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Thin Lizzy – What Pete Pardo Thinks

Another set of videos from Pete Pardo from the Sea of Tranquility website, this time looking at the hard rock band Thin Lizzy.

A fantastic band in the 70s and 80s and of course they have produced one of the greatest live albums ever released in Live And Dangerous. Two other live albums, UK Tour 1975 and Life Live also deserve plenty of attention and go backwards and forwards in time from L&D.

Over to Pete.

Top 10 Songs: Thin Lizzy

Continue reading Thin Lizzy – What Pete Pardo Thinks

UFO – What Pete Pardo Thinks

I’ve been sharing videos by Pete Pardo from the Sea of Tranquility website. Pete loves hard rock, heavy metal and prog rock and he’s very keen on UFO.

This is a band who should have had much more success in the 1970s than they did. Of course, they have recorded one of the all time classic live albums in the form of Strangers in the Night.

Here is what Pete thinks.

The History of UFO! Continue reading UFO – What Pete Pardo Thinks

Blue Oyster Cult – What Pete Pardo Thinks

More videos from Pete Pardo of the Sea of Tranquility website. This time he looks at American hard rock band, Blue Oyster Cult.

This is a band who produced an excellent live album early in their career called On Your Feet or On Your Knees. They followed it up with two more very good live albums after their commercial breakthrough with Some Enchanted Evening and Extraterrestrial Live.

Over to Pete.

The History of Blue Oyster Cult!

Continue reading Blue Oyster Cult – What Pete Pardo Thinks

Live Albums I’ve Played In November 2018

My interest in progressive rock is still going strong although its dominance has been breached this month, in contrast to September and October. I crossed over into art rock, similar in terms of ambition to be clever and complex but more commercial.

I also started to dabble in the blues and blues rock, Van Morrison and the Grateful Dead, all music which puts heart and soul back into my listening. This month is very much a sampler to see where I go next as I’m listening to little multiple times.

I don’t think my prog rock phase is over. I’m still being drawn to the Steve Hackett and The Flower Kings albums in particular.

Art Rock

  • Peter Gabriel Plays Live
  • Peter Gabriel In Athens
  • Peter Gabriel Live Blood
  • Bill Nelson Live At The Metropolis
  • Be Bop Deluxe In Concert Modern Music Tour
  • Supertramp Paris
  • Jeff Lynne’s ELO Live At Wembley
  • David Bowie Nassau 1976
  • Roxy Music Roxy Music Live
  • The Moody Blues Live At Red Rock

Blues

  • Son Seals Spontaneous Combustion
  • Son Seals Live And Burning
  • Luther Allison Live In Chicago
  • Luther Allison Live 89 Let’s Try It Again
  • Otis Rush All Your Love Wise Fools Pub
  • Hound Dog Taylor Beware Of The Dog
  • Muddy Waters “Mississippi ” Muddy Waters Live
  • Muddy Waters Live At Newport 1960
  • Muddy Waters Live At Rockpalast 1978
  • Muddy Waters Live At Mr Kelly’s
  • Albert Collins Live At Montreux 1992
  • Albert Collins Live In Japan
  • Albert King Blues At Sunrise
  • Albert King Live Wire/Blues Power
  • BB King Live At The Regal
  • BB King Live At The Cook County Jail
  • BB King & Bobby Bland Together For The First Time Live
  • BB King & Bobby Bland Together Again Live
  • Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Drinkin’ TNT ‘n’ Smokin’ Dynamite
  • Buddy Guy I’ll Play The Blues For You
  • Buddy Guy Live At The Checkerboard Lounge
  • Buddy Guy Live At Legends
  • Buddy Guy The Real Deal

Blues Rock

  • Climax Blues Band FM/Live
  • Climax Blue Band World Tour 1976
  • Eric Clapton Just One Night
  • Eric Clapton Live In San Diego
  • Free Live

Jam Bands

  • Grateful Dead Ladies & Gentlemen
  • Grateful Dead To Terrapin May 28, && Hartford CT
  • Grateful Dead Cornell 5/8/77

