If only we had listened then

Supertramp - Crime of the Century - 1974

Today, while listening to this album, I started wondering if there's such a thing as "progressive pop". Turns out that there is, and it turns out that Supertramp is mentioned as belonging in here.
I'm not too sure why, to be honest. I keep thinking that this is the music that Genesis might play when they were having a weekend off. But still, I'm not sure why they sound so much more like pop than rock to me.
Don't get me wrong, I actually love this album, and every time I listen to it I'm quite amazed at the quality, both in the songwriting and in the musicianship, and I really enjoy all the songs a lot.
The lyrics are a big part about why I like this album so much. They are, for the most part, about being young, angry and confused. But there's a certain honesty to them, and while we may outgrow them, there's that down-to-earth feeling that lingers on. Their angst is actually more relatable than the one in Pink Floyd's The Wall, for example, because it doesn't try so hard to blame everyone as PF does, nor do they sound as arrogant as Waters could. It's also not as easy to outgrow as punk, because there's a bit more substance to it.
Musically, they seem to flawlessly and effortlessly more from the more melodic, "easy listen" pop moments, to other moments that are definitely progressive.
This is a great album, it's an album I think everyone should have in their collection and listen to from time to time. Not all the songs are great, but most of them certainly are. And it has stood the test of time much better than other contemporary albums.
Oh, and by the way, not only is there progressive rock, apparently there's also progressive country. I'm curious, but I don't think I dare.

• I've always found the cover, with those hands grabbing onto a prison window in outer space quite beautiful and very haunting.
• While this is not a concept album, the lyrics, as I said, mostly deal with topics of alienation, anxiety and insanity. 
• There are really a lot of brilliant tracks here, but I'm going to put "School", the opening track here. It's been a long favourite of mine, and it has one of the coolest piano solos ever. The video is quite horrible, and I don't really know where it came from, but you don't need to watch.

It only hurts when it stops

Budgie - Radio Sessions I - 1974

First, let me tell that this is a bit of a cheat. This album was actually released as a double live album only in 2005, the first one (this one), recorded live in London in 1974, the second in Los Angeles in 1978. But it doesn't really make sense to me to wait until 2005 to post it.

Second, let me tell you that I know absolutely nothing about Budgie. I know they are a mostly Welsh band, and that's about it. 

All I know apart from that is that Metallica covered their songs "Breadfan" and "Crash Course in Brain Surgery", which appeared in Garage Inc. 

They are considered one of the earliest heavy metal bands and were a big influence, especially for the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. But this is just information I get from Wikipedia. I don't even remember ever listening to this one before.

Which is a problem, because, you know, I'm not extremely keen on live albums and, at least this one, doesn't really have the cleanest of sounds. The sound is not too bad, either, but it could be better. It's like a good quality bootleg. Still, there's a lot here that sounds more than interesting, and I found myself interested enough to try and find more stuff by them.

• The band consisted only of three members. Keeping that in mind, they sure knew how to make themselves be heard!
• One problem I have with the band is the singer. Yes, high pitch voice, of course. He's even been compared to Rush's Geddy Lee, and that's never a good thing for me. 
• I'm putting "Breadfan" here. There's a lot of tracks that sound good here, but this one I know from before. YouTube has either links to the whole album or to other versions, so I'm not sure where this version is from. It's pretty good, and I can actually enjoy it despite the squeaky voice.