Okay, boys and girls here are my all-time top ten favorite albums.

 

01) ANDERSON BRUFORD WAKEMAN HOWE • Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

 

This came out in 1989. At the time, the current lineup of Yes was the one that recorded 90125, but singer Jon Anderson was dissatisfied with the situation with Yes at that time. He reunited with Bill Bruford, Rick Wakeman & Steve Howe. This reunited 4/5 of the Yes lineup that recorded "Fragile" and "Close To The Edge." Bruford's King Crimson bandmate, Tony Levin was brought in as a session Bassist. Like a lot of Yes fans, I prefer the songs they wrote back in the 70's over the songs of the Trevor Rabin era. Where I differ from a lot of fans of "Classic" Yes fans is my preference against the limited palette of sounds available to them back in the day. Now here we are in 1989, and we have 4/5 of the same lineup writing the same type of material, but using the more advanced technology available at the time. The only thing missing was Chris Squire's Bass. Sadly, Tony Levin's Bass was pretty low in the mix. That's the only complaint I would make, but this still ranks as my all time number one!

 

02) EMERSON, LAKE & POWELL • Emerson, Lake & Powell

 

This came out in 1986. It was a similar situation as ABWH. We have a reunited icon of 70's prog minus one member. The missing member was Carl Palmer who was contractually obligated to stay with the band, Asia. In his place was heavy metal drummer, Cozy Powell best known for his stints in Rainbow and Whitesnake. The only ELP song I had heard on the radio was "Lucky Man," "I Believe In Father Christmas" and "Karn Evil 9 1st Impression Part 2." The first two songs are acoustic guitar ballads. "Karn Evil 9" was an uptempo number, so I had a better idea of how Keith Emerson's playing was, but he only used Hammond organs and Moog synths on that song. This was a blind purchase. That means I had no preview at all of the music. ABWH was a blind purchase too. I had absolutely no regret at all buying this without having heard a single song. This was Emerson at his best with the best in Synthesizer technology available at the time. It is worth noting that Emo (that's e-mo, not ee-mo) is not in the habit of using samplers to play realistic acoustic instrument sounds. ELP with Palmer reunited in the 90's and recorded two studio albums. I prefer this album over those two.

 

03) SAGA • World's Apart

 

There are no more blind purchases in this list. This band achieved some success with this album because they had videos available to play when MTV began. We didn't have cable TV at the time, but there were TV shows showing music videos. Their songs were also being played at my local Rock station which was Prog friendly. What impressed me was the band's sound which was drenched in Synthesizers. You see, this five piece band has three Keyboard players. Okay that doesn't mean there's always three guys playing Keyboards. The Singer and the Bassist also play Keyboards. The Singer usually plays Piano parts, and the Bassist will on occasion play his bass parts on a Synth instead of a four-string. Before I forget to mention it, the Guitarist kicks ass too. Though the overall sound is bathed in Synths, when the Guitar solo comes on, it's on. His sound is not "metal," it's more high-tech sounding fitting in better with th overall sound.

 

04) MAGELLAN • Impending Ascension

 

The band is made up of three guys from Vacaville, which is north of San Francisco. I became familiar with this band when they appeared on "Stone Trek," the local Sunday night Progressive Rock radio show. By the time this second album came out, that radio show was history because the station changed format. If you read any reviews of this album, most of them will mention the supposed use of "Drum Machines." This is a common misconception about this album. The truth is they were using electronic pads played by human hands. Of course, the credit on the liner notes read, "Percussion by Magellan." Yeah, that's pretty ambiguous. If you listen carefully you would realize though the sound was electronic, the playing does not feel "programmed" at all. I know this for a fact because bandleader, Trent Gardner told me so on the phone (I wrote him a letter). The Guitars and Bass are heavily distorted but with a lot of processing making a very electronic sound. And yes, there's a lot of Synths.

