Back catalogue: Progressive Rock

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record has light surface marks/scratches, otherwise in excellent working condition***


Amused To Death is the third studio album from Roger Waters outside of his work in Pink Floyd. As one of the fundamental creative forces in the prog behemoth, of course it's hard to separate his solo work from that most famous of bands, but this is indeed its own beast. At times it's an experimental space in which Waters uses space and minimalism to great effect, creating a foreboding sound peppered with speech samples and field recordings. There are of course plenty of more straightforward tracks too, like lead single 'What God Wants, Part 1'. This lavish issue of the 1992 album spreads the music out across four discs and comes in a box set format, a must-have for devoted Floyd and Waters collectors.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Torn inner sleeve, otherwise in excellent working condition***


Amused To Death is the third studio album from Roger Waters outside of his work in Pink Floyd. As one of the fundamental creative forces in the prog behemoth, of course it's hard to separate his solo work from that most famous of bands, but this is indeed its own beast. At times it's an experimental space in which Waters uses space and minimalism to great effect, creating a foreboding sound peppered with speech samples and field recordings. There are of course plenty of more straightforward tracks too, like lead single 'What God Wants, Part 1'. This lavish issue of the 1992 album spreads the music out across four discs and comes in a box set format, a must-have for devoted Floyd and Waters collectors.

Review: If we were to tell you that the original touring show for this now slightly more than 40 year old Jethro Tull album featured a stage built to resemble a Viking longship and the band performing in medieval costume, your reaction would very much give us a good indication of whether you were likely to enjoy the LP itself. Coming, in 1982, as the band hit a serious crossroads, with singer Ian Anderson wanting to embrace new synth technology and others favouring sticking to the traditional prog/rock/folk triptych that had been so successful in the previous decade, it's actaully more modern in places than its sleeve suggests, with 'Watching Me Watching You' in particular showing the influence of Peter Gabriel's first solo albums and standing the test of time well. With a heap of extras, including a heap of contemporaneous live recordings from Germany, the Tull completist will be donning their viking helmet at the merest sniff of it.

Review: Don't get it confused; this isn't just a simple reissue of Neu!'s first album, but rather a tributary collection box of the krautrock pioneers' first four albums. And that's not to mention all the new reworks of the debut LP's tracks from various bands whose members double up as megafans - including Mogwai, The National, and Idles. A stonking, lead double-time EBM remix of 'Hallogallo' comes from Stephen Morris and Gabe Guernsey, and sets an impressive-progressive tone for the album to follow.

Review: If you type ELO into Google today the first suggestion is Elon Musk. Sure, he might have cracked, to some extent at least, the mass-marketed electric car, and all the best to him in the space race. Nevertheless, it's disputable whether or not he was ever quite the visionary Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, and Bev Bevan were in the early-mid-1970s. The undisputed heyday of Electric Light Orchestra, fourth album Eldorado was arguably at the peak of their creative force. Already having firmly established their sound - a surreal hybrid of bar rock, soul, blues, and grand strings - this record really sees them explore the possibilities of that abstract brew. Better yet, ears were open enough at the time to ensure they didn't languish in obscurity, sole reserve of the obsessives or deliberately contrary listeners, and instead claimed a spot in the upper echelons of British pop at the time.