Ed’s Letter

Hello, and welcome to the new issue of Prog magazine. So, what was the first prog album then? I’m sure everyone will have an opinion, and I’m equally sure those opinions are likely to wildly differ! Now we’re not saying that The Moody Blues’ Days Of Future Passed was actually the first prog album, but it was certainly one of them. A conceptual suite that introduced the idea of orchestral, symphonic rock, it certainly set The Moody Blues on a course to amazing success, selling in the region of 70 million albums over the years! In this issue we tell the story behind the groundbreaking release, which Rolling Stone originally claimed was “drowning itself in conceptual goo”, hence our coverline, but later reassessed as one of the essential albums of 1967.

Also in this issue, Jean-Michel Jarre discusses his new album, Oxymore, Bill Nelson fills us in on his Red Noise project, Gordon Giltrap looks back over an amazing career, and Magenta, Devin Townsend, Galahad, Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Dim Gray and VLMV tell us all about their latest releases. Plus there’s the Prog magazine writers’ albums of the year, which always encourages interesting debate from the readers. Turn to p70 to find out what we voted for.

I’ll also take this opportunity to highlight our free label samplers. This month we have 21 excellent tracks of new music from Norwegian label Apollon Records, featuring Major Parkinson (and I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing singer Jon Ivar Kollbotn a speedy recovery from his recent heart attack), Caligonaut, Ring Van Möbius, Adventure, Professor Tip Top and more. I often see posts from people on social media bemoaning a lack of new music so here’s your chance to listen to some great new tunes completely free of charge. Or check out the Magazine Playlist (the link’s up there on the left) and listen to the bands in the magazine. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.

Until next time, stay safe and prog on…

Jerry Ewing – Editor