Jazz

  • Thelonious Monk Live At The IT Club

Progressive Rock

  • Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited Live At Hammersmith
  • Steve Hackett Live Rails
  • Steve Hackett The Total Experience Live In Liverpool
  • Steve Hackett Wuthering Nights
  • Steve Hackett The Tokyo Tapes
  • Steven Wilson Home Invasion
  • Genesis Three Sides Live
  • Genesis Archives #2 live songs
  • The Flower Kings
  • The Flower Kings Meet The Flower Kings
  • The Flower Kings Tour Kaputt
  • Karmakanic Live From The USA
  • Discipline This One’s For England
  • Transatlantic Kalivescope
  • Transatlantic More Is Never Enough
  • Camel A Live Record
  • The Tangent Going Off On One
  • Traffic The Last Great Traffic Jam
  • Colosseum Live 05
  • Yes Yessongs
  • Yes Yesshows
  • Yes Symphonic Yes

Singer Songwriter

  • Van Morrison It’s Too Late To Stop Now
  • Van Morrison Astral Weeks Live At The Hollywood Bowl
  • Van Morrison Live At The Grand Opera House Belfast
  • Van Morrison A Night In San Francisco

Live Albums I’ve Played In October 2018

I’m still working through my prog rock obsession and at the moment, I can’t see when it’s going to end as I investigated prog bands who have been active after the 1970s.

History suggests that, when it does end, I’ll either edge into is close relative, art rock, become even more nerdy and head into jazz or I’ll want more depth of emotion in my music and head into the blues or soul territory.

Prog Rock

  • Camel Coming Of Age
  • Camel Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 1976 (Moon Madness)
  • Camel Live Record
  • Traffic The Last Great Traffic Jam
  • Colosseum Live 04
  • The Tangent Going Off On One
  • Karmakanic Live In The US
  • Steve Hackett Live Rails
  • Steve Hackett Tokyo Tapes
  • Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited Live In Hammersmith
  • Steve Hacket The Total Experience
  • Steve Hackett Wuthering Nights Live In Birmingham
  • The Flower Kings Meet The Flower Kings
  • The Flower Kings Alive On Planet Earth
  • The Flower Kings Tour Kaputt
  • Marillion The Thieving Magpie
  • Yes Symphonic Yes
  • Yes Yessongs
  • Yes Keys To Ascension
  • Yes Like It Is Yes At The Bristol Hippodrome
  • Yes Progeny Highlights
  • Yes Songs From Tsongas
  • Yes Topographic Drama Across America
  • Yes The Word is Live
  • Yes (Anderson, Rabin & Wakeman) Live At The Apollo
  • Genesis Genesis Live
  • Genesis Seconds Out
  • Genesis Archives 1968 – 1975
  • Genesis Archives 1976 – 1992
  • Genesis The Way We Walk Vol 2 The Longs
  • Genesis Three Sides Live
  • Transatlantic Kalivescope
  • Pink Floyd Live At Wembley 1974
  • Barclay James Harvest Live Tapes
  • Roger Waters In The Flesh
  • King Crimson Live In Vienna 2016
  • Emerson Lake & Palmer Live At The Mar Y Sol Festival 72
  • The Moody Blues A Night At Red Rocks
  • Discipline This One’s For England
  • Discipline Live Into The Dream
  • PFM Cook
  • Porcupine Tree Coma Divine
  • Big Big Train From Stone And Steel
  • Big Big Train Merchants Of Light
  • Big Big Train A Stone’s Throw From The Line
  • Gentle Giant Playing The Fool
  • Moon Safari The Gettysburg Address
  • Syzygy A Glorious Disturbance
  • Spock’s Beard Gluttons For Punishment
  • Van Der Graaf Generator Real Time

The Live Modern Prog Rock Albums

Are there great live albums from the modern progressive rock bands to rival the classics recorded in the 1970s by Yes, Genesis, ELP and King Crimson?

