Major Surgery's The First Cut, 1970

 

Remember Tom Hayes raved about this one way back although the website seems to be disappeared now.  To me it's pretty straight up jazz-rock with not the most fusiony explorations. I'm surprised to see it was rereleased too.

The track called Jubileevit sounded like it should have been a slamdunk, but isn't really:

Manzanita's Pirate Lady (1979), by request

 

This is oh so similar to a long line of late-70s US fusion albums, like the omnipresent Landress - Hart Dancing Moments album, but a bit less creative, smoother, and less enjoyable than some of the best of the genre, and god knows the best LPs number in the hundreds, see recent post of top fusion from this blog.  It's often requested and is worth hearing however, having appeared-- I think-- on the long-gone and ancient historical Tom Hayes list.  Database infos here.

The lovely but poorly named Ocean Lotion track is, to me, the best composition and in fact a welcome reminder of where we should be currently on a beach somewhere instead of in a cold cold country shut in by our wise leaders and politicians' orders so they can travel to those same exotic destinations presumably without having to mix with the proletarians and enjoy a completely crowd-free experience, perhaps their motivation for locking us at home in our home countries, oh the wonder I feel at this different, elevated, superior class of human beings to myself, to ourselves, able to do whatever they please with no respect for rules or regulations which they, themselves, enacted, truly, the kings and divine monarchy are all back, people:

UHF Timeless Voyager

A great cover drawing from the days when musicians really cared about their cover art.

I suppose that now that everything is digital and/or online, it's impossible to under-think it, anyways.  Yet another aspect of the past we've lost in our rush to 'progress' technologically.

I was thinking yesterday I should classify all the albums on this blog in one of 5 categories, in order of their importance to me.  This would also satisfy my wife's constant complaint that 'your music always sounds the same.'  

The first would be classic progressive rock such as Genesis was I guess everyone's number one.  Unfortunately, there isn't much in that style still left to discover, though I might have one or two up my sleeve in that dept.  OK, maybe just one which you've already heard.  The second would be through and through progressive fusion, such as National Health.  Luckily there is still more in that vein, it was definitely a very popular style back in the day.  The third and fourth categories are rock with progressive moves, which often is AOR or hard rock with some inventiveness but not permeating throughout, and jazz or jazz-rock with progressive moves.  The fifth category is everything else, including progressive folk and library.  I should probably separate those 2 since library deserves its own solitary confinement cell.  Make it categories 5 (progressive folk like Comus) and 6 (Alan Hawkshaw still my favourite).

So from now, instead of describing an album, I'll just say something along the lines of:

UHF- Timeless Voyager (USA 1981),
Category III, 42.4 percent progressive.

Overall rating: 169730 

Information here.

Best track (that is, don't expect much better), Don't Look Over your Shoulder:

An impressive try-out for the instrumental progressive guitar composition meet.

Incidentally, I really love this album, its rough hard rock sound is really appealing to me.

As it was indeed to Tom Hayes, who made us aware of it ages ago on the ol' cdrwl and then moved the review to unencumbered here.
It was a priority 2 at that time, and it still is for us today.

And does everyone out there remember what UHF TV was?

Mars Everywhere rarities

Obviously, this band is famous among the prog cognoscenti (currently numbering 11, with the loss of one fan to the Bieber Believers) for the wonderful mix of electronic and more advanced rock compositions on the 1980 album Industrial Sabotage.  What I'm betting others out there don't realize is that there is more material, of lesser quality admittedly, to listen to, and live performances from the seventies.  Specifically, compared to I.S., there is more of the meandering electronica to wade through or to contend with.

First of all, as usual, from cd reissue:

Random Radar is the ancestor to the popular Cuneiform Records label. They had some interesting acts, but none were more intriguing than Mars Everywhere. The music here is a cross between, Canterbury (due to The Muffins influence), space rock, avant prog and free rock. Gets a little loose and annoying in places, but when they catch a groove, the fireworks are undeniable. Some brilliant guitar work, and it's just this space rock element that becomes the album's ace in the hole. Worth tracking down. (Priority 3)

I don't think there's any need for a sample track here from the original album (artist databased here).  If anyone hasn't heard it yet, I beg you to grab it and listen to it-- fast.  I've known this release for many years and have loved it for as many so it came as quite a shock to find out there were other recordings released and available: not one, but two separate performances.  First of all, there is the 1989 cassette of live from 1979 to 1980.  Some sparse information can be found here.  A helpful annotation below:

A...
1. The Applied Journey 6'34"
2. Zöln 10'31"
3. Enchanted Domain [Excerpt] 1'55"
4. V*Jer / Enchanted Domain 11'32"
5. Zöln 10'25"
B...
1. Zone Of Twilight 6'22"
2. Tonal Photons 6'47"
3. Xmas Interludes 2'01"
4. Mare Chromium 9'03"
5. Mare Chromium 7'50"
6. Encore 6'38"

A1-3: Recorded at DC Space (28/2/80)
A4+5: Recorded at the Washington Ethical Society (21/12/78)
B1-4: Recorded at Trinity Theatre (15/12/78)
B5+6: Recorded at Mars Studio (14/1/79)

You can see that most of the tracks from the original album appear here.

From the 1979 Trinity Theatre set, the Twilight Zone homage gives you an idea of the 'meandering' space rock sound of the band which appealed so much to Tom Hayes (and also the poor quality of the recording, which I despise):





Then in 1989 the band came back to the studio because they obviously couldn't take no for an answer, with another cassette comprising three very long tracks of electro-space rock.  I can't sample it due to the lengths (first track, Calling Bats, is 47 minutes long).  Suffice it to say that it's very similar to the live cassette, dissimilar to the original 1980 Industrial Sabotage release, in lacking tight ideas, and because I don't have a taste for 'space rock' (guitar meandering in one key, usually E or A), and experimental electronic doodling, I didn't much like it.
Them bats with the ultrasonic hearing probably loved it though.

Innersections' Tap Dancer in a Minefield (USA, 1980)

Another beyond brilliant and masterful US chamber fusion record from the same period, cf. Franklin Street Arterial, Landress/Hart, Lothlorien, or Swiss Impetus, less folky ethnic than East River Consort...  And look at the cover of Charlie Chaplin being blown up in the minefield!

There is enough database information for us to see the names of the musicians and artists including composers, but they don't seem to appear anywhere else.

Cloud Clusters, a gorgeous composition by Richard Lasner (acoustic guitar, and also responsible for the brilliant cover design):





Here, the flute is backed up by a mildly electric guitar and an unassuming alto flute-- why does no one combine guitar and flute anymore in music???

The odd name of Episdectomy referring to surgical removal of, but prefixed with Epistemology [?] penned by keyboardist Stuart Sigmond (on piano):





The Transition Suite, cowritten by these 2, starts with some very carefully chosen piano chords and then evolves almost like an electric guitar sonata as it progresses:





I don't know how these guys came up with such beautiful sounds, I look at the piano and wonder how to extract something so original & beautiful and have always come up short.



Since there is no way for me to find out where I posted the Franklin Street Arterial album (it was in the comments to some other album) I'll include it here for easy reference, because I seem to mention it all the time.  From Tom:

And yet another great submission from the AC. If you all remember from the original teaser post for this series of rarities, I mentioned one of the albums is posted online by a band member. And here it is! This is quite a rare album, and it definitely has been rising in price amongst those in the know. So don't miss out on this generosity! As I write this, there are no ratings in RYM (though it's been cataloged) and not even listed in Gnosis. That's all about to change I suspect.

The Franklin Street Arterial were from Portland, Maine and are the type of band I've come to appreciate since I started this blog. Mainly due to the enthusiasm of both Midwest Mike and The AC - and reinforced by many others. It's that late 70s and early 80s light fusion sound (but not smooth jazz!). Definitely more on the jazz side rather than rock, but with well crafted melodies and solid professional playing from all. There is some absolutely sublime synthesizer work here, with fine guitar (including one nice ripper), and fantastic sax. This latter comment is not something you will usually hear from the CDRWL, but this is how I personally like to hear the instrument played. All these dudes who squonk like cats-in-heat drive me batty.

