https://cassiber2.bandcamp.com/album/collaborations" rel="nofollow - https://cassiber2.bandcamp.com/album/collaborations

Does this apply?
 

I would think Talking Heads would qualify as musically progressive, not "prog."

I think Minutemen took punk rock in a progressive direction. Kate, Cardiacs, XTC?, Happy Rhodes just to name a couple more.

Heck, Marillion would likely fit, though folks think that Fish was a copy ... and he was much more honest and true to himself and the work he did for many years.

Djam Karet starts up in 1985, but the album that got their attention was in 1989 (Reflections From the Firepool) ... 

I also find it weird when folks think the 1980's weren't very good ... heck, Peter Hammill had some outstanding things on his own, alone!

Hi,

Very nice album all the way through ... 

Hi,

I really think that the lack of FM Radio in the 1980's ... was what hurt the most, but the music never died. There were too many bands that were out there, however, like FELT, there were many that we had never heard of, or about, and this band, I just heard for the first time ... 40 years later! FM radio losing its independence to the corporate world was an attempt to take music out of our hands (late 70's early 80's) ... and the Internet helped a lot (later), but it is becoming corporate owned and we need to start fighting that again. DJAM KARET was a part of my collection going back to 1990's ... on the album right after "Reflections" ... which got me to be on them ever since.

I recently bought it and yes it is very solid. The Devouring and maybe a few others are also highly rated. Unfortunately the Devouring (which is a bit later anyway and a 90s and not 80s album) is out of print anyway.

Agree and I also loved and still like Marillion's Seasons End album from 1989. Seemed to capture a lot for me that I felt at the time and an album that estued the typical 'Neo Prog' approach. I see that as being quietly innovative.

I mentioned Iron Maiden on the sister thread and would still put them here for Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. The birth of 'prog metal' perhaps.

I would like to mention Jon and Vangelis. I've been listening to them over the last few days and they were making original music that still stands up (Horizon, The Friends Of Mr Cairo and State Of Independence are amazing songs just in their own right)

I would agree on Talk Talk as mentioned earlier in the thread but China Crisis were on a par and were guided by Walter Becker. There were other great artsy pop acts such as Japan, A Flock Of Seagulls, Tears For Fears, Propaganda (my personal favourite) and even the likes of Duran Duran (for Save a Prayer), Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Relax and Two Tribes) and Simple Minds (Waterfront) were very interesting at times. 

As much as I love the album, the birth of progressive metal did not start with it. 

USPM bands did that before Maiden (some of them being influenced by Maiden )

All sort of experimentation also was happening in thrash - Watchtower, Mekong Delta, Voivod that would influence other bands later on. 

Also a curiosity that came out in that decade: one of the best symphonic prog albums (in my top 10 at least) from Hungary's Solaris, Marsbéli Krónikák. What a debut! It seemed so out of place in 1984.

I guess I was lucky to have two FM radio stations in Philadelphia in the 1980s (I grew up there): 93.3 WMMR and 94.1 WYSP. Both of them called themselves "classic rock stations," but they played a fair amount of prog and without them it might have taken me much longer to eventually discover all that great music. For a time, WYSP used to play 4-5 full albums on Sunday nights. They tended to play more "deep tracks" than WMMR, but both stations were played on my radio almost daily.

We had another program on another radio station (I think from the University of Pennsylvania) called Star's End that played electronic prog, like Tangerine Dream, Richard Pinhas (remembering songs from his album Iceland), and Mark Shreeve. Those were broadcast late in the evening on Saturdays and I used to put my headphones on and turn out the lights as it was really spacey stuff. 

I was lucky. I don't know if other urban areas were as lucky. I'm guessing since you think there was a lack of FM stations, maybe other places missed out on this.

A couple have already been mentioned but anyway:

Rideau! represents the second album by French ensemble Un Drame Musical Instantané, originally released in 1980. This record stands as a testament to their innovative spirit and is often regarded as ahead of its time. On Rideau!, the music is characterised by its eclecticism and progressiveness, seamlessly transitioning between jazz, electronic music, ambient, and contemporary classical compositions.

I have a different take on stuff that is (supposedly) ahead of its time.

