Best of 2013, part 2

Welcome to the second part of our Best of 2013 blog entry, where we reveal ProgActive's Top 10 songs and instrumentals from the year ending tonight! Without further ado, let's get right to it...

10. BOARDS OF CANADA: Reach for the Dead (from Tomorrow's Harvest)
Following the 2005 masterpiece The Campfire Headphase, the next Boards of Canada album was waited for with eager anticipation. Unfortunately, for the most part Tomorrow's Harvest turned out to be nothing special. I was more than only slightly disappointed following eight years of silence. Luckily, I found at least one track on the album that works. The brilliant, atmospheric Reach for the Dead is great already on its own and even better when combined with the scenic video embedded above.

9. DREAM THEATER: Illumination Theory (from Dream Theater)
Yes, I know, this is a slightly silly choice for inclusion in the Top 10 but I cannot resist Dream Theater's passion for grandiose, overblown combinations of prog metal and classical music. Rarely have these two fit together as poorly as here, yet there is something endlessly endearing about the effort. It is hilarious and moving at the same time. To be fair, the classical sequence is actually quite beautiful. I think the maker of the video above has accidentally included the "hidden" bonus track at the end of the album. The actual Illumination Theory ends at 19:15.

8. DAVID BOWIE: Where Are We Now? (from The Next Day)
Besides Boards of Canada, another artist who had taken a long break in recording new material prior to this year was of course David Bowie. His previous studio album Reality came out as long ago as 2003 (I actually saw him perform live back then, during the Reality tour). Nearly a decade later, The Next Day came out last spring, even more out of the blue than the new Nine Inch Nails album did. The first single Where Are We Now? remains my favorite, although the closing track Heat is also very strong.

7. GOLDFRAPP: Jo (from Tales of Us)
The sixth studio album by Goldfrapp is a rather uneven affair, but still manages to achieve greatness. And not only once, but twice... Compared to Tales of Us, my favorite Goldfrapp album The Seventh Tree (2008) is very good all the way through but none of its individual songs can quite reach the heights that the best tracks on the two later albums have. Jo is a perfect example of how music can be fairly simple in its format, yet contain undeniable power.

6. HAKEN: Pareidolia (from The Mountain)
London based prog metal masters Haken are the first artist to appear on the list for a second time. Pareidolia was released as a promotional video, embedded above, already prior to the actual The Mountain album. It still remains by far the best prog metal song of the year. It is brimming with ideas, is impeccably played, and contains some of the year's weirdest time signatures. I cannot wait to see what this group can achieve in the future, after having found a new bassist that they are currently looking for.

5. DONNY WHO LOVED BOWLING: Thrombosis Sonata (from Headstone)
Donny Who Loved Bowling is an American two man experimental art rock group whose latest album Headstone contains this stunning instrumental. Thrombosis Sonata reminds me of the works of film composer Howard Shore - namely those he composed to the late seventies and early eighties films of David Cronenberg. From around the two minute mark onward, Thrombosis Sonata sounds like it came from the soundtrack of Videodrome, except that it is even better. Shore did not employ electric guitar in that period, but here it works wonders.

4. COLDPLAY: Atlas (from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack)
To be honest, I had already forgotten about Coldplay following the repeated disappointments that their previous recordings caused me over the last few years. And now this. An absolutely perfect pop song in every way, Atlas caused my jaw to drop back when I heard it the first time. It might just be the best song the British group has ever made. And just look at the gorgeous video that accompanies it. Perhaps they have rediscovered their songwriting inspiration, following the two mostly crappy albums they have made since their previous noteworthy album X&Y (2005).

3. GOLDFRAPP: Clay (from Tales of Us)
But, as it turns out, Atlas still isn't the best pop song of 2013. That honor goes to Goldfrapp, who is the second artist to appear on the list for a second time. In Clay, not only is the songwriting of the very highest order, but just listen to that string arrangement. The strings are the icing on the cake that complements the song itself and lifts it way above just about everything else that was released this year. Considering that music of this kind of quality still gets made, perhaps pop music scene is still salvageable.

