Lucky number 1987... Most definitely not a classic prog year as far as I can tell!

1. Mr. Sirius - Barren Dream

2. French TV - After A Lengthy Silence

3. Al Di Meola - Tirami Su

4. Frank Zappa - London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. 2

5. Dier - Hamer

6. Allan Holdsworth - Sand

7. Earthworks - Earthworks

8. Nodens Ictus - The Grove Of Selves

9. Cardiacs - Big Ship

10. Jean-Luc Ponty - The Gift Of Time

2. Deyss - Visions in the Dark

3. Bellaphon - Firefly

4. Now - Everything Is Different Now

5. Mr. Sirius - Barren Dream

6. Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

7. Outer Limits - The Scene of a Pale Blue

8. Jethro Tull - Crest of a Knave

9. Aragon - Don't Bring the Rain

10. Rush - Hold Your Fire

Honorable guilty pleasure mentions (used to listen to these a lot in 1987 before I knew what prog was):

Patrick Moraz - Human Interface

The Alan Parsons Project - Gaudi

Roger Hodgson - Hai Hai

2. Marillion - Clutching at Straws

Jethro Tull - Crest of a Knave

Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Robbie Robertson - Robbie Robertson

Prince - Sign o' the Times

REM - Document

Santana - Blues for Salvador

George Harrison - Cloud 9

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Shaka Zulu

Art Zoyd - Berlin

Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Earthworks

David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive

Irmin Schmidt - Musk at Dusk

Swans - Children of God

Jethro Tull - Crest of a Knave

Carla Bley - Sextet

Holger Czukay - Rome Remains Rome

(Joe Jackson - Will Power is a very progressive album not listed here. And very good, would be in the above list easily, probably at no. 4.)

Hi,

Even though I no longer really pay attention to Rajah, I am specially in tune with this album and his next one. If you were from Southern California, this album resonated really big, and you remember a lot of that stuff and what "radio" became, and what (eventually) was determined to be called the "rape of American FM radio" by the corporate structure ... it was then, the beheading of the free form FM radio!

Bill Bruford's Earthworks is a treat for everyone, and I am appalled that PP is not familiar with it.

(drunken voice and stoned immaculate) ... methings he is listening to too much swiftie stuff ... 

U2's album also deserves a great mention. They were well known by then, but not as huge as they became when that album exploded in the scene.

Ryuichi Sakamoto's album "Neo Geo" is very good (also has Iggy on it), but not on par with "Beauty" and "Heartbeat" which are by very far his craziest and most entertaining albums! Even PP might have a hard time with these two albums.

Here I was wrecking my brain to come up with 10 worthy albums. I failed (there are three prog-related entries). 

Pretty thin list  (not particularly original either)

11        Noir Désir       Où Veux-tu qu'je R'garde? (EP)         Fra

10        U2       The Joshua Tree   

10        Waters, Roger   Radio K.A.O.S.     

10        Wondeur Brass           Simoneda, Reine Des Esclaves          Can                   

09        Daniel Schell & Karo If Windows They Have           Bel       1

09        Zappa, Frank   London Symphony Orchestra- Vol. II 

09        Jethro Tull - Crest of a Knave

09        Violeta de Outono -  Violeta de Outono 09        Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Earthworks

Drew, Colour of Spring is 1986 

The Alan Parsons Project - Gaudi

Peter Bardens - Seen One Earth

The Chris Hinze Combination - The Hunter

Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

Geoff Downes - The Light Program

Osamu Kitajima - Passages II

Mike Oldfield - Islands

Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

U2 - The Joshua Tree

In no particular order

Cardiacs - Big Ship

Marillion - Clutching At  Straws

Voivod - Killing Technology

The Dukes Of Stratosphear - Psonic Psunspot

Barren Dream - Mr Sirius

Nimal - Nimal

Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Signs Of life

French TV - After A Lenghty Silence

Eider Stellaire - III

Ur Kaus - Ur Kaus

There was a lot more prog in the 80s than many realize. Much of it was weird avant-prog and neo-prog though.

In alphabetical order (only TRUE prog no related or non)

ACID RAIN - We Were All Very Worried

ALAN HOLDSWORTH - Sand

ART ZOYD - Berlin

BELLAPHON - Firefly

CELALALTE CUVINTE - Celelalte Cuvinte

CHIC COREA ELEKTRIC BAND - Light Years

DARK QUARTERER - Dark Quarterer

DAVID TORN - Cloud About Mercury

DEAD CAN DANCE - Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun

DOCTOR NERVE - Armed Observation

EIDER STELLAIRE - III

ELIXIR - Sabbat

FULANO - Fulano

GAMALON - Gamalon

HERMETO PASCOAL & GRUPO - Só não toca quem não quer

ICONOCLASTA - Soliloquio

JETHRO TULL - Crest of a Knave

KALAHARI SURFERS - Sleep Armed

LHO - Vendeltid

LOW FLYING AIRCRAFT - Low Flying Aircraft

MARILLION - Clutching At Straws

MICHEL ALTMAYER - Troll Vol 2

MINIMUM VITAL - Les Saisons Marines

MR SIRIUS - Barren Dream

NIMAL - Nimal

OUTER LIMITS - The Scene of Pale Blue

PAT METHENY GROUP - Still Life

PHIL MILLER - Cutting Both Ways

PIP PYLE'S EQUIP'OUT - self titled

PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE - Midnight Mouse

PLAYERS - Players

QUATEBRIGA - The Choice Of A New Generation

RUINS - Ruins II

RUSH - Hold Your Fire (does have a bit of prog)

SONNY SHARROCK BAND - Seize The Rainbow

STROMBOLI - Stromboli

SWANS - Children Of God

THULE - Thule

TRIBAL TECH - Dr Hee

UR KAOS - Ur Kaos

VERMILION SANDS - Water Blue

VOIVOD - Killing Technology

WHEN - Drowning But Learning

Now that i'm reading everyone's list i noticed i missed a few from French TV, Legendary Pink Dots etc.

Oh well!!!

The highest entertainment factor would be if he/she posted both. No complaints about that list striving for completeness, I was curious what I had missed on mine (apparently nothing apart from maybe Dr. Nerve).

Marillion - Clutching At Straws

Tangerine Dream - Tyger

that's all the prog I can do and those are 3 star albums at best.

a rare ray of sunshine in a horrible year was Enya. Her debut album was released. That's easily my favourite of the year.

Enya - The Celts

I lifted this from Wiki (interesting stuff)

In 1985, producer  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_McAuley" rel="nofollow - Tony McAuley  asked Enya to contribute a track for a six-part BBC television documentary series  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celts_%28BBC_documentary%29" rel="nofollow - The Celts . ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-34" rel="nofollow - [34]}  She had already written a Celtic-influenced song named "The March of the Celts", and submitted it to the project. Each episode was to feature a different composer at first, but director David Richardson liked her track so much, he had Enya score the entire series. ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-geffenpress1989-25" rel="nofollow - [25] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-35" rel="nofollow - [35]}  Enya recorded 72 minutes of music at Aigle Studio and the BBC studios in  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Lane" rel="nofollow - Wood Lane , London without recording to picture, though she was required to portray certain themes and ideas that the producers wanted. Unlike The Frog Prince, she worked with little interference which granted her freedom to establish her sound ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-tracks1989-17" rel="nofollow - [17]}  that she would adopt throughout her future career, signified by layered vocals, keyboard-oriented music, and percussion with elements of Celtic, classical, church and folk music. ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-36" rel="nofollow - [36]}

