Some Claude Engel: 1972 99% Pop, 1973 More Creative Pop, 1976 Fantasmagory

 

Claude Engel is of course a French guitarist who was involved in Omega Plus, Magma briefly, Troc, and Univeria Zekt.  I posted the Lubat Louiss Engel Live in Montreaux back here.

Aside from those groups outings, he made the library records 99% Pop and More Creative Pop, plus an ST 1973 and then notably the 1976 Fantasmagory, the most progressive of the bunch.  That first solo 1973 one was more chanson and therefore I didn't include it here in this package.

As an ex. of the library styles, Ralentissimo A from 1972's Pop library:

I posted Teddy Lasry here and there in the past, with whom he collaborates (along with Lubat) on 1973's More Creative Pop.  Teddy's stunning Fiction Melody, obviously is a masterpiece of the prog genre, pretty much a textbook lesson in how to write creative and intense prog rock:

From the wonderful Fantasmagory which is all written by him, very much an acoustic guitar-based work, but with interesting chords, harmonies, and some funky passages (the second side's Martian Suite), plus ethnic importations, the title track feat. vocals:

Less electric than Alain Renaud but similar.  The beautiful solo guitar piece called Improvisation sur Colchique sur les Pres, sounds very much like classic Larry Coryell, which is a wonderful thing always:

I was not a little surprised I had never heard that album before, but happy to discover it now.

April Orchestra 48: Francis Rimbert + Frederick Rousseau

 

The music here is almost as good as the old classic AO's I collected way back when, see search function here.  This one I skipped over at the time.  And what a surprise to be back here with these guys and their seemingly endless library tracks.  Looking over the whole series, it's truly amazing how much great music there was on offer there in that little quiet and neglected local library.

This one came out in 1982, and it seems all the compositions are cowritten by the two artists.

Francis Rimbert:

Keyboardist and composer born at the 3rd of October 1953 in Val D'Oise (France). At an age of 5 he started to play piano and later accordion. At the age of 7 he started to play harmonium in the church. He studied at the Paris Conservatory (Paris, France) but didn't like the classical music ambiance. At the age of 14 he started his first band, which he didn't like, so he stopped this band. Later he founded FanChris together with a folk singer/songwriter.

In 1978 he start working at a music shop specialized in synthesizers in Paris where he start rehearsing on those synths. There his career started when his boss offered him to record an album: "Bionic Orchestra" and he quit FanChris. Some later he met Jean-Michel Jarre with who he works often.

And Rousseau, briefly:

French keyboardist and synthesizer player, sound engineer and composer.

Quai de L'enigme:

Marguerite Degarne:

More Romolo Grano Soundtracks:1974 Civiltá Sepolte; 1974 Ho Incontrato Un'Ombra; 1974 L'Edera

 

Information here again. On the strength of Kilimanjaro I decided to search around to see if there are any other big surprises.  The library music is sometimes quite improvised, abstract, and atonal, eg Musica Elettronica while the soundtracks are generally orchestral classical music, eg Mme. Bovary.

In the mid-seventies though there is a string of more fusiony and / or Morricone-like material which are these 3.

From Civilta, minimal info on discogs, with Paolo Renosto, Genitura:

From L'Edera (Title translates as "The Ivy - Original Soundtrack Of Scripted TV"), Fiume di Mare, with the Morricone wordless vocals:

While Suoni Antichi features Stravinsky polytonal chords in the strings:

Ha Incontrato from the same year has some fusion elements, note it's also 'Taken from the 1974 italian television movie in four episodes directed by Daniele D'Anza.'  See, for ex., Working in the City, with its lovely Herbie Hancock groove:

Big Amongst Sheep: 1982 Terminal Velocity, 1985 Hearts on Fire 7"

 

Discogs page here.  I see that prior to this 1982 release there was a cassette with many of the tracks that later appeared on the LP. Hugely rare that one.

