VA - Undergroove [Bruton BRL 6] (1980) [FLAC limited time only]

 

Information on this Bruton library here.  Always a surprise to encounter a library with really good material especially, as I always say, so late in the game here.

I think to give you an idea of the treasure chest in this LP, listen to Paul Hart's Undergroove:

Information on Paul Hart here.  Weird and Wonderful also by him is just that and in addition really beautiful to my ears:

We can even find our old favourite Frank Ricotti on here, with The Runner:

I just can't believe that crazy-ass dissonant electric guitar riff that pops up in there after the piano verse-- unbelievable.

A wonderful find and surprising to me that I never encountered it before.

Banda Elastica Part 2, the remainder [Los Awakates de Nepantla 1994, Maquizcoatl 1996, Catalogo de Tiraderos 1997, Ai Tencargo 2003, Aqui, Alla 2013]

 

As I said earlier the next albums are not so good, some quite inferior.  Often it's difficult to find a composition worth listening to more than once.

From Awakates, probably the best of this bunch, Ranulfo:

From Ai Tencargo, the wonderful title of Alien Toy:

Anyways you get the idea.  A lot seems just totally improvised and ad hoc.

Banda Elastica discography Part 1, First 2 Releases

 

From discogs:

Mexican cross-genre fusion band.

In 2012, their debut album Banda Elastica was included as one of "The 25 records that changed Mexican rock", an exhibition curated by Ricardo Bravo at Centro Cultural de España (CCE) in Mexico City.

In reality of course they are a RIO / fusion band, mostly the former.  The first 2 albums were magnificent but I was curious to know if the later ones are as good.  Here are those 2 which came out in 1987 and 1989, in case you haven't heard them.  I personally adore them, always a surprise they were Mexican, though we've posted some from that country before, esp. the remarkable Pegauro.  

Consider Infantes Terribles, which reappeared on the second album, surprisingly:

From the second one, the Como Esquizoides is certainly noteworthy and remarkable:

The remainder later.

David Batteau and Batteaux [flac limited time only]

 

The reason I came across this unknown artist is because I was looking up the composer of (Love will come) Someday by David Sanborn, a lovely song no matter how you slice it.  It first appeared on his 1982 album As We Speak, and got covered a lot later on by other artists of course, as well it should be.  Vocals were by Michael Sembello who presumably wrote the lyrics, with this blog post's David Batteau.

Anyways more than 10 years prior these two brothers, David and Robin from Boston, put out an album with the awkward name of Batteaux (the French plural).  It's soft rock or ssw, exactly of the type you'd expect from the year 1973, probably most similar to the early Hudson Bros albums I talked about back here.  Nonetheless, or therefore, there are some good songs in there.

The 2nd track with the awkward title of Living's Worth Loving, shows a little of the America (the band) influence that was quite universal in the early 1970s:

But overall the songwriting has a lot of depth and variety, similar also maybe to my beloved Seals and Croft, discussed here.  Thereafter, David Batteau went solo for the 1976 Happy in Hollywood, which obviously shows progress, or others might say descent, into the more commercial 1970s ssw style, with lush arrangements, 3 or 4-part harmonies, etc.  Note the surprisingly philosophical-scientific lyrics of Dancing on Atoms (presumably something referencing transcendental meditation or the like):

Gianluca Mosole in 3 (After Rain 1984, Eartheart 1986, Tepore 1987 )

 

Surprisingly unknown Italian fusion guitarist, at least to me, see discography here.  

Beginning with 1984's After Rain he put out quite a number of releases all in the same style, all the way to 2006.  I only listened to the first 3 however as the smoothly commercial sound started to put me to sleep by the end of it.

The title track of the first has a lovely tendresse to the acoustic guitar with synths providing the requisite cloudy atmosphere:

Then Eartheart starts to get more into the new age fuzak territory, cf.  Earth Story:

That album, from 1986, is probably the most enjoyable and creative, in my very particular and not necessarily popular opinion.

A more up tempo jazzy number called Spring from the 1987 release Tepore:

Fukamachi and Wada together in Digit Cafe 2005 and Super Duo Live 2022

 

Just when you think you've escaped the Jun Fukamachi addiction, you get sucked back in.  Oddly enough these came up when I begged my wife to find some of his music on the abhorrent spotify streaming service which I would never get a subscription for (because it pays artists infinitesimal royalties).

Way back when I tried to post most of his 'earlier' stuff then we found the later stuff was almost universally great too.   This came out much more recently, but note that Wada played with Fukamachi in the latter's fusion band Keep, discogged here.  I think I put up that stuff way back too?

Fukamachi passed away in 2010, so amazingly the 2005 Digit Cafe (not databased on discogs) was recorded / released when he was almost 60 years old! hard to believe he was still so proficient and virtuoso, but sad that he passed only 5 years later which seems way too young.

Unfortunately it isn't clear who the composers were on these 2, but I'm guessing it's mostly the keyboardist.  The 2 CDs have almost the same tracks but a few are different, with Digit Cafe being nice for me because studio and the Super Duo Live, info here, disappointing for me, for the same exact reason.

