The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music

"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."