2. STEVEN WILSON: Drive Home (from The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories))
OK, now is the time to face the facts. Ever since Steven Wilson released his third solo album under his own name, called The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories), no other artist stood a chance. Not only are the two best tracks on the album easily the best two songs of the entire year, but they are further enhanced by the brilliantly animated videos by Jess Cope. Drive Home, embedded above, is a stunning achievement, yet it is the weaker one of the two.

1. STEVEN WILSON: The Raven That Refused to Sing (from The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories))
Steven Wilson is the third artist to appear twice on the list. The unbelievable title track of his new album cannot be beaten to number one, which surely comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed this blog earlier this same year. You can read my thoughts about the song, written down on 9 February, right here. It might be worthwhile to also note the importance of the video: it actually adds and elaborates elements of the song's story that might otherwise be missed. Not only is this the greatest musical achievement of the year; it is one of the greatest ever.

Best of 2013, part 1

Since the year 2013 is now almost over, this should be a good time to take a short break from discussing the best achievements in modern progressive, art rock and pop music chronologically and instead take a look at the best achievements of this very year.

Even though the blog entry's header says "Best of", I should imagine that there are still many hidden gems left that I haven't come across yet. So, when I reach 2013 in my chronological series, perhaps the list will be longer. Let's assume that the following list is really only "Best of... so far".

For now, we will have to do with 16 best songs or instrumentals. All have been released during 2013. Following this very short introduction, let's discuss songs #11 - #16 first, and then reveal the contents of Top 10 tomorrow. In total, there will be 13 different artists performing 16 songs: three artists have been deemed distinguished enough to appear twice.

16. RIVERSIDE: Feel Like Falling (from Shrine of New Generation Slaves)
The Polish prog rock group Riverside has produced a steady output of good albums. Their latest is already their fifth. It came out already in mid-January, so by now it is almost a year old. There are several standouts: my favorites among them are We Got Used to Us, the peaceful Coda - and this song right here that displays the group's more rocking side well.

15. NINE INCH NAILS: Find My Way (from Hesitation Marks)
Trent Reznor's new incarnation of Nine Inch Nails didn't let itself be known to even exist until the new album was almost ready to be published. An old favorite, NIN didn't really satisfy me this time around but there are a few good songs in the new collection here and there. The best of them in my opinion is this one: more quiet than NIN usually is, yet full of underlying tension.

14. HAKEN: Somebody (from The Mountain)
Haken is a British group that has introduced fun into the progressive rock genre. The Mountain is their third album and contains many excellent tracks. This isn't even my number one favorite among them: it is in the Top 10... I felt that both deserved to be mentioned. Somebody's strength lies partly in its structure. The beautiful, quiet opening invites you in and immerses you with well made prog that steadily grows into a goosebump-inducing wall of sound.

13. BLACKFIELD: X-Ray (from Blackfield IV)
Blackfield wrote and performed several of the absolute best songs of the last decade. Since those times, Steven Wilson has no longer been able to actively participate and the former duo has gradually become Aviv Geffen's solo effort. Wilson guest stars on this latest release, but it is actually Vincent Cavanagh of Anathema who sings on this particular track. Wilson sings on Jupiter which is also one of the better songs on Blackfield IV.

12. EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY & DAVID WINGO: Alone Time (from Prince Avalanche soundtrack)
Prince Avalanche isn't a particularly interesting movie - I dozed off at 31 minutes and never resumed watching - but its soundtrack is pure gold. The Texan post rock group Explosions in the Sky has worked with composer David Wingo to produce a melodic and atmospheric background to the boring story of two road workers somewhere in rural Texas. Judging from Explosions' earlier works, a move to film music work sounds like an excellent idea.

11. ÓLAFUR ARNALDS: Sudden Throw (from For Now I Am Winter)
The young Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds was one of this year's big finds for me. His latest album For Now I Am Winter was released already in March, so its compositions may actually originate from wintertime. And they really have a certain kind of icy beauty about them. The opening track of the album, Sudden Throw begins very quietly but then grows in volume to an impressive although a strangely abrupt ending.

This is it for now, please visit ProgActive again tomorrow. This year's excellent Top 10 in music will be revealed some time in the early evening, Finnish time.

1986: January to June

In 1986, the first music release that captured my attention came out already in January, although it was towards the end of the month. Said release had three different titles: the vinyl version was called Album, the cd version Compact Disc, and the cassette version, of course, Cassette.

The release date of the fifth album by Public Image Ltd. was 27 January. By this point the band had in truth become John Lydon's solo project. In the studio, he was accompanied by several famous musicians like Steve Vai, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Ginger Baker. The end result was quite strong: there were several songs well worth embedding here, such as Rise or Fishing, but I ended up choosing the closing track Ease which you can listen to above. It serves as a great example of Lydon's outstanding development as a musician.

I have nothing in my diary for February, so let's discuss the first of this year's two albums whose release dates are unknown to me. We already discussed Ultravox in 1984; now, they have a new album out called U-vox. For the most part, it is nothing too special but there is one song on it that stands head and shoulders above the others. It is the best song by the group ever, and a very strong contender for Best short track of the year: All in One Day.

U-vox closes the group's golden era and is in fact their last release during the eighties. All in One Day serves as its last track which I suppose partially explains the grandiosity of its goosebump-inducing finale. This masterpiece was intended to close the entire album in a big way - and, as it happened, it also closed their recording career for a long time. The next Ultravox album wouldn't be out until 1993.

On 7 March, the action fantasy film Highlander premiered in the US. There were some truly enjoyable songs on its soundtrack, composed and performed by Queen. For me, the standouts were the film's opening track Princes of the Universe and particularly the beautiful Who Wants to Live Forever? I am not aware if there was a soundtrack available at the time but this was the first publication of these songs in any case, as a part of the film where they worked extremely well. I will not embed anything here but please do check these out if you feel so inclined.

Only ten days later, on 17 March, synth pop was finally transformed into a genuine art form when Depeche Mode released their first masterpiece Black Celebration, their fifth studio album overall. An impeccable recording without a single weak track, it immediately became a strong contender for the title of Album of the year. I have embedded my number one favorite song Stripped above, but there are plenty of other masterworks there as well, such as the other two single releases A Question of Lust and A Question of Time, or the harrowing closing track New Dress.

Stripped is an exceptionally striking example of a piece of music designed like a mathematical formula. Pay attention how each of the sound effects and instruments are turned on in a specific order at the beginning of the track, and are then later turned off in reverse order at the end. Stripped ends as it began, as if it could be played from end to beginning as well as beginning to end. Sound effects evoke the later birth of industrial music genre, although noisy aggression is replaced here with a catchy downbeat melody.

In April, it was time for French synthesizer wizard Jean-Michel Jarre to release his follow-up to 1984's Zoolook. His new album was called Rendez-vous. It seemed that Jarre was no longer quite as creative as he had been in the seventies, but even this new album did contain some highlights. Of the six instrumental parts, the first two are excellent and the last one also quite good, bringing back memories from the atmospheric Equinoxe parts 2 to 4 (1978).

Style-wise, Rendez-vous was a return to the keyboard driven compositions of Jarre's first three albums. Gone were the world music influences, samples and short vocal passages of Zoolook, which was perhaps just as well; in spite of Ethnicolor's greatness, they mostly hadn't worked too well on that album. Jarre would go on to publish a couple of more albums with individual tracks worth mentioning here, but later in the nineties his output became increasingly erratic and we will be following it less closely.

Two days before my 23rd birthday, on 19 May, another strong contender for Album of the year title came out. Peter Gabriel had finally given up on releasing only self titled recordings and called his fifth one So (in the US, this had happened one album earlier: over there, Gabriel's fourth was called Security). It continued Gabriel's tendency to succeed admirably on his odd-numbered albums and noticeably less so on his even-numbered ones. This trend would continue on his sixth album.

So is unquestionably a masterpiece, but a very different one from Gabriel's previous releases. It sounded like the former Genesis singer had taken a much more commercial approach with his material than before. The single hit Sledgehammer was a danceable pop song and Big Time, embedded above, displayed a similar sense of humor to it in its lyrics, overall tone and even comically animated music video. There were also more serious songs in the collection, none of them weak. The only track I skipped often was the duet with Kate Bush called Don't Give Up which became a bit of a bore over time.

Before jumping all the way to the end of June, let's discuss the year's other album whose exact release date is unknown to me. Let's just say that some time in 1986, The Enid released Salome, which is my favorite album in their output. I had been following them since the late seventies, but before now, their way of playing classical music with modern instruments had never really piqued my interest. Salome, on the other hand, is a stunning album that saw the group adapt a much more contemporary style.

The opening track O Salome, embedded above, is a good example of what the Enid sounded like at this point in their career. It is not the best track on the album; it is just the only one I could find in YouTube. Tracks 3 and 4, called The Change and The Jack respectively, are the ones that really take this work of art to new heights and successfully combine classical influences with modern art rock. Salome is an album of great beauty performed by skilled musicians and gets a strong recommendation from me.

Then it was summer, and on 30 June one of the greatest pop songs ever was released on a new album by Madonna. The album was called True Blue and the song is of course Live to Tell. Prior to this, I had considered Madonna only a meaningless pop idol, not exceptional in any way. This is something that I now had to swiftly reconsider. Even on this greatest decade of pop, there weren't many other songs that matched the greatness of the track embedded above.

This year, I had a summer job at the university where I was studying. In the summer evenings, I listened. In awe.

1985: July to December

We begin discussing the second half of 1985 with yet another reminder of the fact that, at this particular point in time, the best pop music ever was getting made. The American group Heart, best remembered for the singing Wilson sisters Ann and Nancy, released their self titled album on 6 July. In spite of it being self titled, it was far from their debut. Heart was already their eighth studio album, and a return to form following two less successful efforts.

These Dreams, embedded above, was the third single release (out of a whopping five) taken from the album, as late as in January 1986. In my opinion, it was easily the best. The others were a bit too mediocre and forgettable, but These Dreams displays exceptionally strong pop songwriting and is definitely one of the Unmissable tracks of the year. And, I might add, Heart's next studio album, released two years later, would be even better.

Also in July, the british new wave / goth outfit The Damned had their sixth studio album Phantasmagoria out. It saw them take yet another really long stride forward in their artistic development. The album's absolute masterpiece Sanctum Sanctorum is a simply stunning example of first class music making that clearly shows how far the group had by now progressed from their new wave roots. Please enjoy this awesome song embedded below.

August arrived, and it so happened that there was also another new release from a group that, like the Damned, had started their career as a new wave / punk outfit in the seventies but had by now moved on. The Finnish super group Eppu Normaali had been developing via regular rock and roll towards genuine art rock. They were not quite there yet, but you could already hear that the days of young rebellion were far behind them on their new album Kahdeksas ihme (in English, The Eighth Wonder) which, you guessed it, was their eighth.

The by now very famous Finnish group was paying special attention to meaningful lyrics and seemed to be repeatedly composing somewhat sad and melancholic rock songs about love either already lost or close to being so. The second track on the new album Voi kuinka me sinua kaivataan (in English, Oh How Much We Miss You) was a particularly good example of this new songwriting style. Eppu Normaali would go on to even improve upon it on their next album, out the following year.

Summer of 1985 was nearing its end. On 1 September, Dead Can Dance released their second full length album that started their golden era with a bang. When it came out, Spleen and Ideal was something completely different: art rock with strong ethnic influences from diverse cultures, yet strongly anchored in the unique style and sensibility of group members Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry.

The change from not too original goth rock of the duo's debut, out early the previous year, was amazing. Spleen and Ideal is a surprisingly accomplished recording with a voice completely its own. Starting with a couple of tracks reminiscent of medieval mass, it begins to get more accessible and finally concludes with Indoctrination (A Design for Living), perhaps my favorite track on the album. A better example of its overall soundscape is Enigma of the Absolute that seems to exist between these two extremes.

A couple of weeks later, on 16 September, the new album by Kate Bush was released. Hounds of Love continued Kate's flirtation with progressive rock influences but did so in a sharply divisive method: the first side of the vinyl release contained some more easily accessible songs and the B side allowed more room for artistic ambition.

