The Spirit Of Prog (sponsored by EMI)

Winners: Jethro Tull, presented by Roy Harper

Gentlemen, we trust that your evening is proceeding swimmingly?

Ian Anderson: Yes, immensely so. I’m really enjoying Roy’s company.

Roy Harper: Likewise.

Anderson: I’ve spent most of my time marveling at the impossibly tight-trousered people around us. And also at those sporting such incredibly exotic hair. In many instances I thought it had to be fake but now I’m up close to one of them I can see that yours is real.

[Your correspondent laughs with embarrassment and moves on]. Unless I’m mistaken this is a first time at the Classic Rock Awards for you both.

Harper: It’s much, much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I expected some homely little party, but it’s a very big deal.

Anderson: I’ve been very, very impressed by the mutual sense of support from everybody that I’ve spoken to; from fellow musicians, to those employed by the magazine, also those from the print media and radio stations. In these troubled economic times there’s a sense of everybody pulling together and saying: ‘Listen, we need each other in order to keep music going on at this level’. It feels like a family affair, but in very glossy circumstances. I’m glad that I’m not footing the bill for it all [laughs]. Let me ask you a question.

Go on.

Anderson: This year you have Gene Simmons but who was the genial host at the last event?

Alice Cooper.

Anderson: So you have a habit of picking Americans?

They tend to have a superior gift of the gab, but if you’re putting yourself forward then for 2012 then get in the application as early as possible. Anyway, let’s talk about the Spirit Of Prog. Why has it undergone such a spectacular renaissance?

Anderson: I couldn’t begin to explain it, but that’s definitely the case. During the last five years there’s been such a transformation of the audience, especially in Latin America. Whereas before it was mainly men in their fifties, now we get late teens to early twenties and even some girls – clearly with the money to pay for expensive tickets, but still having their vinyl copies of Thick As A Brick. It’s quite a sea change. We also noticed it in Italy and Spain, all throughout Southern Europe and the Mediterranean countries.

And in the UK?

Anderson: Here and in America the demographic is still skewed towards the geriatrics, but in the Latin counties there are kids buzzing for what is to them a whole different kind of music… not what their parents or even their grandparents listened to.

Harper: Things are coming round again, in a repercolated manner. In my own case, a lot of young American artists are claiming me as an influence – and we’re talking about some household names – which is creating a younger audience for the kind of things that I was doing thirty or forty years ago. I think this thing is going to carry on for some time yet.

(Interview: Dave Ling)

The awards issue of Classic Rock is on sale now.
Buy the digital edition here http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id451398560?mt=8&affId=1621074&ign-mpt=uo%3D6 or here http://bit.ly/sQiaRB
Zinio editions are available here http://bit.ly/ukyn52 or here http://bit.ly/rAwV8P

Page played acoustic guitar for The Same Old Rock, the song which appeared on Harper’s 1971 album Stormcock, when Page played under the pseudonym of S. Flavious Mercurious.

Harper also paid tribute to both Bert Jansch and David Bedford, both of whom died recently.

Find out more at www.tightbutloose.co.uk

The live photos here are courtesy of Tight But Loose.

To celebrate this landmark, Eddie, Stone, Jeff, Matt, Mike and others take you through the 20 songs that built the band. Watch the trailer for the new Cameron Crowe doc Pearl Jam Twenty here: http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/pearl-jam-twenty/trailer

Also in thjs packed issue:

Lou Reed/Metallica

“It’s not a party album.” Lou Reed and Metallica tell us all about their collaboration album, Lulu. Listen to the first taster here: http://soundcloud.com/loureedmetallica/the-view

Rod Stewart

Every Picture Tells A Story. The in-depth, eye-witness tale of Rod’s classic album that arrived by accident. Watch Rod’s classic TOTP Maggie May appearance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcoWUt51zaU&feature=fvwrel

Sham 69

Too punk for punk? Too working-class for a fashion-led London media? As they prepare to re-form, frontman Jimmy Pursey and guitarist Dave Parsons look back. See Sham play Borstal Breakout at Reading 1978 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6utdlMvuD74&feature=related

