PICNIC - A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

I was 15 in1971 when I imported this as budget set from England. I was just discovering the astonishing world of progressive music - a journey that still fascinates me. I had never heard of most of these bands at the time, and it is fair to say this album changed my life.

Embryo was my first Pink Floyd song and remains one of my desert island discs to this day. Into the Fire just blew me away - I had never heard anything so fierce and heavy at that point, and so Deep Purple became one of my all time favourite bands.

Barclay James Harvest, Roy Harper and Michael Chapman soon became favourites as well and I have since bought all the Harvest albums.

My musical landscape was never the same after this, and Picnic was soon joined by the Vertigo Trip, Bumpers, etc. Picnic was where my great life prog. journey really began.