I just discovered "The Court Of The Crimson King" by King Crimson and it's a darn good song.

[SamAdams76]

I think I played this song at least 10 times today.

I discovered this because I am building a playlist of songs that were popular a half century ago. I intend to carry this through for the rest of my life. The playlist is called "50 Years".

I was born in 1962 so I only started remembering music around the year 1970 but back then, it was Partridge Family, Archies, that type of stuff, because I was only 7 years old, you know.

But this song by King Crimson is EPIC. Turns out that the late Greg Lake did vocals. It's a 10+ minute masterpiece. Said to be the first real "prog-rock" album.

Here it is in all it's glory

Anyhow, it's great to discover music a half century after it came out. The album art is ugly but I'll post a lion down below, which is pretty cool.

[CapnJack]

“The title track to “Trilogy” is my favorite.”

Ahh yes, ELP another group of top virtuosos. Incredible music ... and another tragic loss ... RIP Keith.

[MarDav]

Someone on this thread seemed to think Wetton’s voice detracted from KC. His singing on Starless is spot on, in terms of developing the mood of the piece. Love his singing on album Starless and Bible Black...

Link to Night Watch:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WwFYy_Th7BA

[Disambiguator]

Journey was basically Santana without Santana when they first started...

[MarDav]

Is this down there in that rabbit hole with you?:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cbY05Ufp8Jg

[Disambiguator]

I’ve seen that - she plays two parts by hand and the bass on the foot pedals.

[4yearlurker]

The screamimg man red album is pretty good too. “Confusion Will be my Epitaph.....”

[4yearlurker]

I you like this stuff I suggest Manfred Mann-Solar Fire album from 1973. Still have mine and saw them at The Spectrum in Philly in 73 too. Farrr out!

[gnickgnack2]

Wow! Looks even better than Cruise to the Edge...except for the no Hackett thing

[gnickgnack2]

I wanted to see them, too, but they never made it up this way. I kept checking their website, but Noooo!

[gnickgnack2]

Hawkwind... only concert I have ever fallen asleep at.
I gave them a second chance and it happened again!

[Michael.SF.]

Unfortunately Steve Morse has a health issue, I believe it is arthritis in his hand (or hands). He is actually in a lot of pain as he plays. It is a distinct possibility that he may have to retire.

[who knows what evil?]

Yes, it was! Watched that same ‘video’ last night...owned that album before anybody realized how good it was.

[Sirius Lee]

Prog still exists today. One of my faves is Spock's Beard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xi7-cjgksQ

This one has a rather longish instrumental overture, but the whole album is basically an allegory of the Christ story. Neal Morse is the lead singer/composer.

[Robert DeLong]

They want a lot of money for it now.

[zeugma]

Sam,

One of the problems I have with going by the billboard charts, is often the best songs on an album will not be listed. I like buying the whole disk, and putting it in my rotation.

My musical tastes are pretty eclectic. I have a music player I built out of a linux box that is connected to my stereo. It currently has 18,355 tunes, and will play continuously without repeating for 49 days, 14 hours and 4 minutes. (Yes, I'm bragging) I turn it on when I get up in the morning, and it runs down a playlist I made that is essentially random. On very rare occasions, something will come up that I'll skip, but generally, it just runs in the background. Here's the last few songs that were played.

74 19:02 20200125 Patsy Cline - Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home
75 19:04 20200125 Various Artists - Wildwood Flower
76 19:06 20200125 Jennifer Knapp - Say Won't You Say
77 19:10 20200125 Amy Grant - Imagine
78 19:14 20200125 Chevelle - An Island
79 19:19 20200125 Free Indeed and Jerome Williams - I Want to Be Where You Are
80 19:21 20200125 Sawyer Fredericks - Shine On
81 19:24 20200125 Steven Curtis Chapman - Together
82 19:28 20200125 Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
83 19:31 20200125 ZZ Top - Francine
84 19:34 20200125 Stephen Bennett - Thornton's Creek
85 19:38 20200125 Boston - Smokin'
86 19:43 20200125 Ray Lynch - Rhythm In The Pews
87 19:47 20200125 Elvis Presley - (There'll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me)
88 19:50 20200125 Heart - Dog And Butterfly
89 19:56 20200125 Craig Duncan, Eric Silver, Larry Beaird, Bob Burns, Jack Jezzro, Jim Hoke - Under The Double Eagle
90 19:59 20200125 Lindsey Pavao - Say Aah
91 20:02 20200125 Sonicflood - I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever
92 20:07 20200125 Willie Nelson - Help Me Make It Through The Night
93 20:10 20200125 Kimiko Ishizaka - The Well Tempered Clavier (J.S.Bach)

[SamAdams76]

Sam, One of the problems I have with going by the billboard charts, is often the best songs on an album will not be listed. I like buying the whole disk, and putting it in my rotation.

That is 100% true! During the mid 1970s, I discovered AOR radio on the FM dial (album oriented rock) and discovered quickly that the best rock songs never made a Top 40 AM radio playlist.

For instance, I was blown away by Led Zeppelin's "The Rain Song" when I finally heard it on FM around 1976. All that AM radio ever played form them was "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway to Heaven". In short order, those two songs ended up being my LEAST favorite LZ tracks.

So yes, while i use the Billboard Charts as a guideline, I explore the full albums as well.

Reviewing your sample playlist, hitting SHUFFLE on my own massive iTunes library would yield some similar results with regard to being eclectic. You might get a Partridge Family track squeezed between George Thorogood and Emmylou Harris! I do keep the classical stuff separate as well as my Christmas music (over 4,000 Christmas tracks alone!)

[MarDav]

Enjoyed both Miami and Bang albums...

[DivineMomentsOfTruth]

Back to back cruises. Pretty neat.

[newfreep]

Steve’s re-masterings on DCC and Audio Fidelity seem to fetch a LOT of bucks - even the used CDs and vinyls. His signature sound is described as “the breath of life” as he seems to get darn close to those master tapes.

I’ve exhibited $500k systems at CES...and the best sound I’ve ever heard was hearing the reel-to-reel master tape of Sinatra in a smallish room at Steve’s home. I could have sweared Frank was “right there”.

Steve has been a loyal friend for many, many moons and has been very kind with priceless gifts and supporting me at various high-end shows and dealer demos.

I treasure so many gifts incl a CDR of those first 90 seconds of Aqualung that includes the “stretching” screech - kinda cool to hear the master tape before the splicing.

Truly, one of the good guys in the music industry.

Another short Steve story...

When Ray Charles agreed to have Steve remaster some of his classic albums, the label President and Steve went to Ray’s home with a check printed in braille. They handed the check to Ray who “read” the amount with his fingers, smiled and said, “Boys, we got a deal!”

[DivineMomentsOfTruth]

When I saw Ian Anderson a few years ago, he was still doing the balancing on one leg thing. Super nice guy to the audience.. One of the best shows ever!