Bonus tracks from Bohemia, limited time only

 

Their stuff was posted on this blog long ago back here, and I thought I collected everything from them but I was sadly wrong. Or until this day, happily wrong.

From the text document: Bohemia – Singly A Rozhlasové Nahrávky 1976-1978

Label: Tomáš Padevět – 8594189130174

Format: 2 x CD, Compilation

Country: Czech Republic

Released: 2023

Genre: Rock, Blues

Style: Blues Rock

There's such a nice mix of early protoprog, horn rock, and some fusion in here, all of it well worth the hearing for sure, roughly half vocal and half instrumental I think. Among the vocal tracks, Kam Jdou:

While a track called Mlhave rano with its flute plus electric guitar intro so typical of that prog period moves into the wonderful dissonant arpeggios that bring it into the fusion sound, very much electric guitar based (like the German band Alcatraz in their 3-4 period), which is so nice to hear:

Unknown Portuguese band Arte e Oficio: Faces, Danza

 

Here's a wonderful surprise that really blew me away, after everything we've already heard up to now.

Information is sparse here on discogs. They are from Portugal.

Reminds me a lot of my old favourite Julien B's First Snow. Because it's a gorgeous mix of uptempo rockers, funky stuff, and progressively-minded songwriting. It also recalls Italian prog-songsters Libra, who made 3 wonderful albums mixing creative songs with fusion and progressive Italians, or more distantly, the old favourite Memo's Captain Thunder.  The singer in particular recalls the singer from Libra.  Anyways you get the idea.

The wonderfully titled prog song Lobster Society:

Album closes out with just a brilliant vocal composition that never ceases to entrance and amaze me because of the originality of both melody and chord changes, called Finally:

Notice the gorgeous sax pattern when he mentions hearing the sax, and how well the singer utilizes his vibrato at the right high notes.

Note that in the follow up album from 1981 called Danza they moved straightforwardly into the simple rock direction, basically like a toned down Rolling Stones you could say, lacking the creative progressive dimension and with a lot of imitation rockabilly and blues rockers. Can't really blame them for that though. At least--praise be to God--the 80s new wave digital jumpy synths do not make an unwelcome appearance.  Note that there is an alternative version of this album with bonus tracks presumably lifted from their singles, which is of interest, although what I have is low bitrate. As well note that in 2014 they recorded a live album of their old tracks. That one I'd like to purchase if it doesn't show up anywhere, for sure worth a listen on strength of the Faces compositions.

So most of that album is quite ordinary and tossable, but the title track is nice and approaches the prior debut album's level of interest:

Note from the bonus tracks, the one called O Carcajero de Galinha which appeared on this 45:

A basic electric guitar riff transcends into some lovely synth-draped fusion chords that keep modulating unexpectedly-- a wonderful surprise given that the title would lead one to expect totally generic Brazilianly ordinary latin garbage samba which I despise-- though not quite as much as billionaire, soon to be richest person in the world, Taylor Swift.

This music is hugely underrated, like Julien B's First Snow or my old classic rock favourite Ambush, and I find it quite tragic. Perhaps in their native Portugal it's different?

Hawk on Flight (first few LPs) limited time only flacs for 1st 2

 

I didn't realize they made so many albums, I must've given up on them in the mid80s. I don't even have the courage now to go through the post 1985 ones to see if there's anything in there worth hearing, maybe someone else could take up the sacrifice for our people, for humanity. Then I wish them best of luck! Assuming I ever see them again.

Note the Jag Tanker composition reappears here, recall this showed up in Soffgruppen.

The Hawk on Flight track from 1979 is just gorgeous, of course:

From the eponymous 1980, I've always been entranced by Graf's Voicings beginning on the full organ then moving to a fugue like section and accelerating to the fusion of the end:

Btw, the guitarist on these albums is Ulf Wakenius.

Predictably, after these 2 and the departure of Hakon Graf, very quickly the band now led by bassist Matz Nilsson gets smoother and smoother, the tracks get lighter and lighter, the sound becomes commercialer and commercialer, and inevitably the crappy tinny drum machine takes over from the real percussion, the David Sanborn-style squeaky squealing scratchy sax starts howling at the moon, the Brazilian bossa nova importations come in, the chords are minimized to 4 per composition, etc., etc.

Hakon Graf 1982 Hideaway, 1987 Grafitti

 

Well what could I say that's not obvious? After Moose Loose and Hawk on Flight,  Hakon Graf's1982's Hideaway is more of the same but much smoother, while Grafitti of course is basically complete commercialese / easy listening.

Nonetheless, consider the lovely, tender keys of Tender Stranger:

Btw Hakon released a couple of CDs in recent years (Sunrain, Licence to Chill) with some marvelous fusion on them, which are well worth checking out too.

Kiyoshi Hasegawa in Barbara (1983)

Info here. A very prolific SSW you can see albeit seemingly totally unknown past the shores of his island home to the point where it's hard to even find his music anywhere at all.  Only a couple of albums so far as I know are available digitized, the remainder presumably existing only as analog or digital discs.

The elaborate string arrangement intro of this third track (kage ni naku) betrays the generic ordinariness of what follows: