I recently went to see an M.C. Escher exhibition at Somerset House in London, the second time I'd gone to a dedicated display of his artwork, but much more extensive than the previous showing at the Dulwich Gallery in 2015. Escher is an artist who fascinates me, partly because his prints show incredible cartographical, architectural, mathematical, botanical and zoological detail, but also because his work was adopted by the hippie movement as an art of altered perception. The

The Radio Times feature on Prog Rock: Fanfare for the Common Man Summer in the UK marks a season of promenade concerts, based at the Royal Albert Hall, but in recent years with events taking place at other venues around the country. Primarily a showpiece for classical music, the first rock band invited to perform was Soft Machine, with a set comprised of Facelift, Esther’s Nose Job and Out-Bloody-Rageous; the first ‘pop prom’, on August 13th 1970. I’ve now lived in London for

A band's second album (American: sophomore) is frequently cited as 'difficult' but should it tread the same ground as its predecessor?

By 1974 I’d had over a full year of immersion into progressive rock, a term which wasn’t yet being applied to the genre, though what I...

Ten years ago (11th November 2013) I went to see Think Floyd, who made the claims ‘the UK’s premier Pink Floyd tribute band’ and ‘the...

Contrary to my previous pronouncements about the availability of prog in Venice, I can now reveal that there is a record store in the...

While a live album can’t compare with being physically present at a gig, the best of them are able to convey a sense of outstanding music...

Producing a magazine dedicated to prog every 6 weeks traces a difficult path, catering for those stuck in the past and the more open-minded

One of my recent purchases, on a short trip out to Crystal Palace, was a £1 copy of Short Stories (1980) by Jon and Vangelis, from...

One of my Record Store Day 2018 purchases, that is one of the limited editions specially produced for the occasion rather than one of the...

The Instagram and Twitter trend ‘9 albums that changed my life/mean most to me’ (#9albums) which appeared in January 2018 didn’t pass me...

BBC Four has just shown a new, three-part series Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider’s Guide to the Music Business where the timing of the...

What will the future of prog look like, assuming there's still life on earth...?

I’ve just ripped a rather large pile of my wife’s CDs to mp3 for her which according to the categories ascribed by Windows Media Player...

The Crystal Palace was originally built in Hyde Park for the first World Exposition in 1851, a structure designed to be temporary with...

I visited the You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966 - 1970 exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in November...

Getting into music in 1972 meant that I may have missed out on records released on some of the early, innovative imprints like Decca’s...

If musical genres were modes of transportation, prog would be some form of public transport and Italian prog would be a tram!

(A guest blog by Mike Chavez) The scene: a dimly lit village hall around 7pm in a small town in rural Wiltshire. A group of middle-aged...

The presentation of an album used to be one of the factors I took into account when I was attempting to discover new music at a time when...