The history of the arts has been about "change" ... and as such we always found different things at all times, that were considered new and ushered a new era for a lot of work ... for me, that was a part of what the arts were, and ARE, about.

My concern is that something different, strange and weird comes about ... and all of a sudden it is the thing that supposedly is ahead of its time ... and 50 years later, no one gives a damn ... which is what has happened to what was progressive music, that is now replaced by ProgRock and then is replaced by ProgCopy, and then is replaced by ProgbyDaw, and then replaced by ProgbyNumbers, etc, etc, etc ...

I, no longer look at music, or any art, as something that shows us a future that we can not see yet ... some things last long enough, and some don't, thus the ability to think of them as valuable and important goes down a bit.

I thought I was a part of the generation that cared, and valued great works ... until one day at Anaheim Stadium, you knew that the place was infested by rats and fanboys, screaming and fighting for a piece of the flying pig ... and the future was forever damaged for me ... it didn't mean a thing at all ... it's almost like the whole thing was a joke ... and none of us want to feel like we were in the wrong place, and liked the wrong music and the wrong band ... the future was NOW ... and it was a horrible site to be in and see ... I was embarrassed, but in that moment, I knew one thing about the future of music, and music sites ... it was going to be controlled by more fan-boys and trolls ... and (sometimes) the really good stuff, or in this case threads or postings, were going to be ignored and not given the pat in the back they deserve ... 

The only thing we know about "future" is that things change ... and tomorrow some new band, or music shows up that makes us feel that ... and my hope is that we appreciate the effort, but ... I'm not sure that I'm seeing folks ... even here ... talking about it as an art ... it's still all about the favorite this and that ... I don't think we will see another Picasso, or Stravinsky, for at least 50 to 100 years.

We, here, at PA, and JMA, at the very least appreciate new music ... and that is a sign for me ... and often you wonder which one will be enjoyed and which one will be ignored. But POPULAR music, specially these days, has not (historically) been ahead of its time, like film and theater were in the 1960's, or jazz was in that same time period ... rock music was behind and did not show up until it looked like everyone had to get ripped on something or other and wear colorful clothing ... and you and I know that was not about a future at all, but a clever commercial play ... that sold a lot ... and the music? Even today, we don't think much of it is worth the price of the album! We enjoyed it, though, because most of the other stuff was copycrap!

I'm going to say that, IMO, 'Perfect Symmetry' by Fates Warning would be my pick of theirs. It doesn't sound like anyone, honestly. I know loads of people say it sounds like Queensryche, however 'Ryche did not have songs like 'Part Of The Machine', 'Static Acts' and 'Nothing Left To Say'...even the single 'Through Different Eyes' was strikingly different than 'Ryche.

All IMO, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwKhTLPr-A4&list=PL5SMXYhIcZ5LFxHDMcgjmDD9l5EE16O5W" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwKhTLPr-A4&list=PL5SMXYhIcZ5LFxHDMcgjmDD9l5EE16O5W

I agree. 

Now, we are two. 

I would say it materialized in the 1990s. I lived through it. Much of what we are living in now had its origins in the 1990s. Some might argue it dates back even earlier.

By 1981, when the album was released, personal computers had only just started to become part of workplaces and, rather rarely, at home. The view that computers were going to change communication and ways of interaction among people in everyday life was still not the public perception nor captured in their minds. Kraftwerk's competency for articulation in music reflected their vision.

Oh, Zonder is otherworldly. I agree with all your points.

I thought even musically, but then again, I'm hardly the electronic music connaisseur. 

Computer technology was widespread in the 1990s. I guess you weren't there. I would even argue it started making in-roads with the wider public in the 1980s with computers produced for the public by Commodore, IBM, and Apple.

You don't have to post videos of their famous songs. I have also known the album since i was a kid and that was long long ago (I'm afraid to calculate ). 

I do think Kraftwerk was ahead of the time. But i could be wrong or someone will disagree with me. 

Social media existed and was used quite regularly in the 1990s, and even back into the 1980s. BBSes, forums, blogs, and even newsgroups were all types of social media. This all evolved into what eventually was called Web 2.0 by the early 2000s. I would say Kraftwerk's lyrics for this song actually were as applicable to the 1980s as they were for later on. 

