As I’ve noted too many times in these pages, I’ve been rather proudly listening to prog since the tender age of four or five, all the way back to 1972.  I’m the same age as Steven Wilson and Will Ferrell, not completely without surprise, a child born in the so-called summer of love.  Fortunate to be raised in a family that cherished all types of great music and the youngest of three boys, I inherited my tastes from good sources.  I heard the earliest of Yes and Genesis as a child, but nothing moved me at the time as much as Yessongs—in its music as well as its stunning artwork.  My first political memory is of Richard Nixon resigning (yay!), but my first musical memory is opening that three-album treasure, Yessongs.  What an invitation.  Floating islands, some idyllic wildlife, and weird looking guys.  The mystical called to me, and I gladly immersed myself in the wild world of Roger Dean.

Now that I’ve once again established my “prog street cred,” let me jump to the present.  Having listened to prog for forty years and having reviewed it for the past decade or so, I’ve never encountered a year like 2014.  Yes, this could sound downright silly.  No year is exactly like any other year.  But, as Andy Tillison and Brian Watson have so thoughtfully argued, we’ve been living in a third wave of progressive rock since about 1994.

By the way, if you have not yet, you should read Andy’s discussion of Third Wave Prog in the novella accompanying the album, NOT AS GOOD AS THE BOOK.  Andy is well known for his complex and deep music, his immense integrity, and his snappy dressing—but he should also be recognized for his writing.  He is truly a master of all he does, and the world breathes a little easier because of genius.  His discussion of Third Wave Prog comes on pages 54-55 of the novella.  Indeed, NOT AS GOOD AS THE BOOK is so filled with insights and imaginings, that an academic course could be taught on it.

Back to our history and chronology.  2009 felt excellent and comfortable, as did 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.  Each year, I thought, “this is THE best year ever in prog!”  Not that I’m innocent of hyperbole, but I meant what I wrote each year.  And, I also believe that the music being produced right now—not only in terms of quantity but much more importantly quantity—is the best since the genre first began.  What Yes and Genesis produced in the early 1970s might very well be called a “Golden Age,” but we’re not living—in any, way, shape, or form—some kind of “Bronze Age of Prog.”  If what was being produced in 1973 is gold, then what’s being produced now is Platinum.

Of course, the world of 2014 is not the world of 1974.  But, this is as true of the state of the world (very glad you’re dead Soviet Union!) as it is in Prog (good riddance, Sony Records!)  I’ll happily dance on the grave of the communists and the corporations.  Foul conformists and materialists, all!  May the abyss take them.

And since we’re on the bad news, there have been a number of nasty surprises for me this year.  I think Anathema hit its best with the stellar live DVD, Universal.  Sadly, its follow up, Distant Satellites, is as devoid of any real ideas as Universal is brilliant.  The same, I fear, is true of the new Lunatic Soul.  The albums of each reveal a profound and unhappy exhaustion.

One happy surprise for me in 2014, however, came from a reexamination of Steven Wilson’s The Raven.  I still believe it’s nothing but a rehash and reworking of Andy Tillison’s work.  But, if you have to imitate, you might as well imitate the best.

And, yet, so many, many great albums came out this year.  Really, give a good listen to Distant Satellites and then give an equally good listen to Newspaperflyhunting or any of the bands listed below.  Anathema simply sounds dead.  Newspaperflyhunting?  Holy Moses, keep it coming!

But, how to place these many new and newly reworked bands of 2014?  Musically, 2014 feels like a very different year than 2013.  I strongly suspect that the trio of outstanding releases last year—Big Big Train’s English Electric Full Power, The Tangent’s Le Sacre, and Glass Hammer’s Perilous—marked not only the high point, but the conclusion of third wave prog.  Simply put, these three albums are so outstanding, that they’ve surpassed the work of first and second wave prog.  The grandchildren have outlived and outperformed their grandfathers.  Not that the grandchildren could have done any of it without the grandfathers. . . but this is always true.  Granted, I’m quite fond of Roman republican notions of piety, but no progger worth her salt is not.  Of all participants and fans of genres of music, we proggers lovingly embrace pietism, genealogy, and lineage.  Only the true jazz lovers come close to us in our respect for those who came before.  Simply put, those who love prog are as much progressive as they are reactionary.  No shame in this.

But, Fourth-Wave Prog?  What might this be?  I don’t think it started this year, but it seems to have become prominent now.  Though I’m not entirely willing to commit to this (or any of this re: 4th Wave; I’m thinking out loud), I think we could probably tag ubermensch and Anglo-Saxon Guitar God, Matt Stevens, as the spearhead of the movement, an eclectic one to be sure.  I think that other great Anglo-Saxon (what is it with you English people?!?!?) bard, John Bassett.

Let me first try to define what Fourth Wave might be with the list of the best artists of the past year:  In no particular order: Jason Rubenstein, Salander, Fire Garden, Newspaperflyhunting, John Bassett, Matt Stevens, Fractal Mirror, Andy Tillison, Galahad, Glass Hammer, Cailyn Lloyd, NAO, Tin Spirits, Simon Godfrey, Flying Colors, and Heliopolis.

And, of course, Cosmograf.

More on each of these bands in the second post.