The best known songs on the first side are radio hits Running Up That Hill and Cloudbusting. As good as those songs were, it was always the over 26-minute magnum opus The Ninth Wave on the B side that fascinated me. A single, continuing work only thematically, The Ninth Wave sounded like an intertwined collection of seven shorter songs, many of which were genuinely experimental. There were some sound effects thrown in, and some of Kate's vocal work was truly unique. Perhaps the best example of this is the third part, called Waking the Witch.

In October, one more brilliant pop song came out. The American singer Jennifer Rush was already well known due to her hit single The Power of Love that had first appeared on her previous album in 1984 and had been released as a single in June 1985. Now it was time to start enjoying her next album Movin' where I found one of its lesser known tracks very likable. It is called Automatic and represents the eighties power pop in its finest form. Do check it out.

On 29 October, two time Album of the year winner Rush released Power Windows, now sounding even more sterile and technical than they had on Grace Under Pressure. Although I once again grew to like many of the songs on the album over time, it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to win for a third time. Good production values are great to have, but I really started to miss the edgier, more raw sounding Rush of their earlier classics. From the get go, my favorite was the opening track The Big Money.

Four weeks later, on 27 November the American pop / rock group Mr. Mister released their second full length studio album Welcome to the Real World. It contained several well received singles and went on to become the group's most commercially successful album. The first single, the absolutely brilliant Broken Wings had actually come out ahead of the album, already on 25 September, but I thought we might as well discuss the entire album here, instead of discussing the single separately. Broken Wings has been embedded below: a stunning effort.

For me, the second single Kyrie was the first introduction to the band; it was out in December. Next year, Is it Love? followed. In addition to these three, Welcome to the Real World also contains a brilliant non-single Uniform of Youth, which I also recommend you to get acquainted with. When Mr. Mister disbanded a few years later, their drummer Pat Mastelotto became the new drummer for the new incarnation of prog legends King Crimson.

Finally, there is only one 1985 album release left to discuss. It is also coming from a group who had until this point been known as a pop group, but who had now started evolving into a genuine art rock ensemble and in doing so, virtually creating a genre of their own. The Colour of Spring by Talk Talk was first released in Germany and the Netherlands on an unknown date at the very end of 1985. In many other countries, release didn't follow until early 1986.

Probably the best known song on the new album is the catchy pop tune Life's What You Make it, and I would fully agree that it is a really good song. My number one favorite on The Colour of Spring has however always been its eight-minute closing track Time it's Time. Yet another Unmissable track for this year, it seemed to bridge the gap between the old Talk Talk the pop group, and the new truly strange one that would fully emerge on their next album in 1988. In fact, the song embedded below is more than just unmissable; it is the best short track of the year.

There are really only two candidates for Album of the year, and the winner is Marillion with their outstanding third studio album. Dead Can Dance is a close second and a good reminder that excellent art rock performers are emerging to present a challenging alternative to plain old prog. Of the short tracks, Broken Wings by Mr. Mister and Sanctum Sanctorum by The Damned were the runners-up. Too bad that Kate Bush's absolutely great The Ninth Wave happened to be released on the same year as Robert Fripp's stunning God Save the King. Had the year been less exceptional, it could have won Best long track.

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:
Dead Can Dance: Spleen and Ideal
Marillion: Misplaced Childhood

UNMISSABLE TRACKS OF THE YEAR:
A-ha: Hunting High and Low
The Damned: Sanctum Sanctorum
Dead Can Dance: Enigma of the Absolute
Dead Can Dance: Indoctrination (A Design for Living)
Eppu Normaali: Voi kuinka me sinua kaivataan
Heart: These Dreams
Kate Bush: The Ninth Wave
Marillion: Pseudo Silk Kimono
Marillion: Bitter Suite
Marillion: Blind Curve
Mr. Mister: Broken Wings
New Order: Elegia
Robert Fripp: God Save the King
Suzanne Vega: Cracking
Talk Talk: Time it's Time
Tears for Fears: Shout
Tears for Fears: The Working Hour

Best albums of the year, 1967 to 1985:

