Greg Cummins
 

Greg and Son

Contact Info:
E-mail: fregster@yahoo.com.au
 

Last Updated: November 2001
 

Music has been an integral part of my life for well over 30 years as I grew up through the psychedelic 60's and early 70's enjoying the ultimate in creative sounds that was available at that time. Bands like Family, The Moody Blues, C.S.N. & Y, Yes, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Magna Carta, Genesis, Camel, Blind Faith, Traffic, E.L.P. Cream, Greenslade, Druid, King Crimson, Mountain, Wishbone Ash, T.D., Allan Parsons Project, Mike Oldfield, Gentle Giant, Humble Pie, Led Zeppelin, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, The Band, Kansas, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd soon gave way to some of the more obscure progressive bands that came and went throughout the 70's. A thoroughly engrossing but relatively brief career as a drummer in a local Sydney band culminated in our coming second in the Hoadley's "Battle Of The Bands". After deciding to leave the band for personal reasons (her name will remain nameless), I sold all of my equipment and embarked on a 3-decade odyssey collecting as many obscure and diverse progressive rock records as I could locate. I was a frequent visitor to many of the local second hand record shops and would often spend an entire week's wages buying vinyl that would accumulate amongst an ever-increasing collection of some of the best music ever written. My interests in the more obscure material enabled me to become familiar with bands that were relatively unheard of in Australia and by being willing to take a chance on anything that looked "prog", I discovered many gems that have only surfaced in recent years as being worth collecting. I was collecting all of the Maxophone, Le Orme, Banco, Fireballet, Shadowfax, Acqua Fragile, Omega, Affinity, Area, Strawbs, Gryphon, Barclay James Harvest, Novalis, Brand X, Cressida, Beggars Opera, Synergy, Triumvirate, U.K., Wallenstein, Curved Air, Ethos, Gordon Giltrap, Jan Hammer, Steve Hillage, Horslips, Be Bop Deluxe, Jade Warrior, Kayak, Malicorne, Mandalaband, Nektar, Renaissance, Rush, Saga, Starcastle, Eloy, Frank Zappa and hundreds of others that I could possibly find, long before they became popular again during the 90's. This was no mean feat as most of this type of music was only available on expensive imports and were rarely sold to any of the second hand dealers. After exhausting everything from these bands and the respective solos efforts, I looked further a-field and branched out into a little East Coast Jazz /Rock / Fusion and snapped up albums by Dixie Dregs, RTF, Al Di Meola, Steve Khan, Lee Ritenour, Eric Gale, Pat Metheny, Jean Luc Ponty and Janne Schaffer. As I enjoyed some of the less frenetic and more symphonic music that was available, bands like Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Clannad, Iona, Loreena McKennitt, Altan, Magna Carta, Lindisfarne, Leo Kottke and others with a more folkish tendency, also found favour with me.

After the partial removal of a brain tumour some years ago, I was looking for something a little less aggressive to help me convalesce and in so doing, I discovered some new age artists such as Deuter, Gandalf, David Arkenstone, Kitaro, Craig Chaquico, Cusco, Don Harriss and Chris Spheeris, whose material I would find enjoyable when a pensive mood overtook me. It also helped to placate the "war office" who still does not share my love of progressive music.

After discovering the wonderful resources of the Internet and being tempted by many of the on-line CD outlets, I was quickly snapping up as much of the "newly discovered" Italian, South American, European, English and Japanese material I never knew about. Favourite discoveries during the past 2 years include Cast, Kaipa, IQ, Twin Age, Pageant, Nexus, Tempus Fugit, Gerard, Flower Kings, Pell Mell, Pablo El Enterrador, Quaterna Requiem, Locanda Della Fate, Ayreon, DFA, The Watch, Bjorn Lynne, Happy The Man, Blue Shift, Hamadryad, Ziff, RPWL and Metaphor although I have enjoyed almost every title I have tried. This must be a testament to how much progressive rock has improved recently.

I am not too keen on Zeuhl or anything too dark or aggressive although I will give most music a decent listen before making a decision. My experience as a music critic is derived from owning a collection of some 2500 different titles and more recently as a reviewer when I posted a number of reviews to another site called Prog.Net. Since it's closure in June of this year, I have been looking for a new soapbox and in this regard, I am keen to be able to help contribute to The Giant Progweed's growing number of reviews as they have very kindly taken me on board. Maybe they don't know what they're in for!!

For those interested, I am a bean counter, working on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland, Australia, have a filthy sense of humour and live with my wife of many years and a great son of almost as many!

Cheers,

Greg Cummins
 
 

Other Information that may help.
 

What's spinning around on my player??

Par Lindh - Vini Vedi Vici
Dragonfly - Dragonfly
Ars Nova - The Book Of The Dead
Atlas - Bla Verdag
Galaxy - Natures Clear Well
Ziff - Stories
The Watch - Ghost
RPWL - God Has Failed
Cast - Angels & Demons
Rebecca - Phoenix
Fates Warning - A Pleasant Shade Of Grey
 

Other Styles Of Music I Like

Celtic / English Folk / Some New Wave / Anything played well by talented musicians who are not contracted to write number 1 hits.
 

Other Styles Of Music I don't like.

Anything that is predictable, formularised, too repetitive, simple, boring or written with commercialism as the main ingredient. That would
include most radio music, including rap, disco and paltry pop songs together with thrash metal or punk. Exceptions to the rule (Or other music I shouldn't like but will fess up as enjoying seeing you asked so nicely!)

Roxette, (what a spunk!), Crash Test Dummies, Deep Forest, Enya, Simple Minds, Talk Talk, Big Country, Jackson Browne, The Eagles and dare I mention her, the legendary Barabara Streisand.
 

Other Styles yet to explore

When my symphonic rock collection is complete, I want to discover more Canterbury, RIO, and world.
 

Other talents and hidden attributes.

One handed clapping, jokes, bawdiness, lewd behaviour, crass and repulsive vulgarity and anything to shock people.