Johnny Sharp

Johnny Sharp

Johnny is a regular contributor to Prog and Classic Rock magazines, both online and in print. Johnny is a highly experienced and versatile music writer whose tastes range from prog and hard rock to R’n’B, funk, folk and blues. He has written about music professionally for 30 years, surviving the Britpop wars at the NME in the 90s (under the hard-to-shake teenage nickname Johnny Cigarettes) before branching out to newspapers such as The Guardian and The Independent and magazines such as Uncut, Record Collector and, of course, Prog and Classic Rock. 

Articles by: Johnny Sharp

Nightingale - Nightfall Overture 2024

“These renditions will get pulses racing faster than the studio versions, even if not every note is perfectly in place”: Nightingale’s Nightfall Overture, remastered and extended

By Johnny Sharp published

Updated version of Swedish prog metallers’ 2005 re-recordings comes with live extras that add significant value

ABWH

“Here was fresh music, well-presented in high quality, and I didn’t have to sit around in a rehearsal room for months deciding on the sandwich order”: The joy and pain of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe’s only album

By Johnny Sharp published

United under Jon Anderson’s vision, four ex Yes members regrouped to make the 1989 record that looked both forward and backward

Eivør – Enn

“A richly atmospheric affair… songs that barely need recognisable word shapes to grip the heartstrings”: Eivør’s Enn

By Johnny Sharp published

Pop tricks abound among the soaring vocals and elegant orchestrations of her heaviest album yet

Underworld

“We were both big ELP fans, and I’m sure if you look at our record collections back then you’d have seen Yes, Greenslade, King Crimson…” How electronic music duo Underworld grew up with a world of prog

By Johnny Sharp published

No one would call dance outfit Underworld a prog band. But they grew up influenced by the whole genre, it appears

The Karma Effect: Promised Land cover art

Party rockers The Karma Effect get a powerful second wind on Promised Land

By Johnny Sharp published

The Karma Effect might not be reinventing the hard rock wheel, but there's plenty of rabble-rousing to be found on their second album

Renaissance - Tuscany reissue

“Substantial pleasures… even if they arguably venture too far into prog indulgence”: Renaissance’s 2024 reissue of Tuscany, featuring live Japan set

By Johnny Sharp published

Classic line-up’s 2001 reunion album is enhanced with the inclusion of In The Land Of The Rising Sun

Transatlanic - The Absolute Universe

“Vim and vigour fizz… energy levels are cranked up compared to the studio versions”: Transatlantic’s two-night Live At Morsefest 2022

By Johnny Sharp published

Seemingly without the use of oxygen tents, the supergroup risk exhausting the listener with The Whirdwind, The Absolute Universe and a selection of crowdpleasers

Trevor Horn in Yes

“The fans understood I was the price they had to pay to hear the band they loved, so they put up with me. It’s not like you’re joining the Sex Pistols”: Trevor Horn on fronting Yes – and how it later made 90125 possible

By Johnny Sharp published

Producer recalls making his colleagues feel “embarrassed and amused at the same time” as he begged them not to give up on Owner Of A Lonely Heart

Midas Fall - Cold Waves Divide Us

“Uncompromisingly melancholic – but there’s light amid the despair when Elizabeth Heaton sounds positively lovestruck”: Midas Fall’s Cold Wave Divide Us

By Johnny Sharp published

Self-described “miserable prog” soundscapists return after six years with beefed-up but still brooding fifth album

Tim Bowness

“Lyrically, it’s something that makes Samuel Beckett sound like Tommy Cooper." Tim Bowness and the story of Flowers At The Scene

By Johnny Sharp published

Tim Bowness may explore morose subjects like murder and divorce on his new album, but this collection of “cinematic short stories”, featuring an impressive prog line-up, is certainly not all doom and gloom…

The Pineapple Thief

“I felt like a zombie… I don’t think I’ve ever put myself through that kind of intense collaborative experience before”: Bruce Soord pushed himself hard to deliver The Pineapple Thief’s It Leads To This

By Johnny Sharp published

2024 album marks the first time band leader and drummer Gavin Harrison created music together in the same room

Skinny Knowledge group portrait

"I was bored, so I wrote an album": Meet Skinny Knowledge, who've channelled lockdown frustration into bursts of pop-punk catharsis

