Marillion, Marbles
Moody Blues, Days of Future Past
My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
New Order, Low Life
Nosound, Lightdark
Oceansize, Effloresce
Peter Gabriel, Security
Peter Gabriel, So
Phish, Rift
Pink Floyd, Animals
Pink Floyd, The Final Cut
Porcupine Tree, Signify
Porcupine Tree, Lightbulb Sun
Porcupine Tree, Fear of a Blank Planet
Psychedelic Furs, Talk, Talk, Talk
Pure Reason Revolution, The Dark Third
Queen, A Night at the Opera
Radiohead, Kid A
Riverside, Out of Myself
Rush 2112
Rush, A Farewell to Kings
Rush, Grace Under Pressure
Rush, Snakes and Arrows
Sarah McLachlan, Fumbling Toward Ecstacy
Simple Minds, New Gold Dream
Sixpence None the Richer (self titled)
Spock’s Beard, The Light
Spock’s Beard, Snow
Steven Wilson, Insurgentes
Talk Talk, The Colour of Spring
Talk Talk, The Spirit of Eden
Talk Talk, Laughing Stock
Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair
The Cure, Disintegration
The Cure, Pornography
The Cure, Head on the Door
The Cure, Bloodflowers
The Doors (self titled)
The Fierce and the Dead, Part I
The Reasoning, Dark Angel
The Reasoning, Adventures in Neverland
The Smiths, Queen is Dead
The Stone Roses (self titled)
3RDegree, The Long Division
The Tangent, Le Sacre Du Travail
The Tangent, Not as Good as the Book
The Tangent, The Music That Died Alone
The The, Dusk
Thomas Dolby, Golden Age of Wireless
Thomas Dolby, The Flat Earth
Tin Spirits, Wired to the Earth
Tori Amos, Under the Pink
Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die
Traffic, Mr. Fantasy
Transatlantic, SMPT: e
U2, The Joshua Tree
Ultravox, Lament
World Party, Goodbye Jumbo
XTC, Skylarking
XTC, Nonesuch
Yes, Close to the Edge
Yes, Drama
Yes, Fragile
Progarchy 
We’re (3RDegree) SO flattered to be included on this list Brad and my list would be quite close to yours what with Kate Bush, XTC, Thomas Dolby, Tears For Fears, Sarah McLachlan & Cocteau Twins (those exact albums too!)?
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Ha. We love you guys, Robert. And, I’m not surprised at all that we have the same tastes. I know I’m a bit older than you, but I’m sure being of roughly the same generation and Americans–we probably a very similar background. For me, though, growing up in Kansas, prog was the accepted form of rock in the 1970s and first half of the 1980s. I don’t think I realized how unusual this was at the time.
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Pingback: Yet Another Top Albums List | Progarchy: Pointing toward Proghalla
How can you not mention King Crimson, considered by many as the greatest prog rock group of all time and particularly “In the Court of the Crimson King”? Also, there is no mention of ELP or “666” by Aphrodites Child. Plus, many of the groups listed here aren’t even prog rock.
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James, thanks much for the comment. Please know–this was a subject list. If I had to write a history of prog (which, I’d love to do), my choices would be quite different. KC just never grabbed me, though I appreciate them immensely. Again, thanks!
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No KIng Crimson. Serious mistake.
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Eric, yes, I’m not a huge KC fan, though I definitely appreciate what they’ve done. If you forced me to pick one, I’d pick “Discipline” “Beat” or “Thrak” as my favorites.
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Disciplinen’ll do fine. Although many would argue that Larks’ Tongues In Aspic is the greatest rock album of all time…so far.
And while these things can go on forever, you also exclude Zappa. Which is a bit odd as well.
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Wow, a Tori Amos sighting! That was a great album; she’s has some moments since, but what a weird career. Of course, she specialized in weird. No Soundgarden? Hmmm. 😉 Great list!
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Carl, thanks! I need some more tutoring in Soundgarden.
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Magical Mystery Tour over Revolver? Chrome over Adam and Eve? Other than that, I think you’ve put together a nice list. It’s interesting how much one’s listening habits can reveal about oneself…
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Tad, I did agonize a bit over MMT or Revolver, and Revolver made the initial list. In the end, though, I realized if I pick up a Beatles album casually, I pick up MMT. Still, “Tomorrow Never Knows” is one of my favorite Beatles songs. But, every single song on MMT means something to me. Chrome over Adam and Eve–ONLY because of the lyrics. Musically, A&E is probably the better choice.
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It seems to me that if you like early Yes that you would like early King Crimson. You don’t care for “In the Court of the Crimson King” (a truly iconic album), “In the Wake of Poseidon” or “Islands”?
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I almost never drop responses, however i did some searching and wound up here My (Brads) Top 101 Albums of
the Rock Era | Progarchy: Pointing toward Proghalla.
And I do have a couple of questions for you if it’s allright.
Is it simply me or does it give the impression like a few
of the remarks look like they are left by
brain dead visitors? 😛 And, if you are posting at additional online social sites, I’d like to
keep up with everything new you have to post. Could you
list of the complete urls of all your shared pages like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?
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