THE PROGNAUT

I was first introduced to progressive rock in the early 90's when I was nothing but a 12 years old knucklehead boy appealed to odd musical tastes that somehow made me dive into the depths of Prog Rock very quickly. Before turning myself into the Proghole I think I am now, I spent entire hours listening to the music of QUEEN (I was also into the whole paraphernalia surrounding the band), THE POLICE (and after the meltdown, started to follow on Sting's footsteps) and U2 (I happened to have a strange fixation upon the music made by this guys until they released "Pop"). Somewhere in between my "rock/pseudo jazz fusion" stage, my first Prog Rock album came to my hands: "Dark Side of the Moon". Then things started to look strangely clear for me and for my ears too. What I knew so far about PINK FLOYD due the lack of media communication devices, was "The Wall" movie which I saw years before when I had no sense of reason at all. This peculiar album with a prism on its cover certainly caught my attention from the very beginning just for its looks, but the irremediable impact over me happened when I popped the vinyl in my turntable and couldn't believe what my ears were listening to. I loved it and embraced it right away. I committed myself to an even more deep inner musical search and dedicated the whole weekends and the money my parents gave me to start off a record collection. I found myself most of the Saturdays at this concurred music flea market fetching inside rusty, smelly cases which contained rare items related to Prog Rock, or at least that's what I was being told to believe. Eventually, I got to put my hands to works from GENESIS, YES, MARILLION, JETHRO TULL and rediscovered myself listening to "New Age" music as well like ANDREAS VOLLENWEIDER, ENYA and ISAO TOMITA. After more than 22 years of listening to Progressive Rock Music, I constantly repeat myself that getting to know this genre was one of the most revealing things that'd ever happened to me and turned me somehow into what I am today. Without counting in the tons of vinyl material, cassettes and some 8 tracks, I would say that I have around 300, almost 500 Prog Rock CDs, but I will keep on replacing the memorabilia due the exigencies of modern life. Among my musical collection, I also count with several metal albums, gothic rock, death and doom metal, some jazz/blues albums, punk rock recordings, Latin Rock, and of course, everything from SADE ADU.

My favourite progressive bands. Ok, this a tough one to accomplish, but I think I'll give it a shot:

• <> ANEKDOTEN


• <> BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO


• <> CAMEL


• <> DREAM THEATER


• <> ELOY


• <> GENESIS


• <> GROBSCHNITT


• <> KING CRIMSON


• <> MARILLION (preferably just the FISH era)


• <> LANDBERK


• <> PINK FLOYD


• <> PORCUPINE TREE


• <> VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR


• <> VISIBLE WIND


• <> WHITE WILLOW

My favourite progressive albums include: (Just because I'm supposed to put my top ten all time favorite albums, otherwise I could've easily come up with some never-ending list...)

• <> Anekdoten - "From Within",


• <> Marillion - "Fugazi",


• <> Van Der Graaf Generator - "Godbluff",


• <> Änglagård - "Hybris",


• <> Porcupine Tree - "Lightbulb Sun",


• <> Nexus - "Metanoia",


• <> Visible Wind - "Narcissus Goes to the Moon",


• <> Eloy - "Ocean",


• <> PFM - "Per Un Amico",


• <> Landberk - "Riktigt Äkta",


• <> Genesis - "Selling England by the Pound",


• <> Grobschnitt - "Solar Music",


• <> Pink Floyd - "The Final Cut",


• <> Tale Cue - "Voices Beyond my Curtain",


• <> Il Balletto Di Bronzo - "Ys".

Bios I wrote: - FISH - GJALLARHORN - ICONOCLASTA - RICHARD WRIGHT