Reviews of Prog Rock, Classical Music, Art Rock and Jazz
***** How a magnificent new book helped me rediscover the maverick's music The Cover of ROCK and ROLE by Joe Banks published by Kingmaker Publishing. Often, the route to discovering new music is fairly conventional; there's no Damascene moment. I found The Cure and Joy Division (and many other bands) by listening to John Peel …
The Cover of The Overview by Steven Wilson, designed by Hajo Müller His Eighth Solo Album The Overview is Steven Wilson’s eighth solo album, released on 14 March 2025. It charted at number three in the UK, the fourth of Wilson’s albums (as a solo artist or with his band Porcupine Tree) in a row to …
Continue reading "Steven Wilson – The Overview – Album Review"
The Cover of The Overview by Steven Wilson, designed by Hajo Müller This is an analysis of the first half of Steven Wilson's eighth solo album, The Overview. For an introduction to the album, click here. Analysis of the second half of the album to follow. OBJECTS OUTLIVE US No Monkey’s Paw The opening describes …
Continue reading "Steven Wilson – The Overview – Album Review Part Two: ‘Objects Outlive us’"
Steven Wilson. Image credit: Kevin Westerberg His Eighth Solo Album The Overview is Steven Wilson’s eighth solo album, released on 14 March 2025. It charted at number three in the UK, the fourth of Wilson’s albums (as a solo artist or with his band Porcupine Tree) in a row to reach the UK top five. On …
Continue reading "Steven Wilson – The Overview – Album Review – Part One – Introduction"
Tuesday 1 October 2025 RNCM, Manchester Nearly 60 years since first playing in Manchester, Hammill is still a supreme communicator and a powerful performer **** 'The hits just keep on coming', quipped Peter Hammill early in his set at the RNCM in Manchester this evening. In 2013, when Guy Garvey interviewed Hammill for a documentary, …
Sunday 1 December 2024 The Fiddler’s Elbow, Camden, London An excitingly eclectic mix of prog bands perform to raise funds for an environmental charity On a wet Sunday afternoon in early December, intrepid prog rock fans and supporters travelled from South London to North London... and also from Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium - and …
The latest single from London-based prog rock band, Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate is taken from their eighth studio album The Uncertainty Principle due to be released later in 2024. It's called One Word That Means The World (Vasily Arkhipov). The band enjoy a high concept for their songs - their previous album The Light …
Saturday 16 March 2024 Barlaston Village Hall, Stoke-on-Trent ***** Living & Alive thrillingly brought to life Beatrix Players recently reformed after a hiatus during which their lead singer and main songwriter Ms Amy Birks released two solo albums, In Our Souls (2022) and All That I Am and All That I Was (2020). The Players' …