I will look over the remainder of the requests and see what else I can come up with, some of which look interesting... Enjoy these...
I can't post this too long as it appears the artist is entirely behind it. It is available on some sources online (streaming) though has been difficult to obtain in cd format, and perhaps it's even impossible now.
And that's unfortunate because the music here is really, really beautiful. It's clearly, without a doubt, the same composer as the one we all loved in Mushi et Lakansyel. (Of course, it's not quite as good, sorry to say, but it comes close.) First of all note that it came out in 2006, 23 years behind. There is the same passionately intense tropical warmth, delicate nuances and original chords and Brazilian-influenced pop songwriting. You can get an idea from youtube, where it seems all or most of the album can be listened to. I will then refer to the songs as posted there and hopefully they will remain up there for some time for you all to hear, otherwise, I can add links if requested.
The highlight is without a doubt the duet Laren Chandel, available here. This is really beautiful and of course very romantic music, as you'd expect from a two-sexed duet. Technically speaking, many of the chord progressions used, especially the chromatically descending patterns are quite indebted here to Jobim's more elaborate compositions, like Eu Te Amo or Luiza both of which resemble this song not a little. Same can be said about the other standout song, Lanmou Sa'a, with just Mushi singing.
I thought the ending of the song To You, Cecci was very reminiscent of Claus Ogerman, shockingly. The intro is more generically 'pretty piano' style with some very cliche jazz piano patterns, but when he brings in the 'fake orchestra' with (digital keyboard) strings and proceeds to solo with the right hand all around the other instruments, which include some delicate horns in the background to the string section, the composition really takes off. It's hard to believe he's not influenced here by Ogerman based on the really clever chords the strings are playing behind him and the depth of the different scores given to the instruments (most likely parts improvised by him on the spot though). Even that high treble clef piano solo is just gorgeously tender and evocative.
A wonderful 'sequel' to the amazing 1983 Kote Ou... begs to be better known...
A few notes about some of these rips/requests.
The Ring - Necromancers CD is just superb, classic prog everyone should know. Oddly it wasn't released back in the day, but only rediscovered/unearthed by Musea in the recent 'prog renaissanance' era. Information here. Even more odd to me is that the best track is a 'bonus track' (Charnades) though I guess because it's the most 'proggy' or dissonant track, it makes sense it would be an artist leftover.
The George Grunblatt K-Priss album is a masterpiece of the French keyboard zeuhl style, the later style, when it became far more accessible. Note that a bad and old mono rip was circulating online and was the only thing you could get your hands on-- up until now, or at least I think. This rip is stereo and is fresh and sounds wonderful. I was going to post it in this blog last year until I saw it was rereleased only 3 years ago (but only to LP).
The Estructura albums are classics I guess, as is E.A. Poe, though it's not as good as the really good Italians, and Yvosky's Dos Mundos is also classic. The one-off French Madrigal's School of Time LP is, in addition to classic, also, some of the most eerily Queen-like rock music you'll ever hear, complete with the patented triad-harmony-voices guitar lead playing Brian May mastered so completely.
Hermann Szobel is one of the best piano-based prog albums ever made, ever, but I think the artist hates it when his work is 'pirated' online, so be careful with that one: better delete it the minute you get it.
Horn On The People's Side is a fantastic album, but does anyone have a better rip? I have the old one that sounds terrible but the music clearly deserves better. The also Canadian Drama Loneliness album from 1979 I must say really grew on me, it resembles very much the fellow Canadian band Terraced Garden but transplanted into electronic with no guitars, or a very dark version of the German band Luna Set. Note that this artist was also responsible for the well-known ep 7th Temple Under the Burning Sun.
Finally, The Sea for Yourself-- thanks a million to OC for sharing this one completely out of left field and knocking out a homerun and making me acquainted with it. As I said, it's brought me no end of joy and happiness because I listened to it mostly after the lockdown period in March, particularly the instrumentals written by Richard Henn And Co. These range all over the different emotions and are so beautiful I just can't believe there isn't more to discover in his oeuvre. It's just perfect music, combining electric instruments into wonderful ideas, similar maybe to the best of the Screamin' Gypsy Bandits stuff, remember back here. And the cover is just magnificent too, again, sadly putting to shame the CD era garbage-- maybe all the covers of the last 35 years.
Information for this totally unknown release can be found here on discogs. When I heard the music of Buzzy Feiten in connection with the Full Moon posts (and here) I snooped around to see what else he did and this looked interesting on the basis of some youtube samples. It's typical instrumental US electric guitar-based fusion from the late 80s with some very slick production arrangements but also some really nifty riffs and cool ideas. The virtuoso quality shines through beautifully. Other than Buzzy you can see the guitarists in question are session guitarist Jeff Baxter, session musician James Harrah, and Teddy Castelucci (also a film composer). All except Harrah contribute music in conjunction with keyboardist D. Garfield. The latter is also credited as arranger.
The Roppongi track features Baxter and was composed by him plus Garfield and Y. Kojima and, thankfully, has little to no pentatonic scale in it:
I love the bio on discogs for Buzzy:
American singer / songwriter, lead and rhythm guitarist, session musician, producer and arranger. Feiten is also a luthier, having originated the patented Buzz Feiten Tuning System and later designing and producing solid-body electric guitars under the 'Feiten', 'Buzz Feiten', 'Supernova', and 'Supernova Future Vintage' logos. At this writing (late 2019), he is the Principal at Supernova Guitar Research, a.k.a. Buzz Feiten Guitar Research. Feiten has also recorded on the Electric Bass and the French Horn.
And for those like me who love electric guitars with a passion and grew up with Jimmy Page playing Gibson, the news of their bankruptcy was a real shock this year. Because, inevitably, the headlines attributed this to 'rock is dead.'
Lovers of electric guitar will enjoy this completely unknown release.