As a teenager I was already fascinated with music and by listening a lot, my musical taste developed more and more towards symphonic rock with the then figureheads Genesis, Pink Floyd, Camel, Yes etc ...... However, it was only after hearing Script for a Jester's Tear by Marillion it became clear to me that I had definitely fallen in love with this music genre. This love has never passed! After Pendragon released The Jewel I was dead sure I had become a real prog-head for ever!
I had the privilege of writing several years for IO Pages, the magazine for "my" music. Due to a stroke in 2020 this became very difficult and I decided to stop because I didn't want to make any concessions regarding the quality of this great magazine. I most certainly don't pretend that this site is the ultimate site for progrock lovers but it is just a hobby site that allows me to share everything related to "our" music.
I have been fascinated by the sound quality of a recording for a long time and have invested a lot in my sound system for years and that eventually led to a beautiful High-End set in my own listening room. At one point I caught myself forgetting to listen to the music itself. I only listened to the soundquality of an album and lost the real pleasure of listening to beautiful music. Then I decided to take a radical step and sold all my equipment. Very impulsive but that got me back to really listening to the music itself. I did this on a headphone set of moderate quality, but this set has grown into a slightly better set over the years. But I enjoy beautiful music again and can lose myself in it again. Music has taken me through many difficult times and is a very important part of my life.
To give you an idea of my personal taste I will hereby reveil my top twentyfive bands with their best albums to date. This surely will change regularly since there are several great releases almost every year and sometimes an album that I haven't listened to for a while can inpress me so much that I have to rearange this list.
Mystery :
Redemption.
Delusion Rain.
The World is a Game.
Arena :
The Visitor.
Pepper's Ghost.
Contagion Max.
Marillion :
Script for a Jester's Tear..
Seasons End.
An Hour before it's Dark.
Huis :
Neither in Heaven.
In the Face of the Unknown.
Abandoned.
Silhouette :
Beyond the seventh Wave.
The World is flat...
Across the Rubicon.
Drifting Sun :
Twlight.
Forsaken Innocence.
Veil.
Chain Reaktor :
Homesick.
Nine Skies :
The Lightmaker.
Knight Area :
Nine Paths.
Under a new Sign.
The Sun also rises.
Pendragon :
Not of this World.
The Masquerade Overture.
Men who climb Mountains.
Millenium :
Tales from imaginary Movies.
The Web.
The Sin.
This Winter Machine :
The Clockwork Man.
The Man who never was.
A Tower of Clocks.
Antony Kalugin Project(s) :
A Message of Peace Tour.
Exotic Creatures and a stolen Dream.
7
Clepsydra :
Alone.
Fears.
The Gap.
Comedy of Errors :
Fanfare & Fantasy
Time Machine.
House of the Mind.
Sylvan :
One to Zero.
Posthumous Silence.
Sceneries.
N.M.B., Neil Morse Band :
Innocence & Danger.
Marathon :
The first Run.
Live.
Norm.
Swappers Eleven :
From a Distance.
Stuckfish :
Days of Innocence.
The Watcher.
IV.
Mindgames :
Actors in a Play.
MMX.
Paradox of Choica.
Nemo :
R€volu$ion.
Si Partie I
Si Partie II.
RPWL :
Crime Scene.
Tales from outer Space.
Beyond Man and Time.
Pallas :
The Messenger.
Wearewhoweare.
The Dreams of Men.
The Ikan Method :
Perfect Tyranny.
You may miss the big names from the early days of prog rock such as Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, Camel, King Crimson, ELP, etc……
I also like these bands and they have certainly been important for the emergence of prog rock as we know it today, but my taste is mainly formed by the revival at the beginning of the 80s.
The term neoprog perhaps best indicates in which direction you can find my preference. To me it doesn't really matter if the music is complicated or the musicians are the best, it sure helps, but I need to really feel the music. It is essential that it moves me. It can make me sad or make me happy but it has to affect me in one way or the other. After many years of trying to pin down the exact reason for me to like something, or not, I can only say that it is a mixture of MELODY, MUSICIANSHIP and EMOTION! Oh yeah, wailing, crying, soothing guitarsolo's are a must :)