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.

Tom Baker in Magic Language, from 1981, strongly recommended [limited time FLAC

 

Here's another stunning find, at least as good as the recent Petit - Best of all Possible Worlds, but in a different style, this is more along the lines of classic prog-fusion like (US) Mosaic.

Hard to believe, again, these brilliant progressive LPs still exist out there, unknown, unheard, neglected.

Information here.  Little to no info on the man:

Engineer, arranger and bassist. Worked with gospel artists in Cincinnati, Ohio area.

To my amazement I saw keyboard duties are by Peter Wolf, who we've seen before here. (His progressive masterpiece from 1980 was called Tutti.) 

Arrangements, compositions, and vocals are all from Tom Baker though.

The opener to the album says it all, Alpha-Theta-Omega:

And this is followed by the equally stunning Rainbow to Rainbow:

The album closes out with a really really shockingly beautiful tender song with harmony vocals and highly intriguing harmonies plus dissonances, it's called Love that has been Lost and it kind of reminds me of the intensely original songwriting of Brandes Ward MacLean:

Note the dissonant harmony vocal chord of the ending.  Like, wow.

It seems insane to me that someone could be so unknown yet write this most amazingly creative, original and progressive music, then disappear again.  There is not one bit of trite, simplistic 'by-the-numbers' type composition in here at all.  Every track is great in its own way, like a beautiful, talented family.

A note at the end:

“The greatest and unceasing thanks is reserved always for the Savior.”

Thanks indeed!
And in turn, many thanks to the readers / followers / commenters who contribute these suggestions / finds, from the bottom of my heart.

Little known lost Italian band Luna, with ex-Osanna, from 1978 to 1981

Very sweet music, similar to ssw materials presented here in the past from Ullu, Ping Pong (but less progressive), Gino D'Eliso, etc. I was very happy to find this album I'd never heard before, since I have such a weakness for that soft diatonic seventies sound (think legendary bands America, Bread).  

Starting with precursor Osanna which everyone here knows, you can see how complicated the story got after their 4th album Landscape of Life (1974):

Unfortunately things didn't go well between the group's members and the band came to a split during the Landscape of Life recording sessions, producing a sparse album...  

Danilo Rustici and Elio D'Anna, with drummer Enzo Vallicelli, went to England to form Uno, while remaining members Lino Vairetti and Massimo Guarino gave a new life to their old band Città Frontale, this time with new musicians and recorded an album in 1975 called El Tor.

Things were not so good for both the newly formed bands and Osanna reunited in 1977 with new members Enzo Petrone (that had played with Lino Vairetti in I Volti di Pietra and later with Moby Dick) and Fabrizio D'Angelo, but their album Suddance is very far from their best days. After the last split Danilo Rustici formed Luna.

I must admit I never listened to that Suddance one out of fear of disappointment.  So after that I gave up on the whole lot of them, which I shouldn't have.  Danilo Rustici was their guitarist, who died during covid sadly, and he founded Luna with 3 other guys not related to the others mentioned earlier.  The genre described is space rock, prog rock, but there is little of either, just a smidgen of progressiveness and mostly sweet late seventies uptempo pop sounds with the lush harmony vocals, deep arrangements, naive lyrics, etc.  Consider this one which is so hummable I just wanted to swirl around my dining room to my wife's shocked amusement, called Lou Jean:

The same band which was called Tunnel earlier in 1978 released a single, while Luna made 2 in the roughly the same time period.  All of these I included in the package for the band down below, they're worth hearing too though there is quite of disco that crept in for these.

Tunnel Lights has a lovely chorus:

Siliah Era Diversa from 1977:

David Spinozza: ST 1978 and Here's That Rainy Day, 1983

 

Discogged here.

American guitarist and producer, born August 8, 1949 in Port Chester, New York.