1967: Pink Floyd: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
1968: -
1969: Procol Harum: A Salty Dog
1970: Genesis: Trespass
1971: Genesis: Nursery Cryme
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge
1975: Electric Light Orchestra: Face the Music
1976: Genesis: A Trick of the Tail
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: And Then There Were Three
1979: Robert Fripp: Exposure
1980: Talking Heads: Remain in Light
1981: Camel: Nude
1982: Rush: Signals
1983: Ozzy Osbourne: Bark at the Moon
1984: Rush: Grace Under Pressure
1985: Marillion: Misplaced Childhood

Best short tracks (under approx. 12 minutes):

1967: Pink Floyd: Bike
1968: Pink Floyd: Julia Dream
1969: Pink Floyd: Cirrus Minor
1970: The Beatles: The Long and Winding Road
1971: Genesis: The Fountain of Salmacis
1972: Gentle Giant: Schooldays
1973: John Cale: Paris 1919
1974: Mike Oldfield: Mike Oldfield's Single
1975: The Tubes: Up from the Deep
1976: Gong: Chandra
1977: Yes: Going for the One
1978: Genesis: Down and Out
1979: Barclay James Harvest: Play to the World
1980: Saga: Don't Be Late
1981: John Foxx: The Garden
1982: Laurie Anderson: O Superman (For Massenet)
1983: Brian Eno: An Ending (Ascent)
1984: Laurie Anderson: Blue Lagoon
1985: Talk Talk: Time it's Time

Best long tracks (Approx. 12 minutes or over):

1970: King Crimson: Lizard
1971: Van der Graaf Generator: A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers
1972: Yes: Close to the Edge
1973: King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 1
1974: King Crimson: Starless
1975: Mike Oldfield: Ommadawn, Part 1
1976: -
1977: Yes: Awaken
1978: Popol Vuh: Brüder des Schattens, Söhne des Lichts
1979: U.K: Carrying No Cross
1980: Mike Rutherford: Smallcreep's Day
1981: -
1982: Mike Oldfield: Taurus II
1983: Mike Oldfield: Crises
1984: Jean-Michel Jarre: Ethnicolor
1985: Robert Fripp: God Save the King

1985: January to June - The return of progressive rock

1985 saw the welcome return of progressive rock, although in a slightly different form compared to that of the seventies. Let's begin with a release that came out some time during the year. I have no idea when, but since January is once again otherwise empty it can be used as a placeholder. And since it seems to be impossible to find the song itself available anywhere, we will have to be content with an album cover.

God Save the King by Robert Fripp is otherwise a compilation album, except for the title track that opens it. It is a 13-minute, 13-second masterpiece that is essentially a remix of a track called The Zero of the Signified that appeared on an earlier album called God Save the Queen / Under Heavy Manners (1980). It has, however, been altered so much that in truth it is a completely new instrumental rock track. And what an incredible track it is!

The 1980 album may have been a disappointment following the masterful 1979 Album of the year winner Exposure, but here Fripp is working at the peak of his powers. The key theme here is resignation: the track sounds extremely pessimistic to begin with, and its tone gets worse and worse towards the end. It is a major downer, not to be played at all if the listener has a tendency to become depressed by the music he or she is listening to. Needless to say, we have already found the best long track of the year.

On 25 February, Tears for Fears released their peak album Songs from the Big Chair. It was the duo's second studio album following 1983's The Hurting, and soon became their biggest hit. By far the best known song on it is its opening track Shout which became an international success and has been embedded above. Easily the strongest pop / rock song of the year, Shout is not the only strong track on an otherwise mediocre album; far from it. There is one great song after another all the way to the end.

A perfect example is the second track The Working Hour which is arguably an even stronger piece of work than the opening. In fact, there is only one notable exception to the rule. The other single hit taken from the album, called Everybody Wants to Rule the World is an excruciating exercise in banality that sounds like it has been taken from another album performed by a vastly inferior group. Please avoid it if you can, and try to tolerate it if you can't.

Next, we have to jump over two months ahead in time. Depeche Mode, who had stunned me last year with the closing track of their latest album Some Great Reward, called Blasphemous Rumours, released a new single Shake the Disease on 29 April. It was a stand alone release: apart from a greatest hits collection, it wouldn't appear on any of the group's albums. It was yet another indication that great things would soon be coming from these British synth pop makers.

May saw release schedules getting noticeably more crowded following the exceptionally quiet late winter / early spring. There were three noteworthy new albums out; one from an already well known group, and two from new, promising talents. First, there was a new album out from New Order, called Low Life, on 13 May. Also a British synth pop group like Depeche Mode, they were no newcomers but it was new to me that they had started to sound pretty good, as exemplified by the moody instrumental track Elegia embedded below.

Dire Straits were already mentioned back when they released their previous album Love Over Gold. Now, they peaked with the excellent Brothers in Arms that is certainly worth mentioning although I won't embed anything. Many people probably remember this album for its best known track Money for Nothing but there are much better songs contained on it. Thoughtful, at times surprisingly quiet mellow rock at its best. If you like, I recommend you check out Why Worry, Your Latest Trick and The Man's Too Strong.

Finally, May also marked the release of the self titled debut album by New York folk rock singer Suzanne Vega. Here was really a talent to watch. Her collection of semi autobiographical songs clearly displayed that she had not yet matured as a songwriter, but on the other hand they were a breath of fresh hair: honest, in many places touching, and full of enjoyable melodies. I could have picked a number of songs for embedding, but perhaps the opening track Cracking serves best as an example of the album content.

The title of the blog is ProgActive, and the header of this entry promised the return of progressive rock. When discussing the last few years, that once great genre has not been represented by too many examples. This is because, immediately after the seventies were over, high quality prog was nowhere to be found. The most talented musicians that were active had turned their attention elsewhere. This was not really a surprise, considering how progressive rock had almost dominated the previous decade, but back when I actually lived the early eighties, I was desperate.

Would the good times ever return? Would I eventually run out of new albums to buy? Was the era of progressive rock really now over for good? These questions may seem silly now but at the time they seemed legitimate. So, it should be easy to imagine the relief that washed over me in late June, 1985, when a couple of albums encouraged me to believe that progressive rock would return. Which it did in all its glory. It did take some time, but it resurfaced and is as strong as ever today.

Mind you, this was not my perverted way to introduce a-ha, the highly talented Norwegian pop group. It's just that before we get to those two albums, we need to mention their hit pop album Hunting High and Low that came out on 1 June. Like I mentioned before, I think the eighties were the absolute greatest time for pop music and this album is one of the best examples of that. And I'm not talking about drivel like the mega hit Take on Me but songs like the title track, embedded above, or the excellent Living a Boy's Adventure Tale. Both of them succeed in transforming pop music into a true art form.

Following that, progressive rock returned in June 1985 in the form of neo prog. The first one of the two important new albums came out some time during the first half of the month and was called The Wake, by a group called IQ. It was that group's third album and the first one I noticed, due to excellent prog songs like the title track, The Magic Roundabout, Headlong - or the opening track Outer Limits that has been embedded below.

I am assuming that The Wake was released in early June because it rose to the UK album chart on 22 June. It wouldn't peak any higher than #72, but this was quite enough to reaffirm my belief that prog would be coming back in a big way. And as it happens, by this time another album had already come out in the very same genre. The third album by Marillion was called Misplaced Childhood, was released on 17 June, entered the UK album chart precisely one week after The Wake, and sounded like an immediate lock for Album of the year.

I discussed Marillion when they released their debut in 1983, but had already given up on them after spending my hard earned money on their next release Fugazi in 1984 - quite possibly the sorriest second album by any rock band who had shown promise when debuting. But now, this was again something else! Suddenly the band had matured in a way that would have been unimaginable beforehand, particularly following something like Fugazi. A theme album with long compositions and masterful songwriting. I was stunned and giddy in an extremely pleasant way.

So, even though my latest summer job was far from enjoyable, everything was right in the world once more. Great music was again being made, and even though this neo prog thing didn't quite match ye olde prog, it still sounded pretty damned fine, as you can hear from these two examples above. Perhaps I would still be able to find good albums to buy and collect in the future as well.