(49:48; Progressive Promotion Records) Rick is back with his 21st album, which is the 14th in succession which I have reviewed, starting all the way back with 2009’s ‘Falling Through Rainbows’. These days Rick is hugely consistent with his output, with this being is seventh album in seven years, and with exactly the same personnel as last year’s ‘Perspective’, three of whom have been with him for more than 20 years. Heavily influenced by The Moody Blues and the more atmospheric releases from David Gilmour and Steve Hackett, one always knows what one is going to get with Miller, a heavily dreamy version of symphonic rock with his vocals providing another ambient nature. Mind you, those who think he has forgotten what the volume control is for on his guitar, or the use of dynamics, should look closely at the longest track on the album, “The Game”. It is this song which has been used as the inspiration for the cover art, and changes melody and approach during its nine plus minutes. I alwa...

(60:00; Progressive Promotion Records) The guys are more settled on this their latest release, with  Pete Mush (synths), Tom Tee (guitar), and Jaro (bass) now having a full-time drummer in Jazzper Coulier, who was one of three drummers on the ‘Oneironauts’. Flautist Charles Sla is back again as a guest along with cellist Lyssa Toyimbo but no room this time for Ozric’s Ed Wynne which is a shame, as if any band is continuing his work, it must be these Belgians. This is their tenth album, and the fifth I have heard out of the last six, and they are getting even more complex as they mix dance with space rock, psychedelia, tribal and so much more. When this album is on and the music is blasting out it is like nothing else exists as it takes control of the senses, and although they can slow it down when they wish and provide the contrast and dynamics which music needs to breathe, the listener knows it is just time to rest until they come back again with a vengeance. It is Ozrics mixed wi...

(39:37; Protos) Protos was formed in 1977 by Rory Ridley-Duff (keyboards) and Steve Anscombe (guitars), and their 1982 debut album, ‘One Day a New Horizon’, had an expanded line-up which included Neil Goldsmith, Iain Carnegie and Nigel Rippon. By 1984 the band was no more, but Ridley-Duff and Anscombe stayed active in the music scene, and following on from a CD reissue of the album in 2006 they released a new album the following year. What we have here is a new keyboards and drums version of the original with Ridley-Duff being joined by drummer Alex Warwick. Apparently Anscombe was involved in the arrangements but was too ill to be musically active as he was suffering from a terminal illness, and on the front cover it states, “In memory of Stephen Anscombe”. It is somewhat unusual for a band to revisit their debut so long after the original was released, and although I probably know more underground prog than many, I must confess I have never come across the original. This album has th...

(39:41; The Laser's Edge) Poly-Math are a British instrumental act formed in 2013 by guitarist Tim Walters who was originally drummer of post-rock band Monsters Build Mean Robots. He wanted to focus on guitar and instrumental music and was soon joined by bassist Joe Branton and drummer Chris Woollison. Shortly after the release of their 2018 album, ‘House Of Wisdom | We Are The Devil’ they were joined by American multi-instrumentalist Josh Geesner, who had relocated to the UK, and although they moved to a quintet for a short while with saxophonist Chris Olsen joining the ranks they are once again operating as a quartet.  Musically this is all over the place with an incredibly diverse set of influences ranging from early classic prog, Ethio-jazz, post-rock, math rock, African tribal rhythms and so much more. There is a great deal going on at all times with hugely complex and complicated arrangements and massive note density, which means the listener needs to pay close attention to w...

(48:47; Knoydart Records) The latest album from the quartet of George Robertson (drums and percussion), David Boothby (guitar, soundscapes), James Blackford (guitar), and Tom Blackford (bass, synth, soundscapes, xenochrony) comprises three long-form compositions built from improvisations recorded in December 2024 at Karma Studios, Stoke Newington and released in April of this year. These days I listen to a great deal of improvised music, although I prefer the term “live composition”, and given the complexity of the music on show it is quite difficult to believe much of this was not rehearsed beforehand as these feel much more like carefully constructed and scored pieces. Mind you, I do not know how much work was undertaken after that event to result in the album I am now listening to, but whatever happened it really works. Here we have a guitar-led ambient progressive rock album with tendencies towards classic Pink Floyd, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre and others which definitely has some...

(3xCD Box Set, Esoteric Recordings) This album has been very slowly growing on me the more I have listened to it, but there is no way this stands up against the earlier classic releases, and the answer to that is pretty obvious, no guitarist and lead vocalist Roye Albrighton and the introduction (for this album only) of guitarist/vocalist Dave Nelson. The vocals were now split among the four musicians, there was a move to shorter songs and a more melodic rock/AOR approach, while Mick Brockett was no longer listed as a member of the band although he was still providing the special effects and lights he had always done, and was not in the band photo. This 3 CD reissue from Esoteric provides a lengthy essay from Mo Moore plus photos while on the musical front the first disc contains the same bonus tracks as the 2005 remaster, the second disc contains a live set from Hofstra University, Long Island October 1977 which was part of the 2014 remaster, while now we also get another live set on ...

(44:28; Dur et Doux) Monsieur Thibault came together in 2015 after Myriam Bovis (bass,  vocals), Frédéric L'Homme (drums, synths, vocals) and Paul Muszynski (guitar, vocals) met the previous year during the Forest Sessions (a short-lived music collective made up of members of the Lille music scene with the aim of composing an album in four to five days). They were soon joined by Philippe Delgrange (bass, vibraphonette, vocals) and ‘Port-Cucu’ is their second album, following on from the 2019 debut ‘Go Gauthier!’ and the  ‘3/4 ciel’ EP which was released in 2023. I started listening to this sometime after receiving it, and even without looking up the details I knew this was a Dur et Doux release, as they concentrate on artists who have a very RIO/independent mindset which is quite distinctive and these guys fit that mould to a tee. The closest artist I can think of in terms of mindset would be Zappa, as they move through the absurd to styles that are technically complex yet som...