Ed’s Letter
Hello, and welcome to the new issue of Prog. I hope the latest issue finds you well and dealing with the ongoing Covid-related restrictions as best you can. As I write there’s plenty of chatter on the internet as listeners attempt to get to grips with progressive music’s strange dichotomy of being, in name, exploratory and constantly evolving music, while a section of the fan community merely wants to hear a familiar sound they feel comfortable with. As is often the case there’s a lot of hot air being spouted, but within the bluster, as always, are some very good points.
In this issue, many of the artists we’ve spoken to have made comments very relevant to the topic in hand, even if they weren’t discussing it directly. Obviously the musical evolution of Steven Wilson (p52) looms large, given the incessant ire it’s generated among some fans. Of the band’s shift in sound in the 70s, Gryphon’s Dave Oberlé says on p88, “You did run the risk of losing some fans along the way but you gained new ones”, while Cosmograf’s Robin Armstrong says in news this month, “I really don’t like to make the same album twice.” Both quotes highlight the hurdle of the prog musician wanting to expand their sound against a fanbase that can sometimes be resistant.
I suppose a lot comes down to your take on what progressive music is – the eternally unanswerable question it seems. Here too, classical musician-turned-progger Anna Hardy (All Around The World, p20) says, “I think progressive rock and classical music share the idea that musical expression should be unlimited”, while Aurélien Goude of French proggers Esthesis (winners of Best Unsigned Band in last issue’s Readers’ Poll, p42) talks of prog as “travelling with sound”.
I like all those comments. They paint a rich, broad and exciting musical landscape, which is how I’ve always viewed progressive rock. Hopefully you do too.
An interesting issue to start 2021 then. Enjoy. Take care and prog on…