I was always a big prog rock fan. I really believed, as the media often told us, that punk had come to destroy the prog dragon * and that the 80s would become some kind of musical wasteland. Then a new wave tsunami came in and progressive rock was literally washed ashore! It is only looking back without rose coloured glasses at what was actually produced in the 80s that I realise how wrong I was. OK, keyboards took a step backwards but not always and think what we had: Tubeway Army (late 70s), Elvis Costello, Echo and the Bunnymen, Talking Heads, The Jam, The Police, The Human League, The Cure, The Fall, U2, REM, The Specials, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Dexy's Midnight Runners and, of course, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Bill Nelson and for heavy rock fans Iron Maiden, Motorhead and AC/DC. Now, I am not pretending to like all of these in equal measure but we tend to forget this was the age of the synth as well even though the one finger variety could get a bit annoying!
I am reminded of all this when I hear an artist I had previously not heard of who deserves wider recognition and that artist is Kevin Herd, a compilation of whose music has had a much overdue release on Stone Premonitions. Now, let me start by saying that Kevin is more from the 'new wave' than the 'punk' era and is obviously an accomplished singer, musician and song writer. 'The Foggy Road' from 1982 sounds like a forgotten 80s classic, the type of thing MOJO would eulogise about while the additional synth on ska inflected 'The Scorpion' is very effective. What a 45 this would make! The majority of the material here is from 1988 starting with a fine ballad 'Sing Songs of Love' followed by some great guitar arpeggios on 'Prophecy', embellished by Tim Jones' legendary engineering. The emphasis is on catchy melodies ('This Tapestry' is an excellent example) with a nod back to the 60s and 70s, to psych, well played and well produced.
There are also all instrumental keyboards material with drum machine from 1993 including the spooky 'The Stranger' and the reflective beauty of 'Heresy', an interesting parallel with a great hero of mine, Bill Nelson, here. 'Airborne' reminded me of Nelson's 'jazz boy' period, a real foot tapper! There is much to treasure on this collection which is obviously a labour of love for all concerned. The variety of sounds and influences is to be commended. There is literally something for everything. Kevin's music is progressive in the truest sense of the word.
*An urban myth. After all, didn't John Lydon cite VDGG as an influence? The long-term reader will detect that I have revised (to an extent) my earlier theories about punk! After all, despite what Rolling Stone and others said, good music is good music however determined some are to pigeonhole it! By Phil Jackson