In order to meet the challenge of listing my own Top Ten Prog Albums EVER, I imposed upon myself an additional requirement over and above the ones Brad specified.
Each album on the list, I insist, must contain at least one song that is over ten minutes long.
And so, given that sonnet-like constraint, here is my list:
★★★★★
Big Big Train — The Underfall Yard (H/T: “The Underfall Yard” [22:54] and “Victorian Brickwork” [12:33])
Kate Bush — Hounds of Love (H/T: “The Ninth Wave” [= Side Two of the LP, clocking in at 27 minutes])
Flying Colors — Flying Colors (H/T: “Infinite Fire” [12:00])
Genesis — Foxtrot (H/T: “Supper’s Ready” [23:06])
Haken — The Mountain (H/T: “Pareidolia” [10:51] and “Falling Back to Earth” [11:51])
King Crimson — Red (H/T: “Starless” [12:26])
Rush — A Farewell to Kings (H/T: “Xanadu” [11:12] and “Cygnus X-1” [10:26])
Sound of Contact — Dimensionaut (H/T: “Möbius Slip” [19:36])
Transatlantic — The Whirlwind (H/T: The entire album is one song 78 minutes long! Or take “Dancing With Eternal Grace” [12:04])
Yes — Fragile (H/T: “Heart of the Sunrise” [11:33])
★★★★★
If I were allowed doubles then maybe I would substitute Yes’ Close to the Edge for the Haken and Big Big Train’s Far Skies Deep Time for the Sound of Contact.
But can I instead invent a new challenge?
How about the “Top Ten Rush Albums EVER”, ranked not alphabetically but in order of preference?
Progarchy 
I’m UP for that challenge of top-ten RUSH albums in ORDER of “preference”!!!
I’ll be listing these in ascending-order with the LOWEST Numbers,being my MOST FAVORITE!!! Enjoy…………..
1.) Hemispheres (without a DOUBT,Rush’s ALL-TIME BEST!!!)
2.) Permanent Waves
3.) Moving-Pictures (YES,I put this BEHIND #2 because the “Coolness of Moving Pictures,
STARTED with Permanent-Waves!!!)
4.) Exit……..Stage Left (TRUE Awesomeness…………only “Live”!!!)
5.) Signals (Sorry,But I will NEVER-EVER get tired of listening to this one!!!)
6.) Farewell to Kings (In MY personal opinion,there is NOT a “bad” tune on this album
ANYWHERE!!!)
7.) Fly by Night (The true START of pure Prog-genius!!!)
8.) Presto (I chose THIS one because it came out the year I graduated,and truly “spoke”
to me.
9.) 2112 (I know,I know…..many people will QUESTION why this is so low on the list? My
answer? Because although side-one of this truly ROCKED,I found side-two to
be alot less “Moving” musically.)
10.) RUSH (Yes,despite this album NOT having the imagination or true-GENIUS of Mr. Neil
Peart on it,the “Heaviness” of their sound is just pure Awesomeness!!!)
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Really hard to do, but here it is:
1. Moving Pictures 1981
2. Permanent Waves 1980
3. A Farewell To Kings 1977
4. Hemispheres 1978
5. 2112 1976
6. Signals 1982
7. Grace Under Pressure 1984
8. Power Windows 1985
9. Counterparts 1993
10. Fly By Night 1975
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Haha,Wow……..your list was EXTREMELY “close” to the list I was thinking of before tapping on my keyboard to make “MY” List here!!! Lol. Very WELL done Sir!!!
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Chris, I’m up for the challenge as well! Drew–excellent list. Thanks for jumping in with such enthusiasm.
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Well………….Thank-YOU Brad,for your appreciative-comment regarding my list on here!!! Will be looking forward to seeing Yours as well!!!
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Working on it now, Drew!
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Looks like I have some homework tonight …
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Erik, you’ll have an excellent list, I’m sure.
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Drew, Your list is pretty spot on!
One small change….I’d swap Farewell to Kings with Hemispheres.
FTK is so special in my memory
…and RUSH could be bumped up a little too 🙂
So difficult
I love them all….even Caress of Steel…!!
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Thank-You Mike,for liking my “list” and Your VERY CORRECT in saying that it IS extremely “difficult” because I Love them ALL TOO…….all for different-reasons!!!
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