1. Solaris -1990  (1990)

2. Camel - Dust and Dreams (1991)

3. Dream Theater - Images and Words (1992)

4. Anglagard - Hybris (1992)

5. Echolyn - Suffocating the Bloom (1992)

6. Isildur's Bane - The Voyage - A Trip To Elsewhere (1992)

7. IQ- Ever (1993)

8. Ozric Tentacles - Jurassic Shift (1993)

9. Porcupine Tree - Up the Downstairs (1993)

10. Anekdoten - Vemod (1993)

11. Par Lindh Project - Gothic Impressions (1994) *

12. Roine Stolt - The Flower King (1994)

13. Kingston Wall - Kingston Wall II (1994) *

14. Anglagard - Epilog (1994)

15. Spock's Beard - The Light (1995)

16. Nuova Era - ll Passo Del Soldato (1995) *

17. Deus Ex Machina - De Republica *

18. The Flower Kings - Back in the World of Adventures (1995)

19. Echolyn - As the World (1995)

20. Porcupine Tree -The Sky Moves Sideways (1995)

21. After Crying - De Profundis (1996)

22. Porcupine Tree - Signify (1996)

23. Discipline - Unfolded Like Staircase (1997)*

24. Djam Karet - The Devouring (1997)

25. The Flower Kings - Stardust We Are (1997)

26. IQ- Subterannea (1997)

27. Camel - Rajaz (1999)

28. Transatlantic - SMPT:e (2000)

29. Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (2002)

30. The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium (2003) *

I could have added a few more and I regret leaving out a few from 1998(I could have added "the visitor" and "Into the electric castle")as well as Dream Theater's "metropolis: scenes from a memory part 2" but I didn't want to go over 30 and felt the last two or three were very important to have on here. Please mention any albums you feel could have been on here or would have made your list. Any other comments of course are welcome. 

I do not claim that this is a definitive or even a comprehensive list. This is just a list of albums based on my experience(including but not limited to listening experience)of albums that excited people back when prog was rediscovered by many online(or even just before online in some cases). 

Key: * Albums I personally haven't heard so opinions and comments on these albums are welcome

They were the albums that kicked off the third wave of prog (PT, DT, the Mars Volta, Spock's Beard etc.). I still hold we're in a fourth wave...

Opeth might have a place on this list

Maybe but their early stuff was more death metal if I'm not mistaken. I wanted to steer clear of prog metal regardless since I think it should have it's own list. Pain of Salvation is a band I kind of wanted to include but again they are prog metal also. I hope you know them. I did put DT's "images and words" on here but to me that's such an important album that I had to include it. 

Yeah, I'm not much into avant/RIO so my list will reflect my personal taste to a large degree. I've heard of U-Totem for sure. I might check it out at some point. I'm surprised you didn't mention Thinking Plague. I heard In Extremis by them a long time ago and while not my favorite style as I mentioned it was very interesting and well done. Nebelnest were a band who were sort of half way between rio/avant and the more symph stuff. Very KC influenced. I liked their debut a bit but unfortunately it's out of print now. 

Yes, the so called "third wave." That was the whole point of my list. Apparently what happened was "neo prog" started to fizzle a bit(around the time Peter Nichols left IQ)and kind of floundered. Then a few prog clubs started in Sweden and then before you knew it the internet took off and bam you had people realizing prog isn't dead after all all of a sudden. 

1. Marillion- Brave (1994)

2. Arena - The Visitor (1998)

3. Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle (1998)

4. Dream Theater- Metropolis part 2: Scenes from a memory (1999)

5. The Flower Kings - Space Revolver (2000)

6. Spock's Beard -snow (2002)

Wait, you know seven or you don't know seven? 

I don't know seven. 

If I heard that last year I wouldn't really agree but reworking through 2019 and getting around to some stuff I missed, I absolutely agree. I slept on Terraformer, You Know What They Mean and Modern Rock Ensemble

The name Terraformer sounds familiar. That's not a band's name is it?

Oh ok. Looks like you have some homework to do then. 

Its the name of the album by Thank You Scientist from last year

maybe

Prog was never gone.

1979 Holger Czukay - Movies

1980 Tangerine Dream - Tangram

1981 King Crimson - Discipline

1982 Kate Bush - The Dreaming

1983 Peter Hammill - Patience

1984 David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees

1985 Kate Bush - Hounds of Love

1986 Camberwell Now - The Ghost Trade

1987 Art Zoyd - Berlin

1988 Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden

1989 Fred Firth - Step Across the Border

Every decade could be proud of this selection. I could name more.

I'm not personally familiar with the Kingston Wall or Nuova Era so can't really comment other than to say they both have rather high ratings on here. That Djam Karet release(the devouring)is often considered to be one of their very best if not their best so if you don't like that one then chances are you won't like them in general. The same thing with that Ozric Tentacles release(Jurassic Shift). That After Crying I had a long time ago and only heard once I think. The albums they put out before it are rated higher by some so maybe just look for the highest rated ones by them on here but don't neglect this one either(I don't remember which ones are rated the highest). The IB is very good with some pure classical moments but somehow it works and makes it a very interesting listen(too bad I no longer have it and apparently it's now oop). With PLP I am not sure I heard that particular album even though I think I own it(I don't usually play the autograph copies I have of a band and I'm pretty sure PL signed that one). If you don't like ELP you might want to skip them though(very keyboard oriented with some heavy guitar).  Of course you can listen to these on youtube. You don't have to buy them(especially if you don't like them). 

None of these are from the third wave or were part of any real comeback though. Also, I don't consider any to be very influential apart from the Talk Talk and KC (IMO). Maybe KB too. Not sure.

Most of those are from/related to the post progressive genre, that came in the "second wave" of prog along with neo prog, so I basically agree. I think they part of a comeback though (as I said, they came with neo in the second wave), just not a recent one. And you could argue the comeback in the 90s/00s isn't recent either, for me it finally ended with PT's The Incident, and that was 11 years ago now. 

Trouble is, since the 80s, prog hasn't really drawn much attention (apart from us prog fans), and therefore defining when a comeback was is very difficult (because prog bands aren't talked about, say, on the radio). It took us ages to realise there might have been a third one, and I'm having huge trouble determining whether we're in one right now. We are in a very debatable field. 

Obviously not third wave, my point was that I wasn't in much need for prog to "come back" because there were great prog albums in the phase in which you apparently think it was absent. The thing is, none of these albums feels like anything "coming back". Instead they feel like progressing. Influence, it depends on whom. Fred Frith is super influential in some quarters, as was Holger Czukay, and Kate Bush anyway. Maybe not to typical prog listeners.

By the way, I don't want to be negative. I don't have anything against your list or your topic, I just thought I take it a bit against the grain (like Talk Talk did with pop music ).

Anyone's Daughter Adonis

Babylon s/t

Present Triskadekaphobia

Eskaton 4 Visions

King Crimson Discipline

Anthony Phillips 1984

Kate Bush The Dreaming

IQ Tales from the Lush Attic

Pallas The Sentinel

Marillion Script for a Jester's Tear

Höyry-Kone Huono parturi

Sigur Rós Ágætus Byrjun

Ozric's 1990-91 albums Erpland and Strangeitude do the same job, if not better, and sooner.

Earlier than that with Djam Karet: Reflections from the Firepool (1989).

ll Passo Del Soldato is amazing! You should listen to that ASAP.

RPI, and that's their best album. You'll love it.

Earlier than that with Djam Karet: Reflections from the Firepool (1989).

ll Passo Del Soldato is amazing! You should listen to that ASAP.

I chose Jurassic Shift partly because it was their first on a major label, the first to make the charts(in the UK)and the first to get them noticed in the US. Imo, it's fantastic. Strangeitude is very good too but not quite as good(imo). I maybe heard Erpland once a long time ago but don't remember it much.

The same goes with the DK. THe prog community went bananas when that came out. It seems to have been a real gamer changer for them and prog at that time also. I'll check out some of the other ones too though.

I'll listen to that Nuova Era on youtube the next time I get a chance. 

Strangeitude came out on I.R.S. Records, too. IMO, it was a big leap forward from Erpland. Strangeitude has a crazy energy, it's infectious. "Sploosh!" hit the top of the UK Indie Chart, as well.

Arborescence completes an unofficial trilogy. I played the hell out of all of them, and Live Underslunky.

Become the Other wasn't as good as the four before it, but they started to recover with Curious Corn.

I'm limiting these to the 1990s

Eris Pluvia "Rings of Earthly Light"  (1991)

Il Castello Di Atlante "Sono lo Il Signore.." (1992)

Red Jasper  Muidsummer Night's Dream" (1993)

Tempus Fugit ("Tales from a Forgotten World" (1997)

Eloy - "Ocean II" (1998)

I had arborescence at one point. That was really strong too. I kind of lost track of them until rather recently. I rebought strangeitude but I don't remember what else. I got live underslunky recently too. Those were the good old days. It's weird that for a brief period of time probably more people(especially prog fans)knew about Ozric Tentacles than knew about Porcupine Tree. I remember when I saw King Crimson in concert in 1995(in Philly) I even saw a guy wearing an Ozric Tentacles t shirt. Also, this might sound silly but I remember thinking Jurassic Shift was sort of Pat Metheny meets Nirvana! 

I know I'm being a little sh*t.....but I'm bored tonight, so humor me! 

Good point. It never went away for me or for many fans but I think a lot of fans were limited to what they could find in the stores or maybe didn't know the scene still existed or that there was some kind of resurgence. It wasn't all online but I think that's how a lot of people at that time(if not most)reconnected with it. I feel it was more like a rediscovery than a discovery since I don't think there were that many younger folks discovering it for the first time. I'm sure some did but I think it was more like "hey man I just did a search on this world wide web thing and found out that there are newer progressive rock bands out there. Cool man. Plus Joey on aol said the new Yes albulm called talk is pretty cool too. He also told me about this band called Ozzy's Testicles or something. Also, Kirk's beard or something like that. Awesome dude." 

So you were listening to obscure(ie non mainstream prog) in the 80's and 90's? 

Back in 2006, before I joined PA (officially as I lurked for about a year), the place I found music discussions galore was the Zune Social. I had a Zune player (still use it) when it came out and bought music and had a Zune Pass and all that, till the day MS shut it down ....But the Social was the place where I talked about music with thousands of people across the world, Progressive Rock was a huge topic. 

The main reason it was so active was soon as you were done making a suggestion you could go to that artists page and download the music, plus they had a "related" button and that took you to other band pages, it would be an endless cycle of discovering music. It truly was a music Social.....so yea I know what you are saying, we were always suggesting new stuff all the time that we found. In the Social you could actually send a song to a member, they could listen and download it or not.

It was the place I discovered Ostrich Testicles and The Pinebeetle Teeth..

Simply sheer awesomeness

Ozric Tentacles Erpland Eng 1990

U Totem U Totem USA 1990  

Talk Talk Laughing Stock Eng 1991  

Smith, Tim Extra Special OceanLandWorld Eng 1991

Änglagård Hybris Swe 1992   

5uu's Hunger's Teeth USA 1994

Steensland, Simon The Zombie Hunter Swe 1995

Bondage Fruit Bondage Fruit Jpn 1995

Doctor Nerve Skin USA 1995

Mr. Bungle Disco Volante USA 1995

Uz Jsme Doma Pohadky ze Zapotrebi (Fairytales From Needland) Cze 1995  

X-Legged Sally The Land of the Giant Dwarves Bel 1996

Cardiacs Sing to God Part I Eng 1996  

Koenji Hyakkei II (aka Viva Koenji) Jpn 1996

Radiohead OK Computer Eng 1997

Volapuk Slang Fra 1997  

5uu's Crisis In Clay USA 1997  

Höyry-Kone Huono Parturi Fin 1997  

Djam Karet The Devouring USA 1997

Idiot Flesh Fancy USA 1997

Vezhlivyi Otkaz (Polite Refusal) Kosa na Kamen' (Diamond Cut Diamond) Rus 1997  

Thinking Plague In Extremis USA 1998  

Charming Hostess Eat USA 1999  

Mr. Bungle California USA 1999  

Sigur Rós Aegetis Birjun Ice 1999

Gordian Knot Gordian Knot USA 1999  

Samla Mammas Manna Kaka Swe 1999

Hi,

Wonderful list, specially for someone looking for "prog" stuff that is more modern than the early stuff.

However, I would think that all the list shows is ... that "prog" had never left, and did not have to return ... it was already here, and it continued, with the exception that we stopped listening for a while and usually say that it was the record company's fault ... the music was always there.

However, the Internet changed things, and one of the things that was quite open in those days, was alt.progressivemusic and other locations on Fido and other areas, where progressive music was being given a lot of attention (I mean A LOT!!!!!), which suggested that the awareness was there.

The "new" material, made that whole thing a lot more obvious and important all along.

But I would suggest that the INTERNET was the main reason to showcase "progressive" music, a lot more than it had in the 80's ... and since it "died" ... it never did die ... but the media made it look like it did, but we REFUSE to admit that the media on the music was all owned and operated by the record companies and distributors ... so why would they print or say something about "new" music, and not make glorious statements about the current stars?

BTW, of all these lists, at least 2/3 of it was being played REGULARLY on Guy Guden's Space Pirate Radio, which was just more proof that the whole thing was not dead ... but the ability for folks to connect to it, and hear it was a problem, until the Internet developed further. You can see/hear the proof of that on the current show that has listeners from all over the world saying how and when they heard the show ... and what they remember ... 

I got my first computer in the fall of 1990 or so ... and that little modem was connecting to 3 progressive music related areas, and I added a couple more along the way.

You answered your own question. 

Even if true, there was no response from the music industry, prog has only meant something to one group...Prog Fans. We are very good at alienating the rest of the music industry. Prog fans are the ones who have created all these genre/sub genre walls from the rest of music and internally fight about them...cra cra 

Think about all the metal sub genres, the little bit that I have been exposed to those forums, those fans don't krapp on other metal sub genres like we do ie; NeoProg.....I am sure there is some but not like we do. At the core its metal music and they run with it.

EDIT: Except for Hair Metal......

There's actually two albums that are on both of our lists. Without peaking let's see if you can figure out(or guess)which ones they are. 

only one album you may say but this was the first time for a long time that I heard something that was so embedded in the seventies prog scene yet somehow was something new. Of course Anglagard got there a bit quicker but I was not aware of them at the time.

What irks me a bit now was that I took so long to latch onto Echolyn. They were the prog band of the 90's.

Another band that may be worth mentioning is Ars Nova. They started as an all female line up and were damn good when they started out although unfairly treated as a gimmick perhaps. Not ELP copycats although they were fans.

and on the subject of ELP . Decent new album in 1992 and the BBC Radio broadcast their Royal Albert show on the comeback tour. That surely screamed that prog was back as much as anything!

I tried, but I could never get into Echolyn.

As much as I love echolyn they are sort of a mixed bag for me. All their albums are at least good but some a bit more than others. I think their earlier stuff is the best but I often find myself alone with that opinion. The last couple are really good too though.

I have certainly heard of Ars Nova but haven't heard much of them. Gerard played at one of the earlier Nearfests(02 I think)and so I saw them there. That's about it. PLP also played at NF and were great. Unfortunately they lost their talented female singer quite a while ago. 

Sad that the only thing we look at is one album or another ... the history of the media and how people heard and shared music, is what "brought" prog and progressive music "back" ... but in actuality it had never gone away, except that the record companies and delivery companies would not support the bands they did not have an interest in (ie. own parts of).

The Internet was the beginning of the end for "record companies and their "influence" on our tastes ... and it's hard to believe that we don't see that ... 

This thread, without the media history in it, is not a good example that prog was back ... it had NEVER LEFT. But we won't see the reasons why and how ... none of us had a computer before 1990 (just about) and after that many of us got one and used that 2400 baud modem to connect and find music ... and later in that same decade the whole Napster and Mp3 fiasco came about ... it was the record company lawyer's last hurrah! And they actually lost it, by "winning" the whole thing!

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞  (1997)

Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

These are the bands who drove progressivity into the 21st century.