Prog Features

Ian Anderson reflects on giving Roy Harper his movie break, aggressively defending Dee Palmer from paparazzi intrusion, losing bassist Jeffrey Hammond, planning to quit touring – and the quiet couple of weeks he spent recording Tull’s masterful 1975 album

Marillion vocalist found himself singing over drum’n’bass music on 2012 release, while Porcupine Tree keyboardist had to allow lyrics in a piece he’d wanted to be instrumental – but the result of years of effort satisfied them both

Kevin Godley on the machine they invented at the wrong time, an overheard conversation, the decision that ended the band, missing the punk explosion, discovering video – and being mistaken for the drummer in Paper Lace

When a new generation of acclaimed musicians discovered the folk-rock veteran’s music he gave up his attempt to bow out, but made sure his most recent album to date remained typically non-commercial and challenging to understand

The multi-instrumentalist synth pop icon recalls trying and failing to play Silver Machine on a music store synth, years before he impressed Lemmy by asking about Orgone Accumulator

The keyboard player with instrumental US prog rock trio Lux Terminus, who recently released second album, Cinder, picks his best of instrumental prog

The second-wave movement didn’t last long – but its bands revitalised the genre with an attitude and energy that’s still being felt today

Bruised and battle-weary after a punishing live schedule, in 1975 Hawkwind weren’t in the best place ahead of recording their fifth studio LP. But what emerged was a stunning tour de force of science fantasy-inspired progressive space rock

Great new prog, from L.O.E., Gaupa, Hiroe, Gaupa and more in Prog's Tracks Of The Week...

Committed to a unique musical approach they’d developed over a decade, they feared they’d spend their careers trapped in the underground. And they expected a backlash when they asked for fan support – but they needn’t have worried

From post-punk icon and award-winning female solo artist to becoming regarded as just the prog mastermind’s wife, her rebellious creative energy is fired by Roxy Music, Devo, The Tubes and all things off the wall

Members of the band who influenced Steven WIlson, Radiohead, Opeth, Andy Partridge and more explain what they did and why it mattered

2017’s The Desaturating Seven was Les Claypool’s bid to explore the darkness of a 1970s children’s story, harnessing the influences of King Crimson, Tool and Sean Lennon

The dark prog-pop band’s second album Stygian Wavs is confirmation they’re a band in their own right, even if they quickly abandoned attempts to work together in the same room

The lead track from 1990’s Empire explores an unusual subject – but its singer argues it proved to be the right song at the right moment

Keyboardist on Kate Bush’s baking, Frank Zappa’s humour, Patrick Moraz’s romance, Eva Cassidy’s mystery – and buying his own band’s album from Amazon

50 years after the release of Soon Over Babaluma, the founding keyboardist reflects on what he calls “the last of our best albums”

The cream of the Canadian trio Rush's later years

2017 solo album saw him determined to look forward as he said escaping Pink Floyd was like “driving away from a dodgy wedding with cans dragging behind the car, rattling all the time”