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GENERATION PROG
My first proper prog experience came back in 1978 when I heard Lost by Van der Graaf Generator. It was just full of everything and it opened a door to a whole musical universe that is continuing to expand. It was so exciting to realise that there was music like that that had been created and that there were galaxies of it to explore.
Like your first love, your first prog experience always holds a special place in your heart. I fell madly for VdGG and Peter Hammill. Hammill is the greatest English wordsmith since Shakespeare and the music he creates (with his faithful confederates) covers all bases from heartbreaking (Looking Glass) through nihilism (Still Life) and madness (Usher) to the fatalism of his last proper album (Trees).
While I think you could easily devote a whole issue to VdGG/PH, how about a cover feature like theFloyd/Tull/ Crimson/Rush ones, or a really lengthy in depth interview with PH or history of VdGG? While they may not have been as commercially successful as some or all of those artists, none of them can claim to be more progressive with a capital‘P’. If it encourages a handful of new listeners to chance a listen and creates a new generation of devotees to PH and his work, then my work here will be done!