2024 Number 1: Big Big Train

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 1
Big Big Train - The Likes of Us

Yes, Big Big Train. Again.

When we lost David Longdon three years ago, it hit me hard. Big Big Train had been my favourite band of the 2010s and played an important role in me rediscovering my love for music. And, needless to say, his voice was a big, big part of it. I never got to see Big Big Train live – I still haven’t. I was going to and then Covid came. And then fate took him away.

I’ve not been able to face listening to Big Big Train, until another twist of fate took me to Winchester, the city that’s been such a source of inspiration to the band’s tales of history and folklore. I took the path to the top of the hill, followed the trail and looked to the West. I played the song, heard that voice again, and found a way to mourn.

I was still pretty agnostic towards the current line up of BBT, until I finally caved and gave this years album – the first of new material featuring Alberto Bravin – a shot. Damn. From the moment thirty seconds in the famous horn section started playing, I knew the album would be at the top of my list.

The Likes Of Us. I wonder if it's a nod to "Driving The Last Spike", off the last Genesis album with Phil, sometimes called "the first Big Big Train song". They'll never see the likes of us again. And we never did. But their heirs are still here, and they're going to give it a damn good go.

So, it turns out this Bravin fellow can sing a bit. He shines beautifully in these songs that were written for his voice. His dynamic and emotional range is really impressive. He also turns out to be a more than capable songwriting companion to Greg Spawton.

The songs are once again indescribably beautiful, led by Spawton. Expertly crafted and full of warmth, many sonic nods to Genesis with the 12-strings and lush melodies, but also a bit of Crimson and ELP in the wilder moments. The origanic sounds of the violins and horn section give it that BBT flair.

The spectre of loss inevitably hangs over the album. Even the traditional whimsical song of childhood fun - "Skates On" - is imbued with the bittersweet taste of mortality. We're only here for so long.

Rikard Sjöblom hasn't written any music for this one - he left his best stuff for Beardfish this year - but his guitar work is always on point. Add the wondrous talents of Oskar Holldorff and singing drummer Nick D'Virgilio, and it's obvious Big Big Train are still Big Big Train.

It's not the most difficult album they ever made. As their grand opening statement of a new era, one of bittersweet retrospection mixed with careful optimism, they cast a wide net and made a celebratory, jubilant and accessible record that touched me emotionally in a way that I really didn't know they still could.

So the most British band in the world (even though they are a British-Italian-Swedish-Norwegian-American collaboration) continue to be the standard bearers for the music I like best. I'm sure David would have been pleased.

2024 Number 2: Kyros

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 2
Kyros - Mannequin

Few bands have been killing it as hard as Kyros this year. They were unknown to me before now but I've become a big fan.

First of all. Shelby Logan Warne. She is a rock star. One of the most exciting, charismatic, talented singers and musicians in the UK scene right now. And she bought her own studio this year, too. What a legend.

Second, this is an album bursting at the seems with energy. It starts out with a sweet ballad, for the rest it turns it up to eleven. Musically it's a mix of prog rock and synthwave, elaborately produced, with a certain pop sensibility but also a tendency to veer into Haken-like instrumental chaos. And ultimately, they just write the bops.

Third, and most personally relevant of all: perhaps unsurprisingly, Kyros' words of personal struggle, growth and change have resonated deeply with me. I don't have to look for hidden, unintended double meanings to have songs that I can freely and openly relate to. And yet there's a universality to the words that everyone can probably find something in.

The album generated a fair bit of hype, but if you missed it: don't. Plus an honourable mention to the companion EP Fear and Love, which reprises a few of the themes found here. Total prog move. I see what you did there.

2024 Number 3: Meer

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 3
Meer - Wheels Within Wheels

There's two ways of describing Meer. The hard way is this.

Cinematic. Refreshing. Elegant. Intense. Exhilarating. Unique and still familiar. Highly cool.

They play the kind of baroque, cinematic rock music with a progressive edge that is instantly warm and likeable. Add it to a high standard of songwriting, songs that seem to get only more and more intense as the album progresses, and some of the best singing I've heard this year.

Another thing that makes them unique is that their singers are a dueling sister and brother combo, Johanne and Knut, who seem to have made a bet as to who gets to be the most impressive rock vocalist in Norway. Knut's melancholy wail is magnificent, but Johanne's raw power frequently steals the show.

Frequently the songs seem deceptively simple, with verses and hummable choruses, but the sonic palate is so layered, the instrumental sections so elaborate, the melody lines so beautiful, that it's an album you can keep listening to. It works on both the immediate level and the level of deep immersion that us progheads value most of all.

