J.F. Murphy in Merchants of Dream - Strange Night Voyage, from 1968-- limited time only

 

This was mostly written by J.F. Murphy, who was covered here I thought exhaustively before (more than 11 years ago!!), but I was mistaken in that exhaustion.  I still think he's a totally underrated genius of songwriting, tragically forgotten by everyone.  Anyhow in 1968 he made this purely psych album along with the group called Merchants of Dream.  Info from discogs:

US American psychedelic rock group, released one album in 1968.

Members:

Jack Murphy [J.F. Murphy] (vocals, keyboards), Jeff Druck (lead guitar), David Bumgarner (guitar, vocals), John Bumgarner (vocals), John Pizow (bass), Bobby Mussac (drums).

Murphy's bio on discogs here, mostly leaning towards recent activities.  His best albums were with the band "JF Murphy and Salt" recall.

So I was eager to hear this particular record, but in fact it's really in keeping with the year of 1968, with the kind of silly psych that was common in that crazy era, defined by the Vietnam War--whose important political lessons are now forgotten or never mentioned, sadly.

Extensive info on an amazon review which well deserves to be read through:

Congratulations to England's Cherry Red label for making available this obscure Peter Pan concept album available on CD for the first time. STRANGE NIGHT VOYAGE was recorded in May 1968 and released by A&M Records as 'SP 4149.'

The compositions of John Francis "Jack" Murphy were discovered by a St. John's University classmate, Vinny Testa. Testa was an executive of Community Productions, headed by George "Shadow" Morton. He had worked with The Shangri-Las, Janis Ian and Vanilla Fudge, and this was helpful in setting up the recording deal with A&M...

According to the liner notes, psychedlic rock, strings, harmonies and driving beats were used to create a clever parallel between Peter Pan's quest for perpetual childhood and contemporary rebellion against adult "morals" (the Generation Gap) and the Vietnam War.

Released in early 1969, neither the album nor the single ("Dorothy the Fairy Queen" & "Sing Me Life") received much promotion or recognition. After playing a few gigs, the band broke up and Murphy worked as a solo artist with Testa as producer...

Murphy wrote songs for numerous stage musicals, including 'The Silver Dollar,' Rudolph,' 'Zelda,' 'Carmen' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo.' His score for 'The Civil War,' written with Frank Wildhorn, was nominated for a Tony Award.

He released a rock-oriented disc, 'LIVE & LEARN,' in 2003. His current production, 'Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure,' explores childhood themes again and is scheduled to debut on Broadway during 2011.

Fans of The Association, Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Turtles and other late 1960s bands who combine vocal harmonies with adventurous psychedelic instruments should find plenty to enjoy with 'STRANGE NIGHT VOYAGE.'

So in summary we can appropriately call it artistic juvenilia, colored by those times, from Murphy.

First track as sample, Mother's Overture:

 

 Last track, We are Dream Vendors:

Sykotik Sinfoney's Eargasm from 1995, requested from before

 

This one really grew on me, hopefully it will grow on you too.

From discogs:

Sykotik Sinfoney was a quirky American comedy heavy metal / punk rock musical group. They formed in 1988 under the short-lived name, Dycondra's. During this time they dressed in their usual street clothes but hired a variety of performers like jugglers and female dancers to perform with them on stage. They quickly changed their band name and dropped the extra performers who proved to be unreliable on the road. The first instance of these costumes was a show in which the performers did not show up. However, the group found a bag of costumes and promptly donned them. They became known as Sykotik Sinfoney and began to perform live wearing a variety of strange costumes, such as a nun, a devil, and a clown. Sometime in early 1994, the band broke up. Their only official appearance on an album was the Bad Channels soundtrack. However, the band did over 300 shows in six years under Dycondra's and Sykotik Sinfoney, according to band member Mark Meister. Today, this band is seen as being way ahead of their time.

Various members of Dycondra's / Sykotik Sinfoney

Bass Guitar: Tim Young

Drums: Darryl Johnson

Drums: Rudy Malizio

Lead Guitar: Brian Young

Lead Vocals, Keyboard : Stan Gonzales

Rhythm and Lead Guitar: John Brackett

Rhythm and Lead Guitar, Vocals: Mark Meister

The music is a unique mix of occasional rap, and/or Zappalike talking (sometimes Zappalike silly talking), and heavy metal crunchy guitarwork, typical of the alternative metal that was common in the mid-90s, but with an odd influx of sometimes very progressive composition here and there.

The track Maggots with Guns has a wonderful oddball progressive funk riff:

I love the way Brain Dead mixes up styles in a hugely uncommercial manner, unable to decide if it's a pop song, a funk song, heavy metal or what:

The heavy metal sound comes out on Cake Fuck but, quite abruptly I'd say, the song mutates into funk with saxes:

The playing is extremely professional and competent too.

Super Freego's Pourquoi es-tu si mechant? 1982

 

The title translates to 'why are you so mean?' (but should have been 'why are you so excellent?' ) because this one-off from 1982 has always thrilled me with its highly creative intensity and guitar-based style of prog/fusion-- a little like Germans Zauberfinger, the same insanity, or like my more recent 64 Spoons, Ghoulies of course.  Too bad they only made one album.  Even the cover art is sheer wacky brilliance-- note the yellow boy's arm appearing on the right side, amputated off from the left.

The discogs description barely does them justice:

Oddball French troupe playing mixtures of jazz, folk, Zeuhl, funk, pop and new-wave

Note the brief review beneath, at the bottom of the page:

Holy Grail! Albert Marcoeur meets Brand X.

Totally unique. No Wave, Punk and Jazz Funk. A masterpiece.

Setting aside the fact the term 'no wave' is idiotic, if we look over on rym where the basement dwellers dwell in their mom's home, there's a number of great reviews that really hit the nail on its head, like the following:

It's kinda sad that this 1982 album by Super Freego was their only LP. Their style is pretty unique I think because they mix complex avant-prog/zeuhl music with some clear new wave elements. The male/female vocalists do a nice job and they are also very talented. Just listen to the title track and you'll see what I mean.

Basically, it has to be heard to be believed.

Since he mentioned the title track, here it is:

Another great ex. of their style is Tentative de Courgette (attempted crime by zucchini), note the great amalgam of funk plus new wave plus bizarre melody:

Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd Plays Chikara Ueda in 1980's Big Stuff, requested

 

Information here.  Miyami is one artist who hasn't ever appeared here before.  I think-- but my memory is not so good now.  Could be wrong.

Sunset Valley is a nice piece, typical of the whole album, naturally:

Back to Chikara Ueda and the requested Bos and Boz from 1979

 

Definitely a lovely cover painting of the kind we shall likely never see again, for various reasons.

I've posted a lot of Chikara Ueda's stuff before, and I really liked the work called Cara de Piedra.  To rewind a bit, his profile here.  This little LP came quite early in his oeuvre and is criminally short, it has 6 tracks all of the order of 4-5 minutes long (I guess because it's a 12 inch 45 promo).   The Boz in the title is of course Scaggs who composed half of it.  Not sure who is the Bos.  Note that the guitarist is Sadanori Nakamure.

As usual the music is beautifully and professionally played smooth fusion instrumentalese, with occasional wispy female vocals expressing wordless singing, like the old cinematic porno movies (something youngsters today will never grow up to witness) RIP.

Somehow he makes everything sound like a samba or bossa nova, even the composition called Hollywood.  For those who have been there and have witnessed how supremely disappointing Hollywood is in real life or in person, with innumerable strip malls lining long boring Boulevards clogged with heavy traffic and honking Escalades punctuated by El Pollo Loco grilled chicken franchises, liquor stores, taco stands and burger joints and places to get your paychecks cashed, billboards by the road advertising endless lawyers for personal injuries, a surprisingly large number of lawyers among the wannabe stars, plus the very occasional quasi-interesting scene such as the Stars' Walk of Fame, it seems surprising that Hollywood is depicted this way on Chikara's record.  I can honestly say there is nothing tropical about the place except the constant carcinogenic blue sky.  And if you sometimes come across a store, as you are likely to, that sells liquor and guns and maybe tacos and cashes your paycheck, you have everything you need to survive in Lala land: cash your paycheck to buy a gun then steal the whiskey and take all the store's cash: another happy California customer, satisfaction guaranteed...

