KBB, Part 1: Lost and Found (2000), Age of Pain (2013)

 

KBB:

Japanese jazz rock fusion / progressive rock band led by violinist Akihisa Tsuboy since 1992.

So with the violin front and center, you can expect a kind of fusion similar to the TEE posted earlier here, not as much variety as the classic french ones (eg Didier Lockwood) unfortunately.  There's a lot of hammond and electric guitar, none of the more delicate chamber music type stuff, making it occasionally seem monochromatic.

Their first album is from 2000, more than 25 years ago now, and it's called Lost and Found.  A track called Divine Design reminds me a lot of classic Kenso, and that's a wonderful thing of course:

From the final one, coming out in 2013, called Age of Pain, the great emotional resonance of  Lythrum:

More from the Inoue Takayuki Band [1977 Bark at the Sun, 1979 Man who stole the Sun, 1980 Water Band Wagon

Inoue Takayuki made a lot of music, he was almost as prolific as our wonderful Yuji Ohno, the soundtrack master-- remember his James Dean, The First American Teenager?

Inoue's Sunrise from 1976 appeared back here, and probably is his best work for us (in the progressive fusion, or progressive OST vein).  Nonetheless I slogged through some other soundtracks that are available digitally, to see if there are any other gems.  So here are some or a few of them.

From The Man who Stole the Sun, which is databased on this page, a track called Tokyo Dept. Store Toilet:

And much else along the same lines.  Surprisingly the 1980 one is not as good as the 70s music.

I'm going to post some more interesting Japanese music in the next few weeks, there's a whole ton of stuff from back in the day and then more hailing from recent decades: some fusion, some prog-fusion, and some true-blue classic prog rock too. No basic jazz, no simple folk, no humdrum pop, no ordinary, trite, commonplace sounds at all for at least I think a 'fortnight' of albums, perhaps more...   

And all from Japan, source in recent years on here of so many rare gems.  Stay tuned.

 

Linda Hoyle [Affinity] in her 1971 album Pieces of Me [FLAC limited time only] plus 2015's The Fetch

 

I was rooting around for stuff to discover and noticed this one, from the singer of well-known one-off UK band Affinity.  Amazingly, it turned out the compositions are mostly from Karl Jenkins-- of Soft machine fame, of course.  And I really love his stuff from the albums he mostly wrote, like Rubber Riff and Cockayne.  

But back to Pieces of Me.  You can see it databased here.  Sadly, this is Linda's only album from this time period.

British jazz rock singer, songwriter and art therapist, born Linda Hoile, in Hammersmith/London 13 April 1946.

As you probably are aware, Karl wrote some amazing music for the band Soft Machine, but also for library albums.

Paper Tulips sounds like a poem (presumably, written by Linda) which was set to music by Karl and moreover arranged by him:

Morning of One takes up the same heartbreak theme and is just as amazing:

There is also a cover of Laura Nyro's Lonely Woman, and a Nina Simone song.  An amazing album, sadly forgotten and neglected despite its strength.  Surprisingly then nothing more from Linda-- until the mid 2010s when she came back with Fetch, which without Karl is not as strong. I included that one for comparison purposes. As a sample, Cut and Run (lyrics by Linda, music by Mo Foster):

What's even more remarkable about this already amazing work is the fact Karl Jenkins, so far as I know, never wrote this kind of lushly produced ssw stuff again, moving on as he did in the 1970s to the fusion sounds of Nucleus and Soft Machine, plus the libraries.  We can assume too that Linda returned or proceeded to an ordinary life after this was released.

But thanks so much for this little lost gem, Linda and Karl...

Gayle Moran's I Loved You Then, from 1979

 

Gayle Moran is Mrs. Chick Corea. She did sing on some of his albums with RtF, but not all of them -- I believe. Their first one of course featured Flora Purim, recall.  (I much prefer their hard-assed fusion sound rather than the vocal songs with Spanish influence.)

Anyways it's surprising she didn't release more albums, and her songs are definitely lacking any of that, being more based in classical music, evidently she plays the piano too. Her husband plays on some tracks, and Stanley Clarke, his formidable fusioneer bassist, appears as well. Other luminaries on here: Bunny Brunel, Al Jarreau, trumpeter Al Vizutti, Melissa Manchester. They are probably all scientologists, because surprisingly the little-known actress ex-wife of Tom Cruise, Mimi Rogers, does some finger snapping on one track too, perhaps trying to wake up L. Ron?  The music is definitely not fusion, it's just as you'd expect with classical-based piano-accompanied songwriting, but it tries very hard to be interesting and original with tenderness-- and succeeds often.

In any case, the title track just absolutely blew me away-- as a progressive songwriting type of epic it's almost as gorgeously transcendent as Joni Mitchell's masterpiece, Paprika Plains that I've mentioned so many times in these pages:

I was really sad to see there were no other albums apart from this one, but you could say it wasn't meant to come out in this year, 1979, it belongs to an earlier more naive time perhaps.  Now let's hope the church of scientology doesn't sue me. All hail Xenu.

Jean-Philippe Goude and Olivier Cote in Jeunes Annees 1976, by request

Discogged here.  I posted him before, in relation to the wonderful Gymnastique (1979) and Meli-Melodies (1981) albums, and Drone, which came in between, is the one he's most famous for I guess.  In later years he wrote more classical style chamber music which is also beautiful, usually involving a grand piano playing simple patterns with violins weaving in and out of it, but altogether not so varied as these early works. Having said that, I do really love De Anima, and La Divine Nature des Choses.  Even a couple of years ago he released Salon Noir, which is still quite similar.  The overall quite melancholy sound to his work is appealing to me, in particular at those times when I read the world news.

Olivier Cote on the other hand is the percussionist on this first album from 1976, but Goude wrote most of the music.  I think here the zeuhl influence is most prominent-- after all he was a member of the great Weidorje band, with Paganotti and Patrick Gauthier.  

Consider the second track called Piege (trap):

And how can you not admire the sheer oddness of his Melodie, especially with the odd synth sound buzzing there in the background:

David Sancious' 2004 Cinema

 

I'll assume everyone out there is well familiar with this American keyboardist's work. His 1970s fusion albums are all great and worth hearing, with a bit of wholesome new age influence that came to the forefront of course later on in the next decades. So this work too you could say is pretty new agey, with for ex. the ethnic percussion stuff, the electronic type buzzing, but the compositions are a step above the kind of drony one-chord-shows full of repetitive arpeggios you often hear in that genre.  In this regard it reminds me of the Dave Greenslade albums I posted recently, or the Matthias Frey Art Profiles from way back long ago here.

It's worth noting that Crimsoneer Tony Levin plays bass on this one too. When I mention interesting or elaborate composition, consider The Woman Theme, though the drum machine I think you might find, as I did, a little distracting:

Moon and Nightsky demonstrates the versatility and different dynamics here to be savoured:

Back to Philipsek, Part 3, with his Deepwater from 1977

 

Apologies both for poor album cover, and bitrate recording, which is of course not mine, found online.

More of the gypsy guitar type playing here compared to the great 1980 Short Stories.

The album starts like this, with Besides:

Overall, the album is more similar to the smoothly jazzy Bridge work, than Short Stories for sure.

More from Reynold Philipsek [1974 Sailor, 1976 Bridge 9086, Artifacts and Curiosities, Grey Chalet]

 

I posted his Sailor way back when and what a classic fusionary beauty that was, right?  The info on discogs is almost impossible to find, due to the commonness of the title, but it's on this page.  My post was back here, from almost 12 years ago. Today I've come back with a far superior rip that sounds almost like a different album it's so pleasing to hear, if you have the old one, please do replace it.

The 1976 Bridge 9086 was a bit disappointing in comparison and the later albums are a bit of a reversion to just what you'd expect, cf. Butterfly:

Sunbeam, from Artefacts and Curiosities:

Reynold Philipsek in Short Stories from 1980: Highly Recommended!

 

Guitarist Reynold Philipsek who is still playing and recording to this day, was in groups Cure of Ares (1970), Sailor (1972), Willow (1977), Reynold's Remarkable Rhythm Cattle (mid-80s). 

The beautiful US progressive fusion album Sailor, very similar in my mind to Natural Life, was posted here before, and I'll get back to it in our next installment.  OC requested his1978 Theme for an Imaginary Movie, which has proved impossible to find. Not sure if someone would ever be generous enough to share it with us but that would be almost beyond belief.  Most likely it will pop up for sale on discogs one of these years at a few hundred dollars.  From the samples that are available on youtube, it sounds like a true progressive gem, like this one is, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Information on this release here.  Let's start with a very short song called Dover which if you're anything at all like me, will make you fall off your chair or tumble to the ground if you're on a couch:

Can you believe it?

A track called 15 Rue Menilmontant is shockingly similar to those brilliant French prog-fusion guitarists I've exhaustively cataloged in the past on this blog like Christian Escoude, or Claude Barthelemy:

Consider Bretagne, with its absolutely unusual melody again, reminiscent of the great Fred Israel's album, note the incredible synths work from Philipsek (oh how I miss that classic sound):

Equally astonishing is the sheer fact this came out in 1980.  How could he have maintained faith in this highly complex music in that particular year? There isn't even a hint of reggae! or digital drums and jumpy chords.  Just classic prog...

Again, many thanks for (almost) requesting this...

Gene Harris, Part 2: 1976 In a Special Way, 1977 Tone Tantrum, 1982 Hot Lips

 

For myself his best album is 1976's In a Special Way, with features the intensely emotional and very European fusion sounding Soft Cycles (plus a whole ton of other goodies):

From 1977's slightly more disappointing Tone Tantrum, Cristo Redentor:

As one might have expected, 1982's Hot Lips is no longer fusion and just commercial simple funk soul.

Note that someone requested his 1984 album Nature's Way which I was not able to find-- anyone have it perchance?

Blue Denim Deals without the Arms - Armed Forces Day [1979], By Request

 

Definitely an experimental mish mash of improvisation and just sounds, plus, of course, polka.

Information discogged here for the band, for the LP.

All pieces are improvisations. Recorded Summer 1977 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA.

First track, Armature:

Gene Harris, Part 1: 1974 Astral Signal, 1975 Nexus

 

Quite a huge and extensive discography, especially when you check out the bands he played with, principally The Three Sounds here.  For himself alone, the description:

American jazz pianist and keyboard player -- born 1 September 1933 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA

-- died 16 January 2000 in Boise, Idaho, USA.

The music is quite light and approachable, enjoyable fusion / melodic soul jazz, all or mostly instrumental, with little intensity, a lot of groove and keyboarding (I mean that in comparison to Chick Corea's Romantic Warrior, for ex.).

From 1974's Astralsignal, Summer (the first time):

From 1975's Nexus, Sauda:

Note that someone requested his 1984 album Nature's Way which I was not able to find-- anyone have it perchance?

Joel Horwitz with The Planets, recorded 1978, By Request

 

Minimal information on this one here on discogs.  Seems to have been recorded in 1978 which makes sense based on the quality of the music.  Very interesting find though, and beautifully played too.

I have to apologize first off because the tracks all run into each other, but because of my acquired attention deficit I won't listen to a 20 minute long rip without fast forward, so I split the individual pieces up, sometimes not quite successfully at the joins or transitions.

A2, Sol: present a great introduction to the rest of the work, which to be honest is quite similar to the scifi atmosphere of Cybernation Dark Plane:

Track B2's Jupiter, with vocals, really knocks it out of the prog ballpark (wherever that ballpark may be but it's for sure not crowded in the stands):

B4's Uranus is quite lovely with its incandescent, synthy shimmering chord changes, reminding me of my fave Alan Hawkshaw at his greatest:

As usual we must mourn the demotion of poor Pluto, who is no longer considered a bona fide planet. (There are too many similar sized bodies occuping the same orbit as him.)

Thanks so much to OC for requesting this treasure and I hope everyone out there is able to enjoy it, in his words:

Activate heat shields, there's a cosmic UFO on the radar!
This is a real interstellar trip :)
...a full eclipse for the ears as we are treated to this rare planetary alignment! By the time we reach 'Earth And Moon',
it's full lightspeed>>>>call in the droids, check the star-charts,
is that the Intergalactic Touring Band over there on the dark side of the moon?
We pass Phobos and there's a strange-magic lightdream path and then - BAM! holy prog-bomb!! Warrior on the edge of time warpdrive 9 in the MasterShip, a cosmic mud elephant wading through the sea of stardust!>>>>>>>
...having landed in a warm constellation, you know, just beam me up over there, second star from the right, in the hearts of space :)
Endless Thanks for this rare gem of pure cosmos, tinsel-of-genius grooves!!!

Steve Carr and Brent Brace With David Benoit & Luther Hughes - Into The Reeds (LP rip, FLAC limited time)

 

I posted David Benoit earlier here, and I thoroughly enjoyed his light proggy fusion style, similar to so many others reviewedin the past like Neil Larsen, Full Moon, etc. He handles most of the composition here, as was the case of last post's Joe Cool.

Overall information here for this LP.

First track, called Dreams:

By the way, some beautiful surprise rips coming up soon after this one.