Rating: 
Summary: Not exactly progressive rock but album reviews are excellent
Review: This book is essentially a compilation of album reviews with a very personal approach by the author.Most of the book is dedicated to avant-garde, ambient music, electronic music, modern classical works, jazz-fusion and lengthy instrumental and experimental music in general that is closely related to prog-rock but it is definitely not progressive rock and sometimes not even rock music. However many progressive rock albums are also included. Some of them real classics, others over-rated due to the author preferences and of course many important classic works and artist are missing. On the other side, the album reviews are excellent. The reviews usually open with an excellent and brief overview of the band, followed by a little more extensive album overview and a song by song analysis. The articles are very smart, nice to read, full of valuable information and his analysis reflect solid knowledge of music and a clear understanding of its meaning on every context. Even when Bradley writes with love about a music I hate, it is a pleasure for me to read his article and his arguments sustain equally his love and my hate. I would say that this book becomes a "must" for a prog-rock fan when we consider that most of prog album reviews sources like GEPR, AMG and even some other books and web site are very poor and amateurish. This book offers excellent comments on the albums you already know. It will introduce you to many other less known and excellent bands and it eventually would open a door to other music styles closely related with the progressive rock. But definitely not for novices who should look for an approach closer to the progressive rock classics.
Rating:
Summary: Progressive Music: Not Progressive Rock
Review: This book is very misunderstood by those who have critiqued it thus far, and I feel like some of thier critisisms have a lot of validity. I mean yes, Smith should have included those progressive greats such as Van Der Graf Generator, Gentle Giant, and Dream Theater... and Brian Eno did a lot more for Progressive Rock than only the 3 albums that Smith chose to review. But what anyone who reads, reviews, or even just glances at this book need to understand is that Smith has written this book about the genre of Progressive Music, not just Progressive Rock Music, hence the including of such New Age artists as Liz Story and Emerald Web and Space Music artists such as Tangerine Dream and Lightwave. He is exploring a huge genre of music that goes way past Progressive rock, but deals with progressive music on the whole. If you are a progressive rocker, this book is less value to you, and I suggest Paul Stump's book; but if you are truly interested in exploring not just progressive rock but all progressive music, then this book is without a doubt for you! So criticize all that you want critics, but Smith absolutely knows his stuff when it comes to progressive, and the book has become a guide for my personal progressive music collection. A GREAT BUY FOR MUSICIANS!
Rating: 
Summary: A disappointment
Review: Why write a book on a subject that you don't completely know?
With five pages dedicated to Kate Bush and six to Terje Rypdal one can easily think the author has a very original idea of what progressive music is about.
Non-english speaking artists have a very limited attention here, and the ones mentioned are mostly in the instrumental-only and jazz-inspired field.
And being italian, I can't really stand the assertion that italian prog is "dated, clichéd, badly produced", hence totally ignored in this book....
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