I love that cover drawing! So evocative.
Discogged here. Very typical early 1970s jazz-rock, bluesy horn-rock, clearly Chicago-influenced, with a mix of songs and instrumentals.
The Rivet Man, as an example of their songs:
A little hard for me to tolerate the harsh Cocker-like and affected sound of the singer's voice though.
Early Morning Love, the instrumental that closes this show out:
More requests, if anyone has any of them:
More requests, if anyone has any of them:
I really love these 2 albums, combining RIO with folk music in a really coherent and seamless totality of enjoyment. I personally am of the opinion that the later albums declined in that they leaned more towards the folky side and abandoned the fiercely creative progressive tendency revealed in these 2 featured. A very similar band is the Canadian Miriodor, btw, for those who are familiar with it. Also welcome is the fact that though released in the 1980s there is absolutely zero indication we are in that digital drum-machine decade.
Information here.
French instrumental progressive rock band established in the early 1980s by the Payssan brothers. Their early recordings featured a lot of folk references, which were replaced by more stylish contemporary elements on many later releases. Vocals also featured on some recordings (female and male), and their style has shifted considerably during their 30 year history.
From Envol Triangles, 1986, Ronde:
From Saisons Marines, 1988, A Bien des Egards:
Michel Graillier was the pianist in the Ivan Jullien band, posted back here. He is databased here, with bio:
French jazz pianist (born October 18, 1946 in Lens — died February 18, 2003 in Paris)
His career began with violinist Jean Luc Ponty in 1968. He was a member of various groups in France and worked regularly with Chet Baker until 1988. In the 1990s he worked in various ensembles with drummer Simon Goubert.
And he was in the following bands:
On the other hand I've covered Escoude numerous times on these pages, he was with Confluence, but also in these albums here, here with Toots, here, still more, etc.
Here though the music, from 1978, is standard 'contemporary jazz' of the kind we've heard so much of. Nonetheless, the lovely Skiso, which was written by Escoude, sounds very much like something from one of his albums:
Another fantastic Magritte-influenced cover. Will AI one day achieve this level of beauty? If so, we might say art and human culture might be on its way to extinction, like so many animals in the world we've bullied...
Information here. This is their only release. It's a shame, as I really love their delicate, highly professional, and slightly prog-inflected manner of ssw overlaid with luscious harmony vocals. When you take a look at the credits here, note that bassist / vocalist Didier Batard later appeared on George Jinda's Wheel of Love I posted just a few days ago.
You will note that Motel has a very odd, very original, but interesting melodic line:
A few French posts, starting with this beautiful classic of gallic fusion which to my eyes / ears is highly underrated and neglected.
Hungarian percussionist, born in Budapest, Hungary, passed away January 11, 2002
He was in the wonderful early French fusion band Speed Limit, along with keyboardist Jean-Louis Bucchi who reappears here. Jean-Louis was posted on this blog before with his library LP, Reportages. He made the gorgeous Sunflower in 1978, one of the touchstones for me of advanced French progressive music.
His Nostalgia composition for this LP is equally amazing, and he is responsible for contributing 4 tracks to this release:
The way his musical mind works in that composition just awes me totally, the originality and beauty of it.
American Vogue, which was written by bassist Didier Batard, who will show up again shortly:
Absolution, which was written by beloved sax player Jeff / Yoch'ko Seffer (who appeared many times on this blog, most recently back here):
Apart from these contributors, there are 3 tracks here which were written by Jinda himself.
I found this nice Polish fusion album from 1980 in connection with String Connection, who were posted back here. Information on this one on this page.
Sample track, Tuohitorvi:
The attractive Ria:
And hopefully you'll agree that the shimmering synth chords under the tinkling high-treble grand piano melody is really atmospherically gorgeous, almost soundtrack-like of course, in Orange and Black:
As discogs indicates, this group is a:
Group connected to the drug rehabilitation program.
Wikipedia entry here, where it's described as a cult and a typical one at that, with the usual child abuse, forcible confinement, ridiculous messianic leader and gradual descent into violence as the group believes it's above the law. Amazing how common the story was and still is, and to this day there are countless such cults in existence all over the world I'm sure.
With LP Notes:
Rush released by Epic Records the soundtrack of the color television special "The'Prince of Peace" to coincide with the show's national premiere on the Metromedia Network on Sunday, June 8, 1969.
Likely everyone knows these Mexican (instrumental, electric guitar-based) prog rockers who began in the 1980s, discographed here. This request is a live 2-CD from 2022, we're looking as well for later releases Alter Ego (2023) and Orden in Caos (2025) (the latest releases that is).
Sample track, during which you'll notice the excellent recording quality, La Etica del Verdugo:
Birth: 26 June, 1949 (Budapest, Hungary). Died: 12 April, 2018 (Budapest, Hungary). Plays guitar, keyboard instruments, synthesizer, percussions. Programmer, drum programmer, orchestrator, producer, vocalist. Professor of Jazz Division of Liszt Ferenc College of Music Arts. He founded the band Saturnus (1979), Babos Trio Plusz (1985), Babos Trio (1989), Babos Quartet, Take Four (1995), Babos Project Romani (1997), Babos Project Special.
From Kinn es Been, In Memoriam T.M. which sounds more than a little like the old jazz standard Round About Midnight:
From 1990's Sham, which of course hailing from that year is a little bit less inventive and more smoothly fuzak, Crying for Temesvar:
Swedish Band led by keyboardist, arranger and composer Berndt Egerbladh (posted here with solo material before and elsewhere). "A changed and expanded line-up went on to record another album under the name Feta Heta Linjen," oddly enough released the same year.
The music is typical proto-prog psych plus horn rock with vocals in the Scandinavian style, eg Kalevala, Tasavallan Presidentti, (Finnish) Nimbus. Similar in style to the earliest albums from Canadians Dr. Music (posted here long ago).
From the 1971 album Won't You Step Inside, Black Eyes:
From the censored cover album, Mama, which starts off relatively inauspiciously but develops into a nice proggy jam later on:
So your enjoyment of this depends on if you appreciate psych and horn rock in general.
I love the way 1980's Air Condition has about 6 different covers, and they're all really interesting in different ways, some harking back to the 1970s, some leaning into the bright colored 1980s.
I posted his albums before here and here but not these ones which are of course similar in style. Smooth fusion, of course, with some interesting ideas here and there.
After Dinner Walk from the Kite album:
Title track from Plaka Nights:
Here's a wonderful find / suggestion, very Zappalike but all-instrumental, classical and furious fusion, setting aside the silly titles, artist name, and album names. Sparse information here, also missing the later 2 releases. At times it reminds me of my old US Egg-imitation favorite, Radio Piece III, with the hammond organ being upfront a lot of the time, even a bit of ELP influence. A lot of dissonance, rhythmic changes, and abrupt transitions, furiously aggressive riffs-- though I'm not too crazy about the silly astronomy / physics references in the song titles (e.g. 'Antimatter of Fact') which detracts a little from the whole.
Consider the first track from the first album which is the discogs-listed Bubbledroid one, Saturn's Orbit:
Surprisingly for this kind of late-version fusion, there are acoustic guitar tracks in there as well, though not many of course.
Equally shocking to me was the imitation Hatfield track called New Sheen, starting completely appropriately with a tritone, but notice how in the midpart of this (2-minute) song, there is a gorgeous transition with backwards chords that is followed by a very typical Dave Stewart-type keyboard pattern--what a shock:
Note the level of complex composition, with definitely some Bartok / Strav influence plus fuguelike patterns, on Avant Particle Piece from their 3rd:
So what exactly is the story of this (20 years old already) band? At least its moniker is unique enough it's easy to locate some more information.
Clay Green's Polysorbate Masquerade Band are an instrumental band consisting of Green on acoustic and electric guitars, who also organises digital transmission, and drum machine, affectionately known by the band as the Bubbledroid. He is joined by Edward Richard who plays bass, organ and other keyboards. The band have produced 2 albums with similar material, "Chronicles of Bubbledroid" and a collector's edition of this album is also available with extra songs. Green explains, "We had the original two-track masters redone and we've added a whole bunch of bonus tracks. The entire collection is just under eighty minutes, and it's really been an enriching experience to put it all together."
The band describe themselves on their websites as instrumental Progressive Rock presented in the style of the Early 1970's, with gritty organs, wah-wah guitar, intricate arrangements, and differing time signatures. The band pride themselves on not taking themselves seriously, and at first glance at their website, that features Italian for no reason, and the third member known as Bubbledroid, actually a synthesized drum machine, the band seem to be a parody. In an interview Green makes some cynical comments such as, "I'd describe our sound as a blend of Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come and Van der Graaf, maybe some PFM? but just the music parts, no singing of course" and "We like to think that we have something to contribute to our global society, and we've been experimenting with putting low-volume secret messages in our music, to boost sales of course."
Despite all these quirky touches, the music speaks for itself which is well performed and will appeal to those who like Camel, Focus, or other keyboard dominated instrumental music.
