Puzzlepie "Now", side 2, from 1989 Germany

Now I once again must give thanks to the generous friends who are willing to explore the musical universe out to the farthest depths of temporal and stackable space for these LP finds and their acoustic treasures that few can understand but whose value is absolutely boundless to those very few.

This is clearly an unknown entity as evidenced by the fact the usually haughty rateyourmusic cognoscenti are almost completely unaware (with the exception of one progressive champion), at least to this day, because you can bet that from now on this will change.

Side one is completely generic and conventional in songwriting, all over the place too, commercial oriented to a slight extent, but even so, not even enjoyable in the automaticity of the songwriting.  Suddenly all this changes when you flip over the vinyl and are treated to one of those side-long excursions into musical creativity that was a hallmark of progressive music in the golden age of rock with a mix of song, hammond organ chords, fusion, chamber music flute, electric guitar riffery, and an endless series of ingenious ideas, recalling mostly my pnf discovery from long ago Zauberfinger in its aptly named schizzo-rock.  At my count there are at least 8 different songs here that have been perfectly melded together in the most cohesive and naturally flowing way.  It has the wonderful title of "Twilight in Spin" and the refrain as I understand it is: "Meet me on the river Styx."

For this reason I won't bother to include a whole album here, just the magnificent side 2 which I urge you to put at the top of your playlist, pronto.... and thanks again to those friends who find these things hidden so far away from us...

Credits here, note the music is written by Stefan Karpati with the wonderful singer his wife Sibylle.
Unfortunately this is all they did.

Sui Generis' Nito Mestre moves on after 1977

From discogs:

Immediately after the disolution of Sui Generis (4), Nito Mestre, who still believed folk music had more to give, formed the band under the names of Nito Mestre y amigos (Nito Mestre and friends) who would later evolve into Nito Mestre y los desconocidos de siempre (Nito Mestre and always's Unknowns) thanks to a mention of Maria Rosa Yorio, then Charly Garcia's wife. 
The original formation included Alfredo Toth on bass gutiar and vocals, Rodolfo Gorosito on guitars, Nico Mestre on acoustic guitar and vocals, Rosa Yorio on vocals, Francisco Pratti on drums and Leo Sujatovich on keyboards. 
They debuted on 1977, at Teatro Estrellas and proved that folk rock was still alive and popular. They toured all around the country and neighboring nations. 
By this time Sujatovich was replaced by Osvaldo Caló, and they would release their first, self-named, LP with him. the immense popularity of it labeled them as the top folk band of the times and Nito as the best singer of the nation. 
The relationships between the group members wasn't as good though, and Caló would be replaced by Alejandro Lerner and later Eduardo Zvetelman. until finally stabilizing with Ciro Fogliatta on keyboards, and Juan Carlos Fontana replacing Pratti on drums. 
On 1978 they released their second LP, again self-named,. It wasn't as popular as the first because of the changes in formation and creative stagnation. 
On 1979 the released their third LP, Saltaba Sobre Las numbes (Jumped over the clouds) taking a closer approach to rock, though they were still unable to gain more public. 
On 1980, Toth and Yorio decided to leave the band, and it disbanded soon after. Nito Mestre would never enjoy the popularity he enjoyed on Sui Generis again. 


Obviously, this is the classic folk-rock Argentinian sound with the dynamic composition and delicate acoustic passages that we are so familiar with from the more famous bands like Arco Iris, Aquelarre, and Sui Generis.  I have three from the follow up band which existed as mentioned from 1977 to 1980, but the last album doesn't completely correspond in titles to the database, hopefully someone can explain the discrepancy though it might merely amount to someone being careless with assigning song titles.  Perhaps I'll later buy the last album to complete this band. All not my rips.

Note that there is a clear progression in the music from beginning to end with the first album sounding very much like the folkiest of folks from this country (like the earliest Sui Generis) and the last album approaching the great Spinetta Jade in his early 80s smooth falsettoed pop-rock grooviness.

Thus, from 1977:





And from the end:





Really great stuff.  Hugely enjoyable material here.  Will the seventies wonders never cease?

Guatemalan Alux Nahual in 1981, 1982, and 1984

From discogs;

Alux Nahual is a rock group, formed in Guatemala. Its importance in the Central American region has allowed it to be known as a musical proposal, a cultural reference throughout the isthmus. The band was formed in 1979. It was founded by Álvaro Aguilar (acoustic guitar), who accompanied by his brother Plubio (bass) and his cousin Ranferí (electric guitar and acoustic) begin to perform at a small cafe bar in the city from Guatemala. They were integrated to the band Javier Flores (drums), Paulo Alvarado (cello) and Jack Schuster (violin). In their beginnings they played compositions of other bands of the time, like Kansas, Led Zeppelin and Toto, in addition to original proposals with a base of symphonic and progressive rock, with influence of the group of Dutch progressive rock Focus in the melody Bar Rocko Intro Passacaglia Maestosa. 

After a couple of years Flores retires and they contact the drummer Pablo Mayorga while the brother of Ranferí, Orlando, who also plays drums, joins Alux. For some years they played with two drummers, something unusual in a rock band. The prestige of the band rose quickly, and in 1981 they manage to record their first record production under the DIDECA record label. This first production was the one that opened the doors to the national rock in the radios. At that time there was no knowledge about the movement of rock in Spanish that occurred in Argentina and other places in America, so Alux Nahual became the first commercially recognized band, rock in Spanish in Central America.

Sample from the second album:



El Mensaje del Mago.

Influences are exactly as mentioned, though I would add this is very typical South-Central American folk sympho-prog, with mixed acoustic and electric passages and very very light progressiveness, far less than a comparable band (in sound) we all know with initials MIA.

Pomp rockers Baby Grand in 1977 and 1978

Database info here.

Note the wonderful cover painting of the first album that recalls a famous cartoon-like European artist (someone can remind me?) and the reference to the fruit-faces of Arcimbolo in the second.

For all those who love rock, let's salute these (3 to 5?) guys. Hugely enjoyable, well-written and well-played AOR pomp rock with not too much excess testosterone nor over-the-top vocal showmanship from this band from Philly.   They remind me a great deal of Ambrosia, but much more diluted in the progressive element.  Still, the songs are really strong.  Worth a few hours total of listening pleasure for anyone with two ears and a rock 'n' roll soul I would think:





Note how the F minor chord very cleverly segues down to an F major 7 in the piano intro.


From the first album, listen to the blissfully crafted 70s pop-rock with the hammered out piano chords, the syncopated bass pumping them along, the arabesque-like electric guitar licks weaving in and out and for a guitar solo in the middle, the tape played backwards Beatles-style, just so perfectly professionally done altogether:





"Yes, now you're in the spotlight, Caroline,
and is it all that you thought it would be?"


Too bad they only made two!

Tribute (Sweden) with 4 albums from 1984 - 1990 by request [limited time]

Requested by Jay, information here.