The AOR-side of Prog

The Belgian band Now, fronted by guitarist and singer Vincent Fis, was arguably the finest AOR-prog band on the continent in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They created strong, dynamic AOR-prog, a fashionable fusion of the U.S.-style hard-rock and British neo-prog. This four-piece ensemble, which featured a lady as well, sounds incredibly colourful, intricate, and lyrical in that AOR-prog kind of way. "Deep" is their third and final album, released in 1992. The album has five songs, one of which is a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir''. Really, that cover is quite excellent and proggy. And Vincent Fis has incredible guitar skills. After this record, Now disbanded, and its talented keyboard player, Hervé Borbé, joined the venerable Belgian band Machiavel.

I tend to be a huge AOR fan and find it to be prog related.  I am a fan of most of the aforementioned bands: Journey, Boston, REO, Chicago, Journey, Asia, Toto, etc.  In recent years (meaning the last couple of decades), Sweden has had a number of newer Prog-lite/AOR bands releasing albums.  I am a fan of bands such as Work of Art, Eclipse, and W.E.T. (a "supergroup consisting of members of Work of Art, Eclipse, and Talisman).  W.E.T. and Talisman had Jeff Scott Soto as vocalist.  Houston is another good Swedish AOR band.

Logan wrote: Not suggesting these because I think them good, although I quite like Presto. Rush - Presto ELP - Black Moon and In the Hot Seat It Bites - Once Around the World Rose - A Taste of Neptune (tastes better than Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus I suppose)

 

Edited by presdoug - April 29 2024 at 18:43

verslibre wrote: cstack3 wrote: verslibre wrote: I don't care for their self-titled record, but Fountains of Light is a different story. Herb's the star of that album, as far as I'm concerned. I was a backstage friend of Herb, he was an amazing talent on Hammond organ!  Interestingly, he was also a highly regarded computer programmer and wrote some seminal textbooks on the topic!  https://www.herbschildt.com He was pretty handy with a synthesizer, too!

^Correct, Leftoverture is no less prog than Wind & Wuthering or Rain Dances.

IMO, Kansas didn't start the transition to AOR till Monolith and hitting it with Elefante in the band.

Then Walsh returned and the pendulum began to swing back, albeit slowly.

"Musicatto," a great instrumental from Power, with Steve Morse installed as lead guitarist.

^I would agree with you if you said Point of Know Return or Audio Visions but imo Leftoverture is pure prog.

verslibre wrote: FaPZ is also a winner in my book, along with Foreigner's debut. MMEB's Solar Fire is my favorite of theirs (though that's straight-up prog). Nektar's Magic is a Child was my introduction to them, and while it's not considered prime Nektar, I like it.

When I think of a really successful AOR/ Prog hybrid, my favourite may well be the stupendous 'Jefferson Starship: Freedom At Point Zero', however another few would be:

What's wrong with Album-Oriented Rock?

progaardvark wrote: One not mentioned that I like is Planet P Project's debut album.

Planet P/Tony Carey fan, here! That's a classic, but I think it's nearly crossover prog, what with its amalgam of German-influenced new wave and motorik, prog electronic and American rock.

I dig the conceptual follow-up Pink World even more. It's amazing Tony recorded everything you hear on it!