Below I give you the chance to vote in a best live modern prog albums poll as well as present the mainstream best live progressive rock albums polls.

In terms of record sales, modern prog rock has been a flop with a place well away from the top reaches of the album charts.

I think there’s a different story in terms of quality. Some of these modern prog rock bands have plenty interesting to contribute.

I’ve been stubborn. Stuck in the 1970s, happy to explore what was happening in Italy and elsewhere but not if it was recorded after 1979.

I realise it’s ridiculous to talk about “modern prog” as starting in 1980, nearly 40 years ago but I think many prog fans have a similar attitude to mine of old. When Marillion appeared in 1983 with Script for a Jester’s Tear, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to listen to Gabriel era Genesis clones when we had Trespass, Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway to appreciate. Then they added insult to injury by having hit singles.

Gradually I’ve gone in search of more prog, investigating the difficult bands from my youth and the Internet increased my knowledge to the wonders of Italian prog.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve gradually opened up my eyes and closed down my prejudices to post 1980 prog and come to accept some bands are interesting and, dare I say it, good to great.

The Progressive Rock Background

Progressive Rock started as a separate category of music around the time of the debut King Crimson album, The Court Of The Crimson King in 1969.

It really took off in the early 1970s and most of the recognised classics come from those early to mid 1970s. Pick a major group and the run of albums is enough to make a prog rock fan drool at the mouth:

  • Genesis and Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, A Trick Of The Tail, Wind & Wuthering.
  • Pink Floyd – Meddle, Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals.
  • Yes – The Yes Album, Fragile, Close To The Edge, Tales From Topographic Oceans, Relayer.
  • The list could go on as you work your way down the prog rock royalty list.

Did the punk and new move explosion of 1976-1978 kill off prog?

Not quite although many of the leading lights tailed off or took their work down commercial avenues.

In the 1980s, the neo-prog movement emerged although Marillion were the only ones to have success comparable with the 1970s super bands.

Since then prog rock has been bubbling away and thriving in the undergrowth of popular music. Out of sight of the mainstream, bands like Spock’s Beard, The Flower Kings, Porcupine Tree and Transatlantic have been loyal followings.

Progressive metal has also emerged, combining the heaviness of Iron Maiden and Metallica with complex song arrangements and even concept albums. Dream Theater are probably the best known of the prog metal bands and, for me, these bands mainly belong in my hard rock and heavy metal polls rather than in the prog rock polls.

The Role Of ProgArchives.com

I owe my conversion to the excellent specialist website Progarchives.com , which lets reviewers and others rate prog rock albums out of 5. In their scoring system, 5 is essential for a prog rock album collection, 4 is excellent and 3 good. In those scales, anything with a score more than 4 must be worth taking a look at.

To quality check their taste, here is the list of top live albums recorded in the 1970s (data extracted 16/9/2018, default settings used except studio album changed to live album):

  1. The Great Deceiver: Live 1973 – 1974 by King Crimson
  2. Solar Music – Live by Grobschnitt
  3. Playing The Fool – The Official Live Album by Gentle Giant
  4. Karlstad Live by SBB
  5. The Collectable King Crimson – Vol. 1 (Live in Mainz, 1974 + Live in Asbury Park, 1974) by King Crimson
  6. The Night Watch by King Crimson
  7. Live/Hhaï by Magma
  8. Live At Fairfield Halls – 1974 by Caravan
  9. Yessongs by Yes
  10. Seconds Out by Genesis

As you can see, this is a proper prog rock website. You might think there’s too much King Crimson, and they are a band I’ve found it difficult to love beyond their debut, but I don’t think you can argue with the quality in the list.

In my poll, it is the Yes and Genesis albums that dominate but then asking people to vote for their favourite five live albums turns it into a combination of a guide to quality combined with popularity.

So what do ProgArchives think are the modern greats (again data extracted 16/9/2018) ?  I’ve created separate lists for prog rock and prog metal to give due warning to anyone who has problems with metal.

