Without having done the math, it's quite possible that we have reached the point where there have been more posthumous volumes in the Frank Zappa catalogue than were released while he was alive. Hardcore fans continue to be spoiled by the endless wellspring that is the Zappa Family Trust, whose every trip to the vault..
Steve Hackett – A Genesis In My Bed: The Autobiography
At a dinner party, (Robert Fripp) reprimanded me for eating too much of his cheese. To his displeasure, I ate another piece…forty years on, I’ve never been invited back.' ...that may not be the most intriguing, revealing or touching quote from Steve Hackett's new autobiography A Genesis In My Bed, and it probably says more..
Gösta Berlings Saga – Konkret Musik (InsideOut)
In preparation for my first listen to Konkret Musik, the sixth album from spectacular Swedish sound wizards Gösta Berlings Saga, I did something I'd never done before a review: I listened to every one of their previous albums top to bottom, in chronological order. Each CD I pulled from the shelf prompted fond memories, but..
Magenta – Masters Of Illusion (Tigermoth)
A headlong leap into the symphonic progressive rock waters, where every trick in the bag is sprinkled liberally throughout... A lone middle-aged actor sits in a rickety dressing room, bottle of spirits within arm's reach, gazing into the mirror while a dozen ghoulish faces of his past roles stare back at him. It is a..
Morse/Portnoy/George – Cov3r To Cov3r (InsideOut)
For seventeen years, Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy and Randy George (MPG) have been playing epic, grandiose prog rock together, recording numerous albums for Neal's solo catalogue as well as three colossal works as part of the five-man Neal Morse Band. But the slick proggers also have a firm love of classic rock and pop music..
Lonely Robot – Feelings Are Good (InsideOut)
Since the 2015 debut Please Come Home first landed, John Mitchell's Lonely Robot has proved unexpectedly prolific, producing a total of four albums in just five years. It seems odd that an artist who claims to be a lazy procrastinator is also this creatively fertile, particularly considering Lonely Robot is far from the only music..
Photo credit: Erick Anderson
Nick D’Virgilio: Right Place, Right Time
A richly varied and ultimately beautiful listening experience... Remember that progressive rock band with the strange storybook epics, grand keyboard solos, and charismatic front man who left the group following their concept double album about a young man on a bizarre journey in New York City? You may recall that the drummer also had a..
Anthony Phillips – The Living Room Concert: Remastered & Expanded (Esoteric)
Alternating sections of gentle, fluttering notes and commanding strumming... With thirty-one studio albums, a host of compilations, boxed sets, and a massive amount of library music to his credit, Anthony Phillips is not the type of musician whose catalogue is easy to trim down to an hour's worth of favourites. But 'Ant' was tasked with..
Frost* – Others (InsideOut)
a unique and curious blend of heavy rock riffs, thumping electronica, and anthemic choruses... Happenings in the Frost* camp have been fairly intermittent in the four years since their third album Falling Satellites was released to largely positive reviews. But recently the good news broke: a new album is due to be released in September..
Michele Conta – Endless Nights (AMS Records)
Conta has produced a fine album very much in the Italian prog tradition. The name of Michele Conta will probably ring a bell to aficionados of Italian prog music. For those of you still scratching your heads, Conta was the keyboard player in the Italian prog band Locanda delle Fate which in 1977 released its..