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Please recommend very diversified neo-prog albums |
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rushfan4 ![]() Special Collaborator ![]() ![]() Honorary Collaborator Joined: May 22 2007 Location: Michigan, U.S. Status: Offline Points: 66735 |
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Are you familiar with Mostly Autumn? They are listed here on PA as Prog Folk, but I consider them to be neo-prog.
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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[QUOTE=rushfan4]Are you familiar with Mostly Autumn? They are listed here on PA as Prog Folk, but I consider them to be neo-prog.
[/QUOTE I'll check out a few of their songs to see if they fit the bill once I'm done with these recs. Right now, I need to prepare myself for the new IQ as well, so in the middle of getting these recs sorted out, I need to listen to some more IQ and re-evaluate Subterranea later.
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richardh ![]() Prog Reviewer ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 30083 |
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Mostly Autumn are great if you like female vocals and Gilmour-esque guitar work. Their latest album Seawater is very good although it goes in one ear and out the other a bit for me. It's very polished though like all their work.
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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UPDATE: I have heard the first 4 of Hosydi's second recommendation, Mr. So & So.
1. Paraphernalia. A nice and eclectic, if not a little unpolished debut. 73/100 2. Compendium. A style is developed, and the production's better, but it's also a little more generic. Ups and downs basically keep this from too much of a shift. 72/100. 3. The Overlap. Sappy semi-rock barely able to make the neo-prog tag with some cute melodies but too much Kenny G sap. 54/100. 4. Sugarstealer. This reunion album threw around more ideas as an accessible prog album, but never without forgetting to be a rock album. But the lyrics are a little generic. 75/100. Gonna hear the fifth one tomorrow. After that, I'll head right into Richard's rec, It Bites.
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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UPDATE: Mr. So & So and It Bites
So & So Sketchbook: Not as bad as RYM made it out to be. It's obvious that these demos needed some more work, but it was an enjoyable rock experience. 68. Truths, Lies & Half Lies: This one surprised me. It got wild and outlandish while keeping a perfect balance between accessibility and progginess. 82. It Bites The Big Lad in the Windmill: Starting out as a pop rock band, this was a fairly enjoyable pop rock album with some cool ideas, some wild diversity and decent melodies. 74.5. Once Around the World: While everything was improved on, it took a while for it to become a neo-prog album. I might say Rose Marie is neo-prog. Once it did pick up, progginess was a leading focal point, but the album never lost the band's sense of art and theatrics. 85. Thanks to Hosydi and Richardh for their recs!
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AFlowerKingCrimson ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: October 02 2016 Location: Philly burbs Status: Offline Points: 19249 |
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I only have two by It Bites. One is a later one called the Tall Ships and the other one is their first called a big lad in a windmill. I don't really like the production on this first one. I'm pretty sure that's what it is about it that kind of rubs me the wrong way. Once around the world is supposed to be better so if I do try this band again it will probably be with that one. Tall Ships is a pretty good album but it seems to be mostly a pop rock album with some prog leanings. There's a longer song that is probably the proggiest thing on there. I don't personally consider this band neo prog but I can see why they get lumped into that genre sometimes because of the time period they first came out.
Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - March 05 2025 at 19:13 |
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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I was a bit worried about that myself before I turned it on, especially with so many AOR and pop rock albums being tagged as neo-prog for simply being involved in the scene or getting jumbled in with actual neo-prog discographies. It Bites No. 2 was certainly not the first neo-prog album that pushed the limits of acceptability. Thankfully it made an even shift gradually through the second half, taking up half the runtime with the basic criteria I agree on. I'm still weary about it, but if I started a band then I'll finish it. That second easily has me curious about the other albums.
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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UPDATE: 1. Non-rec: Beat the Drum by Pallas: I just reviewed this one. It's got some decent melodies in its 70 minutes, but it's overdrawn and progless for the most part. OK AOR, really. 58/100 2. Pride by Arena: I actually prefer this one to their debut. The melodies are much more clever and hard-hitting, even the softer and occasionally folksier midtros. 92/100 3. Eat Me in St. Louis by It Bites: Once again, not neo-prog. Decent AOR that manages to hit hard than Beat the Drum in a shorter runtime, but the mixing drowns the guitar riffs in lacking synths, and gets in the way consistently. On top of that, despite the attempts at variety, the bad mixing makes most of the songs sound the same. 63/100 4. The Tall Ships by It Bites: after what the hell happened during the last album, I am INSISTING the powers of the universe, be it God, or the Big Bang or even the fictional deities I made up for my debut novel that this is a legit prog album. Thankfully, the opener started to heavily suggest that. I'm a bit taken aback by the whole new sound, being much more modernized and almost sci-fi oriented. Now it steers more toward modern melodic rock sometimes, but it's drastically less AOR and more in-tune with what I'm looking for. But it's switches between prog pop, neo-prog and pop rock don't always work out as each song feels basically the same. 77/100, so it's the second best of the It Bites catalog I've heard IMO. Now that that's out of the way, the next rec was Dimensionaut, and I gotta say that I love the genre-tagging I'm seeing there. BUT, I need to be absolutely certain that it's neo-prog, especially since other sources, including RYM and PA, have been problematically tagging synth-rock / AOR albums as neo-prog due to relation to the scene, like calling Ozma a grunge album. So I'm making a note that I'll check out Dimensionaut at some point, but for now, I'm gonna switch to a more neo-prog-oriented rec. Hosydi's been a big help with this project, and he's got plenty of recs to check out. But I'm gonna give someone else a turn. Gentle and Giant has a whole list prepared for me, so my next recommendation project will be Drifting Sun. Then I think I'll head to Flower's rec, Twelfth Night.
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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UPDATE: Drifting Sun - Drifting Sun: OK, I don't normally update after one album, but I want to get these thoughts out right now. This album had a lot of good melodic ideas. This probably would've been a fantastic album if not for a couple strong malfactors: A: the lyrics and their content is kinda cheesy. B: The instruments feel out of place with each other, like they can't decide which decade they're in. They're obviously trying hard, maybe slightly too hard, so thankfully the theatrics help as much as they hinder. 64/100, same rating I gave Kenny G's Duotones.
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richardh ![]() Prog Reviewer ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 30083 |
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Yes definitely check out Sound Of Contact - Dimensionaut just for the fact that it's a great album. Genre tagging is tricky. I wouldn't put Frost* under 'Neo' but rather 'Crossover' and the same with Sound Of Contact. By hey ho it's still music
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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UPDATE: Drifting Sun albums On the Rebound: This one was loaded with mostly good ideas that features some very artistic delivery, and I liked the Ronnie James Dio quality in the singer's voice. 87/100 Trip the Life Fantastic: So almost 20 years have passed, and this one has pretty production and some very nice melodies, but the longer epics are much less interesting than the midtros, and the album feels kinda generic and cheesy. 66/100 Safe Asylum: The first half is completely lacking in anything interesting, and it's too soft and not rock enough. Things don't actually get interesting until track 5, Wonderland. The rest of the album falls back into standard prog territory. 64/100, worse than the debut to me.
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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UPDATE: Drifting Sun
1. Twilight: Pretty nice progressive stuff. Perfectly operable, never outreaching or unique. 71 2. Planet Junkie: Goes for more variety, but fails to be as intriguing as it is catchy. 68 3. Forsaken Innocence: Not as diversified as I'd hoped, but its compositions are much more interesting. Their instruments still feel a little out of place with each other, a trait that exists among all their albums to that point. 88 4. And NOW they're getting creative and outreaching. The Thing is probasbly their best song so far. 92.5 G&G, thanks a bunch for this recommendation! Now I'll be checking out Twelfth Night in tandem with Fish.
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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UPDATE:
Non-recs: 1. Fish - Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors: Extraordinary pop rock album, lightly neo-prog, somewhat symphonic and full of catchiness and creativity, as well as a perfect flow. 97.5 2. Fish - Internal Exile: Good pop rock album, but certainly not proggy or folksy enough for its tags on RYM. Balanced, enjoyable. 81 3. Fish - Songs from the Mirror: These covers can't beat the originals, but there's nothing bad about them. 71 Recs: 1. Twelfth Night - SKAN: Interesting ideas on this early debut. Fur Helene Pt. II sounds like a TRANCE song in 1979. Impressive, but not always as melodic as it needs to be. 66 2. Twelfth Night - Smiling at Grief: The band clearly wasn't sure of who or what they wanted to be. 58. 3. Twelfth Night - Fact and Fiction: This is way more in line with what I'm looking for. Actual prog, uses a good balance between, dramatic, soothing, eclectic, robotic, psychedelic, etc. Great way to balance the melodramatic neo-prog with obnoxious new wave tendencies like it's nothing. Too bad they dropped off the face of the planet after this, because this album's perty damn inspiring. 87, same level as In the Quietest Moments. Thanks a bunch for this one, Flower! I'll be checking out the rest of this along with more Fish, and then I'll hit The Violet Hour.
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Prog-jester ![]() Prog Reviewer ![]() ![]() Joined: June 05 2005 Location: Love Beach Status: Offline Points: 5919 |
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heeey isn't the whole point of neo-prog is to copy Gabriel-era Genesis and Fish-era Marillion???
just kidding, I LOVE the genre, specifically the bands that rip Genesis and Marillion off hehe. Try Shadowland's Ring Of Roses and Arlekin's The Secret Garden! Edited by Prog-jester - March 12 2025 at 18:16 |
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Rexorcist ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: February 18 2025 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 344 |
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Sorry for not being very active here, guys. God, you wouldn't believe my week. Goat pregnancies, rains, extra chores, busier at work, and the only real free time I had was to get a lavender latte at Starbucks (actually perty damn tasty) and to go see Mickey 17, which I've been waiting two years for since I'm a fan of the author. Okay, so about Twelfth Night... I really can't with these guys. It's so odd; the more "neo-prog" I explore, the less neo-prog I can justify with the tag. Art and Illusion and XII are just pop rock albums that barely touch up on the genre at all, with XII being so generic and underwritten that it almost hurt in comparison to all the stuff I've been hearing. They had the one neo-prog album, and it got a great rating from me, but these two are a 63 and 46. So next I'm heading toward The Violet Hour, after a little Donald Byrd.
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Fercandio46 ![]() Forum Groupie ![]() ![]() Joined: September 06 2023 Location: Argentina Status: Offline Points: 44 |
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Deluge Grander & Birds and Buildings By Dan Britton; Homunculus Res; Monomyth, Wobbler, Needlepoint They don't so much copy the great British pioneers, but rather try to create something new with those influences. It seems to me that Danish, Swedish, and Baltic bands in general have the richness, freshness, and freedom to embrace and fuse any genre, something that Italian and Dutch bands once possessed.
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kenethlevine ![]() Special Collaborator ![]() ![]() Prog-Folk Team Joined: December 06 2006 Location: New England Status: Offline Points: 9168 |
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It's not my fave sub genre but I have listened to a fair bit of the acts outside of the usual suspects, and do love some of them. Here is a round up:
Aisles - Chilean band that is nothing if not diverse. I'm not a fan but do like that they don't stick to a formula Albion - love these Poles (that will be a recurring theme. To me Poland is by far the best neo prog country) Female vocals and fairly diverse. Easily likeable and doesn't grow stale with exposure Asturias - Japanese and electronic instrumental neo. Brilliant Streams and Circle in the Forest are both very good. If you want to hear one piece, then make it "Rogus" Believe - fronted by ex Collage and Satellite guy Mirek Gil. His Mr Gil solo albums are perhaps more diverse but not always very neo. I wqon't remention Satellite as you have rated their albums Clepsydra - superb neo from the Italian part of Switzerland. Not super diverse but not samey either Collage - their Moonshine album is a must diverse or not, and their recent reunion album is great too Earthstone - sole album is earth centered neo prog rather than the usual; self pitying lyrics Egoband - Italian maybe worth checking out Faun - German neo with lots of foplk elements. Searing lead guitars, pagan themes, only released one album, a double live. Listen! Grace - English group with several phases. Most not that great but highly recommend "Pulling Strings and Shiny Things". Folk oriented, yes that's a recurring theme for me for obvious reasons Harnakis - Spanish group that sounds more British, sole album pretty good Haze - the British group. Underwhelming but not your typical British neo. Folk oriented Jump - again folk oriented British group, very unlike the "masters". Also rock way better. Diverse styles, great singer, some more universal and less solipsistic themes Mad Puppet - Italian group. Album "Masque" worth checking out Osiris - great Bahraini group most like Camel Sigma - instrumental neo meets new age. Some jazz aspects Solis - unusual Brazilian one-off Step Ahead - French neo from the original era Visible Wind - Quebec diverse neo Any questions just ask, and enjoy! |
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Gentle and Giant ![]() Forum Senior Member ![]() ![]() Joined: October 24 2019 Location: Blackpool Status: Offline Points: 4750 |
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^ As I'm always looking out for new 'Neo Prog' bands to discover that is a very useful list to me too. Many I've already found but some I've never come across before, so thank you.
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Oh, for the wings of any bird, other than a battery hen
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kenethlevine ![]() Special Collaborator ![]() ![]() Prog-Folk Team Joined: December 06 2006 Location: New England Status: Offline Points: 9168 |
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My pleasure. If it helps to read more each, here are my reviews. Remember it's not the rating it's the review!
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Cristi ![]() Special Collaborator ![]() ![]() Crossover / Prog Metal Teams Joined: July 27 2006 Location: wonderland Status: Offline Points: 46450 |
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