It all began with a book that, like a faded, wrinkled treasure map discovered in a dusty attic, inspired Michael Whiteman and I Am The Manic Whale to undertake their latest musical adventure. The quartet's fourth and latest album, Bumper Book Of Mystery Stories, grew out of Whiteman's love of tales of the uncanny, inspired by the 1963 The Boys' Life Book Of Mystery Stories.
"I found a copy of that in a spooky, dusty secondhand bookshop when I was a teenager," says Whiteman. "It's probably a bit dated now but I've always loved reading ghost stories and spooky stories. I found the book again a couple of years ago, re-read it and thought this would be a great theme for an album. We already had a couple of songs about some quite wacky things, so I thought: why don't we write a few more songs about mysterious circumstances and put them all together?"
Each of the eight tracks on Bumper Book Of Mystery Stories weaves a tale of the fantastic, all linked together by the Ghost Train, which is the title of the album's opening song.
"The idea is that you're on this ride, the train is taking you around, and each scene is a different mysterious story and song," says Whiteman. "The themes from Ghost Train come back loads of times throughout the album to remind you that you're on this continuous ride. It's not a supercoherent narrative like some concept albums, but every song has an element of the Ghost Train song somewhere."
The track Nautilus is a loving homage to Jules Verne's sci-fi classic Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.
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JAKKO M JAKSZYK
King Crimson's vocalist and guitarist shares anecdotes from his revealing new autobiography, discusses his lost career as a footballer and reveals what he said when he met the former king of pop.
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CONTROLLED AIRSPACE
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Fourth Dimension
The stock of melodic Northumberland-based proggers Stuckfish has been rising since they formed six years ago. Their fourth studio album, Stuckfish IV, represents an important watershed in the band's musical evolution. Co-founders Adrian Fisher and Phil Stuckey tell Prog about the diverse influences that have helped to shape it.
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We've Not Been Expecting You
The unpredictable Frost* are back with Life In The Wires, a bold double concept album that revisits the mood of Milliontown. Bandleader Jem Godfrey tells Prog why he rolled out the solos on a record he describes as the most fun since their dazzling debut.
FAR HORIZONS AND PANORAMIC AMBITIONS
Dutch five-piece Lesoir have been steadily gathering momentum over the last 15 years, and they hope to build on that with their latest release, Push Back The Horizon. Vocalist/ instrumentalist Maartje Meessen and guitarist Ingo Dassen discuss the creation of their sixth album, working with Muse's production team, and their dream of bringing their intricate music to new audiences.
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Tony Banks reflects on his role as a 21st-century classical composer.
There Can Be Only One!
Never meet your heroes, or so the saying goes, but Opeth have had a blast working with Ian Anderson on their latest, The Last Will And Testament. Bandleader Mikael Åkerfeldt and guitarist Fredrik Åkesson discuss the band's proggiest album to date, the return of the growl and why blood isn't always thicker than water.
