Chateau Breakers, from 1984 USA

In the tradition of late 70s early 80s creative and inventive US fusion, which I've featured endlessly in these pages (cf. Bellvista, Cathexis, James Vincent, Aurora Borealis, Clareon, Rhythmic Union, the stunningly rare Franklin Street Arterial-- too numerous indeed to list) with a nod to Tom Hayes of course and his discoveries...  here comes more.

I mean, it's endless, as you will be able to tell from the unearthing of yet another fantastic discovery from my friend.  Information is here.  Obviously the band never produced another private pressed or any other record, as was so often the case...

Track A3 is called Breakers and produces the ocean effect quite convincingly, I'm reminded of the beautiful 19th century mansion in Newport Rhode Island of the same name:





Continuing with the hydrological theme, the evocative track B3 is called Waterfall:

Christine Baczewska solo work: Tribe of One, from 1993 [limited time only]

She was the singer in American RIO band Care of the Cow, featured earlier here.  This her only solo work is all vocal RIO and lacking a bit of the excitement of the previous band effort.  Note that the composer of the former, Victor Sanders, works on this too as contributor.  First and representative track:

Peabody College Wind Ensemble in 1969 (not the waxidermy item, but related)

On Waxidermy a great deal of excitement was generated over a college track called Fourth Stream by a Nashville composer and session musician called Irving Kane.  I got this related record, from 1969, the year before the former, since it also had a composition by him, called Suite for Band.  Unfortunately that composition was a bit too straightforward, almost music univ. essay-like.  Instead the highlight here is the last track, called Jazz Tangents:






If you look at the database for this record,  and check the liner notes and scans, it seems the band, from Peabody College and Vanderbilt Univesity, is almost the same, but they do have different names.  The first side is given over to a rendition of my favourite composer Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, and a completely ridiculous musique concrete piece by (also from Nashville) Gil Trythall called Surfaces Opus 19.  Neither myself nor 99.99 percent of humans, or I should say animals, would describe this as music.

Back to Jean-Charles Capon in Univers Solitude from 1972

Absolutely stunning cover art for a beautiful album title, but from the hand of-- who? anyone in the know please comment.

Requested a long time ago, I guess better late than never in the immortal words of Happy The Man...

I've covered so much of his work before I figured I should try to be more complete about it at least, though there are many collaborative works that don't seem too interesting.  Looking at his discography you can see this was his second work (after the magnificent 1970 Baroque Jazz Trio), and you can tell just from the first listen, with its youthful free jazz passion and dare I say slight insanity.  The re-upped 4 Elements, with its gorgeously thoughtful and melancholy compositions, came 4 years later, in the time of his inimitable band Confluence.  And later, again teamed up with guitarist Escoude, they made the beautiful Gousti record which is my other favourite, partly on account of its accessibility I admit.  You can see he made some library records too in the intervening years.

Here's a pensive and pleasant track called Tout Seul (Cello):

Private Pressed Steven Bard Through the Fog of 1977

After the former post's great unknown US private press here's another, located this time in the acoustic Xian dept. of the department store (obviously not Sears).  I can't repeat often enough how surprised I am that there are still so many good albums worthy of consideration out there, and how thankful I am to those who find and rip them.   And I should add, who allow me to post an mp3 publicly, which as you all know, is not always the case.  Well, obviously, there are innumerable albums from this period, in all sections of the store, which are not worthy of consideration or a first hearing at all, and I just keep quiet about those.

Again, sadly, a one-off album from a ssw, this time from the wonderful (musically) year 1977.

Title track A1 will take it away to paradise:





"won't you won't you hear the shepherd's call, 
he's reaching out his hands won't you follow..."

And beautiful enough to make me almost want to be a born again christian too...

B4's Hollow Well combines some nice Nick Drake-like arpeggios with just a celestial harmony vocalosphere up in the sky:

Gary Epps' Thru my Eyes, 1980

It certainly seems outrageous that people can still dig up great albums, totally unknown to even the "cratedigger" cognoscenti, after the innumerable from this period that have been resuscitated year after crazy year, in terms of Greek philosophy more than the reckoning of the grains of sand on all the beaches of the earth.  Particularly in the US late seventies blended dept. of aor-fusion-prog-ssw, there still seem so many.  Here's one that truly surprised me by the strength of the compositions and the wonderful variety the band is able to showcase.  In the database, thanks to apps for entering the information, perhaps for finding this, it's clear this is a one-off and a private pressing.  Right away I can't help but comment on the photos they used,  I think it's well worth arguing over which, front or back, is more egregious, the tanktop-wearing cowboy in a desert diorama howling at the moon, or the disco dude with shirt collar larger than the now-retired supersonic Concorde's wings?

Track a2, called Too Few Answers, brings the quasi-fusion home to you, baby:





Those were the days "my friend, we hoped they'd never end..."

But it just keeps getting more interesting, I found track A5 (Quake Of Your Smile) to be shockingly well composed:





So many thanks to the multitude of people who bring these lost treasures back to me and all of us.

Olivier Bloch-Lainé - Des Mots 1976

A lost French chansonnier album that recalls the beautiful Xavier Gernet I posted long ago, though lacking a song as decisively unforgettable as Mimmie, or alternatively Gerard Pisani's great Loup des Steppes, chanson combined with folk and a touch of jazz, a bit less folky acoustic than Le Chien des Dunes-- anyways, you get the idea.  The title track is without doubt the big hit here, and the professional skill is quite impressive altogether:





A good bio and review in French appears here.

Csula Jazz Ensemble - Crusade 1980

Recall from earlier.
I presented the first album back there and this is the second one from 1980 with Bob Curnow still leader and prime composer.

A track called Manstae II really surprised me with its nicely unique chord changes:






Fewer horns, more electric guitar(s) and fender rhodes and it would've been sublime in my books.

Tracklist:

A1 Crusade (Bill Holman)
A2 Of Another Time (Bob Curnow)
A3 Manstae II (Jeff Holmes)
B1 Shuffluphagass (Les Hooper)
B2 A Time For Love (Johnny Mandel, arr. by Hank Levy for the Stan Kenton Orch.)
B3 The Tenth Planet (Bob Curnow)

More Zipflo Reinhardt with Oceana from 1979

To complement the later release posted earlier this is in a similar style but perhaps not quite as good, with the latter album edging this out in terms of variety of tempos, moods, and creativity in melodies.  Too bad there was nothing to follow that masterpiece, Light of the Future...  (light indeed: more like the bright light at the beginning of a tunnel into a dead end...)

Empty Road:





Note that all compositions are by Zipflo.


Drums, Percussion – Christoph Haberer
Electric Bass, Acoustic Bass – Hans Joachim Schmidt
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Günter Möll
Keyboards – Hans Peter Hepp
Producer – Wilhelm F. Schmid

Connivence III from 1984 by request

Look at the terrible cover photo for III!  what was the idea I wonder??? Renaissance artist meets Miami Vice set inside Tron?  Hello beautiful can I blow a trumpet up your...?  well as we all know we must be nonjudgemental when it comes to that decade.  At least the music is not Duran Duran-influenced.

Recall Gilles Legault, and his 1981 solo album?  Here's the remainder from his former group.  As I mentioned in his post, I believe he wrote the most beautiful songs out of all here, quite an achievement considering the size of the group initially, being quite magically haunting, expressive, and very poetic in terms of word choices.

With regards to this album, their third, his best contribution (of only 2) called Ou Vent Frissonne, is perhaps a bit too brief though clearly authentically inspired:





The remainder of the songs on III features a quite eclectic mix of reggae, folk-gigs, 80s style commercial pop, and a progressive instrumental track called Detour that is perhaps the highlight for the serious music fan:





Written by Steve Burman, who wrote a few other remarkable tracks for the first 2 albums.

Which recalls their 1977 installment in which an absolutely sublime progressive instrumental track called Lapin closed it out, written by one Charles Fairfield.  I always wonder about these artists who disappear after composing such majestic one-off things.  They must have done more, never revealed to the rest of us, perhaps abandoned...

In general the first two albums are the masterpieces, very similar to Broussard which I posted compleat in the comments last time, but perhaps a tiny bit better in terms of progressive inventiveness in the instrumental sector and sheer unforgettable melancholy beauty in the dept. of Legault's magnificent songs.  I sure hope and pray I'm not the only one who will start crying each time I hear his magnificent harmony vocals in the chorus of S' il y a de l' amour:





"If there is love, if there is love,
the shadow of my shadow will wait for me
nothing will allow it anymore to disappear
except the summer nights-- 

If there is love, if there is love, then so be it"

Fritz Pauer Live at the Berlin Jazz Galerie (mps, 1970)

A piano album that features some nice compositions...

Peter Thorup's 1978 Rejsen Til Kina [temporary only]

"Poems from China" by Tom Kristensen first published in 1922.  Music by Thorup.

Looking over the information on this release I was surprised to see it was released to CD some time ago, accordingly, I won't have a link....

A nice surprise to see Knudsen on keys.  (Of course I posted his masterpiece Anima some time ago in a lossless.)

The first track really sets the tone here:





I think we should all be grateful that this doesn't descend-- not even for a moment, or note-- into the pentatonic simplistic silliness so typical of "chinese"- influenced music.

Atlantic Bridge - Atlantic Bridge (USA - 1970)

If you enjoy jazz-rock interpretations of pop songs like "MacArthur Park," "Something" and :Dear Prudence," this is for you.  Nothing ground-breaking, but considering that it was released in 1970, it was a bit ahead of its time.

Norwegian Band Vanessa, in 1975's City Lips and 1976's Black and White

This band blew me away when I first heard them, very early on in my prog initiation, since they sounded so much like my favourite Orchestra Njervudarov.

Their first record shockingly sells for several hundred euros now, though it seems like a basic funk-fusion work along the lines of Kjol, Moose Loose, Scope, Kornet, my / our old discovery Alpha Omega from Australia, and so many others....

Leaves of Love: