Kujakuon's Yugiriro no Genso, from 1984

 

Amazingly not recorded in discogs. From proggnosis:

Recorded on Febrary 18 and 24 ,1984 but not released until 1990 by Made in Japan MHD 25003

Very nice King Crimsonish prog with RIO throughout.

Third track, Evening Mist:

Homunculus Res 2013 to 2023, limited time only

 

The cover paintings are invariably nice, throwback to the classic seventies efforts.

These guys put out 5 wonderful albums very reminiscent of Rascal Reporters as you could tell from the preceding Lunaphone, all our wonderful. The first one may be the best but the gradations between quality are not too significant and others might disagree. If there is any drawback it's that the tracks are quite similar and the drony organ/guitar sound becomes a bit repetitive, a bit more variety in tempo/sound would have been quite welcome. They do mix instr. with vocals, like RR.

Note the classic prog dissonances that turn up on this unfortunately short instrumental from the first release with the wonderfully silly art of a mushroom-growing scalp:

The first track of the second 2015 CD sounds very much like Het Pandorra Ensemble:

And so on as the years pass, multiple enjoyable sounds... 

Lunophone Surroundings 2024, limited time only

 

Here's a really stunning find from my friend, very much like Rascal Reporters and just as good. (The bonus tracks from them I posted back then gave me so much joy and happiness for such a long time btw and hopefully I wasn't the only one.)

Online info:

Lunophone is a new musical project born from the fruitful collaboration between Dario D'Alessandro (Homunculus Res) and James Strain (Rascal Reporters). Six compositions from each member result in a total of 12 songs which were played and arranged from their respective locations in Italy and Ireland.

The result is an intriguing fusion of styles united by common tastes and feelings that lead the two musicians to craft a blend of progressive jazz-rock with influences from Canterbury/RIO and characterised by bizarre and eclectic avant-pop song structures.

The album marries lively and fun rock music with delicate and intricate soundscapes, occasionally featuring microtonal elements due to Strain's use of fretless and Middle Eastern instruments. The songs themselves are dynamic and moody, with shifting shapes and articulated structures, further complicated by the ambiguous lyrics written and sung by D'Alessandro.

The richness of the arrangements and the melodic sophistication lend a dense and pulsating quality to the music, with layers and subtleties waiting to be discovered and savoured with each listen.

Lunophone evokes the notion of a sound emanating from the Moon, bewitching and mysterious. "Surroundings" is a 42-minute album, characterized by its compact sound masterfully handled by Strain in mixing and mastering. 

Dario and Homunculus Res info here. James Strain here.

Definitely all the tracks here are strong, barely any throwaways. You could say about half the tracks are reminiscent of 70s Ital-prog like Picchio dal and half are more Rascal Reporters RIO in complexity.  And that's a good combo as far as I'm concerned.

Cioch charraige sounds just like classic RR RIO:

The last track gives you an indication of the Picchio-like sound derivation, with the electric guitar arpeggios, breathy vocals, and flutes, bassoon (?) and other chamber instruments alongside:

Missus Beastly - Minden 1976, limited time only

 

Description from the CD:

Recorded live at Haus Der Jugend (House Of Youth), Minden, Germany, January 23, 1976.

After their psychedelic and bluesy beginnings, Missus Beastly had been playing instrumental jazz-rock since 1974. This was also the case here at their performance at the Haus der Jugend in Minden on Friday, January 23rd, 1976. In the same month, just a few days before, they had also recorded their then third LP "Dr. Aftershave and the mixed-pickles", then still with Jürgen Benz. So the pieces on the Minden CD contain some elements of the LP tracks, but nothing more. It wasn't that the pieces were played live - they were free variations. Hence the neutral titles "Minden Mind - Part 01" to "Minden Mind - Part 07". The professional recording is flawless in sound.

Indeed just as they report, there is nothing here reminiscent of the previous record, or even the last 3 records. To me it seems just like a bit of riffing with improvisations all around. It's too bad, their compositional fusion tracks were just so so stunning. So time and again it seems an intro riff leads into meandering soloing on a one chord basis with little to no development of the idea, nor tension or dramatic buildup.

As example, the first part:

Lifeline Fauhrt ins Blaue by request, plus the other 2, requested

 

German percussionist Florian Poser, discogged here, appeared on this blog before and in collaboration with guitarist Peter Finger here.  His band called Lifeline, discogged here, released 3 albums, which I've put all below. The last one I just ripped, it's the least interesting in keeping with our progress through the 1980s towards smoother and less progressive fusion.

Silent Cry, by Poser:

Journey's Charge of the Light Brigade from 1973, requested, limited time only

 

Total surprise for me, and quite unexpected--obviously. Thanks to the requester from long ago. Information here, for this unreleased album.

This came before their ST from 1975, see their discography here. I'm just going to copy paste the info inside:

The unfinished album by the original pre - Steve Perry Journey. 13 tracks from the fusion tinged rockers plus 3 live tracks from a pre-Journey Schon fusion band known as Birthday.

Includes the title song & more rare unreleased masterpieces.

Journey:

Neal Schon - Guitar

Ross Valory - Bass

Gregg Rolie - Vocals, Keyboards

George Tickner - Guitar

Prairie Prince - Drums

The last three tracks are apparently from a Neal Schon group between Santana
and Journey, which the cover says is called Birthday and is from Diamond Head,
11/73 (not the whole album, as the poster states in the info listing here.
The cover just says these three tracks are from that date). In the liner notes
to the 3rd Santana album from 1971, Rolie says when he and Neal quit the band
(after the 4th album), he opened up a restaurant for a year before hooking up
with Schon to form Journey. The 1st Journey album's songs are copyrighted 1974
and the album was released in '75, so it's logical Neal was doing something
musically during the year or so between the two bands. All three of these
tracks are instrumentals and it sounds like a decent audience recording in
a small club. The first thirteen tracks are all studio recordings and other
than some hiss and slight distortion in louder places, are probably an 8.5-9
on a sound quality scale of 1 to 10.

The rough and raw Kohoutek track is a bit different from the studio version that came out subsequently on the ST Journey from 1975:

An untitled Fusion track is quite impressive we must admit:

Jazz Oder Nie, Northsea November

 

The only release from this German group. Kind of a mix of very light fusion with contemporary jazz compositions, usually with a riff that gets developed then added with solos. The nicest track in my opinion is Mind the Flowers:

Thierfeldt Dilettantischer Sentimentalismus, 1980

 

The drummer for the Release Music O. released this remarkably beautiful fusion album in 1986, playing in addition to percussion, various keyboards, flute. For ex., If You Think:

Traumwandler:

Oktagon 1980 ST reripped

 

Long long ago I posted the second album called Orientation, and a mono version of this first. Here's a better recording to replace the old one. To be honest, this 1980 release is superior in composition and craft.

Silent Words You've Said:

Back to Third Stream with their Black Widow (1989) lossless limited time only

 

This one came out in 1989 but it's still enjoyable here and there. If you heard their compilation Celebrating 40 Years, many of the tracks appeared there, and possibly all the ones worth hearing. You can see for ex. there are renditions of Flintstones (for real!), Sanford and Son, Battle Hymn of the Republic, the awful William Tell overture, etc.

Information here. Of course the title track is the best composition:

Mikael Neumann 24

The album is very earnest folk and not quite as impressive in general as the Hey Flicka track which appeared on PP 8. Generally the material sounds like it should have come out in the late sixties. Here and there are traces of Nick Drake influence, it would seem to me.

The guitar solo that closes out the set: