[Mike Nomad]

If you haven't heard them, Gong is my favorite prog rock band from yesteryear.

There is about an hour of the show from 15 Dec. 1974 circulating. Some of the edits are pretty harsh. However, it's straight off the console, and the sound quality is absolutely amazing.

And Bill Bruford is behind the kit.

To get back on the beam, it seems to me that Prog lost its mandate in the 80s. There were so many technological advancements on both the musical instrument and recording sides, that the lines/boundaries were largely obliterated. I remember how surprised/glad I was when I got to the end of the Genesis S/T record from '83: I played Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea every day for about a month.

[Ericus Rex]

Riverside

The two tracks I listened to on youtube sound quite good!  Very reminiscent of Porcupine Tree.  Which album do you recommend I start with?

[Delta Wave]

The Mars Volta -These guys are an INSANE blend of prog/metal
Radiohead- Definitely one of the most creative acts in the last decade

The Mars Volta indeed!

How about...
Tool & Mastodon

[Ericus Rex]

Those are all great suggestions!  From the few tracks I listened to on Youtube I'd say the Flower Kings are most like the '70's Prog I call Prog.
Slowly but surely getting through the other suggestions.  Keep em coming!

Transatlantic
King Crimson (still doing it after all these years)
Klause Schulze
Rush
Flower Kings
Ozric Tentacles

Lots of good ProgRock still going on

[Ericus Rex]

Their early albums are about as progressive and groundbreaking as prog rock gets!

...Every once in awhile, I'll see Pink Floyd listed under Progressive Rock. 

[Delta Wave]

Let us not forget Primus, you'll either love em or hate em.
Anyone remember Queensryche?
How about old Kansas?

[Ericus Rex]

Definitely add King Crimson, Renaissance and Focus (this one not exactly my cup o tea) to this lineup.  Maybe I just have to accept the idea that Prog reached its acme in the 70's?   

Rush, Yes, ELP, ELO, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and the Moody Blues are all examples of excellent Progressive Rock bands. 

[Ericus Rex]

I was a huge Queensryche fan back in the day.  Primus too.  I saw Kansas a few years back touring with REO Speedwagon      REO put on a good show but Kansas just seemed, well, tired.  Not sure I'd put any of those in the same genre as 70's prog above.

Let us not forget Primus, you'll either love em or hate em.
Anyone remember Queensryche?
How about old Kansas?

[Kinger]

Another fan of Queensryche here, but agree that I wouldn't exactly classify them as prog rock.

[Ericus Rex]

I still think Operation Mindcrime (the original) is the beesknees.

[Delta Wave]

They were pretty progressive for the dark days of 80's music. Don't worry, I'm an avid fan of Yes, Rush, King Crimson...etc.

[macrojack]

Is it fair to say that rock kept going but prog stopped?

[Delta Wave]

I wouldn't say it's over, you'd just be hard pressed to hear it on the radio. You need to seek it out.

[mchuckp]

I wouldn't say it's over, you'd just be hard pressed to hear it on the radio. You need to seek it out.

I concur with that.  Seemed that years ago there was at least some acceptance of prog rock in mainstream radio and they'd at least play an edited version of something.  Today, there just doesn't seem to be any interest in even giving it a try.  Heck, no one even seems to care about musicianship in general.

Like most good music, you gotta make an effort to find it.  The masses are a bit brain dead.

[mchuckp]

I love both Phish and prog rock, though I never really thought to classify them as such. I can see what you're saying though. Phish is a group of highly talented musicians... as is the case with most prog bands.  To me, any time they go into their highly structured portions of their music as prog and then they typically open up into jams.

I don't classify Phish as prog rock but some of there tunes, to me, are the definition of such.  "The Curtain" comes to mind.  I think I'd classify a lot of Trey's senior thesis otherwise known as "The White Tape" as prog.

Not sure if anyone considers Frank Zappa prog rock but I've listened to "Apostrophe/Overnight Sensation" for years and LOVE it.  I love the quirkiness and musicality of this one(two).  Frank has a TON of music on the market that goes all over the place stylistically and not sure I really dig all of it.  Any suggestions on some of his stuff I should try?

[BrassEar]

Happy the Man has a recent release:

http://www.amazon.com/Muse-Awakens-Happy-Man/dp/B00042YL1I/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1272130012&sr=8-3

[keenween]

Trans Am and Tortoise are good stuff.

[FullRangeMan]

Hi,
In my opinion Progressive Rock become into Ambient Music.  There is some good old Prog.Rock bands worth buy in CD format tough as:
Alan Parsons Project,  Pink Floyd,  Yes,  Focus,  Tangerine Dream,  Kluster/Cluster,  Embryo(a Jazz-Rock band),  Faust,  Rush,  Ash Ra Tempel,  Agitation Free,  Brian Eno,  Roxy Music,  The Can,  Conrad Schnitzler,  David Silvyan,  ELOY,  Nektar,  Edgar Froese solo albums,  Emerson Lake Palmer,  The Nice,  Gentle Giant,  Gila,  Harmonia, J ean Michel Jarre,  Klaus Schulze,  Kebnekajse, Moody Blues,  Michael Rother,  NEU,  Procol Harun,  POPOL VUH,  Patrick Moraz,  Penguin Cafe Orchestra,  Peter Hammill,  Van Der Graaf Generator,  Queen,  Rick Wakeman,  Supertramp, Santana Band,  Steve Roach(desert's ambient music, allways a extraordinary soundstage), Triunvirat,  Vangelis,  Walter Carlos, XHOL and
should be others more.
But like all in art and life, musical value is a personal feeling.
Gustavo

[Ericus Rex]

I'm thinking with just a few exceptions (listed above) this is the case.  Most of what we call modern prog rock should drop the "prog" and adopt some other adjective.

Is it fair to say that rock kept going but prog stopped?

[doorman]

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"
(with apologies to Wm. Shakespeare)
Don