Opeth

Goodbye death metal beginnings, hello new, metal-free album Heritage. We sneak a peek inside the Scandinavian progsters’ strange world and weird head-space. See their creey video for new track The Devil’s Orchard here: http://pitchfork.com/news/44090-video-opeth-the-devils-orchard/

The Answer

To celebrate the release of their third album, Classic Rock takes the Northern Irish boys for a night on the tiles in their hometown. You should hear the tales they told… See videos on the making of the album here: http://www.theanswer.ie/

Tony Iommi

Knife-carrying gang member, heavy metal pioneer, rock icon, classic-riff architect… Life has had its moments of both heaven and hell for the Black Sabbath guitarist. Watch CR’s Malcolm Dome interview him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLoJ92y8Zk0

Jani Lane

He wanted to be more than ‘The Cherry Pie guy’. But alcohol, demons and ridicule led to his demise. Watch him talk about why he hates that song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR1xpknCHCQ

The Dirt

Jeff Beck hints at teaming up with Robert Plant; Blackmore, Paice, Frampton, Schenker and Wylde among the guests on William ‘Captain Kirk’ Shatner’s new album of classic rock covers; Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan to rejoin Quo? Welcome back Lindsey Buckingham, Slim Chance and Girlschool…

The New Blues Rock Super-Duos

We speak to Beth Hart about her new album with Joe Bonamassa, and Susan Tedeschi about the Tedeschi Trucks Band (a collaboration with her husband and Allmans guitarist Derek Trucks):

Watch Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa being interviewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU3nwMRXxZg Hear them playing Tom Waits’ Chocolate Jesus at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TkitGRoGM8&feature=related

See the Tedeschi Trucks Band interviews here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_EYXYR8RY. Watch them performing Midnight In Harlem here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7czlanjaObs&feature=related

Photo Pass

Brian May

“I had this image of Brian as this sort of ‘time lord of fruit’.” Patrice De Villiers recalls photographing the grapefruit-loving Queen guitarist at his home in Surrey.

The Stories Behind The Songs

Anthrax & Public Enemy

Between the paint-guns, the cross-dressing and the late-night philosophy, it’s a wonder this 1991 crossover thrash-hop masterpiece even got made.

Q&A

Peter Gabriel

“The first time I got a phone call from space, I was out.” The former Genesis man on technology, cracking movies, pop stardom (briefly), and almost riding the Space Shuttle.

Fly On The Wall

Rolling Stones

When the Stones staged their spectacular Rock And Roll Circus comeback in 1968, they ended up being upstaged by The Who and looking like clowns. Watch The Who blowing everyone away here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ku7QNRudg

Heavy Load

Gene Simmons

The Kiss man on Gene Simmons, making money, wasting money, and how if he was in charge the police would have baseball bats and drug dealers would be dead.

Plus there’s a massive reviews section. With new albums from Lou Reed & Metallica, The Union, Foreigner, Megadeth, Johnny Winter… Reissues from The Who, Dream Theater, Yes, Nazareth, Whitesnake, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix… Books on Frank Zappa, The Kinks, progressive rock, Captain Beefheart… DVD on Mott The Hoople… Live reviews of Pearl Jam, Jane’s Addiction.

There’s also a great free DVD, featuring live  performances from Roy Harper, Van Der Graaf Generator, Caravan, The Zombies and others. That’s in the UK. Overseas it will be a 14-track free CD, featuring such artists as Donnie Vie, Vain, Shy and Amebix. The covers for both are below.

All this and so much more in the new issue of Clsssic Rock. On sale right now!

In a career that began in the late 60s, he worked with the likes of Kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield, Roy Harper, Edgar Broughton Band , Camel and Robert Wyatt.

He also released a number of well-received albums in his own right.

Find out more at http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/davidbedford/

Kaboom! The latest issue of Classic Rock Presents Prog gets inside 1971, the year that prog rock broke. Interviews with Jon Anderson, Roy Harper, Gentle Giant, Caravan, ELP and more profile the birth of prog, as Fish, Steve Hogarth, Peter Nicholls, Nick Barrett, Brian Devoil, John Mitchell and Steven Wilson describe how their young lives were shaped by the sights and sounds that came out of this year, and how it changed music forever as they carried the torch on. To cap it all, we’ve collated your votes in our 1971 Readers’ Top Ten. Is your favourite in there? Grab a copy now and find out… 

Also in the issue:

Jon Anderson on ABWH – the band that said no to Yes! 

John Wetton returns – healthier, happier and ready to spread his wings. 

Jakszyk, Fripp & Collins – what the Schizoid men did next. 

Kate Bush stars as our maverick – through the eyes of brother John Carder Bush. 

Devin Townsend – the mad professor of prog metal gets experimental. 

Plus: Symphony X, Mogwai, Caravan, …Trail Of Dead, King’s X, Blackfield, Marillion, Yes, Arbouretum, UK, Nektar, Moon Duo, Michael Giles, Blood Ceremony, Touchstone, Roger Waters, Comus, Amorphis, Neal Morse, Wobbler – and, of course, Rick Wakeman’s regular Caped Crusades column. 

There’s always the free CD too featuring 11 artists from Solstice to Graveyard with an EXCLUSIVE Jon Anderson track on as well. 

If you can’t get to a newsagent, find Prog here. 

It really is the dawning of a new era.

Be it The Yes Album, Alpha Centauri, Islands, Aqualung, Tago Mago, Tarkus, Meddle or something even more strange and wonderful, tell us your 10 favourite 1971 albums now by emailing Prog HQ on prog@futurenet.co.uk. The closing date is Friday, May 6.

 Never mind Thursday¹s referendum, here¹s the poll you¹ll have to say, er, yes to. Cough. We¹ll get our (Afghan) coats!

 The results will be revealed in all their glory in the next issue of Prog, on sale Wednesday, June 1.  Get scribbling.

The current issue of Prog – featuring Rush, The Nice, Roy Harper, Judy Dyble, It Bites, Mastodon, John Renbourn, Pendragon, two free CDs and loads more in a lavishly illustrated Time Machine wallet – is available now at all good newsagents.

By the way folks, don¹t post your votes up here, we can only count what you
email in. Ta!

It has a lavishly illustrated Rush spectacular celebrating their current Time Machine tour that features an exclusive in-depth chat with sticksman/lyricist Neil Peart – his first rock magazine interview in five years – plus Geddy Lee on the evolution of the band, the Time Machine set-up and 30 years of Moving Pictures.

Also in this issue:

* On the road with Fairport Convention and the story of Babbacombe Lee.

* Here come The Nice: Keith Emerson and Lee Jackson pop into Prog HQ

* Judy Dyble: Fairport and Robert Fripp’s original muse tells us her extraordinary story – and all about her new album and anthology

* Cumbria’s finest, It Bites, on their new live DVD and the concept album in the pipeline

* In the run-up to his arena shows, ex-Supertramp star Roger Hodgson reveals all in his feud with Rick Davies

* Plus! We explore Roy Harper’s Stormcock as our Masterwork, Pentangle maestro John Renbourn as our Maverick, and cram in new bands Phaedra, Konchordat, Rose Kemp and Arcane Roots.

* Want more? How about Adrian Belew, Presto Ballet, Mastodon, Wolverine, Beardfish, Peter Gabriel, ELP, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Van der Graaf, Pendragon, Marillion, Radiohead, Haken and Touchstone?

Of course we mustn’t forget our regular FREE Prognosis CD, this issue featuring 11 tracks from Twelfth Night, Liam Davison, John Young, Talanas, Aethenor and more, and for UK and subscription customers* we are proud to include an exclusive bonus CD, Starcrazy – An Introduction To Judy Dyble, a seven-track sampler from the folk-prog songstress’ singular catalogue, including two outstanding new tracks.

Phew, what a scorcher.

*this CD will not be available to customers outside of the UK for contractual reasons.

Find out more at http://www.royharper.co.uk/

Right now, it’s not known whether another artist will take this slot, or whether Roth himself will reschedule.

But Roy Harper’s performance on April 2 goes ahead.

He’ll be appearing at Metropolis Studio in West London on Saturday, April 2. Harper will be playing two 45-minutes, and fans will have a champagne reception, meet the man himself and get your name on both the DVD and also the credit roll of the programme.

There are just 125 tickets available.

Find out more at http://www.metropolis-group.co.uk/