The Third Age Trust runs a number of interest groups online (collectively known as the IGO groups). A new one was started about 3 months ago; it’s called Exploring Prog Rock. So, of course, this third age gentleman and fan of the genre had to sign up. At last week’s meeting, it transpired that one of the IGO organisers is part of her brother’s band, The Bedlam Furnaces. Curiosity had called at Crotchety Mansions once again.

The Bedlam Furnaces don’t seem to have a website, but their music is available on bandcamp and Spotify. They have released one album and enough singles for another. The album was released in 2021; it is called Fever Dream. There are 11 tracks, lasting a total of 1 hour 13 minutes.

The opening track, Wild Rocket, is typical guitar-led prog rock – worth listening to if you are into the heavier end of prog. But that one misses the sweet spot on my taste buds, and the recording is of a disappointingly poor quality, so I have missed it off this playlist. The other seven songs and three instrumentals both sound much better and offer a range of styles more suited to my palate: folk, classical and symphonic side dishes to accompany the prog rock meat.

The band is led by Ian Allison (guitars, bass, keyboards and vocals); his sister, Alison, provides both vocals and woodwind instruments (garklein, tenor and descant recorders). More Allisons feature as guest artists: Reuben brings a cello and Thadeus a trumpet. It would appear to be a family affair.

The overall theme is ‘loss’. The loss of loved ones and the loss of innocence. It is expressed with the pastel and primary colours from both folk and rock artists’ palettes. The Hypnotigon, for example, starts as a lovely little folk song and builds to a passionate rock opera ending. Throughout the album, there are passages that sound like solo performances by Anthony Phillips or Bert Jansch. And there are grand anthemic sections reminiscent of Tommy or The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

The lyrics focus on what is wrong with the world today. It comes across most clearly in Requiem: I Am Become Death, which samples the words of J. Robert Oppenheimer after he witnessed the destructive power of the atomic bomb. And it is there in F.U.B.A.R., too, with its stark warning: “Here is the news. We’ve faked all the news. There is no new news.” It’s a message that’s even more relevant today.

When asked why some songs have the power to move you more than others, Ian Allison said this:

‘The songs that skewer me are the ones that put their heart in your hands and ask you to look after it.’

Ian Allison in an interview on The Bucket Playlist.

If you like these songs as much as I do, please cradle them gently. They offer a musician’s heart, and he is relying on you to protect it from all our nightmares.