Top 250: #1 - #5

ProgActive has been using Apple's iTunes regularly since early April of 2006. At first, with a 60 GB iPod and later with more recent and advanced devices. During these 8 years and 8 months, the counters for individual tracks have never been reset. Roughly four years ago, a faulty iTunes update caused a loss of over a month's worth of playing statistics, but otherwise we still have complete playtime information stored that has accumulated all the way from 2006.

When we started this series on 8 June this year, there were 6,236 tracks in ProgActive's iTunes collection. Back then, we decided that we wanted to find out what the most played tracks in the collection after approximately 98 months of listening were. So we stopped the counter on 6 June at 6 in the morning and have been listing those favourites since. Time has finally come to finalize this series with the best of the best: Top 5.

5. Clean Coloured Wire, by Engineers
(Three Fact Fader, 2009)

The British shoegazers Engineers are the only group that have succeeded in getting not one or two but three entries in our Top 10. In the previous entry, we already discussed Stake to Glory (#8). Now, we have reached the masterful opening track of their pinnacle album Three Fact Fader (2009) and there will still be a third one further ahead. Clean Coloured Wire is already their tenth song in the Top 250, meaning that their grand total is going to stand at eleven. Quite an achievement; they beat even Porcupine Tree. But not an undeserved one, as you can hear below.

For a long time we weren't aware that the song is actually using a sample. The electronic loop that the song begins with and which runs all the way through it has been lifted from a track called Watussi, by the West German group Harmonia; the opening track of their 1974 album Musik von Harmonia. Knowing this did lessen our excitement about the greatness of the track a little but it is nonetheless a magnificent piece of modern, pitch perfect pop music with some art rock thrown in for good measure. That said, there is still one track on this very same album that outshines it.

4. The 1978, by Steven Wilson
("Harmony Korine" single B side, 2009)

We are not entirely sure if the correct year here is 2008 or 2009. Steven Wilson released his first solo album (using his own name, anyway) Insurgentes towards the end of 2008. At some point, there was also a two disc Deluxe Version of the release that contained a few extra tracks on the second disc. The last one of these had no title then, but was named The 78 when it was released as a "B side" to the song Harmony Korine (#61) which was released as a vinyl single in 2009. Embedded below is a fan made video for the song.

As great as Harmony Korine is, The 78 is way better, proving once again that it is not uncommon for B sides to beat their A sides. More a straightforward hard rock song than a progressive effort, it grabs you right at the start with its excellent percussion loop and never lets go. Electric guitars are loud and kind of hard to the ear; lyrics very simple and exceptionally pessimistic - sounding like something that Wilson's bandmate Aviv Geffen might have written.

3. Helped By Science, by Engineers
(Three Fact Fader, 2009)

The third and final Engineers song in our top 10 is their greatest masterpiece. The British group's eleventh track on the entire list is a perfect achievement in mellow pop music that has been on repeat for long enough to reach top three. Not only is it a great composition; what makes it stand out is the way it manages to change key in the middle of a bar and do it without sounding artificial or contrived. We have been mesmerized by this song ever since we heard it for the first time and cannot help but recognize its genius. Just listen to it below and see if you agree.

There is little else we can think of to write about our favorite British shoegazer band. Three Fact Fader is their best album so far. They have followed it with two more releases: In Praise of More (2010) and Always Returning (2014), both of which have been considerably more uneven albums than their near perfect predecessor. Hopefully the group will continue their good work for years to come and perhaps repeat the success of their release from five years ago.

2. Chronos Deliverer, by Glass Hammer
(Chronometree, 2000)

Here is the highest ranking debut on the list. The American progressive rock group Glass Hammer now appears on it for the first time. This happens here, on second place - talk about a one hit wonder! Glass Hammer's 2000 album Chronometree contains this absolutely perfect piece of keyboard driven symphonic prog that we have been playing over and over again. Besides its peerless composition, another great detail about the song is its genial use of female choir that works immensely well. Somehow the group has managed to keep nearly all of their music out of YouTube, so here is a Grooveshark link instead.

Choros Deliverer - Glass Hammer

Glass Hammer have always been great admirers of progressive rock legends Yes. This should be perfectly obvious from Chronos Deliverer already. But even more revealing is the fact that the entire album Chronometree is an intentional homage to that other group's output. And to complete said homage, singer Jon Davison was chosen to actually join Yes a couple of years ago, as their new lead singer. This meant a hiatus for Glass Hammer since Davison isn't allowed to work with other projects during his stay in Yes, however long it may be. We haven't been very excited about the rest of Glass Hammer's output although some of it is pretty good - here is the shining exception that can be qualified as a genuine masterpiece.

