Islands vs. Islands

I wrote an at length review of TFK islands last year. To sum it up, i've never been a fan of the band, a lot times due to the daunting size and length of their catalog and compositions and the sound just not being for me. Like another user put it, I always grouped them in with "dad-prog" or "modern prog for old people who don't actually like modern prog." However, last year that record totally changed my mind and perception on the band, and it actually wound up being my album of the year. Even over the likes of Wobbler, Haken and Motorpsycho, which are all bands that I generally like a lot more than TFK. I love all those songs, I like that they're shorter and more easily digestible, how melodic they are, and at the end of the day, the songs just makes me happy. When it came out, it was in a time that I really could've used something just like that and it really resonated and hit the spot.

Now, I like King Crimsons islands, I don't think its perfect but there's a lot of brilliant creative ideas and songs across that record. Boz is a great vocalist too, underrated even. However, I gotta vote for the album that I actually feel like I have a deeper connection with, and today that is Flower Kings.

I think I understand what "sprog prog" means now in context, but where does it come from? What is the etymology?

I'm a big Mike Oldfield fan, but Islands is among my least favorite albums from him. "Amarok" is many times better (melody- and production-wise) than "The Wind Chimes" and side two of the album is pretty average.