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A Great Day For Freedom

In April 2022, Pink Floyd announced they were releasing their first new music since 1994’s The Division Bell. The single, Hey Hey, Rise Up!, saw David Gilmour and Nick Mason reuniting to raise money for Ukraine Humanitarian Relief. But was the regrouping – which also included bassist Guy Pratt and Nitin Sawhney with a special guest appearance from BoomBox’s Andriy Khlyvnyuk – the shape of things to come? Or a one-off? Prog looks at one of this year’s biggest surprises. Words: Daryl Easlea Images: Sarah Lee
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Prog
Issue 131
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REGULARS
Discovering MRR
Melodic Revolution Records
Ed’s Letter
NEXT ISSUE ON SALE AUG 5 Hello, and
Bloddy Well Write
Send your letters to us at: Prog, Future Publishing, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London, W2 6JR, or email prog@futurenet.com. Letters may be edited for length. We regret that we cannot reply to phone calls. For more comment and prog news and views, find us on facebook.com under Prog.
TWEET TALK
Follow us on twitter.com/ progmagazineUK NICK DVIRGILIO @NDVMusic
LETTER
I’m 60 and grew up with all the
JOHN MITCHELL REBOOTS LONELY ROBOT
Lockdown heartache, lingering grief, and one very tight deadline have led to A Model Life, the “experimental” fifth album from the polymathic progger in his solo incarnation.
REMEMBERING STEVE BROUGHTON
The Edgar Broughton Band member and Tubular Bells drummer died in May.
AA WILLIAMS BACK WITH SECOND ALBUM AND SHOWS
The singer will promote As The Moon Rests with UK dates.
ARENA TEST THEORY ON 10TH ALBUM.
Vocalist Damian Wilson to make his mark on The Theory Of Molecular Inheritance.
MOTORPSYCHO GO FOUR FOR FOUR!
August’s Ancient Astronauts will be the Norwegians’ fourth album in as many years.
O.R.K. TO OPEN UP THEIR SCREAMNASIUM IN OCTOBER
The heavyweight proggers work the floor on album four.
SUPERGROUP SIX BY SIX LAUNCH DEBUT
Robert Berry on the trio whose roots spread from Saga to Saxon, via Keith Emerson.
AT LAST: NEW SIDES FROM KING’S X!
The prog metal innovators unveil Three Sides Of One in September, and tour dates.
ORGANIC SOUNDS AND DARK HISTORY: HEILUNG RETURN
The Danish folkers unearth fourth album, Drif, in August.
FAD GADGETS
Rhodri Marsden on three of the latest must-have gizmos currently putting the prog in progress.
CRISPIAN MILLS
The Kula Shaker linchpin on how Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel’s producer Bob Ezrin helped the band to channel their inner prog rockers.
PROG IN BRIEF
Parisian prog metallers Spheres (right) will return on
SQUARE WILD
Manchester prog rockers find romance in blending together their musical passions.
PREFAB SPROUT
JORDAN: THE COMEBACK
OU
ALL AROUND THE WORLD Our far-out trip to far-flung prog
PROG IN BRIEF
Solstein vendi is the Henihil new quartet iumqui
SOFT FFOG
Krokofant side-project shine on with free-flowing jazz-rock debut.
DUNCAN MARQUISS
Guitar experimentations that search for a spark in krautrock, folk and celtic spaces.
MOUNTAINSCAPE
Reading’s mythical trio swap extreme metal for post-rock soundscapes.
BILLY HOWERDEL
A Perfect Circle’s guitarist returns to his earliest roots with his second solo record – and first album under his own name – as he draws inspiration from the British bands that first ignited his love for music.
THE PROG INERVIEW
Arthur Brown
THE MUSICAL BOX
MIKAEL ÅKERFELDT
…AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
XI: Bleed Here Now INSIDEOUT
THE ALGORITHM
Data Renaissance FIXT RECORDS
THE ARISTOCRATS
The Aristocrats With Primuz Chamber Orchestra BOING! MUSIC LLC
DANNY BEARDSLEY
Chase The Sun, DANNYBEARDSLEY.COM
BIRTH
Born OMEN
AFFIRM
One More Moment, BAYLEYHUNT.BANDCAMP.COM
BLACK MIDI
Hellfire ROUGH TRADE
THE GATHERING
Beautiful Distortion PSYCHONAUT RECORDS
CHARLIE GRIFFITHS
Tiktaalika INSIDEOUT
DATADYR
Woolgathering IS IT JAZZ?
AL DI MEOLA, JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, PACO DE LUCIA
Saturday Night In San Francisco Live 12/6/80 EARMUSIC
ENNEADE
Withered Flowers And Cinnamon VALLIS LUPI
FINAL LIGHT
Final Light RED CREEK
GHOST OF THE MACHINE
Scissorgames , GHOSTOFTHEMACHINE.BANDCAMP.COM
ACE HANSEL JR
Songs From Croix-Noire MADHOUSE RAG RECORDS
OCEANS OF SLUMBER
Starlight And Ash CENTURY MEDIA
HATS OFF GENTLEMEN IT’S ADEQUATE
The Confidence Trick GLASS CASTLE RECORDINGS
BILLY HOWERDEL
What Normal Was ALCHEMY/BMG RECORDS
I LIKE TO SLEEP
Sleeping Beauty RUNE GRAMMOFON
ART-ROCK
Chris Roberts samples the new releases on the prog/rock boundary .
DEREK SHERINIAN
Vortex INSIDEOUT
KNEKKLECTRIC
Alt Blir Verre APOLLON
LAST FLIGHT TO PLUTO
Random Karma, Fate And Destiny WHITE KNIGHT RECORDS
MONO
My Story, The Buraku Story TEMPORARY RESIDENCE
MORLOCK
The Outcasts CINEPLOIT
MY SOLILOQUY
Fusion RARE ARTISTS RECORDS
NEBALA
Lustuz Laþu Wōþuz Alu NORSE MUSIC
PROGRESSIVE FOLK
Paul Sexton travels from New York to Hull in the latest bucolic grab-bag.
THE TANGENT
Songs From The Hard Shoulder INSIDEOUT
RETURNED TO THE EARTH
Fall Of The Watcher RHYTHM DIGITAL
SUN’S SIGNATURE
Sun’s Signature PARTISAN RECORDS
UMPHREY’S McGEE
Asking For A Friend NOTHING TOO FANCY MUSIC
VLMV
Sing With Abandon NICE WEATHER FOR AIRSTRIKES
WIRE
Not About To Die PINK FLAG
ED WYNNE
Tumbling Through The Floativerse KSCOPE
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST
Grant Moon has a rummage down the back of the Prog sofa for the ones that nearly got away…
HORSLIPS
More Than You Can Chew MADFISH
BABE RUTH
Darker Than Blue: The Harvest Years (1972-1975) CHERRY RED
THE FLOWER KINGS
Back In The World Of Adventures/Retropolis INSIDEOUT
KEEF HARTLEY BAND
Sinnin’ For You: The Albums (1969-1973) ESOTERIC
HEMLOCK
Hemlock ESOTERIC
STOMU YAMASHTA
Seasons – The Island Albums 1972-1976 ESOTERIC
SPIROGYRA
The Future Won’t Be Long: The Albums 1971-1973 CHERRY RED
RICK WAKEMAN
The Myths And Legends Of Rick Wakeman CLEOPATRA
FRANK ZAPPA
Zappa/Erie ZAPPA RECORDS/UME
THE WILD WORLD OF BARNEY BUBBLES: GRAPHIC DESIGN AND THE ART OF MUSIC
Paul Gorman THAMES & HUDSON
THE SOUND OF THE MACHINE: MY LIFE IN KRAFTWERK AND BEYOND
Karl Bartos OMNIBUS
JON HISEMAN’S JOURNEY IN THE TIME MACHINE
Martyn Hanson TEMPLE MUSIC
GRAHAM DEAN
Strange Beauty GONZO MULTIMEDIA
OPETH
Mikael Åkerfeldt cries out for more Flying
SIGUR RÓS
VENUE THE MET PHILLY, PHILADELPHIA, USA DATE 07/06/2022
CROWN LANDS
Headcount: yep, there’s definitely only two of them.
TOOL
VENUE THE O2, LONDON DATE 09/05/2022 T he
MAGENTA
VENUE ARLINGTON ARTS, NEWBURY DATE 21/05/2022 M agenta
VON HERTZEN BROTHERS
Never missing a beat: Von Hertzen Brothers. WILL
SYMPHONY X
VENUE PARK WEST, CHICAGO, USA DATE 19/05/2022 SUPPORT
STEELEYE SPAN
F or the first half of this concert
NMB
NMB: doing it all again in London. Has
MYSTIC FESTIVAL
VENUE GDAŃSK SHIPYARD, POLAND DATE 02/06/2022-04/06/2022 R eturning
MY PROG
The great and good of progressive music give us a glimpse into their prog worlds. As told to Grant Moon
FEATURES
IN MEMORY OF VANGELIS
His iconic movie soundtracks paved a new path for electronic music, but there was far more to Chariots Of Fire and Blade Runner composer Vangelis than dramatic film scores. The Aphrodite’s Child instrumentalist and Jon Anderson collaborator became a synth pioneer whose iconic music has even journeyed into space. His death at the age of 79 comes less than a year after the release of the long-awaited Juno To Jupiter. We join the prog world in paying tribute to him.
IN MEMORY OF ALAN WHITE
When Alan White joined Yes in 1972, he couldn’t have imagined that he would still be playing an active role in the band 50 years later. Yes dedicated their recent Close To The Edge UK Tour to the memory of their long-serving drummer, who died in May at the age of 72. The versatile musician was a fast learner who had also played with John Lennon, both in the Plastic Ono Band and on the album, Imagine. We look back over his unexpected career.
THERETURN OF THE THREE PORCUPINE
Never say never. After years of speculation and rumours, Steven Wilson has reunited with his former Porcupine Tree bandmates Richard Barbieri and Gavin Harrison for one of the most unexpected musical reformations. Prog catches up with the trio to discuss the story behind their big comeback album, Closure/Continuation, and find out whether this really is the end of Porcupine Tree’s 30-year career, or just a new chapter.
In Absentia
Where are the other Porcupine Tree members now?
Lightbulb Sons
Five bands that wouldn’t exist without Porcupine Tree.
Brothers, Sisters And Beatrix Tales
Two years after the release of her solo debut, Ms Amy Birks is back with In Our Souls. Her second album finds her returning to her literary roots with inspiration from the Brontë sisters. She tells Prog about its creation and why she’s decided to begin work on a long-awaited new Beatrix Players record.
A Waking Mind Is An Open Mind
How do you stay fresh and vital more than 20 years into a career? The answer, for Claudio Sanchez, was found in revitalising Coheed And Cambria’s sound with an open mind and the help of a producer better known for pop punk than prog rock. Sanchez takes Prog on a curious journey through the latest instalment in The Amory Wars, Vaxis II: A Window Of The Waking Mind.
Maximum Break
Progressive music’s unlikeliest trio are back with a new studio album. The Utopia Strong’s Steve Davis, Kavus Torabi and Michael J York tell Prog how Timothy Leary, experiments on a discounted Chinese guzheng, and a sports promoter accidentally led to the creation of their second official release, International Treasure.
Rewiring Project
Fresh from their recent appearance at Winter’s End Festival, Welsh collective Last Flight To Pluto are ready to embrace Random Karma, Fate And Destiny. Vocalist Alice Freya and drummer Darren Joseph tell Prog why they’ve taken a different approach on their third album and how they hope it’ll help them to reach larger audiences.
One Man And His Prog
Twenty years into a career as one of British prog’s most prolific underground bands, The Tangent are focusing on long-form songs on their 12th album, Songs From The Hard Shoulder. Bandleader Andy Tillison talks to Prog about travel shows, anti-Tangent sentiment, and the rather surprising artist he’d really like to work with.
Dawn Spiritual
On her latest album, Elevation, Susanna Wallumrød rekindles her passion for Charles Baudelaire’s poems but embraces more traditional song structure. The experimental Norwegian musician takes Prog on a musical journey through the work of one of France’s most controversial writers via the art of a 20th-century occultist, Cameron.
THREE SPIRITS
After a brief foray into vocal-led songs, US trio Earthless have taken a more progressive approach on Night Parade Of One Hundred Demons. Their latest album finds them tapping into Japanese folklore and returning to their instrumental roots across three exploratory suites. Guitarist Isaiah Mitchell takes Prog on a journey through their sound.
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