1. Milliontown, by Frost*
(Milliontown, 2006)

ProgActive's number one track ever is safely ahead of its competition. No other song comes even close to the number of times it has been played. What's even more impressive is that number in relation to the track's running time. It surprises even us that the song we have played by far the most times in our iTunes collection runs well over 26 minutes. You would think that a shorter track would have a much easier task to climb this high but here is the exception to really challenge that rule, or at least the assumption of its existence.

Milliontown is a magnum opus that consists of several parts, like many of the similar seventies 20-minute prog classics did. It is the single greatest piece of modern progressive rock that we know of, which largely explains why it has become number one on our list already some years ago and has successfully held that position since. It represents all that is best in the genre; an endless flow of invention that has been composed and is played with unmatched virtuoso. In particular, it is John Mitchell's guitars and Andy Edwards's drumming that pack an unparalleled punch.

To close this series, some history data. We have been interested in the most played tracks in our collection before and it seems that initially it was Once by Blackfield, now outside top 10, that held the top spot for a long time during the early years. It wasn't until January 2008 that Bravado by Rush took the first place - only to temporarily lose it back to Once during spring, then reclaim the throne come next fall.

Following this, Bravado was our number one track for nearly two years, until some time in the summer of 2010 Chronos Deliverer (now #2) took the top spot, with Milliontown a close second, and Bravado dropped to third place. Finally, some time in late 2010, Milliontown overtook Chronos Deliverer and has been number one ever since. And, as the very last note: since 8 June this year, Helped By Science has actually overtaken Chronos Deliverer for the second place but still far behind Milliontown.

Top 250: #6 - #10

Top 250 by ProgActive will now be finalized by listing the best of the very best, Top 10, in the last two entries of the series. In this elite group, there are only seven different artists. Five of them appear once. One of them appears twice. One of them appears three times. And, even though Blackfield has had lots of songs on the list and many of them very close to the top, they are not the artist appearing three times. Let's start with them.

10. 1,000 People, by Blackfield
(Blackfield II, 2007)

The other masterpiece on Blackfield II besides Once (#13) is the very next track on it. There are many types of beautiful music in existence; Aviv Geffen's talent lies in writing perhaps the most mournful type. The incredibly moving 1,000 People is a close relative to a more recent Geffen downer, Dissolving With the Night (#29) from the third Blackfield album. It is actually a reworking of an original song, sung in Hebrew by Geffen, for which he co-wrote the English lyrics with bandmate Steven Wilson.

Of all the songs written by Geffen, this one is in the top two of the most depressing ones. It makes you wonder why the man writes so much about longing to be gone from this life. Dissolving With the Night continued in exactly the same vein four years later. However, in spite of its subject matter 1,000 People is not a mournful tune in the same sense as, say, Adagio in G Minor by Tomaso Albinoni. It is a lovely if also sad song backed with a piano and strings and it used to play in a really heavy rotation. Hence, the tenth place in overall ranking.

9. Fear of a Blank Planet, by Porcupine Tree
(Fear of a Blank Planet, 2007)

Another track from another Steven Wilson project from 2007, Fear of a Blank Planet is the exhilarating opening track from the album carrying the same title. 1,000 People was Blackfield's ninth entry on the list; this one is Porcupine Tree's 15th, making them the artist with most entries on it by far. This is, finally, their last one; PT is one of those artists who have only one entry in the Top 10. Embedded below is Fear of a Blank Planet as the full length album version.

Lasse Hoile has created a music video for the song that can also be found in YouTube in glorious high definition. Unfortunately, on the background the track itself has been shortened from 7 minutes and 32 seconds to only 4 minutes and 19 seconds, so it didn't feel appropriate to embed it here. The album was actually a disappointment to us but this title track kicks ass - in particular, the first four minutes or so. After that it gets a bit repetitive. Great song by the British prog group who have de facto disbanded following 2009's horrendously disappointing The Incident.

8. Stake to Glory, by Engineers
(Forgiveness, 2005)

This song by Engineers is one of our most memorable finds in recent years. The same year the group released their self titled full length debut album they also released an EP length collection of songs called Forgiveness. It contained a single of that same title that was also included on the debut album, and a couple of other songs that weren't. Easily the best of them is Stake to Glory, which in our opinion is also better than anything on the actual debut album. Sometimes B sides can be better. Please listen to the song below.

