Latest Features on Prog
Chantel McGregor admires Steven Wilson’s risky approach to music
From his dalliances with pop to taking comedians on tour, blues rock singer-guitarist believes he illustrates a perfectly progressive attitude – and he’s a nice bloke to boot
Stewart Copeland on why it's unlikely The Police will ever reform
Former Police man Stewart Copeland is about to embark on a trip around the UK telling stories about the band and more
Nosound’s rush return after seven years with To The Core
Giancarlo Erra had been avoiding guitar in favour of synths in solo and collab projects. Then he realised he’d assembled enough music to form a release, and had a good reason to do it quickly
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s Tomorrow Belongs To Me is a prog epic
Gravel-voiced bandleader plays eco-warrior, futurist and satirist on 1975 genre-crossing album wrapped in a sleeve where Roger Dean meets Marvel
The unexpected triumph of Mike Oldfield’s Hergest Ridge, an album he didn’t want to make
Overwhelmed by the success of Tubular Bells, he found peace in a solitary house on a hill and in playing ancient music in an old mansion. Even when his peace was shattered, he managed to create an uplifting and chart-topping record
Yes created longer songs than Close To The Edge, but none with as much impact
Classical music, Eastern mysticism and the River Thames came together to inspire the 19-minute title track from their fifth album in 1972
BBC sport writer Phil McNulty recommends albums by Roger Waters, Asia, Supertramp and others
The pundit, who met John Wetton and Geoff Downes through their mutual love of the sport, recommends albums by Asia, Supertramp, Marillion and others
The poems, movies and sheep that inspired Rush’s A Farewell To Kings
The Canadian trio’s fifth album set them on a new course that embraced synths, double-necked guitars and exploring the concept of loss. It was an experience they’d never be able to replicate, even though they tried
“The song was haunted!” Marillion producer Dave Meegan’s fight to make Afraid Of Sunlight
He eventually came to love the 1995 release – but he’s glad he didn’t like it at the time, and he helped the band develop a method of working they still use today
“It’s written from the point of view of being older; mortality is the constant.” The inspiration that helped David Gilmour create Luck And Strange
Collaboration, family, mortality and that stridently emotive guitar work - it's all there on David Gilmour's fifth studio album Luck And Strange
When The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord realised the truth about his stage fright
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
Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag couldn’t leave Propaganda and their prog roots in the past
Their 1985 contained tones of Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk and Supertramp. It took until 2022 for the singers and producer Stephen Lipson, as xPropaganda, to deliver The Heart Is Strange. But it was worth the wait
25 complicated concept albums explained as simply as possible
The music might be brilliant, but how do concept album plotlines fair once they're distilled to their bare bones?
“Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson told me I was playing too fast!” Taylor Hawkins’ love for prog
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins discusses how he got into prog rock
How Caravan’s In The Land Of Grey And Pink became an unheralded prog classic
The leading lights of the Canterbury Scene’s third album is a genuine masterpiece – but pitifully few people heard about it on its arrival
The Moody Blues on their albums, Charles Manson, and the mood-altering magic of Nights In White Satin
The Moody Blues were just another British R&B band. Then they got into some old clothes, mind-expanding drugs and lashings of Mellotron… and helped invent prog rock
“He said, ‘We can’t use this – people will think we’re a Christian rock band!’ I went and got myself a drink. There was no arguing with that kind of thinking”: Marillion’s battle over the cover for Afraid Of Sunlight
Diplomacy abandoned singer Steve Hogarth and keyboardist Mark Kelly in disagreement over 1995 artwork, which was later reinstated. In the end it was just another fight between mates
“Life changed. Time healed wounds. No more feeling alone or depressed – it’s like, ‘Let’s do something positive. Let’s fight’”: When Mariusz Duda escaped the darkness on Lunatic Soul’s Through Shaded Woods
The Riverside leader’s seventh side-project album, intended to be its penultimate release, continued his personal life-and-death story cycle
