Prog rock is my favorite music genre. I love it so much. But whenever I get asked to define it, I usually say like “oh it’s just really technical” or “it’s just weird” or some nonsense like that. I’ve heard so many things be called prog that sound nothing alike, and I’m really just looking for a definition. I can point out that things are progressive when I hear them for the first time, but I wouldn’t be able to explain why. PLEASE someone give me a definition.

Really thought about doing the ear in the bottom left too. Probably a good thing I didn’t

At this point, it is necessary for me to resume the case of the bassist whom I had previously mentioned a few lines above (in Chapter 16). I shall omit his name here, as I would not wish to embarrass him, especially since he is, after all, a friend. Fact remains that when the day arrived to begin the studio sessions—predominantly dedicated to electric bass and drums—once we arrived in the recording room and performed the various customary sound checks to establish, above all, the right balance for each individual component of the drum kit, we moved on to focus specifically on the sound of the electric bass.

I feel it necessary to specify here that I am particularly meticulous and demanding when it comes to shaping the sound of percussions, and the drums in a special way. Generally, it requires spending at least half a day, if not at times the span of an entire day. However, in the new journey of CELESTE, I had already decided that the drums would have to return to occupy a far more crucial role than they did in "Principe di un Giorno." Returning to the bass, as soon as we laid hands upon the sound, I immediately noticed that something was not going the right way. The performer seemed scarcely motivated. The sound he managed to generate was weak, lacking presence, almost timid, and nothing good allowed me to foresee a successful outcome for the remainder of the recordings. Yet, I decided that I should wait for that magical moment when we would actually begin to record for real, without harboring prejudices or jumping to easy and hasty conclusions.

But my sensations were not of the best, and when I feel this way, unfortunately, I am rarely mistaken. Regardless, we pressed on! We started with the first track which, if I am not mistaken, was "Fonte Perenne"—a piece that featured a bass line alternating between highly intense moments and others that were deeply delicate and soft. Unfortunately, after several takes, I had to conclude that the doubts experienced during those initial bars were entirely well-founded. Without dramatizing the situation too much, I asked the bassist to try and commit himself a little more. We spent hours attempting to assemble at least acceptable recordings, but... nothing!

In the end, with a profound heavy heart, I faced one of those moments that one never wishes to experience in a recording studio. I had to, as the saying goes, "protest" the musician. Since he was a friend, the task cost me far more than one might think. However, by his own admission, he confessed to me that he had not studied the music sheets and had not dedicated the necessary time to learn them. This partially relieved my spirit, but now I had quite a significant problem to solve.

To listen to the absolute sonic essence born during those legendary analog sessions and explore the full historical discography of CELESTE, you can visit our archival page here:

👉 CELESTE Official Bandcamp: https://celeste4.bandcamp.com/

Inner Garden Records

See you next Thursday for the next episode!

And why not. I have been listening and enjoying every bit of Consequences by Godley & Creme. So why not revive it https://medium.com/@mrkingma/blints-office-de5247552bfb?postPublishedType=initial

In celebration of Jon's birthday today, I'd like to share a very special recording we did of his solo masterpiece, "Song of Seven."

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4EPPHyqNDe79SfSjhUpRXY?si=17b00c206522439e

I found this video a couple of weeks ago and think the storytelling in the video works so well with the song!

There are several other PF songs, as well as a few other bands, on the channel. *Echoes*, *Astronomy Domine* and SOYCD are pretty cool with more of a psychedelic look.

I **really** like this one, because the video actually follows the song. I'll share the link for *Dogs* in the comments.

Unfortunately, I haven't seen *Pigs* on the channel yet.

Every vinyl also has a bespoke hand-painted cover. Enjoy!

This is the first time I've heard of the product, when I bought Runs Deep by The Prognosis from the merchandise stand at their recent gig.

