Dogs - Pink Floyd

Taken from the 1977 album ‘Animals’, Dogs is 17-minute exaggeration of capitalist exploitation which combines edgy rock with sweeping synthesized innovation.

Butterflies & Hurricanes - Muse

The song which arguably sums up ‘Absolution’; grandiose orchestral music pours through the speakers. Best Moment: Bellamy’s piano solo - unbelievable until witnessed.

The Court of the Crimson King Including The Return of the Fire Witch and The Dance of The Puppets - King Crimson

A title more suited for a C.S. Lewis novel, King Crimson have often been accused of pretentious flamboyancy. However, 30 seconds in and the listener knows this band have earned the right to be pretentious. Led Zeppelin covering John William’s Star Wars motif ‘Duel of Fates’ couldn’t produce something so atmospheric.

Citizen Erased - Muse

Arguably the centerpiece of the playlist, Citizen Erased differentiates between hard, early 21st-Century dial-up Internet driven prog-rock and sweeping, captivating vocals to the haunting notes of a piano.

Porcelina of the Vast Oceans - Smashing Pumpkins

Soothing and melodious, building on layers of music as it glides perfectly into the loud, driving guitar riff and distortion which dominates the 9 minutes of Corgan’s contemplative lyrics. Nostalgic and profound; the peak of their 1995 masterpiece ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’: Generation X’s ‘The Wall’.

Echoes - Pink Floyd

A 23-minute sensual feast which is almost intergalactic in its scope, Echoes stands as the momentous pinnacle of the Floyd’s pre-Dark Side achievement on Side B of 1971’s ‘Meddle’.  Influential riffs and an eerie experimental middle section of screeching X-Files-esque horror, Echoes is the prime example of that fleeting moment where psychedelia met grand, stadium-built rock.

The Ecstasy of Gold - Ennio Morricone

Instantly recognizable as the orchestral ’graveyard climax’ of Sergio Leone’s classic ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’, The Ecstasy of Gold is operatic in scope and essential in epitomizing the atmosphere of gritty Western violence.

Russia on Ice - Porcupine Tree

Surprisingly, it was the little known Porcupine Tree which was hardest to choose from; a 20-year decade spanning hours of instantly surreal prog-rock epics.  However, the hopelessly beautiful Russia on Ice from their brief 2000 release ‘Lightbulb Sun’ clinched it.  A sweeping, if depressing statement into the mind of a bitterly self-absorbed alcoholic reflecting on his failed relationship. Suicidal on the surface but captivating underneath; Russia on Ice explodes into a final metal-lead riff which expresses wordless anger like no music has done before.

Lucky - Radiohead

The penultimate worthy conclusion to their seminal 1997 ‘OK Computer’, Lucky has never failed to raise the hairs on the back of my neck since the final encore at Manchester’s LCCC last Summer. Breathtaking; at 3 minutes, 51 seconds you realise that Britpop has well and truly been buried by the emergence of something special.

Love, Reign O’er Me - The Who

Possibly the greatest ending to any playlist, Love, Reign O’er Me concludes the 1973 rock opera ‘Quadrophenia’ in bombastic style. In a sense, it is the equivalent of a musical epiphany; tight drumming and stratosphere-breaching vocals over the suitable sound-effects of thunder and lashing rain which leave the listener looking to the heavens. Sheer brilliance.