Latest articles by Chris Roberts
“We’d gone out on a limb”: Genesis genuinely feared that Foxtrot might fail
Barely planned, recorded in fits and starts and complete with one of King Crimson’s Mellotron, their 1972 album was, they believe, the moment they began to be taken seriously
When Yes’ record label hacked an eight-minute track into a three-minute single without telling them
Taken from fourth album Fragile, the 1972 release horrified them at first. Later they realised it had secured their future
“I said: ‘I’ll give it a go but don’t expect me to wear costumes!’” Phil Collins’ first show as Genesis frontman
It took the revamped band months of worry off stage but just half an hour of fun on stage to secure their future in 1976
Ray Wilson, a friend who pushed himself into the sea, and a dancer who got injured days before her big show
After a Number 1 hit, touring with the prog giants and taking endless risks, the singer’s roller-coaster ride approached a new high when he released two albums in 2016
The 50 best rock albums of 2026 (so far)
Six months of classic rock, prog rock, stoner rock, southern rock, country rock, blues rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, power pop, heavy metal, punk and all forms of rock'n'roll
“They say it all went wrong when I started singing. I think we got better”: Genesis’ A Trick Of The Tail, track by track
50 years ago, as Phil Collins took over from Peter Gabriel, the always-divisive band had fans to appease and debts to pay. This is how they did it
In a world of smiling 60s beat bands, Procol Harum were serious – and it paid off
The proto-prog debut album that followed blockbuster single A Whiter Shade Of Pale contained an 18-minute suite and challenging lyrics. It was everything the late Gary Brooker wanted it to be – almost
Did Muse’s Matt Bellamy really earn his guitar smashing world record?
Ambitious from the start, the conspiracy-theory obsessives were always going to have to move on from their early days of excess. This is how they did it
Rick Wakeman’s sales award for Journey To The Centre Of The Earth came with a warning
The keyboard wizard recalls accepting a presentation disc from the suit who’d made his 1974 project difficult – and the advice from David Bowie that had kept him fighting for it
Why you shouldn’t ask Tony Banks about Genesis’ live album Seconds Out
Why did he miss out an entire piano solo? Why did Steve Hackett leave during mixing sessions? Did the band sound better on stage than in the studio? Did early fans stop liking them because they became popular? The keyboard master speaks out
The rise, fall and resurrection of Bauhaus, the goth godfathers who hated being called a goth band
Bauhaus can lay claim to being the founding fathers of goth
Phil Collins’ first show as Genesis singer, 50 years ago
Shaking with nerves, the band’s former full-time drummer took over the main mic in Canada in March 1976
From David Gilmour to Stranger Things – how Kate Bush became one of the most unique artists of the last 50 years
Few musicians have had the impact that Kate Bush has had
“I wish we’d had the skills to help him”: The tragedy of Spirit prodigy Randy California
Respected by Jimi Hendrix and signed at 17, the mercurial guitarist’s heart was broken by the relative failure of his best album, says bassist
It’s one of the biggest-selling singles ever. So why did this band leave it off their debut album?
Their 1967 epic would go on to be hailed as a genre-changing song, although they just regarded it as modern blues
Nine Kate Bush albums you should definitely hear, and one to avoid
Buying guide Famously discovered by David Gilmour, Kate Bush made history with her first single and hasn't looked back
“He didn’t want his masterpiece on an album where the vibes were so bad”: Rick Davies’ greatest Supertramp songs
Late co-founder always felt that collaborating was like “two people painting a picture on the same canvas.” But that didn’t stop him succeeding
“Often too leaden to float, but the future is visible”: Nektar’s deluxe edition of A Tab In The Ocean
1972 album, which saw them edging away from psychedelia back to standard rock, returns with live treats that hint at what was to come
Mike Oldfield’s Amarok began life as a protest against his label, but became much more
Reissued version is split into sections with his blessing. The only flaw is a triggering Margaret Thatcher impersonation
Cheap Trick's electricity is evergreen on All Washed Up
Illinois past masters Cheap Trick relight the flame on swaggering 21st album All Washed Up
Paul McCartney & Wings crush the myth that Macca's seventies were mid
Curated by Paul McCartney, this Wings best-of charts the story of a band on its way to becoming one of the biggest-selling acts of all time
“This album won’t stun, but will stir”: John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest return with Relativity
Follow-up to 2013’s North is an easygoing epic with ambitious themes that’s well worth the wait
“Like Pink Floyd played by 10cc”: Supertramp’s Crime Of The Century and Crisis? What Crisis?
Third and fourth studio albums remastered at half speed for vinyl reissues
