German George Speckert's Requiem For a World After, 1980, FLAC limited time only

 

A German musician named George Speckert made this amazing electronic album in 1980, but nothing like it thereafter, at least so far as I know.  From the note there on discogs:

Actually, Requiem is not really the name of this artist/project. It's the debut solo by George A. Speckert, an American musician who got his Bachelor of Arts degree at a University in England before relocating to Germany where he has stayed ever since. However, in many collector's sales lists it was wrongly listed, just because the word REQUIEM is in big letters on the front. Although not German, this synthesizer LP (with a guest guitarist, Massimo Grandi) is very much in the German style of the era.

And a fitting requiem it is for the year 2024, I will not say it was a good one for the world or the planet. I would love if an optimist could outline why there is a lot of hope for the future when you consider the following facts:

-less and less is being done for climate change even as it progresses into full emergency situation

-the world's conflicts have increased steadily since the last decade, both in number and in casualties, I believe I saw there are more wars now, with greater loss of life, than at any time since 1945, add to that the total unwillingness of East and West to discuss nuclear arms control

-the rise of the far right and populism all over the world seems like the beginning of a new era of fascism, nor is it hard to understand where the appeal comes from, considering that historically times of uncertainty and crisis create a profound human wish for kings (of which we can nominate Elon as the first 'world king' though I think he would consider himself the 'all of space king')

-we can see signs of the future in plateauing of average human lifespan (decreasing in some countries) plateauing of average scores in IQ tests, a slow increase in the number of people in poverty worldwide, and a huge increase in migration patterns, and backsliding in the number of people living in democratic countries

For ex., note the following article that states US life expectancy peaked in 2014-- not just a short time ago, more than 10 years ago. If this trend weren't significant it wouldn't be so long ago (setting aside the decline caused by the pandemic of course)

Given the fact food inflation is proceeding and not expected to reverse we can expect that globally the number of people living in extreme poverty and/or who are malnourished will be increasing, without a doubt, a trend that has been declining or at least plateauing to constant celebration from world organizations or NGOs. Obviously this is a statistic that is almost impossible to really verify or even understand. But I doubt that with food prices so high here in the western world there is no concomitant increase in suffering in the developing world.

I'm especially thinking of Pinker's "The Better Angels" book (which I once admired) describing how enlightenment and democracy (of course led by the US) have led the whole world to a better state-- at the cost of completely ignoring climate change and most of the developing world, which is the majority of humanity of course.  Like the more pathetic "The World is Flat" book by Friedman, the misguided thoughts seem sadly dated. But for all those who have young children, we have to hope that a better world will come, eventually.  Though the children and young adults themselves are the least optimistic about their own futures, and that says a lot. I don't remember being pessimistic about the future of my generation, growing up, not at all, apart from the threat of nuclear war.

So anyways, Happy New Year!

We shall see what happens in 2025...

Japanese percussionist Akira Jimbo [Cotton, 4 Colors, Get Up!] and Solution, by request

 

Discogged here with the following intro:

Born on February 27th, 1959 in Tokyo, he is a Japanese drummer and percussionist known for being a former member of Casiopea from 1980 to 1989, later rejoining from 1997 to 2006, and lastly from 2012 to 2022 as a backing musician. In 1990, after departing from Casiopea a year prior, he formed Jimsaku, a drum and bass duo with Tetsuo Sakurai (another former Casiopea member).

Akira Jimbo was also named one of the top 100 Japanese people the world respects by Newsweek Japan in 2007.

The music here is very smooth fusion in the typical Japanese style of the era, which by now we are quite familiar with. Very jazzy first album (Cotton) with vocals.

Requiem's 7" Remember / Non-Dolby [Germany 1978]

 

I post this for Xmas because it's so ultrarare, I doubt many have heard it, and yet it's remarkably enjoyable listening for the prog rock fan.