And as a bonus, The Franklin Street Arterial had a very nice professionally done video (in 1978!) that has been shared on the same website (and is also on YouTube). It's a superb video, so don't miss out (Oh, and that synth solo! Goosebump stuff right there).

Priority: 3

New Jazz Quintet's High Energy Design, from 1981

Now for a series of US fusion albums, followed by some huge rock rarities.

This band with its one-off album hails from Louisiana and features the following folks, all or most of whom contribute compositions to the LP: Dave Emilien on percussion (and production), brothers Harold Scott on bass and George Scott on guitar, Lonnie Morris on second guitar, and on keyboards Randy Weber.  (Glad I got that out of the way.)  They play a very precise and warm fusion in the typical American late seventies style that we retroverts love so much with electric keys and two guitars, occasionally chords played on acoustic, and some Soft Machine ca. 7-type Ratledge electronic doodling in some hidden corners.  The big drawback despite the ganged-up sound is the limitations in chord progressions, with the typical composition sticking to two chords and a bunch of solos on top.  The first song never goes past E minor alternating with C major and as a result it's hard to get excited or inspired by the melody, really just a scale played up and down in a few different ways or Greek modes.

The final track called Q-Man and cowritten by the Scott bros turns up the energy dial to max with a funky riff involving a little bit of dissonance:





As usual the blurb on the back is heartbreaking in its hopelessly naive optimism:

This is the beginning of a long [--! Editor] and enjoyable relationship between you and the music of NJQ.  Their sound is fresh, memorable, energetic and warm.  You'll walk around today with traces of NJQ tunes rolling in your mind.  

This album is the culmination of 6 years of musical energies of 5 young men.  All hail from New Orleans, Louisiana, and all 5 pursue their music with a passion.  With backgrounds ranging from jazz to pop to rock from self-trained to advanced formal training, they have created an energetic and unique musical sound; a sound you'll instantly love-- the music of the New Jazz Quintet.

Robin McCartt, "The World of Jazz" WTUL 91.5 FM, New Orleans

But it is after all an advert blurb.

Jean-Louis Desbouis' Prince from 1982

Sorry I was under the impression this was more common.  The artist, called Jean-Michel Desbouis, made only this one magnificent album with vocals by the famed Stella Vander.


As usual, from CD reissue:

Jean-Michel Desbouis - Prince. 1982 FLVM.

So let's get to The AC's album notes: "Extremely obscure French electronic prog album, and quite similar to other efforts of this type from the late 70s/early 80s underground scene. The main difference here is that none other than Stella Vander is on board to provide vocals on some of the tracks, which is a very nice addition. The whole album has a sort of floating, spacey vibe that's somewhat trance-inducing. It's high quality stuff, and definitely recommended to fans of the genre. Unfortunately, it's also one of the rarest LPs of this kind. Desbouis had previously played in a band named Aum, and is still musically active to this day. You can check out his current project on Myspace, and be sure to scroll down the page a bit for some cool pictures of Stella, himself and all of that great vintage synth gear taken during the recording of this album." He included the MySpace link as well.

There's not much else I can add here. The female vocals from Stella add an otherworldly vibe to the very professional electronic soundscapes and sequences. Definitely recommended to fans of French and German electronic music.

Priority: 3


I would only like to add that it clearly has an alien / extraterrestrial theme to it, like so much French progressive from the period, which greatly adds to the general charm.

The second track (De la terre a l' ether) with its truly spacey synths and the ethereal, otherworldly vocalizing of Stella:





It also reminds me a bit of Armande Altai's collaboration with master zeuhl bassist Joel Dugrenot posted in pnf days long ago here.

US Progmasters Everfriend Compleat

Probably everyone reading this is familiar with at least the first, if not the first 2 records from this prog group led by the well-named Bill Rhodes.  However their third one is completely rare for everyone out there, I am pretty sure.  Unfortunately it turns out to be a bit too much like the generic jazz-rock soundtrack to a loungey banal movie.  There are some bits that shine through the darkness of the theatre though, as when Bill Rhodes pulls out the musical charts for classical composition (via ELP perhaps) on the Execution:





There is absolutely no doubt that as Tom pointed out, he could've done a better job with the keyboard selection here:

Everfriend's 3rd album, even more obscure than the other two, sees band leader Bill Rhodes moving into more trendy areas of sound for the era. Primarily synth pop rock coupled with long track electronic music, played on cheap sounding synthesizers. All quite typical for 1983. Not a whole lot to recommend here, and a long way from the intriguing Tropicsphere. But still worth seeking out for a listen, as a period piece.

Tom's review of the first album was, surprisingly, spot on [just kidding there]:

Tropicsphere starts off precisely in the place that the title suggests: The Love Boat basically. Breezy lounge styled jazz rock with trumpet, lightly amplified electric guitar, Rhodes piano, and lush dreamy female vocals. And then suddenly... ...suddenly it goes all Hatfield and the North. The drummer, who was going bonkers even on the slow commercial numbers, decided enough was enough, and it was time to start jamming! Here come the synthesizer solos and Northette styled vocals, and now we have something worth talking about! Now that the band has been "outed" as it were, all pretense of anything but keyboard driven Big 3 progressive rock are brought forth. Flip the record over and we start off with a flute driven jazz rock number. This is followed by a classically oriented harpsichord medley. And so it goes getting more and more progressive... a very good album overall.

Everfriend were from New Jersey and, perhaps predictably given their music "sphere", later relocated to Florida.

Holocausto - Aleluya (Puerto Rico, 1975)

I was really pleased to see that someone had ripped this one again, presumably it was bootlegged to CD and now a ninth or bonus track appears appended.  Previously a horrific rip was circulating, mono, and worse, but this new one seems to be a little monoish too suggesting the recording itself was poorly done.

In case you're not familiar with this band's one-off led by guitarist Jose Ramos (for what it's worth), this is classic progressive symphonic / electric guitar rock along the lines of so many other Hispanic masterpieces like Goma 14th April, Secta Sonica, Ibio, Atila Intention, perhaps most similar to the first with its combination of hard guitars and loud rock raucousness and lacking that annoying tendency to descend into Latin chord stereotypes (think E minor F G and back down again, the classic flamenco chords) which was a huge feature of for example Musica Urbana, Iceberg and Granada.

Note the classic prog brilliance of La Venida del Senor:





From Unencumbered Reviews:

Holocausto are an obscure Christian band from Puerto Rico who released this one very intriguing album. At times, there are bursts of complex and heavy Italian styled prog with guitars and keyboards raging over the crazy rhythms. At others, there's a bit of machismo Latin soul rock, that is obviously more song based. Overall, it reminds me somewhat of the Peruvian band Tarkus. It's a very rough recording, but the reckless abandon of youthful exuberance takes this one up a notch. Apparently the band had started to work on a remix for a possible reissue, but no recent word has surfaced that I could find anyway. I could see this easily going up a half point or more with repeated listens. Definitely recommended for a CD reissue.

This is another late era submission from The AC.  His notes to me were: "This Christian-themed underground Latin American rarity is an interesting blend of progressive, psychedelic, hard rock/proto metal and latin rock styles.  Heavy riffing, organ/keys, flute/sax and impassioned vocals battle it out over a set of relatively concise but atmospheric and thoughtfully constructed tracks, where the undeniably cool "aura" of the whole thing helps to make up for the somewhat primitive execution. Great cover art as well (both front and back). However, the sound here could really use a good cleaning up, as it's hard to even hear some of the more interesting instrumental details at times. It seems the band themselves were working on doing just that a few years back, but I'm not sure if this is still an ongoing effort. Lets hope so, because this one is definitely worth it."