(b) Computers were around for much longer. Affordable home computers started to spread big time 1980/81 when Kraftwerk did Computerwelt, but what existed before was very expensive and exclusive. 

(c) Kraftwerk were certainly on the pulse of the time with Computerwelt; I do think it is still a development coming from Mensch-Maschine and their earlier albums (which were even more groundbreaking, but this shouldn't take too much away from Computerwelt). The direction of their development may not have been that pleasant for the prog fan. The album doesn't have the kind of musical novelty that we would call "progressive", but I think it was innovative to some extent and hugely influential that they went into the pop "everybody can do it and everybody will live in computer world" theme with their electronic sound that had already been advanced before. 

(d) I don't think it makes sense to separate the music and the album theme/lyrics here, as these were very nicely integrated, which is a major strength of the album. I tend to be a music not lyrics listener, still we can't do this album justice of we consider the music isolated from the lyrics/theme.

(e) Talking about the album being "ahead of its time" is maybe not fully appropriate here. I'd rather say it happened at exactly the right time capturing something big that was happening just then.  

Hi,

I disagree, more or less, simply because Kraftwerk were not the only ones that were doing that kind of thing, but they were more "fun" than the other folks that were more into the music than they were into the fun of it. As such, Kraftwerk got picked up right away ... and shown off ... but they were not ahead of their time, except in one way ... with the money from one album they ended up with the best equipment around, and then it seemed like they were more special and interesting, but in all honesty I never felt that it was as much talent in their work as there was somewhere else in Germany, for example.

I don't think that most things were "ahead of its time" ... if we take the idea and thoughts from Holger in his posting for a long time, they were mostly making sure they went opposite the ideas and process used in westernized commercial music ... and this was one of the great value in a lot of that work, that became known as "krautrock" ... but in essence was making a point of making sure it was different from a lot of the better known stuff on radio or in print.

The scary side of it all is ... a listing that merely shows a "known" band ... and not work that was not as well known that really was ahead of its time, but I'm not sure that we have heard enough of it, to make it qualify in the stakes of the great list in the sky!

Hi,

Nice posting ... enjoyed it a lot.

Some additions to it ... 

(d) ... this has been a problem in music for a long time ... and how quickly we forget that Mozart was probably the first one to tell us that a lot of the fun in listening and loving music was left behind, and he made the most of it ... but, without the lyrics the music would probably not be appreciated as much ... I think it was the idea of fun that helped it more than anything else ... I certainly do not think that DD would discuss the musicality of Kraftwerk at all ... it was not what the band was about at all!

(e) ... a very tough thought and idea, and I can give you only one example that I have been a part of for 51 years, and just celebrated the birthday of the start of the 52nd year! Space Pirate Radio and the work that Guy Guden has done. When one considers the listing of things played in that year alone (1974 posted before somewhere), I sincerely doubt anyone would question it, however, a lot of folks would get upset because some of the top favorites of theirs were not included ... Guy's shows have never been about the hit, as he was in a commercial radio station on top of it that already played the same crap all day long! So, it could be said that he was doing things ahead of its time, because no one else had even touched it ... and unlike folks using banded LP's (no kidding ... record company specials!!!) ... Guy played the whole thing, including Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream, and many of the shows listed? How many minutes can you count?

I think some folks think of the "unknown" or at least "unplayed" stuff as being out in left field in Uranus, and sometimes, the ideas and comments are in that vein, since it dismantles the credibility of their stand on their top five listing! But this, is sad, because we do not want to be here trashing things, and guess what happens when I don't kiss up to the JT and Rush fans? I liked and loved a lot of other materials that were NOT IGNORED, and if you had seen how many things were sent to the radio station that Guy brought home, you would be very upset and disappointed ... they would include nearly 80/90% of all the stuff we have come to love ... and we don't spend our time taking down those fake hit folks ... we ignore them, and then post on PA our favorites as a way to make it look like we care.

I was there, so to speak, and being ahead of its time was not the issue ... revolting against the "normal" was!!!! 

And in terms of sound, "Computer World" laid down the groundwork for genres like IDM and techno.

Sure, 1978's Die Mensch-Maschine is a special album in its own right, but this is a thread about those 80s records that are "ahead of their time."

