Latest articles by Johnny Sharp
"I said, “We’re a band, we want to make a record.” He said, “Oi dunno much about records… If you wanted a cowshed, I could probably ’elp yer!” Pendragon's Nick Barrett looks back on their 40-plus year career...
In 2020, when Pendragon released their eleventh studio album Love Over Fear, we grilled mainman Nick Barrett in The Prog Interview
Billy Sherwood, Big Big Train and others paid it forward to help John Holden return to prog
Launching his career in middle-age, he found a huge range of kindred spirits like John Hackett, Sally Minnear and Oliver Wakeman – who understand he doesn’t need to make money, but doesn’t want to lose it either
The armed hold-up that set Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on the road to music
Sold on their older brothers’ counterculture dream of living in outer space listening to the Beatles, Coyne and bandmate Steven Drozd very nearly became full-time drug dealers instead of musicians
Mountain's 1995 collection Over The Top captures the band at their most creative
US blues-rock heavyweights’ best-of, reissued
“They turn on the switch marked ‘metal’ and summon the essence of Satan’s own belch… a new career high”: Vola mix additional textures into Friend Of A Phantom
Scandinavians expand their horizons yet again, but remain in sight of their ethereal, stargazing base
Warren Haynes craft some songs of deep-pile quality on Million Voices Whisper
Allmans/Gov’t Mule man Warren Haynes goes it alone again
An interview with Idles about music, politics, dancing and dogs
Dialling back on the aggressive approach that has helped bring Idles this far, and putting swing to the stomp, Idles' latest album is intended to make you shake a leg rather than a fist
Grand Magus serve up a chest-beating triumph on Sunraven
The tenth album from Swedish metal standard bearers Grand Magus mines some legendary themes
"These performances retain the essential raging-rebel attitude that fired the Detroit firebrands' original incarnation": The MC5's final album Heavy Lifting is a vibrant joint epitaph
The MC5's final album Heavy Lifting is a vibrant joint epitaph
Thijs van Leer reveals his only real regret as Focus roll on in their 55th year
He recalls breaking out of the Netherlands, his relationship with former guitarist Jan Akkerman, and the one album he’d like to remake
“They aim for the arena rock jugular from the outset”: Lesoir’s Push Back The Horizon
Dutch pomp-proggers’ work with storied studio team brings them close to symphonic metal at times, with each song brought to a powerful finish
Glam survivors Sweet bow out in a blaze of AOR
Full Circle is Sweet's first set of original songs since 2002's Sweetlife
Ian Anderson wishes his flute had never gone to space, and neither had William Shatner
His desire to be associated with the space race, first shared on 1970 album Benefit, resulted in disappointment
Trad rock tropes abound on Scarlet Rebels' Where The Colours Meet
Welsh retro-leaning rockers Scarlet Rebels keep delivering the traditional goods
Bill Wyman ages in easy-going fashion on Drive My Car
Bill Wyman's Drive My Car is a covers-heavy stroll that conveys gentle, unpretentious senior joy
10 classic albums that would be better if they were shorter
Making great records greater, one edit at a time
Songs shorten and moods swing wildly on IZZ’s 10th album Collapse The Wave
Songs shorten and moods swing wildly on New Yorkers’ 10th album
The 40 greatest Yes songs, as voted by 50,000 Prog readers
When 50,000 Prog magazine readers voted on the band’s catalogue, the resulting chart contained a few surprises
Nightingale’s Nightfall Overture returns with live extras that add significant value
Updated version of Swedish prog metallers’ 2005 re-recordings comes with live extras that add significant value
The joy and pain of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe’s only album
United under Jon Anderson’s vision, four ex Yes members regrouped to make the 1989 record that looked both forward and backward
Pop tricks abound among the soaring vocals and elegant orchestrations of Eivør’s Enn
Pop tricks abound among the soaring vocals and elegant orchestrations of her heaviest album yet
“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
No one would call dance outfit Underworld a prog band. But they grew up influenced by the whole genre, it appears
Party rockers The Karma Effect get a powerful second wind on Promised Land
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