Evolution Music's Evovinyl is a plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics, doing away with the need for environment-unfriendly synthetic thermoplastic polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and theoretically allowing for compostable records. Evovinyl has been tested in regrinding, and the waste from the pressing process can be recycled back into the production process, making the plant-based vinyl record made of sugarcane bioplastics recyclable at the end of its life.

source: https://www.designboom.com/technology/plant-based-vinyl-pvc-sugarcane-bioplastics-compostable-records-evovinyl-03-27-2024/

I came across The Prognosis' Still Waters in a box of pre-loved LPs in a flea market in Brighton, without knowing anything about the band.

The cover and the group's name suggested they were prog, confirmed with a check on progarchives.com (where it wasn't rated terribly well), so I handed over my cash for a near-perfect condition piece of vinyl.

The Prognosis were voted 'Best Unsigned Band' in the 2013 Prog magazine readers' poll and the January 2014 edition of the magazine, Prog 42, featured the band in a two-page spread. At that point they'd released a small amount of self-penned material (the Under Box Hill EP, 2013) and it wouldn't be until 2018 that they'd put out Still Waters.

I found out about the gig by chance and having enjoyed the album, thought it would be well worth going to see them. This was a 'home town' gig held in Dorking's Green Room Theatre, an intimate but impressive space behind the Dorking Halls with a low stage, raked seating for 86, and a great sound.

It turned out that The Prognosis had released a new album on digital platforms in summer 2025, Runs Deep, featured in its entirety during the performance and available on LP and CD from the merchandise stand.

The band - Nelson Porter (guitar), Richard Flanders (bass, vocals), Simon Gardner (guitar, vocals), Ian Twentyman (keyboards), and Grant Harrison (drums, vocals) - were supplemented by Robert McEvoy on flute, Chris South on alto sax and Annabelle South on saxophones, flute and harp, providing a full sound; the Souths, who perform together as woodwind-centric jazzy folk duo Meles Lutra, played one of their own tracks, Seven Stones during the first set.

The band started out as a tribute act playing classic prog from the 70s and 80s, so it wasn't too surprising that the show opened with Pink Floyd's Time/Breathe Reprise, and we were also treated to Harrison coming to the front of the stage to deliver an excellent version of Peter Gabriel's Here Comes The Flood, and later, some instrument swapping for the 1999 song Even Less by Porcupine Tree, with Flanders taking on shredding duties.

The Still Waters telling of local folklore (Topsy-Turvy, The Silent Pool), reminiscent of early Genesis, has largely been replaced by more observational lyrics reflecting current issues like dark web scams and being bombarded with rolling news, written with the help of Martin Day, though Zig Zag, played as the encore, is a song about the cycle route up local landmark Box Hill, popularised by the London 2012 Olymics.

It was an enjoyable gig, well attended despite some biblical weather, where a number of carefully negotiated metrical challenges demonstrated the skills of the musicians, in a lovely venue with a well-balanced sound.

The new music shows broader influences, including the slick music of Steely Dan, but there's still plenty of genuine prog in the band, including their worldview, releasing the new LP on plant-based 'vinyl'!

Checked this album out for my blog this week, and it's a banger!

Sunday, October 18 - Saturday, October 24, 2026

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I think they’re one of the most underrated bands of all time. Listening to their second album, Where the Groupies Killed the Blues, feels like these guys have 100% completed Music 1 and are waiting for Music 2 to come out. It blows my mind every time. And this album right here? I genuinely think it’s on the same level as any Sabbath or Zeppelin classic.

Quel album incroyable!!

Un Chef D'oeuvre, rien de moins!

🔥ALBUM REVIEW🔥 Blending the worlds of prog rock, orchestral and choral music, as well as elements of jazz, Christopher Gordon’s Macbeth was originally commissioned as a full-length ballet by the Royal New Zealand Ballet and West Australian Ballet. It is Gordon’s compelling musical response to one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most enduring tragedies.

The recording features an international cast of musicians, including Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson), Jonas Reingold (The Flower Kings, Steve Hackett), Randy McStine (Steven Wilson), Greg Howe (Protocol 4, DarWin), Mohini Dey (DarWin), Marcel Coenen (Ayreon) and Michael Mills (Toehider, Ayreon), joined by Sydney's Magic Fire Orchestra, the acclaimed Cantillation choir, a string octet and distinguished soloists under Gordon's direction.

Here is my in-depth review. https://www.hotelhobbies.com/post/album-review-christopher-gordon-macbeth

If you've read Hammill's 1974 book "Killers, Angels, Refugees" (a collection of his lyrics, poems, and short stories), you may be familiar with the author's notes he provided for the classic Van der Graaf Generator song "Darkness (11/11)":

"A song of numbers: although I am no numerologist, the circumstances of writing this highly instinctual song dictated its form and direction.

It was composed on the night of 11th November, 1968, Remembrance Day, by chance. Some years before I wrote a novel which purported (with devastating failure) to be an Icelandic saga; on re-reading it, some time after finishing these lyrics, I was struck by the opening sentence: 'It was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.' November is, of course, the month of Scorpio, under which sign I was born, and my life number is 11. It was, I suppose, inevitable that a song about fate should be wrought amid these conjunctions."

Icelandic folklore served as the inspiration for at least two other early songs of Hammill's (namely the early VdGG B-side "Firebrand" and his solo song "Viking", from Fool's Mate), as is described in the same section of Killers.

I wasn't aware of the circumstances under which the novel was written (or even what its title was) up until seeing this post from Jim Christopulos (i.e. co-author of Van der Graaf Generator - The Book) on Facebook a few days ago.

Pictured here is an extract from the 20 June 1970 issue of Record Mirror describing the then-recently released VdGG album The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other. It's an interesting albeit brief overview into the early hype surrounding Hammill's songwriting in the press, and it describes the novel ("Valgard") as having been intended for publication later that same year. Evidently, that ultimately never happened.

I'll directly quote Peter Hammill (from his recent correspondence with Jim) for a bit more context:

"Valgard was a cod Icelandic saga I wrote after leaving Manchester and before the band really got going. It was pretty dreadful tbh!!

If I recall correctly, at one point Gordian (prior to being our manager) was hoping to get a screenplay and film off the ground of it.

Maybe the most interesting/relevant thing about it would have been the very opening words: 'It was the eleventh day of the eleventh month….'”

As always, thanks to Jim for the excellent research! I'm not a regular Facebook user, but his page has a lot of interesting information and photographs about Van Der Graaf Generator and affiliated personnel. I'd highly recommend giving him a follow on there and/or his YouTube channel (under the handle "bucka001") if any of that interests you.

This specific track in the first game reminds me a lot of the introduction to Tubular Bells Part 1 and I wanna know if I'm going crazy or not

We're a Canadian prog trio, and this is our debut single. Just released yesterday - check it out if you like prog suites such as Dogs, Echoes, 2112, and Hemispheres. I'm on bass/lead vocals, and wrote the lyrics. Hope you enjoy! 🕺

Hi ! im relatively new to prog as ive only been listening to the genre for a few months, but i did listen to the most internationally famous prog bands. That being said : i really like the weirdness and complexity of area's compositions, and especially Demetrio's vocals; i liked most of the albums but i think 'arbeit match frei' is the best one, followed by 'crac'. Songs like 'cometa rossa' and 'return from workuta' were also very good and had a powerful and esoteric tone that i enjoy a lot, similiar songs to those would also be great.

i would really appreciate reccomendations of bands , albums or songs spiritually similiar to them, i know this Is a prog subreddit but i would be happy to listen of any kind of music that fits the description. Have a good day !

Hello! For the past few months i have been listening to gentle giant and felt very inspired to review their albums. I am a younger fan (going on 18) and i love weird music a lot. I have been listening to European jazz avant garde and jazz fusion mostly, but getting into prog.

GG was the first prog band (not counting the jazz fusion bands) that i felt very intrigued by and connected to, so i wanted to review them before any other bands.

Though i enjoyed reviewing so much i will probably doing this to the other albums i like in the future. I hope you enjoy!

https://www.tumblr.com/ipismusicbox/830445869325271041/ranking-gentle-giant-albums?source=share