Table of contents for Issue 82 in Prog

SO YOU WANNA BE A PROG STAR? Fancy taking your place on one of Prog’s covermount CDs but don’t know how? It’s easy. Just contact Prog’s CD coordinator Kate Colgan at: kate.colgan@futurenet.com with the details of your band (some music, band photo and biog), and you might just find yourselves lining up alongside some of your heroes in the pages of Prog! 1 VON HERTZEN BROTHERS THE ARSONIST Finland’s family trio have been smashing out energetic, guitar-driven and vocal harmonylavished prog rock like it’s second nature for nearly 20 years now. It’s no surprise then that The Arsonist is a fiery, uptempo number. Taken from War Is Over on Music Theories Recordings www.vonhertzenbrothers.com 2 GALACTIC COWBOYS INTERNAL MASQUERADE The Texan proggers return with their original line-up and first material since…

follow us on twitter.com/ progmagazineUK JUDY DYBLE @judydyble Because everyone should have a candelabra on the windowsill. Or perhaps not. Just me then :-) STEVE HILLAGE @stevehillage Desperately sad to hear that the great guitarist Phil Miller has passed away. I miss you Phil. ROGER DEAN @_rogerdean The 2018 calendar is now available on my website, and thanks all of you who have repeatedly reminded me to organise this before Christmas. NICK BEGGS @NickBeggs I see the backstabbing Tories are on a suicide mission. I’ll have a large salty popcorn and ringside seat please. MARJANA SEMKINA @marjanasemkina My 6yo bestie: “My tablet password is DEATH!” Me: “Why?” Him: “Cause I like it!” Atta boy. JAKKO M JAKSZYK @JakkoJ Just in the pub after playing football. Tonight’s guest beer is????…

WHEN THE GREAT Discord released their debut album Duende back in 2015, its distinctive selling point seemed to be that no one knew quite where to place the Swedish quintet’s strange but accessible blend of metal oomph and melodic prog complexity. Emerging via revered label Metal Blade, it seemed to be aimed squarely at fans of music from the heavy end of the spectrum, and yet its prog ancestry was plainly audible to anyone with working ears. As singer and clavinet maestro Fia Kempe explains, the band themselves have also wrestled with the same identity crisis, which has led to a pleasingly idiosyncratic solution. “When we wrote the first album, we felt like, ‘Okay, so what genre is this? Is it metal? Is it prog? What are we?’” she grins.…

Magma will release all three volumes of Retrospektïw on triple vinyl on November 23 via Southern Lord. The collection is limited to 1500 copies and contains material originally recorded at the Olympic Theatre in Paris in June 1980. Lifesigns (left) will play four shows in the UK this January. Catch them at The Robin in Bilston (21), Manchester’s Rebellion (25), The Craufurd Arms in Milton Keynes (27) and Putney’s Half Moon (28) before performing at Cruise To The Edge in February. The Flower Kings (right) release a 10-disc box set via InsideOut on December 15. A Kingdom Of Colours (1995- 2002) spans the period from Back In The World Of Adventures to Unfold The Future. It also includes a new interview with Dom Lawson. Headspace’s Damian Wilson and Adam Wakeman…

Official Progressive Albums Chart the prog top 30 albums Find out more at www.officialcharts.com WIN! FAIRPORT CONVENTION COME ALL YE BOX SET! Fairport Convention released the lavish 7-CD box set Come All Ye – The First 10 Years earlier this year via UMC and we have one box set to give away. The collection celebrates the first 10 years of Fairport Convention, beginning with their eponymous debut for Polydor in 1968, through all of their seminal albums for Island Records and finishing with tracks from their two albums for Vertigo: The Bonny Bunch Of Roses and Tipplers Tales. A total of 121 tracks are featured on the box set, and 55 are previously unreleased. Highlights include key songs from all of their classic albums, single B-sides, BBC radio sessions, five…