As you can hear, the chorus of the song has been arranged like one of the pompous Phil Spector produced hits of the sixties. This nod to that particular era is interesting, but what makes this song truly great is the exceptional quality of the songwriting. Engineers have proven to be masters of composing unforgettably beautiful tunes, and this song is a shining example of that particular talent. Even though we didn't find this track until early 2010, it has managed to accumulate a respectable amount of listening and hence climbed to the eighth place on our all time list.

7. Perfect World, by Blackfield
(Blackfield, 2004)

Remember when we mentioned weighing Gravity Eyelids by Porcupine Tree (#30) against another song when trying to decide our number one favorite song of the entire 2000's? This is that song. Perfect World is the crowning achievement of Blackfield's career that they have never surpassed, although 1,000 People admittedly comes close. Like Where is My Love? (#24) it is not listed among the actual tracks of the album, but has been placed as one of the three bonus tracks of the two disc version.

Once again, a somewhat pessimistic message from Blackfield. This world is far from perfect, and cannot be mended: I wish we were reborn to a perfect world. This is not a direct statement about wanting to leave this particular plane of existence but an implication nonetheless. And this is where the group's outstanding success finally peaks. They have now appeared on the list a full ten times - seven times in the Top 40 alone. They won't appear again further up.

6. Bravado, by Rush
(Roll the Bones, 1991)

The Canadian prog metal giant Rush feels like a surprise find this far up on the list. In spite of being fans in the eighties, we seem to have almost forgotten about the group later on. As a result, they have appeared on the list only once before, with Animate (#155). Bravado is a song from one of their less than classic albums that we initially overlooked but noticed a little later on. Since then, this song has grown on us. We are happy to state that now we think it is the finest, most accomplished song in Rush's career, even though their greatest classics were made years earlier.

Roll the Bones the album arrived in a difficult era for the group. During the latter half of the eighties they had, album by album, veered further away from their prog laced heavy rock roots, until Presto (1989) finally became their first release that we actually removed from our CD collection shortly after buying it. Bravado also has a polished tech rock sound but it doesn't hurt at all when the quality of the songwriting is this high. A masterpiece from a great band, born at an unexpected point in time.

Top 250: #11 - #15

Recently, the nature of our Top 250 has been that there is a certain, limited number of artists whose songs and instrumentals keep appearing repeatedly on the list. This time, we show some variety by introducing not only one but two debutants who appear here for the first time, even though we are now nearing the Top 10. Let's begin with one of these newcomers.

15. Analyse, by Thom Yorke
(The Eraser, 2006)

OK, perhaps the Radiohead singer has appeared on the list before but not as a solo artist. Radiohead has so far had three songs on the list, with Videotape ranking highest (#152). Singer Yorke's solo album came out eight years ago, at a time when the best days of the group were already behind them. In our opinion, The Eraser is hardly a great album, but it contains a couple of interesting tracks and one masterpiece which is of course Analyse, embedded below.

The song imprinted itself to our memory perhaps a bit too easily when it played during the closing credits of Christopher Nolan's masterful 2006 film The Prestige. We felt already dumbfounded enough when the credits started to roll, and then there was also this absolutely stunning piece of mellow rock playing on the soundtrack. However, it would be unfair to suggest that Analyse didn't have merit also on its own. Proof of that lies in the fact that it has been able to take the 15th place on our list which has required some heavy rotation - without a film playing at the same time.

14. Peacock Tail, by Boards of Canada
(The Campfire Headphase, 2005)

The Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada, on the other hand, is no newcomer on this list. They have appeared three times previously, with Dayvan Cowboy (#60), Satellite Anthem Icarus (#75) and Julie and Candy (#168). The first two of those are both from their peak album The Campfire Headphase, as is Peacock Tail, our number one favorite track in their recorded output. By now that we are this far up on the list, it feels like every song is our favorite from each artist, signifying that they probably won't appear further up on the list. Which is probably true for Boards of Canada, as well as Thom Yorke.

Embedded above is a great achievement in electronically produced instrumental music. Once again, a relatively simple but infinitely beautiful passage of music has been composed. It is then simply repeated over and over again, and made interesting by adding new layers of variable instrumentation. Unlike the Maju track described in the previous blog entry, Peacock Tail doesn't come back down; instead, it simply soars higher and higher until the soundscape has been filled and it is time to fade out. Bliss.

13. Once, by Blackfield
(Blackfield II, 2007)

Blackfield is fast becoming one of, if not the most successful artist on the list. Prior to this, they have appeared on it already seven times. Four of these appearances are as recent as Where is My Love? (#24), Scars (#27), Dissolving With the Night (#29) and Pain (#34). It seems that the British - Israeli duo has really been able to strike a chord in us. Once is the opening track of their (once) eagerly awaited second album that was released in early 2007. At the time, we were already familiar with the first one and couldn't wait for more of the same to become available.

Once was released in advance of the actual album to serve as its preview. We remember finding it somewhere, listening to it and being very satisfied. The song had a bit more of a rock and roll feel than virtually anything on the debut album, which we felt was a peculiar choice, but the chorus sounded extremely beautiful. The rest of the album didn't live up to the expectation set by Once; it had one other great track, two or three pretty good ones - and also several forgettable ones. Once serves as its opening track.

12. Your Kettle, by Portal
(Blood Red Tape, 2008)

Here comes the other first time appearance listed in this blog entry! And what a surprise it is. Portal is  (or was) a virtually unknown Canadian progressive metal group who luckily take it relatively easy with their metal, limiting its use to hard, tightly played guitar riffs. They play their prog with an incredible precision that still somehow sounds effortless. There is also an Australian extreme black death metal band that has the same name, please be sure not to mix these two.

Your Kettle, embedded above, is a ten-minute masterpiece in complicated, metal laced progressive rock. We found it only about four years ago, yet in only half the time that many other artists have had it has managed to climb all the way to the twelfth place on the list. Blood Red Tape is Portal's third full length album, following A Taste of Things to Come (2001), The Vast Expanse Diminishing (2003) and an EP length release called Element (2005). We know of no more recent releases and the band may have split since their web site hasn't been updated in several years. But what a classic track they released before that happened!

11. On the Mend, by Foo Fighters
(In Your Honor, 2005)

The American rock group Foo Fighters has appeared on the list three times before this, most recently with the lovely Over and Out (#26). On the Mend is that song's stunning companion piece, yet another lovely track taken from the acoustic Disc 2 of the group's ultimate masterpiece In Your Honor. Rising this far up on the list has obviously been helped by an ideal release date, shortly before April 2006 when we started compiling it. But that is of course not the only reason for such a high ranking.

A better reason is that, as you can hear if you click what's embedded above, On the Mend is one of the best and most moving songs ever written about lost love. The lyrics, backed up by the most beautiful of melodies, compare losing a loved one to recuperating from an exceptionally severe illness. It is a question of survival: one more day that I've survived, another night alone. Foo Fighters are working at the very peak of their powers here. Needless to say, then, that they won't be appearing in the Top 10. Who will? Let's get into that next time.

Top 250: #16 - #20

Finally, we have reached the Top 20 of our Top 250 list. For a change, in this section all five tracks are from different artists and even more refreshingly from such artists that didn't appear last time or haven't appeared in a while in general. There is even one debutant on the list this high up.

20. We Subside, by The Pineapple Thief
(Variations on a Dream, 2003)

The British prog related guitar art rock group The Pineapple Thief has appeared on the list a few times before. Vapour Trails (#67), Remember Us (#113) and Resident Alien (#206) were all taken from their early masterpiece Variations on a Dream; only What Have We Sown? (#222) is from a more recent album. Our track number 20 is also from their pinnacle album, in fact it is the opening track. In our opinion, it is easily the finest song that the group has released.

When it comes to lyrics, We Subside is nothing special. But when it comes to music, it is absolutely brilliant. It elevates guitar rock into an art form. As you can hear by clicking the video embedding above, the song opens like a piece of classical music and manages to sustain that impression even when more regular rock instrumentation is introduced a little later on. Art rock has rarely been quite this artsy, and one might accuse the group of almost crossing the fine line between art and the artificial. We don't think they do that. In all the best ways, We Subside simply works.

19. Sending a Signalling Glance, by Maju
(Maju-1, 1999)

Immediately preceding the new millennium, the Tokyo based instrumental electronic music group Maju debuted with Maju-1 which perhaps isn't quite as significant a success as their second album that came out the following year. Still, it contains our number one favorite track in their output. Sending a Signalling Glance is nothing less than a perfect piece of electronic music. Its structure is very simple: a relatively simple melodic passage is repeated several times but in each iteration it becomes deliciously varied while new synthesizer sequences are added - and towards the end, removed.

Maju has appeared on the list twice before, with Once Again, I Revert to That Perspective (#55) and I Drew a Final Breath in the Dream (#106). Both of those two compositions are taken from their next album Maju-2 (2000). This one remains our favorite; there will be no more Maju songs further up on the list. We may have already mentioned that the group's publicly declared ambition is to describe what it is like to live in modern Tokyo through means of instrumental music. Sure sounds like that life is quite enjoyable. Mellow, even.

18. It's Natural to Be Afraid, by Explosions in the Sky
(All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone, 2007)

The previous blog entry (#21 - #25) seemed to imply that there would be no more surprises in store on the list - just more of the same. This track goes to disprove that. The Texan post rock group Explosions in the Sky has not appeared on the list at all prior to this, so it is one of the highest rated debuts on it. (Fourth highest, in fact - there will be not only one but two first time appearances next time, on places #11 - #15, and one even in the top five!)

This lengthy instrumental captured our attention originally because of its memorable opening sequence - the first four minutes and ten seconds. However, the rest of the composition is also great. It is kind of strange to see a post rock group this high on the list since we have never been big fans of that particular genre of rock - the typical noisy guitar sounds irritate us too much. But here, the Texas group has evidently succeeded in mesmerizing the side of us that enjoys ambient music. Hence, a place in the Top 20.

17. All the Blue Changes, by No-Man
(Together We're Stranger, 2003)

There are no Blackfield or Porcupine Tree tracks present this time around, but what would a Top 250 blog entry be without Steven Wilson or at least one of his many projects? Mr. Wilson has made music with Tim Bowness as No-Man since the early nineties and the duo has appeared on the list already five times before, with Soft Shoulders (#81), All Sweet Things (#130), Truenorth (#161), Close Your Eyes (#185) and Pigeon Drummer (#219).

All the Blue Changes is the first pick from their peak album, 2003's impressive Together We're Stranger. This effortlessly beautiful song has played at ProgActive endlessly: it is one of those tracks that you never seem to grow tired of and is arguably the finest piece of work that No-Man has ever released as a recording. Sad, then, that it looks like the duo is now on an endless hiatus, with Steven Wilson busy with his solo career. Following Together We're Stranger, there has been only one more album release, Schoolyard Ghosts, and even that was six and a half years ago.

16. Emergency Room, by Engineers
(Three Fact Fader, 2009)

The British shoegazers Engineers need no further introduction. They have appeared on the list already seven times before, most recently with Thrasher (#37), A Given Right (#52) and Said and Done (#64). A major favorite of ours, obviously. Their peak album is not hard to select: Three Fact Fader, released five years ago, is an astonishing achievement even though its greatness didn't come as a total surprise. Their almost equally excellent self titled debut from 2005 already showed enough promise for music fans to expect great things from the group.

When it begins, Emergency Room sounds perhaps a little non-typical for Engineers - as well as for the top positions on this list. The guitar sounds are hard rocking and the soundscape seems overly filled with instruments. On top of that, the composition doesn't at first sound like it's going to be anything special. This false impression is quickly fixed when we reach chorus and suddenly realize that this is actually one of the group's most memorably written songs with some particularly beautiful passages repeating themselves over and over again. Rock meets mellow pop with incredible results.

Top 250: #21 - #25

For a change, there are no debuting artists among the five tracks we will be listing this time. Every single one of these groups has already appeared on the list further down. Several times, in fact. Ahem...

25. No Me No You, by Frost*
(Milliontown, 2006)

Last time, Frost* took a short break from appearing on the list but here they are once again. No Me No You is perhaps the hardest rocking track on their debut album Milliontown (2006). Coming right after the instrumental opening track Hyperventilate, it is the first real song on the album and might give the casual listener a misleading impression of what kind of music the band makes (as might the opening track as well, but for different reasons). No Me No You is definitely progressive rock, but the guitar riffs would be right at home on a heavy metal / hard rock album. Please do check it out by playing back the video embedded below.

Another thing that you immediately notice about No Me No You is its immensely big sounds. This is where Jem Godfrey's background as producer truly becomes obvious. The man has always been fond of sounds a mile both high and wide, and this is one of the best examples of that liking. Perhaps this might also be a good moment to point out that other members of the group are also exceptional musicians. Just listen to the masterful John Mitchell to get an idea of how great progressive rock guitarists can be.

24. Where Is My Love? by Blackfield
(Blackfield, 2004)

We will write this song down as a 2004 release appearing on repeat offender Blackfield's debut album, although the finalized version of it actually appeared on Blackfield II (2007). It is true that the track list of the debut in its original form doesn't include this song, but it appears on its bonus disc along a couple of other tracks. That version has been called a demo version but it sounds perfectly ready to us and in fact it is the version that we have in our iTunes collection instead of the slightly different Blackfield II version.

Once again, an immensely beautiful Blackfield song has been written solely by Aviv Geffen who seems to be the much more melancholic party in that group. The track is dominated by truly outstanding guitar work. Their goosebump inducing sounds make this sound like a better composed version of a rock song made famous by one of the British guitar rock groups of the nineties like, say, Oasis. Even though the song tells about a search for a lost loved one, it is actually one of the happiest sounding songs composed by Geffen. Remember, this is the same man who wrote the excruciatingly downbeat Dissolving With the Night (#29).