Island Cuckoo is a more appropriately equatorial-sounding instrumental:

Not only does this track give you an idea of the contents of this vinyl, every track is so similar you virtually don't have to bother with the rest...

By the way as expected the beautiful harmonica sound is Toots Thielemans's--I mean, who else?

Sogmusobil's Telefon from 1971 Sweden

 

Information on this group here:

Johnny Mowinckel from Atlantic Ocean and the poet Einar Heckscher formed the band Telefon Paisa in 1970 together with guitarist Tommy Broman, bassist Labbe Bergström and drummer Dick Nettelbrandt. For a while, the guitarist Ingemar Böcker also participated, but was soon replaced by Hans Berggren on saxophone. This band became notorious for their unpredictable and not entirely sober performances.

Telefon Paisa was later dissolved. Heckscher and Mowinckel then formed, together with Nettelbrandt, the band Sogmusobil, an abbreviation for "Stark och god musik utföres snabbt och billigt". In 1971, the strongly psychedelic album Telefon was released. Heckscher and Mowinckel later also collaborated in the band Levande Livet, but as late as 1976 they appeared under the name Sogmusobil.

Unfortunately only one crazy release from them.  A lot of the music is silly ('my name is Speedy Gonzalez' starts off one song) for ex blues-based and/or psychedelic throwaway, presumably social (communist) or politically conscious driveling.

Nevertheless, the stunningly creative track called Lost Identity:

In terms of the harder-edged tracks, you couldn't beat the opener, Arabic in the Morning:

By the way they went on to put out another album under the name Levande Livet, in 1973, which disappointed me profoundly since it is only simple blues, completely uninspired songs, and the simplest type of jazz noodling, eg samba.

Martin McBain - Winter, on the Harbour from 1983 [flac limited time]

 

Martin McBain:

Australian folk singer from Tasmania.

A complete change in direction here.

It's surprising this came out in 1983 because it sounds very much a part of the British folk tradition from the late 60s and early 70s.

A little bit of information can be found here.

The track called Lowerwood Courts present a lovely guitar solo:

Two More Franzettis (perhaps the last): 2016 Argentum and 2017 Luminosa

 

As you can see, Argentum is tango stuff on acoustic piano, while Luminosa is orchestral classical symphonic music, although mercifully not excessively classical.  So whether you enjoy these depends on your taste for the aforementioned styles.  From Argentum, Milonga del Adios:

From Luminosa the title track:

More Franzetti with Orquesta Nova's Salon New York, 1993

 

The follow up CD that came out 2 years later.  Similar stuff as the preceding.

Discogs information here.  Many thanks to the one who added compositional credits to discogs!! I really appreciate knowing this.

The lovely Song Without Words definitely recalls the old Carlos:

More Franzetti with Orquesta Nova in ST 1991

Compositional information is here.  Note that Franzetti wrote most of the tracks, some others from famed accordeon player / composer Astor Piazzolla, and sax man Paquito D'Rivera, even the great AC Jobim, who always seems to wind up on these latin CDs somehow or another.

Band info here.  Music is classical chamber music, unfortunately, both minimal fusion and minimal jazziness.  Pity, but had to be added to the discography.

I don't remember which Jobim album the track called Amparo appeared on, but it shows the depth of his genius and the incredible emotional resonance he was capable of, in that he wasn't just limited to the overplayed 'Desafinado' type songs or god forbid the even more atrocious 'Girl from Ipanema' ear crap:

I'll quote bandcamp:

Orquesta Nova was a dream in the eyes of Juliet Haffner and Carlos Franzetti three years ago when they first worked together and recorded a tape for string quartet of one of Carlos' pieces, "Serenata." David Chesky of Chesky Records was having the same dream, which was to record the music of Latin America with a classical chamber ensemble. It all came together with the release of their first CD, which has met with great critical acclaim. Carlos Franzetti, born in Argentina, is a well known composer who has written everything from concert pieces to film scores. He has had works played by such groups as the New American Orchestra in Los Angeles, the Buffalo Philharmonic and Musical Elements. Besides his considerable skills as a composer and arranger, his career as a pianist has brought him together with Paquito D'Rivera and as the soloist on his own album, Galaxy Dust, accompanied by a large orchestra. Juliet Haffner, co-leader of Orquesta Nova, was serenaded as a child with both Latin American and Rumanian Gypsy music, courtesy of her musical parents. Juliet, following in her mother's footsteps, began playing the guitar at an early age, followed soon by the violin, but she majored in viola at Juilliard. The artists who make up Orquestra Nova are an extraordinary group of versatile musicians, including: violinists Guillermo Figueroa and Robert Chausow, cellist Erik Friedlander, bassist David Finck, flautist Gary Schocker, and saxophone/ clarinet player Lawrence Feldman.

More Franzetti with Geminis (1987) and Prometheus (1985)

 

Geminis info.  On this record Franzetti plays with the guitarist Ricardo Lew, whose personal artist info can be located here.  This album is incredibly full of beautiful material, I would say like The Jazz Kamerata and Galaxy Dust, and the New York LP, it's virtually golden from start to end. What a wonderful surprise.

The shockingly complex and beautiful Al Mono Vilegas:

The medley that starts off the second side is absolutely insanely beautiful to my ears, with Stravinsky elements and some of the best compositional qualities of the famed Egberto Gismonti.

The tracks not written by Franzetti which are few in number are noticeably inferior, I hate to say it.  You can see the credits on the verso scan of the LP, if you zoom in on it, unfort., not on the dedicated discogs page.

The Prometheus album in contrast is completely given over to cover songs or rather jazz standards (of the most over-played kind, like Autumn Leaves), much like the city of Pripyat after the meltdown in the Chernobyl nuclear plant was abandoned to wildlife almost 40 years ago, except the title track which is quite astonishing, a shame more like this didn't appear on this record:

Back to Carlos Franzetti with New York Toccata (1985)

 

How could I have known to fully clear out and complete his works?   For the fourth time perhaps, I return to this remarkable Argentinian composer Carlos Franzetti.

New York info here.  It opens with the astonishing Arabesque, picking up right where Galaxy Dust left off:

Note that Joe Beck (posted on this blog a few months ago) plays guitar, and Paquito D'Rivera is on alto sax.

Then if you're not sufficiently blown away by the high level of composition, comes Imagenes Antes del Amenecer (Images before dawn):

Like, wow.  I still don't know how some can so perfectly blend together classical, jazz, and everything else musical humans have devised.  This to me is utter heaven, about as far away as you could get from Taylor Swift, and her "swifties" swiftly.  As with its predecessors, there are vocal tracks sung (quite proficiently, with a mild crooning vibrato) by baritone Carlos.

As You Like It - Ages Come and Ages Go, recorded 1973-1975

 

Album info here:

Recorded in England 1973-75.

British band playing genuine Progressive Rock a la Gentle Giant, Yes, England (Garden Shed), Fantasy, Spring, Genesis. Formed by ex members of Tales of Justine and The Syndicate. RCA offered them a contract which fell through, otherwise they could have been issued on RCA Neon. Their earliest surviving studio sessions date from 1973-1975 and reveal a superbly polished band playing pastoral prog rock dominated by Hammond Organ, a lost treasure for fans of Gentle Giant and Fantasy.

I think perhaps they are overstating the case, to me it sounds a bit more protoprog along the lines of Brits Fantasy (as in Beyond the Beyond) not to be confused with Fantasia, the marvelous Finnish band posted earlier here, which anyways is spelled differently at the end.  

For ex. the chord progressions on the compositions sometimes are a little derivative, I note the "Stairway to Heaven" descending A minor pattern that I mention so often appears in one of the song.

Some representative tracks, September Song:

And Together:

So is it AI or was it a real band from back in the day 50 years ago?  Who knows anymore?