Mountains Come Out of the Sky: The Illustrated History of Prog Rock

This is a huge, lengthy, detailed history of progressive rock, smoothly written and beautiful to look at. There are some minor problems. Hard-core fans will undoubtedly find some artists who were left out of Romano's history (an entire chapter on trailblazers Van der Graaf Generator was reportedly dropped because the band wasn't commercial enough), some bands aren't represented by their best works, some artists included aren't really prog, some album covers are mis-identified, etc. But the book is well-researched and solid on the facts, and there are remarkably few errors until the very end. The list of essential recordings at the end is pretty easy to argue with, but when I think of some of the other places fans could search for more information ... Well, this is clearly the best place to start. I hope Romano gets to write a sequel.

This book contains lengthy histories of the major progressive rock bands (Yes, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and others)--plus histories of lesser known and lesser selling elements of prog-rock, such as the bands in the Canterbury (UK) scene such as Caravan. Additionally, the author discusses each album the group has produced up to publication date in a discerning, reasonable manner. Finally, he includes additional chapters to cover the resurgence in the '80s of Yes and Genesis, and the changes--positive and negative--they underwent to reinvent themselves. I must, however, I must include one caveat: I have never read a book with so many typographical errors. Some are minor, such as writing "a" instead of "an." However, some are major, such as including text that makes no sense in a particular paragraph and--worst of all--incorrectly titling albums beneath a picture of the album cover. For example, underneath Genesis's 1976 album "Trick of the Tail," I found the title "Abacab," Genesis's 1981 album, underneath the iconic cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, I found a title that I didn't recognize. These errors mar an otherwise admirable work. In the future, I hope the editing departing corrects these errors, especially for the sake of those new to prog-rock, since so much misinformation exists in this book, which may misinform those new to this style and corpus of rock.

Very pleasantly surprised at the depth and scope of each band covered over the entire Prog life cycle. Loved Bill Bruford's articulate forward commentary on those pioneering years. Wonderful tidbits on many of our heroes. I think it is an excellent read for all Prog fans young and old. Great coffee table book to have on hand as we reminisce on that magical period. Will be sharing with my kids and grandkids as an authentic history of Prog.

OK....a few minor editorial errors....but all in all a thoroughly entertaining, and at times astonishing, overview of this much maligned sub -genre of rock. If you're a fan of Prog Rock in all its glorious indulgences and baroque trappings this book will satisfy your passion. Lots of great anecdotes and historical back stories on some of the greatest Prog Bands to commit music to tape. An excellent addition to any Rock library.

Mountains Come Out of the Sky takes the reader through the history of Progressive Rock. Author Will Romano discusses not only the “usual” groups associated with the prog rock genre (King Crimson, ELP, Yes), but also lesser known prog bands such as Italy’s Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM). The book is an excellent overview of the subject and can serve to open the reader’s eyes (and ears) to new frontiers in music.

Very good read, it is gonna send me running for Spotify to hear what I've missed. Gets highest recommendation. Excellent place to start for the new listener who wants to know more about this always changing and hard to pin down musical genre.

Good research. In depthCovers not just the Top tier but many others which make this such a rich genre

Very detailed and thorough. Would have liked to see more information on the newer, smaller groups (Flower Kings, Spocks Beard, etc) but still an EXCELLENT book. I would be interested in buying a hard copy if it were to become available.

From the very outset of this review I need to point out that I have not yet read this book completely; I am about 2/3 through it and it's becoming a bit of a chore. Maybe that's because I'm English (or British, whatever the pedants want to call me) and the Americanisms in this book are really grinding my gears now! I'm fed-up of reading the oft-used phrase "their sophomore effort" and the incorrectly used word "Mach" when the author actually needs the word "Mark" as in King Crimson Mk (Mark) 3 et alia. And yes, there ARE issues with incorrect album titles ascribed to images throughout the book and also incorrectly named tracks.It's easy to scoff and pick faults until one tries to write oneself (I know - I've done it) and so perhaps I need to balance this a bit by adding that some if the interviews are quite interesting and I have learned some entertaining facts. The coverage of appropriate bands seems to be generally OK, although I fail to see how classic cult prog band The Enid escapes mention other than in a throwaway line accompanying a photo in the BJH section. Again, it's probably because it's basically an American production. I would also have liked a little more info on the 'major' photos, e.g. Who is the band pictured at the start of the Rock Progressivo Italiano section? I don't think it's PFM, but who knows?As I said earlier, it seems churlish to be negative and criticise, so ultimately I'm going to come down on the 4-stars award for this book. It's a nice addition to my library and has stimulated me to fish out some CDs that haven't had an airing for a year or two, so it can't be all that bad!

A pleasant book to pick up and dive into.Sadly let down by so many mistakes. Wrong song titles, covers, album spellings etc.Just a lot more care needed.

A well written and nicely illustrated book, but some of the album cover images given were wrong in the edition I bought.The book is BIG, just under A4 size, and well produced using quality paper with a sturdy cardboard cover.It covers the history of the bands very well, but for my taste it doesn't discuss the music itself quite enough.I discovered some excellent bands by reading this, such as IQ, Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard and Renaissance.In particular the albums V by Spock's Beard, Stupid Dream by Porcupine Tree and Frequency by IQ were mentioned in the book and they are among my all time favourites now.

PROGRESSIVE ROCK MUISC. You like it or not. But books about the music is sometimes. arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!.But "Mountains Come Out Of The Sky" is well written. Ok if you are into prog you will not find out anything new. Within its pages. If you wish to find out what the poeple whom like the music. Is all about. Then read it. If you are a Progressive Rock Freak than buy an enjoy. This is by a fellow geekfreak.

It's a book befitting the genre, and colourful and well set out, though not as comprehensive as I would have liked. True roots of the history missing here, nothing about Clouds/1-2-3 (check out the CD for THAT info!), but then, you can't have everything in one volume.