The title track is I think classic Fukamachi:

While the dissonant arpeggios of Accomplice, this time the live version, are out of the ballpark, as usual for anything JF related:

There is one drawback, at least for me, probably not for everyone, the improvs are way way too long and make each track almost annoying, a tendency which obviously was taken to an extreme on the live.

(Prism and Keep Guitarist) Akira Wada in 3 albums [1981 The Guitar, 1983 Out and about, 1985 Yellow Moon]

 

Discogged:

Japanese fusion guitarist. Born August 26, 1956 in Tokyo. Passed away March 28, 2021.

In Groups:

Akira Wada With Friends, ExhiVision, Keep, Prism (9), W.I.N.S, Duologue

Probably it would be fair to say the 2 bands, Keep (founded by our beloved Fukamachi) and the very prolific Prism, were a bit more progressive with their fusionary outpourings, than Wada's solo material.  People should check those out if they haven't already of course.

From the first album, which features the unbelievable oddity of having side one as regular instrumentals and side two identical songs with backing parts lacking the melodies for 'karaoke' purposes, Oneness Cry:

You can discern immediately we are dealing with the standard Japanese instr. fusion sound of that era we have heard so many times before.  In terms of commercialese, smooth, light fuzak, this is solidly middle of the dial between say 80s David Sanborn and Masahiko Satoh on the other more progressive end.  At least the energy is quite intense and all melodies are played by his wonderfully crisp and clean electric guitar.  (He plays a Fenderish guitar which, according to AI is "a signature model from P-PROJECT by Fernandes, custom made.")

The super-lovely You from the second album:

The third album is an odd mix, being electric guitar melodies on top of orchestral arrangements, all instrumental (apart from a relatively trite song for a certain Julia) as usual.  Surprisingly, it contains the best compositions in my opinion, and they sound like extensions of the last track You from the 2nd.

Last track on the 3rd, Cresendo [sic]: 

Note that after this one the next release came out in the 1990s so I didn't bother listening to it.

Luis Vecchio: 1971 Afro-Rock and 1978 Contactos

 

Information on this totally forgotten artist can be found here.

The first album, Afro-Rock from 1971, is purely generic library instrumentals.

If anyone has the missing two cassette-only works, please share them!

From the 1978 work, the opener 27 FQP is just stunning, exciting electric latin fusion, reminding me of the great Virgilio:

Classic French Zeuhl Band Vortex Compleat 1975-1979 [limited FLAC]

 

Not much you can say about this majestic classic.  If you love zeuhl of course these guys were at the top, like my old forgotten favourite Xalph.

From discogs:

Vortex is a progressive rock/fusion/Zeuhl band from Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, that was formed in 1973 under the name of Urantia. The band changed its name to Vortex in 1975 and split up in 1980. The band had a broad-ranging palette, including Zappa/Mothers influences, classical and cultural elements, at the darker instrumental end of Zeuhl.

Well certainly it's the classical incursions that appeal to me, mixed in with hard driving electric fusion.

C'est Cool, Raoul:

I love the title God is Good for you, John:

Rob Prester's Trillium [USA 1988], by request

 

The only album from Rob Prester, virtually no information databased there apart form the other musicians' identities.

Quite light fusion, as to be expected from the late year of release. It starts auspiciously enough with a Cyborg:

German Cry Freedom, 3rd album by request

 

Descriptor:

Originating from Fürth (Fuerth, Germany), and the beat band Soulflower, changing name to Cry Freedom in the early-1970's. By the time of their debut they had changed into an inventive fusion band.

These guys were really typical of the customary German late fusion style of the seventies with the synth plus sax plus elec. guitar pounding out melodies and quite a bit of commercial songwriting thrown in.  Despite the overall sound which is like famed Eiliff for ex. the progginess is quite lacking, no comparison actually, the best I could come up with from the first 1976 album Volcano is a track called Mambo Auf Burg Eckbertstein:

Then predictably, it gets worse, with the 1979 Sunny Day which deteriorates into commercialese jingle style music, we can't blame them, can we?  There are even reggaeish tracks as was usual in this period, a trend that became almost mandatory with its stupid simplicity but then petered out, quickly replaced by the stupid mandatory simplicity of new wave synths and digital drums.

What about their third from 1981, Nobody's Fool?  Well, there's some country, reggae, rockabilly (weirdly), yodeling (!), commercialese stuff, etc., so take it or leave it.

Uno Naissoo's 1978 Malestusi Kodust, by request [FLAC limited]

 

Some gorgeous chamber fusion from Eastern Europe.  Info on the LP here, on the composer here:

Uno Naissoo (1928–1980) is a significant Estonian composer used to write symphonic, jazz and pop music. The father of Tõnu Naissoo.

Despite the above, very little has been compiled in the discography, presumably it's lost within the borders of his home country similar to the case of Rafiq Babyev who was from Azerbaijian.

From the 1978 work, I love the Kontrastid composition:

I found an interesting later work, Dedication, from 1995, in which the son plays (on keyboards) the music of the father from 20 years back, the Meditation from that one:

Robert Blennerhed's Seven from 1994

 

Robert Blennerhed's page with very little information.

Guitar-driven fusion here with a lot of potency, consider the opener called Royal Road:

Another one called God must really be busy these days:

I love the serpentine complexity of that riffing.