6/10 VARIOUS ARTISTS – WONDROUS STORIES
(UNIVERSAL) -
Prog rock is one of those genres that is occasionally better in concept than it is in execution. Originally conceived as a platform on which musicians could explore and indulge their formidable skills without the constraints of
the normal radio format, it’s a genre that exposed and encouraged some of the biggest names in classic rock.
This 33-track, two-disc collection offers up examples from across the prog spectrum, from songs that ticked boxes on every level (melody and performance as well as pure creativity), like Kansas’s Dust In The Wind and Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill to the more meandering, noodly examples – Uriah Heep’s  Gypsy, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells – that require a little more listener concentration. – BD