Ed’s Letter
Hello, and welcome to the new issue of Prog. As I write this, we’ve just passed the halfway point of the year. To say it’s been a strange one so far would be something of an understatement. Three months of anticipation slowly building for what 2020 had in store and then, wallop! The rug was well and truly whipped out from under our feet!
Sometimes it’s difficult to take stock of what’s going on with new developments flying at us thick and fast. On the other hand, lockdown has given us all plenty of time to ruminate. Sometimes too much time.
But music is a great leveller. And despite much of our everyday lives suffering severe disruption, we have the music of our past to keep us company, and music of the future to look forward to. Fortunately we’ve been able to keep Prog going throughout the upheaval (although it’s been sad to see there have been some magazine casualties recently), and hopefully our reporting of the progressive scene has been of some comfort. As I mentioned last issue, I look at an increasingly busy prog schedule over the coming months and that really is quite exciting.
In this issue, cover star Steven Wilson discusses In Absentia as we look at how Porcupine Tree’s 2002 album, their first for a major label, was one of modern progressive music’s most influential records. We take a fascinating look at how prog really fared against punk back in 1977. And I’m delighted to point you in the direction of our Wild Thing Records sampler for you to download, highlighting some of the best modern prog that Australia has to offer. Details are on page 19.
So I hope you enjoy this issue of Prog. We’re back on August 21. Until then, take care of yourselves and prog on...