Prog Rock

  1. Live at the Pongmasters Ball by Ozric Tentacles
  2. Whirld Tour 2010 – Live From Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London by Transatlantic
  3. Coma Divine by Porcupine Tree
  4. The Gettysburg Address by Moon Safari
  5. Prog På Svenska – Live In Japan by Änglagård
  6. This One’s for England by Discipline
  7. Arriving Somewhere… by Porcupine Tree
  8. Live in Europe by Transatlantic
  9. Waking The Dead – Live In Japan 2005 by Anekdoten
  10. A Night At Loreley by Gazpacho

Prog Metal

  1. Live Scenes From New York by Dream Theater
  2. Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live with the Octavarium Orchestra by Dream Theater
  3. The Retinal Circus by Devin Townsend
  4. 12:5 by Pain Of Salvation
  5. Operation: Livecrime by Queensrÿche

ProgArchives is very much for prog specialists and it’s preference for albums doesn’t mean it fits in with the mainstream. There is also a huge number of differences in the number of review ratings between the popular and the rare which may provide a bias towards the less well known bands.

My personal tastes are very much in the symphonic style of progressive rock – Yes, Genesis and Camel back in the 1970s and so far I’m finding Transatlantic, The Flower Kings and Karmakanic to be well worth exploring.

What Do You Think Are The Best Modern Prog Live Albums?

I considered not creating a separate poll as the modern prog live albums dominate Division 2 in my main best live prog albums poll but I thought that could prevent these albums getting a fair judgement.

What I have done is bring across the votes from the main poll (as of 17/9/2018) into this best modern prog live albums poll.

What Are The Best Live Modern Prog Albums (groups formed after 1980)? Please Vote For Up To 10 Albums

View Results

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Normally I only allow five votes per poll but I’ve given you up to ten this time.

Please buy any albums through my links to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. The small affiliate commissions help pay for the costs of the website.

This is a less well known category so I think there are fewer obvious answers. Back in the 1970s, there was a right time to record a live album. It happened after a series of strong albums so the fact that Yessongs appeared after The Yes Album, Fragile and Close To The Edge was perfect. If it had ben left until the Tales From Topographic Oceans tour or even later it would have been weaker.

It’s the same story with ELP and Welcome Back My Friends and even Genesis and Seconds Out. Robert Fripp was reluctant to revisit his past so King Crimson live shows were very focused on his current band so if you loved the Wetton, Brufford, Cross version, the 1973/74 albums were obvious. It’s a shame the band broke up before they had a chance to tour with Red.

The career highs of bands like The Flower Kings, Spock’s Beard and Transatlantic are much less obvious so the choice of live album may not be driven so much by song selection as performance.

Please cast your vote, and if possible, tell other prog rock fans about the polls. The more people who vote, the better the polls are to guide people to the best live recorded music.

How Does Modern Prog Stack Up Against Traditional Progressive Rock In Terms Of Live Albums?

The truth is, not very well on current evidence but as more of us release our prejudices against the new bands, I’d expect to see some of the albums rise although the lack of clear focal points may stop them rivalling the top 5.

You can vote for up to FIVE of your favourites in this main best live prog rock albums poll. The blue links take you to pages with more details about these great prog rock live albums.

What Are The TEN Best Prog Rock Live Albums? (Click on the links to go to the reviews)

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Please buy any albums through my links to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

After 240 people voted, I decided that there were less well known bands and albums that should be brought to your attention as a discerning fan of progressive rock. I encourage you to vote for any albums you believe are good enough to be included in the main poll. Promotion and relegation is possible as I’m aiming for the first division to have the best ranked 50 to 60 albums.

As you will see, the majority of the live modern progressive rock albums appear in division 2 but you can help to change it.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Please buy any albums through my links to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.

If you think I’ve missed a great prog rock live album out, tell me who and what particular album by leaving me a comment.