In March 1987, two months before The Celts aired, a 40-minute selection of Enya's score was released as her debut solo album,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya_%28album%29" rel="nofollow - Enya , by  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Records" rel="nofollow - BBC Records  in the United Kingdom ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-hotpress1987-20" rel="nofollow - [20]}  and by  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Records" rel="nofollow - Atlantic Records  in the United States. The latter promoted it with a  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New-age_music" rel="nofollow - new-age  imprint on the packaging, which Nicky later thought was "a cowardly thing for them to do". ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-sundaychronicle1989-37" rel="nofollow - [37]}  The album gained enough public attention to reach number 8 on the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Albums_Chart" rel="nofollow - Irish Albums Chart  and number 69 on the  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Albums_Chart" rel="nofollow - UK Albums Chart . ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-UKchart-38" rel="nofollow - [38]}  "I Want Tomorrow" was released as Enya's first single. ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-hotpress1987-20" rel="nofollow - [20]}  "Boadicea" was sampled by  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fugees" rel="nofollow - The Fugees  on their 1996 song " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ready_or_Not_%28Fugees_song%29" rel="nofollow - Ready or Not "; the group neither sought permission nor gave credit, and Enya took legal action. The group subsequently gave her credit and paid a fee worth around $3 million. Later in 1987, Enya appeared on  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin%C3%A9ad_OConnor" rel="nofollow - Sinéad O'Connor 's debut album  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_and_the_Cobra" rel="nofollow - The Lion and the Cobra , reciting Psalm 91 in Irish on "Never Get Old". ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enya#cite_note-hotpress1988-39" rel="nofollow - [39]}

If someone has seen/knows 500+ films from 1972 in total, I would be much more interested in this individuals favorites from that year rather than a list of every single movietitle in alphabetical order. But I suppose we are all different.

Fair enough, but in the context of a thread where lots of people complain that there wasn't enough for putting together a list of 10, a demonstration how much there actually was maybe makes some sense (chances are there are far longer lists in other years that I don't necessarily want to see posted in these threads either). Hell, I don't think it was a spectacularly bad year, but I'd have had serious problems to go beyond say 13 prog albums that I know and at least like a bit. In fact, if these threads started with a complete list, it would help me a lot, as (as mentioned before) the dating on my machine is unreliable, and looking up the "top prog albums" for that year on PA always misses some that I like.  

Great music is great music. If it's great, it must be refreshing and somehow "progress". The music I like just feels progressive--all of it.

I list more than ten to help other people consider albums they may have forgotten/overlooked--and to push boundaries (and buttons).

I don't really do "favorites" lists. When i finally did make a list of my all time favorite artists on RYM it turned out to be over 500! I figured it would be helpful to list some albums that have been virtually forgotten. If it don't apply let it fly!

I'm with you on the IQ and Marillion, although they're both way more than 3 stars in my book!

AMLOR by Floyd is also a great album from this year (IMHO) but I'm struggling to come up with anything else.

Didn't get any of these until much later, as "that year, I was mostly listening to hair metal......"

My first gig that year though, Bryan Adams, and Into The Fire is still my favourite of his
 

2. Mike Oldfield - Islands

3. Pink Floyd  - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

4. Patrick Moraz - Human Interface

5. Saga - Wildest Dreams

6. Rush - Hold your Fire

7. Roger Hodgson - Hai Hai

8. Alan Parsons Project - Gaudi

9. Wetton/Manzanera - Wetton/Manzanera

10. The Silencers - A Letter from St. Paul

I was surprised to see a few mentions for the first Robbie Robertson album, which I really like but did not think would find favor on this board. Of course, it also has Peter Gabriel guesting on the two best songs.

I wasn't gigging in those days. I seem to remember being vey fed up with life in general, and music was not helping very much. Apart from IQ I bought a few New Age albums and electronic albums and the latest by Maiden and that was it. I was very excited about the latest IQ album but then found it full of that horrible 'tinny' eighties production sound. Similarly felt let down by U2 and Suzanne Vega and could barely listen to what they were putting out as it was literally hurting my ears! 

I couldn't do favorite lists as such myself. Like an "all inclusive" alltime thing, I mean. But I do find it easier to list ten albums from years I struggle to come up with ten great progressive albums in total.

Outer Limits - Scene of Pale Blue

Rubaja, Bernardo (as Rubaja and Hernandez) - High Plateaux 

Strawbs - Don't Say Goodbye 

David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive 

honorable mentions

Clannad - Sirius

Sagrado Coracao da Terra-Flecha

Tangerine Dream - Tyger

David Sylvian- Secrets Of The Beehive

Gamalan- Gamalan

Thinking Plague- Moonsongs

When- Drowning But Learning

Art Zoyd- Berlin
Violeta De Outono- Violeta De Outono

David Torn- Cloud About Mercury

Phil Miller- Cutting It Both Ways
Marillion- Clutching At Straws

What is "prog"?