Bosque Sound Community's Four Noble Truths, from 2015 [limited time only]

 

Here's a really shocking find by a friend, many many thanks for the discovery.  The entry in discogs has Bosque as artist name, not the more extended Bosque Sound Community.

Bosque Sound Community was formed in Belgrade in the middle of 2015. Band is led by Miloš Bosnić double bass and bass guitar player from Belgrade, by his side also Stevan Milijanović – keyboard, Aleksa Milijanović– drums, Aleksandar Radulović (2) – percussion and Dušan Petrović (2) – saxophone. The sound is based on contemporary jazz fusion. The music represents a mixture of influences by various genres, mostly inspired by the 20th century art. 'Four Noble Truths' is their first album which was published in December 2015.

The band is led by Milos Bosnic, doublebass and bass guitar player, whose idea was to gather a group of friends and record his first album.

The overall sound is based on the classics of instrumental jazz-rock, think Nucleus, or the early 1970s Herbie Hancock sound, etc., with a mixture of influences of various musical and stylistic genres. 

Right from the get-go you can get an idea of the sound and approach of these skilled musicians from the first track, with the odd title of Residex P:

The title track, also the highlight of the release, clocking in at more than 20 minutes, is quite impressive although, as one might expect, a little bogged down by the musicians' soloing.

Credits:

Bass - Miloš Bosnić

Guitar - Igor Mišković

Keyboards - Dejan Nikolić

Drums - Strahinja Stojanov

Soprano Saxophone - Dušan Petrović

Composed and arranged by Miloš Bosnić

Recorded and produced by Nemanja Lazarević

Recorded at VISER AVT studio in august 2015, Belgrade

Nono Soderberg (1976 Nono, 1982 Rare Bird)

 

Info:

Real Name: Arno Arvid Söderberg

Profile: Finnish bassist and guitarist. Born on September 8, 1945.

I think the first one from 1976 is a hugely underrated fusion LP.  It has an enormous amount of variety and emotional diversity.  The follow up that came in 1982 unfortunately was disappointing, and almost all commercial style fuzak, apart from the beautiful vocal title track.

Note that he did appear before in connection with the Pop-Liisa series back here.  The tracks called Tide and Seagull appeared there, in live and different versions.  Apart from that, he was in multiple jazz, fusion, or rock bands in his home country, almost none of which I'm familiar with except supergroup Unisono (feat. the great Pohjola) which superficially should be a wonderful fusion album but which I've always found disappointing every time I return to it, which I probably shouldn't.

I'll post his Seagull as it is more than a little similar to the last selection (at the bottom):

For a much more tender acoustic track recalling the best of Euro-fusion like Finnforest, Transit Express, Moose Loose, etc. here's The Ninth Wave:

Really, a beautiful, strong album, from start to finish: 'no filler, all killer.'  I love it when fusion mixes high energy with acoustic delicatesse.

Here's the aforementioned Oh Rare Bird title track from the second album, which had the misfortune of appearing in the 1980s decade, with vocals:

I guess listening to that one after Seagull, back to back, the latter is just the former with added vocals.  An amazing melody though altogether, with the odd 'n' original chord changes.

Jackson Heights 2 (Ragamuffins Fool, 1972 - Bump and Grind, 1973)

 

Well, their third album called Ragamuffins Fool for me was their best, and had a lovely Fruup-like or Renaissance-like cover as well.  By far the best song is one called Bebop, which, actually, is so good in my opinion that in the space of one day it shot up to the top of the charts for my personal playlist, and I could go on forever about it.  I love the lyrics which are painfully naive and sweet, presumably the singer has a crush on a beautiful girl he sees on the train:

"you can tell she's an actress, by the way she moves her eyes, sympathizing quietly over other people's lives, souping up the bebop, getting on the train, rock and roll the windows, here we come again--"

Harmonically, the song has the diatonic G major 7 sound played by the soprano piano pattern at the outset, but the descending chord progression fits perfectly with the subject matter of the train ride:

The last album from 1973 has the terrible album cover photo, and in general a reduction in quality makes it somewhat less compelling to me.  However, the one song called Bump and Grind, again, is out of the ballpark in terms of the lush arrangement and creative chord progression and just the blatant originality of the melodic composition:

 

It's hard to understand how they could be so uneven.  If you check out the 3 reviews posted on the discogs page here, ignoring the outlier, you can get a rough idea of the quality.

