5 classic, complex songs to step into Progressive Rock in the most difficult way

As I promised during the how to step into prog rock post, I made a list of the 5 classic, complex and unusual songs which contain relevant examples of what defines the progressive rock musical genre.

• 21st Century Schizoid Man, by King Crimson (In The Court Of The Crimson King, 1969). It is not a typing error, this was actually written in late 1968 and recorded in 1969. This is the song which gave rise to the prog rock movement in the 70's. You have to listen to Schizoid Man if you want to be into progressive rock. Listen to the whole In The Court Of The Crimson King album to understand the greatness of this band in this incarnation.
• Supper's Ready, by Genesis (Foxtrot, 1972). A 23 minutes song, a classic suite. Here Peter Gabriel is talking about the Apocalypse together with describing the hug of two lovers, great and visionary lyrics with great and visionary music. Gabriel's skills of adapting lyrics to music at its best.
• Refugees, by Van Der Graaf Generator (The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other, 1970). Beautiful melodic piece by masters of "dark" progressive rock. There are more complex songs in Van Der Graaf Generator's production, such as A Plague Of Lighthouse Keeper, but this song is so beautiful that you can't miss it, both if you are a progressive fan or you are not.
• Starless, by King Crimson (Red, 1974). There are no words to describe these 12 minutes of pure musical majesty. Please, listen to it.
• I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), by Genesis (Selling England By The Pound, 1973). Funny. Crazy. Strange. A collection of strange sounds by Genesis, please listen to the studio version. Maybe this could sound like a pop song to some listeners, but it is a must for someone who wants to discover what progressive rock really is.

I have been careful not to include any recent new prog/progressive metal song, this is because I'm trying to communicate the original ideas behind progressive rock developing, which have been kind of distorted starting from the 80's. This process has led to a division of progressive rock into a great number of subgenres, and to a modification of the definition of the musical genre itself. I hope I will be able to write a post about this, even if this is a very controversial point to treat.

From the next post I will include some reviews of classic or rare albums, song by song. I think I will start from a rare LP, still don't know precisely which. You can stay tuned on my personal Twitter page (@smranaldi), where I share some thoughts on music, when I'm listening to something.

Prog on!