My Top 25 Favorite Prog Rock Tracks

This list is purely subjective, although it mostly contains songs that are considered masterpieces by the majority of the prog listeners.
All credit goes to the artists, who created this magical music.

[fourseasons]

My top 10:
1. Genesis- Supper's ready
2. King Crimson- Starless
3. UK- Nevermore
4. Frank Zappa- Inca Roads
5. ELP- Take a Pebble
6. Pink Floyd- Echoes
7. Camel- Lady fantasy
8. YES- Close to the edge
9. Kansas- Journey from Maraiabronn
10. Rush- Cygnues X- 1 Book II: Hemispheres

[kosuzu_]

The second-half of Starless is just legendary

[arrow]

Love seeing think of me with kindness on the list

[krisstian]

I would like to suggest to all prog fans to listen to some of the best Italian prog-rock albums of the 70s.
The Italian prog movement is considered one of the most prolific of the time and gave birth to many masterpieces unfortunately little known abroad.
If you are interested, I suggest you start with this list:
- PFM "Storia di Un minuto".
- BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO "Darwin!"
- AREA "Arbeit macht frei"
- MUSEO ROSEMBACH "Zarathustra"
- PFM "L'isola di niente"
- AREA "Crac!"
- LE ORME "Uomo di pezza"

[delby]

Here's my top 10
1. ELP-Trilogy
2. Genesis-Firth of Fifth
3. Yes- AND YOU and I
4. King Crimson-Epitaph
5. Strawbs-Hero and Heroine
6. Camel-Echoes
7. Jethro Tull- Thick as a Brick
8.Renaissance- Can you Understand
9. Genesis- Supper's Ready
10. ELP- Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression
I know I may seem biased here but ELP and Genesis are my favourite prog-rock bands.

[chaddickerson]

Dude! So much thank you! I only recognized the Floyd songs which means epic new music for me! And I was SOOO excited to hear atom 💓 mother!

Especially loved King Crimson. So much thank you!

[tomoniuk]

My favorite prog rock songs:
1: 21st Century Schizoid Man King Crimson
2:Starless King Crimson
3:Heart of the Sunrise Yes
4:Nights in White Satin The Moody Blues
5:2112 Rush
6:Larks Tongue in Aspic King Crimson
7: Echoes: Live in Pompeii Pink Floyd
8:Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin
9:Roundabout Yes
10: Time Pink Floyd

[yesrush]

Great list! Steve Hackett's Shadow of the Hierophant is a worthy mention

[michaelmullen]

Hearing that excerpt of Gates of Delerium was glorious! And of course, so was that bit of Close To The Edge..♥️♥️♥️

[ephrimvael]

What a superb and unique selection! thanks💫

[pedrokropotkin]

Top-50, no particular order:
(Top-10: ☆)

☆ Genesis - The Musical Box
☆ Genesis - Firth of Fifth
☆ Genesis - Supper's Ready
Genesis - Fly on the Windshield
Genesis - The Knife
Genesis - The Fountain of Salmacis
Genesis - The Cinema Show
Genesis - The Carpet Crawlers
Genesis - Aisle of Plenty
Genesis - Dancing with the Moonlit Knight
Genesis - The Waiting Room
☆ Yes - Close to the Edge
☆ Yes - Gates of Delirium
Yes - Heart of the Sunrise
Yes - Yours is No Disgrace
Yes - Starship Trooper
Yes - And You and I
☆ Pink Floyd - Echoes
☆ Pink Floyd - Shine on your Crazy Diamond
Pink Floyd - Welcome to the Machine
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd - Us and Them
Pink Floyd - Time
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
PInk Floyd - Hey You
Pink Floyd - Sheep
ELP - Tarkus
ELP - Karn Evil 9
ELP - Knife-Edge
ELP - Still... You Turn Me On
☆ King Crimson - Starless
☆ King Crimson - Epitaph
KIng Crimson - Fallen Angel
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
King Crimson - Fracture
King Crimson - Red
King Crimson - Larks' Tongues in Aspic
Kng Crimson - 21th Century Schizoid Man
King Crimson - Islands
Van der Graaf Generator - Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
Van der Graaf Generator - The Sleepwalkers
Rush - La Villa Strangiato
Rush - 2112
☆ Camel - Lady Fantasy
Camel - Nimrodel / The Procession
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Jethro Tull - Wind Up
Caravan - Nine Feet Underground
Renaissence - Song of Scheherezade

Honorable mentions:
Genesis - The Lamia
Genesis - Dance on a Volcano
Genesis - Afterglow
Genesis - White Mountain
Yes - Ritual
Yes - Awaken
Yes - Roundabout
Yes - Changes
Pink Floyd - Goodbye Blue Sky
Pink Floyd - High Hopes
Pink Floyd - Astronomy Domine
Pink Floyd - Dogs
King Crimson - The Night Watch
King Crimson - Moonchild
King Crimson - Lizard
King Crimson - Frame by Frame
ELP - Take a Pebble
Marillion - Forgotten Sons
Marillion - Blind Curve
Marillion - Warm Wet Circles
Camel - Dunkirk
Camel - Song within a Song
Camel - Echoes
Camel - Migration
Van der Graaf Generator - Refugees
Rush - Tom Sawyer
Alan Parsons Project - I Robot
Gentle Giant - Aspirations
Gentle Giant - In a Glass House
Colosseum - Three Score and Ten
IQ - The Wake

[stingfanify]

Great list! I'm an ELP fanatic so I would've had 1st. Impression higher, but oh well! Also, you had Greg Lake singing four of your top 25 choices which is awesome indeed, as I feel he was the best lead singer ever in the Prog genre.

Awesome list indeed!!!

[kevinrombouts]

I loved that you picked Shine on you Crazy Diamond so high upbut I like Firth of Fifth more. No Tubular Bells?

[fald]

Great list, but there are some bands missing:
- Rush
- Camel
- How about some italian prog? Premiata Forneria Marconi and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso to begin with...

[vdggmouse]

My top 10 are


The Emperor In His War-room
Darkness 11/11
Arrow
Gog
The Sleepwalkers (thx Francisco)
A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers
Childlike Faith In Childhood's End
Man-erg
A Louse Is Not A Home
Meurgly's III (The Songwriter's Guild)

All - of course - by Van der Graaf Generator

My top 10 involving all other prog artists -

Cardiacs - Dirty Boy
Camel - Lady Fantasy
Marillion - Forgotten Sons
Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Il Giardino del Mago
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Geranio
Yes - Close To The Edge
King Crimson - Lizard
Pink Floyd - Atom Heart Mother
Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick
Genesis - Supper's Ready

[progrocker]

My top 8:
1. Genesis - Squonk
2. Pink Floyd - Us and them
3. Supertramp - Rudy
4. Gentle giant - Giant
5. Yes - Close to the edge
6. King Crimson - Elephant talk
7. Collegium musicum(slovak band) - Suita po tisic a jednej noci
8. Focus - Hocus Pocus
..., But it's Hard to change the Best.

[davidmeir]

Great list.
A song that never gets mentioned enough in these kinds of lists (about best prog songs or albums) is Atom Heart Mother and yet, after Shine on you Crazy Diamond, it might be the purer prog song Pink Floyd ever did.
So I'm glad it gets a nod because I happen to like it a lot.

The album that officially started prog is In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson and the tittle song, The Court of the Crimson King, truly is the blueprint of prog. If you want to explain to a layman what prog is all about, just play it.

I feel that Supper's ready is Prog's crowning jewel even though Close to the edge usually gets that nod (not that it doesn't deserve it).

Starless deserves to be near the top, like Epitaph from King Crimson's first album, it just brings you to another dimension, which is truly what prog is all about.

[Cadenza]

im not familiar with alot of the songs here, but you have several of my all time favorite songs, so im definitely going to make a playlist of all these and check them out!

[petercena]

1.Pink Floyd - Echoes
2.Moody Blues - Legend of a Mind
3.ELO - Fire on High
4.Supertramp - Fools Overture
5.Genesis - Dance of the Moonlit Knight
6.ELP - Take a Pebble
7.Kansas - Miracles out of Nowhere
8.Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
9.Utopia - Communion with the Sun
10.Edgar Froese - Ypsillion in Malaysian Pale

[a.beloucif]

My Top 10:
1. Tarkus (ELP)
2. The Remembering (High the memory) (Yes)
3. Close To the Edge (Yes)
4. A Plague of lighthouse keepers (Van Der Graaf Generator)
5. Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd)
6. Dogs (Pink Floyd)
7. Lady Fantasy (encounter/ smiles for you/ lady fantasy) (Camel)
8. Pirates (ELP)
9. Foreplay/ Long Time (Boston)
10. Memoirs of an officer and a gentelman (ELP)