Andre Geraissati, Insight (1985), plus more

Those who know the guitar will recognize at once the DADGAD reference as a special tuning of the strings.  Unfortunately unlike the case with Nick Drake these tunings are not as resonant or as wildly creative as one would have hoped.  It might be that the mental illness that afflicted Nick contributed, as it so often sadly does in the case of genius artists.  Anyhow, Geraissati's masterpiece is the 1985 album Insight.  The title track is just gorgeous:

It's slow to get started, very slow in fact, but once it gets going with the gentle acoustic guitar singing its plucked melody atop very delicately arranged and tasteful strings, it absolutely takes me to heaven.  As I always say, music is the closest thing we have to experiencing heaven in our painful real world lives.  In particular it's as good as the best of Araujo, posted extensively in the past here.

Despite the excitement brought on by this record, 3 more from him disappointed me (1979 D'Alma album, 1982 Entre Duas, 1988's DADGAD).  They are basic folk or new age and without much in the way of progressive composition.

From discogs

Brazilian guitarist and composer (b. 1951). He's played with many famous musicians as Egberto Gismonti, Eduardo Agni, Amilson Godoy, Rui Saleme...
In 1970 he founded "D'Alma" with Ulisses Rocha, Mozart Melo, Rui Saleme, Candido Penteado, and others.

Luis di Matteo's 1981 work Rumbo al cenit (Uruguay)

From discogs:

Bandoneon player, born 10 May 1934 in Montevideo, Uruguay. 

I guess the most you could say about this is that it's typical bandoneon music similar to certain other albums I've posted here most notably the Nuevo Aires.  Although generally well composed, the music here is not as varied and progressively amalgamated (with other instruments, with other sounds and ideas) as the former.  It reminds me greatly of Astor Piazzolla's stuff.  Both the buzzy, unnatural sound of the instrument and the over-reliance on 'circle of fifths' chord progressions in this stereotypical genre get me a little annoyed by the end of the album, not to mention the irritation of listening to tango measures and picturing a woman in the typical frilly dress with a man in black long coat turning around and making overserious faces when they reach the end of the auditorium.  In the end, the sameness is such that skipping from song to song hardly even interferes with the appreciation, such as it might be. 

At any rate, here and there we notice attempts at getting creative with the tired genre, as you can see from track b2 called Vuelo 792:

The odd riff-like piano intro leading into a series of chromatic chords entirely justify this record for inclusion on this blog.  Unfortunately the over-dramatic minor key bandoneon can't be stopped from making an appearance in the middle section like a high-maintenance blonde girlfriend clamouring for your attention and patience to listen to what happened in her long and horrible day.

No Right Turn, UK 1983

More British Renaissance-like material, mixed pop, folk, rock, some slight prog touches.  Charge of ten Brit pounds if you hail from the EU and wish to read these lines, btw, and if you fail to deliver, look forward to Boris Johnson berating you wielding a leather riding crop and a cheeky grin under his trademark mop of uncombed blonde hair resembling a two-year old with a febrile illness (curiously corresponding to his mental age).  Consider track A3, Waver:

Mamadeus (Nether, 1983)

Here's a painfully beautiful album from the Netherlands that seems not so well known, with sophisticated compositions and a most delicate interplay of chamber music and folky acoustic sounds.  They made only one work, in 1983, but they seem derived from the slightly more productive band called Flairck, who made quite a few LPs starting strong in 1978 but thereafter degenerating into new age.  I could sample any track randomly and it would sound good in the context of this blog. But here's the one called Atlantis:





I'm reminded of another old favourite, Kolibri's Winterserenade.  Not only is the great and almost impossible beauty of this music painful for me to hear, the thought that this sort of art is now forgotten and abandoned makes it doubly painful.

Medusa's Medusing recorded in 1978 (limited time upload)

A great unreleased album of funky rock from Greece.  At least, Discogs information here shows the release from that country, although obviously we have scandinavian musicians involved here too.

No prog--just funk, but nice songs.
The opener with its weaving synth riff in E goes like this;





The track called Realise on the other hand recalls the best of Ralph Towner with the slow-going hard guitar riffage, so yummy for the soul for those of us who grew up on that gorgeous electric reverbed sound: