I picked up a copy of the new magazine “Classic Rock Presents Prog” at the weekend, and here are my thoughts on the thing.
First, the price. I cannot honestly say that £7.99 for a magazine with approximately the same number of pages as Classic Rock, which retails for a little over half that amount, really represents value for money in these recessionary times. The price is printed in such a tiny font many people aren’t realising the damage to their wallet until they reach the till. It’s even been suggested that that they’re betting on people being too embarrassed to change their mind at that point. It also seems to have fairly limited availability; smaller newsagents that stock Classic Rock don’t seem to be selling it, and the only place you can buy it appears to be W.H.Smiths.
There are some good articles on artists like The Reasoning, Steve Wilson, Pendragon, Coheed and Cambria, and good (if somewhat sexist) piece on Women in Prog mentioning Mostly Autumn, Breathing Space and Panic room, among others. The recent London gigs by Panic Room and Mostly Autumn also get glowing reviews.
But there’s also a lot of recycled material from the past. The cover story on Pink Floyd doesn’t really tell us anything we haven’t read many times before, as do the similar retreads on Rush and ELP. Worse still, the magazine contains too much very obvious space-filler. The worst offender is the 10 page article with Phil Jupitus discussing Genesis album covers, mostly taken up by large images of the album sleeves themselves, pure padding with little or no worthwhile content. One wonders how future issues will fare if they’re struggling to fill the very first one.
There’s also another serious concern. While it’s great to see bands like Mostly Autumn, Panic Room, Breathing Space and The Reasoning get some very positive reviews, I can’t help thinking that there’s going to be a very much reduced coverage of anything remotely “Progessive” in the parent magazine. This makes me wonder if shunting progressive music into an overpriced, limited availability low circulation ghetto magazine will ultimately be a net loss.
Slightly different view – I enjoyed the album covers section – in this day of CDs/downloads etc. it was nice to see something that I think has been lost. The album cover used to be a major part of buying music when I was a kid. I used to sit for hours and examine every last detail on the cover. Nice bit of nostalgia. Agree on the Floyd and Rush pieces, nothing new. Overall, I enjoyed the articles and did not see the article on women in prog as sexist (although I am sure you get a mention – are you the train enthusiast they talk about
).
The price is absolutely ridiculas and needs to be addressed but otherwise still think its great to see the genre get more glossy recognistion.
If I really am that the train enthusiast, then somebody who’s first name begins with H has misunderstood the meaning of my Diesel and Electric Modellers United “No Kettles” t-shirt.
they’ve done a prog podcast too-
http://www.classicrockmagazine.com/news/classic-presentsprog-the-progcast-2/
I’ll give that a listen later, can’t be bothered checking out the print issue.
Hello
Thank you at least for giving us a mention. I’m glad you liked certain sections of the magazine and have read with interest your thoughts on what you didn’t like.
If I could, I’d like to make one or two comments concerning the cover price, which has been the matte of some debate, although thankfully, up until now, the deluge of complaints we thought might occur hasn’t happened.
Yes, £7.99 is quite a high price to pay, and trust me, this is something we are more than aware of. However as the editorial team, we do not set the price, but can only work with what is decreed by the company we work for. Believe me when I say it is most certainly not the intention of Future Publishing to rip fans off. However, I must stress, we are a quarterly title, and as such, incur added expenses getting the trade to stock the magazine (the big supermarkets flatly refuse to stock such an infrequent publication for example) on what they see as an irregular basis. If the magazine becomes more frequent (the plan is for six issues next year) then the cover price will definitely drop and we will also be able to being subscription offers as well.
For this year’s four issues, we are saddled with the current cover price. As I say, we are more than aware that this is a high price to ask readers to pay, not least in the current financial climate, and we appreciate not all will stay along for the ride over the course of this year. To that end, all we can do is work our hardest to present as much value for money as we can, with the wallet, CD and actual content of the magazine.
Thank you for your feedback
Jerry Ewing
I enjoyed the magazine very much and the CD which came with it. For me £7.99 for a “specialist” magazine plus CD is ok. I know other magazines, including Classic Rock include “free” CD’s but there was enough stuff on this that I had never heard or even heard about the artists it was worthwhile having. Most other freebies I usually ditch!
I think anything that propels prog into the more mainstream arena is a good thing. The genre is getting good press now and that can only be reflected in hpefully even more bands producing progressive music.
As a first attempt the mag was a success for me. I think they got the balance between covering “traditional” prog artists and newer bands just about right. The next one looks interesting as it cover Mars Volta, Crimson and more avant garde bands. Its out the end of May. So is this a bi-monthly or quarterly?
I also think £7.99 is somewhat expensive although I do appreciate Jerry Ewing’s dilemma. At the end of the day the market will decide and it will live or die accordingly.
However, my bigger concern is Tim’s last point. This magazine will need material and so I can see anything to do with the like of Mostly Autumn etc. being saved for this magazine, meaning that those bands are denied the wider and more frequent exposure that they would otherwise have had in Classic Rock. While this won’t harm the big prog bands of the past (Floyd etc.), the newer bands need as much exposure to as wide a readership as possible. Taking them out of a widely available, reasonably priced monthly and putting them in an expensive, difficult to find (believe me. I’ve tried!) quarterly magazine may end up harming those very bands that enable its existence.
that seems like a very big price, I haven’t seen it, but it sounds interesting.
I’d love to pay £7.99 for a copy if I could find one..!! I’ve tried 5 branches of WH Smiths, two independant sellers, supermarkets, HMV, Classic Rock’s own site and even Ebay. No joy though.
Nice of Jerry to respond but does he really thing the wallet adds value for money..?? I thought they did that purely to stop people reading it in the shops..!! It’s always the first thing that goes in the bin..!!