The easy way is this: It's really, really good music.

2024 Number 4: Beardfish

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 4
Beardfish - Songs For Beating Hearts

Comeback albums. They always do well on this blog.

I followed Beardfish during their initial run of albums, since the Sleeping in Traffic days. They were always a promising band… but I never felt they completely lived up to that promise. All of their albums – and they had plenty – seemed to fall just short of the major league to me, although Mammoth and Comfortzone got pretty close. There was something that wasn’t quite there. Great, energetic prog songs always sat alongside meandering pieces, grungy bits that were too gnarly for comfort, or things that felt a bit clunky or overwritten.

There was also a comedy aspect to Beardfish. The humour was often compared to Zappa (some songs even shout him out) but that comparison never really rung true for me. There was a menace about Zappa, kind of a mean streak perhaps, while Rikard Sjöblom (to his credit) is a cuddly teddy bear. There was never that nasty edge to him.

By the time Beardfish broke up, Sjöblom had already joined Big Big Train, most definitely a major league prog band, and he otherwise occupied himself with his Gungfly project. Did he still need Beardfish in his life? Did we, for that matter?

Well, here’s the proof of the pudding. Songs for Beating Hearts might be Beardfish’ best album yet. It's certainly their most consistent. Biggest change? They yeeted the overt attempts at comedy. Maybe the fans won’t like that but honestly, it’s about time this band stopped hiding behind the funny and start playing with conviction. But there’s still plenty of energy, warmth and joy to be found here.

The strong opening song, the mighty centerpiece epic, the heart-wrenching ballad and the powerful closer, all is present and accounted for. It's played with emotion and that playful edge that Beardfish is known for. Whether or not we needed them back, it's good to have them back.

Also, if I had a nickel for every song called "Oblivion" with Rikard Sjöblom on it that came out in 2024, I'd have two nickels. Which is not a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

2024 Number 5: Barock Project

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 5
Barock Project - Time Voyager

I hear you like symphonic progressive rock. Well, have I got an album for you.

Barock Project started off as a typical Italo-prog group, but they switched to English early on in their career. I'm not familiar with their previous work, but it's obvious I've been missing something. This is the kind of album on which everything goes right.

From the grand opening onwards, it's obvious that there's masters at work. They have it down to a fine art form, exactly the right sounds at exactly the right moment. Bombastic or playful, simple or complex, a breather at exactly the right time. A nod to Genesis here, a bit that sounds like Queen there, a perfectly tasty organ solo, a folky bit, a rocky bit, everything is put together so expertly that they almost make it seem too easy. It's a long album but it positively flies by.

It's almost impossible to be at all interested in prog rock and not be impressed by this album in some capacity. It hits the exact sweet spot with such expert precision that, actually, I find I have kept it at an arms length. I do that with albums that are too good. This is music that serves my every whim, maybe I want to be challenged.

In fact, this album probably would have made it into the top three, if not for the fact that they're using AI images as cover art. Lame lame lame! Lame, and unethical, too. There's such a dedication to craftsmanship on display on the musical front, the disdain for the visual arts is heartbreaking. On the list of things musicians should stop doing, that is number one.

In fact, as an aside, I'm less than impressed by most of the cover images on my list. What happened to the Mark Wilkinsons, Roger Deans and Storm Thorgersons of this world? I know that, with the end of physical media, cover art has become less important, but does that mean we can't be arsed to pay a proper artist at all anymore? Surely there's some added value left to actual artwork? 

Time Voyager is a very fine album that is sorely undersold by its own cover.

2024 Number 6: Ritual

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 6
Ritual - The Story of Mr. Bogd, Part 1

Let's have a concept album on our prog list. Always a staple of the genre. This one tells of a rich man who is propelled by fate to change his life and become a better person, a fable for our times indeed.

Like Viima, Ritual are folky and Scandinavian, but their approach is completely different. Ritual are among the great maximalists of prog, bringing lots of energy, Gentle Giant-like canons and musical chaos into a swirling whirlwind of an album. Of course, there are also sedate, reflective moments in this story of introspection, but it's mostly a wild album full of crazy fairy tale adventures. It's like going to the Efteling on amphetamine.

Lots of acoustic instruments are hidden in the mix, but there's moments of mad rock 'n roll too. The singer understood the assingment and has gone full theatre kid on this one (which he also did on the previous Ritual record, which came out a cool 16 years ago). Being Part One, the album doesn't really have a satisfying ending. It just closes in the middle of the story.

