Hibou

I was hooked on Rock from the tender age of five, listening to ELVIS PRESLEY, BILL HALEY and CHUCK BERRY on AM radio while in the background, my mom practised her Chopin on the piano. The 60's came and went without much ado but lo and behold, the 70's stormed in with PINK FLOYD, LED ZEPPELIN, ELP, DEEP PURPLE, KING CRIMSON, JETHRO TULL, FOCUS. But it wasn't until 1973 that I really had my prog epiphany.

.. I had fallen asleep one night with the headphones on, tuned in to a Montreal FM Rock station, and I had this incredible dream: I was walking in a pastoral scenery, a sunny country lane flanked on both sides by gigantic sunflowers; flowers so tall they made me feel like Alice in Wonderland.

But something very powerful suddenly pulled me from my dream and I awoke. To my utter amazement, the magical feeling still lingered: I was wide awake and still soaring! It is then I realized that the fine thread linking my consciousness to the dream was the music still piping through my headphones.

I truly had never heard such heavenly sounds before and I listened to the entire track, totally mesmerized - what had actually prompted the dream were the opening notes of "The Cinema Show". That night, I fell for Prog and have never looked back since. Although I've become quite fond of a variety of prog styles over the years, my first encounter with the old symphonic masters is perhaps the reason why I still favour melodious Prog.