Hi,

Having been in Southern California, where a lot of "progressive" was heard and played on the air, courtesy of the FM radio stations, the real issue was not the music or the artists, that by 1980 were already, let's say established enough that when FM radio was raped by the end of the 1970's, the musicians did well on their own without radio ... this "death of progressive music" is mostly the link to not being able to hear some new music, as the FM radio band had been massive in that area. All of a sudden you don't have a way to listen to it, and are left with college stations that often have a signal no better than the smells off the bathroom, and sometimes with programming that really ... well let's that go ... the Portland based one here once asked me what would my show bring to the air ... and she was interested in a social/anthropological idea which she thought made her station more important ... like anyone listens for that ... folks here would have a riot making fun of her ... I call it bad lyrics! And even though I had a history with the music, it didn't matter ... she wanted the idea, not the music!

Both MM and NME were fine in the 80's and they probably really helped a lot of stuff stay alive, but the one that really could, would NOT even try to help ... The Rolling Stone periodical was trash of the highest order and had the talent of a lot of street buskers from the Antarctica!

The idea that it was ahead of its time, is a comment, by folks that ... in my book ... were expecting some second coming, or third coming somewhere, and it didn't happen, because there was no periodical for music that helped, especially in America. But to say that the music died or those folks were ahead of their time, is the same thing as saying that Stravinsky, and Miles were not important to the whole thing in that century ... which really means ... NOT LISTENING at all, and expecting their favorite band to take the reign! Which didn't happen because there was no media to tell it was so!!!!

We, on Space Pirate Radio, did not have an issue with the "ahead of its time" thing ... I would almost say that Guy's thing then, was "none of the hits none of the time", and that even went for the top stuff in our lists, and specially American music as Guy kept on with all foreign music from around the world, and there is a lot he played that we don't even know or care to discuss, but it shows up in the 132nd line, or ranking in a list or two!

So, from our perspective, to see/consider any music ahead of its time, was a stupid idea ... all arts are slightly ahead of their time, unless you are the top of the Variety listing that still shows a listing of things that no one that I know, here or anywhere else, EVER listens to, and that pretty much tells you that the music business wants to make sure that some things do not interfere with their ability to show the public what sells, and what is not even worth looking at since it is not listed ... and the sad thing, is that a lot of PA is centered on that and not as much about the music as ... for example ... JMA is, where the new postings are maintained in all styles and listings ... and no numbers are required at all, as your favorite especialy will show several albums you can check out ... PA has no such thing and relies on folks making a list ... and, honestly ... I hope that falls off completely ... it's about the music not the list ... and this is something that a lot of us WERE into the music in the early days, and we never lost the touch and go back to the commercial design and focus since then, specially starting the 1980's right after the real FM radio dial was killed off from playing new music, and instead play the "classics" ... which it still does and 45 years later, no one gives a damn!

Hi,

I don't think pop music is mostly trash any more than I do progressive and prog rock music. It's the same thing regardless of form.

But, in reality, it is really easy to say this TODAY ... since there was no Internet 50 years ago and how things got seen or heard was often lucky and nothing else ... we came across a bunch of stuff in a friend's house ... not radio, or publication, at all ... and she wasn't into music ... a friend of hers had asked her to house some 2K Lp's until he was done moving. And there, there were GEMS that radio folks ignored and sold to many stores for some extra money, or something not readily available.

There was ... almost ... nothing to track since you had not heard much ... and I think the FM radio band busted that thought real quick ... until it was bought out in America by corporate interests (station we had was bought by Texaco folks) ... to ensure that everyone else's product did not get a chance anymore ... 30 years later the Internet threw a massive wrench in that thought and here we are ... so many choices that we often can not listen to anything else, or even make up our minds about so much stuff because our favorite gets the groove, and not something else we don't know ... and worse ... we don't want to know!

I think the "guidance" thing is an illusion, and that we were born to be slaves and submissives to whoever talked bigger and louder than us ... and the sad thing is that we allowed the media to get away with it ... and many politicians talking garbage and no one challenging them ... because they have power and the money to lawyer you into the ditch .... none of that is "ahead of its time" ... it's a way to control the public that keeps thinking they don't know better, or give a damn. And as time goes by, you do not think of many of those folks as important at all ... you already replaced that person with another icon or graven image!