Liferaft 1972 USA, by request

 

I love that cover drawing! So evocative.

Discogged here.  Very typical early 1970s jazz-rock, bluesy horn-rock, clearly Chicago-influenced, with a mix of songs and instrumentals.

The Rivet Man, as an example of their songs:

A little hard for me to tolerate the harsh Cocker-like and affected sound of the singer's voice though.

Early Morning Love, the instrumental that closes this show out:

More requests, if anyone has any of them:

https://www.discogs.com/release/35730400-Runaway-Totem-feat-Andromaca-Metaphorm-Tetraphirm

https://www.discogs.com/it/release/3313088-Norbert-Gottschalk-Light-Weight-Sight-A-Voice-In-Jazz

https://www.discogs.com/it/release/2465029-Bunny-Brunel-Lockwood-Jazz-Rock

More requests, if anyone has any of them:

https://www.discogs.com/release/35730400-Runaway-Totem-feat-Andromaca-Metaphorm-Tetraphirm

https://www.discogs.com/it/release/3313088-Norbert-Gottschalk-Light-Weight-Sight-A-Voice-In-Jazz

https://www.discogs.com/it/release/2465029-Bunny-Brunel-Lockwood-Jazz-Rock

First 2 from Minimum Vital [1986 Envol Triangles, 1988 Saisons]

 

I really love these 2 albums, combining RIO with folk music in a really coherent and seamless totality of enjoyment.  I personally am of the opinion that the later albums declined in that they leaned more towards the folky side and abandoned the fiercely creative progressive tendency revealed in these 2 featured.  A very similar band is the Canadian Miriodor, btw, for those who are familiar with it.  Also welcome is the fact that though released in the 1980s there is absolutely zero indication we are in that digital drum-machine decade.

Information here.

French instrumental progressive rock band established in the early 1980s by the Payssan brothers. Their early recordings featured a lot of folk references, which were replaced by more stylish contemporary elements on many later releases. Vocals also featured on some recordings (female and male), and their style has shifted considerably during their 30 year history.

From Envol Triangles, 1986, Ronde:

From Saisons Marines, 1988, A Bien des Egards:

Back to Christian Escoude with Michel Graillier in Libra, FLAC limited time only

 

Michel Graillier was the pianist in the Ivan Jullien band, posted back here.  He is databased here, with bio:

French jazz pianist (born October 18, 1946 in Lens — died February 18, 2003 in Paris)

His career began with violinist Jean Luc Ponty in 1968. He was a member of various groups in France and worked regularly with Chet Baker until 1988. In the 1990s he worked in various ensembles with drummer Simon Goubert.

And he was in the following bands:

:	Alien (34), Chet Baker Quartet, Chet Baker Trio, Claude Cagnasso Big Band, Ivan Jullien Big Band, Jacques & Micheline Pelzer Quartet, Magma (6), Open Sky Unit, Tartempion, The Julie Monley Quartet, The Paris Quartet, Vandertop

On the other hand I've covered Escoude numerous times on these pages, he was with Confluence, but also in these albums here, here with Toots, here, still more, etc.

Here though the music, from 1978, is standard 'contemporary jazz' of the kind we've heard so much of.  Nonetheless, the lovely Skiso, which was written by Escoude, sounds very much like something from one of his albums:

Janko Nilovic in Rythmes Contemporains, 1972 FLAC limited time only

 

It's possible everyone is familiar with this masterpiece of library orchestral funk/fusion. What always surprised me is that it's the only great album from this composer, at least in my opinion, limiting things to the progressive pov of course.  If there are others out there that (vehemently) disagree, please go ahead and speak your minds.

Composer info here:

Greek-Montenegrin composer, arranger, conductor, keyboardist, percussionist, vocalist and producer, born on May 20th, 1941 in İstanbul, Turkey. French resident since 1960.

He has published many works, most of them on library labels not available for sale to the public. His oeuvre stretches from classical, jazz, and funk to pop, psyche, and easy listening. Also co-founder of Ju Ju Records.

In 2010 Nilovic won a Grammy award for the rap song 'D.O.A.(Death Of Auto-Tune)" along with Shawn Carter, Ernest Wilson, Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, Paul Leka and Dave Sucky. Producer No I.D. had sampled Nilović's song 'In The Space' for that track on Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 album Other artists who have sampled Nilovic's work include The Beatnuts and Joey Bada$$. The hip-hop producer Dr. Dre sampled much of Nilović's piece 'Underground Session' for his track 'Loose Cannons' on the Compton (A Soundtrack By Dr. Dre) album.

Information on this particular library is here. 

Note the alternate release called Gentle Giant.

Mouvements Aquatiles:

Bahamas - Le Voyageur Immobile, 1976 France [FLAC limited time only]

 

Another fantastic Magritte-influenced cover.  Will AI one day achieve this level of beauty?  If so, we might say art and human culture might be on its way to extinction, like so many animals in the world we've bullied...

Information here.  This is their only release.  It's a shame, as I really love their delicate, highly professional, and slightly prog-inflected manner of ssw overlaid with luscious harmony vocals.  When you take a look at the credits here, note that bassist / vocalist Didier Batard later appeared on George Jinda's Wheel of Love I posted just a few days ago.

You will note that Motel has a very odd, very original, but interesting melodic line:

The track called Crow, translated from a French version called Norway Samba with entirely different lyrics and a different subject, strangely enough, describes what sounds to me like a world without humans wherein crows are the only animals alive. These English versions appear as bonus tracks on this release.  The lyrics are stunningly gorgeous and really haunted me:

What makes this so breathtaking too is that lovely shimmery, wavy and full electric guitar sound, which is so so gorgeous.

Here's my transcription of the lyrics, likely with multiple errors:

In the journey of the crow, all the old ways became one, Kyrie Eleison

And the chime began to go, soon the last days became known, Kyrie Eleison

And only crows to gaze on, the ashen light upon the sun.

We came to your skies, crow be our name, 

we brought the old cry, crow be our name,

we never came to know why, crow be our name.

We came to learn the old ways, 

and the answer became the last days,

I never knew what love will do.

We saw the wind blow, crow be our name,

we saw the time go, crow be our name,

we fled beyond the black snow, crow be our name,

days flecked like old skin, 

and we learned to give the old sin

we've never seen what fate is for.

We come to your skies, crow be our name,

we bring the old cry: crow be our name,

we come again to know why, crow be our names

so we reveal the old ways

so we be all we are now

sky, make it so and keep us crow--

Post-nuclear apocalypse future?  More likely post-AI apocalypse future, given what's happening today. Did we really need another reason to fear for the end of the world?  

Damn tech giants, and end-stage capitalism.

Until then, we can really love this one-off album of magical songs.