Latest articles by Sid Smith
“We were really screwing with the system, removing applause from live tracks to sound like studio tracks – the exact opposite of what people do today”: How King Crimson made stealth live album Starless And Bible Black
King Crimson’s 1974 ”excruciating, teeth-pullingly difficult” album Starless And Bible Black sowed the seeds of their looming breakup
“We were making very peculiar music not particularly well played. We got a record contract because the record companies thought, ‘We better get weird’”: Inside the mind of Judge Smith, the man who named Van der Graaf Generator
Inspired by the work of bandmate Peter Hammill and Frank Zappa, Smith aimed never to sound like them – and after working on large ensemble pieces and stage musicals, admitted he’d quite like to “just roll in with a guitar”
“Our contemporaries had numbers that got people up on their feet cheering. We didn’t… We wondered if A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers was the way to go. I thought, ‘We can’t even play this!’”: Van der Graaf Generator’s struggle through the 70s
Keyboardist Hugh Banton on deciding not to emulate Keith Emerson’s stage persona, how he got the band signed, and why it took him so long to accept the “prog” label
“I think the appeal was that it was just a very spacey and very unusual sound world for me." How the classic Canterbury sound inspired young UK proggers Zopp
How Zopp, masterminded by young UK prog musician Ryan Stevenson, are making. areal impact with second album Dominion
“Ginger Baker stamps, thumps and whacks his personality into these numbers… he sounds a bit confused and well-lubricated, much to the evident, if a little strained, amusement of his bandmates”: Baker Gurvitz Army’s Neon Lights: The Broadcasts 1975
They own the stage in collection of five live performances which will please old campaigners and new recruits alike
“I suppose what’s different is me. I’ve done a lot of exploring, particularly with Robert Fripp… Working with him was very easy, which doesn’t sit well with a lot of the public’s perceptions of him!” Theo Travis looks back
He’s worked with Soft Machine, Steven Wilson, The Tangent, Gong and more – but the saxophonist and flautist still has one collaborator on his bucket list
“Do seven versions of one piece border on overkill? Resolutely and resoundingly no”: Magma’s Une Histoire De Mekanïk - 50 Years Of Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh
Anniversary box set may not be cheap, but it’s immensely satisfying
“We played for practically 24 hours. When somebody got too tired, somebody else would take over. It was a functional, practical thing to enable the band to play for ever!” When the Pink Fairies and Hawkwind became a single band
Pushed together by accident, two pioneering acts of the psychedelic era made the most of it
“I was seven months pregnant. The doctor said I couldn’t travel but I explained that I was going to be playing with John McLaughlin… she said, ‘Okay, well you have to go!’” Hedvig Mollestad started out feeling like a failure
From a challenging start where she couldn’t play be-bop to delivering improv music that’s favourably compared with King Crimson, she’s taken every opportunity to progress
“As hard as it was, and it was hard, nobody wanted to bottle out. We just knew we had a big landscape we could explore”: How Tales From Topographic Oceans became the most arduous project in Yes’ history
Used as a byword for musical over-indulgence, 1973 album fought its creators every step of the way – right down to its master tapes nearly being crushed by a bus
"It’s like an ocean of music, of experience and concept and feelings." Inside the musical mind of David Sancious
A one-time member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and Peter Gabriel collaborator, David Sancious discusses his Eyes Wide Open album
King Crimson and Can were among their go-to inspirations – but in the new romantic era, Talk Talk couldn’t admit it
Steve Hogarth, Tim Bowness, Richard Barbieri and others speak up for the band’s prog credentials
“He may be lauded by some as a genius, but without this team’s heavy lifting, these pieces might fail”: Frank Zappa’s Over-Nite Sensation 50th Anniversary Edition
Five-disc, 88-track set proves his music lasts - even if many of his lyrics don’t
Pentangle got a bit of stick and still does... but music is about putting ideas together and understanding them, not making sounds you think are trendy”: Why John Renbourn always stood up to the purists
Kicked out of art school, he embarked on an accidental career in baroque prog and folk jazz - and regarded himself as a lucky winner
“Playing the second-ever single alongside brand-new compositions brings a degree of eccentricity that’s important to Soft Machine”: The new line-up’s new album Other Doors
Canterbury mainstays enter a new era without late drummer John Marshall and retired bassist Roy Babbington
“Otherworldly, intensely powerful and sometimes baffling… the product of an artist they no longer recognised”: Tim Buckley’s Lorca
1970 album contained more progressive elements than his label wanted from a sensitive hippie troubadour
“Unsettling - not exactly made for repeat listening but more occasional contemplation, like a book of poetry”: David Sylvian’s Samadhisound 2003-2014: Do You Know Me Now?
Box set illustrates an apparent disappearing act over a decade
“I’ve been very lucky throughout my life as a player." Soft Machine drummer John Marshall remembered
Prog writer Sid Smith pays tribute to former Soft Machine drummer John Marshall, who died over the weekend, aged 82
"There’ll always be questions like, ‘What’s going on with Mike Ratledge?’ Or a question about Robert Wyatt." Soft Machine on life in the new millennium
In 2015 Soft Machine dropped the 'legacy' tag and threw themselves headlong into being the Canterbury legends, Hidden Details was their first album under the new/old monicker
The most underrated albums by 10 major prog bands
Showing a little love for the overlooked classics by prog giants Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Rush and more
Haunting tunes from the head and heart, The Blue Nile's A Walk Across The Rooftops defies easy categorisation.
In praise of The Blue Nile's 1984 album, A Walk Across The Rooftops
Recorded between the gruelling Animals tour and the psycho-drama that was The Wall, the sentiments Richard Wright expressed in Wet Dream could apply to Pink Floyd as much as to his disintegrating marriage...
Richard Wright's Wet Dream album: The Pink Floyd keyboardist’s underrated solo debut remixed
40-odd years on, Gentle Giant's 1976 album Interview remains an object lesson in risk-taking
Gentle Giant's 1976 album In'terview (2023 Steven Wilson remix) – reviewed
“Pop music didn’t offer enough open space for improvisation… there was no way we were going to play a tune the same way twice”: How Soft Machine pioneered the Canterbury scene
By the time debut album The Soft Machine was released in 1968, they’d already split up - but its impact changed everything