After this, founder Lee Jackson was in the amazing 1974 album Refugee with genius keyboardist Patrick Moraz, I guess a prog touchstone for sure, but surprisingly didn't put out much more (though again I might be wrong).  I love the Grand Canyon Suite from that work.

Jackson Heights 1 (King Progress, 1970 - The Fifth Avenue Bus, 1972)

 

Profile:

English rock band founded in 1970 by Lee Jackson after The Nice split-up, and disbanded in 1973, when he joined drummer Brian "Blinky" Davison to form Refugee (2) with Patrick Moraz.

For those well versed in prog rock, esp. the British variety, this band reminds me of Capability Brown - Voices (with the super-lush barbershop vocals turned down though) or perhaps the later Pretty Things, with their wide mix of psych, prog, songwriting, ordinary pop, and elaborate vocals.  Most of the material is relatively ordinary songwriting if you understand what I mean, but I love that here and there they throw in some wildly creative harmonies or ideas.  In that way, similar to Pretty Things, or early Manfred Mann maybe, or Fleetwood Mac in its more basic early 1970s days, before they got overly commercial.

In case you haven't noticed I have to point out the unbelievable Hipgnosis (1968 to 1982) cover art of King Progress, a design group we all know well and love from their Pink Floyd covers.  I have to say that artwork on its own would probably make the LP worth purchasing for me, it's so utterly bizarre, and the colors so compelling.

The title track of that first work has a lovely string quartet arrangement (think of how many albums, songs, artists, were influenced by George Martin's brilliant arrangements for the Beatles, cf. Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby):

It's not clear to me from the different releases and their credits who was responsible for those lovely arrangements, which appear throughout their works in different guises.

I felt the second album from 1972 was a little underwhelming.  I'll borrow the review on discogs that to me overstates the case a bit:

Melodic rock with a hint of pop appeal that balances on the edge of the acceptable, but fortunately mostly succeeds through quite some unexpected twists that season the music. The keyboards are generally lovely, which is a rare thing to encounter within this style. Multi-part vocals are a bonus and give the music at times even a west-coast flavour. Almost all of side A convinces, except a tedious pianosolo on Sweet hill tunnel. This song has the advantage of a blood-curdling harmonic twist at the end that will send your hair a-flying, though. Pity that side B cannot maintain this level. The songs sound like weaker versions of those on side A. Mostly this side sounds over-polished and routine. The last track, a biting satire on living life as a pastor, makes up for the lost opportunity. This again is rich and variable music.

The best track I think is House in the Country, it's too bad it's so short:

For me, this is a totally unknown band that doesn't deserve it at all, like so many other artists here on this blog.  I'll be back in a couple of days with part 2 from their oeuvre.

For those who live in the new world, by the way, Jackson Heights:

Jackson Heights is a diverse neighborhood in Queens, New York City, known for its rich multicultural population and vibrant food scene. It is home to large South Asian and South American communities, as well as a significant LGBTQ+ population. The area is recognized for its unique cultural enclaves, like "Little India," and offers a wide variety of international cuisines.  

John Robinson's 1974 Pity for the Victim

 

I saw this artist in connection with the earlier posted Beramiada, by Jackie Orszaczky, which was undoubtedly brilliant.  There, John Robinson was the guitarist, and you can see his relatively short discography here.  He was an Aussie who earlier was in a band called Blackfeather, basic blues rock so far as I can tell.  No resemblance to Jackie's chef d'oeuvre.

This solo album, presumably his only one, is a pretty good mix of hard rock guitar and as expected, given the times, fusion, maybe a little similar to the Jeff Beck masterwork, or perhaps Big Jim Sullivan's work posted here.  If you're looking for a mixture type of release, then this is the right album for you, but for me it's a bit too mixed to be as good as all the other aforementioned works, specifically that is there are bluesy numbers, silly numbers, spoken parts, etc.  When the compositions are strong, they're really interesting, but a little marred by confused arrangements.

