I’m sure I was aware of the ’80 classic Owner of a Lonely Heart, I must have been, but the first time I actually chose to listen to them was finding a copy of Classic Yes on vinyl in Glenburn Library.  It was the cover that caught my eye (of course it was…) and as a young teen I was totally overwhelmed by what I heard.  The record went back to the library and nothing more was said.

It was a few years later when I was coming out of my intensive teenage heavy metal phase when I happened upon a vinyl copy of Close to the Edge.  I bought it for £1.50 and ferried it home.  It was astonishing.  The opening of the title track was like nothing I had ever heard, the steady build-up of environmental effects then the guitar kicks in…

From there it was a downhill road to ruin, or getting in to Yes…

The studio albums are all sheer class with two notable exceptions.  Tales of Topographic Oceans is to be avoided at all costs.  And then there’s Open Your Eyes, which Neil and I like to refer to as Open Your Arse (or variations thereof).  Make your own mind up how I feel about those two. 

Their mid-eighties work was a lot more rock than prog, Owner is a prime example, but special mention has to be given to Union, or ‘Onion’ as I’ve called it.  Union was released during a period when Jon Anderson was a member of yes and part of a group of ex-members called Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe.  Can you guess why?  (And look at this.  It’s from a pay-per-view gig.  This is how it starts.  I want to die inside.)  For years I never liked Union.  You had members of both groups on it, a feeling of too many cooks…  It was like you had to peel the layers away and all that happened was it made you cry…

I’ve relaxed since then.  There’s some good stuff there.  Not the best of Yes by far but a good album.

Where to start?  Hell, give Close To The Edge a start.  Nothing like jumping in at the deep end… 

- Alistair

“BBC attacked by authors for ‘sneering tone’ in book shows” from telegraph.co.uk.

Read it and come back.  I’m not going to do the actual article much justice by repeating it here.

But my long held gripe is this:  I’ve had shit for years for reading the types of books I read and listening to a particular kind of music.  It’s always from people who somehow think they’re better.  Quite frankly they can fuck right off.

I once had dogs abuse from a Church of Scotland Minister, of all people, who soundly ripped the pish out of my interests.  Of course, his idea of good music was U2…

Joking about U2′s contribution to music, benevolent deeds and tax dodging aside, people should be able to like what they like and enjoy it based on its own merits.

Later in May myself, Neil and Bruce will be attending the Cathouse in Glasgow, wearing our majestic capes of prog, to see Pallas, a premier prog band.  Neither Pallas or cape wearing are widely popular (which is a crime) but we enjoy it.  I’m a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft – not everyone’s cup of tea.

I’m a big fan of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror, among other things.  I like Prog Rock.  Is this a reason for abuse?  I wouldn’t think so.

Eastercon is this weekend.  A lot of folks I know will be there.  Good people.  And they’re meeting to champion Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.  Good for them.

Anyway, there’s wine still to drink and it’s getting late.  See you later.

- Alistair

They’ve just released another track for free online but it’s a track that’s not going to make it onto the album.  It has a heavy, epic feel about it.  Very prog.

I can’t wait until they play Glasgow again.  we’ll have to get the idiots in capes the Prog Crusaders together again.

I’m still very excited about this album (due out in three days!)

Go and check it out here.

- Alistair

Anyway, they’ve been working on a new album for what seems like ages… and it looks like it’s finally ready for release (available early doors next year it seems).  It’s called XXV and it’s the sequel to their first, The Sentinel, which is a prog classic from 1984…

I really could rattle on for a good while about how good the band are, and how cool they are after running with the whole Prog Crusader thing with the capes at the Ferry gig, but nick over to their website and get the download of one of the album tracks, Monster.

It’s prog and it’s good.  That is all.

- Alistair

It’s been a ‘interesting’ year, full of ups and downs.

It started well, with me riding high off the relative success of last year’s NaNoWriMo.  It was an important milestone with my writing, the first time I ever got around to actually finishing something in a short time that I even remotely liked.  So, that was Planet Of Snakes (a sequel to the unfinished Desert Of Zin) and very happy I was with it too.

(Not that it matters what’s finished and what’s not, things have changed in that quarter.  More on that in a mo.)

Then, shortly after the new year, my mother had a cancer scare.  Not good, not good at all.  But she had it removed, went for her radiotherapy and everything is currently peachy keen.  (It’s amazing how you can get all of the angst, worry and relief of a time like that and boil it down to a couple of sentences…)

Then a few months into the year amazing news arrives.  Ruth is pregnant!  I still remember how excited I was when I found out.  We had been trying for a while and finding out really was a gift.

Then we hit the summer.  And intimidation and bullying at work.  Not good seeing as I worked for the my church.  With the benefit of hindsight, and plenty of counselling, there is definitely an element of a culture of dishonour about the way some Christians act despite the ‘Culture of Honour’ that is advertised.

Anyway, it wasn’t a sudden thing.  Using the same old hindsight as before it’s clear that my self-esteem and confidence were being ground down over a long period of time.  More on that later as well.

There was a welcome break in there called Summer’s End, a progressive rock festival in the small town of Lidney, by the Forest of Dean.  Myself, The Psycho Chicken, Bruce and (when she felt like she could endure all that glorious prog) Sharla enjoyed Steve Hackett, Pallas, Pendragon and all the wonderful bands in between.

But then back to work where the situation continued to get from bad to worse…

The months of September, October and November were back to the growing depression, anxiety, stress and suicidal tendencies.  This really was the worst part of the year for me.  I was being intimidated and harassed by my line manager (who, unfortunately, was also my minister) and despite already letting people in authority know the situation he was still my line manager and still intimidating and harassing me.

Now, I understand that in the cold light of day it might not seem like much, but when your church is your work and the only feedback you get from your minister/line manager is negative and your interests and thoughts are open to ridicule, it tends to affect you poorly.

NaNoWriMo arrived in November, right at the height of how bad things were getting.  With panic attacks and ‘The Fear’ growing almost daily it was a miracle in itself that I was able to get over 24k words.

This was the ‘All-New’ Desert Of Zin story.  I felt like the existing one was going nowhere.  I had no plan or interest in keeping it going and any ideas I did have just seemed tired.  But then I thought that it might be an idea to take the core concepts I still had in mind for the story and just start afresh.  Different setting, different characters (although with the same names) and with a narrow scope, at least initially, than the original attempt.  And for the most part I’m a lot happier with it so far.  Lots of stories to tell though, which is good.  Stops me from getting too bogged down with any one story.

But it wasn’t finished in the month, so there we go.  I’ll try again with something new next year.

It was the second-last weekend in November when everything hit the fan.  Angry threats were made at work and that was the straw that broke back of it and I handed in my notice.  Better that I was unemployed and healthy than employed and suicidal.

And I haven’t really regretted it once.  It’s a no-brainer that I have not been back to Whiteinch Church of Scotland for the Sunday Celebration and I don’t think I ever will.  I do wish them well for the future but if they ever want to see this ‘Culture of Honour’ fully realised they’ll have to really look at sorting themselves out.  One thing that going though my own counselling process has shown me is that there are a good few of Whiteinch Church leadership who need counselling of their own.

But with a month of the year left, two wonderful things happened.

A story, Whiteinch In Flight, was accepted for a local anthology…

…And my daughter was born, late for Christmas, but in plenty of time for the new year.

I have big plans for 2010.  It really feels like I’ve been through a lot this year and I’m confident and a feeling a lot more prepared for what I’m planning for the year ahead.

There are books to write, a wife to keep happy and a daughter to raise.  No problem.

- Alistair

The weekend was great.  Prog Neil and I drove down on Friday, listening to 7 hours of prog to get us suitably in the mood.  35 tracks in total I think.  Heh.

Met with Bruce and Sharla, enjoyed some fine beer and went to the venue to enjoy some Steve Hackett.  Wow, he was something.  As an opener for the festival he was hard to beat.  Many albums were bought. 

There were loads of great bands on the bill, and the stand outs were Godsticks, Pallas, Karnataka and Pendragon.  All the rest were good but these guys rocked the house.

But it was good to get back to the familiar comforts of home.

And the familiar disappointments…

The Spires Of Midnight has been put on hold for the time being.  Neither Ruth or myself are totally convinced that it’s a good enough concept for the Dundee Writing Comp.  That’s fair enough but it does leave me in a bind.  But where there’s imagination there’s hope…

There is something, just in concept stages, which is where the vampire story is, that i’ve been pottering about with.  It might have the spark I’m looking for that Spires doesn’t quite have.  And I’ve got 3 weeks still before the story is due.  It should be plenty of time.

And then there’s the Whiteinch thing.  I don’t even want to go there.  Not yet anyway.  I’m still too disappointed about that one.

(Not that I’m disappointed about not getting accepted, as far as I know I’m in the book although official confirmation hasn’t come through yet, but this is something else…)

- Alistair