IQ, a band both loved and reviled by the prog community: loved for their part in relaunching the progressive rock movement in the early 1980s and arguably bringing some epic tunes with them; reviled for sounding like a pastiche of…
View More IQ – Resistance
Like them or not, I suspect most of us have heard of Sons of Apollo. Just in case you’ve been too busy genning up on your ultra obscurities in the world of prog, they are a ‘super-group’, for want of…
View More Sons of Apollo – Live With The Plovdiv Psychotic Symphony
Some music seems to simultaneously come from the indefinable in-between places and yet also from far away, imbued with contrasting dark mystery and shimmering light. Strangers, the latest entrancing album from Rise, is born from those places. Strangers shows a…
View More Rise – Strangers
I think as reviewers we sometimes have the tendency to discount our initial gut reactions and instead go directly to dissection and study. Only a couple minutes into my first listen to advance single Hjärtat Vet Vad Handen Gör I…
View More Opeth – In Cauda Venenum
De Boerderij, Zoetermeer Saturday 14th September 2019 In 1979 I witnessed for the first (and last) time a performance by the legendary Mike Oldfield, together with a choir, an orchestra and an extensive rock ensemble, when he visited my hometown…
View More Tubular Tribute
Taking cues from Douglas Adam’s “Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” where the timely advice Don’t Panic appeared on the electronic book’s cover and also the answer to the meaning of life (the number 42) plus mathematician’s Booker and Sutherland’s…
View More IZZ – Don’t Panic
Comatose is Lee Abraham’s latest ambitious release in his increasingly impressive and varied solo career. This release is a continuous flowing song cycle imagining the experience of someone in a coma following an accident, which is a world away in…
View More Lee Abraham – Comatose
Fifty years ago John Lodge was at the very heart of a musical revolution as bass guitarist, vocalist and songwriter with The Moody Blues. I was delighted, therefore, to learn that he is set to release a long overdue collection…
View More John Lodge – B Yond – The Very Best Of
Solo albums from Bryan Beller don’t come along too frequently, more’s the pity. Presumably, he’s too busy with The Aristocrats, Mike Keneally’s Band, or Joe Satriani’s world tours to spend much time on his own muse, but though it’s taken…
View More Bryan Beller – Scenes From The Flood
It’s about 150 miles from The Hague to Canterbury as the crow flies – although I recommend a plane, you’re less likely to slide off – but that didn’t stop Dutch band Supersister being compared to the likes of Caravan,…
View More Supersister Projekt 2019 – Retsis Repus