80s Prog artists who began in the 80s but were NOT British Neoprog

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

Many Prog fans consider the 80s to be a dead zone, but I think there were quite a few great Prog artists who weren't Neo

I can think of a few but I know there are more than these

Ozrix
Gamalon
Kenso
Iconoclasta
Tribal Tech
Solaris
Asturias
Univers Zero
L Subramaniam
Isildurs Bane
Edhels
Kazumi Watanabi
Minuimum Vital
JP Boffo
Djam Karet

tell us about your favs and what makes them great

and forget whether or not someone else will consider them Prog or not. Just list what *you* personally like

[Rarebird]

Bel Canto
It sounded different from anything I heard before. Great voice, electronics, acoustic instruments, what is there not to like.
Dead Can Dance
Weird and very interesting.
In The Nursery
Is this rock?
Wim Mertens
No, this isn't rock, but when I heard Maximising the audience, in a recordstore in Utrecht, it was a breath of fresh air. It surprised me, like some progressive rockgroups. I couldn't get enough of this record, after playing side 2 of the second record, I started again with side 1 of the first record.

[thedunno]

Cardiacs!!!

Present
Thinking plague

All 3 seriously excellent.

[revporl]

The best example of all... Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo!! (and consequently Steve Hackett and Steve Wilson)

[Smörgåsbord]

Kultivator, Ur Kaos and other bands/projects on the Swedish Bauta Records label.

[Shadow]

Kazume Watanabe has been around since 1971

[Sputnik]

Nuova Era
Ain Soph
Blue Motion
Combo FH
Gunesh Ensemble
Rahmann
Dun
Eider Stellaire
However
Bi Kyo Ran
Myrbein
Bacamarte
In Spe
Bandhada
Craft
Raiz de Pedra
Horizont
Drama
Miriodor
Tiemko
Cartoon
Bacamarte
Kaseke
Holding Pattern
Metamorfosis
Nathan Mahl
Cheer-Accident
Deja Vu (perhaps not the best example, but at least not British Neo)
Mahagon
Mo. Do.
Hands

If you count solo artists:

Prat, Jean-Paul
Watson, Ken
Hamm, Stu
Bringolf, Serge

Bill

[NogbadTheBad]

Wonderful decade for me, though I discovered all these bands in the last 10 years.

Univers Zero
Djam Karet
Dun
Eider Stellaire
Miriodor
Bacamarte
Cheer-Accident
Kultivator
Cardiacs
Present
Thinking Plague
Dead Can Dance
Eskaton
Serge Bringolf
Shub-Niggurath
News From Babel
Naked City

[Progatron]

Univers Zero

Debut album 1977.

[Morpheus]

Debile Menthol
Zut un Feu Rouge

[emperorken]

Kerrs Pink
Amenophis
Devil Doll
Anyone's Daughter(first album 1979- close enough!)

and 2 UK bands that were not neo-prog:
It Bites
Talk Talk

[WytchCrypt]

Devil Doll - 5 albums...6 songs...how prog is that?
Dragonfly
La Rossa (a great little known PH influenced band)
Terraced Garden (from Canada...very mid 70's Crimso influenced in many ways but not neo to my ears)
This Mortal Coil (a 4AD label project...if not prog then goth-prog)
Twelfth Night (I know many consider them neo but I never thought they fit in that bunch)

[interbellum]

Many Prog fans consider the 80s to be a dead zone, but I think there were quite a few great Prog artists who weren't Neo

I can think of a few but I know there are more than these

Kenso

Kenso and like some other noticed, a couple of other bands like Ain Soph, started in the seventies.

[moecurlythanu]

Anyone remember these? All would be called "Neo," I think, but all were Continental & 80s Prog.

Airspeed
Chandelier
Adrenalin
Crystal Maze
Ligeia Lie
Counterpoint
The Last Detail
Eastern Wind
Egdon Heath
Kong
Head Over Heels
Odyssice
Shock Hazard
Harnakis
Notturno Concertante
Sinister Street
Ty-Jir
TNR (The Noise Room )
Rousseau
Isthar
Iskander
Bel Air
Anabis
Amenophis
Theatre
Hogweed
Eden's Taste
Opus
P'cock
Scaramouche
Step Ahead
Tales
Ywis
Tunefish

OK, I'll stop.

[Sputnik]

Kenso and like some other noticed, a couple of other bands like Ain Soph, started in the seventies.

I was going by release date of their first album, which for both bands is in the 1980s. Kenso has a release of earlier material, but I think that came out much later and wasn't actually released in the 70s. So I'd personally count these, recognizing that they had activity before their first album came out.

Bill

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I was going by release date of their first album, which for both bands is in the 1980s. Kenso has a release of earlier material, but I think that came out much later and wasn't actually released in the 70s. So I'd personally count these, recognizing that they had activity before their first album came out.

Bill

yeah... folks outside of Japan had no access to their music until the 80s

[flowerking]

I'll suggest Iona. Definitely not neo although some may not consider them prog at all.

[Rarebird]

Anyone remember these? All would be called "Neo," I think, but all were Continental & 80s Prog.
Chandelier

I have one CD by them.

The Last Detail

Don't own anything by them, but a colleague of my dad was in this band. He was one of the people I went to a concert of Kayak with.

Egdon Heath

They were on SI, the label of the magazine I wrote for. Own two CD's. One I bought recently, fairly cheap.

Rousseau

Got one of their CD's, to write a review.

Anabis

Own their debut on vinyl. Bought it in Freiburg.

Amenophis

Own both CD's.

Opus

Which one? The Austrian, which had a big hit with 'Life is live', or the German one, which went on as Pur.

Ywis

They were on SI, the label of the magazine I wrote for. Which I bought recently, fairly cheap.

[Sonia_Mota]

when did RUSH start? xx

[Kai]

Chandelier

I have Timecode, which is avreage neo-progressive, that is not very good. German Marillion with a bit more Saga influence than normally and lyrically rather dire. Best remembered for their Trekker's parody of coco rock, the ridiculous "Ferengi Lover".

Egdon Heath

Have just the post-SI release Nebula, an album better known for its cover than for its music. More hard rock than the usual Dutch neo sound, but mostly with totally unmemorable compositions. Exceptions are the orchestrally enhanced "Buried Inside" and the Camel-like, mostly instrumental "As Ripley Would Say".

Sinister Street

I have their Eve of Innocence. A Dutch band with two keyboardists who together sound like less than one, or at least there seems to be so little happening on the songs that you have to wonder what it is all for. Essentially a collection of pleasant, underachieving pop songs with a bit Fish-like vocalist and some neo drama without any real instrumental meat. "Provisional Anthem" is one of the few songs that catches a bit of fire.

TNR (The Noise Room )

That's The Noisy Room. I have The Chessboard. An Italian Peter Hammill imitator is at least something a bit of different. Essentially puts Hammill's solo approach to an early-90s synthesized rock band setting. Not bad, actually, somewhat more accessible than a lot of Hammill's material at the time, but of course the voice and lyrics are nowhere near PH. Still nice for an occasional listen and much less prone to ridiculousness than the concept has potential for.

Rousseau

Their first album Flower in Asphalt is a nice instrumental symphonic work and closer to the "German Camel" description than Novalis. Just replace Camel's folky, sunny bounciness with a more subdued, melodically less rapturous and rhythmically stiffer approach. Their third, Square the Circle, sound mostly like Camel had decided to record outtakes of The Single Factor in 1987.

Iskander

I've only heard Mental Touch. Spacey, ponderous, very much 1980s take on Camel-like progressive rock. Writing wasn't very distinguished, though not bad. I don't suppose this and the rest of the Iskander albums will ever see re-release.

Anabis

I have Heaven on Earth. Very wordy neo-progressive, with lyrics dramatisising things like Frankfurt's water supply problems and witch hunts with rather shaky English. The music ticks the usual symphonic boxes but the execution is mediocre and the lyrics stump other concerns. "Assassination" seems almost prescient if it was really recorded in March 1980.

Amenophis

The first album is an excellent symphonic work from Germany, only hampered a little by the production values of private recording. Nice synth backgrounds that don't sound like 1983. Not as good as Anyone's Daughter but heads above most of the runners up.

And then the Japanese collectors liked the album and they revamped the line-up to cash in with You and I. Better recording, but otherwise weaker in all respect. About half of it leans towards pop and falls flat on its face for a lack anything substantial there. The rest is watered-down progressive, with bright ideas like having the keyboard player sprinkle classical quotes over a steady rock beat that sounds more like a synth demo than any of the 70s keyboard things.

Theatre

Poor Italian attempt at neo-progressive. Vocalist Ricky Tonko did better on Moongarden's The Brainstorm of Emptyness.

Step Ahead

French, and one of the best of the early "new progressive groups". Has similar hard rock guitar and more song-oriented approach to Yes and Genesis-influenced symphonic rock, though not really the new wave influences of the British bands. Song-writing is inconsistent, but the instrumental sections are great. The synth solos at the end of "The End" is one of my favourites.

[interbellum]

I was going by release date of their first album, which for both bands is in the 1980s. Kenso has a release of earlier material, but I think that came out much later and wasn't actually released in the 70s. So I'd personally count these, recognizing that they had activity before their first album came out.

Bill

Got your point! I was indeed refering to those archive-releases of these bands. Both are indeed anything but neo!

[gingernut]

Anyone remember these? All would be called "Neo," I think, but all were Continental & 80s Prog.

Airspeed
Chandelier
Adrenalin
Crystal Maze
Ligeia Lie
Counterpoint
The Last Detail
Eastern Wind
Egdon Heath
Kong
Head Over Heels
Odyssice
Shock Hazard
Harnakis
Notturno Concertante
Sinister Street
Ty-Jir
TNR (The Noise Room )
Rousseau
Isthar
Iskander
Bel Air
Anabis
Amenophis
Theatre
Hogweed
Eden's Taste
Opus
P'cock
Scaramouche
Step Ahead
Tales
Ywis
Tunefish

OK, I'll stop.

I was about to heave a heavy sigh and walk out of this thread. Then someone mentioned Chandelier - I was listening to Facing Gravity on the way in to work today, and Timecode on the way home.

[Shadow]

when did RUSH start? xx

In 74, but since the Japanese couldn't get them until the 80's you can list them.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

Sagrado Coracao Da Terra is another no one has mentioned

[TheH]

Anyone remember these? All would be called "Neo," I think, but all were Continental & 80s Prog.

Airspeed
Chandelier
Adrenalin
Crystal Maze
Ligeia Lie
Counterpoint
The Last Detail
Eastern Wind
Egdon Heath
Kong
Head Over Heels
Odyssice
Shock Hazard
Harnakis
Notturno Concertante
Sinister Street
Ty-Jir
TNR (The Noise Room )
Rousseau
Isthar
Iskander
Bel Air
Anabis
Amenophis
Theatre
Hogweed
Eden's Taste
Opus
P'cock
Scaramouche
Step Ahead
Tales
Ywis
Tunefish

OK, I'll stop.

Still have tons of stuff by those and like these