Genesis honoured at Progressive Music awards

The inaugural ceremony, hosted by Newsnight presenter Gavin Esler who is a fan of the genre, also celebrated the work of keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman who was named "Prog God" for his decades of recordings.

Canadian act Rush took the best album prize for Clockwork Angels, their first album for five years, at the Orange Amplification Progressive Music Awards.

Genesis were recognised for their innovation and huge sales, shifting more than 150 million albums during their lengthy career, with releases such as The Lamb Dies Down On Broadway and Selling England By The Pound.

The awards - staged by Prog magazine - was held at Kew Gardens in south west London.

Wakeman, who found fame with Yes and as a solo musician, said of his award: "I'm very proud indeed. I've always believed that these days there is hardly a band or musician anywhere who haven't used some element of prog in their music.

"It's all about freedom of expression, which in my case is often in seven different time signatures. I am genuinely very, very proud to get this award."

Other winners included Emerson Lake and Palmer drummer Carl Palmer who took the virtuoso prize while Van Der Graaf Generator star Peter Hammill took the visionary award.

Steven Wilson, one of the founders of Porcupine Tree, was named "guiding light" for consistently pushing the boundaries of music.