Basically this is late 70s American fusion just as you'd expect it to be. Smooth, light, and a little bit progressive.  The Prelude to Ballerina is a wonderfully composed orchestral suite:

The standout from a fusion standpoint is vibraphonist Mike Mainieri's Edge of the Sword, which I hadn't heard before despite exhaustively (I thought) going through all his stuff once, with Bernhardt, and also with Steps and Steps Ahead, the furious riff sounds like it should've appeared on Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior masterpiece:

Next LP Here's That Rainy Day moves further into the smooth fusion direction, along with surprisingly cover versions, as if he ran out of compositions to showcase, from that one, 

Robby Steinhardt from Kansas' Not in Kansas Anymore, A Prog Opera, 2022 [FLAC limited time only]

 

OK so I'm guessing most of us grew up with Kansas: all we are is dust in the wind, etc.

I certainly didn't know this gentleman was their violinist, from the earliest days (1974 or before).  I was even more ignorant, this time intentionally so, of the fact he released this album recently in the same style as the original band and believe it or not it's quite good and worth checking out.  It turns out, it's his only solo work. As you'd expect it's a mixed bag, with progressive alternating with ordinary music and songwriting, and some electronic noodling and so on.  

Nonetheless, I will go so far as to say the track called Rise of the Phoenix is about as perfect a prog epic one could hope for in this day and age, and I thank him for that:

And that's not the only one like that, there's more for you to explore.

His bio is as follows from discogs:

Robby Steinhardt (born May 25, 1950 – died July 17, 2021) was an American rock violinist and singer best known for his work with the group Kansas (2). He was co-lead singer along with keyboardist Steve Walsh, from 1973 to 1982 and from 1997 to 2006.

Therefore he passed away some years back and no longer plays with them (except in spirit I guess).

For those curious about these things, he died of pancreatitis.  One thing I was not too pleased about was that he rehashed Dust in the Wind on this record. Note as well:

Posthumously released.

With guests: Ian Anderson, Pat Travers, Steve Morse,

Bobby Kimball, just to name a few.

I'll throw in an online review that is a little too enthusiastic to my taste, but at least describes it half decently:

The songs on Not in Kansas Anymore rock out, but they also showcase the proggy twists and turns (and flights of virtuosity) that characterize the genre. And Steinhardt’s arrangements put the focus upon memorable melodic lines, too, adding up to a well balanced album that ticks most all of this reviewer’s boxes.  Befitting a work by a strings player, the album is filled with rich orchestration, featuring the real things as opposed to modern keyboard equivalents. The Bösendorfer piano is real, too, and sounds like it. Listeners who approach the album expecting it to sound like Kansas will find some stylistic cues in common, but Steinhardt’s solo muse led him in some directions that might not have fit neatly into the aesthetic/format of his old band. That said, the emphasis is squarely on accessibility throughout the album’s 11 tracks. And in a nod to his former group, Steinhardt inserts bits of his signature melodic lines from “Dust in the Wind” into “Prelude.”

Oddly, though that tune doesn’t open the album; it’s the sixth track, preceding a new recording of – you guessed it – “Dust in the Wind.” The new version is lovely, though it doesn’t really add much to the original, and its inclusion here elicits a shrug. Far more interesting are the album’s other tracks, like the classically-tinged (and aptly/playfully titled) “Pizzacato.” (That’s not a typo.)  The tiny (5-point or so) type in the CD’s liners make sorting out who-plays-what an exercise in futility, and the same is true for the lyric sheet. The lyrics to “Downtown Royalty” won’t be to some listeners’ tastes – they’re a bit histrionic and overwrought – but the tune itself is nice enough. In any event, most listeners will likely gloss over the lyrics – perhaps focusing instead upon the sonic quality of the massed vocals throughout – and luxuriate in the arrangements and instrumental breaks.

Plans were afoot for a tour in support of the album, but Steinhardt’s passing last July put an end to those. His collaborator on the project, producer/arranger Michael Franklin, shepherded the album to completion and release. And Not in Kansas Anymore stands not only as a fitting way to remember Steinhardt, but as a worthwhile listening experience.