Your attitude towards Neo-prog?

Apparently, a lot of people really hate the genre, and I've never been able to figure out why. Is it because it's considered "watered-down" progressive music? The cheesy 80's synths used at its inception? Not enough folk, jazz, or avant-noise?

I don't generally like the Neo Prog from the 80's specifically, because I think it sounds too watered-down and derivative of bands like Genesis and Rush.  On the other hand, I think Neo-Prog got better in the 90's.  For example, Marillion and Dream Theater left behind the glam-rock and revitalized/enhanced their sound during this period.  Marillion especially changed, for obvious reasons.

In the eighties i didn't like what was called Neo Prog, these last days , i'm realy keen on Marillion ( Hogart time ) and Pendragon ( was at the show in Paris last week ) 

I'm not against it and in fact enjoy quite a bit of it. But none of it has wowed me the way other prog rock has. 

It's fine. I really try to dismiss as few genres as possible. Very few genres are intrinsically broken as forms of music (well... in my opinion, I guess).

I'm not interested in it other than Marillion.

1791 Overture wrote: Personally, I think it's one of the best genres of popular music around because of its strict focus on excellent songwriting as its only hook. It uses prog elements in a smart and conservative way and devotes itself to those elements of prog that were developed uniquely as part of the genre, rather than borrowed from others. I also enjoy how it has become heavier recently, embracing a blend of grit and sophistication that prog metal attempted but in my opinion never really realized. The bass is generally highly melodic yet very forceful, which is one of my favorite aspects of rock music. The tendency toward a conceptual and professional atmosphere is the icing on the cake. So, what do you guys think? I know there are quite a few reviewers here who like it, but I don't know if it's as universally accepted as "good" music as, say, Zeuhl or RIO, which I think is unfair.

I don't know, Pallas debut has only excellent songwriting?  That apart, in prog, I tend to look for sprawl with the exception of Gentle Giant's work but they were a singular band and don't have peers in what they did.  For more 'crisp' music without much noodling and such, I'd rather listen to smart rock or pop music because I want long pieces to have ambition and some breathing space.  With that said, I love Fish-Marillion but could never really get into the other neo prog outfits. Maybe I liked it more for Fish's passionate singing, without which that Celtic guitar formula would probably run dry for me sooner.

And Zeuhl or RIO are not universally accepted at all.  In fact, a lot of prog listeners don't like either or only very few bands.  But because these are more underground or obscure, people who don't like it don't seem to talk about it or review it but neo prog gets reviewed by a lot of people and gets some flak.  It's like how in metal, doom metal gets high ratings because only its core fanbase is interested in discussing it whereas power metal gets trashed by a large section of the metal audience. Universally liked prog would be the good ol' symph and also fusion. Some people don't even like Canterbury so even that is not a universally accepted genre of prog. 

I like what I've heard so far ("Misplaced Childhood", "Script for a Jester's Tear", and "Tales from the Lush Attic").

Lark the Starless wrote: I like what I've heard so far ("Misplaced Childhood", "Script for a Jester's Tear", and "Tales from the Lush Attic"). There's far more for to listen to, however. There is this French neo-prog band (Evolutive) that "claims" to be neo-prog (their 2 albums are available for a free download, if anyone's interested) but they sound way too poppy to be in PA, IMO. I personally don't see how they got into PA.

I've got just about all of their stuff and I like it.  Seems like they've been stuck in a bit of a rut lately.  Neither is it good nor bad.  Perhaps they need to go through more personnel changes like Yes or something.

Marillion is about all that I like. Many others really just tried to hard to do what had already been done and didn't improve on it.