I've been a big fan of the Bad Plus since their first album was released. I've seen them a few times, most recently about a month ago. The odd thing is, I love seeing them live, but rarely can get through an entire album. I'm not sure why that is, other than that it get a little too bombastic in the home environment.

Great for demo tracks BTW- if your system can hold all that bass, drums and piano pounding together without sounding like mush, you know you've got a good set up. I think they'll be at the New Orleans Jazz Fest this weekend--- I'll be there and catch them again for sure.

I completely forgot that I had put "Prog" into my Amazon shopping cart like in end January, well its on its way to me now.
I too am a fan and currently own "Give" and "These are the Vistas".
When it comes to music reviews I somehow prefer to trust the opinions of hi-fi equipment reviewers although I do like to read about an artists's work from a music site. I bought the album "Give" because a reviewer used it give a sub a workout. So I always read hi-fi reviews even though I am not in the market to buy anything just to see what music is being used and often introduced.