Longstanding Chilean band, Congreso Part 1: early LPs [1971 El Congreso, 1975 Terra Insognito, 1977 Congreso, 1978 Misa de los Andes]

 

Information here (from discogs):

Chilean band based on brothers Patricio, Sergio and Fernando González Morales, who in 1964 founded some folk-pop bands as "Los Stereos", "Shadows" and "Los Masters". When Pancho Sazo joined them in 1969, the band finally called themselves "Congreso". Later some chilean important musicians as Joe Vasconcellos or Jaime Vivanco played on the band.

Latest line-up: Sergio Tilo González (composer, drums); Francisco Sazo (lyrics, vocals); Hugo Pirovich (flutes, percussion); Jaime Atenas (soprano & tenor saxophones); Sebastián Almarza (piano, keyboards); Raúl Aliaga (marimba, ethnic & electronic percussion); Jorge Campos (bass, vocals) and Jorge Abarca (sound).

In this instance, wikipedia provides more fleshed out information, starting thusly:

Congreso is a Chilean Latin American fusion band founded in Quilpué in 1969 and led by Sergio "Tilo" González . In their more than 50 years of career, they have released 18 studio albums and 4 live albums, including a DVD. They began their career in the late 1960s, linked to the Nueva Canción Chilena (New Chilean Song) movement . However, with the arrival of the military dictatorship and the cultural restrictions of the time, coupled with the strong instrumental vocation of its members, they evolved towards progressive rock , and then towards a fusion sound that also incorporated elements of jazz fusion , contemporary music , pop , and world music —a sound they called Nueva Música Latinoamericana (New Latin American Music ). This transformed them into a fundamental pillar of Chilean popular music. They have earned national and international recognition from both the public and specialized critics for their refined musical compositions, as well as for their socially conscious lyrics. In its first stage, along with Los Jaivas and Los Blops , it formed one of the essential bands in the new Chilean progressive sound and the Chileanization of Rock.

These early albums are exactly what would have turned me away in a cursory check, being acoustic folk, ethnic-based, with no electricity-- either metaphorical or instrumentally plugged-in.  There are so many similar South American bands, which operate within the same sphere of ethnic folk with very predictable chord progressions and presumably very political lyrics, I'm guessing.  Although I am not sure how the dictatorship of Pinochet connects, since I'm presuming that there was a great deal of suppression of protest and dissidence.

However, in the 1977 ST work, there is a hint of the great compositional works to come in the epic Arcoiris de Hollin, with the very broad symphonic progression and chamber arrangements that provide interest and variety, in addition to considerable dissonance, note in particular how frequently the song completely changes directions like a small bird in ceaseless flight:

And in fact after the 1978 Andean Mass, for some reason the band just explodes into the progressive sphere, no clear reason that I know of, but presumably there is some explanation, and we'll observe that in part 2 coming up.

Incidentally for those who are not familiar with the political history of Chile in the later 20th c. I recommend you review it for its sad horror, with the familiar themes of cruel dictatorship, neverending meddling by that big North American 'democracy,' siphoning off of riches by the oligarchy with enforced austerity for the masses, 'opening up the country' to neoliberal policies = selling off everything in the country to multinational corporations, etc. such as we see now in Argentina still.  (Incidentally, their practice then of 'banning all leftist parties and doctrines' might be quite premonitory for us here in the 'West'.)

When I read these histories I feel truly sad about humanity, thinking it's our natural state to be ruled by all-powerful autocrats or autocracies.  Especially when I think back to how much hope for the future of the world we all still had in our youth, back for ex. in the late 1980s, 1990s.   All evaporated.

Then if I go for a walk in the shopping mall and look around at the folks there it occurs to me that these people couldn't care less if their government was a dictatorship...

Mama Bea Tekielski albums, by request [1976 La Folle, 1977 Faudrait etc., 1978 Bebe-Robot]

 

From discogs:

French author, composer, vocalist and guitarist born on August 23, 1948 in Avignon.

Her 1970s LPs saw a progression from folk roots, via avant-garde / progressive forms to rock. The more experimental albums are Faudrait Rallumer La Lumière Dans Ce Foutu Compartiment. and La Folle (which features musicians from Clearlight). In the 1980s she adopted a straighter rock / chanson style mostly under Mama Béa's nickname.

I'd say her voice and style of singing are definitely difficult to appreciate, as it were.  It's a very French type of chanson style, with passages of spoken poetry, outright wailing, hollering, etc.  Also despite the description this is not so much prog as psych in musical style.

From Bebe-Robot, Les Glycines:

Lesiman Library Albums High Tension Vol. 1 to 4 (1972 to 1978), by request

 

Lesiman:

Real Name: Paolo Renosto

Profile: Italian composer, conductor and pianist.

Born October 10th, 1935 in Florence, Italy.

Died February 10th, 1988 in Reggio di Calabria, Italy.

All this music very much dwelling in and never straying far from the soundtrack music realm, with a lot of tension as expected, funky sounds, but minimal development.  Typically bass and drums underneath a repeated figure on hammond or electric piano, a repeated guitar riff, and a couple of chords.

As the description goes,

"Music especially created for films, television, radio, publicity and industrial use."

From Vol. 1 (1972), Restless:

From Vol. 3 (1978), Trepido etc.:

From Vol. 4 (1978), Cordelia:

Carpineta from 1978, FLAC limited time only

 

Only one release from this group, databased here.

There are not many reviews online, but curiously it was considered an out of the ballpark high priority release from cd reissue back in the day, to my utter shock since to my ears it's relatively average psych music, not really prog at all with very little dissonance, creativity, elaborate arrangements, abrupt changes, etc. You can read the old review here. From rateyourmusic:

For quick reference, I'd say Carpineta tracks closest to Canzoniere del Lazio at the end of their storied career (Morra 1978, Miradas). That is - at their most progressive! Mid 70s Area also deserves a shout out, as well as artists as disparate as Gramigna, Franco Battiato, and even Aktuala. For my tastes, Carpineta surpasses all of them. Yea, it's THAT good.

Of course you can be the final arbiters for that.  However I note the averaged rating from those who heard it is 3.5, which sounds right to me.  Note that the numbers are all over the place, from less than 2 to 5, showing it's quite disliked too.

Last track, curiously called Carpineta too, gives you a basic idea:

I wanted to draw your attention to a comment left by one of the musicians of the amazing one-off Finnish band called Manogurgeil, here.  They are preparing a second release.

Jean-Pierre Alarcen's 1978 ST

 

More great cover art here.

Bio on discogs:

French guitarist (and multi-instrumentalist) best-known in the influential 1970's prog band Sandrose. Jean-Pierre Alarcen was a founder member of Le Système Crapoutchik, featured in many other bands during his career: Eden Rose, Tartempion, and also worked a lot as a guest / session musician. He also recorded two solo albums of instrumental symphonic prog, with marginal folk and jazz touches, popularly compared to works by The Enid and Steve Hackett.

I'm not sure about the Hackett comparison, Enid is more appropriate for the later works, Tableaux 1 and 2.

In any case the 1978 ST solo work is just pure fusion with some slower classical-influenced tracks, and really wonderful for the French-fusion fan.

Nationale 20 is just priceless, note Francis Lockwood (brother of our beloved Didier, violinist) is on keyboards here:

On his own he made a great, and similar album called Debbi in 1981.

For the classical side of things, Vieux Garcon (old pal):

Both the 1978 ST and the first Tableau 1979, I don't think the second one (which is from 1998) is worth hearing.  My opinion only.

Nite People - P.M. 1970, FLAC limited time only

 

Nite People is a progressive rock band from Bournemouth, South West England, England, United Kingdom, that was formed in 1964.  

Only one release from these guys.

The first track, P.M.:

Curiously they do a cover of Peaches en Regalia, which seems a little crazy to me:

Ivan Jullien Big Band's Secret Service (recorded 1971, released 1972) by request

 

Again, wow.  Gorgeous cover art there, evidently a perfectly apt photo of an existing building wall.

