“He sings in French, so you have no idea what he’s on about – but I’ve been told his lyrics are clever”: Snooker icon Steve Davis’ interesting and obscure prog picks

When Steve Davis acquired his sarcastic “Interesting” nickname, he was best known for wining the World Snooker Championsip six times. Since then he’s established himself as a member of The Utopia Strong and as a prog DJ. In 2009 he faced his boring tag head-on, telling Prog about some of the most obscure albums in his collection of over 2,000 prog records, and recommending a few he felt should be more widely heard.

"I have a reputation for being boring. So people assume I must be into prog because it’s also boring, and that my record collection therefore is full of albums featuring 30-minute drum solos. But that really shows how much bigotry there is still around when it comes to prog.

I’m not into straight prog rock – I never liked Yes, ELP or Genesis, the more “acceptable” faces of the genre – nor am I into straight jazz. But mix the two, and prog-jazz works for me! The recipe is magical.

I got into prog when I was in the sixth form at school. Most of my mates were into Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Cockney Rebel or Roxy Music. But a friend introduced me to the Canterbury scene, and it immediately fascinated me. I loved what bands like Soft Machine and Henry Cow were doing – it was challenging and very complex.

The first prog album that I ever bought was Gentle Giant’s In A Glass House. That made a real impact on me. I think that band have remained underrated, although it seems that there are a lot of young people discovering them, which is amazing.

Gentle Giant - The Runaway Live ZDF TV Special 1974 [HD] - YouTube

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One thing that really got me interested in prog was listening to Alan Freeman’s Saturday Rock Show on Radio 1 [which ran from 1973-1978]. Everyone rightly gives credit to John Peel for playing esoteric music. But I heard so much great stuff on Freeman’s afternoon show, while working as a meat packer in a local supermarket.

I’m known for my love of Magma, who I got into when I caught them live in 1974 at the Roundhouse in London. I’d gone to see the support band, Isotope, but stayed on and was blown away by Magma. I just had to have everything they’d recorded. There’s a stigma about French bands in this country – we’re only separated by a little drop of water, but ask British prog fans in about French music, and they generally have no idea.

I’d strongly recommend, for instance, that people should check out Albert Marcoeur, who’s obviously inspired by Frank Zappa and Robert Wyatt. Now, he sings in French, so you have no idea what he’s on about – however I’ve been told his lyrics are clever!

Talking of Robert Wyatt, one album in my collection that I would strong urge everyone to get is Rock Bottom. It’s the type of record you have to hear when you’re smashed out of your face. It’s just incredible.

As I said, I’m usually not into more mainstream prog, but one album I insist has to be in everyone’s record collection is In The Land Of Grey And Pink by Caravan – another band from the Canterbury scene. On the surface it might seem to be a little genteel, but the lyrics are so sharp; there’s a biting sense of humour in there.

I have about 2,000 prog albums in my collection and I’m always on the hunt for more. There’s so much music out there that you’ll never get close to hearing it all. I miss local record shops run by people with a vast knowledge of artists. I’d go into these places as much for the information as for the records.

I still buy vinyl, but only if it’s original. Too many re-issued vinyl records are mastered from shitty CDs, and have the same compression problems that we know so well. With an album on vinyl you get the full dynamic range – as was meant to be the case.

the camberwell now - sitcom - the ghost trade (ink, 1986) - YouTube

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The advantage of CD reissues is that so much stuff left behind in the vaults, because of space problems on vinyl, is now available. I recently got a Henry Cow box set which has nine CDs and one DVD, all unreleased, and Magma’s Studio Zund set, which is also just an incredible journey for genuine fans.

I’d also like to mention Camberwell Now, an astonishing band from the 1980s who were based in London. They only released one album, The Ghost Trade, but it’s worth having in your collection.

Do I have any rare records? I do, yes; but I’m not sure how rare they might be. I inherited a load of albums from the guy who ran the French fanzine Ork Alarm, which covered so much leftfield music. When he died his father gave me all of his albums, and there are some special records in there.

Ultimately, what pleases me is that the term ‘prog rock’ is no longer considered dirty. So now I feel that my record collection is becoming almost acceptable again!”