The opener (with the lovely title of A God Called Free) gives you a really good idea of the kind of frantic production is exhibited:

While the AM Mail to M. instrumental track highlights the creativity:

Snafu Part 2 (All Funked Up 1975, Live recorded in 1976)

 

I liked the third album from 1975, which shows no diminishment in quality at all, consider Deep Water:

Or, Dancing Feet:

However the live one was disappointing, as live albums usually are for me.  Note that it was recorded in 1976, released in 2018. Notes from inside:

Recorded live on 23rd January 1976, Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham

Sound on the night, John Moon, John Aarnold and Geoff Woodward.

SNAFU were at the peak of their creative and live capabilities when they performed at the Refectory

at Trent Polytechnic in 1976 with three ground breaking albums already released and their stock high

amongst both fans and fellow musicians. However at the end of this tour a very young MICKY MOODY

accepted David Coverdale’s offer to join his new band WHITESNAKE and his departure effectively bought

about the end of SNAFU.

BOBBY HARRISON bought in Clem Clempson to fill the gap but says “It didn’t really work out. This

concert is us at our best. I am very proud of the albums we released and how fondly today we are

remembered”.

Snafu Part 1 (1973, and Situation Normal 1974)

 

Profile:

British rhythm and blues / rock band formed in January 1973 shortly after Bobby Harrison had completed his first solo album. He used Micky Moody on sessions for the album and they decided to start a band. Mick got in touch with Colin Gibson, who was doing sessions at the time and they were later joined by Peter Solley and Terry Popple.

Definitely in the basic blues rock category, with good compositions here and there and little progressiveness.  Enjoyable on the basis of the energy and high level of musical competence.

From the first album, the song called Drowning in the sea of love sounds like it should have been a huge radio hit back in the day-- not now of course:

Goodbye USA is surely and sadly an apt song title for these troubled times:

From the second album, Jessie Lee:

Bobby Harrison's Funkist from 1975

 

Bio:

English singer/songwriter and drummer, born June 22, 1939 in London, died on January 10, 2022. Bobby Harrison’s history can be traced back to the late fifties and the legendary Brentwood, UK group The Rockefellas. Subsequently, during the early part of the sixties, he was in Golden Apples Of The Sun, who signed to Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate label and released one single, Monkey Time, in 1965. Following that, Harrison formed the CBS-signed Powerpack, who put out two singles in 1966 and 1967. Backed by famous jazzman Ronnie Scott, Bobby also released his first record in his own name for CBS in the mid-sixties, a version of the song Sonny. Harrison then became one of the original members of Procol Harum during the spring of 1967, when the group recorded their famous No 1 single, A Whiter Shade Of Pale. However, at the same time as the record was at the top of the charts all over the world, Harrison and the band’s guitarist left the group to form their own outfit, Freedom. His solo album Funkist has material written for Freedom and is considered to be the "missing link" in Bobby Harrison’s career between Freedom and Snafu, which he formed early 1973. The band lasted until the mid 1970s. In the early eighties, Harrison decided to move to Iceland. There he got involved with many musical activities and also recorded one album with local supergroup Mezzoforte in 1987.

This is his only output from the magical decade of the 1970s and of course it's pure funky rock.  Highly enjoyable nonetheless, or rather, as a result.

Spotlight:

I'll post the Snafu stuff next.

Great Ad's Deep Down Death, recorded 1975-1976, released 2021, mp3 limited time only

Great Ad were a Swedish hard rock band that was active in the middle of the decade, as you can see here, completely unknown, undiscovered until recently, and this features all their music compiled together.  I really love this kind of high energy hard rock missing the blues and simple chords of the AC/DC style, and I've posted quite a bit in the past that is little known, such as the wonderful and for me unforgettable masters Magik Dayze, or the AOR US Ambush, or brilliant one-off Architect, Legend, wherein bonus tracks were recently found, while masters Truth and Janey and Granicus are 2 I should've posted, also undeservedly unknown.

Anyways the rock is really competent, fast and driving, interesting in terms of songwriting, and coming from Sweden, pretty damned impressive. For that nice deep Black Sabbath sound, consider Fast Love:

For a great slowed down number, transitioning from arpeggios to a wonderful tritonal chord change in the chorus, listen to  You'll Never Believe:

NZ composer/arranger Alan Broadbent in Palette from 1979

 

Here's a wonderful and surprising find for me, completely unknown, unheard of, never rereleased so far as I know.  Typical late 1970s fusion with progressive elements, perhaps a little turned towards the jazz big band side, but at least fusiony enough for me to thoroughly enjoy.

Info on the composer, on this release.

Alan Broadbent, MNZM [Member - New Zealand Order of Merit] was born on April 23, 1947 in Auckland, New Zealand. He is a jazz pianist, arranger and composer best known for his work with artists such as Woody Herman, Diane Schuur, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Charlie Haden, Warne Marsh, Bud Shank, and many others. He studied piano and music theory in his own country, but in the 1960s came to the US to study at the Berklee College of Music. In the 1970s he did both classical and jazz work, but from the eighties onwards he accompanied singers on piano. Later he gained note as an arranger of music and won two Grammies for arrangements he did with Natalie Cole and Shirley Horn.

So you could indeed surmise from this bio that his earliest work, and this one is from 1979 when he was 32 years young, has been oblivionated due to the later work he did as an all-out jazz arranger for the above famous artists, I would go so far as to say, a standard arranger, although from the Palette orchestrations he is definitely original.  Not to the same degree as our two big favorites of course, Yuri Chugonov in the Eastern world and Claus Ogerman in the Western.

As a perfect ex. of what I'm talking about, have a listen to the Mz Liz composition:

Another ex., his Sunrise Song:

There are definitely some cover versions in there, I recognize Stevie's Summer Soft, but the majority I'm going to assume are his creations.  Bravo!

Another problem I suppose, if we can describe it that way, is that his discography is immense and therefore difficult to weed through to find other possible gems, of which I'm reasonably sure there must be some.  The bet that his earliest stuff was golden, though, definitely paid off.  How music loves to favor youth....

VA OMN 009 - Various Artists - Fusion [Compilation, FLAC]

 

This is a very pleasant library compilation of later Omnimusic stuff I take it, many different composers.  It all hails from the early eighties period as you can tell from the jumpy synthwork, that I suppose recalls computers, binary code, digital music, etc., and that of course was one of the big hallmarks of that decade along with neon green shorts and silly dance styles.

With regards to the Omnimusic label:

American library music label based in Port Washington, New York; founded in 1976 by Doug and Patti Wood. In April 2019, Omnimusic was acquired by EMI Production Music in London. The library is now distributed exclusively in the United States by APM Music in Los Angeles.

Compositions are well chosen though and worth hearing for the most part.  Specific information for this one can be found on this page. Note the original release year of 1986 listed there.  It could be there are other good composers in that mix, I would never know, they are all unfamiliar to me.

Kerry Beaumont's Illusion:

Brave New World by John Manchester:

David Benoit's first 2 albums: Heavier than Yesterday, 1977 [FLAC], Can you Imagine, 1980 [mp3]

 

Brief write up:

American jazz pianist, composer and conductor, born 9 May 1953 in Bakersfield, California, USA. He has been nominated for five Grammy Awards.

Came upon this completely by chance, rooting around for some new undiscovered albums on discogs.

The music here is very typical late US fusion with some progressive elements (like so much other stuff I've posted here), perhaps like Harris Simon, Neil Larsen, Jeff Lorber, and of course the two big Davids: Grusin and the inescapable Sanborn.  So many over the years...

From the lovely first album, his 7-minute tribute to Los Angeles, which to be honest doesn't sound anything like the recent city I visited that features, on every block, liquor stores, cash-your-paycheck places, and homeless encampments full of druggies:

From the 2nd album, inevitably not quite as strong but still enjoyable, his Memory of Che:

Australian folk SSW Graham Lowndes in 2 album (Survival's a Song (in FLAC), Mouth Music, plus incomplete opera)

 

Wow the train derailment photo in the middle for the rock opera sure is wild, as is the graphic for Mouth Music.

Graham Lowndes:

Australian singer-songwriter who started out in the early 70s.

He recorded two albums in Melbourne.

He combined personal and social commentary to his songs.

Graham now lives in Fremantle, WA.

Of interest he was involved with the wonderful Aussie female SSW Jeannie Lewis, who made an incredible one-off prog epic in the 1976 LP, Tears of Steel-- f you recall I posted it back here, and what a great discovery from my friend the gem-sniffer-out that was.  

Jennie and Lowndes earlier collaborated for the somewhat disappointing rock opera, Terry and Frank (1974) from which I posted a few sample tracks.

As you might expect from the top cover, this is mostly acoustic folk or country music, with the occasional huge radio hit song thrown in, I say that of course completely ironically, but the great songs really are great.  Without a doubt we can agree the gorgeous Visions from the Gallery is the best song on his first, a gatefold LP, it's pretty stunning, and should've been a hit back in the day, or even today:

Also lovely is To Rosalind:

From the second album with the great graphic, Mouth Music (1975), the closer, Sails of Sadness absolutely makes me want to cry every time I hear its full-throated, open-hearted emotion:

Some LPs from library composer Douglas Wood

 

Sparse Info:

Real Name: Douglas A. Wood

Profile: Composer/arranger of library music, soundtracks and TV recordings.

You can see from the above listings he was massively prolific after 1976.

All of the music that I've heard can be appropriately described as library music, I will avoid the use of the word 'generic' as it leads to assumptions about quality that are perhaps unjustified, depending on opinions and tastes.

An idea of his style of composition from the People's Progress Suite, called Feeling Fine:

Quiet Zone, with its amazing Hammond organ:

I have these two in flac, Pastoral and Light Activity Rock and Jazz, and Peoples Progress Positive Charge (with Joe Antel).  Then in mp3, Synthesizer (more of the same), and Panorama from Omnimusic (orchestral soundtrack music) instead.  So four in total.

A request was made for the work with Lee Greenblat called Edge of the World / Rainy Days, anyone can share for us?

Brian Chatton's Vapour Trails (1980) [NO FLAC]

 

Brian Chatton:

Real Name: Brian Charles Chatton

Profile: born 19 July 1948, in Bolton, Lancashire.

In Groups: Boys Don't Cry, Flaming Youth, Hickory (4), Jackson Heights, Snafu (6), The Warriors (3)

I found this record while I was checking the artists behind the relatively unknown band, Jackson Heights, who I will likely also post soon.

Info on this particular album here.

Again, typical library music, example, Smooth Touch; note the lovely development of the basic theme:

Wolfgang Schuter Combo's Hangover [FLAC limited time only]

  

The whole album is gorgeous from beginning to end, a relative rarity for a 'contemporary jazz' type release, not fusion.  It's semi-fusion you could say, all instrumental, with vibes playing the melodies for the most part, electric guitar but a highly unfuzzy toned-down sound, electric piano, but again lightly played.

The almost preternaturally lovely Sun Up composition:

Another gorgeous one, Time and Tide:

Back to Bob Moses: Bittersuite in the Ozone, When Elephants Dream of Music, Visit with the Great Spirit

 

Brief description on discogs:

Real Name: Robert Laurence Moses

Profile: Jazz drummer/percussionist/composer, born January 28, 1948 in New York City. Also known as Rahbaat Rakhalam Ntumba Moses.

First of all notice the stunning cover art.  Boy do I miss when LPs had such beautiful paintings or graphics to admire.

Tributaries, from 1978, was posted back here (as a request), and it was surely wonderful.  Because of the involvement of keyboardist Richard Sussman I sought out his later Evolution suite, posted here, which was hugely impressive for me.  In general Bob Moses' music is in a similar vein, with a basis of elegant fusion and contemporary jazz plus a lot of modern dissonant, polytonal music, along the lines of Stravinsky influences.  The first one was Bittersuite in the Ozone (1975), which I've always loved dearly.  These compositions are all by him (of course).  

Especially noteworthy is the track called "Message to the Music Bizness," and we can conclude clearly what the message was given the strangeness of the arrangement:

From Tributaries, the title track composed by Sussman:

Moving on to the eighties there was no compromising with popular culture, just as you'd expect from this genius.  The 1982 album When Elephants Dream of Music is still incredible, from that one, Trevor:

By 1984's Visit with the Great Spirit, still no evidence whatsoever he was going to compromise with the 'music bizness' as you can discern from that one's title track:

Wonderful stuff!  And so uncompromising an artist.