23. Saline, by Frost*
(Experiments in Mass Appeal, 2008)

Wait a minute, didn't we discuss Frost* only moments ago? Well, here they are again, with a much more mellow and beautiful song than No Me No You, picked from their second album for a change. It looks like we did a lot of listening to both of the group's first two albums back in 2008 and 2009 at which time they were both very close to the top. Now that we no longer listen to them quite as regularly as we used to back then, their best songs have slowly started descending on the list and three of them have fallen out of the Top 20. Yes, there will be a third Frost* song in this same blog entry, fear not!

Together with Dear Dead Days (#54), Saline forms the centerpiece of the Experiments on Mass Appeal album. But unlike that hard rocking song with its desperation filled lyrics, it is a much more delicate work of art. The group's brilliant drummer Andy Edwards has nothing to do, and even guitarist John Mitchell has had to leave his electric guitar be and perform with an acoustic one. Saline is one of the songs on the second Frost* album that would have been right at home even on their brilliant debut. A true masterwork - but then, aren't these all?

22. Blackest Eyes, by Porcupine Tree
(In Absentia, 2002)

Porcupine Tree is yet another repeat offender on the list, having already appeared on it an incredible 13 times before this. Will this fourteenth appearance finally be the last one? Certainly the majority of their best songs have already been mentioned, so there can't be very many left, if any at all. Blackest Eyes is of course the energizing opening track of our number one favorite album in their output, 2002's In Absentia. It alternates brief heavy metal sequences with more acoustic and mellow parts, thus creating a memorable contrast.

A random listener with a distaste towards metal may well get the wrong idea from the track's opening sequence. Even though Blackest Eyes does begin with some very heavy guitar riffs, it turns out to be a sweetly melodic song written at a high point of Steven Wilson's creativity as a songwriter. Also, it must have come as a small surprise to a Porcupine Tree fan considering the earlier albums that had never veered so close to heavy metal.

21. Hyperventilate, by Frost*
(Milliontown, 2006)

So it ends as it began. The track that takes the 21st place in our Top 250 is from the very same album as the 25th that opened this blog entry. The instrumental opening track of Milliontown precedes No Me No You on it and, like we already mentioned, perhaps gives a slightly misleading idea to the first time listener, being the only instrumental recorded Frost* track that we know of.

But when it comes to the music itself, there is nothing misleading about it. The quiet opening soon gives way to typical Frost* sounds: larger than life, complicated melodies played with impeccable precision. Someone once compared Hyperventilate to something from the soundtrack of a seventies Italian horror film. The soundscape feels much more accomplished than that but otherwise we can almost understand the comparison.

Top 250: #26 - #30

As promised at the beginning of this article series, when we reach top 30, we will only discuss five tracks per blog entry, and do it a bit more thoroughly. Time to start doing that now. There are still six blog entries left in the series, with only those five tracks discussed at length. Among the five listed this time, there is once again one artist appearing for the very first time!

30. Gravity Eyelids, by Porcupine Tree
(In Absentia, 2002)

Back at the end of 2000's, we were hard pressed to choose the best individual song of that decade. Following a lengthy period of thinking and comparing, we finally decided that number one position should go to that other song. The alternative would have been Gravity Eyelids by Porcupine Tree. We won't name that other song right now as we will most likely run into it further up on the list. In fact, we can call that a certainty. Still a little unsure if we made the right choice at the time, Gravity Eyelids is nonetheless the greatest example of modern metal laced symphonic progressive rock we can think of. Please check it out below.

The greatness of Gravity Eyelids lies in endless innovation as well as the varying musical styles contained within its relatively short running time. Too many recording artists go on to create an entire album from an equivalent number of ideas; here, Porcupine Tree is content with only eight minutes and packs all those ideas into that short timeframe. In Absentia was the first PT album where the group started toying with prog metal influences. This is one of the tracks where you can hear that particularly well.

29. Dissolving With the Night, by Blackfield
(Welcome to My DNA, 2011)

Blackfield has appeared on the list several times already, but Dissolving With the Night is the first track on it that originates from their third album. In fact, all others so far have been taken from their 2004 debut. The major difference here is that those tracks were written and performed by a duo, whereas this third album is a de facto solo album by Aviv Geffen. Please check out this stunning track below.