It's only an EP but it's well worth the hearing, quite reminiscent of Rhea's Sad Sorceress, once posted here long ago (and finally a complete mp3 version in 2017), perhaps a bit more electric and energetic, but nonetheless, all out classic progressive rock. One side has a vocal track and the other, Non-Dolby, is instrumental. I didn't sample it because it's all in one linked continuous recording. I don't believe it's listed in discogs, amazingly, but as usual the rateyourmusic 'basement dweller' vinyl collectors listed it (but did not review it) here. I personally don't think it deserved three and a half stars though, for us it is definitely a 4-star rating. Sigh, musical taste is something so difficult to harmonize, I mean, my boys are now at the stage where they keep telling me hip hop / rap is fantastic and I'm dumb to not appreciate it... They call me a snobby elitist for my own musical preferences...

on youtube:

https://youtu.be/Fvn04FKNsBc

https://youtu.be/MBBd4w_KqT4

Requests 2: Arvanitas I like it cool (1976), Jasper's Wink to my Female (1979)

 

Gotta love that album cover from Jasper Van't Hof, so standard for back then almost 50 years ago, though too bad the cover wasn't more interesting...

Links for Arvanitas here, and Jasper here.

Nipe Nyren Kvartett Live at Kongsberg Jazzfestival 1976, by request, and Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays

 

Very similar to the recently posted Missus Beastly Minden CD, recall that one back here. Of note Hakon Graf plays keys in this quartet. Nipe Nyren is a Norwegian guitarist, he has appeared here already in the Nordic Jazz Quintet.  Other than his time in this eponymous quartet, not clear how he spent his time in the 70s. Luckily for us the music is mostly relatively energetic fusion, a little bit meandering and overlong in places, there is a fugue like acoustic guitar number which is quite interesting (track 2 called Suite II), and note that Hakon Graf wrote 4 of the songs.

One of Hakon's is called 3-4-8:

I included a segment I found online which is described as Live on NRK TV from 1977 (presumably a bootleg someone recorded and uploaded?), which does last for about half an hour and it's quite impressive despite being left uncut and not divided into tracks. This is actually more enjoyable than the material released on the CD, a little surprising.

Mr. Euphoria 1983, by request plus Bob Moses Tributaries and Jukka Hauru [lossless limited time only]

 

Wow thanks for reminding me about this masterpiece I once bought and ripped 12 years ago! I forgot about it totally. Should've been on this blog but it wasn't.
And check out the beautiful verso photo.

Here's what I wrote about it back then:

Continuing on with American guitar-prog rarities in honor of the upcoming election in the United States, for which I strongly encourage all registered voters and registered nonvoters to go out and vote as soon as possible in yet another useless exercise of wasted time and unnecessary energy so the haughty political oligarchy or rather plutocratic ruling class can feel justified to do whatever it wishes with no regard whatsoever for human beings or their environment (and to think they used to laugh at communist countries for their useless preordained elections--  now you get two identical parties to choose from instead of just one-- woo-hoo!)--  here's the album that to me seemed like a progressive masterpiece utterly lost to time and even to prog fans.  [Footnote: What we need is a real "truth party" that could state the obvious: this is all a vacuous diversion so power can remain with the top point one percenters and the corporations they are eternally married to 'till death do us part'.]

Very simply, this sounds like the tightest, hardest, no-fat version of mid-seventies King Crimson you could imagine, as if the great Fripp was totally focused on song-writing and brutally keen on cutting out all filler, chamber pretensions, and excess frippery. Track 3 (1 Day 1 Month 1 Year) even features some of that trademark staccato Fripp guitar style. 

All songs are instrumentals powered forward by fully-automatic electric guitar chainsaw action.  Occasionally there is a touch of synthesizer, also played by the formidable guitarist, whose name is Richard Rhodes.  His backing band consists of Gordon Rhodes on drums (sib?), Tim Sanz on bass, guest Eric Petersen on synths for track 5.  Tracks 2, 5, 7 are compositions by Sanz and the rest is credited to R. Rhodes. The energy and tritones never really let up until the fierce ending in which you feel like you scraped your face and right temple on the pavement in extreme music-listening sports.  Guaranteed the ceaseless tritoning and riffs played as thirds (just like Fripp) will drive your wife (and kids, if you're unlucky enough to have those) out of the room, and if they are unable to so leave, they will be begging you for mercy (or at least throwing plates at your head).