The discogs page for the big band is here, with the compendium all its plentiful members, note the presence of Bernard Lubat. Leader is trumpeter Jullien of whom of course I know nothing.  This particular release info here.  This time our beloved Andre Ceccerelli does appear as drummer.

Typical big band sounds, opening with a Gershwin composition from Porgy and Bess, continuing on with compositions from Ivan Jullien. The following 2 in particular are from him, Running with Ruthi:

And the tenderness of Meet Mickey:

Jukka Tolonen Band albums [JTB 1979, Just those boys 1980, Dum's have more fun 1981, Pop Liisa 09, 1975] by request, plus more

 

I suppose everyone knows this artist already.  Tolonen who became well known with Tasavallan Presidentti, has been popping up here regularly on this blog, for ex. with the Nordic Jazz Quintet here. His Pop Liisa was (probably) posted before on this blog too with the others from this series.  His best work at least in my opinion is the earliest seventies material.  Anyways after a series of solo LPs he put out a handful of albums with the Jukka Tolonen Band.  Note that Coste Apetrea also appears, and on JTB 1979, Joachim Kuhn on keys.   Music is very typical late smooth fusion, with the last one from 1981 being mostly vocal songs, virtually commercial in its entirety.

And the duet album with Coste Apetrea called Blue Rain from 1985 is acoustic guitarwork, not quite as interesting for the fusion fan.

From Just Those Boys, Roskilde Rosie:

From the 1981 vocal albums Dums etc., Ghost Rider has a nice groove, a throwback to earlier days when furious fusion reigned supreme to close out the album:

And High Flyin' from 1980 has the gorgeously ethereal Clouds track to commend it:

Saturnus 2, from Hungary: ST 1980, Csigahazak 1982

 

With information here.  Kind of like the old classic fusion band Fermata in terms of smoothness, synth-driven instrumentals, or similar to Dimenzio from this blog.  However, there are some really outstanding moments in here, I'll draw your attention to the heartbreaking tenderness of In Memoriam:

I guess it reminds me of some of the really gentle, thoughtful Mahavishnu John McLaughlin tracks (eg, A Lotus on Irish Streams, from Inner Mounting.)  Probably it's him who came up with that idea of combining acoustic instruments (guitar and piano) plus flute or violin in a very tender trio type arrangement.  I should go back and relisten to all the seminal Mahavishnu releases, it's been years since I did that.

For a more fusioneering moment, Titan:

The second album is pretty much the same style with more ingenious musical thoughts, the Elektronikus track, brilliantly brings the synth into the fusion fold:

Really surprisingly enjoyable, given the level of under-the-radar neglect here.

String Connection, from Poland: Workaholic 1982; New Romantic Expectation 1983, Live 1984, Der Walzer vom Weltende 1986

 

String Connection:

Polish jazz combo led by violinist Krzesimir Dębski, founded at the beginning of the 80's and delivering first a jazz-rock music interspersed with folk intonations, later releases becoming closer to an elegant smooth jazz, lesser chops but still emphasis on fine melodic playing.

The Quasi String Waltz from their first release Workaholic really blew me away, as an advanced classical-influenced chamber jazz composition:

The combination of violins and electric piano throughout the music is quite enjoyable of course for us old fusion fans.

From the 1983 New Romantic album, Progresje Jesieni:

From the Live 1984, Para Martha:

Some of the albums have not been digitized yet, I note.  In any case the first LP was the best in my opinion, with the last one being not of the greatest interest, despite the wonderful title.

Gideon's Eight Reasons Why, Canada 1981

 

An unbelievable cover painting indeed, from the days when such things were common.  And a gatefold on top of that.  Whenever I spot one of those huge 'great vinyl covers' books at the local bookstore I have to shake my head in sadness, thinking of all the lost art these compilers have no idea exists out there.  But of course you never see 'great ultrarare, lost vinyl covers' published, just the usual crap like Sargeant Peppers and Disraeli Gears.

