Neo prog - then and now

My dad introduced me to Misplaced Childhood by Marillion, which was the first thing I had ever heard that is neo-prog. I loved it from the first listen and to this day, it is one of my favorite albums of all time. Since then, I have discovered many other incredible bands. Some notable ones are Pendragon and Galahad. Neo-prog is one of the more maligned sub-genres of prog and I never fully understood why. It captures the accessible, theatrical side of prog which I loved most. Prog doesn't have to contain virtuosic musicianship; it can be somewhat simple while still being boundary-pushing.


Edited by Magog2112 - July 25 2023 at 00:22

I declare IQ. as my favorite Neo-Prog band of all time. ARENA is a close 2nd, but IQ. I feel just have a bit more depth. 🙂

Gerinski wrote: I remember listening to Script for a Jester's Tear when it was released and we all friends saying it was a Genesis clone, but we liked it anyway. Then we bought the maxisingles with Grendel and so on, and Fugazi when it came out. We really liked all of it. Then they came to Barcelona in the Fugazi tour and it was a great show, with a very small but passionate audience. Then came IQ, Pallas, Twelfth Night, Pendragon, Arena, Shadowland, Quidam, Flamborough Head, Landmark, Jadis, Now (the Dutch), Quasar with Tracy Hitchings... It was good music for a time when the big ones had broken up or were going Pop, and Prog Metal was still to come. And it was the time of starting a CD collection next to my vinyls!  There was a local record shop very close to my house whose owner also like Prog a lot, and he published a fanzine with all the new albums he found and imported to Spain from France, the Netherlands, UK... I bought a lot of my Neo collection there. It was probably my main source of Prog during the 80s decade (during which I also got into New Age and more Jazz Rock / Fusion). I still like new Neo such as Frost*, the latest IQ, Arena and Pendragon albums are great, The Tangent, Barock Project... but probably the present-time IQ are my favourite, they are releasing great albums and I saw them in concert 1,5 years ago and they put out an amazing performance.

I love your story. Thank you.

You have terrific insight into the genre. I’m also in the same IQ. camp as you. They are my favorite as well. I will keep buying every from them.

BrufordFreak wrote: Neo Prog is the romantic schmaltz of Prog World. It's definitely a love-hate relationship. We love the full, lush sound textures and catchy melodies but we malign the artists for being imitators or for being unoriginal. Too bad. There's a lot of great music there. My beef has always been with the "cheap" sounds of the 1980s and 1990s computer keyboards. Thankfully, those sounds have been eradicated or replaced with less-cheesy, more authentic strings, horn, winds, and piano-sounding samples and waveforms--which, in my opinion, gives 21st Century artists an advantage over those making music in the 1980s and 90s. Thus, most of my most highly acclaimed Neo Prog albums were ones that were released in the 21st Century.

As the vintage keyboard are trendy today (since 10 years since the Moog re-open) we could expect that the vintage prog, that the neo-prog try to replace with digital sound in the 90s, is more trendy than Neo-Prog that I don't really know. But I'm still have curiosity for them and I like IQ. I think neo-prog of the 80s and 90s have better keyboard sounds than fusion of the 90s 80s. A good example is the cheap preset of quebec's fusion band Uzeb.

Edited by koboh - July 18 2024 at 13:42