The Wakeman family Prog magazine cover is here, and it is every bit as chaotic as you would hope. Rick, Oliver and Adam Wakeman are gathered around a table in the new issue of Prog Magazine for what the publication bills as one of the funniest interviews it has ever run, the Wakeman sense of humour apparently very much intact across generations.
It is, according to Prog, a world first: three members of the same musical dynasty on the cover of a rock magazine in one sitting. All three also discuss their own current projects, giving the issue a rare quality where the cover interview doubles as a proper news piece rather than a retrospective victory lap.
Return To The Red Planet: what Rick revealed
The most concrete piece of news Rick brings to the table is his new album, Return To The Red Planet, which is set for release through Madfish Records on 16 October. As Louder reports, the record is a sequel to his 2020 album The Red Planet, continuing what looks to be his own private series of interplanetary progressive rock. The first single lifted from the album is “The Jezero Crater,” according to Rock Cellar Magazine.
For anyone who wants the full experience, the album is arriving in a generous spread of formats: crystal clear gatefold vinyl LP, classic black gatefold vinyl LP, digipack CD with a 20-page booklet, a digital edition, and a CD/Blu-ray set that includes Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound and Hi-Res Stereo mixes alongside a making-of documentary and a 20-page printed booklet. That last option in particular is the kind of release that justifies owning a Blu-ray player.
The rest of Prog 173: Hackett, Haken, Gentle Giant and more
The Wakeman family Prog magazine cover does not overshadow what is a genuinely packed issue elsewhere. Steve Hackett and Steve Rothery discuss their long-awaited collaborative concept album, The Roaring Waves, a project that has had prog fans watching and waiting for some time. Haken, meanwhile, speak publicly for the first time since Charlie Griffiths and Conner Green departed the band, addressing where the group now stands and what their latest EP, In A Fever Dream, signals about the direction ahead.
Derek Shulman looks back at Gentle Giant’s In A Glass House from 1973, the band’s first album recorded as a quintet, walking through how that record came to be. It is exactly the sort of deep-cut historical interview that gives Prog its value as a document of the genre, not just a listings magazine.
John Mitchell explains why he has decided to bring Lonely Robot to a close, a decision that will matter to anyone who has followed that project across its run. North Sea Echoes, the collaboration between Ray Alder and Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, return with a second release under their moodier alter egos. Long Earth, a Scottish-Dutch outfit, discuss their album Towards The Sky, while Ozric Tentacles bring news of Harmonic Mind, described as continuing what the band calls the floativerse.
Irmin Schmidt, described in the issue as the sole surviving member of Can, talks about his career and his continued activity in music at nearly 90. Tom Penaguin, a young Canterbury-influenced French artist, discusses his second LP. Protest The Hero return with Within, their first album in six years. Pete Roth talks about straddling jazz and prog, with a particular mention of bringing Bill Bruford out of retirement. A free sampler from Pelagic Records and a Wakeman family art print round out the package.
The reviews section spans Lonely Robot, Jethro Tull, Quiet Sun, King Crimson, Pure Reason Revolution, Haken, Mastodon, Peter Hammill, The Fierce and The Dead, IQ, Jan Hammer, Hawkwind, Cluster, Roger Hodgson, Solstice, Todd Rundgren and more, alongside live reviews of the Prog Prom, Prog For Peart, and the Radar Festival, plus gigs from Marillion, Voyager and others.
Prog 173 is on sale now. With Return To The Red Planet landing on 16 October, Rick Wakeman’s section of this issue is effectively a starting pistol for the album campaign.
