1914

While the 80s neo-prog scene is primarily associated with the English revival prog that was launched by Pallas, Twelfth Night, Marillion and IQ, there were really quite a few lesser known bands emerging from other nations around the very same time. In fact of all the earliest known neo-prog releases, only Twelfth Night can claim to have released anything before bands like the Dutch band ARKUS which unleashed its full debut release as early as 1981.

A rather mysterious band formed in the city of Nieuwegein sometime in the late 1970s, ARKUS just kind of snuck in its debut album before the English neo-proggers got their bearing and then disappeared as quickly as it arrived. Strangely the band has periodically reformed and dropped a second album in the 90s and another in 2003. The lineup featured Frans Smits (vocals, guitar), Ron Willems (guitar), Jan-Henk Wiggelinkhuizen (strings, organ, synthesizers), John Bouwman (bass, vocals) and Erik van Duin (drums, percussion, vocals).

While sounding more like an English band than any prog rock that came from the Netherlands, ARKUS evoked more of a post-Gabriel Genesis stance rather than the theatrical early English neo-prog bands. More Camel and even Pink Floyd than Marillion so to speak and as much classic symphonic prog as early neo only the dreamy pastoral kind. The band's debut 1914 was a concept album based on a poem written by Dutch poet and translator Bert Voeten. The original album featured seven tacks at 38 1/2 minutes long.

The band delivered a competent slice of early neo-prog and 1914 is actually quite pleasant. It's a dreamy airy affair with softy strummed 12-string guitars in conjunct with those classic Hackett inspired lead guitar sweeps and a thick synthesized atmospheric back drop. The bassist cops a Pink Floyd feel as have many neo-prog bassists throughout the decades and lead vocalist Frans Smits delivered a smooth competent vocal style that while not the cream of the crop was better than many of the neo-prog acts that could often sound atrocious. The compositions are all fairly consistent and the melodies are catchy from the getgo.

Despite its obscure nature and relative difficult status as an easy to obtain collectible, the album was reissued on CD with a couple bonus tracks. Overall this is a fairly decent slab of primeval neo-prog that didn't even emerge from the British Isles and if ARKUS had stuck it out for the long haul perhaps could've been a contender of best bands of the era but as it stands the album isn't perfect and could've used some spicing up as the formula is set to cruise control and the members needed to hone their chops a bit more for prime time. A nice little obscurity bin but there's a reason this one lingers in the shadows behind the bigwigs of the era.