Yes, Ritual take their time to craft albums. They are one of the oldest bands on my list, going back to the nineties, but this is only their fifth album. This means that it's entirely possible we might have to wait a while for part two. I have no doubt it'll be worth waiting for.

I also believe that releasing part one and two separately rather than as a double album was the right call. Two hours of this would have been a little too intense. But part one is a deeply enjoyable, energetic adventure.

2024 Number 7: Kendrick Lamar

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 7
Kendrick Lamar - GNX

Yes, I’ve got a hip hop album on my prog rock list now. It’s my list, folks! If you can’t deal, I have a proper prog rock album for you tomorrow.

There’s no power move quite like releasing an album out of nowhere with no hype or buildup whatsoever, and if there’s one artist who can pull it off surely it’s the guy who this year proved that, without a shadow of a doubt, there’s no big three, just big him. We all enjoyed the spectacle, but what comes after the victory lap?

Drake is alluded to briefly, but he’s mere dirt on the foot of a man who’s always ready to move on. GNX is a punchy, snappy album that varies widely in tone, mood and subject, but it all flows together quite beautifully. It’s more of a backwards-looking album than a forwards-looking one. Legends like Tupac are duly honoured in “Reincarnated”, the album’s emotional centerpiece. The whole thing is a love letter to the West Coast hip hop tradition. There’s a waft of nostalgia to it. There’s something refreshingly free of trend chasing here, barring the trends that Kendrick himself has created.

I’m not steeped in hip hop culture and I won’t pretend I get all the references, or even most of them. I just vibe with it. The sentiment expressed I related to the most is the feeling of being out of empathy for the other side, tired of being asked to compromise who you are, and choosing to prioritize yourself, your own authenticity and development, maybe your own mental health, over endlessly pleasing people who almost certainly wouldn’t do the same for you.

In less capable hands, Kendrick’s move away from heady concept albums like TPAB and Mr. Morale into more song-oriented, straightforward fare might have seemed like a semi-conscious capitulation to the only punch Drake threw at him that almost kinda-sorta nearly stuck: Kendrick just opened his mouth / somebody hand him a grammy right now. Maybe he deliberately positions himself less as an auteur who appeals to the beard stroking intelligentsia, and more as a pop star, someone for the people?

It slides off him anyway. Kendrick is just too good, too good at writing rhymes that make you think and analyze, that make you share in his melancholy or righteous anger, that make you want to listen over and over again. All the while he’s staying firmly in the realm of authenticity and knocking out, what’s the word, bangers, almost as an afterthought. He can do whatever he wants. Maybe he felt he needed to prove it, maybe he didn’t. I wouldn’t say he makes it look easy, the man is intense, but he does make it seem inevitable. I can understand why lesser rap arists (a category that includes basically everyone else) get infuriated by him. So be it. The king rules, the goat bleats.

 

2024 Number 8: Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 8
Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks - True

No one knows how much time they’ve got left, sang Steve Hogarth a few years ago. Some rockstars seem immortal, but you never know when their latest album is going to be their last. For instance, Chris Squire’s parting gift to this world was the Heaven & Earth album, one of the more regrettable releases Yes have ever put their name to. I’d prefer to remember him for almost everything else he ever did.

While Yes’ subsequent albums have been less embarassing, they are still struggling mightily without Jon Anderson, who’s thrown in his lot with a bunch of much younger professional musicians. These are people who live and breathe progressive music, and who actually know what Yes is supposed to sound like. They tour together playing Yes classics, but a new album was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The result is a Yes-with-the-numbers-filed-off Yes album that is probably the best Yes-related release since… shit, Magnification maybe? Notwithstanding the pretty awful album art, we have a top quality album here. Jon was 79 when he recorded this, and you can occasionally hear the slightest hint of gravel in that angelic voice, but other than that his range and tone have been utterly untouched by the years. That spiritual, healthy, meditating lifestyle he’s leading is clearly working for him, so as a lifelong sceptic of all things new age I humbly tip my hat.

It doesn’t think outside the box very much. It’s a seventies-style Yes album updated to the production standards of the 21st century, with not much happening that you wouldn’t expect from this description. There’s not even the pretense of this album being in any way original or forward-looking. But is that a bad thing? The songs are well written, and the musicianship is high. All the musicians get a chance to shine; it's not just Jon monologuing gibberish at you (which is where his album with Roine Stolt went slightly wrong).

What it is, is a chance finally to hear this voice sing on this kind of music again, and do it with integrity and passion, and no musical missteps. That really hasn’t happened in a very long time. It’s a gift. Cherish it. I hope Jon has many more years left in him – and wouldn’t it be a credit to his lifestyle if he did? – but if this is to be the last album to bear his name he’s got nothing to be ashamed of.

2024 Number 9: Willow

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 9
Willow - Empathogen

It was quite surprising to see Willow Smith’s music gain so much momentum at the beginning of the year. It’s easy to be skeptical of the success of a showbiz kid, especially when their father is one of the most famous actors in the world. Surely she owes her buzz to her family name rather than her talent? But her music was discussed favourably by many muso YouTubers and I, too, have to deal with the fact that the person who once made a rather awful single called “Whip My Hair” is, in fact, a legitimate musician.

This is a fairly ambitious neo-jazz-fusion album that occasionally rocks, and at this point, what's the functional difference between that and prog rock? The songs are short and pointy, befitting of her generation, but always have lots going on.

It must be said that the singles, "Symptom of Life" and "Big Feelings", are the standout moments. In my world, that's always the sign of a slightly lightweight album. That doesn't lessen the impact of a surprisingly intriguing artist. She's got a great voice, and she knows her way around a tricky arrangement. Worth checking out.

2024 Number 10: Viima

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 10
Viima - Väistyy Mielen Yö

The winner of this year's Retro Prog in a Foreign Language Sweepstakes is: Viima. I've been told, and not just by Finns, that Finnish is a real language that real people really speak. I'm not entirely convinced. It sounds like something Tolkien has come up with.

Viima do their best to keep the Tolkien spirit up with soothing, folky, melancholy, atmospheric, retro stylings. Flutes and acoustic guitars and proggy full band workouts and not a lot of sleek production tricks. And lots of mellotrons and Hammond organs! Honest, workmanlike prog. It's very warm.

Bugger if I know what the lyrics are about, but they feel like tragic fantasy stories, maybe about ghosts. They sound great anyway. The songwritership is quality and diverse. The album feels coherent, but every song has its own character.

Like I said, my list this year skews conservative, and this is exhibit A. This is not an album that's going to blow your mind, but it is an album that's going to keep you warm in dark days such as these. Pour yourself some hot chocolate or salmiakki and let it wash over you.

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Preamble and Honourable Mentions

It's December 21, so... welcome back to Prog-Rama! I’ve used this platform in the past to write my dicography review of The Flower Kings. These days, I use it mostly as my platform to publish my year-end top ten list. Let's face it: this is the only year-end tradition that really counts (I’ve been given to understand that something called “Christmas” happens sometime during my top ten, but I've never heard of it). This year is no different. But some things are…

Hello. My name is Gemma. I like writing about music, science and art. I’m a singer in a band called Tower of Kalla. I volunteer at a zoo. I have a podcast about dinosaurs in popular culture. I listen to progressive rock a lot.

2024 has been a year of transition, in more ways than one. At the start of the year, I came out as transgender. This has allowed me to live in a more authentic way, more in tune with myself. I have been blessed that my environment has been overwhelmingly (though not unanimously) accepting of this. I’ve mostly tried to get on with life as usual, facing the world as my true self. Nevertheless, it’s been a time of changes, highs and lows, great adventures, and a great deal of looking inward.

This is reflected in my year-end list, which provides a bit of counterbalance to the wildness of the year. My music of choice in 2024 has been, overall, fairly conservative. I’ve not sought out the most eclectic outer limits of my musical tastes, instead looking for things close to home, finding music that was comforting like a warm bath. 2024 was a good year for that. The prog releases this year were fairly uniformly of high quality, with no major outliers both on the upper and lower end. Of course, there have been some exceptions...

This meant that putting my ten favourites in order was not especially easy. The list could be in any number of orders, and any album in the top five would make a worthy number one. The differences have been small. Nevertheless, I’ve come up with an order to post these in.

A top ten means stuff will need to get left out, so here are some honourable mentions. These are nine albums that I enjoyed this year. Give it up for Pure Reason Revolution, Frost, David Gilmour, Opeth, Emerald City Council, Weather Systems, Dirt Poor Robins, K’mono and Trojka.

I could imagine each of these albums in the top ten, but the amount of quality albums has been high. I’m sure there’s been any amount of great albums this year I haven’t heard, and I always feel slightly bad for the hardworking musicians whose work I’ve missed. But that’s what life is. How many books do you have on your self that go unread? There’s always more to discover, and that can be a comforting thought, too. Who knows? Maybe I’ve got something on my list that you’ve missed.

So join me as we count down to the new year with our annual top ten advent calendar. Tomorrow, we’re getting started with number ten. At New Year’s Eve, I will reveal my number one.