Metronic Underground 's Illusion, "Electronic Aus BONN" from 1981

 

Metronic Underground:

German synth/guitar duo who ran the gamut of 1970's Teutonic styles, blending dissonant elements into a melodic music, with hints of Ashra and Velvet Universe.

Despite the positive review here below, I think it's relatively ordinary electronic music as reflected in the just above 3 rating on RYM, despite the (outlier) statement below:

Produced by Conny Plank, this is an excellent entry into the large scale German electronic scene. Not really a Berlin School album, though some rhythmic sequencing is present, but still very much informed by late 70's Berlin based artists like Edgar Froese (especially "Ages"), Ash Ra around the time of "New Age of Earth" and Klaus Schulze circa "X". Haunting synthesizers with THAT vibe combined with lightly sprinkled fuzzed and acoustic guitars makes for an album I heartily recommend. Side 2 of the album shifts gears a bit and features some vocal numbers that are quite a bit different than the other contents but are strangely engaging all the same.

Westerwald:

Great cover though!

The unreleased Archie Whitewater material [Unreleased Material from the Cadet Concept Label] limited time only, Oct 13

 

I guess this is another of those 'bootlegs' that are banned by discogs.  But boy is it worth hearing this one!  All fresh material except one or 2 songs that appeared on the official release, but some of these are quite fragmentary and not fully fleshed out as compositions.  The raw talent of the band really shines here though.

Truly love this stuff.  I adore the lyrics to the Lighthouse Track:

But by far the best track is Coming from where I'm going, etc. which is just so meditative and listenable, which it had been fleshed out into something a little longer, with a bridge, etc.:

Archie Whitewater's ST 1970, FLAC limited time only

 

Here's a horn rock album which unlike the predecessor is actually quite good and well written, unfairly unknown in my opinion.

Discogged thusly:

9 piece jazz rock ensemble from New York, USA. Archie Whitewater is not an actual member but the adopted Cherokee name of member Travis Jenkins (2), which then provided the band's name. The ensemble released only one album (recorded 1970-03, released 1970-08) though they also recorded material for a second album that has remained unreleased.

The smooth sound of Friends and Neighbors, with the lovely Rhodes sound:

The music mixes harder rock, electric sounds, jazzy stuff, and more simple ssw songs, plus the brass arrangements are nicely done.

These 2 discogs reviews are quite accurate:

Psych Rock at its best!

Archie Whitewater was a band that never was. Forgotten by the failing Chess / Cadet Concept label their album languished in limbo and was released to little fanfare. The band was signed during the early 70s horn rock craze, but their sound was much more complex and seductive. Their 1970 debut fused jazz, soul, rock, funk, and psychedelic shrink wrapped with a warm aura.

And

Great musicianship and arrangements but I find the singing cheesy somehow. Or is it a good reason I found not to buy this very expensive record ?

Max - Rodan from 1974 (Beyond Rodan) from 1974, FLAC limited time only

 

Such an incredible cover graphic!

Information on this album here.  Note the following:

The 1974 RODAN Album, was an incomplete list of recordings by MAX released on the Pandora label without knowledge or consent from the composers. Most all the liner notes are incorrect or misleading on that album, and it’s unknown what tapes were used to create the LP. Max, as a group, never signed any agreement with any entity.

Subsequently, a much longer 2-LP release appeared (50 years later!) with bonus tracks and history of the band, databased here.  They hailed from Hollywood, Calif.

50th Anniversary 2LP gatefold set of the 1974 jazz-rock-funk fusion LP "RODAN", remastered from original source tapes and expanded with 8 unreleased tracks, restored original artwork, never-before-seen live, studio & promo band photos, and extensive liner notes revealing the mystery of "RODAN

For some reason this album gets some rave reviews online, but from the perspective of a prog fan there isn't much to cling on to, whether dissonance (tritones, minor seconds, etc.), crazy original chord or rhythm changes, novel patterns, etc.  It's in fact relatively straightforward horn rock with intensely funky beats. Always one gets the impression it's being overhyped by those who own the original (200-LPs pressed) version and hope it will gain in value.  I would go so far as to say it sounds like any generic funky seventies album, but you be the judges.  An ex. of overstatement from rym:

Super horn rock album, that absolutely kills on most of the 12 short tracks. There are a couple of bluesy moves and at least one James Brown styled funker, but mostly this just rips from start to finish. The kind of album you wish all horn rockers were. Smoking guitar and great brass charts. The rhythm section never stops. California based group was actually known as MAX, and toured extensively with groups like Malo and Tower of Power. Album sports a fantastic drawing on the cover...