Terminal Velocity has a bit of Quasar Light - Experience This feel to it, which is mightily endearing for myself, in other words, the nutty space / science / aliens / radioactivity lyrical references plus a late 1970s hard rock + synths, Rush-like feel.  It's a lot more interesting than it appears on paper, with the addition of flute here and there, odd chord changes, and the dated scifi subjects ('Astral Goldhawks,' 'Flying to the Future,' 'Radioactive Daffodils').

Anarchy in the Skies, with its oddball musical 'quote' from Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra (famous for its use in 2001 of course):

Out of this World is definitely exactly that, in a case of meta-reference or artistic autology:

Love that twirling arpeggio synth sound behind the chorus lines, and the background reverbed guitar chords.  Note the later sax solo.

Also reminds me a lot of my old Canadian favo(u)rite, Machines have Landed, though it's much less proggy than the old EP Artificial Intelligence it's similar in sound and feel.  Love the science-based lyrics.  In 1983 a live cassette was released too, sold only to fans I presume.

I also found a 1985 single called Hearts on Fire, which definitively steps fully into the 1980s synth new wave style. Sadly they also abandoned the crazy subject matters, like what happened to UK Comus. 

The title track tells you everything you need to know:

Back to Reynold Philipsek with Black and Blue 1985 [vinyl rip]

 

A lot has culturally, musically changed of course in the 5 years that passed since Reynold's brilliant 1980 masterwork Short Stories (which I still can't auditorily believe) and needless to say we are eras, ages away from the 1974 Sailor fusion work.  We are in the sweaty thick of the crazy dancing jumpy digital new wave 1980s of course, with the dreaded drum machines and staccato synth chords, deeply advanced into the (plastic) years of Duran Duran.  Music moved so fast back then, not like today, when hip hop is not only still popular, but unchanged from those very same 1980s, 40 years ago.  Nonetheless, despite the majority commercial throwaway pop and blues numbers, there are great gems in here.  Information can be found here.

The sheer brilliance of his presumably solo acoustic guitar work, Blues for L.G., just blows me away:

Child's Play with a lovely drumless synth performance seems surprisingly out of place, but side b also closes with an all-synth composition:

The title track is definitely worth the price of admission here, with its magnificent dark sound and unbelievably virtuoso guitarwork, really harking back to the minor-key guitar fusion of a Mahavishnu long since passed and critically derided:

Listening to it closely, for sure this track alone was well worth the hunt for this very rare LP.

Crusade - Small and Blue, 1974 [temporary link only]

 

Classic mid-seventies prog with a lot of ordinary ssw and simple acoustic songs, along the lines of older Kayak, Focus, etc.  However, enough unusual or original chord arrangements & creatively oddball ideas to keep us focused and interested, for sure.  Sufficient for focus and concentration to avoid the fast forward button for at least half the length of this collection, depending on the level of acquired ADHD you might have developed in this wonderful age of smart phones and 6-second video clips.  There's vocals both male and female, hammond organ, and classical importations like fugues as you'd expect.  Also, sounding lovely and well-recorded, to boot.  I note this is not databased in discogs, surprisingly.

It's important to note, it was recorded back in 1974 but not released until more recently-- specifically 2000, if you want to call that recent (which my kids would argue with).

The first and title track:

Merilyn in Reverse:

A nice voluminous quantity of music to listen to, as well.

Addendum: the Netherlands artist behind the album Philhelmon, discogged here, with later releases.

Christian Gaubert, Part 3: 1979 Last Exit; 2013 Ligne Sud Trio (Gaubert, Ceccarelli, Jannick Top)

 

Obviously by this late in the decade year, he has moved from ssw to funk, a bit of fusion, minimal disco thankfully, but quite commercial-oriented.  There are nonetheless good tracks and enjoyable ideas to listen to.  Reminds me a lot of the later Ceccarelli albums posted back here.

Sweet and Fool Like A Child:

The 2013 album is instrumental fusion of the kind that's typical of this later period, but I included it again due to the presence of those other musical luminaries. It's databased here.  Note how eminently capable Gaubert is on the solo piano for a song called Mare Nostrum:

Christian Gaubert, Part 2: 1978 ST [WAV limited time only]

 

Information here. Again, note Jannick Top on bass, for what it's worth.

This album is not quite as strong, imo, as the Une Ville LP.  I decided to purchase and rip it in case it was amazing.  All ssw stuff.

Ma Song Californie:

Generique de Fin (ie, Theme of the Ending):

Christian Gaubert, Part 1: 1975 Une Ville, Une Vie, 1977 The Little Girl Who Lives down the Lane OST

 

Three posts about this wonderful and unknown (outside his home country presumably) French ssw / film composer.

Christian Gaubert:

French composer, pianist, arranger and band leader. Collaborations include Charles Aznavour, Mireille Mathieu, Gilbert Bécaud, Johnny Hallyday, Serge Gainsbourg, Pascal Auriat, and Gérard Lenorman among others.

Note he has been releasing albums since 1969, but those earlier ones didn't seem so interesting to me. Some are LPs of presumably easy listening cover versions, eg this 1972 album.

On the other hand on the 1975 album called Une Ville... Une Vie, the songwriting is just genius. It's like my old favourites, Dromadaire, and Le Loup des Steppes by Pisani, or the wonderful Xavier Gernet. In other words, 1970s French pop songwriting (not really chanson as such) with original melodies, chords, and nice hooks. On top of that, it features guitarist Claude Engel, and Magma drummer Jannick Top, though these guys remain quite in the background, playing quite unobtrusively, no zeuhl here.

The title track gives you a clear idea of what I mean in terms of original chord changes and interesting melodies:

And the rest of the album keeps up the high level of songwriting, with very few, if any, throwaways.

For a whole different genre, the OST of the 1976 Franco-Canadian movie The Little Girl who Lives down the Lane which starred Jodie Foster has some wonderful music written for it.  We have here a mix of Francis Lai / Morricone tender orchestral themes in the standard 1970s Euro-style and melancholy patterns with some fusion passages.  The theme from the movie carries hints of Francis Lai, Nina Rota, etc. and then suddenly picks up to an uptempo 16-beat groove in the rhythm section with a flute solo:

Those once exposed in childhood to those old movies and themes will feel some intense nostalgia upon hearing those classic musical lines.

On the other hand, Mystery of the Basement, with its fusion element, again, the electric piano plus strings is so classic:

For those interested, like me, the story is a disturbing one, really typical of those long ago days, and as usual you can read about it on wikipedia.  Note the following:

The production later became the subject of controversy over reports that [13-year-old at the time] Jodie Foster had conflicts with producers over the filming and inclusion of a nude scene, but a 21-year-old body double (Foster's sister) was used. After a screening at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, a court challenge was launched regarding distribution, and a general release followed in 1977.

I have two versions of this OST and I included both (CD and LP).  I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too. Kind of like Yuji Ohno's wonderful amalgam of tender themes with funky fusion parts, almost like his gorgeous Jimmy Dean.

French Library Composer George Rodi: 1974 Electronic Sounds, 1975 Actual, 1977 Actual II, 1979 Space, 1980 Sound Power [all FLACs limited time]

 

A lot of this library is difficult to slog through, like so much in this genre.  So for ex. the Actual albums, from 1975 and 1977, have no titles to the tracks, they're just numbered, making it effortful to hold on to something definite.

But first of all, George Rodi:

Profile: French composer and keyboards player.

In Groups: Arpadys [disco], Georges Raudi Et Son Orchestre [1970 single], Les Schtroumpfs [space rock], Rosebud [disco], Sandrose, Les Sparks [1966 single]

Obviously everyone is familiar with Sandrose, and their 1972 classic.  Subsequently Rodi went on to make all these library records.

From 1979, Space's Moonshine Magic just hits me in the soul every time, it's so transcendently beautiful, ethereal, spacey, like the best of Alan Hawkshaw, our old fave library composer:

Listening to this, it amazes me how music can so transport you to other places, other times, other lives, as if it's a direct connection into the deepest heart, or as I always say, it's the closest we'll ever get to heaven on this dirty old planet.

I quite enjoy the advanced complexity of the Actual 13 track:

Note the astonishingly beautiful cover photo of the 1980 Sound Power. Almost the best thing about this LP actually.  Nonetheless, here's a sample track called Gliding:

Crazy Dog, USA 1979

Only one release from these guys, a nice non-generic minimally bluesy hard rock band from St. Georges Delaware, discogged here.  However, a bunch of singles followed into the 1980s.  The style is quite typical of the late 1970s.

Opener, about the Star Fighter ("a mission of mercy, somewhere in space") recalling this was shortly after the first Star Wars, which was such a cultural sensation:

Nice enjoyable basic hard rock, but with some interesting compositions, not the usual 1-4-5 chords with excessive guitar soloing-- I mean, there's a bit of that, as there always is, but minimal.  For ex., Love me and you leave me:

At last the often requested Tiefland Sinfonie Orchester's 1988 Time Trip

Information on the release can be located here.  Artist page here. Pretty sparse in general, as well as over on the rym basement dwellers website. Not that the record is very rare, but looks like many are afraid to purchase it out of fear of disappointment, not entirely unjustified.  Anyways you needn't consider this now since you can take a listen to the rip here and judge for yourself.

In terms of music this is basically entirely synthesizer plus guitar plus percussion and all instrumental giving the illusion of a full orchestra. The second side is mostly devoted to what sounds like a fully composed neoprog classical symphony but played of course on digital keyboards ('Forgotten Symphony').  I might add that here, the classical influence is quite strong (eg, sounding like Richard Strauss).  So a lot of your enjoyment of this depends on your tolerance of classical music's approaches to chords and melodies.  While the first side is called 'Time Trip: Symphony for Drums and Orchestra,' and is more straight up electronic. Nonetheless, it's interesting and well written, never drony, similar to a lot of the recent electronica posted here, like the OC requests, Cybernation Dark Plane, and Horwitz' The Planets.

The track called Lost in Ancient Dreams (from the first side) gives you an idea of the style here:

Conversely, the finale of the second side's symphony:

The keyboardist / composer is Rainer Struck btw. He was in symphonic prog band Norwind previously, looks like they only had single releases, no LP, and the hard rock band Separate Reality. He has two guitarists and a drummer accompanying him.

The following introductory poem appears on the verso:

My dreams were too real to stand
my desires too strong to hold
What I had done is too ridiculous to justify
The time ran backwards
the dimensions became strange and boundless.
It was a mistake to be so careless
but it was my fate to make this Time Trip!

Also check out the magnificent mullet of the guy on the cover, and the boobage of the female.

But it was necessary to bring this rarity to the light of day and sounds of air, given how frequently it's requested.

S.J.C. Powell - Celestial Madness, Australia 1975

 

Discogged here.

Born in Sydney in 1951. He was guitarist and vocalist in Australian band, "The Mint", who released 4 singles between 1969 and 1971 on the 'Ramrod' label. After securing a major recording contract with an Australian recording company, he recorded his first solo LP entitled: 'Celestial Madness', which was released throughout the world in 1974. Soon after this, Powell went totally deaf and was unable to record again. Since then, and the arrival of state of the art digital hearing aids, he has been able to record again. He was also the manager of a theatre for fifteen years and has written two plays and a musical comedy. He has also written a book, 'FAME OR INFAMY: The true story behind the Jack the Ripper diary', tells the story of just how the infamous diary of Jack the Ripper came to be written and how it has affected the literary world.

Note there is a copy of the vinyl for sale for 347 dollars!

Basically guitar folk, with I think 2 or 3 electric tracks.  The usual over-earnest naive singer songwriter folk stuff, but with interesting spacey, scifi lyrics, so common for the times.  Here and there I've posted some LPs in this genre, which tend to be, as we all know, quite similar. to each other.  An exception was the outstanding Aussie Graham Lowndes, who should've been a star back in the day with those beautiful compositions of his. Here's a rym review that overstates the case a little:

S.J.C. Powell started recording singles in Australia in the late 60s and finally landed a full length record deal in 1974. Celestial Madness was the fantastic result, a solid mix of psych pop and cosmic folk that follows a mellow and hazy pace that changes directions and offers a few dramatic peaks. This is optimistic weed smoking music for positive vibes and summer evenings when the first stars start to appear in the sky.

