https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP3D0LH_3UU" rel="nofollow - There's room here for the Lonely - YouTube

I must admit, I have thought about it on a number of occasions, but then I've taken a look at the cover price...

I consider PA the ideal Prog magazine!

Not sure why we are looking at a cheap rag that doesn't know what music is! 

Nice overview of the usual suspects .

We took my mother in law into town today for a haircut at the salon.

Mrs Wife stayed there with her, whilst I buggered off for a coffee and chocolate cake round the corner. I purchased the latest issue of Prog to get something to read, first time I have bought it for a long time. It cost me £7.99 and I had read it all by about 6.30 this evening whilst watching the cricket.

It is a decent read, no more, no less. 

It's funny, but you mirror my views on the subject, Greg. I have often said that if I had two lives which could run parallel with each other, one would be dedicated to music, the other to World & Independent cinema.. as it is, I mix and match. Whilst I rarely buy music magazines (gave up Classic Rock when the cover story was devoted to the antics of this month's Hair Metal band on tour), I do occasionally pick up a S&S which in my view is head and shoulders the best film magazine on the market. The only problem is, I used to go out and buy an armful of films as a consequence, meaning the music naturally suffered! Oh, to retire!! 

Ironically, magazine wise, the only one I regularly read these days is:

https://www.historytoday.com/" rel="nofollow - History Today | The World’s Leading Serious History Magazine

for which I always try and find a few quiet moments each month... 

Cross Hands or did you bite the bullet and brave Carmarthen?

I completely understand you doing that, but I have to pick my battles and always feel I can buy a couple of second hand Camel CDs off ebay for the same money, from which I'm likely to derive greater enjoyment.

Anyway, I trust you complimented your MiL on her new hair do and told her it would have been a snip at twice the price?  

When it comes to reviews, you write for one of the best Prog sites on the web, Nick; if I want to see what someone is saying about a recent album, TPA is the first place I tend to look, followed by Lazland, of course.

It was my go-to site for years, so you can imagine how flabbergasted I was when I was asked if I’d like to write for them. Honestly, there’s no site I would rather write for. Steve’s site is great, though - a real breath of fresh air!

Music: Yes, but the great thing is that my musical tastes, despite being quite different to yours, still sit squarely within the parameters of PA... in fact I'd even suggest that the number of albums I listen to in a week which are not included in the database, would be fewer than yours..  

Films: I've long had a passion for World Cinema; except for the News Channel for a catch-up, it's fair to say I hardly watch TV. To give you an idea, the last 10 Films I have watched are (I keep a record):

Weekend (Goddard), Ashes Of Time (Wong Kar Wai), The Commissar (Askoldov), Moffie (Hermanus), Los b*****dos (Escalante), 120 BPM (Campanillo), It's Only The End Of The World (Dolan), Solaris (Tarkovsky), The Life Of Oharu (Mizogushi) & The Cranes Are Flying (Kalatozov).

History Today: Yes, Empire & Total Film are clearly not aimed at your interests, for which S&S is the only real choice, but because it's a serious magazine, you won't find it in every outlet. History Today is the same. Each Mag contains 5 key articles written by academics for a lay audience, on an eclectic mix of subjects they are presently studying. There are next to no adverts, contains fascinating, scholarly illustrations and photos and as such, you pay a little more for what is a quality magazine which, every month, makes me think... 

And You & I: Yes, we enjoy different styles of Prog, but we'd still get along well.. I can't remember the last time I've read one of your posts and taken exception to your views... 

I've downloaded 37 back issues from 2013 to 2020 over the years. Its a good read.

I'd read it or even Circus before going anywhere near Rolling Stone.

T’was Carmarthen, so the West Wales equivalent of the big smoke! I fully understand re the second hand cds.

Yes, we both told her just how nice the hair do was 

Both of you are extremely kind, thank you. Incredibly, I have now reviewed over 50 albums in 2022, so by far the most prolific I have been in many years, and setting up the website has been a genuine joy.

