“The songs were all from very different backgrounds, but because they were played in pubs, it got called ‘pub rock’ by the music press. It wasn’t a specific music, other than that there were no lengthy, tedious solos. It was any kind of music that people wanted to go and see, played in pubs. But [&hellip

Tomorrow is Delayed. Could there be any more appropriate album title this year? The world is on hiatus. Parts of it are coming, cautiously, out of lockdown. Postponements of events are the norm. Even this review was delayed. I received the album for review at least a couple of months ago, but it was a [&hellip

The long-running Deutschrock originals celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2018, and on the last day of this merry year, band leader and drummer extraordinaire Mani Neumeier will be a mere 80 years young. In between those two anniversaries, on 19th May 2019, the band made a first foray into China, to play at the Tomorrow [&hellip

One of the more unique and rewarding releases of 2020, Tom Warrior’s long-gestating Requiem finally comes to fruition on this beautifully rendered live recording from Roadburn 2019. Thanks to the sponsorship of Walter Hoeijmakers (founder of the Roadburn festival) and the collaboration of the Metropole Orkest, this piece of music finally makes its full debut [&hellip

Pixie Ninja follow up their highly successful 2018 debut album Ultrasound with this excellent new second album, Colours Out of Space, continuing to strengthen my belief that great music still flows out of Norway. There is a change of personal in the band for this release, Johan Hals Jorgenson has left and been replaced by [&hellip

Let’s face it, 2020 has been a totally CRAP Year… it will not be remembered fondly by most and will be the cause of much sadness for too many. In times like these we really need special things in our lives. We instinctively seek what is enjoyable and engaging, but we also yearn for art [&hellip

Steve Howe, is looking forward to releasing his latest album – and his first for nine years –  through BMG Records on 31st July. Love Is is Howe’s first solo album since the all-instrumental Time in 2011. Many years in the making, Love Is features five instrumental tracks and five songs, a consistently strong and [&hellip

Steve Howe – Yes, Asia, guitar legend… no further introduction needed or offered. According to the press release Love Is is his “first solo album since the all-instrumental Time in 2011”, although in the interim period there have been two of his Homebrew project releases, New Frontier from The Steve Howe Trio, an Asia album [&hellip

A gentle piano intro, and the voice intoning a complex and odd melody, “picking melodies out of the black and fumy air” indeed. Then, something stirs, crashing chords, strident bass and drums, and a synth melody soaring aloft; yes friends, it’s Prog O’Clock. I Am The Manic Whale are back. The band play through a [&hellip

I noticed that The Prog Mind had posted a best of 2020 list and also that only one of the releases was one that I thought would make my list. So then I thought, do I even have 10 albums … Continue reading →