In an age that was polarised between the sparkle of glam metal and the psychedelic shades of acid house, progressive rock made for a strange bedfellow. It was a movement that was the complete antithesis to the neon blues and pinks that illuminated the era; it is credit to the genre that it not only survived, but thrived, with many artists (most notably Marillion) becoming a fixture on the charts. Following on from Andrew Wild’s previous book A Mirror Of Dreams, A Playground Of Broken Hearts – The Progressive Rock Revival 1984 to 1989 revolves around six key bands (and countless others in their orbit) who found themselves thrust into the limelight and became the most reluctant of stars, and in doing so Andrew tells some of the best stories rock music has to offer.

Writer’s often talk about finding their “voice”, a unique style of prose, and Andrew has definitely found his. This book is a very readable account; running chronologically, the book has a smooth flow and it carries the reader along effortlessly. Maybe sometimes too effortlessly, it’s akin to stumbling upon the perfect pint of ale that’s been expertly pumped; your heart wants to finish it in one sitting whilst your head tells you to reign things in and savour it. If you have the willpower, choose the latter because there’s a lot of nuance to the writing and a lot of information to be excavated. Some of the bands featured are major players and will be familiar to all (even appearing on those 100 Hits Of The ‘80s-style collections) whilst others were bit players and never got further than fanzine and demo cassettes. Whether you are a progressive rock aficionado or a curious passer by, the books intimate storytelling makes it accessible to all.

Packed full of memorabilia; ticket stubs, gig adverts [Uriah Heep and Pallas for £4…read it and weep], flyers, magazine reviews and rare/unpublished photographs make A Playground Of Broken Hearts an aesthetically pleasing thing, and one that just feels nice to hold, but more importantly, it conspires to give a real favour of the times. Indeed, when viewed through our current technological lens, that whole pre-internet era seems like a completely different world. Bands and fans certainly communicated and interacted in different ways and that’s where the fanzines and fan sheets came in. Taking cues from the do-it-yourself punk scene, things were fairly rudimentary (at least at first) but for disseminating information it couldn’t be beat (at the time) and it adds another flavour to the book.

When it comes to music, heavy metal is often expunged from the history books (and no more so than with gothic rock; I mean Black Sabbath, Billion Dollar Babies…could anything be more goth?), but not so with prog. There was always an overlap between the two genres (hell, growing up I thought Rush were metal) and this book makes that connection crystal clear. In fact, in the years to which this tome pertains, Kerrang! was the only national, glossy publication that featured prog with any consistency and at their inaugural (and aptly-titled Wooargh Weekender) you’d find Twelfth Night sandwiched between Nazareth and Spider. Metal is often viewed as a dirty word by the hipper-than-thou brigade and that results in an uneven telling of historical facts, yet this book has no such qualms and means we get a more rounded view of those times.

Evenly poised and finely balanced, “rounded” is the perfect word to describe this book, and a more honest account of those times we are unlikely to get.

• A Playground Of Broken Hearts – The Progressive Rock Revival 1984 to 1989 is released via Kingmaker books and is available now (from here).
• Andrew Wild Official Website