Highlights include the ultra laid back "When You Make the Other Side," the sunshiny "Green Hills of Earth" and the wicked synth on "Say Hello." There's plenty of nice touches like the brief cosmic interlude "supernova" and quality production that still allows the folk core to hit home alongside a variety of instruments....

For ex., Governor Lane:

Note that the instrumentation actually is quite interesting, not the pared-down basic 'acid folk' style of acoustic guitar plus vocals.  And open chord guitar tuning, with its jangly resonance, is used frequently here (think Led Zep's That's the Way it's Gonna Be).

Or consider the Green Fields of Earth:

A few great songs, quite enjoyable though, all in all.

New Morning Live (Volume 1), VA from Switz. 1978

 

Info for this LP rarity can be found here.  It doesn't look like there was a volume 2, unfortunately.

Live recording from the first birthday party of the club "New Morning" in Genève, Switzerland, 31 march, 1st and 2nd April 1978.

Mixed at Studio Aquarius, Genève, at full moon in April.

Copyright 78: K.B.L. Productions, 1206 Genève.

This album is dedicated to Bob Dylan. Made in France

The uncredited pressing company is derived from the marks of the group AGI / Audio Graphic Industries, we can find on the run-out grooves. Disco France was the pressing plant of this group.

I noticed that track B1 has involvement by Patrick Gauthier, the beloved Magma / Weidorje pianist.  Here it is, by a group called Angle (no releases), called Knock at Your Door:

I really like the closing track called Antica, by the Paolo Radoni Quartet:

It's amazing how only 4 musicians can sound so full and complete by themselves.

Otherwise it's a mixed bag, with folk songs, solo guitar stuff, pop, and a bit of vocal ssw.

Nothing too progressive.

Back to Gianni Marchetti in The Wild Eye OST [FLAC limited time only]

 

The brilliant Marchetti, posted before here and in other places before.  An earlier soundtrack, which is of course more generic in style since it's from the late 1960s (specifically, the 'Summer of Love').  With regards to this movie, I read on imdb that it's a 'movie within a movie' with the director making or attempting to make one of those mondo documentaries:

Paolo is a documentary filmmaker on a mission to see the world and present human nature in its true and raw form, even pushing his crew to the limit to capture the brutality of a world gone mad even at the expense of safety and a moral price.—Robyn Graves

Tagline:

He Used a Camera Like Most Men Use a Woman -- and a woman like something you'd keep in a cage!

Wow.

If you're interested, you can watch the movie on youtube here.  A very basic review from a commenter:

A rather unusual film about a man utterly devoid of scruples, capturing gruesome images of extreme situations. The ending reveals a kind of remorse for his nefarious actions in the face of the unexpected death of the woman he loved.

The cinematography has been beautifully restored.  

Samples,

The Desert:

Meeting with Barbara:

Romolo Grano & Gianni Oddi - Le montagne della luce (OST 1975)

 

Info here.  This is an OST for:

Music composed for the tv documentary Le Montagne Della Luce (1975, Giorgio Moser, prod. Rai)

A1, A2 first released on 7" (SRL 10781, Ricordi, 1975).

A3, B1 and B2 are previously unreleased.

About Africa, of course.  I posted this because I was completely taken away by the otherwordly beauty of the Kilimanjaro track, recalling Morricone at his most ethereally, transcendentally transporting:

Everything about this composition is so beautiful, with the female vocals, the synths, the progression of the elaborate melody, with the usual comments I have to make about why something so gorgeous has been so completely forgotten today...  

I read on discogs too the vocalist is the same one Ennio used for some of his unforgettable soundtracks.

I don't know if there is more Grano out there worth hearing, does anyone else know?

Tom MacDonald Exposed - Music to Activate, 1981 Calif.

 

An insane cover, but totally a sign of those naive times, when nudists expected their nutty trend would one day take over the world...  Why wouldn't it, being 'more natural'?  then again, why would it? 99 percent of humans as I see it would prefer to cover up their imperfections, and leave everything to imagination which is always more beautiful than the real thing, surely.  And in an era where sexual harassment is such a primal issue, why would women want to walk around naked in public and aggravate the problem?  Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be hard to work at a bank, or go there, if all the tellers were naked?  Insane times those were back then.  And the fact that they named this LP after the same exhibitionistic image / concept! As if the founder was a true believer!

Note the discogged information here:

1980s folk rock/soft rock group from Nevada City, California who released their sole album in December 1981 on the small local label Bennett House Records to little fanfare or success however new interest for the group would emerge when it was revealed that DJ Shadow had sampled their work for the song Bloodstain on 1998's UNKLE - Psyence Fiction.

It's basically soft rock, ssw, entirely.  There is little hint of the fact we entered into the dreaded 80s decade.  Movement featuring a solo piano composition is nice to listen to, but not representative:

The final track called So What reminds me so eerily of my old folk acoustic favourite Gene Hood, the one album in that dept that I adore so profoundly and feel so sad it didn't become better known:

Robert Wyatt in The Animals soundtrack, 1982

 

Can't believe I never heard this before-- and of course, it goes without saying I'm a lifelong, huge mega-fan of Soft Machine and all the artists that were involved with them.

Discogs page for the album here.  I believe, but I'm not sure, when I went to explore the post-Matching Mole releases from him, a long time ago, I passed this one by because of its erroneous description as abstract or experimental.  Admittedly there are passages that are exactly that, but there is at least half a (short) LP's worth of genuinely interestingly composed progressive synthesizer music.  Or maybe it wasn't listed there at the time.

Description:

Soundtrack to anti-vivisection movie 'The Animals Film' directed by Victor Schonfeld. 

Narration is by Julie Christie.

Luckily it has its own wiki page, here, on which you can read about the movie, if you're as interested as I am:

The Animals Film is a 1981 feature documentary film about the use of animals by human beings, directed by Victor Schonfeld and Myriam Alaux, and narrated by actress Julie Christie.

Synopsis

The Animals Film presents a survey of the uses of animals in factory farming, as pets, for entertainment, in scientific and military research, hunting, etc. The film also profiles the international animal rights movement. The film incorporates secret government footage, cartoons, newsreels, and excerpts from propaganda films.

etc.

I can just imagine how horrifying some scenes must be, based on the cover monkey.  Probably I wouldn't have the heart to watch it.  We have to bear in mind that standards are a little bit higher today than at the time, 24 years ago.  Only a little bit though.

Note the following though:

Robert Wyatt composed an original soundtrack for the film, released in 1982 on Rough Trade Records. The film also features music from the Robert Fripp album Let the Power Fall, Talking Heads and ex-Audience frontman Howard Werth. Critical reception of the soundtrack was mixed. Ted Mills of album database AllMusic described the soundtrack as "moody" and filled with "tasty-sounding analog synths from the late '70s", but ultimately it "disappoint[s] fans of Wyatt's vocals." It was later issued in a heavily edited form (losing more than 10 minutes, with no explanation given) as a Japanese CD, and all later CD reissues have been cloned from this master.

Part 1.2 is fantastic prog:

Part 2.2 with the classic Wyatt reverbed vocalizing:

Wonderful stuff. Exciting for me to hear, for the first time.  I'll try to watch the movie too, which I found here.

US Fusion Band, The Awakening in 2 albums [Hear, Sense and Feel 1971, and Mirage, 1972]

Pretty ordinary US fusion with vocals, but I wanted to highlight the amazing cover art of the third LP which is a compilation of tracks from the 2 earlier releases.  That butterfly Nefertiti is just crazy, isn't it?I saw it a vinyl store and was blown away by the design, so classic.

Sparse info on discogs on this page.  From the first album, the Awakening Prologue:

From the second and last album, Mirage: