Here are five prog rock bands who only have one truly great album!

The term “great” is thrown around a lot when people talk about the entertainment they like, and that surely rings true for progressive rock fans. In fact, it seems as if any album that’s generally likable and/or historically important can be called “great,” and although opinions vary significantly and assessments are subjective, we’d like to offer a more restrictive and specific definition.

To us, a “great album” is one that is consistently – if not continuously – ambitious, memorable, and impressive. In other words, it’s a collection that finds the band firing on all cylinders, with their finest features (songwriting, arrangements, sequencing/flow, etc.) being the best they’ve ever been with almost none of the runtime being bogged down by weaker material. These records aren’t perfect, but they’re as close to it as possible within the context of the artist’s catalog.

That leads us to ask, “How many prog rock bands have only one truly great album?” After thinking about it for a while (you don’t want to know how long), we’ve come up with at least five groups that fall into that camp.

READ MORE: The 11 Best Prog Rock Bands From the United States

Now, we’re not going to be controversial just for the sake of it by foolishly naming some of prog rock’s biggest acts. So, don’t worry about seeing King Crimson, Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rush, Marillion, or Porcupine Tree on here, as all of our picks are actually (and unintentionally) more obscure.

Also, remember that we aren’t saying that the following acts have only one good album. On the contrary, most of them have several records that are well worth your time.

But, if we’re being honest, the following five prog rock bands only have one truly great album (and here’s why)!

Do you agree with our picks? Can you think of any other examples? Let us know!