What Prog Albums That Are Not Well Regarded Among Prog Fans Are Still Your Favorites?

[Rarebird]

Ice is nice as well.

[pb2015]

It's a pleasant Camel album although I would rather hear "Eye of the Storm" on the third Happy the Man record.

[interbellum]

It's a pleasant Camel album although I would rather hear "Eye of the Storm" on the third Happy the Man record.

I would have loved it when Kit Watkins could have showed his Happy The Man-skill on a Camel-record a bit more.

[Garden Dreamer]

Test for Echo is usually at the bottom of Rush fan polls. I wouldn't call it a "favorite" but I like it better than anything else from Hold Your Fire through Snakes & Arrows.

[JKL2000]

^ The title track is a great lead-in track!

[dropforge]

Test for Echo is usually at the bottom of Rush fan polls. I wouldn't call it a "favorite" but I like it better than anything else from Hold Your Fire through Snakes & Arrows.

At the bottom? Lower than Roll the Bones? "Driven" clobbers anything on that!

[SteveSly]

At the bottom? Lower than Roll the Bones? "Driven" clobbers anything on that!

I rank "Roll The Bones" higher than "Test For Echo", although I agree driven is my favorite song on it.

[Digital_Man]

I rank "Roll The Bones" higher than "Test For Echo", although I agree driven is my favorite song on it.

Same here. TFE is still better than any album that came after it except for maybe CWA.

A month or two ago I was listening to Snakes and Arrows again after not hearing it for a while and I'm still disappointed by it. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but it's mostly just boring songs to me. I like the opening track and the instrumentals but there's not a whole lot on there that grabs me.

[Duncan Glenday]

And also... MIKE BATT !

Unfortunately Mike Batt (a very talented composer/producer/musician/conductor) never received the recognition he deserved in the prog world (he's not even listed on progarchives !). Maybe because he is mainly associated with the Wombles and his solo work is too patchy and hard to categorize, including various elements like (neo)classical, orchestral, (musical) comedy, experimental , cheesy pop songs and (yes)... prog ! All of his solo albums are mixed bags of very interesting parts and some unlistenable ones (and M.B's "peculiar" nasal voice really doesn't help). I very much like his 80ies weird video-concept album Zero Zero but I'm probably alone: Classical orchestra sections intermixed with Fairlight samples, drum machines and some (dreadful) new wave pop songs anyone ? Cheaply produced video supporting a Tommy/Subterranea like concept story ? You'll either like or hate it (the latter for the most) but there's nothing else like it. And his Hunting of The Snark musical project constantly lingers between grandiose and grotesque... MB is definitely a very original and unique artist, check it out.

Mike Batt was a member here for a short time.

Way back when, Caravans was my all-time favorite movie. It was (loosely) based on the book by James Michener. Mike Batt wrote the (excellent) movie score, which I played many times back when I was first immersing myself into "prog".

Main theme music :



Also - not "prog", but the key song, performed by Barbara Dickenson, became a huge hit.

Barbara Dickenson with the theme song:

[Digital_Man]

Mike Batt was approved for addition to Prog Archives but for some reason was never actually added. That happens sometimes over there where either someone forgets or loses interest. Anyone can write a review (as long as it's in there)but there's still a hierarchy and if the "right" people don't take action then it never happens. https://www.progarchives.com/Forum/f...9&OB=DESC&PN=1

[Garden Dreamer]

A month or two ago I was listening to Snakes and Arrows again after not hearing it for a while and I'm still disappointed by it. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but it's mostly just boring songs to me. I like the opening track and the instrumentals but there's not a whole lot on there that grabs me.

Same here, those are the only tracks I can listen to. Everything else is ponderous with wordy lyrics that don't lend themselves to singing or effective melodies.

[SteveSly]

Same here. TFE is still better than any album that came after it except for maybe CWA.

A month or two ago I was listening to Snakes and Arrows again after not hearing it for a while and I'm still disappointed by it. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but it's mostly just boring songs to me. I like the opening track and the instrumentals but there's not a whole lot on there that grabs me.

Gotta take the contrarian position on this one. TFE is my least favorite Rush album. I thought every album after it was better especially "Clockwork Angels". I also liked "Snakes And Arrows" quite a bit too.

[Camelogue]

Rush- Roll The Bones

[Steve F.]

I would have loved it when Kit Watkins could have showed his Happy The Man-skill on a Camel-record a bit more.

He wasn’t allowed to, hence his relatively short stay

[Digital_Man]

Gotta take the contrarian position on this one. TFE is my least favorite Rush album. I thought every album after it was better especially "Clockwork Angels". I also liked "Snakes And Arrows" quite a bit too.

Thank you for not calling it CMFA. I hate that. I'm not even sure how that all started but it just seems kind of low class to me. Anyway, we all hear things differently. I'll admit that sometimes I don't listen to albums enough for them to grow on me but I probably have over 4,000 and when you have that many it's easy to just listen to something else. Still, I'll probably revisist S&A and Vapor Trails at some point. I'm not sure which of those I like least though. It's a toss up. Even the very first Rush album is better to my ears but again we like what we like.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Same here, those are the only tracks I can listen to. Everything else is ponderous with wordy lyrics that don't lend themselves to singing or effective melodies.

And that's a perfectly good opinion, and leaves room for the possibility that someone else may really love that album. (Which some people definitely do.)