Other Best Live Album Polls

If you found it interesting to vote in the poll to find out the greatest progressive rock live album, you might like to vote in some of these polls for individual groups and artists:

You may also want to take part in more of the genre based live album polls:

My aim is to help you to find the best live albums through readers polls, my own reviews and from bringing in Amazon reviews.

You can see the complete list of readers polls at Live Album Polls.

Live Albums I Played In September 2018

I’ve carried into September, a massive crush on Progressive rock which developed towards the end of last month.

Prog Rock

  • King Crimson Live In Vienna 2016
  • King Crimson Live In Chicago 28 June 2017
  • King Crimson Absent Lovers
  • Syzygy A Glorious Disturbance
  • Discipline This One’s For England
  • Discipline Live Into The Dream
  • Steve Hackett Wuthering Nights Live In Birmingham
  • Steve Hackett The Total Experience Live In Liverpool
  • Steve Hackett Tokyo Tapes
  • Steve Hackett Live Rails
  • IQ Forever Live
  • IQ Subterranea The Concert
  • Locanda Della Fata Live Bloom
  • Gazpacho London
  • Moon Safari The Gettysburg Address
  • Moon Safari Live In Mexico
  • Karnataka Strange Behaviour Live
  • Mystery Tales From The Netherlands
  • Twelfth Night Live And Let Live
  • The Flower Kings Tour Kaputt
  • The Flower Kings Meet The Flower Kings
  • The Flower Kings Alive On Planet Earth
  • Karmakanic Live In The US
  • Big Big Train  Stone’s Throow From The LIne
  • Yes Yesshows
  • Yes Yessongs
  • Yes Symphonic Yes
  • Transatlantic Live In Europe
  • Transatlantic KaLIVEoscope
  • Transatlantic More Never Is Enough
  • Neil Morse So Many Roads
  • Fimisterre Storybook
  • Marillion Thieving Magpie
  • Marillion Live At Loreley
  • Ozric Tentacles At The Pongmaster’s Ball
  • Spock’s Beard Gluttons For Punishment
  • Porcupine Tree Arriving Somewhere
  • Porcupine Tree Coma Divine
  • The Tangent Going Off On One
  • Camel A Live Record
  • Camel Coming Of Age

Live Albums I Played In July 2018

The live albums I played in July 2018 are

Art Rock

  • Roxy Music Roxy Music Live

Blues

  • Luther Allison Live 89 Let’s Try It Again

Blues Rock

  • Jeff Beck Live At the Hollywood Bowl
  • Fleetwood Mac Shine 69
  • Beth Hart Front And Center Live From New York
  • Paul Rodgers Live In Manchester

Classic Rock

  • Rod Stewart Tonight’s The Night Live 1976-1993
  • Ronnie Lane BBC In Concert (Ooh La La)
  • Chris Thompson Berlin Live
  • Bachman & Turner Live At The Roseland Ballroom

Indie Rock

  • Nick Cave The Abbatoir Blues Tour
  • The Goo Goo Dolls Live In Buffalo

Pop

  • Abba Live At Wembley

Singer Songwriter

  • Billy Joel 12 Gardens Live

Live Albums I Played In June 2018

The live albums I played ion June 2018 include:

Blues

  • Luther Allison Live In Chicago
  • Otis Rush All My Loving

Blues Rock

  • Jeff Beck Live At the Hollywood Bowl
  • Jeff Beck Live +
  • Jeff Beck With The Jan Hammer Group Live
  • Fleetwood Mac Shine 69
  • Beth Hart Front And Center Live From New York

Classic Rock

  • Rod Stewart Tonight’s The Night Live 1976-1993
  • Tom Petty Psychotic Reaction
  • Ronnie Lane BBC In Concert (Ooh La La)
  • Chris Thompson Berlin Live

Indie Rock

  • Nick Cave Live From Kcrw
  • Nick Cave The Abbatoir Blues Tour

Singer Songwriters

  • Bill Joel Songs From The Attic

Southern Rock

  • Creedence Clearwater Revival The Concert