I am nearly at the end of compiling my top 15 Prog albums of 2025 …or so I thought!

Let me explain. The way I do it is as albums come out and I listen to them and like them I might add them to a playlist on iTunes! Don’t get me wrong I don’t download music for free, I purchase it because I firmly believe that if the artist has put their time into creating this music and I am enjoying it then the least I can do is to recompense them for their efforts.

What happens in the playlist stays in the playlist, sad to say the scoring goes onto a paper list. I give every album points out of ten as I listen to them, sometimes on a second or third listen (fourth or fifth even) points may be added or deducted! And what do points mean? Yeah … me scribbling away on an A4 pad sometimes until the early hours of the morning!

So anyway, here’s me thinking I’m all sorted and the top 15 is coming together nicely thank you then a certain band that shall be nameless – (check my Facebook page) release an album in the last week of November! I think I might have referred to it as “throwing a fucking curveball”! Anyway, panic over, it didn’t cause any major difficulties in the scoring! You see I am nicely situated because I can take this right up until 31 December before I publish the results. Having worked in the printing and publishing domain I can feel sorry for Jerry Ewing et al who are tied to the constraints of having to meet deadlines in order to get a printed copy out to the masses!

I digress! As I said I thought I was sorted, the top 5 are all but set in concrete give or take a late night listening but they will only move up or down minimally! So lets have a look at the rest….! This is where I took another look, then another look, then demanded a recount! I have 15 albums all on seven points! As I looked at the list I noticed a couple languishing below with six points which I immediately upgraded to sixth place, along with 16 others! Is there such a thing as VAR for Prog?

You see my problem! The easy (cowards) way out would just to make them all equal sixth but that’s not fair! The only fair way is for a serious listening binge! Sorry Ali (my wife) but this means listening in the kitchen while cooking, in the car, in the mancave and on headphones via the ancient iPod in bed! On a sidenote Alexa can fuck off! I’ve tried her with albums I have purchased on Amazon and she gets three songs in then throws a wobbler and tells me what the weather is at the moment where I live! I already know FFS! We have windows and I have been out with the dog! Yes I know it is fucking raining thank you!

Calm down Johnny you will get there!

I will, and I promise this years Progwinds Top 15 Prog albums of 2025 will be published before the final bell of Big Ben on New Years Eve. Right, headphones on and I’m off to bed!

Goodnight and Prog on
Johnny