Best Prog artist with debut album from 1980-1984

[Trane]

Asia?

We said PROG

[grego]

Miriodor for me

[PeterG]

We said PROG

he he

[Rarebird]

Twelfth Night

And not prog, but still something else
Wim Mertens

[Yanks2014]

Asia?

This, I would agree with, great debut, whether you want to call it mainstream or commercial rock, prog, whatever. I'm surprised I didn't remember to mention this.

[Sputnik]

My favorites whose debuts came from this period:

Abus Dangereux
Ain Soph
Rahmann
Trilogy
Cartoon
Dun
Eider Stellaire
Kultivator
Bi Kyo Ran
Bacamarte
In Spe
Thinking Plague

Bill

[Scrotum Scissor]

Trilogy
Cartoon

These ones are great, but I thought the Trilogy (the German instrumental symph rockers, right?) debut was from '79. Anyway, almost a lost classic.

[Sputnik]

These ones are great, but I thought the Trilogy (the German instrumental symph rockers, right?) debut was from '79. Anyway, almost a lost classic.

LOL, I see what I did wrong. I took the release date of the bonus track (1981) from the liner notes, not the album proper, which you are right is 1979. My bad, but still worth a mention. This is a pretty good "Symph Prog" album for this late in the 70s. Actually one of my favorites from Germany overall too.

Bill

[Calabasas_Trafalgar]

I think most of the 1980 debut by Kenso is crap, but they managed a very strong sophomore effort in 1982. I guess if you are into RIO or avant music, they were a lot of good debuts then. For me it was mostly a prog wasteland.

That's my favorite Kenso! I didn't care for most of their output afterward. And I'm not into RIO or avant at all, but I still found a lot to like during this time period, to wit(all debuts AFAIA):

Eduard Artimiev-Warmth of Earth-1980
Formas-Largos Suenos 1981
Cal-s/t 1980
Diethelm/Famulari-s/t 1983
Scapa Flow-Uuteen Aikaan 1980
Sicher-s/t 1981
Celluloid-Neptune-1983
Flught-s/t 1981
Forzanove-Autoanalisi 1981
Gerard-s/t 1983
Ivory-Sad Cypress 1980
Katarina II-s/t 1984
Kenso-s/t 1980
Lievaux-Transfo-Passage Public 1980
PLJ Band-Armageddon 1982
Pablo El Enterrador-s/t 1983
Dimitris Papadimitriou-Topia 1982
Sedmina-Melita & Veno Dolenc 1980
Sepi Kuu-Rannan Usvassa 1980
Peter Tassius & Iskander-Ouverture 1981
Tonic-This Way 1980

there are a lot more, these are just the best of the best. Just for fun, I took a look at the next 5 years(1985-89)and came up with considerably less, especially just looking for debut albums.

[spacefreak]

We forgot Blue Motion in 1980...

[spacefreak]

Celluloid-Neptune-1983

Sadly, almost no one seems to have heard this mellotron heaven!

[Trane]

We forgot Blue Motion in 1980...

Yup, we did....
bit in my mind, this is too linked with Circus..

[spacefreak]

Yup, we did....
bit in my mind, this is too linked with Circus..

...way too different though.

[TheH]

Different but great, and at least freshly rereleased..

[yodathedog]

Pallas.

And of course Marillion and IQ.

[Kai]

Eduard Artimiev-Warmth of Earth-1980

A very enjoayble album, but it was actually released in 1985. However, Ode to Herald of Good was released in 1984 (no idea when it was actually recorded) and it is almost as good. Artemiev actually had a couple of LP releases in the 70s, but they, like Mood-Pictures, which may or may not have been released before Ode, were more electronic works, so Ode could be considered his Prog debut.

[Calabasas_Trafalgar]

A very enjoayble album, but it was actually released in 1985. However, Ode to Herald of Good was released in 1984 (no idea when it was actually recorded) and it is almost as good. Artemiev actually had a couple of LP releases in the 70s, but they, like Mood-Pictures, which may or may not have been released before Ode, were more electronic works, so Ode could be considered his Prog debut.

I know, I was using Gnosis dates, and I've been struggling with them to get this one changed. Thanks, I need to revisit Ode...

[Progbear]

We said PROG

Also BEST

Sadly, almost no one seems to have heard this mellotron heaven!

It’s also not his/their debut, that would be Mercury from 1981. Still qualifies, just wanted to clear that up.

-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"You can take the war out of the soldier, but you can't raise that soldier from the dead."
--Shona Laing

N.P.:“Invincible”-Maschine/Rubidium