Prog Rock Gems and Obscurities by Ken Golden

Until a few years ago, my knowledge of “prog rock” was limited to the mainstream artists- like YES, ELP and Crimson- who achieved fame in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. My interest in the genre was renewed several years ago, when I started buying old UK Vertigo Swirls and got into some bands I never heard of—Gracious, Patto, Cressida and other less well-known (at least to me) albums. I started receiving messages from Ken Golden, whose constant refrain was: “Do you have X”? My response was usually “Huh?” Aside from sticker shock in some cases, these records were really off the deep end to me. I began to buy and listen, and sometimes Ken would recommend a less costly alternative to some of the uber records. I’ve been exposed to an entire world of music that was in the shadows for me—stuff from Italy, Germany and eastern Europe—records that were not well known here in the States, except, perhaps, to cognoscenti of “prog” (and these days, to well-heeled record collectors). I’m therefore delighted to publish a piece by Ken with a number of recommendations. Some of these will be familiar to fans of the genre, but I’ll bet there’s something here that’s new to you. Thanks to Ken Golden for sharing his deep knowledge of these records. http://thevinylpress.com/prog-rock-o...es-ken-golden/