Description: "Progressive rock - a genre formed out of a creative surge in the late Sixties and throughout the Seventies - originated and flowered most spectacularly in the UK. Made by young musicians for a young audience, prog music looked towards new horizons by synthesising rock, jazz, folk, classical and other styles. While it has always divided critical opinion, prog had a large and devoted fanbase, and the era's biggest acts - from Pink Floyd to Genesis - went on to enjoy long-lasting international and commercial success. Examining the myths and misconceptions surrounding the genre, music journalist Mike Barnes paints a vivid, colourful picture of the Seventies based on his own interviews with the musicians, music business insiders, journalists and DJs, and the personal testimonies of fans of that extraordinary decade."--Back of book.
Brief description: Mike Barnes is a music journalist and regular contributor to Mojo, The Wire and Prog. He is the author of A New Day Yesterday: UK Progressive Rock & The 1970s. His previous books include the acclaimed biography of Captain Beefheart.
Review Quotes:
"An epic portrayal of the cultural revolution and evolution of popular music from the end of 1967 to 1977. This masterpiece evokes fertile times of cross pollination and reinvention, experimental extemporisation, blending folk, jazz, rock, technology and psychedelics, the experience of a new generation - created for future readers as vividly as being there." Sonja Kristina, Curved Air
"Lucid and deeply researched... this exhaustive tome may well be the last word on the subject." MOJO
"A grand survey of the most ambitious and pretentious British rock of the age" Uncut
"A masterly evocation... as complete a picture as you're likely to find anywhere" Bill Bruford (King Crimson, Yes)
"Prog rock's essential guidebook" Ian Rankin, international bestselling author
"Extremely impressive and comprehensive study of progressive rock." Steve Howe (Yes)
"Affectionate, funny and packed with impressively weird detail" Joanne Harris, international bestselling author
"A time of glorious eccentricity and bold creative adventure remembered in fond and fascinating detail" Mark Ellen, magazine editor, journalist and broadcaster
"If you like progressive rock, read this book" Viv Albertine, musician and author of 'Clothes, Music, Boys'
"Musicians are scrutinized, their socioeconomic backgrounds elucidated, and key albums assessed" North Coast Voice
"Boasting a brilliant foreword by Genesis guitar hero Steve Hackett, the Omnibus Remastered tome traces the roots of progressive rock from its early '60s introduction by such upstarts as The Who and Small Faces...at London hotspots (The UFO Club, The Electric Garden) to its zenith as a game-changing, stadium-packing genre that influenced both the Beatles (Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) and the Beach Boys (Pet Sounds, Smile) before exploding into a creatively fulfilling (and commercially lucrative) style all its own in the '70s." North Coast Voice