When you listen you'll realize they are way off the mark, it's not at all like Camel, Focus, PFM, VDG. On the other hand, ELP is definitely an influence, but I think also Canterbury bands like Egg.
I was also shocked that the basement denizens of rym didn't give it higher ratings, since I thought it was really good, deserving a 4 or 5 rating, from me. Good thing I'm not a part of that odd conglomeration.
A more appropriate, to the point review:
This is another one of those CDs where I had no idea what to expect. A weird title from an even weirder band name and one I had never heard of before. The band consists of two musicians; Clay Green (acoustic and electric guitars), Edward Richard (bass, electric guitar, organ, keyboards) and Bubbledroid (DNA sequencing, arrangements, drums and percussion). In case you were wondering, Bubbledroid is the name of the duo's drum machine.
If you dig instrumental progressive rock ala the '70s, with a dash of bands like Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson and Gentle Giant, sprinkled with a dusting of jazz fusion, you will probably want to hear Chronicles Of Bubbledroid. It may not be an instant classic but the musicianship is there in spades and the songs are well executed. Both guitar and keyboards get equal billing with some excellent lead and rhythms throughout the disc. I did find it somewhat amusing when Green states in the liner notes "And keep in mind, the best part of the Polysorbate Masquerade Band is that It's completely instrumental!" Yes, progressive rock does have its share of iffy vocalists!
The tracks vary in length from less than a minute to over eight with many being of the shorter variety. Some of the shorter tunes, like the intriguing "Sixty-Eight" with its pulsating bass line I wish were developed a bit more musically. In other words, some of these tracks end too quickly.
The album begins with "Saturn's Orbit", a nice slice of jazzy flavoured retro prog. Included are some biting guitar lines and pretty cool bass as well. The guitar work is very good, as it is on the entire album. The album also has some pretty good melodies such as "Dry Suites 94" featuring a sweet keyboard motif and excellent organ work. Another highlight is "Time Sun" with its delicate acoustic guitar, exceptional organ play and off kilter electric guitar patterns.
At over seventy-nine minutes long and eleven bonus tracks, the album may be a bit long in the tooth, but for the most part Chronicles Of Bubbledroid is a fine listen and am glad to have made its acquaintance. Recommended for fans of instrumental progressive rock with a heavy '70s flavour.
I'm thankful they did have the courage and heart to make these albums. For us on this blog of course this is manna from heaven in a godsend all in one package or rather 3. Would be nice if we could hear some more output now more recently. Here's the 68 track referenced above, which features some really odd chord changes, it reminds me a lot of the US keyboard classics as I said like Radio Piece III or maybe Happy The Man, or the recent (and fantastic) Earthrise release I put back here:
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Fusion band from Uruguay. They mix a lot of South American cultural elements, sometimes adding funky and samba type grooves. The band name is sometimes spelled OPA but it's not an abbreviaton or acronym, making Opa a correct spelling ; the sleeve of OPA - Magic Time and other sources confirm this. "Opa is a Uruguayan slang greeting, a sort of "Hello" it says in Angel Atienza's liner notes for OPA - Back Home: The Lost 1975 Sessions.
For those curious, the band comprises 3 founding Fattoruso brothers (visible on this release page), two are on drums and keyboards. These 2 are responsible for most of the compositional credits, I think. Note the involvement too of the great Hermeto Pascoal (flute, percussion) on the first. Also note the drummer, Jorge Fattoruso, played in the later 1970s with Flora Purim.
Their music is so similar to other 1970s smooth, warm, tropical and perky latin fusion outfits, eg. Crucis, Tantra, Nuevas Aires, Sacba from this blog, or to hark back to one of the classics I still love and enjoy and return to periodically, Caldera which hailed from NYC. Very similar to the latter, with some US influence I believe.
Pieces / Goodbye is so heartful it really pulls you in:
And the second album, a little less interesting, closes out with a nice longer track called Malisimo which reminds me just a little of the glorious and incomparable Argentinian Alas band:
Surprisingly there were unreleased tracks from 1975 that were subsequently dug up, and despite the not ideal sound, these turned out to be quite enjoyable, tragically left off any legit LP release, but here we are so many years later able to listen and appreciate today. The early rendition of Goldenwings, title track of their first of course, is even better than the official version, being more raw, an unusual thing to see generally speaking. They do a cover version of the Jacksons' Never can say goodbye which is a little annoying, but really the sole annoyance to put up with.
The (unreleased) track called Casa Forte is so good, it's surprising it got left out:
Really nice, randomly found stuff. Another surprise!