HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

In the early 80's there was a wave of acts like Marillion, IQ, Pallas, Pendragon, Twelfth Night etc. These were collectively known as the 'Neo Prog' bands and the word 'Prog' then became common for the groups that inspired them: Genesis, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, King Crimson.


Twelfth Night used the term 'Punk Floyd' to describe their music.

Here in Holland this style of music is known as 'Symfo' - short for Symphonic Rock. Generally an easier categorisation as it then targets bands with obvious Classical influences, emphasis on keyboards, melodic tracks and a high standard of playing ability. There was a Dutch record label 'SI' that had a large stable of (mainly British) Neo-Prog acts in the 90's (Threshold, Landmarq, Arena et al) and 'Symphonic Metal' is an established Dutch genre with names like Within Temptation, Epica, The Gathering and After Forever (whose operatically-trained singer, Floor Jansen, now fronts Nightwish).

There is a story, which may or may not be apocryphal, that a journo asked Robert Fripp what kind of music King Crimson played, to which he responded: "Well, Eclectic Prog...duh!" I think that was dated to 1969

It started out, to the best of my knowledge, and as I remember it, as "Progressive Rock, or just Progressive music," in the late sixties/early seventies and that label I believe came from the music papers of the day, Like NME, Record Mirror, Melody Maker, Sounds, etc. I won't swear to it, but I have a feeling Bob used the term "Progressive" on The Old Dead Squirrel Test, so that would have been '72 onwards.

I always assumed that "Prog Rock" was a term invented by record companies that wanted to sell a bunch of disparate tracks under one broad umbrella of a name. Have you seen some of the weird shit (and I don't mean weird in a good way) that's on those Prog comps?

I'm still waiting for "Now That's What I Call Prog!" to appear.

Now, to cleanse my (and your) palate after that last comment, an enormous hunk of gorgeousness from David Minasian, featuring one of my favourite guitarists, the horribly underrated Andy Latimer from Camel. Andy kicks in for the first time at around the four-minute mark.

As with metal, when prog actually started is open to wide interpretation. It has been said that it goes back to the mid 60s when the Beatles changed direction with Rubber Soul and Revolver. I am inclined to put it back to the late 60s with bands such as The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd and King Crimson laying the foundations for what followed. The early 70s was the golden age but the genere remained strong throughout the 70s in terms of album sales and ticket sales, inspite of major bands undegoing line up changes.

Contary to what the British music press would have us believe prog and hard rock/metal were huge throughout the 70s. In respect of the latter there was no shortage of new bands emerging on both sides of the Atlantic selling a lot of albums, eg Queen, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Judas Priest, Rush, Aerosmith, Kiss and Van Halen, not forgetting AC/DC and The Scorpions from Australia and Germany. The way I see it there was no gap between the golden ages of prog and hard rock in the early 70s and their "revival" in the early 80s. It was a media myth at a time when long hair was no longer cool.

slinger wrote: ↑Sat Aug 07, 2021 2:18 pm

It's a shame Random Acts of Beauty is so over-compressed. The compression doesn't suit the style of music at all.

Lindsayt wrote: ↑Sat Aug 07, 2021 6:03 pm

slinger wrote: ↑Sat Aug 07, 2021 2:18 pm

It's a shame Random Acts of Beauty is so over-compressed. The compression doesn't suit the style of music at all.

The original, the 2020 remaster, or both?

Sym-Info (SI) label was born in the worst of times - the 80's in the period I call the "prog doldrums". This was the era of the STINK...of neoprog.

The worst lp parcel I ever received was 4 lps on the SI label out of Holland. I only remember one of the bands - Tales. This was all shoite.

In the early 80s there was no internet to educate you and sometimes you had to buy lps BLIND.

The paper that covered this neo scene in Holland was background Magazine. Also Freia (or something like that). bands were mediocre "prog" like Egdon Heath,Deyess, Achet-aton and downright sharn-out-of-ass like Niadem's Ghost. The Steve Wilson of the day was Rog Patterson - whom they really pushed.
By the 80s, the only group of import still floating - because it was basically a very late 70s/early 80s group - was the formidable The Enid. background covered them a lot.

oh yeah - Minasian sucks

SI records had a fanzine in the 90's called 'Sym-Info' which later became 'IO Pages', I did some translation of reviews from Dutch into English for them and also for synth-fanzine 'E-dition'.

'Tales' was a one-man-band from South Africa who thought he was Pink Floyd reincarnated - yes, that album sucks. I still have a stack of SI CD's and some are quite good, if a little derivative. One of the best is 'Pictures from the other side' by Cyan who later became the very excellent Magenta.

Oh, and 'Niadem's Ghost' were Pete Nicholls (who had temporarily left IQ) backed by members of Slaughter and the Dogs, their album was a deliberate attempt NOT to sound like a prog outfit.