By Johnny Sharp published

Dorset band Skinny Knowledge have followed their refreshingly raw debut with Twentytwo, a heavier affair that rocks with abandon

The Pineapple Thief: It Leads To This cover art

"The results rock with dynamic, dramatic vigour": The Pineapple Thief turn to concise structures on It Leads To This

By Johnny Sharp published

Prog-leaning art rockers The Pineapple Thief self-edit in style on punchy 15th album It Leads To This

The Telescopes: Growing Eyes Becoming String cover art

"Like Lee Hazelwood sleepwalking through a guest spot with The Cure circa Faith": The Telescopes' Growing Eyes Becoming String

By Johnny Sharp published

Growing Eyes Becoming String is the 16th album from psychedelic shoegaze veterans The Telescopes

Riverside

“I didn’t want to record the best progressive album of all time, I just wanted to have fun." How Riverside made ID.Entity

By Johnny Sharp published

2023's ID.Entity saw Polish prog rockers Riverisde moving into a new phase of their career

WIlson and Wakeman - Can We Leave The Light On Longer?

“Hats off to the duo for bravely naming one of their most affecting ballads after a commuter town in Surrey…delivered with a conviction that’s hard to deny”: Wilson & Wakeman’s Can We Leave The Light On Longer?

By Johnny Sharp published

Threshold and Ozzy Osbourne alumni deliver their third album of piano-led songs, exploring the nature of human connections

Magnum group portrait

The Magnum albums you should definitely own

By Jon Hotten, Johnny Sharp published

Magnum have never joined rock’s big league, but over the course of 50 years these Brummies have nevertheless produced some of pomp rock’s best albums

Pentangle - Reunions box set

“It shows how the founding five’s skills that first bewitched in the early 1970s didn’t fade in the slightest”: Pentangle’s Reunions clamshell box

By Johnny Sharp published

Four-disc collection spans live appearances from 1982 to 2011

Starbenders, Wolfgang Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Grace Potter and Skindred

The 50 best rock albums of 2023

By Fraser Lewry published

The past 12 months may go down in history as a period of tumult and turmoil, but on the positive side, rock'n'roll is very much alive and well – as the best 50 albums of 2023 reflect

JIain McCaig plus ethro Tull - The Broadsword And The Beast

“Ian Anderson does have a face that lends itself to illustrating… He doesn’t have to do much to look evil!” The creation of Jethro Tull’s The Broadsword And The Beast Cover

By Johnny Sharp published

Artist Iain McCaig recalls the Steven Spielberg-like collaboration for 1982 album art - and what happened to the monster’s head prop he took home from the tour

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull

“Not my finest hour… but if you can forgive my codpiece and tights in the 70s you can forgive me getting out a coffin in a cloak and comedy fangs”: Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull’s 80s era

By Johnny Sharp published

The decade started with a “big split” and continued through unhappy electronic experiments and bad videos to that controversial Grammy win - but leader says it’s all part of their “universe of silliness”

Bill Bruford

“I was interested in being on stage with people who are not only comfortable with not knowing what’s going to happen next, but would rather not know”: Bill Bruford’s journey through jazz and prog

By Johnny Sharp published

The groundbreaking drummer’s bid to find a balance between Yes, King Crimson and Genesis on one hand, and his Earthworks project on the other

Broadsword era Jethro Tull

“The day I ask the audience to sing my songs I might as well go home. It’s hard enough for trained singers, let alone an audience who will massacre it”: How Ian Anderson refined Jethro Tull stage shows

By Johnny Sharp published

He took a long hard look at his production values when The Broadsword And The Beast was first released in 1982

PFM

"So Jaco Pastorius and Joni Mitchell walk past and ask, ‘Hey, is there a party here?’." The story of Italian prog legends PFM

By Johnny Sharp published

Newly signed to InsideOut Music, Italian prog legends Premiata Forneria Marconi returned with new album Emotional Tattoos in both English and Italian

Galahad - The Long Goodbye

“A mature viewpoint without sounding remotely irrelevant or unwelcome”: Galahad’s The Long Goodbye

By Johnny Sharp published

12th studio album tackles nuanced experience rather than youthful certainty - assisted by timeless songcraft