1.Tanita Tikaram, "Everybody's Angel"
2.Bob Dylan, "Time Out Of Mind"
3.Carmen Consoli, "Mediamente isterica"
4.Bruce Springsteen, "Darkness On The Edge Of Town"
5.Maria McKee, "Peddlin' Dreams"

Prog metal is a nerdy genre of music, so I guess it goes hand in hand with love of chess. You could say that many prog musicians take a semi-academic or theoretical approach to music, which appeals to musicians as well as cerebral listeners. I wouldn't say that any kind of metal is hugely popular, although there has been a huge resurgence in recent years.

No Yngwie, supergrobi?

Why say prog metal? I'd say prog rock or just prog in general is a better cover-all for this phenomenon. Which I subscribe to in a limited way (mostly Pink Floyd and a Finnish band called Absoluuttinen Nollapiste so far).

No reason really. The music of my current favorite band (the Swedish "Pain of Salvation") is described on the CD as "prog metal". But I don't even really understand the difference between hard rock and heavy metal. Is it the use of keyboards, or the style of singing?

I'd say the difference between rock and metal is primarily one of heaviness. Compare Led Zeppelin (rock) with Black Sabbath (metal), or Guns'n'Roses (hard rock) with any pre-Load Metallica album. Some songs and artists defy easy classification, of course: is BOC's "This Ain't the Summer of Love" rock or metal? BOC are surely a rock band, but "TAtSoL" uses many metal techniques, and those sustaining power chords are as heavy as any Black Sabbath song. You could also say that in general rock is informed by pop sensibilities and metal is not.

Probably a generational thing. I don't even recognize a number of these bands. Of course, I was a radio disc jockey in the late '70's and nothing will kill your appetite for popular music like playing it all day long.

I guess I would pick these:

Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein and New York Philharmonic,

Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, by Emmy Lou Harris;

Greatest Hits by Marty Robbins,

Greatest Hits by Heart.

There was collection of Bach's works for the organ performed by E. Powell Biggs. I'd take that, though I don't know the title.

N.B. to supergrobi: I thought "Under Pressure" was a Bowie release? Did Queen release it as well?

Ed Yetman, III
YetmanBrothers.com

Thanks for this thread GC. I like many many singers, in fact most of what SG mentioned. I should say these are my favourites.

1. The Eagles - Any collection by them is great. I particularly like "Take it to the limit" by Don Henley.
2. Pink Floyd - Great music and powerful lyrics that even Shakespeare and Wordsworth would envy.
3. Guns N' Roses - Slash's guitar and Axl's vocals make it very different. I like "Knocking on Heaven's door" and "Sweet child of mine".
4. Queen - They have 2 collections of their greatest hits that I like.
5. Billy Joel - The most natural rock and roll guy and pianist. A flow and feel like no other.
6. Michael Learns To Rock - This Danish band had some great hits in mid-late 90s.
7. Dire Straits - Simple, straight-forward lyrics telling you about practical life.

Several other bands like Van Helen, Aerosmith, George Michael, Eric Clapton, Beatles and others are enjoyable. I also like Harry Bellafonte (especially that Hebrew number 'Avaa Nageela').

Best English song till date has been Paul Young's "Love of the common people".

Did anyone else see that Syd Barret passed away?

Ed Yetman, III
YetmanBrothers.com

"Under Pressure" is at least on Queen's Greatest Hits (I think volume I) which is available here as two single CDs or a double CD. So I guess you can say that Queen released it as well.

Krish mentions Dire Straits. I especially like "Telegraph Road". I really like such kinds of longer titles. They don't necessarily need to be as complex as many things from progressive rock groups like Dream Theater etc. (Btw, Slash has recorded two or maybe even more CDs which aren't bad.)

There are also some artists or bands where I often just like a single song, e.g. Black Betty from Ram Jam, Born to Be Wild from Steppenwolf (although the Pusher is also very good in my opinion) and Baker Street from Gerry Rafferty which I find very interesting. The fact that the Foo Fighters covered that track shows that I'm not the only one. The theme from Shaft (Isaac Hayes?) comes also to my mind.

Speaking of the Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler has made some fine solo albums in recent years that have been largely ignored by the media for some reason. ("Sailing To Philadelphia" comes close to being included on my list.) Maybe he's been labeled an obsolete 80s star at some point, but I think he's often underrated as a songwriter.
Oh yes, I read about it. "Remeber when you were young, you shone like the sun / Now there's a look in your eyes like black holes in the sky"...