Rick Wakeman has had a somewhat prolific career. A quick trip to Progarchives shows that he was producing more music in the 1990s than in any other decade, a staggering 37 studio albums and 9 live albums. With such a…
View More Rick Wakeman – Fields of Green
Esoteric must have really reached into the depths of obscurity to find this record lying around, but the result is worth it. To experience concisely written, expertly artistic big-band style jazz-fusion, look no further than this ten-strong outfit who have…
View More The Gasoline Band – The Gasoline Band
If you’re ready to leave the distressing real world of Brexit and Trump-mania behind, then join me in this bizarre alternate comedy universe where everything is hunky-doodle, concocted by a madman from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in the early…
View More Roger Ruskin Spear – Electric Shocks / Unusual
Somewhere in an alternate reality there is a milkman in Derbyshire called Mr. Steven Hogarth, working hard to support his family and dreaming ‘what if’ about his musical past – such are the vagaries of life’s paths. Back in 1988…
View More How We Live – Dry Land
In the reviewing business (if you can call it a business) we often get more than one CD at a time from a particular record company. Angel Air Records went one further and also offered us an interview with the…
View More Angel Air Re-Release Special: Renaissance / Greenslade / Dave Greenslade
Back in 1983 I was a footloose and fancy free young man, probably hobbled by longish hair and a love of the musical genre called ‘Progressive’. In an attempt to pull I would go to night clubs, shuffle my feet…
View More Tony Banks – The Fugitive
A Third Of A Lifetime by Three Man Army was one of the first LPs I bought, around 44 years ago (gulp!) from a cut-out bin in a dodgy independent supermarket, run by a local chancer and located at the…
View More Three Man Army – A Third Of A Lifetime
This review may seem well overdue, given that my review of Quantum Jump’s self-titled debut was published in January. Esoteric did not have Barracuda in stock at the time. Fortunately though, there has been a re-pressing (is it called a…
View More Quantum Jump – Barracuda
Esoteric certainly know where to look when choosing content to reissue. These two releases from Welsh outfit Eyes of Blue come from 1969 – the dawn of the progressive era – and show the band pioneering the infantile genre. The…
View More Eyes Of Blue – Crossroads of Time / In Fields of Ardath
Remedy Lane has long been lauded as Pain of Salvation’s finest hour, it’s their Close to the Edge, if you like, and as per the latter, there was often the question asked, “why don’t they do something like it again”.…
View More Pain of Salvation – Remedy Lane Re:visited (Re:mixed & Re:lived)