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. 

Latest articles by Johnny Sharp

ChimpanA
“It could have been like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa”: Welsh duo risked covering prog royalty

By Johnny Sharp Published

Their third release, partly inspired by the album-sleeve scenery around them, features a long list of impressive guests. They’re hoping someone will accuse them of “drowning in a sea of pretentiousness” again

Albums
Derek Shulman – Giant Steps
Derek Shulman takes aim at Syd Barrett, Beach Boys and Eagles in his not-very-gentle memoir Giant Steps

By Johnny Sharp Published

Former Gentle Giant vocalist who became an A&R bigwig provides an refreshingly undiplomatic account of his career on stage and off it

Biographies
Nad Sylvan
“I’ve done Genesis longer than Peter Gabriel!” Nad Sylvan is being more himself than ever

By Johnny Sharp Published

Best known for his12 years with Steve Hackett, the US-born Swede explores his own life and times at last. And is that a Pink Floyd reference as sings about being frontman and sideman in someone else’s project?

Albums
Michael Schenker holding a Flying V
Review: Michael Schenker lets rip on new MSG album Don’t Sell Your Soul

By Johnny Sharp Published

Guitar hero Michael Schenker follows his re-imagined UFO favourites with a set of his own new material

Bands & Artists
Arjen Anthony Lucassen
Arjen Lucassen decided to be an egomaniac, and the result is Songs No One Will Hear

By Johnny Sharp Published

Ayreon mastermind’s third solo album mixes humour and tragedy as he explores the countdown to an extinction-level event

Albums
Arjen Anthony Lucassen – Songs No One Will Hear
Arjen Anthony Lucassen has fun counting down to Armageddon on Songs No One Will Hear

By Johnny Sharp Published

Tragedy and comedy are combined among rich musical moments in Ayreon leader’s pre-apocalyptic adventure

Albums
The Pineapple Thief
When The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord realised the truth about his stage fright

By Johnny Sharp Published

It may have been the 13th album by Bruce Soord’s band, but he regarded is as their third, after drummer Gavin Harrison’s arrival changed everything

Albums
Chimpan A – M.I.A. Vol 1
Chimpan A battle the TikTokification of music on M.I.A. Vol 1

By Johnny Sharp Published

Rob Reed and Steve Balsamo’s unique approach delivers an ambitious and unorthodox triumph

Albums
Robert Jon & The Wreck posing in a canyon
Robert Jon & The Wreck keep the southern vibes alive on Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes

By Johnny Sharp Published

Hard-working southern-fried So Cal quintet Robert Jon & The Wreck make an impressive return on album number nine

Albums
Anthony Phillips – Radio Clyde 1978
Anthony Phillips infuses nimble guitar work with surreal intros on Radio Clyde 1978

By Johnny Sharp Published

Extended, remastered edition of 2003 release will appeal to fans of the Genesis co-founder’s playing and early solo songcraft

Albums
Judy Dyble: Darkness To Light – The Recordings 2004-2006
“Intoxicating beauty remains; she enchants in any era”: Judy Dyble’s Darkness To Light

By Johnny Sharp Published

Clamshell collection assembles the original Fairport Convention singer’s trio of 21st-century career-reviving albums

Albums
Ghost publicity photo
Tobias Forge on spirituality, isolation and the positive joys of fandom

By Johnny Sharp Published

Tobias Forge, aka Papa V Perpetua, talks dark matters and working towards a "newer, better, bigger" Ghost

Bands & Artists
Jakko M Jakszyk – Son Of Glen
“Lyric-led music in contrast with his King Crimson work”: Jakko M Jakszyk’s Son Of Glen

By Johnny Sharp Published

True life informs the versatile guitarist’s first post-Crimson solo release, with plenty to pique interest even if it veers away from traditional prog

Albums
Dead Daisies outside Fame Studios
Supergroup the Dead Daisies kick back down south with uneven blues covers album

By Johnny Sharp Published

Lookin' For Trouble was recorded at Fame Studios in Alabama, home of the Muscle Shoals Sound

Bands & Artists
Fish
“The world was my oyster, but when I opened it there was a turd inside… When my wife said, ‘I want half of everything,’ I said, ‘Write me a cheque for 450 grand and you can have half the debt!’” Fish on his three-decade solo career

By Johnny Sharp Published

As the former Marillion frontman released final album Weltschmerz, he reflected on going from the depths of debt and divorce to mountainous creative peaks

Bands & Artists
Status Quo onstage in 1976
Status Quo's classic Live! gets a deluxe, multi-disc makeover

By Johnny Sharp Published

Status Quo's classic live 1976 double repackaged in an eight-CD set with three full show recordings

Music
Ghost studio portrait
After six albums of Beelzebub-bothering, Ghost's melodic metal is more tempting than ever

By Johnny Sharp Published

Swedish purveyors of satanic arena rock Ghost camp it up on sixth album Skeletá

Albums
Ian Anderson sitting on a stone wall raising two glasses of wine
Why Ian Anderson is leading Jethro Tull through a late career productivity burst

By Johnny Sharp Published

Why Ian Anderson is keeping Jethro Tull on a prolifically productive roll

Interviews
Camel – Nude and Pressure Point
Camel’s Nude and Pressure Points remixed

By Johnny Sharp Published

Camel’s 1981 concept studio album Nude and 1984 live set Pressure Points are remastered and presented in three-disc sets

Albums
Jon Anderson
“Chris Squire was Darth Vader.I was Obi-Wan Kenobi”: Jon Anderson’s time-travelling 1000 Hands

By Johnny Sharp Published

In 2019 he reincarnated 30-year-old demos with former Yes bandmates and a stellar supporting cast, offering positive and long-held opinions to a rapidly-changing world

Albums
Genesis
The 10 best Genesis songs, as chosen by Prog readers

By Chris Roberts, David West, Johnny Sharp Published

Over 28 years the genre giants released 15 albums, achieving over 100 million sales. It’s unfair to boil their work down to just a handful of key songs – but you did it anyway

Tracks & Singles
Ian Gillan studio portrait
The albums that found Ian Gillan riding NWOBHM's slipstream into the charts, together at last

By Johnny Sharp Published

Deep Purple survivor Ian Gillan’s career-reviving vehicle rides again across seven discs on 1978-1982

Albums
Pendragon
"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...

By Johnny Sharp Published

In 2020, when Pendragon released their eleventh studio album Love Over Fear, we grilled mainman Nick Barrett in The Prog Interview

Interviews
John Holden
Billy Sherwood, Big Big Train and others paid it forward to help John Holden return to prog

By Johnny Sharp Published

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

Interviews
Wayne Coyne
The armed hold-up that set Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne on the road to music

By Johnny Sharp Published

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

Interviews
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