The first music I remember hearing and associating with aural pleasure was The Phantom Of The Opera soundtrack. The music that my parents listened to was Broadway. I remember mowing the lawn while listening to that on a cassette Walkman. There were some big, splashy melodies that I liked. When I went to a middle school in Delaware, we had to wait for the school bus pick to pick us up, so we would watch MTV in its heyday. Based on music videos, I remember purchasing, in one go, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Vs and The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I was a fairly withdrawn kid. If you have friends who are cooler than you are then you try to copy, through osmosis, what makes them interesting.…

Nexus INSIDEOUT Father-son collaboration becomes heartbreaking eulogy. As son of Yes guitarist Steve, Virgil Howe was born into a house full of music, tinkering on his dad’s synth at four, learning multiple instruments as he grew up and destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. By 18 he was playing keyboards on Steve’s 1993 solo set The Grand Scheme Of Things, 10 years later recording Elements as a member of dad’s Remedy band, while giving Yes classics an electronic dance makeover on 2003’s Yes Remixes. This immensely popular force of nature then became an in-demand DJ and drummer, joining freakbeat rockers Little Barrie in 2008 while enjoying a multitude of collaborations and sessions. “The pair’s telepathic creative bond is tangible.” Last year, Virgil and Steve decided to make an album…

The Ferryman’s Curse ESOTERIC ANTENNA Later-life reflections as Dave Cousins celebrates Strawbs’ half-century. It’s 50 years since Dave Cousins first fronted Strawbs and, joined by three of the band’s 70s mainstays, he’s created a late-period career peak, bathed in the evocative qualities that made them one of the best-loved early progressive bands. “It’s hard to believe it wasn’t recorded 45 years ago…” After breaking through with 1970’s Dragonfly, the Strawbs released a string of prog classics (including three with Rick Wakeman before he defected to Yes), then ’72’s Grave New World and Bursting At The Seams, which welcomed guitarist Dave Lambert. It reached No.2 after the biblical Lay Down and Chas & Dave-like Part Of The Union earned their first Top 20 hits. 1974’s landmark Hero & Heroine introduced bassist…

Life In Space CLEOPATRA Indefatigable ex-Hawkwind front-liner’s search continues. Sometime back in the mists of psychedelia, Nik Turner embarked upon a journey into outer space, via a psychotropic journey into inner space, from which he’s never quite returned. Countless acid-fuelled excursions into the interstellar void, grooving free jazz in the engine room of the good ship Hawkwind, marked the man. Dave Brock might rage impotently in the face of Turner’s continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, but while the stately, 77-year old saxophonist might be just as comfortable improvising alongside post-punk sonic explorers Jah Wobble and Youth or extemporising jazz rock fusion with Billy Cobham or Flame Tree, Brock’s got as much chance of keeping the Thunder Rider away from space rock as Canute had with keeping waves off…

Body Of Work 1978 – 1988 CAROLINE/POLYDOR Pop’s Renaissance men were always ahead of their time. Even to 10cc fanatics, the early spin-off works of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme seemed challenging. Perhaps there was a strain of resentment – we wanted the art pop band back together, not two times 5cc. And while Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman were dazzling us with Feel The Benefit, this more technology-fascinated pair gave the impression of disappearing up their own gizmo. 1977’s triple concept album Consequences, with appearances by Sarah Vaughan and Peter Cook, was as out of step with punk as is conceivable, and critically panned. (Many now deem it a masterpiece.) “Should come with a sticker – ‘Warning: your jaw is agape.’” Yet the pioneering duo bounced back, as their…

VENUE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON DATE 13/10/2017 Friday night at the House Of Prog, and something very special is taking place. “It’s almost worth coming out,” says Steve Hogarth, as Marillion start their second set of the evening. “I missed …Bake Off and everything.” The show that sold out in four minutes has attracted fans from all over the world, and as standing ovation follows standing ovation, it’s swiftly becoming evident that this isn’t just another night out. The first set sees the band playing their F.E.A.R. album in its entirety. Hogarth’s state-of-the-union address might not be Marillion’s most accessible collection – these aren’t songs that nestle instantly in the memory – but the sonics possess a rare emotional velocity, and the highlights come thick and fast. The Leavers –…

VENUE REBELLION BAR, MANCHESTER DATE 09/10/2017 SUPPORT THE PHYSICS HOUSE BAND, VASUDEVA After upbeat math kids Vasudeva have opened this evening’s proceedings at Manchester’s Rebellion Bar, The Physics House Band play a set that draws extensively from their most recent album Mercury Fountain. They open with Mobius Strip and Calypso, the first two tracks from the new record. All tight drum loops and powerful bass riffs offset by vertiginous guitars and cyclic, arpeggiated synths, the sound is almost overwhelming in a small venue such as this. More mellow songs such as Holy Caves allow pause for reflection in an otherwise intense set, where cuts like Surrogate Head are punishing in their immediacy and drive. Harking back almost to an earlier, purer form of progressive and experimental music, there’s so much…

VENUE REGGIES ROCK CLUB, CHICAGO DATE 22/10/2017 Legendary Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre may be 70 years old now, but his live performances show how relative age is. Barre hasn’t lost a step. This show features no flute, thus giving the Tull songs more bravado and muscle, which is evident right from the opening track, Minstrel In The Gallery. Vocalist and rhythm guitar player Dan Crisp channels his inner Ian Anderson effectively, his singing capturing the spirit of Tull. Crisp is able to interact with fans, despite his vocal and guitar duties – talk about multitasking. And his stage presence has those in attendance hooting and hollering. Drummer Dave Schoepke and bassist Alan Thomson are steady anchors, giving the show groove and thump. But as you’d expect, this is a…

NEXT ISSUE Dec 21 ON SALE Given the epic length of their career - it’s been 49 years since they formed, and 43 since their debut album was released - choosing your favourite Rush album is no easy choice. Their career is one that’s jam-packed with defining classic albums, from the career-saving 2112 through the watershed of Moving Pictures to the late career highpoint of Clockwork Angels. If I had to single out just one, however, there’s a very strong chance it would be 1977’s A Farewell To Kings. And it just so happens that said album is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year. So we sat down with Geddy and Alex, and producer Terry Brown, to discuss the making of an album that acts as the perfect midpoint between the early years and the more…

After reading your Paper Late article in Prog 80 on the subject of whether or not an outdoor prog festival would be viable or even welcomed in this country, I would like to relate an event to you from a few years ago. Living in the wilds of the far north of England, namely Cumbria, we’re often overlooked by my top prog bands, who will tour round the country from Glasgow down to London, but bypass Carlisle and the rest of the county. Maryport, a small seaside town on the west coast of the county, runs a successful blues festival every year, attracting visitors from up and down the country. Because of its reputation, a few years ago the town hosted a Harbour festival and I attended it because Mostly…

Carl Glover, known for his work with Marillion and Steven Wilson, has designed a new book on the history of progressive music that will be out in December. Wonderous Stories: A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock is the latest tome from Prog editor Jerry Ewing, and it provides an in-depth look at the origins of the genre through to the present day. The book is introduced with a foreword written by Steve Hackett. Ewing says, “There are some very good books about the genre out there, but most of them treat prog as if nothing ever happened after the 70s. I think it’s very important that the whole prog story is brought up to date. Wonderous Stories does just that.” To pre-order the limited deluxe edition, visit bit.ly/WonderousStories…

Jethro Tull kick off their 50th anniversary with eight UK shows next April. The current band will also be joined ‘virtually’ on stage by former members via archive footage. “This is unashamedly a ‘best of’ tour but focusing on the first 10 years,” says Ian Anderson. “There have been 33 former members of Jethro Tull over the years and we’ll be paying homage to all the guys one way or another during the performances because they were part of the whole history of Jethro Tull.” The tour means that Anderson has taken a break from working on new material, which is now tipped for a 2019 release. “We recorded seven of the songs in March, but because of the anniversary I’ve had to put the new project on ice,” he…

QUIUBO It looks and feels like LEGO, but does more, as you’d hope for £30 per brick. Devised by the Mexico-based Hombre Orchestra, who describe themselves as “music magicians with the sole purpose of creating fun”, Quiubo is a cute, multifaced musical toy that allows you to tap buttons and pluck protuberances to create twangs, bangs and loops. You can even sing into it. It won’t revolutionise modern music making, but it’s way more interesting than a stress ball. http://bit.ly/quiubo PIXEL BUDS Google’s new Bluetooth earbuds are, in all likelihood, perfectly good for listening to music, and will no doubt give you five hours of glorious tunes on a single charge. But the feature that dropped jaws at their recent unveiling was their Babel Fish-style translation capabilities, in conjunction with…

“I love to cook. Many people dislike the effort you must put in to create some dishes, but I feel the enjoyment from the process is as much fun as the end product. My wife is a budding chocolate maker, so she makes her own from the bean. I wouldn’t suggest this unless you enjoy using a pestle and mortar but this recipe can be equally as successful if you use a good quality dark chocolate bar!” Ingredients (serves 2): 80g dark chocolate, 40g butter, one egg yolk, two egg whites, a little salt, 15g sugar, two lightly greased glass ramekins Preparation: “Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Melt the chocolate and 35g butter in a bain-marie until it’s mixed and smooth. Using two different size bowls, separate the…

The story so far: English as tuppence, as changeless as canal water, towered and turreted Rawlinson End nuzzles in damp and downy vales. Squatting o’er his suppurating piles, avast Sir Henry: feudal reactionary stuck-in-the-muddle ages, gleefully unloading lead-shot into the arse of progress. All inhuman life lies in this surreal recording from the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band founder and Tubular Bells narrator. Enter its rusticated portals to the querulous strains of Great Aunt Florrie singing, ‘How nice to be in England.’ Her jingoistic nostrils flare as she enumerates the ill-bred pleasures of the ruling class, pinking the python, abusing the bishop and buggering Boudica in a wheelbarrow. If there was a Churchillian god in heaven, this would have been adopted as our national anthem and watermelons would be the only…

It was getting late in Chepstow and Frost*, Saturday’s billed headliners at The Summer’s End Festival, opted to fill the early evening slot, leaving the finale to the lesser-known ensemble, the Franck Carducci Band. What unfolded was a spectacle seldom seen at the much-loved festival – a proper, good old-fashioned rock’n’roll variety show. There was humour, intrigue, excitement, a sexy dancing girl and, above all, in a multi-hued hat, Carducci: a true super trouper. Sadly, sets like these now seem to be an increasing rarity, which got me wondering: where has that almost extinct species, the prog showman/woman, gone? Once upon a time in prog, there was Arthur Brown in his hellfire helmet, Keith Emerson committing hara-kiri on his Hammond, Rick Wakeman resplendent in his glitterball capes, Ian Anderson in…

The rock opera is probably one of the most divisive forms of music, with the results ranging from the glorious to the frankly appalling. It’s therefore a brave musician who willingly wanders into the genre to try to create a work that could match The Who’s Tommy, Pink Floyd’s The Wall or even Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds. Darryl Way has, however, decided to adopt this approach, and Underworld is the result. Following on from his Greek mythology-inspired Myths, Legends And Tales, Way has adapted the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice and placed the plot in the setting of a world he’s familiar with – the music industry of the 1970s. It will feature some of the shady characters who would surround bands during that era. Why did…

Of all the things you can say about Primus’ choice of The Rainbow Goblins as source material, one thing is certain: they weren’t the first to use it. Back in 1981, Japanese guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka released The Rainbow Goblins (right), a double album based on the same book. It’s a smooth, often blissful jazz fusion affair with spokenword interludes (in English). Where Primus” version of the tale frequently draws from the story’s darkness, Takanaka’s take is whimsical and occasionally joyous. Soon could be a Balearic chill-out classic, while the slow, vocoder-driven groove of Let’s Chuckle is playfully funky. “I’ve never heard it,” admits Les Claypool. “I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t want to listen to it because I didn’t want it to affect anything we did.” Five years –…

King’s Ransom CAAMORA Pendragon man becomes musical theatre king. Prog has never feared the theatrical, but what about musical theatre? If snobs childishly sneer at prog’s pretensions, how much more so ‘musicals’? Thank prog, then, for Clive Nolan. For the past 10 years, the Arena and Pendragon keyboard maestro has channelled his not inconsiderable gifts into making what might be called prog opera. His first musical She was based on the classic Rider Haggard book, but King’s Ransom, like its predecessor Alchemy, is set in steampunk Victorian London. “Stadium prog meets Les Mis meets Dickens smoking strange stuff.” Once again, at its centre are the adventures of Nolan’s alter ego, Professor King. This time he battles to save the Prime Minister and England from the conniving Colonel Scovil and his…

From Spirits And Ghosts (Score For A Dark Christmas) EARMUSIC The soundtrack for a very gothic yuletide. Alongside the cynical, November-released, “Greatest Hits” album, there’s always something a little disquieting about an album of festive songs. Yes, there can be genuine motives, but often it’s a case of an artist or label wanting to milk the Christmas cash cow. “A lack of festive cheer could be off-putting, to some, but that’s exactly the point.” It’s pretty unexpected then to find former Nightwish singer Tarja Turunen releasing this album of traditional favourites. Indeed, there will unquestionably be those who are concerned that her artistic credibility is heading straight into the bin, alongside a turkey carcass and spent party poppers. However, anyone following Tarja’s career more objectively will appreciate that her entire…

The Asteroid is coming! With members drawn from Crippled Black Phoenix and, er, Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon, Asteroid Deluxe are a motley quartet of seasoned musicians who create a highly accomplished and compelling prog soundscape. Debut album The Lawn (asteroiddeluxe.com) is an ambitious work split into two magnificent, 20-minute parts. There’s some Gong here, a little Floyd there, but we’re mainly on modern, and achingly prescient, turf. The album was inspired by the post-war pipedream of high-rise living and the Ballardian erosion thereof, and was recorded before the horrors of Grenfell Tower. It’s all the more poignant for that tragedy, with fuzzy riffs, cinematic longeurs and atavistic tribal moments offering plenty to get your teeth into. Swedish psych rockers Agusa are back with their self-titled third work, on…

Let The Electric Children Play – The Underground History Of Transatlantic Records ESOTERIC A box of vintage delights from the bubbling prog periphery. In any account of progressive music, record labels such as Harvest, Vertigo, Island, Charisma, and Virgin dominate as the homes to the artists who forged much of the new musical directions of the late 60s and early 70s. So it’s good to see another independent label that hosted some of the lesser-known players getting a reappraisal. Transatlantic Records’ Nat Joseph was one of those entrepreneurs in the industry whose tastes, though eclectic, were primarily and understandably informed by what he thought he could sell. “Chronicling a period of dramatic reinvention and innovation.” Seeing the emergence of the vibrant folk music scene, his primary trade in importing American…

VENUE THE BLACK HEART, LONDON DATE 06/10/2017 SUPPORT HAM LEGION It’s Friday night in The Black Heart, and the launch of London quartet Thumpermonkey’s latest EP, Electricity, on the Rockosmos label. There’s a terrific supporting line-up and, presented by esteemed promoters Chaos Theory, this is a sell-out show. As the Small Faces once said, it’s all too beautiful. One thing that’s not at all beautiful, though, is the quality of the sound. Since the ’Monkey last played here with Awooga a year ago, an overdriven abrasiveness prevails. It doesn’t actually ruin things, but it’s lurking constantly. Luckily, Ham Legion’s energetic, Cardiacs-inspired style is relatively untouched. Guitarist Sam Clarke wears a head torch for extra visual guidance while he grapples with impossible chord shapes. “I wish I’d had a miner’s hat,”…

VENUE THE BORDERLINE, LONDON DATE 24/09/2017 SUPPORT MONKEY3, LO CHIEF Adecidedly retro feel connects the two bands starting tonight’s entertainment. For openers Lo Chief, it’s primarily in obvious early-70s influences – classic Deep Purple meets The Doors – and their gutsy, endlessly enthusiastic and energetic brand of swampy blues rock goes down extremely well. With Switzerland-based instrumental combo Monkey3, it’s hard to avoid similar 70s-vintage comparisons. From the swirling, spacey intro, which could have easily graced a Hawkwind gig, through to encore Through The Desert, which veritably screams Echoes-era Floyd before building to a hard and heavy crescendo and a big finish, the band seem to channel early Rush, Sabbath and a doom-laden parallel universe T-Rex. There are rich, evocative, even cinematic soundscapes vying with dirty riffing and a pounding…

VENUE THE WATER RATS, LONDON DATE 30/09/2017 As guitarist Al Nicholson explains between songs tonight, Kaprekar’s Constant started life purely as a studio project. In the same bit of stage banter, Nicholson confesses that trying to coordinate all of the seven members’ schedules just so they could arrange rehearsals was a tricky prospect, and unfortunately it shows as they make their live debut in the intimate surroundings of The Water Rats in King’s Cross. Vocalists Bill Jefferson and Dorie Jackson both have to read their lyrics from sheets, which makes it hard for them to forge a connection with the audience since they’re always looking down. The players often appear tense as they navigate their charts, worried in case they miss a cue, and Nicholson’s guitar solos frequently wander out…

VENUE EL REY THEATRE, LOS ANGELES DATE 07/10/2017 Tonight is an opportunity to wish a fond happy 10th birthday to Colors, the fourth album from North Carolinian prog metallers Between The Buried And Me. It was the band’s breakout album, the one that put them on the US chart for the first time. And those who fell in love with the record then – or indeed at some point since its release – are ready to celebrate a decade of this already-classic album here at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. Under the crystal chandeliers of this 750-capacity hall, the crowd is already chanting “BEE TEE BAM” over and over in anticipation of tonight’s show, as The Dark Side Of The Moon plays over the PA. And after walking…

Where’s home? I’m from Cheshire, but I now live in a small town in Wiltshire, on the border of Bath and Somerset. Earliest prog memory? I discovered prog in the summer of 1976, when I was 12, during a week-long Subbuteo competition in my front room. My friend’s dad had a large cassette collection and, intrigued by the covers, we borrowed some of his albums. Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother and Mike Oldfield’s Hergest Ridge became the musical backdrop to our less-than-beautiful games. First prog record you bought? As a result of ‘the Subbuteo sessions’, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. Favourite gadget? I’ve never been much of a gadget person. That said, I love my computer studio setup that enables me to record quickly, to a high standard, without effort.…

As I write this, Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and myself are on tour in America. I’m sitting down to breakfast at an unnamed hotel when a waiter approaches me. “Good morning, sir. What can I get you?” I put the menu down with a smile and place my order. “An omelette with onions, mushrooms and peppers please.” “Is that an egg white, egg yolk or whole egg omelette, sir?” “Just a normal egg omelette please,” I reply, my belly rumbling in anticipation. “And what kind of cheese would you like with that, sir?” “No cheese, thank you.” “Are you sure, sir? It adds to the flavour, sir.” “No cheese, thank you,” I repeat. “And can you make sure the omelette is cooked properly so it doesn’t look like…

"Architect of electronica cathedrals with prog balustrades." Marc Hughes "Yes! Systems Of Romance is like what Genesis did later with Abacab. Foxx's lyrics (band and solo) parallel those of Tony Banks (band and solo)." Beth Maplesdon "I don't care if he is or isn't. His ambient work with Steve Jansen and Steve d'Agostino is very much to my liking. Progressive or not…" Bas Langereis "John Foxx is an amazing musician. When you look at his entire body of work, how many different musical styles he mastered or even influenced the creation of, how can you not call him progressive? No matter what kind of mood you're in, there is a John Foxx album that will fit it." Patrick Alexander "Love the early John Foxx. His later stuff though is either…

Skyscraper Souls X2X/CHERRY RED An all-star cast - from XTC to B-52s - reach for the prog pop skies. Geoffrey Downes found his calling in life when, in May 1980, as part of one of those wonderfully ‘WTF’ moments, he replaced Rick Wakeman in Yes. Besides being a co-founder of Asia, it’s a spot he has also held for the past few years, returning to the Yes coop in 2011. However, let us not forget that Downes was first recognised as a pop music artist. Indeed, most of us will first have seen him sporting a preposterous silver suit in the video for The Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star. That’s a roundabout way of stating that pop music is every bit as much a part of the keysman’s DNA…

The transformation from psychedelic folk punk to acoustic folklore may sound like identity theft, but it’s one that Irish quartet Lankum carry off with confidence. They have, probably wisely, abandoned their former handle, Lynched, for its negative connotations, trading it for, um, the name of the child-murdering villain in the classic ballad False Lankum, by Irish traveller John Reilly Jr. Frying pans and fires come to mind. But as proved by their second album (and first for Rough Trade) Between The Earth And The Sky, they’ve gone from punkish notions of headbutting tradition to a determination to celebrate it. Shared lead vocals and tight harmonies lubricate melodies both aged and original, from the almost street-cry feel of What Will We Do When We Have No Money to measured yet intense…

Had Pink Floyd’s live disc of Ummagumma taken a jazzy detour the results could resemble much of the Sheffield-based Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere’s Theta Three (Discus Records). Led and conducted by sax/ keyboardist, Martin Archer, this two-disc collection of improvised and composed pieces is permeated with a spacey, psychedelic effervescence. Brooding, bass-saturated landscapes, arcs of echoing electronics, thickets of ruminative horns, terse violin arrangements and chilly drifts of Mellotron create an immersive world that evokes the analogue spirit and tonalities of early minimalism and capacious mindexpanding playfulness of Kosmische Musik’s pioneers. It’s no surprise that luminaries such as David Torn, Phil Manzanera, and Richard Barbieri sing the praises of Swedish guitarist Samuel Hällkvist. Variety Of Rhythm (Boogiepost Recordings) is a continuous 45-minute suite placing bold, contrasting themes that slip…

Days Of Future Passed: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition UNIVERSAL Symphonic landmark buffed up for its golden jubilee. Whether it’s the first concept work or progressive album will always be subject to forensic debate, but Days Of Future Passed undoubtedly took post- Sgt Pepper British rock to another level as the Moody Blues framed themselves in full-bore classical orchestration. If the Beatles had opened the door to pop using classical musicians, Days… was the first time an orchestra had commanded centre stage and got equal billing on the cover. “British rock went to another level, framed in orchestration.” In doing so, the Moodies placed themselves ahead of a pack still swathing themselves in psychedelic whimsy or endless jamming, repositioning rock as mature enough now to employ classical music’s tradition. When they…

VENUE ACADEMY, MANCHESTER DATE 16/10/2017 When Public Service Broadcasting released third album Every Valley, a bittersweet story about the twilight years of the Welsh mining industry, they were concerned their motives would be misinterpreted. They needn’t have worried, however – for the most part, the songs were taken in the spirit in which they were intended. There’s something very innocent, very pure at the heart of the motivation of PSB, and that has allowed them to write songs about everything from the Spitfire to the departure of Apollo 17 from the moon, all within the same framework of celebrating human ingenuity in the pursuit of innovation and progress. As the song Spitfire, which comes just after the halfway point of the set, darkly alludes, there’s often another side to the…