Re-upload: Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality [1971]

Although I stated in an earlier post that Black Sabbath's best work was their eponymous debut, and I stand by that, all the albums up to and including 'Mob Rules' are bona fide classics, and this is no exception.

Re-upload notes: Scratch that, all the albums are fantastic. Yes, even Born Again. Yes, even Headless Cross. There was simply nobody else who wrote riffs at the same standard as Tony Iommi (who, at the time of writing this, is suffering from a cancer scare. Get well soon Tony).

192 kbps

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Jethro Tull - Aqualung [1971]

Well if it isn't everyone's favourite band of angry prog hobos, Jethro Tull! Regarded as one of the essential prog rock bands (which is ironic, because the band often claimed to be parodying the genre), many of their albums are considered classics, such as this: "Aqualung".

An album of two halves, side one is about the character 'Aqualung', a disgusting vagabond and his daily activities. Side two for some reason is about religion, although I'm not entirely sure why. Either way, this is a folky/bluesy/proggy blast of an album, with frontman Ian Anderson's flute at full throttle throughout. A must for any prog fan.

M4a, ~320 kbps (VBR)

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Yes - Fragile [1971]

I suppose I'd better get on with posting some prog, then.

Best-known for its 9-minute top-20 hit "Roundabout", Yes' "Fragile" is among the best introductory albums to progressive rock. From the snappy bass and driving keyboards of the aforementioned opener, the album contains five short solo works (one per band member) and four longer group compositions.

As far as so-called progressive wankery goes, the songwriting on this album couldn't be any tighter. Definitely worth a listen if you're even remotely interested in how a song nearly 10 minutes in length got into the charts.

128 kbps

Link taken down. Comment to see a reupload!