As is patently obvious from my collection, my favourite musical genre is progressive rock - particularly symphonic and neo-prog.

In actual fact, it's only just since the turn of the millenium or so that I've rediscovered my prog roots. As a teenager in the mid-late 70s, my musical taste was heavily influenced by artists such as Genesis, Yes, 10cc, and Mike Oldfield. As any lover of prog knows, the 1980's became a virtual musical desert within the genre. Previously great bands produced a lot of sub-standard crap, while very few new artists appeared on the scene. As a result, I found myself drifting into other genres - celtic rock, trad folk, and easy-listening type stuff. By the late 1990's my musical taste had stagnated completely. I wasn't buying or listening to anything new whatsoever.

Around about 2002, a friend of a friend - who also happened to be a prog fan - gave me a few things to listen to. Some old stuff, but more importantly some NEW material. A taster of some of the new bands that had begun to appear on the scene during the 90's.

I started to take a bit more of an interest in what was happening in the prog world again, and soon discovered Porcupine Tree. The music of this band proved to be the catalyst which caused me to really go for things in a big way, and to see what else is out there - and boy, was I surprised!!

The sheer number and quality of progressive artists on the go today are incredible. Thanks to great websites such as ProgArchives and to specialist internet radio stations, I'm constantly finding new avenues to explore. I'm also discovering a LOT of great stuff from my younger days that I either didn't know existed, or that I wasn't all that interested in at the time. Principal among these being Caravan and Camel.

I'm always happy to accept recommendations from fellow prog fans. Have a browse through my collection. If you think there's something missing that I might like, feel free to PM me!

NormCash - Autumn 2007

***UPDATE***
It's been an interesting 2 years since I wrote the spiel above. My collection has grown thanks to the addition of about 700 albums, for the most part prog. I recently received what I consider to be a backhanded compliment from a close friend of mine....a true music buff. On inspecting my RYM collection page, he said "You have more stuff by artists I've never heard of than anyone else I know!".

The addition of a Logitech Squeezebox to my hi-fi - which allows me to stream music from my PC to my living room wirelessly - has meant that I'm listening to more music more often these days. With about 35,000 tracks to choose from, its great to simply flip the device on to random selection and let it do all the work. And I get to hear stuff that I might not otherwise select if I had to actually pick the CD off the shelf and plunk it into the player!

Of the items I've added since 2007, my favourites include: Sol29(Nosound), The Garden(Unitopia), The Weirding(Astra), The Yearning(Aisles), Unifaun (Unifaun), Pure(Pendragon), Jade Warrior(Jade Warrior), Milliontown (Frost*), Jazznesis:The Music of Genesis 1970-1974(Jaume Vilaseca Quartet), Shooting Albatross(Abel Ganz), The Thomas Tracks(5bridgesS), Tales From The Four Seasons(Flood), Template For A Generation(Darwin's Radio), Realm Of Shadows(Knight Area). Why not give 'em a listen and let me know what you think?

NormCash - October 2009

***TIME FOR ANOTHER UPDATE***
Two and a bit years later......a few more grey hairs, a few more pounds on the waistline, and a few more albums in the collection. I've been lucky enough to continue to come across some previously "undiscovered" material, and some of my favourite artists have released some excellent new stuff. As a result, my collection has pressed on through the 3000 mark and beyond.

I guess I would have to say that thanks to recent releases The Underfall Yard and Far Skies Deep Time, Big Big Train have firmly established themselves right at the top of my current favourites tree. I can't wait to hear their latest album - English Electric - due for release in 2012. Other albums that have caught my ear since my last update have been: Cor Cordium (Glass Hammer), We're Here Because We're Here and Falling Deeper (Anathema), Grace For Drowning (Steven Wilson), Nine Paths (Knight Area), Backdrop (The Healing Road), The Genesis Suite (Tolga Kashif), Hybrid Child (District 97), Ready To Go (The Black Noodle Project), Get Lucky (Mark Knopfler), Endless (Fjieri), Ghost On The Canvas (Glen Campbell).

The worst news of 2011 was the demise of my faithful Heybrook HB1 speakers, which finally gave in to the ravages of time. They've now been replaced by a pair of very impressive XTZ 89Front, which I hope will provide me with as many years of listening pleasure as my Heybrooks did.

Mayans notwithstanding, I wonder what 2012 has in store for me on the music front?

NormCash - January 2012

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**** JANUARY 2017 UPDATE ****
Time rolls on. It's now 5 whole years since my last update and much has happened.

The building of a new extension on to our house resulted in the installation of a surround sound music system and has opened up a whole new world of listening pleasure to me. New material specifically recorded for this format is pretty amazing, and remastered/remixed versions of old favourites - for the most part - breathe new life into them. Among the best of the bunch for me so far are Sanctuary & Sanctuary II (Rob Reed), Stone & Steel (Big Big Train), Please Don't Touch (Steve Hackett), Days of Future Passed (Moody Blues) and Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Alan Parsons Project). Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon also becomes a whole new experience with its many asides that lend themselves so well to the format.

I've also made a big push to get to more live gigs, probably hitting more events in the past 3 years than I did in the previous 10! Highlights? Big Big Train at Kings Place (London 2015), Public Service Broadcasting (Manchester 2016), Pilot (Dalkeith Country Park 2014).

New albums I've added since my last update which have made a big impression with me are: The Race For Space (Public Service Broadcasting), Folklore (Big Big Train), Lifesigns (Lifesigns), Invention of Knowledge (Jon ANderson/Roine Stolt), Sign of IV (Kiama), We Like It Here (Snarky Puppy), Torn Apart (Franck Carducci), Premonitions box set (Steve Hackett), Cocoon (Tiger Moth Tales), New World (Dave Kerzner), Wine Dark Sea (Stephen Caudel), Abel Ganz (Abel Ganz), All In The Golden Afternoon (Ian Neal), Airborne (Fish On Friday).

Lastly, thanks to the wonders of social media and my more frequent attendances at live gigs it's also been my pleasure to make many more new friends in recent years including several of the musicians that I enjoy and admire. I still get a bi of a childish kick out of posting something up on Facebook and getting a response from someone who is directly responsible for providing me with such great musical pleasure.

There are so many exciting projects, new releases and gigs coming up in the year or two ahead, and I'm really looking forward to indulging my passion!!

NormCash - January 2017
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