I have four sets of interviews out, by the way, so hopefully news on these to follow shortly.

And for hard-rock/heavy-metal, Rock Hard.

You need to retire and pay yourself a stipend... 

Did you approach Rob for an interview about 'Acoustic Magenta'?

My big year for writing was 2020, pretty much because of the pandemic and lockdowns. By this date in 2020, I had already had around 100 reviews/interviews published on TPA, and that doesn’t include any of the mini-reviews (ADAs) I contributed. 😱

(I ended the year at around 150 reviews/interviews, not including ADAs.)

I believe, again not counting ADAs, that I’m on only around 30 reviews/interviews so far this year. It’s a lot harder to find the time to write, when you actually have to go to work! 😜

Mrs General and I have talked extensively about retirement this past couple of weeks. I only have two years, three months, and three days to go (who’s counting?), so I will probably see it through to the big 60.

Rob is the next piece of work. I have been pretty busy after being contacted by four others for interviews. There is no great rush, as we have a good couple of months.

Ah, the daily commute. I remember him well

Same here... Must be years since I bought one, but I've got buddies buying it more often than I do (so I peruse it over at their place), and for the latest one (maniacal Frippy on the cover), I bought it for some friend that has to travel 100 km (one way) to buy it - so I'm currently busy reading that one. 

Most of it is boring, IMHO, which is why I stopped buying it. As for the hefty price in Continental Europe (roughly twice the UK price), it's rather too expensive for what it's actually worth to me. 

.

They have stated in the past that the reason they put big names on the cover is that they are more likely to attract the casual buyer if they see someone like Ian Anderson on the cover whilst rummaging through the shelves of WH Smith.

Also the free CD has been replaced with a free download.

I'm good....

Having been with the music right from the start, let's say Sgt Peppers and TSMR, and then Moody Blues, I have never found a single magazine that was worth its weight in the dollars we paid for it. 

Perhaps, the only one, that I bought occasionally when we could make it to downtown LA (a really nice magazine store there on 5th and Hill), was THE MELODY MAKER, and even then, I did not like some of their articles and discussions ... like trashing TD in the early days, and then kissing DSOTM as the best toilet paper around! And in some ways, the full out blow of PG leaving Genesis was in the center of one issue and it mentioned a lot of things that we do not wish to discuss or appreciate, that in most cases, WERE, what "progressive" was really all about ... but we ended up not bothering to read much of it, and I think that PG got sad and retreated to just singles and songs, which his album all had in the end ... there never again was a "concept" that was meaningful at all ... and for me, it was hard to "stay" with PG ... even though there was a lot of nice stuff. I kinda thought of it as half empty/half full kind of thing, and Genesis was the same, though after the next album from TLLDOB was the last of theirs that I ever bought! I did get some of the solo albums, and specially got to love Anthony Phillips and his massive amount of outstanding work. Not to mention that he was a gentleman that appreciated poetry in his music!

But, in all honesty, I have never really thought that any of those magazines were worth the price, although I did buy one or two here and there, and seeing so much bad stuff written about so many bands that deserve the credit as "progressive" was just too depressing for me.

Even PA is far better than any of those rags, since it has, at least, enough folks that KNOW what the music is about and value it!

Sometimes they don't say a lot, so you are probably wise.  The only plus side to this magazine is sometimes they show new releases before it's release date. 

The price here in Canada is too much to justify the cost of buying and like you, you can normally find most things on the internet.  Probably the only time I might buy this magazine if I see this in the airport to read on the plane.

I'd suggest that if you can afford a plane ticket, you can also afford the mag! 

It's been 20 years since I went on a plane... 

Seriously though, the cover price here is £8, now without the cover CD they used to produce. Most of the information about Prog I need, I can find online at great sites such as this and Nick's TPA. If I head over to the MusicMagpie bargain section, I can pick up 4 CDs post free for £8, which can include loads of Classic & Prog Rock... for me, that's just a more productive way of spending the money...