 

05) ARS NOVA • The Goddess Of Darkness

 

This is my favorite currently active band. They have gone through a lot of lineup changes through the years, but this is their third album from 1995. It features their definitive lineup. They are a Japanese all-female Keyboards-Bass-Drums trio. Upon hearing the band for the first time, most people assume they are influenced by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. That's very much accurate. Keyboardist Keiko Kumagai also lists as influences the Italian Prog bands from the 70's: Il Balleto Di Bronzo and Goblin. I call this lineup of the band, "the triple K lineup." Everybody has two "K" in their first name and one "K" in their last name. I've mentioned the Keyboardist. The Bass Guitarist is Kyoko Kanazawa, and the Drummer, Akiko Takahashi. What differentiates them from other ELP-influenced bands is the Bassist, who plays her Rickenbacker with a pick. So it's more like Emerson, Squire & Palmer. Their style is also more aggressive than most bands of this kind. Most of the time they are more aggressive than ELP themselves. That's the reason for my description of them:

 

They're just like Emerson, Lake & Palmer only ballsier.

 

Go ahead laugh! It's funny! Funny, but true!

 

06) GEOFFREY DOWNES / NEW DANCE ORCHESTRA • The Light Program

 

We've established that I love Synths. I listen to a lot of Keyboard player's solo albums. This one is by the Keyboard player with Asia. There are no other musicians on this album, so the Drums are either programmed or played on the keyboard. The format is 33 short tracks grouped into five suites. This makes my list because of the sheer variety of styles used. There are grand symphonic pieces, ethnic dances, jazzy pieces, and the last piece is a Reggae/Calypso styled number.

 

07) YANNI • Keys To Imagination

 

Yes, you read that right! It's Yanni. Before he started dating Linda Evans, he was an electronic artist. What I really liked about Yanni as an electronic artist is that he programmed most of his own sounds. The composition style would be classified as "Romantic." There is a short part on the first song, "North Shore Of Matsushima" that is played with a Saxophone sample played on an Ensoniq Mirage. This instrument was a $2,000 sampler back when samplers cost tens of thousands of dollars. There was no way this Sax sample could be mistaken for the real thing. A lot of people don't like that. I do. To me it's not a crappy Sax sample, but rather an electronic sound vaguely resembling a Saxophone. Yanni's only collaborator on this album is percussionist, Charlie Adams. This is my favorite Yanni album, but believe it or not, his first solo album, Optimystique, is Prog not New Age.

 

08) MICHAEL HOENIG • XCept One

 

This is from the short-lived Cinema Records label in 1987. Cinema was an interesting label. Basically, it was a Prog label marketed as a New Age label. All of their artists were Keyboard players. Pete Bardens was originally from Camel. Patrick Moraz was then currently in the Moody Blues and formerly in Yes. Tony Kaye was the current Keyboard player in Yes. Amin Bhatia was the only new name in the label's roster. Michael Hoenig was a member of Tangerine Dream. This album had six songs. The two slow songs were more like New Age. The uptempo songs however were Synth songs that rock hard.

 

09) CHICK COREA ELEKTRIC BAND • Light Years

 

Well there had to be a Fusion album in my list right? Since I'm a Synth guy this is what I chose. This album is loaded to the gills in Synths, but the contributions from the other instruments are equally impressive. To quote Stan Lee, "'nuff said."

 

10) DREAM THEATER • Images & Words

 

Anybody shocked that I put this one at the bottom of my top ten? In case you missed the memo, here it is: I'm not primarily a Metal guy, I'm primarily a Synth guy. Sadly for me, Dream Theater will never return to this style. The truth is Petrucci uses his leadership position in the band to keep the Keyboards secondary to the Guitars. That's why a lot of Jordan Rudess fans prefer his work in Liquid Tension Experiment over Dream Theater.

 

11) INDUSTRIAL SOUP • A Flagrant Display Of Subtlety

 

This is another ELP influenced band. The difference this time? Comedy! The vocalist doesn't really sing; he just speaks the crazy lyrics. How crazy you ask? Here are some song titles: "Tiny Bladder," "Itch," "Get Off Your Goddamn Soapbox And Go To Hell" and my favorite "Burrito Of Love."

 

12) RING OF FIRE • The Oracle

 

My favorite Prog Metal bands are the ones where the Keyboard player does not play second fiddle to the Guitarist. This band featured Vitalij Kuprij on the Keyboards. The guitarist on this album was George Bellas. The interplay between Vitalij and George is pure Shred heaven. George would be replaced by Tony Macalpine when he couldn't go on tour in Japan. Mark Boals is the Singer. Virgil Donati fans, he's here too.

 

© 2008 Ronnie “The Cruiser” Cruz