In the previous blog entry, when discussing Pain (#34), we already concluded that it seems to be Geffen who writes their most depressing songs. Now that Steven Wilson isn't even writing the songs, here is ample proof of that. Dissolving With the Night is a beautiful but immensely sad song about longing to be gone from this particular plane of existence - without even leaving a trace, like the lyrics state. They border on ludicrous self-pity but the music is so strong that it is easy to overlook an occasional banality.

28. Octavarium, by Dream Theater
(Octavarium, 2005)

American prog metal giants Dream Theater are the surprise element this time around. Even though we have plenty of their songs in our collection, for some reason none of them have appeared on the list until now. And what a grand entrance this song is! The title track of their 2005 album Octavarium is a 24-minute masterwork whose grandiosity can only be outdone by the utmost playing skill of the musicians. This is Dream Theater in their prime, and although the rest of the album is admittedly more than only a bit uneven, its title track is pure gold. Naturally, it closes the album.

We have already written about the track in June 2012, back when we were creating our Top 20 Long Prog Masterpieces list. At the time, this track almost made it to Top 10, eventually landing on the eleventh place. What makes its achievement on this list particularly impressive is its running time: you would think that it is easy for shorter songs to be played over and over again, but that longer tracks like this would be scarce especially this near the top. Well, they are scarce but there are some truly great exceptions to that rule, and Octavarium is one of them.

27. Scars, by Blackfield
(Blackfield, 2004)

Blackfield has appeared on the list numerous times already. This time, we are once again back on their 2004 debut album after our short sidestep to the third one (#29). What more can we say? Aviv Geffen and Steven Wilson's debut album was one of the key releases of the last decade that left a huge impact on us and even though we no longer listen to it as frequently as we did back then, there is no denying its historical significance. At the time, it felt like one of the best albums ever and would have been a strong contender for the title of Album of the decade had we not already heard Porcupine Tree's peerless In Absentia prior to its release.

Scars is one of the prettiest songs on the album, as you can hear if you click Play on the video embedded above. It is actually not an original work, but an English version of a song recorded by Geffen in Hebrew already four years earlier. Wilson's contribution is limited to co-writing the English lyrics as well as singing; Geffen's old band's playing is re-used on the Blackfield album as it is. This method was also employed on the group's second album: Geffen's old songs that were originally recorded in Hebrew were re-recorded in English.

26. Over and Out, by Foo Fighters
(In Your Honor, 2005)

So far, American rock group Foo Fighters has not appeared on the list anywhere near as often as Blackfield or Porcupine Tree. To be more precise, only twice: with Learn to Fly (#175) and the title track of their 2005 double album, In Your Honor (#165). That album is also one of those that really stirred us at ProgActive. First of all, we quite enjoyed its concept: release a double album with Disc 1 containing all the straightforward rock songs and Disc 2 containing mellow, acoustic songs. While we naturally veer towards the latter, we couldn't help enjoying some of the rocking songs as well. The title track is one of those.

The absolutely beautiful ballad Over and Out is from Disc 2, as it shows on top of the link embedded above: a melancholy, memorably written song about love either about to be lost or already lost. This is the subject of many of the most striking love songs. Are you there? Do you read me? Are you there? I don't feel you any more. There is nothing exceptional about the lyrics, but combined with the powerhouse songwriting, Over and Out is a true classic of the 21st century. In our opinion, it is the second best song by Foo Fighters we have ever heard. The best one might appear further up on the list.

Top 250: #31 - #40

Our next group of ten tracks is an interesting bunch. There are all the repeat offenders, but also a total of four first time appearances - three of which originate from the seventies. We begin with one of them. The repeat offenders are more or less the same as before, but in between the same names there will always be surprises. Remember, there will be a new artist even in our Top 3, appearing on the list for the first and only time at such a high position.

40. Gaudete, by Steeleye Span
(Below the Salt, 1972)
This one might just be one of the weirdest entries in the entire Top 250. In Gaudete, British folk rock group Steeleye Span sing about the birth of Christ, in Latin, for a little over two minutes. And that's all - there are no instruments, they are only singing. Slow fade in and fade out use a large portion of the playing time that is already short to begin with. Gaudete originally caught our attention in the early seventies - heard once on the radio but not found again before the age of internet, when lost items became easier to locate. It is an absolutely beautiful song that was played a lot at ProgActive premises for some time. It has managed to hold on to its relatively high position well.

39. Here is the News, by Frost*
(2007 - 2008?)
Finally, we had to give up. It seems impossible to find this track anywhere in the net for embedding here. Originally, Here is the News is the 1982 cult classic song by Electric Light Orchestra. Exactly like in case Music in the Typewriting Room (#69), this cover version by Frost* was possible to download from their web site around 2008 when we happened to find it there and did just that. Unlike Typewriting Room, this one was not a personal experiment by Jem Godfrey; this was the real thing, a hard rocking version of the song by Frost* the whole group. In many ways, it improves on the original. Luckily, we downloaded it around 2008 and added it to our iTunes collection. It has played a lot since.

