Dancing on a highwire

PETER GILES

The great and good of progressive music give us a glimpse into their prog worlds. As told to Grant Moon.

Singer-songwriter and the voice of the Genesis Revisited shows, Nad Sylvan has moved further away from his onstage persona with his latest solo album, Monumentata . He reveals the story behind the intimate record that pays homage to his late father and finds him mixing up influences – from Pink Floyd and Keith Emerson to The Addams Family !

In 1974, Mike Oldfield defied the critics and hit the top of the UK charts with Hergest Ridge, the ambitious follow-up to his unexpectedly successful debut Tubular Bells . To coincide with the release of the 50th-anniversary edition, the musician, his siblings and collaborators recount the story of an album created by an overwhelmed 21-year-old taking refuge near the Welsh borders.

John Lennon called them “sons of The Beatles”. Axl Rose said there was nothing like them. But how did a trio of Brummies create the progressive orchestral pop rock band who eventually became a global phenomenon following 1975’s breakthrough album Face The Music ?

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