Yes-Relayer (1974)

"Relayer", along with "Tales From Topographic Oceans", is one of Yes's most difficult, inaccessible, and intricate albums, but by no means a lesser work. On the contrary, both are masterpieces of progressive rock, which, despite having less commercial impact, owed it to their complexity and, at the same time, their less harmonious and accessible side. In a way, "Relayer" follows the trend of the aforementioned "Tales From Topographic Oceans", released a year earlier. But the musical epic of almost biblical proportions that was "Tales From..." claimed its first victim in Rick Wakeman, who came to loathe the complex compositions based on Eastern philosophies that singer Jon Anderson and Steve Howe composed during countless hours between concerts on the "Close To The Edge Tour". Finally, after the tour following "Tales From...", Rick Wakeman left the band to pursue his solo career, which had already begun in 1973 with his album "The Six Wives of Henry VIII". Therefore, they had to find a replacement with the ideal qualities for the position. While Vangelis was initially considered, it was ultimately the Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz who was chosen. Patrick Moraz already had an impressive career with the bands Mainhorse and Refugee, the latter a progressive rock band in the purest ELP style, so his integration was quick and seamless, with no one missing the blond keyboardist with long hair and colorful layers. "Relayer" structurally consists of three extensive tracks, beginning with the jazzy and progressive "The Gates of Delirium", a prodigious 23-minute piece inspired by Tolstoy's "War and Peace", which is one of Yes's compositional and instrumental peaks. On the second side, we find the brutal “Sound Chaser”, which blends elements of free jazz and visceral rock with tons of progressive sounds, featuring an immeasurable and sublime Steve Howe on guitar. The album closes with “To Be Over”, a track brimming with moments of peace and solemnity, where Jon Anderson delivers an absolutely masterful performance. “Relayer” confirmed the band's shift away from accessible and melodic sounds, towards riskier and more experimental approaches, a direction that would keep them from releasing new albums for almost three years.

Gentle Giant-Civilian (1980)

"Civilian", released in early 1980, was the last album recorded by the legendary Gentle Giant, a work that shows little trace of the band's glorious progressive past. On this release, the quintet of Derek Shulman (vocals), Gary Green (guitars), Kerry Minnear (keyboards), Ray Shulman (bass, guitars, and vocals), and John Weathers (drums and vocals) aimed for a lighter, more accessible sound, with a conventional American rock style. While not as challenging as their previous releases, the band remained in a comfortable zone, creating catchy melodies within an atmosphere reminiscent of 1980s new wave and melodic rock, as demonstrated by songs like "Convenience (Clean and Easy)", "Shadows on the Streets," and "Inside Out," and the classic arena rock of "Number One," "I Am a Camera", and "All Through the Night". With this eleventh release, Gentle Giant brought their brilliant career to a close, producing an epitaph in the form of a commendable and solid classic rock album.

Roy Harper-HQ (1975)

With his album "HQ", singer-songwriter Roy Harper almost completely abandoned his folk roots to fully embrace progressive rock. For this project, Harper enlisted heavyweights such as Bill Bruford (Yes and King Crimson), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and David Bedford (Mike Oldfield), as well as renowned session musicians like Chris Spedding, Dave Cochran, and Steve Broughton. This shift towards more experimental sounds is evident in tracks like the epic "The Game" and the reflective "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease", while mainstream rock peeks through in the energy of "The Spirits Lives" and the lighthearted "Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children", two tracks that contrast with the acoustic "Referendum (Legend)" and "Hallucinating Light", the only two pieces that still retain the vintage flavor of his more recent folk past.

Blue Goose-Blue Goose (1974)

Blue Goose was a British band that rose from the ashes of a group called Zeus, which included keyboardist Nicky Hogarth and drummer Chris Perry. Along with guitarists Allan Callan and Eddie Clarke (the latter later joining Motörhead), they formed the initial core of the band. Later, before recording their first and only album, guitarist Mike Todman replaced Clarke, and together with vocalist Joey Molland, they recorded the self-titled debut, "Blue Goose", under the Anchor Records label in 1974. Although not officially a member of the band, Clarke briefly participated in the recording of the album, playing on the instrumental track "Over the Top", a song he composed himself. Musicians Alexis Corner and Steve Marriott also contributed to the album. With a strong influence from boogie rock and British hard rock blues, and a heavy emphasis on powerful twin-guitar riffs, slide guitars, and Hammond organ sounds, this debut album was an interesting record, highly praised by critics at the time. Right from the start, Blue Goose's style is evident in the jam-rock blues track "Stuffin' Stuff", featuring the entire band's participation. In "The Chorus", the band showcases their impressive vocal and melodic talents, as does the acoustic "Call On Me". Meanwhile, "Loretta" and "Snowman" display their more powerful side with two excellent hard blues tracks. The rest of the album is equally commendable, including the laid-back "Inside Yourself," the aforementioned instrumental "Over The Top", and the powerful "Let Me Know". Although the subsequent live album was quite well received, the studio album did not achieve the expected success, so all its members decided to pursue independent careers, thus ending the short career of this interesting band.

Gary Numan-The Pleasure Principle (1979)

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Gary Numan became a media phenomenon thanks to his enormous success with a predominantly teenage audience. His journey had begun years earlier when, in the mid-1970s, he founded his first band, Tubeway Army, with whom he expanded his style of punk disguised as electronic music. His album "Replicas", released in 1979, is a seminal document of Numan's experiences in the realm of synth-pop and laid the groundwork for the genre's subsequent evolution. The album achieved a surprising number one hit on the British charts thanks to tracks like "Are Friends Electric?". However, despite this meteoric success, Numan soon disbanded Tubeway Army and continued his solo career, forming a band that featured Ultravox keyboardist Billie Currie. His debut album, "The Pleasure Principle", was a monumental success thanks to its skillful, futuristic musical exaggerations, imbuing each track with a science-fantasy concept that depicted a world dominated by machines. With his next effort, "Telekon", despite its tremendous success, the first signs of an imminent creative decline were already apparent, leading to his temporary withdrawal from the music scene. Some time later, he returned with other releases that achieved a certain degree of recognition, such as "Dance", featuring Queen drummer Roger Taylor, and "Warriors", a collaboration with jazz saxophonist Dick Morrissey. Gary Numan will always be remembered as a pioneer and a pivotal figure in the synth-pop of the 1980s

Twelfth Night-Smiling At Grief (1982)

One of the quintessential early neo-progressive bands is Twelfth Night, formed in 1978. They anticipated all the other bands that revived the baroque symphonic/progressive rock that was fading away at the time. Twelfth Night actually began as a unique blend of art rock and new wave, but unlike their synth-pop and pop-rock contemporaries, they were decidedly less commercial in their pop influences, emphasizing a more complex sound that undeniably makes them progressive. Although even today few agree on what their debut album was for many it's their iconic "Fact and Fiction" and for others their cassette release "Smiling at Grief" we'll consider the latter as their supposed first official recording, which was originally self-produced and financed by the band. In this first recording, Twelfth Night consisted of Geoff Man (vocals), Andy Revell (guitar), Rick Battersby (keyboards), Clive Mitten (bass, guitars, and keyboards), and Brian Devoll (drums). Although, as we mentioned at the beginning of this post, Twelfth Night are the main forerunners of the progressive revival known as neo-progressive, this demo/cassette still shows that stylistically they are quite far removed from that subgenre. There is a wide range of influences here, from the new wave of "Three Dancers" to funk-tinged experiments like "Fur Helene Part II", and early versions of classics such as "Puppets" and "Painted By Numbers", in which their singer still seems to be searching for his distinctive vocal style, often getting lost in meaningless meanderings. Despite being oriented towards sounds close to electro pop and new wave, this is undoubtedly a good starting point to understand the musical roots of this iconic cult band.

Headstone-Still Looking (1974)

Headstone was an American band from Indiana that released only one album in 1974, "Still Looking", in addition to several singles the following year. Formed by the Flynn brothers Bruce on guitar, Barry on bass and lead vocals, and David on drums along with keyboardist Tom Applegate, their sole release had such a limited run that it quickly became a collector's item for fans of dark, heavy prog from the 1970s. This single album is notable for its enormous, powerful, and heavy guitar riffs, a smoky organ, and catchy vocals, playing a hard rock style with progressive and psychedelic elements a style closer to that of the late 1960s than to the mid-1970s when it was recorded. Among the highlights of this album are the title track, a visceral and powerful psychedelic hard rock song, the melodic and dark "Those Days", the progressive blues "I Like It", and the psychedelic "Misery". Years later, the original tapes were discovered, and the album was reissued on CD with additional tracks by Starr Records.