The Prog Rock Album Club

Big Ears · 10-26-2012, 12:49 PM

US is right.

I saw Marillion in the very early eighties when Mickey Pointer was the member of another band further down the bill, Electric Gypsy. He may have played drums for both bands, I am not sure. I think Solstice were the immediate support, but I cannot remember much about them. At the time, Marillion seemed to rely on copying instrumental passages from Genesis and were regarded as derivative. When they made a few albums, they didn't seem so bad. The early Arena were pretty good too.

I never saw IQ, but the early version of the band (the Tim Esau era) was very good. I remember hearing a great single in the mid to late eighties, but I cannot recall the name. Pallas, I thought, improved greatly with the additon of Allan Reed in the late nineties. Some other bands stood out, including It Bites! and Jadis (what a great name). Overall, the neo-progressive bands didn't get much coverage and, even in the early nineties, they struggled. I have to say, it is only with broadband that I stumbled across overseas neo bands, like Cast.

I am not anti-neo, rather I am anti-eighties. In some ways, I prefer the neo bands to the new progressive groups, who often appear to have a very sterile production and weak vocals. Exceptions are Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Dream Theater, who seem to fall, successfully, between the two genres. I'll hastily add 'imho', before the DT/Portnoy haters chime in.

I had to laugh at the reference to Barry Manilow and Perry Como. I hadn't thought of Spock's beard as easy listening! Although Neal Morse uses a lot of Christian symbolism (light, water, steeple, etc) in his lyrics, I would not pretend to understand them. Compared with the average progressive rock lyric writer, Pete Sinfield apart, William Shakespeare is easy to comprehend (and I'm not joking).

US, it must be your turn to choose the next album!

10-26-2012, 12:49 PM	#11 (permalink)
Big Ears Music Addict Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Hampshire, England Posts: 434	US is right. I saw Marillion in the very early eighties when Mickey Pointer was the member of another band further down the bill, Electric Gypsy. He may have played drums for both bands, I am not sure. I think Solstice were the immediate support, but I cannot remember much about them. At the time, Marillion seemed to rely on copying instrumental passages from Genesis and were regarded as derivative. When they made a few albums, they didn't seem so bad. The early Arena were pretty good too. I never saw IQ, but the early version of the band (the Tim Esau era) was very good. I remember hearing a great single in the mid to late eighties, but I cannot recall the name. Pallas, I thought, improved greatly with the additon of Allan Reed in the late nineties. Some other bands stood out, including It Bites! and Jadis (what a great name). Overall, the neo-progressive bands didn't get much coverage and, even in the early nineties, they struggled. I have to say, it is only with broadband that I stumbled across overseas neo bands, like Cast. I am not anti-neo, rather I am anti-eighties. In some ways, I prefer the neo bands to the new progressive groups, who often appear to have a very sterile production and weak vocals. Exceptions are Spock's Beard, Transatlantic and Dream Theater, who seem to fall, successfully, between the two genres. I'll hastily add 'imho', before the DT/Portnoy haters chime in. I had to laugh at the reference to Barry Manilow and Perry Como. I hadn't thought of Spock's beard as easy listening! Although Neal Morse uses a lot of Christian symbolism (light, water, steeple, etc) in his lyrics, I would not pretend to understand them. Compared with the average progressive rock lyric writer, Pete Sinfield apart, William Shakespeare is easy to comprehend (and I'm not joking). US, it must be your turn to choose the next album!