Prog Britannia - Album Reviews

I always find it sad when I only discover an artist long after they've lived and died. Such was the case with Duncan Browne who passed away in 1993 when the Internet was still in its infancy and YouTube was still twelve years away in the future. Sadly, Duncan Browne wasn't to know that his wonderful music would be rediscovered and reappraised well into the 21st Century, thanks to the modern wonders of the Internet. 

DUNCAN BROWNE      One of the great almost famous legends of Prog Folk who never quite managed to get the big breakthrough to success despite having heaps of talent, Duncan Browne was sadly taken from us all too soon at the age of 46 in 1993. 

Why Talent Isn't Enough - The Story of Duncan Browne

MOYA BRENNAN      When Irish eyes are smiling. Maire (pronounced Moya) Brennan is the look and the sound and The Voice of Clannad. 

BRAN     Why not add some roughage to your musical diet with the sound of Bran - a Welsh Prog Folk band. Yaki da! 

BLUEHORSES     Cardiff-based band Bluehorses are locked and loaded with twin attacks of electric fiddle, electric harp and thunderous drumming. Bluehorses are one of the heaviest Prog Folk bands you're ever likely to hear this side of Mt. Snowdon, having once blown Hawkwind off the stage, so batten down the hatches and prepare for an all-out Sonic Attack from a band that's been acclaimed as the finest live band in the UK. The quiet and peaceful valleys of South Wales will never be the same again. Bluehorses are a band who really DO deserve to win a Grammy Award for Best Heavy Metal band - unlike Jethro Tull. 

BLACKMORE'S NIGHT    It's time to remember All Our Yesterdays as we journey back in time to the Middle Ages with guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore and American singer Candice Night. They first got together under the Shadow of the Moon and formed Blackmore's Night back in 1997. Their particular brand of Prog-Folk is best listened to Under a Violet Moon in front of blazing log Fires at Midnight. That's when we fondly remember those nostalgic Past Times with Good Company. The folk music of Blackmore's Night is as charmingly delicate as the Ghost of a Rose glowing in the light of The Village Lanterne during a Christmas Winter Carols service. 

SYD BARRETT       Syd Barrett - the original guitarist with Pink Floyd on Piper at the Gates of Dawn - was a creative genius in his Time, having written such psychedelic Relics as Arnold Layne and See Emily Play, where his enigmatic lyrics were sometimes Obscured by Clouds.  Sadly, his overuse of the psychedelic drug LSD led to Brain Damage and mental illness. In A Momentary Lapse of Reason, he's rumoured to have walked all the way from London to his home in Cambridge. It's with Sorrow we remember that Syd is now Comfortably Numb, having gone to The Great Gig in the Sky in The Endless River of eternity, but his memory lives on forever in the lyrics to Shine On You Crazy Diamond. 

AUTUMN CHORUS*     Simply stunning! From tiny acorns a giant oak of Prog Folk has arisen. I'm blown away like leaves in the wind by the amazing sound of Autumn Chorus and I hope you'll be blown away too - in the nicest possible way of course.  

* Listed under Crossover Prog on PA. 

ARCH GARRISON     Offshoots, leaves and briars and the real life Flintstones! Indie Folk duo Arch Garrison are an offshoot of North Sea Radio Orchestra, consisting of Chris Fortnam and James Larcombe. When Chris isn't making music, he likes to don his walking boots and go out on a pilgrimage to nowhere with his dog across the chalky South Downs of England whilst investigating Neolithic Great Stone Culture along the way, as you do. 

IAN ANDERSON      He's been described as a deranged flamingo with his famous one-legged flute stance, making him the instantly recognisable leader and only continuous member of Jethro Tull - voted the best Heavy Metal band ahead of Metallica at the 1989 Grammy Awards. Most of the audience that night burst out laughing and they're probably still laughing now, but that's living with the past and Ian Anderson has been laughing all the way to the bank ever since.