Prog Issue 135

Located in Bergen, Norway, Apollon Records was founded in 2015 and has grown to be one of the country’s biggest independent record labels in less than a decade. Apollon is mostly genreless, and we work with all kinds of music, as long as we find it interesting enough. A lot of what we do can be filed under “progressive” and our current rostra includes Major Parkinson, Laughing Stock and Caligonaut. Scan here to download or follow the instructions on the right What’s on your free Apollon digital album Discovering Download the 21-track sampler from www.bit.ly/apollon_records 1 Caligonaut Emperor Taken from Magnified As Giants 2 Flying Norwegians Wounded Bird Taken from Wounded Bird 3 Professor Tip Top Shining Taken from Lanes Of Time 4 Ring Van Möbius The Möbius Ring Taken…

Hello, and welcome to the new issue of Prog magazine. So, what was the first prog album then? I’m sure everyone will have an opinion, and I’m equally sure those opinions are likely to wildly differ! Now we’re not saying that The Moody Blues’ Days Of Future Passed was actually the first prog album, but it was certainly one of them. A conceptual suite that introduced the idea of orchestral, symphonic rock, it certainly set The Moody Blues on a course to amazing success, selling in the region of 70 million albums over the years! In this issue we tell the story behind the groundbreaking release, which Rolling Stone originally claimed was “drowning itself in conceptual goo”, hence our coverline, but later reassessed as one of the essential albums of 1967.…

PLAY ON! I always look forward to my new copy of Prog magazine. I love opening it to discover new bands, new sounds or reminders of old memories. It was such a shame that I came across Barry Smith’s email [Time For A Rethink?, Prog 134]. It really brought me down. I respect his right to have a point of view and obviously he’s more musically minded than both Steve Hackett and Steve Howe. Curiously, though I haven’t noticed any music composed, performed and promoted by Barry over the last 50 years. I did wonder, however, what he hoped to achieve: did he want Prog to castigate these poor-quality musicians? Does he advocate that they should retire and stop? I have just started an internet radio show and suddenly everyone…

BILL BAILEY @BillBailey An afternoon strolling the Caleyi Trail through Garigal National Park, north of Sydney, among grass trees, cockatoos, brush turkey and Eastern water dragons ANNEKE V GIERSBERGEN @AnnekeAnnique Did I mention I love this tour? No? Oh! Hey, I love this tour! Thanks for coming out to see me. STEVEN WILSON @StevenWilsonHQ Newest addition to the Wilson family. This is Lenny, a 3 year old rescue dog from Macedonia that had been treated very badly. We are gradually getting her to trust us, with the help of her little brother Bowie! STEVE HACKETT @HackettOfficial It was such an honour to receive the Sena Performers European Guitar Award last night in Bergen op Zoom. Terrific to see everyone there including great musicians such as previous award winner Jan Akkerman.…

A big thank you A for the excellent article about Marillion’s Holidays In Eden in the new issue [Prog 134]. Like so many, I dismissed the album when it first came out but it’s grown on me throughout the years and I really enjoyed reading about its creation. I remember hearing the early versions at their 1990 Christmas show at what was then The Town And Country Club in Kentish Town. I thought they sounded great in that moment, but when the album eventually came out, I felt they were watered-down and too ‘safe’. On the new remixed version of the album, however, the hidden depths of songs like Splintering Heart and The Party are really brought to the fore and they now stand tall in Marillion’s back catalogue. I…

Barely a year after the release of their Caravans To The Outer Worlds EP, Norwegian progressive metallers Enslaved have announced their next long-player: Heimdal will be released on February 17 through Nuclear Blast. The seven-song collection is a concept album inspired by and named after the Norse god that guards the mythical Bifröst bridge. It’s also intended to belatedly celebrate the 30th anniversary of Enslaved’s formation, in 1991. “We couldn’t do much last year in terms of fooling around with birthday cakes and eating them off each other’s faces,” Enslaved’s guitarist, co-founder and songwriter Ivar Bjørnson jokes, “so it seemed like a good idea to just make an album instead.” Enslaved started up in Haugesund, and over the last four decades and 15 albums they’ve dabbled in post-rock, psychedelic, folk,…