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To me, 70's Alan Parsons Project was Album Rock that was with Progressive elements, not really Prog although Tales of Mystery and Imagination could qualify for an album that might fit in as a small note, and were perfect with what was going on in AOR FM Radio in The States, almost fitting perfectly with 70's ELO or Manfred Mann's Earth Band with their use of Synths in a basic Rock style that had a little something extra. I think that the one that pushed them into the Prog Pop category was Turn of a Friendly Card featuring an extended work on Side Two but also finding time for songs like "Time" (ouch!), and then the trip to Soft Rock territory with Eye in the Sky and especially Ammonia Avenue. For their defense, though, it can be said that Parsons had a way with using thematic albums with his keyboard driven music (so much better than, say, Styx with Paradise Theater and Kilroy Was Here for example...I wonder if they were taking notes from Parsons Project albums.).

Still, let's also look at a couple of his solo projects. Once the Project stopped with the Gaudi album and Parsons' first solo effort Try Anything Once was an under performing disc, I feel that Parsons decided to at least try a 90's Light Prog route with On Air and The Time Machine - while not Prog as we could call it in this thread, it is at least going a distance away from the hit making machine the Project were before Gaudi. The album he created since then, A Valid Path, was bordering more on Synth Pop/Rock. His work in the 2Ks saw a return to the "Prog Pop" especially with the Eye 2 Eye live album of greatest hits performed in Madrid (once can view things with a cynical eye here, but...).

When one looks at the membership of the Project, which has included artists like Colin Blunstone from The Zombies (Who's Rod Argent also dabbled in some Prog type sounds in his Album Rock with, who else, Argent) and Eric Woolfson who's worked with a lot of British Pop legends before the Project as an arranger as well as the infamous team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, you can tell that Parsons was aiming for an intelligent Pop/Rock that seriously had some influence with working with Pink Floyd as an Engineer (not producer).

As a Producer, Parsons worked with Al Stewart of "Time Passages" fame and also Ambrosia, who actually started as another Album Rock Progressive band that had it's second album with Parson's production. He's also Produced Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel as well as the tasty Pop of Pilot ("Magic").

Not Prog, but worth a small mention as someone who used it as a springboard for his music.

Plus, with Floyd being mentioned, Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother (Another Parsons' Engineered album I think), Meddle, Wish You Were Here, and Animals to me fit comfortably Prog in my opinion (OUCH again!). Dark Side is a part of Prog as well, but is to my ears more of an example of how well Floyd do very well when they aim for a mega hit (After some mid-charting albums in The US, it's possible something was aimed to break America in their own unique way) - yummy hooks by the baker's dozen, tasty production with well placed effects, clever lyrics, and everything else. The Wall may be a bloated thing to me, and certainly not Prog, but one can hear a band that aimed for the big time again achieving success.



Getting back to the topic of this thread, for my pick, it would possibly be In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson.