(2xCD and Blue Ray Box Set, Esoteric Recordings) What we have here is the three disc 2CD and Blu-ray version which has been released to coincide with the album’s 50th anniversary and features the original album mix remastered by Ben Wiseman, along with 5.1 surround sound and stereo mixes by Stephen W Tayler and five bonus tracks drawn from rare singles and the album sessions and also includes an illustrated booklet with essay. The music, composed by Andrew Latimer and Peter Bardens, inspired by Paul Gallico’s novella ‘The Snow Goose’, also features The London Symphony Orchestra with arrangements by David Bedford, and I find it difficult to believe there is any proghead who does not have this album in their collection. It is the album I have played more than any other – according to LastFM the second most popular album in my collection is Anthony Phillips’ ‘Private Parts & Pieces X – Soiree’ at 980 songs played, but ‘Music Inspired by the Snow Goose’ is over 2,000. There is somethin...

(69:00; Cherry Red Records) If I look at my profile in LastFM, where I have been recording most of my listening for the last 18 years, I can see Genesis and two ex-Genesis musicians in my Top 8, but Anthony Phillips is at #5, Genesis at #6 and Hackett at #8. No other ex-Genesis musicians feature in my Top 200, it is always to the guitarists I have been most drawn, for different reasons, and it is wonderful to have this long unavailable album released again. It is widely known that one of the reasons Phillips left the band was due to his sever stage fright, so perhaps it is of little surprise that for most of his career he has been a studio musician, but back in 1978, as part of the promotion for his second album ‘Wise After the Event’, it was decided to undertake a few live sessions which saw him play material from both that and ‘The Geese and the Ghost’, plus material which would feature on the next album, ‘Private Parts & Pieces’ plus others which did not appear for some years. A...

(111:00; Cherry Red Records) Here we have a greatly expanded and remastered 2CD set of Anthony’s 1994 album ‘Sail The World’, which was composed and recorded for the UK television coverage of the Whitbread Around the World Yacht Race. It was originally released as 23 tracks, with three more provided on the 2010 remaster, but now it is available as 41 tracks with a total running time of more than 111 minutes. The 24 page booklet not only contains some wonderfully evocative photos but also has another incredibly informative and detailed essay from Jonathan Dann which is a perfect read when listening to this. It must be remembered that this was music written for an event which was actually taking place after everything had been recorded, which meant that Ant had to provide different styles of music at different lengths, not knowing how it would all fit together and whether it would all work. Also, originally there was not supposed to be an album, and it was only due to Rob Ayling’s persua...

(56:45; Shepherds of Cassini) I was at a gig one night, hanging around during the soundcheck, when I recognised one of the musicians, Felix Lun (violin). I hadn’t seen Felix in years, back when he was a member of Shepherds of Cassini, a band I had met a few times and really loved. He remembered me and we chatted about my old reviews, and later that night I also bumped into drummer Omar Al-Hashimi. I often saw multi-instrumentalist Brendan Zwaan (vocals, guitar, keyboards) around the scene or in the studio, so I was asked what had happened with Shepherds, with Omar telling me that bassist Vitesh Bava had moved to Australia which was the reason why they had been dormant, but that he had just returned to NZ so who knew what the future might hold? I must admit I never expected a reformation to happen, but the original quartet are now back with their third album, only ten years on from the last one. I often used to see Brendan playing when he was also a member of Mice on Stilts playing keyb...

(154:00; Cherry Rec Records) When I start discovering rock in the mid-Seventies, myself and a mate worked through his older brother’s record collection discovering bands who no-one was writing about anymore, one of which was the mighty Atomic Rooster. They had multiple line-ups, but for me (and many others) it was the trio of Vincent Crane, John DuCann and Paul Hammond and their album ‘Death Walks Behind You’ which was for me the height of their power. Given the way the band had imploded no-one ever imagined that Crane and DuCann would work together again, but they patched things up and recorded this album in 1980 with session drummer Preston Heyman. This was at the height of NWOBHM in the UK, with bands like Iron Maiden, Samson, Def Leppard, Saxon and Angelwitch all over the radio and in the charts, but here was a band with no bassist and huge amounts of Hammond Organ turning the clock back and showing the oldies could blast it out just as much as the new breed. Esoteric Records have ...

(69:00; Progressive Promotion Records) It is always nice to be able to revisit an old friend, and that is what we have here as towards the end of 2024, Progressive Promotion Records celebrated the 20th anniversary of TBNP’s debut album by issuing a remastered version with two additional demoes and a slightly revised cover. I reviewed it back in the day, and was in contact with Jérémie Grima who started this as a one-man project in 2001 as he wished to record personal musical ideas from a solo viewpoint. In 2002 Jérémie released a demo, which Musea liked and he set up a label called B-Smile Records to promote the album. The project soon became a band, with Jérémie (lead guitar and vocals) being joined by Arnaud Rousset (drums, Brainstore), Antony Leteve, (bass, Spectrum of Oblivion) and Matthieu Jaubert (keyboards).  I really enjoyed the album when it was released, commenting it was let down slightly by the production, which I was sure could be corrected in the future – but did not ...

(121:00; Cherry Red Records) Recorded in Germany during ‘The Final Round Tour 2022’, this album is going to be the last live release from ex-Manfred Mann’s Earth Band vocalist Chris Thompson. It was recorded with his band of 21 years featuring Mads Eriksen, Frank Hovland, Gunnar Bjelland and Zsolt Meszaros, with special guest Marc Rohles, and as one would expect it is packed full of MMEB classics, plus some of his other material, including the song made famous by John Farnham, “You’re The Voice”, giving us 18 songs in total. I have always loved Thompson’s voice but have only seen him in concert once, when he was part of the live version of ‘Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds’ when it toured New Zealand. I was massively disappointed that night as I felt his voice was shot and no longer had the power, control and range, and this album was recorded 15 years or so later. That there is a cooking band on this tour is never in doubt, but Thompson’s voice is suffering wh...

(42:17; We Are Bodies) We Are Bodies are the duo of Dave Pen and Robin Foster who say they create anthemic electro-prog soundscapes that combine guitars and electronics with lyrical subjects inspired by love, loss, paranoia and….robots. Dave Pen is a vocalist and guitarist who is also one half of the alternative/electronic group BirdPen and co-frontman with the experimental trip-rock collective Archive, while Robin Foster is a composer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who has written scores for award nominated movies, Netflix and Amazon Prime dramas, numerous TV commercials and has released several acclaimed solo records with guest vocalists that have included Pen. Imagine if you will a progressive rock band whose main influence is Pet Shop Boys, and then they throw in some atmospheric Muse (no guitars though) and no-man and then release an album. Now, there are some people who will feel this is absolutely amazing, while there will be the odd few who feel this is cloying...

(40:49; Cuneiform Records) What we have here is the 2024 reissue of the final album by the genre-defiant, avant rock French ensemble Volapük, and given it is claimed by many as their finest work I was certainly intrigued to hear it. Prior to this I had only come across their 1999 live album, ‘Pükapök’, which was reissued by Cuneiform in 2023 where I stated “they walked through musical boundaries as if they did not exist”, so this was going to be good. Formed in 1993 by drummer and composer Guigou Chenevier, (ex-Etron Fou Le Loublan, one of RIO’s great bands) with classical musicians Michel Mandel (clarinets, bass clarinet, tárogató) and Guillaume Saurel (cello, 6-string bass) they released two albums as trio before being joined on two more by Takumi Fukushima (violin, vocals). They continued operating until 2010, but this 2003 was the last album, which seems very hard to understand as there is something incredibly compelling about a band who do not recognise any limits or constraints o...

(61:45; Iapetus [Unsung Records] ) What we have here is a new band formed by ¾ of Anchor and Burden, namely Markus Reuter (Touch Guitars S8 and AU8, Loops and Soundscapes), Alexander Paul Dowerk (Touch Guitars U8 Deluxe and S8) with Asaf Sirkis (drums and percussion, vocals). Bernhard Wöstheinrich is the person missing, but I have no idea where he would have been able to fit in his keyboards and electronics as this music is intense and comes at the listener like a solid slab of thought with no room at all for anything additional. The instruments and musicians are clearly defined, yet at the same time it feels as if they been synchronised and arranged in such a manner that all oxygen has been take out of the room. That is not to say there is no room for dynamics or the use of space, but it is all carefully controlled and massively intense. All involved are known for their improvisational abilities, but this feels as if the guys started with ideas and have then finessed and rehearsed the...

(112:00; InsideOut Music) Recorded on June 1st, 2024 at COS Torwar in Warsaw, ‘Live ID.’ completes the ‘ID.Entity’ album cycle with a limited edition 2CD+Blu-ray Digipak, a gatefold 3LP on 180g vinyl or as digital album, but no matter how you get this, you will be treated to 12 songs and 110 minutes of music. Right from the off the band set out their stall with the Floydian and bass-driven “#Addicted” from 2015’s ‘Love, Fear and the Time Machine’. Singer and bassist Mariusz Duda is always in full control, providing basslines which often form the main melody, while the only other constant, drummer Piotr Kozieradzki, keeps it tight at the back, never over playing. The role of keyboard player Michał Łapaj is often to provide curtains of sound to wrap everything within, and then we get the attack of guitarist Maciej Meller which gives us the crunch and allows the band to become very heavy when the time is right. I have been a fan of the band ever since Artur Chachlowski gave me a copy of t...

(74:38; Quasar) I first reviewed this album in 1992, three years after it was released, and then again in 2013. Now in 2025 I find myself writing about it again, but why? Although this album was released in 1989, what many people may not be aware of is that the previous year a version was released on cassette with a very different line-up, with the same track listing and order but it was called ‘Forgotten Dreams’. Keith found the original tapes, had them digitally recovered, so now we have two versions of the same album on the same release, with Keith and drummer Dave Wagstaffe being the only common members between the two, which were recorded only a year apart.   On this set we have the well-known version of ‘The Loreli’ first, which features Tracy Hitchings (lead vocals), Toshi Tsuchiya (guitar), Keith Turner (bass, 12-string guitar, keyboards) and Dave Wagstaffe (drums, vibes, triangle). I still remember the first time I played this album, something over 20 years ago, as I ...

(82:25; Quasar) In 1990, Quasar were touring on the basis of their second album, The Loreli’, which had been released the previous year. The line-up at the time was Tracy Hitchings (vocals, keyboards), Toshi Tsuchiya (guitar, keyboards), Dave Wagstaffe (drums) and Keith Turner (bass, 12-string) and this recording finds them at The Noordelight in front of a very keen audience. This line-up would not last much longer with Dave joining ex-Quasar members Steve Leigh and Uwe D’Rose in the new band, Landmarq, and Tracy recording a solo album and working with Clive Nolan. Keith has continued to keep Quasar going with different musicians, both in the UK and America, and I can only hope there will be more new music soon as this is a delight. Tracy is probably one of the finest British female singers to never truly make the big time, although she was certainly highly regarded within the progressive scene and worked with Clive Nolan for years until she moved to Australia. It was there that we got...

(51:45; Quasar) In 1984 Quasar performed at The Heathery Bar in Wishaw, with the tapes later being restored and enhanced, being released as this live album in 2016. At the time the line-up was Susan Robinson (vocals), Cyrus Khajavi (guitar), Dillon Tonkin (keyboards), Tony Peart (drums) and Keith Turner (bass, 12-String) with the set comprising most of the debut album, along with two songs which later changed names but were both on the follow-up release, ‘The Loreli’. This set contains 9 songs, but it is possible that four of these are also available on ‘Quasar Live 1984-1990’, given that set contains four songs by this line-up recorded in 1984, with the others coming from the 1990 line-up (all of which I think are now available on ‘Live At The Noorderlight’). The sound quality is a bit ropey at times, more like a good bootleg as opposed to a full live recording, but it certainly allows us to hear just how good this band was. Sue had already cut her teeth with Solstice, and at this tim...

(33:43; Quasar) Back in 1982, Quasar released their debut studio album, which featured Paul Vigrass (lead vocals), Cyrus Khajavi (guitar synthesizer), Peter Ware (keyboards), Peter Shade (vibraphone), Steen Doosing (drums), andKeith Turner (bass, Moog bass pedals, 12-string guitar), and David Cairns (drums), along with a few guests. It was later reissued in 1990, with a different cover, and then many years later Keith contacted Graham Joiner of Audio Restored to create digital multitrack masters from the old master tapes, but to Keith’s surprise they did not contain Paul’s vocals, but instead those of Susan Robinson. Susan was highly regarded as lead singer of Quasar in the Eighties (the band have suffered from multiple line-up changes), yet apart from a live tape there was nothing officially released. Apparently this was recorded after the release of the album itself and on Bandcamp it states that all the tracks are original takes apart from the vocals, which is why the cover is virtu...

(52:02; GEP Records) Here we have the latest release from current/past members/collaborators of Spock’s Beard, Ted Leonard (lead vocals, guitar), John Boegehold (synths, programming, Mellotron, guitars, ronrocco, vocals), Dave Meros (bass) and Jimmy Keegan (drums, percussion). This is their fifth since their 2019 debut (during which time there have been no releases from SB), and their first on GEP Records. I did smile when I saw that, as I first came across ‘The Light’ nearly 30 years ago when Martin Orford sent me the American original, telling me that GEP were about to release it in the UK, so in some ways it feels we have come full circle. All those involved are great musicians, and have worked together in one way or another for decades and here it really shows. Meros has always been one of the very finest, and criminally under-rated, bassists in the prog world and here he can often be found holding down the melody while others around him spin off at tangents. Leonard may be first a...

(50:01; Vallis Lupi) Paskinel is in some ways an offshoot of Alco Frisbass given it is the project of  Patrick "Paskinel" Dufour (synthesizer and keyboard, drum programming and composition) and Frédéric "Tourneriff" Chaput (electric guitar, bass guitar, mixing), with the former being a founder of that band and the latter joining in time for the second album. This is brought home even more given that the other member of that outfit, Fabrice Chouette, guests on the first track providing organ. There are a few guests on that opening track, which arguably is the most Canterbury sounding of them all, while throughout the album RPI is also present, plus some RIO. Dufour composed all eight tracks, and the result is something which feels very heavily entrenched in the Seventies, with Camel and Andy Latimer definitely providing some of the influences, which given Dufour is a keyboard player is somewhat surprising. He uses some wonderful old sounds to provide a basis for othe...

(48:20; Oddleaf) Over the years one of the questions I find myself being asked, and also asking myself, is why on earth do I keep reviewing? Why do I give myself the stress of backlogs and knowing people are waiting for me to say what I think about their music, and why do I keep churning out quarter of a million words a year? The simple answer is for times like these, when a band sends me their debut album and I fall in love with it from the off. Prior to Carina sending me an email I had never heard of her or this band, but now we have been in contact I am already looking forward to seeing what they come up with next. Apparently, Oddleaf came about when in 2020 Carina (keyboards, compositions) and Mathieu Rossi (flute/electronic Flute) decided to create a Progressive Rock project, after a decade of touring the worlds of Early and Medieval Music. The following year the line-up was completed by the addition of Clément Curaudeau (drums), Olivier Orlando (bass & guitar) and Olivier Mar...

(72:38; Spheric Music) Track list: 1. Empress 7:27 2. Molecules 5:29 3. Mr. Bloom 6:01 4. Tree 602 6:02 5. Never Again 6:20 6. Scaramanzia 5:27 7. Rush Hour 4:04 8. Anyway 5:54 9. Home 5:20 10. Weightless Heart 6:44 11. Stasis 6:33 12. Letters 7:17 Line-up: Gerald Arend - all instrumetns with: Ruth Arend - voice  Prolusion. German project Klangwelt is the creative vehicle of German composer and musician Gerald Arend, and besides working in the multimedia and video games industry he has been releasing albums under the Klangwelt name since 2002. The most recent of these is the album "Second Nature", which was released through German label Spheric Music in the spring of 2025. Analysis The music of Klangwelt is one that doesn't really uphold any specific style conventions, but rather these are creations that mix and blend elements from a number of different sources and explore them in a variety of subtly different manners. With ambient music, electronic pop music and progress...

(47:38; Neuma Records) Track list: 1. Into the Night 4:00 2. Over Here 6:50 3. Clarity 4:17 4. Easy Does It 3:57 5. Lament 7:14 6. I Cry Too 4:37 7. So, Fly Sky High 4:03 8. Over There 6:23 9. Motion 6:17 Line-up: Jeannine Wagar - all instruments Prolusion. US artist and composer has a long and substantial career as a professional musician and conductor behind her, and is still very much an active presence in the US music scene. Following decades of professional work in the music field, she released her first solo album "Into the Night" in the spring of 2025 through US label Neuma Records. Analysis. This is one of the numerous albums I encounter during the course of a year that I find to have qualities that will make it an interesting one for a progressive rock oriented audience, while not being a production that explore this style and tradition as such. In this case we get an album that exist somewhere inside the triangle of neo-classical music, ambient music and cosmic, ele...

(50:08; The Rust Music) Track list: 1. Ascension 4:01 2. Stargazer 3:58 3. Nebula 4:35 4. Pale Blue Dot 3:27 5. Above the Horizon 7:50 6. Celestial Awe 4:36 7. Alpha Centauri 5:07 8. Tralfamadore 2:55 9. Silver Seed 3:52 10. Air Born Again 3:37 11. Cosmic Waltz 6:10 Line-up: Jens Berents Christiansen - pianette, würlitzer, synthesizers, programming, cembalo, guitars, percussion, recorder Sven Dam Meinild  - flute, EWI, clarinets, saxophone. Maria Jagd - violin, viola Emil de Waal - drums, percussion, bowed metal Helene Tungelund - Celtic harp with: Anders Stig Möller - bass Nicolai Land - bass  Anna Roemer - guitars Yana Couto - piano Disa - vocals Todo Haruka - voice Prolusion. Danish artist Rumpistol revolve around Danish composer and musician Jens Berents Christiansen, and for the past twenty years and a bit he has been releasing solo albums at a regular pace, in addition to creating score music and being involved in various band projects. This spring he is out with the sol...