38. Stop Swimming, by Porcupine Tree
(Stupid Dream, 1999)
Here is another track from Porcupine Tree's 15-year-old album Stupid Dream, besides A Smart Kid (#80). That album's beautiful closing track Stop Swimming has a rather depressing theme and sorrowful melody, yet the lyrics also wield peculiar black humor. Stopping swimming is here a metaphor on giving up on life. Our favorite artist Steven Wilson (also pictured above) sings one of his many incomparably lovely tunes with a style that sounds oddly detached from the subject matter. The lyrics are sad / blackly funny, but the singer sounds indifferent, like he had stopped caring. Which kind of might just be the point.

37. Thrasher, by Engineers
(Engineers, 2005)
Hmm, it looks like we really are repeating the same artists over and over again, like we warned at the beginning. No reason to be ashamed of that, though. We have long since entered masterpiece territory, and these artists have simply achieved that level several times. Here is one more example. Thrasher is an absolutely brilliant pop song by our favorite shoegazers Engineers. Although calling it simply pop is a bit misleading, considering the rock and roll instrumentation. Please take note how the group is able to change key in surprising places. This ability will prove useful also later on...

36. Falling Down, by Frost*
(Experiments in Mass Appeal, 2008)
Next, why don't we listen to some Frost* once again. This time, their song is available in YouTube. Falling Down again exemplifies the harder rocking side of the group - a bit like Dear Dead Days (#54) but not quite that aggressive. Jem Godfrey is also a professional record producer, and hence it was no big surprise that the group's debut album Milliontown was widely praised for its production values. This second album wasn't, but Falling Down is a good example of great, massive sounding song exactly like those on the first album. Perfect music with great sound quality.

35. Pink's Song, by Richard Wright
(Wet Dream, 1978)
Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright wrote some great songs for that group as well, but perhaps his greatest masterwork went to his solo album Wet Dream that was released between Floyd albums Animals and The Wall. By that point, Roger Waters had appointed himself as the artistic director and leader of Pink Floyd and composed nearly everything that group recorded, so it is easy to see why Wright needed an alternative outlet for his creativity. One of the results was this beautiful, sad song that feels like an album closer - which it isn't, there is still one track after it.

34. Pain, by Blackfield
(Blackfield, 2004)
Yet another absolutely beautiful but infinitely sad song on the list, Pain is a fitting companion piece to Pink's Song above. Here, Blackfield is melting in the rain, deep in pain, while she is so far. Will they ever meet again? It appears that it has been Aviv Geffen who specializes in these sorrowful tunes, since they have continued to appear on the more recent Blackfield albums as well, while Steven Wilson has effectively left the group. No matter - in spite of the sad subject matter, Pain is a real delight to anyone who appreciates well composed, lovely pop songs.

33. Auto Rock, by Mogwai
(Mr. Beast, 2006)
This elegiac instrumental track was made famous by Michael Mann's film version of his hit TV series Miami Vice in 2006, where it plays during its final sequence. It has been a major favorite of ours ever since. One reason for it having played so much is that it is the kind of music that doesn't feel out of place in any situation. Auto Rock got us acquainted with Scottish group Mogwai, whose career we have been following closely since then. It is taken from their fifth studio album Mr. Beast; since then, they have released three more. And this is their first appearance on the list, and most likely the only one as well.

32. Are You There? by Anathema
(Hindsight, 2008)
Are You There? is another absolutely stunning song by Anathema. Originally, they released it on their seventh studio album A Natural Disaster in 2003, but the version on our list is the "reimagined" one from the group's compilation album Hindsight, out five years later. On it, Anathema re-recorded their earlier works as acoustic, more mellow versions. Inner Silence (#107) is also from this very same album. To us, Are You There? represents the very best the group from Liverpool has ever achieved. Having said that, it seems unlikely that they would make a third appearance further up on the list, but you never know.

31. Zum Wohl, by Cluster
(Sowiesoso, 1976)
The German experimental duo Cluster rarely set out to deliberately please their listeners. Zum Wohl is the rare exception: a peaceful, beautiful instrumental that you could easily listen to for twice longer than its seven-minute running time. Next, the duo would start working with Brian Eno on a few albums. It seems like the seventies are making a comeback - this is already the third track in this particular group of ten that originates from that golden decade of progressive rock. Next time, we will enter the Top 30 which will really up the stakes.