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Please recommend very diversified neo-prog albums
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Rexorcist View Drop Down
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Update: Unitopia - The Garden

100 minutes of prog is only daunting when you don't have any time for the day.  I had enough for this and the first three Banco albums (Io sono nato libero is currently my number 1 symphoprog album).  So I immediately had a string of three brilliant albums to compare to this.  Thankfully, the album remained good throughout all 100 minutes.  There wasn't a single moment that I didn't enjoy.  Unfortunately, "good" is the usual.  There are only a couple of songs that barely manage to be great, largely because this typically meets the bare minimum standard of operable prog.  On top of this, the variety displayed on their debut seems absent.  So this gets a solid 8 for me.  About as good as Foreigner's 4, Cher's Believe and for prog, Ruins II, Symphony X's Underworld, Meshuggah's Catch Thirty-Three and (after three tries) Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom.


Edited by Rexorcist - February 23 2025 at 17:35
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Originally posted by richardh richardh wrote:

^ Sound Of Contact. That is a great sci fi themed album. Collins also put together an album a few years ago as eMolecule with another SOC ex member Kelly Nordstrom called The Architect. I have it on vinyl. Kerzner also did a couple of albums as In Continuum. Both of those are the remaining strands of the Sound Of Contact project and are good imo. I would also mention Kerzner's album New World that I found out via a Keith Emerson radio broadcast. He called it 'Space Opera' if I remember correctly and made a small guest appearance on it. These are all sci-fi themed albums and are well worth checkng out.
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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I think the relatively obscure neo prog band Aragon are worth mentioning. An online radio station recently played something by them that had saxophone on it. I'm really only familiar with Don't Bring The Rain which is a great album imo but maybe not very diverse. 
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Originally posted by Rexorcist Rexorcist wrote:

Update: Unitopia - The Garden

100 minutes
of prog is only daunting when you don't have any time for the day.  I
had enough for this and the first three Banco albums (Io sono nato libero is currently my number 1 symphoprog album).  So I immediately had a string of three brilliant albums to compare to this.  Thankfully, the album remained good throughout all 100 minutes.  There wasn't a single moment that I didn't enjoy.  Unfortunately, "good" is the usual.  There are only a couple of songs that barely manage to be great, largely because this typically meets the bare minimum standard of operable prog.  On top of this, the variety displayed on their debut seems absent.  So this gets a solid 8 for me.  About as good as Foreigner's 4, Cher's Believe and for prog, Ruins II, Symphony X's Underworld, Meshuggah's Catch Thirty-Three and (after three tries) Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom.
During that era, Unitopia had a tendency to directly lift musical ideas from their influences, like, verbatim. The final section of the title suite is a carbon copy of "As Sure as Eggs Is Eggs (Aching Men's Feet)" by Genesis, while the main leifmotif of Journey's Friend sounds a lot like "Full Moon Rising" by Transatlantic.
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Unitopia - Artificial

Even though it's a shorter album and fails to run the risk of monotony, it's a MUCH more familiar prog album that feels like it took riffs from other places.  It got better as it went along, but still, another downgrade.  74/100.
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Unitopia - Covered Mirror Vol 1 Smooth as Silk

Well this one managed to fit the neo-prog vibe, but 70 minutes of worse covers, as charming as they are, doesn't do much when it pretty much neglects the diversity I'm looking for.  73/100.
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I have one more Unitopia album to go, but first, I'd like to satisfy some major curiosity and get a headstart on Pendragon with their debut, The Jewel.  So far it's quite nice.  But in comparison to the second and third tracks, the opener, Higher Circles, is a pretty standard AOR opener that makes Bryan Adams look like a genius.  Writing a review to go along with this.
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I saw a little bit of your Pendragon review. 1985 was not early on for neo prog. By then IQ were on their second and Marillion were on their third. Pendragon was a little bit late to the game.
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I saw a little bit of your Pendragon review. 1985 was not early on for neo prog. By then IQ were on their second and Marillion were on their third. Pendragon was a little bit late to the game.

Second and third are pretty early for me.  It's been around for over 40 years.
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Originally posted by Rexorcist Rexorcist wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I saw a little bit of your Pendragon review. 1985 was not early on for neo prog. By then IQ were on their second and Marillion were on their third. Pendragon was a little bit late to the game.

Second and third are pretty early for me.  It's been around for over 40 years.

Not really. By 1985 it was well under way especially when you consider most first wave neo bands were formed by 1980.

Anyway, I suggest you look up the band Twelfth Night. I think you would like them since they were a bit different from most neo bands.


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - February 25 2025 at 20:04
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

Originally posted by Rexorcist Rexorcist wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I saw a little bit of your Pendragon review. 1985 was not early on for neo prog. By then IQ were on their second and Marillion were on their third. Pendragon was a little bit late to the game.

Second and third are pretty early for me.  It's been around for over 40 years.

Not really. By 1985 it was well under way especially when you consider most first wave neo bands were formed by 1980.

Anyway, I suggest you look up the band Twelfth Night. I think you would like them since they were a bit different from most neo bands.

Five years is still short considering the length of the genre's relevance to prog fans.  Once a genre kicks off with that tiny amount of select few bands, they draw in others to really form the scene that goes with the genre.  Watching the documentary Hype will tell you that.  Looking through the releases list on RYM's neo-prog page, it appears that Pendragon were one of the first bands to be drawn into the select few and expand it.
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Reminds me that Scott Lade (The Prog Corner) had Clive Nolan of Pendragon guesting on his Sunday Prog Stream show. He said that he and Nick Barrett knew each other from the age of 4. They were in the sandbox and had to be seperated but went on to become life long friends eventually. 
Personally I only know the recent Love Over Fear album which has some beautiful song writing.
In the 80's I was well aware of Marillion but thought they were a bit of a joke until Misplaced Childhood. I loved the first 2 IQ albums and they were the 'serious' end of neo for me. They had the chops!
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I've finished Unitopia's Seven Chambers.  It was pretty good for the first few tracks, and the last two tracks barely managed to be great.  Next I'll be heading to Bakullama.
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Originally posted by Rexorcist Rexorcist wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

Originally posted by Rexorcist Rexorcist wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

I saw a little bit of your Pendragon review. 1985 was not early on for neo prog. By then IQ were on their second and Marillion were on their third. Pendragon was a little bit late to the game.

Second and third are pretty early for me.  It's been around for over 40 years.

Not really. By 1985 it was well under way especially when you consider most first wave neo bands were formed by 1980.

Anyway, I suggest you look up the band Twelfth Night. I think you would like them since they were a bit different from most neo bands.

Five years is still short considering the length of the genre's relevance to prog fans.  Once a genre kicks off with that tiny amount of select few bands, they draw in others to really form the scene that goes with the genre.  Watching the documentary Hype will tell you that.  Looking through the releases list on RYM's neo-prog page, it appears that Pendragon were one of the first bands to be drawn into the select few and expand it.

A lot can happen in those short years. One year can seem like a long time, two years even longer etc.

Anyway, you think 1985 was really early on for neo-prog and I don't so let's just agree to disagree and move on. Wink


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - February 26 2025 at 16:25
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Anyway, you were looking for recommendations so again I suggest checking out Twelfth Night.
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

A lot can happen in those short years. One year can seem like a long time, two years even longer etc.


Can.  That's the keyword.  "Can" and "does" are two different things if you apply it to a specific topic.  In this case, it's the neo-prog scene.

I'll check them out after getting done with Bakullama.
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Originally posted by Rexorcist Rexorcist wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

A lot can happen in those short years. One year can seem like a long time, two years even longer etc.


Can.  That's the keyword.  "Can" and "does" are two different things if you apply it to a specific topic.  In this case, it's the neo-prog scene.

I'll check them out after getting done with Bakullama.


Listen, I'm not an idiot so please don't talk to me that way.  

Can and does(in this case did). Wow. You really like to argue don't you? Like I said let's agree to disagree and move on. 

I saw your Pendragon reviews. I have a few of their albums but haven't listened to most yet. They are one of the big three of neo prog.


Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - February 26 2025 at 16:44
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Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

Originally posted by Rexorcist Rexorcist wrote:

Originally posted by AFlowerKingCrimson AFlowerKingCrimson wrote:

A lot can happen in those short years. One year can seem like a long time, two years even longer etc.


Can.  That's the keyword.  "Can" and "does" are two different things if you apply it to a specific topic.  In this case, it's the neo-prog scene.

I'll check them out after getting done with Bakullama.


Listen, I'm not an idiot so please don't talk to me that way.  

Can and does(in this case did). Wow. You really like to argue don't you? Like I said let's agree to disagree and move on.

Well.  That was exceptionally arrogant.  It appears you're the type who takes disagreement too personally, and then you claim that I'm the one who likes to argue.  Let's debate that, shall we?

A: You're completely aware that I never said you're an idiot, so this is purely personal.

B: You're aware that it was your own choice of words, "a lot can happen in a few years," that kept things quick and simple.  A simple argument is not always a convincing one, which means you, who's been on a prog forum of all places longer than I have, are unwilling to have a thorough discussion.  Interesting.

C: Your first short sentence here makes a demand that I believe you by insisting that it does without explanation (again).  Then you shame me for being analytical, place the blame of your own feelings and inability to articulate while in a state of emotional height on me, and then attempt to hijack a pseudo victory by saying "I don't want to talk about it anymore," which is really just forfeiting without having the maturity to admit it.

I don't take demands like that.

You're not discussing properly, you're insisting on the same argument over and over again with cheap comebacks that are, if I might be a little too spirited, kinda of insulting when you take into account that this is a discussion forum for a rock subgenre built on complexity, brain power and many attempts to justify epic lengths with more complexity.

In other words, I've been here for a shorter time than you, I've heard less neo-prog than you, and this discussion and your behavior seems to insinuate that I'm already more qualified to discuss the genre.  I'd prefer if you didn't post on this thread again, not that I have the power to stop you, but all of your replies will be ignored.  And I'll be putting off Twelfth Night.


Edited by Rexorcist - February 26 2025 at 17:42
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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No, if anything you were the arrogant one. You can't just let things go anyway and accept the fact that not everyone will agree with your opinion. That's right. It's an opinion not a fact. You have yours and I have mine. 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - March 05 2025 at 11:52
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Hmmm, I suppose I'll take the bait.

A: "A fact is not an opinion."
B: "Can and does (in this case did)" and tried to leave the conversation.

This only proves that you're the arrogant one.  How could you be here longer than I have and not be prepared for a discussion?  I would be more than willing to discuss thes things with you if your arguments had depth to them.  There is no one else here I've seen so far refusing this depth.  I had a boss like you that got fired recently: unable to think things through thoroughly, took disagreements offensively, and hid behind age.  I'll bet a part of you is thinking, "I'm over 50 so who's this teenage joker to tell me what's what?"  The only thing I'm telling you is that you should be more indepth.

You are more than smart enough to talk about the history of neo-prog in further fashion.  Obviously, you're incapable of doing so not because of your brainpower, but because of your pride.  And now you demand that I side with you and say I'm arrogant?

It's people like you who make me this way.  You can tell from both of our posts that I'm the one in greater control of myself, and why?  Because I'm used to people like you.

A: Can and does: please don't insult the community by leaving it at a demand for agreement.  We have articles to read, so prove you've been reading them...

B: No you just don't like admitting your wrong.  Doesn't your profile say you're over 50?  Why would you even consider a sentence that could be spoken by children as a form of defense?

Respect may be given at first, but certain situations can cause it to be lost.  I do not, and will not, respect demands.  If I do have arrogance, which is possible, at least I also have depth.  I'd think for a man almost twice my age, you'd have some more of that.

I'm more than willing to respect your opinions if you'd show some depth.  I'm more than happy to be proven wrong if you can provide evidence and facts.  But if you're going to talk like a child, I'm afraid that my ideals dictate that I treat you as you act.  So if you continue this aggression, there's a chance I'll report you.

I am proud of this autistic trait of mine: I don't take sides without a damn good reason, which you haven't provided yet.  If anyone on your side is willing to dictate this with me respectfully, let them.  But your behavior hasn't convinced me that you know much about neo-prog.

I don't do demands.

I don't do accusatory speech.

I am proud, and maybe arrogant, but I have real reasons.  So go ahead and tell me I'll just a this or just a that.
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