Progressive Rock Focus

I can't think of another artist who could feature on this blog who has been on the UK X Factor. I mean, the X Factor and progressive rock are not natural bedfellows. However, Tiger Moth Tales, one of the many projects of Peter Jones, is proper prog, and this album is a must listen for fans of the more melodic wistful end of the prog spectrum. The first song is called A Visit To Chigwick and to those of us born around the 1960s the cultural resonance is very clear. Consider Jones was born in 1980, it's a bit surprising he nails this so well, but he does. It clocks in at over 8 minutes, and I wouldn't be pushing it too far to suggest this is something of a masterpiece. For some people, it might err on the side of twee, but it's done with such enthusiasm and warmth that you'd have to be very cynical not to like it. Jones continues to mine English cultural references with track 2, Toad Of Toad Hall. It's not very serious, but again he's fully committed. It makes...

Oh my goodness I am listening to something amazing. I have just discovered, through a random association on Amazon Music (I was listening to Jadis), the incredible Rachel Flowers, an American multi-instrumentalist and composer. There's an excellent mini-bio on IMDb which I've linked below. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5231044/bio/ Composer is important, because these songs are not thrown together in five minutes. You can hear the thought and craft that went into them. On top of that, she's a great singer. And her lyrics are excellent! How do I describe her music? Well, it's definitely progressive rock. Extended themes. Three of the songs are longer than 10 minutes and the album clocks in at 67 minutes. The melodies, though, are out of this world. There's an American twist to some of them which at times reminds me of TV theme tunes, but in a good way. Kind of progressive rock and soft jazz. Track 7, for example, "The Darkness" has a sublime refrain which bui...