Prog musicians who DIDN'T go mainstream in the 80s

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 Steve Wyzard wrote:

 richardh wrote:

 Steve Wyzard wrote:

I think the real issue for many listeners on this site is what I would call (for lack of a better term) "1980s Production Values". By 1983, recording studios had become VERY high-tech and fully digital, while the analog synths of the 1970s were traded in for instruments like the Fairlight or Synclavier. Guitarists started dabbling in guitar-synths and extensive pedal-boards, and drummers added Simmons drums and other electronic percussion to the sounds at their disposal.
What this led to were albums that no longer sounded like the albums recorded in the 1960s/1970s. To this day, many prog listeners dismiss 1980s material simply because it sounds "computerized" or "plastic", unlike the analog albums from earlier days. Someone above mentioned the Emerson, Lake, and Powell album from 1986. While the album did have a single ("Touch and Go") that did receive a lot of airplay, I remain convinced that many older ELP listeners who hated the album were less offended by Carl Palmer's absence than by the simple fact that the album sounds nothing like Tarkus. And after 15 years of technological advancements, why should it?

Good point regarding Emerson, Lake and Powell not sounding like classic era ELP (1970-74). Certainly I felt at the time that Emerson had dumped the Hammond Organ in favour of inferior sounding keyboards. However the musical ideas mostly were not bad, although personally I think the album would have been a zillion times better if they recruited Terry Bozzio or Simon Phillips instead of 'hard rocker' Cozy Powell.

Keith's Hammond features very prominently on both "The Score" and "Mars, the Bringer of War" (admittedly layered with other keyboards), and even receives a solo spotlight on "The Miracle".

I wouldn't go with 'prominently' in truth. The Yamaha GX1 is by far the most 'prominent' keyboard and Emerson was also experimenting with MIDI to get that orchestral sound. He said at that time he was most disappointed he couldn't get those sounds on Love Beach and had to wait for the tech to catch up. It was perhaps being slight disengenious as there were more overriding reasons for the partial reformation of ELP (Lake's failed solo career and Emerson getting in to a licencing war with a distributor of his solo albums and so having to park his own attempt at a solo career as a result).