Summers - Fripp 3 [I Advance Masked 1982, Bewitched 1984, Mother Hold the Candle Steady unreleased] FLAC limited time only

 

I was astonished to see that Andy Summers (The Police) had played together with the great Fripp, and for three releases no less.  These are unabashedly progressive instrumental music too, which is what you'd expect with the involvement of the latter, who was totally uncompromising in his career.  And this was in the early 1980s-- the era of Duran Duran, remember!  I am not sure MTV ever played prog rock in those days.  Maybe there was a program at 3 AM? I doubt it.  I am also unsure as to whether he made more progressive or fusion, because the connection with Police is a bit of a dissuader.  Having said that I think these 3 all are worth hearing, with the third one being unreleased material derived from the same time period. Everywhere there is the Frippian dissonant angular riffing.

Brainstorm, from Mother etc. gives you an idea:

Then I listened to this compilation of material just from Andy, which is new agey but pleasantly progressive, inventive, and interesting. For ex., A Piece of Time from the Windham Retrospective:

First from Last Exit... 1975 [FLAC limited time only]

With Gordon Sumner = Sting.  I think everyone can instantly recognize his unique voice in fact, anyone who might be older than about 35 maybe, that is, millenial or Gen X or god forbid baby boomer?  (I certainly would never ask a Gen Z to identify him.)

This band existed as of 1974 and I suppose was the first for bassist Sting (aged 23 at the time), with this cassette release from 1975 in the jazz-rock territory it's unusual to say the least.  It definitely surprised me, partly because it's quite approachable and listenable, with horn rock songs for the most part.  You'll note some of the later Police harmony vocal patterns on On This Train #2:

I would go so far as to say almost every song is not throwaway, showing the youthful creative energy you always encounter with music and musicians.

Album closes out with the lovely instrumental A Bit of Peace:

Huge surprise for me, who has never been a Sting fan and probably never will be without a head injury. Apologies to those who are.

Akropolis - Half a million hours symphony, 1979

 

Back to the classic prog sound with this lesser known one-off album from late in the era, this one is very similar to stuff like Thomas Flinter, my favourite Prisma, etc.  Discogged here, despite the artist name, it's a Danish band. Go Greenland!  Btw, half a million hours of course was the expected lifespan back then-- a surprising 57 years.  Probably that's related to too much sex and drugs.

Movement, Puberty:

Post-Osanna band Uno with their one-off from 1974

 

UNO:

Formed from the ashes of Osanna when the band split in 1974 by Elio D'Anna and Danilo Rustici along with drummer Enzo Vallicelli (from Hellza Poppin, who had played with Osage Tribe and Claudio Rocchi), Uno was a much-hyped band that went to England to record their first and only album with help from lyricist N.J.Sedwick and singer Liza Strike (of The dark side of the moon fame).

The album is not far from late Osanna style (Landscape of life-era), with four English-sung tracks and three in Italian, with songs like I cani e la volpe in evidence, but didn't reach the success the band hoped.

An English sung version of the album was released abroad, with a nice surreal cover designed by Hipgnosis (again a link with Pink Floyd), but didn't attract much interest.

The three-piece band worked well in studio but couldn't get satisfying results when playing live, so the help from Danilo Rustici's brother Corrado Rustici (from Cervello) on guitar and bass was requested for live appearances. From this expanded line-up came the inspiration for a new band, called Nova.

Enzo Vallicelli has kept playing (and still does it now, under his surname of Vince Vallicelli) as an appreciated blues drummer.

Hopefully everyone is familiar with ultrahigh-energy Italian Mahavishnu-like fusion band Nova too, which is just brilliant, especially 1975's Blink but also 1977's Wings of Love.

Interesting they mention Dark Side of the Moon, because I always though Goodbye Friend is a little bit too much of a homage or less gratuitously a copycat of The Great Gig in the Sky:

The most progressive track is 11 minutes long and called Uno Nel Tutti, it doesn't rise to the level of Il Baricentro or Banco or Gramigna, but it's still great, reminds me a lot of famed French proggers Pulsar, with the strong aforementioned Pink Floyd spacey influence:

Amazing cover graphics too!

Barry Coates and the Hats: Because I love you, 1983, and Move Like a Dancer, 1989

 

I noticed Barry played guitars on the previous masterpiece prog-fusion album.  (I'd known him from before, thanks to the great Move like a Dancer fusion album.)  His own databased page is here.

In the 80s he played with the smooth fusion band called Barry Coates and the Hats, and they put out 2 albums in that decade, the 2nd a bit better than the first, privately pressed.  From that first 1983 one, the closer called At Last:

While from the follow up LP/CD Dancer, 1989, there are quite a few beautiful compositions, augmented by a bit of a new age feel which is not altogether unpleasant in this circumstance or environment.  Consider the crystal-clear acoustic guitar on Hover Craft:

Probably we can agree the usual standard simplistic new age chord progressions are missing here.

Some nice thoughts and really fine ideas in there though, worth hearing a few times.