You can see here the band hailed from Oshawa, Ontario, and this is their only LP, self-released. As is so often the case however the discogs description as prog rock is mildly inappropriate, since the majority of the contents are regular hard rock at best.  There are perhaps 2 proggy tracks in there I believe which you can hear below.  For me this band is most similar to neglected and maligned Canadians Max Webster headed by guitarist Kim Mitchell, who did do quite a bit of prog back in their heyday.  And they really are underrated (as progsters) I feel.  Others report that Gideon is like Kansas with perhaps a bit of Rush influence, which would be expected given they're Canucks and Rush was and still is massive up North.  I don't feel it's quite as bombastic as Kansas, but the singer sounds a bit like Geddy Lee suggesting he was an influence.

The Mechanic, with its perhaps appropriate for today story of the robot friend:

The closer Awaken to You is worth hearing a million times a day just for the bizarre opening riff, very reminiscent of some of the crazy-riffed tracks from Max Webster, like In context of the moon:

Rosebud's Discoballs, A Tribute to Pink Floyd 1977, by request

 

Note the involvement, databased on this page, of Claude Engel, George Rodi, drummer Schultheis, and even our beloved Jannick Top, all the greats, for this 2-off disco band.  Only missing would be Ceccarelli.  Btw the second album is a tribute to New Orleans, from 1979, with dixieland numbers.  

Obviously in the case of this album, as the old expression had it, what you see is what you get. A very old expression the kids today would never get. Some of the renditions really fall flat in my opinion, like Money, on the other hand, Syd Barrett's wonderfully dissonant instrumental Interstellar Overdrive doesn't really sound bad with the disco beats:

And the other Barrett classic Arnold Layne is so totally interesting to hear, because it's so oddly transformed:

And surely you could say the same for Main Theme from More:

On a side note, people probably are familiar with the original Pink Floyd LP  headed by Syd called Piper at the Gates of Dawn, before he left the band / was made redundant by the other members, but do you guys know that Syd put out some pretty good solo works after that? You can read his story and discog briefly here.

Prazsky Vyber: 1978 Mini Jazz Klub, 1978 Zizen, 1987 Tatrman, 1989 Straka v Hrsti

 

Discogged:

Czech rock-jazz group, also known as “The Prague Selection”. Originally formed by Michael Kocáb in 1975 as a jazz combo, featuring the Prague Big Band (aka Pražský big band) rhythm section; the group name is also an ironic reference to a cheap Czech wine brand. Reformed in 1980 as a rock and new wave group. They were also regularly performing as a studio rhythm section, either anonymously or under various monikers (e.g. Elektrovox or even as members of TOČR). Between 1983–1986 prohibited from performing or recording due to communist censorship. Definitively disbanded in December 2005. Revived in 2006 by Kocáb with a Czech-Australian line-up as “Pražský Výběr II”. Reunited in the “classic” 1980s line-up in 2012, including both drummers.

Members 2012: Michael Kocáb (leader, keyboards, vocals), Michal Pavlíček (guitar, vocals), Vilém Čok (bass guitar, vocals), Jiří Hrubeš (drums), Klaudius Kryšpín (drums).

Former members until 1980: Jiří Niederle (saxophone), Ondřej Soukup (bass guitar), Jan Žižka (drums), Zdeněk Fišer (guitar), Vratislav Placheta (drums), Martin Koubek (guitar), Ladislav Malina (drums), Jiří Tomek (vocals, percussion), and numerous guest artists.

Michael Kocab has appeared here before, notably with singer Olmerova.

And you might recall Pavlicek from the brilliant Mini Jazz Klub here, and the Stromboli, and Minotaurus.

The 1978 Zizen (Thirst) fusion is a masterpiece though. Note that keyboardist Kratochvil, of April Orchestra and Jazz Q fame, is on here too.

The track called Cerpadlo has the unmistakable Kratochvil sound to it:

I decided to listen to the later, 1980s albums, but as mentioned these are mostly new wave, with minimal fusion.

From Straka, Bangabaseva:

From Tatrman, the title track: