Prophet ('80s band from New Jersey)

[devoidzer0]

Eddie Trunk was talking about bands that never made it the other day and this band called Prophet came up. They were signed to Megaforce (the label Trunk worked at in the late '80s), but before that released a self-titled album on an independent label. I found the first album on YT and was pleasantly surprised. While they were pretty much a standard hard rock band of the time, they actually had some prog elements in the keyboards and arrangements in some of the tunes. Definitely in the AOR-prog vein of Asia, Styx, Boston, or later Kansas. In fact, the singer reminds me a lot of a young Steve Walsh. The album positively drips of the 1980s (which is a positive thing to me but doesn't age well for some), but I find I am enjoying many of the songs. Check it out:

[Supersonic Scientist]

Growing up on the Jersey Shore, I saw these guys 100's of times as they were a long-time favorite on the bar circuit at the time (late '70's? into the '80's)...I DO recall that the singer was quite good and the band was LOUD!!!!

[TheH]

Did they do an Album called "Cycle on the Moon" (or close)?

I most likely still have that LP somewhere…

Remember that as not to bad slightly proggy heavy AOR..

[devoidzer0]

Did they do an Album called "Cycle on the Moon" (or close)?

I most likely still have that LP somewhere…

Remember that as not to bad slightly proggy heavy AOR..

Yep, that's the band. Cycle of the Moon was their 2nd, released in '88. Their first one seems to be the proggiest, but it's pretty hard to find (not on any streaming services). Gotta love YouTube (ok, you don't, but I do). Where else are you gonna find obscure gems like this?

[Amy]

Prophet were incredible, covering Yes, ELP, Kansas, Pink Floyd, Boston, Styx, Edgar Winter, Zeppelin and many more like nobody’s business. (I had an enormous crush on the incredibly humble and incredibly gifted keyboardist; as a fledgling keyboard player, I found Joe Z. to be a tremendous role-model.) I liked many of their originals but man did their covers smoke. I saw them hundreds of times (no exaggeration) in the early and mid-eighties. Was there the night Eddie Offord was sniffing around but nothing further came of that meeting. Too bad! Prophet was bursting with talent that rivaled or exceeded many of the commercially successful bands of the time. Nice to see them mentioned here.

[the ferret]

I used to own Cycle Of The Moon but lost it during a house move. Good album.

There was a song on it very reminiscent of Kansas' Chasing Shadows, if my addled brain remembers correctly.

[devoidzer0]

Prophet were incredible, covering Yes, ELP, Kansas, Pink Floyd, Boston, Styx, Edgar Winter, Zeppelin and many more like nobody’s business. (I had an enormous crush on the incredibly humble and incredibly gifted keyboardist; as a fledgling keyboard player, I found Joe Z. to be a tremendous role-model.) I liked many of their originals but man did their covers smoke. I saw them hundreds of times (no exaggeration) in the early and mid-eighties. Was there the night Eddie Offord was sniffing around but nothing further came of that meeting. Too bad! Prophet was bursting with talent that rivaled or exceeded many of the commercially successful bands of the time. Nice to see them mentioned here.

Very cool first hand info about the band, thanks! Their musicianship is evident in the studio recordings, I imagine those covers would've been very faithfully reproduced and impressive to witness live. The keyboards immediately jumped out at me as being interesting and set their sound apart from many hard rock bands of that era. If only Eddie Offord had picked them up instead of Eddie Trunk.

[Dan Roth]

All three of their CDs are available for £5.00 each from Z Records: https://zrecords.webs.com/apps/webst...&query=prophet

[the ferret]

All three of their CDs are available for £5.00 each from Z Records: https://zrecords.webs.com/apps/webst...&query=prophet

That's a real tempter. Many thanks for the link!

[ytserush]

These guys were all over NJ/NY radio back then. Never caught a cover show unfortunately (or any show) but I did have one or two of their albums once (Cycle of The Moon was one). Not sure how it all stalled on the national level though. Totally forgot about them until seeing this.