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Like so many others, Big Big Train have turned the pandemic into creativity, but not everyone approves.

UNCOMMON GROUND

I was profoundly disappointed to learn that Big Big Train have written songs about lockdown for their new album [Prog 121]. As evident scholars of history, the group should appreciate that there was not a single book, nor play, nor painting produced about the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Why? Because people were sick of it, and quite keen to move on and get on with life, thank you very much!

I’d like to say that Prog provided a much needed escape from the terror and tedium of lockdown. But unfortunately Covid has dripped from the pages over the past year, with more mentions per issue than even Steven Wilson. It’s all been so dispiriting, especially Ian Anderson’s asinine comments that he expects to wear a mask for “the rest of my professional career”.

Big Big Train are a wonderful band. And a large part of the wonder stems from the fact that they write fascinating, passionate, insightful songs about subjects that no other band, save perhaps British Sea Power, would ever even consider. I appreciate that the majority of their latest might focus on their usual, marvellous themes of history, nature and engineering. But given the lockdowny noises they’ve been making I find I have no desire whatsoever to ever listen to their latest offering. And if I ever do, I suspect I’ll turn it off at the very first mention of “lockdown”, having rolled my eyes so dramatically I’ll have passed out.