I mean, reviewing it on a regular rock blog would make sense, just not somewhere that specializes in progressive rock or progressive fusion (the latter of which is totally absent).  The furthest they venture, timidly, into creative chords, is Juicy Lucy:

A piano track called Pandora's Theme, sounding very much like a purely improvised, unpreplanned piece:

All in all, it's very similar to the other horn rock contenders, like Lighthouse, Dr. Music, Earth Wind and Fire, but unfort. it's lacking the really convincing compositions that those better acts featured, with little progressiveness to hold it up otherwise.  Or do you remember the astrounding Italian one-off horn-rock band called Sage? That one was amazing.

Wayne Thomas's 1973 Crystal Voyager

 

I saw this LP in a record store in Noho, NYC, and decided to buy it without listening on the strength of its cover, and the fact of course I had never heard of it.  No wonder, since, he's a SSW from New Zealand.

So, some discogs information:

Musician, producer and songwriter. Born in New Zealand on 1946-10-04 as Graham Wayne Thomas. Moved to Australia in 1968, where he started writing music for commercials. He signed with Warners, relesead a single in 1971 and started working as head of A&R for Warner Australia, also becoming a producer. As such he was asked to produce the soundtrack to the surf movie Morning Of The Earth, changing what was going to be a Tamam Shud album into a various artists record. It featured Tamam Shud, Terry Hannigan, Brian Cadd, John J. Francis, Peter Howe and three G. Wayne Thomas tracks. The soundtrack was released in 1972 along with a single from the album: Open Up Your Heart b/w Morning Of The Earth. It reached #22 on the Australian singles chart.

In 1972 he also put together a band called Duck (24). The band originally comprised Jon English, Bobbi Marchini, John Robinson, Bobby Gebert, Larry Duryea, Teddy Toi and Steve Webb. They released an album of covers titled Laid, which was produced by Thomas. He also started his own label, Warm & Genuine, and released a self-titled album in 1973. He followed that up with a soundtrack for Crystal Voyager. For this he put together a studio band called the The Crystal Voyager Band. It consisted of Thomas, Bobby Gebert, Mick Liber, Rod Coe and John Proud. His last release on Warm & Genuine was in 1975 after which he signed with Polydor. In 1979-1980 he worked in a duo with Peter Bailey and together they released an album (Missing Persons) and 4 singles.

Info on this LP here.

The music is basic ssw for sure, folky and acoustic for the most part. Not quite at the same level as our beloved OST, A Sea for Yourself-- which it superficially reminds me of, but not musically structurally, not at all.  Consider the classic early 1970s sound of Into The Blue:

Another sample, instrumental this time, called Red Sun Sea:

As might be expected, the movie is a surf film, wikipediaed here.

Crystal Voyager is a 1973 Australian surf film directed by David Elfick. It was filmed by Albert Falzon, written and narrated by surfer, photographer and filmmaker George Greenough, who had previously made the 1970 surfing film The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun. The soundtrack was written and produced and performed by G. Wayne Thomas and the "Crystal Voyager Band".[1]

The film is structured as a loose biography of Greenough and was shot largely in California. It documents Greenough's search for uncrowded waves, which led to the construction of his 37-foot ocean-going yacht. It also feature Greenough's surfing friends, Californian Richie West and Australian world champion Nat Young.

Crystal Voyager premiered at the Sydney Opera House on 5 December 1973 and had a successful three-week run there before opening in other states.[2] The theatrical 35 mm version of the film is different from the original 16 mm release and was re-edited by Elfick and Greenough. It became one of Australia's most successful surf films, grossing more than A$100,000 (in 1973) on its initial Australian release, before being picked up by British Hemdale Corporation. Crystal Voyager gained substantial press on its release, mostly due to its strong reception at the Cannes Film Festival. It had a record-breaking 6-month run in London's West End, where it played a double bill with René Laloux's animated science-fiction film Fantastic Planet, grossing more than £100,000.[3]

The closing sequence, Greenough's short film Echoes, is generally considered to be the highlight of the film. Filmed with a camera in a waterproof housing strapped to Greenough's back, wighing 17 pounds (7.7 kg) in all, the sequence is composed entirely of slow-motion footage shot inside the curl of waves, edited to the 23-minute song "Echoes" by Pink Floyd.[4][5] The group allowed Elfick and Greenough to use the music in their film in exchange for the use of Greenough's footage as a visual background when they performed "Echoes" in concert.[6][7][5]

For those curious, you can see it here on youtube.  Not really that captivating.

The whole movie is here too.