When you listen to the rip notice too that the record is mint, the sound couldn't be any cleaner-- oh the joy of listening to that fresh vinyl (from almost 30 years ago) rotate...

As sample I uploaded the intro, with its awesome hard diminished chord riff, crank it up as loud as you can when you listen, it's awe-inspiring in the manner of the (ancient) seven wonders of the world. Note how the crazy reverbed-out lead guitar plays such interesting harmonies on top of the driving riff.

Aforementioned third track:

Another review, from rym:

The first thing that stunned me after listening to this album was the place and time of its origin. The USA and 1983? Much more appropriate would be, for example, France and 1971.

However, I began to be surprised already when listening to the first composition "Intro". After all, this is 100% math rock, the origin of which almost all music publications date to the end of the 80s. Of course, this was only one of the first swallows, but, nevertheless, judging by "Intro", the birth of math rock occurred almost half a decade before the official (albeit somewhat vague in time) date.

Okay, let's start from the beginning. Mr. Euphoria is a trio consisting of Richard Rhodes and Tim Sanz, who periodically try on the roles of a guitarist, then a bassist, changing them with each other. In addition, the first is the author of five songs on the album, and the second three. I tried to understand the composer's style of each of them based on the authorship of the songs. Frankly, I couldn't. For example, out of three compositions composed by Sans, one is made in the style of soft fusion, the second is heavy prog, and the last is jazz fusion seasoned with elements of raga. In the third "Northern Castle" Sans also plays the harp, but it sounds like a sitar. Oh, I almost forgot - the third member of Mr. Euphoria is the excellent drummer Gordon Rhodes (a relative of Richard?). And I want to say that the group is a triumvirate of equal musicians, each of whom is not averse to improvising. All eight compositions are instrumental and made in the form of a rehearsed jam session. In terms of style, the compositions are located in the segment from jazz fusion to gloomy heavy prog. When listening to some of them, I had an analogy with the composition "Cannonball" by the group Sky (though the music performed by Mr. Euphoria looks more serious). But the closest association seemed to me to be the album "IOU" by Allan Holdsworth.

The only minus is a certain "rawness" of the recording. Alas, but Mr. Euphoria did not have its own George Martin.

Not a bad album.

Info on discogs is here.

Another review at the bottom of the page:

Excellent all-instrumental prog rock! Angular, somewhat dissonant compositions that suggest inspiration came mainly from Red-era King Crimson, as well as minimalist composer Steve Reich. In their heavier moments (particularly on Side 1) you’d swear they were doing a sort of proto math rock style - something that Don Caballero made a career out of just 10 years later. They stray into other styles, as well… a couple tracks on side 2 made me think they were also into Zappa and Allan Holdsworth.

All 3 requested albums here, Mr Euphoria, Bob Moses Tributaries along with my big fave Bittersuite in the Ozone, and Jukka Hauru's masterpieces of prog fusion.

Pumpkin also from 1975 in FLAC limited time only

This album apparently from the same year is by the same mastermind as the preceding Crypto (Peter Schon) but oddly enough not quite as good, perhaps because it's more in the straight jazz direction versus energetic fusion. However it still stands tall among other fusion albums of the period and is highly worth listening and enjoying.

Have a listen to the lovely flutework (Fred Leeflang) on Matthew Welname again, the chord structure on this song is really interesting:

Requests 1: Amrakus Space Opera, Gianni Bonfiglio Luci Spent etc., Basil Kirchin Don't lose your cool, Sheriff [Sensations Fix], Sven Libaek Grass the Musical, Id Where are we going

 

That cover for Id's Where are we Going? from 1977 (recorded in 1975 in NYC) is just priceless, isn't it? And of course quite pertinent and topical for our times too, given the new directions we have taken in worldwide politics this year. On top of that I've always loved that album dearly, with its crazy psychedelic, almost outdated sound (in the late 70s) thanks in part to the mellotron and the hippieish naivete of the lyrics, in some place too reminding me of Yeti's Things to Come. Sadly a one-off from this band.

For Sven Libaek, who was and is a Norwegian-born Australian composer I posted the very library Solar Flares from 1974 which is great listening too, recalling the great Hawkshaw in places even.

Bunch of Oriental Wind albums from 1977 to 1982 by request

 

I mentioned before I don't really have a taste for this style of music with its ethnic importations. The group is Swedish but always played Mideastern style themes and styles.

These guys, led (I think) by the percussionist with the wonderful name of Okay Temiz, did put out a bunch of albums back in the day.  I've posted him before, when he played on the Turkish album by Tayfun Erdem about Ararat, back here. I thought he was in the Family of Percussion but he wasn't, that was German Trilok Gurtu, another percussionist who despite the name ending in a 'u', sorry to say is Indian. Clearly, Temiz should've been in that family, perhaps adopted, okay? Anyways, here are 5 of their albums beginning with the 1977 ST.

Crypto from 1975 in FLAC limited time only

This is utterly masterful European-style fusion, by that I mean it has emotional depth and variance, classical importations, complex arrangements and sounds and minimal overlong improvising in the American jazz tradition.  The mastermind or composer is a Dutch guy called Peter Schon who played in numerous other outfits, fusion at first but later on, disco, synth and rock, as one might expect.

Information on this brilliant work can be found here.

Gallfly is just a whole course on how to create memorable and inventive fusion with its shimmering strings opening leading into the funky keys pattern, then abrupt chord changes before tonic resolution:

My favourite track is Awakening and the reason is obvious, the soft keyboard intro leads into some outrageously creative and unique electric guitar arpeggiated melodies, it just blows me away how they came up with something at once euphonious, and totally odd, then this whole intro section transforms into a modal type vocal song:

Out to Lunch [Germ, 1985] in FLAC and Proteus' Infinite Change [USA 1981] more Gerry Brown John Lee with Chaser [USA 1979] by request

 

The Out to Lunch grouping is with Gebhard Ullmann (saxes), Andreas Willers (guitar), Hans-Dieter Lorenz (bass), and Nikolaus Schäuble (drums). I posted Willers and Ullman's Playful way back here.

The style is mostly improvised and possibly atonal or experimental contemporary jazz in that typical early 80s German style, with not too much to hold on to here unless you happen to have a taste for free jazz:

Proteus' Infinite Change on the other hand is fusion and does also have the influence of the period with the smoothness and perhaps lack of insane creativity. It opens a Mandala:

Requested albums: Carrousel La Vie est un Mystere [1982], Guadeloupe Reflexions Un Jeudi [1980], VS Quartet A Pot Zou [1986]

 

All of these were requested, and please, go ahead and make more requests because they turn out to be treasures I never heard of oftentimes. 

This stuff is all afro beat jazz from France, 1980s.

Carrousel - La Vie est un Mystere 1982, info here. A long description of this work can be found on that page that begins:

Loy Ehrlich, a multi-instrumentalist, was invited to Reunion in 1977 to join the Caméléons. This group, made up of René Lacaille, Alain Peters, Bernard Brancard, Joël Gonthier, and Hervé Imare, was in charge of the recordings and productions of the Royal studio in St Joseph, which had just been set up at the time.

In 1979 the group Caméléons ceased its activities and, under the motivation and the musical direction of Loy, the group Carrousel was born at the Etang St Leu with Alain Peters on bass and vocals, Loy Ehrlich on keyboards and vocals, Bigoun on drums, Joël Gonthier on percussion, Bruno Leflanchec on trumpet and Zoun on flute.

Vali:

Guadeloupe Reflexions – Un Jeudi A L'Arawak 1980 info here. Not much info actually, or tbh as the kids say.

Track called Guadeloupe Reflexions:

VS [Victor Sabas] Quartet – A Pou Zot... 1986, info here. Note that another album came out in 1991 from this grouping.

From that one, have a listen to the felicitous piano of Feliz:

Italian Drummer Aldo Romano in 3 from the late 70s [Divieto di Santificazione, Il Piacere, Night Diary]

From discogs:

Italian jazz drummer based in France, born on January, 16th, 1941 in Belluno, Italy.

Note he played with Christian Escoude, Enrico Rava, Henri Texier, plus a bunch of jazz bands of course, beside the great and brilliant Mariano, Philip Catherine, Porkpie, the Kuhn bros, so in short a lot or most of the well known brilliant Euro jazz / fusion artists, perhaps all of them in fact, and I believe everyone mentioned in this sentence has appeared here on this blog in years past for some album or another, as (incompletely) indicated. 

From 1979's Pleasure, a track called Pioggia sul Pineto can be heard here:

 

The phenomenal electric guitar playing is by the well known Frenchman, Claude Barthelemy.  All of his output under his own moniker is complex and worth hearing. I thought I posted the whole lot but maybe I didn't.

The next album, 1980's Night Diary wherein he has Van 't Hof on keys and Didier Lockwood on violin, as well as himself playing piano and guitars, has the most consistently enjoyable or accessible music while at the same time being interesting enough for us, and completely absent the 80s influence (digital drums, jumpy beats, shrill synths, etc.)-- consider Fina with its kind and appealing tenderness which owes a lot of course to the wonderful Didier's soft touch:

And the title track has an appealing soundtracky feel to it:

So in sum total, a very enjoyable mix of music and none-- absolutely none of the 80s influence and smooth fuzak one would have expected.

But I stopped listening to his output after 1980, perhaps I shouldn't have.

Someone surely knows more than me.

New Age Music & New Sounds - Vol. 052 [compilation]

 

I took a generic new age cover for that one, not sure if that's the right cover or if there even was one.

I post this because it has a track from the just mentioned duo of Rick Pruett and Mark Davis, whose releases I can't find anywhere (if necessary I'll just buy the CDs or albums). You can see these guys made 1981's Winter's Ending, then later on, 1993's Breaking the Rules, and finally in 1997, Time's Arrow.

As usual I'd be highly interesting in hearing that 1981 one partly because it seems pretty rare out there but also on the strength of the track we do have which is the title track, Winter's Ending:

https://archive.org/details/02-pruett-davis-winters-ending-vari

Other than that one there's tons of nice laidback music on here, but I gotta say their track is def the highlight.

Larry Bright's Solar Visions (1978) and John Lee and Gerry Brown's Mango Sunrise from 1975, by request

 

Larry Bright was the drummer for Sun Ra in the mid-70s. He released this album in 1978, instrumental fusion with a spacey feel, appropriately called Solar Visions and it opens with the stunningly beautiful (and George Duke-like) electric piano sound for Aura Pt. 2:

https://archive.org/details/01-aura-pt.-ii

For John Lee and George Brown who were a rhythm section (bassist and drummer, respectively) I would think everyone is familiar with their first album from 1974, Infinite Jones, which has a number of fantastic fusion tracks on it. It was produced by Chris Hinze and the last 2 tracks are by him also.

After that one came Mango Sunrise, note the luminaries with first of all Jasper Van't Hof on clavinet, but on guitars Eef Albers who was posted here (Skyrider) and also for his masterpiece Pyramids, and the wondrous P. Catherine again.  Even Rob Franken on synths too (recall he was the keyboardist in the formidable fusion band Scope).

Their follow up was more accessible and a little bit tidier and commercial with simpler electric guitar riffs, on the whole. Minimal complex prog. If you look on this page you can see all the credits and observe John Lee did most of the composition. So for ex., on the track called Keep It Real, the synth is performed by Franken and both guitarists are playing (Catherine, Albers):

https://archive.org/details/3-keep-it-real

In terms of more uptempo high-energy-physics stuff, Magnum Opus is really magnum:
https://archive.org/details/8-magnum-opus

Some rather wondrous top-velocity soloing work on that number.