BBC Music Magazine
Winner takes all
Competitions may be 'for horses', as Bartók once claimed, but they're a useful promotional tool, writes Claire Jackson, and sometimes they reveal a real star
7 min |
December 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Make it up as you go along...
Classical music has a problem with perfection. You'd have thought the most important job of any professional musician was learning, playing and repeating the notes composers wrote down so often that they become second nature. Surely that's how the tradition works: keep playing the same music – by Strozzi, Bach or Vivaldi – over and over again until the jewels that they left us are polished to a gleaming finish. That's what the works of classical music are all about: they are bound in the pages of scores, fixed as absolute sequences of pitches in time, and turned into objects of contemplation in performance by classical music's ideals of recreative execution.
1 min |
December 2025
BBC Music Magazine
Concert Heaven Concert Hell
Top artists recall their best and worst performances
3 min |
December 2025
BBC Music Magazine
A rich score drawn from wanderings in America
Kate Wakeling is captivated by the Partch Ensemble's compelling realisation of a truly original body of works
10 min |
December 2025
Record Collector
Heard Ya Missed Us WELL WE'RE BACK!
Formed in Coventry in 1984, The Primitives managed to shine among some stylish competition on the indie scene. In 1988 they enjoyed a memorable Top 5 UK hit with the shimmering indie pop song, Crash. Four years later, the group went on hiatus, a state which lasted over two decades before a tentative return to the scene. Now, Cherry Red are releasing a long-overdue recap of the first phase of their career, spread across five discs, featuring live sessions and previously unreleased material. Guitarist and founding member Paul Court sat down to talk with RC about unexpected success, the highs and lows of the record industry, and how bubble bath spoiled a potential hit.
4 min |
December 2025
Record Collector
45 minutes with...Roland Gift
Roland Gift came to prominence in 1985 when, as the lead singer in Fine Young Cannibals, he made the UK Top 10 with their first single, Johnny Come Home. That same year they also reached the Top 10 with their self-titled debut album, although it was their 1989 followup, The Raw & The Cooked, that hit No 1 in the UK and US and yielded US No 1 singles She Drives Me Crazy and Good Thing. When they split in 1996, Gift, who'd previously starred in films including 1987's Sammy And Rosie Get Laid and 1989's Scandal, returned to the screen, starring in 1997 TV miniseries, Painted Lady, alongside Helen Mirren. In 2002 he made his eponymously titled solo album, then, in 2013, went on tour with Jools Holland's band. He is currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of Fine Young Cannibals with FYC40, a career-spanning CD/LP package and an accompanying Roland Gift Presents Fine Young Cannibals tour.
6 min |
December 2025
Guitarist
Stephen Dale Petit
Grave illness and a broken heart have tested Stephen Dale Petit – but the bluesman tells us that completing his Clapton-bolstered masterpiece, Be The Love, is all that matters
8 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
GIBSON 1963 ES-335TD
Gary Moore was a master at coaxing tone from this workhorse semi
1 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
TRUSTY STEED
Compact, affordable and full of Fender DNA, the Blues Junior celebrates 30 years as one of the company's most iconic and celebrated valve amp designs. Senior product manager, Rick Heins, joins us to mark the milestone
6 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
Doubleneck Duo
It's double trouble this month as we examine a pair of twin-necked 60s Gibsons
3 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
1963 FENDER TELECASTER
The only other Fender in The Final Encore collection is this modded firecracker of a Tele
2 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
1962 GIBSON LES PAUL
Gary Moore's SG-shape Les Paul is in remarkably clean, original condition
1 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
Flex Factor
The little green pedal loved by Nashville session players gets a reboot with added versatility
2 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
Tones Behind The Tracks
When two prog giants collaborate, you know you're in for a mesmerising experience. Bioscope's Steve Rothery shares the story of Gentō
5 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
The Learning Curve
Neville Marten bemoans his lack of music-reading skills as he and some 'old' mates attempt to compile songs for an upcoming gig
3 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
Deep Space
Crazy Tube Circuits presents a dual-engine ambient reverb workstation that spans the traditional and the esoteric
4 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
Junior Senior
Decked out in tooled western-style livery with a saddle bag's worth of speaker and circuit upgrades, this anniversary edition stands strong in the lineage of the classic benchmark combo
4 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
Albums
The month's best guitar music - a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax
4 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
BIFFY CLYRO
WITH THEIR 10TH ALBUM, 'FUTIQUE', BIFFY CLYRO REMIND US EXACTLY WHY THEY ARE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ROCK BANDS OF THE MODERN AGE...
8 min |
November 2025
Guitarist
Seventies Chic
After some considerable time, the Les Paul Custom returns to Gibson USA's production line-up in classic 70s style, while the lesser Marauder is celebrated with a limited throwback design. Time to investigate!
9 min |
November 2025
Prog
JHB GUITARIST DELVES DEEP
Nick Fletcher's fifth album, Mask of Sanity, is inspired by the psychologist Carl Jung.
1 min |
Issue 164
Prog
SPOCK'S BEARD REUNITE FOR NEW LP
Prog veterans channel their post-tour energy into writing and recording.
2 min |
Issue 164
Prog
GREGOR MACKINTOSH
The long shadows cast by the genre-weaving music of Dead Can Dance have long enveloped Paradise Lost's guitarist Gregor Mackintosh.
1 min |
Issue 164
Prog
RAPHAEL WEINROTH-BROWNE
Leprous collaborator redefines the cello and pushes it to its progressive limits.
2 min |
Issue 164
Prog
JESSICA MOSS
Fuelled by a burning social and political conscience, the Canadian violinist turns protest into music.
1 min |
Issue 164
Prog
Sacred Sounds
Since her 2010 debut album, acclaimed composer and virtuoso cellist Jo Quail has demonstrated that the melancholic-sounding stringed instrument has a place beyond the realm of classical music and spooky movie scores. On her latest album, Notan, she strips her breathtaking and otherworldly sound back to its purest parts, and its orchestral companion is due next year. She tells Prog why less is sometimes more.
5 min |
Issue 164
Prog
WRNTDP ANNOUNCES SIXTH ALBUM AND COMPILATION
Latest LP mourns the collapse of public services.
1 min |
Issue 164
Prog
IHLO
Hot on the heels of the recently released Legacy, Scotland’s Ihlo return to London for a sold-out show celebrating its launch.
2 min |
Issue 164
Prog
COLIN EDWIN AND JOHN WESLEY JOIN FORCES AND SET SAIL WITH THEIR NEW PROJECT VOYAGE 35
The former Porcupine Tree members will be playing and touring their former band's early material alongside the band's original lightshow, Fruit Salad Lights in 2026.
3 min |
Issue 164
Prog
DEREK SHULMAN
Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it's Derek Shulman. The Glasgow-born musician is best known as frontman of progressive rock trailblazers Gentle Giant and before that, the psychedelic pop outfit Simon Dupree And The Big Sound. But his career didn't end there - he went on to enjoy a hugely successful second chapter as a record label executive, playing a key role in signing and developing major acts including Bon Jovi and Dream Theater. Now, with a newly published autobiography, he looks back on six decades navigating both sides of the business, reflects on the importance of 'authenticity', and marvels that his music has found a new generation of listeners.
10+ min |