Oh and good luck with your hurricane recovery down there guys when your billions of US dollars get spent for another brick in the wall.  I guess you'll just have to wait a few more years to get your electricity restored-- maybe by a new coal plant.  Or when "AOC" gets elected president.  As Pink Floyd taught us: "We don't need no education." And we've learned that lesson really well haven't we.

Landress / Hart Group with Dancing Moments, 1981

The only LP they made, of course, this was briefly reviewed already in the old CD reissue wishlist days-- boy has there been an accumulation of masterpieces since Tom shut down and abandoned that site 2 or more years ago like an old coal mine! Does he know? Does he still follow the new mines of gems we've found?  I doubt it, he would have to reopen the CD wishlist and upload some new spreadsheet lists to Santa Claus care of North Pole:

To be honest, like the Projections album listed a couple of days ago, this light fusion album isn't something I would normally publish separately. However, there is scant info on the internet about it, so now there is at least one entry for the album. This might be a good time to remind everyone that obscure does not necessarily mean rare & expensive. For example, the photo provided here came from an expired ebay auction. The final price? $5. Of course, it only takes two people who want something really bad, to get top dollar on ebay.  According to whatever data I could find, Landress / Hart were a Los Angeles based jazz fusion duo (though a full 4 piece group), one on guitar and the other on keyboards. The latter is the usual smattering of period synthesizers and Rhodes piano. It's all rather pleasant, and played to perfection. Mrs. CDRWL joined me for this listening session and thought it to be a very nice instrumental album as well. These guys were definitely pros who deserved more recognition. Recommended for fusion fans.

Incidentally, Mrs. Progressreviews, when she does join me for listening sessions-- a rarity indeed given she spends so much excess time on her 3 jobs (none of which involves homemaking or housework incidentally)-- usually makes the remark "this sounds like every other album you've ever played for me--" followed by the inevitable, "are you sure you're not just collecting the same album over and over again???" and sure enough, that's a pretty good (amateur) review of this LP, so when I explain this is actually a new album so rare I was told not to share it with anyone she usually answers, "don't you have enough records already?" and as I'm trying to find the right answer to that question which does contain some valid points of argument, she'll throw in the classic "when are you going to give up this crazy hobby finally?"  and as I'm about to explain that this is not likely anytime soon, I hear: "at least take off those stupid headphones you can't even hear your kids yelling for you in the basement!" and of course, activating some parental guilt centre deep inside the "reptilian brain" I am forced to stop listening to the collection of music at that point and attend to some screaming kid fighting over his collection of toys...

In fact it's very similar, as the amateur fan will remark, to all those other US light fusion (but not fuzak!) albums I've posted before like Bellvista's great The Painter and Chateau Breakers and the fabulous Franklin Street Arterial album (posted as a comment somewhere or another, can't remember where). In terms of sheer complexity and originality it's not quite at the level of Franklin Street, or my other big fave Clareon, in terms of dynamism not approaching Spaces Border Station, but I love its pleasantness, and as he said, the superb playing.  Tom himself was very amused by the fact that he found a copy on ebay for a few dollars, before posting his review, but that after some years of (over)hype it was selling in the hundreds.  I guess people caught up with reality eventually (as they will with the climate change situation) and now you can buy a copy for only 100 USD, a bit more appropriately I think.

The wonderfully titled Space Kookie gives you a good idea of why my wife thought the album sounds the same as everything I've ever played:





I guess the repetition of all the music we collect here is almost as bad as the repetition of all her jokes.  But I don't dare tell her that, for obvious reasons.  And I'll surely be in a lot of trouble if she reads today's post, which is as unlikely as the raccoon living in my garage jumping on board the next virgin galactic space flight.

Back again to Rhea's Sad Sorceress

Once again it gives me great pleasure to interrupt the regularly scheduled programming of posts, of which you knew nothing of course, with a surprise....


As an illustration of the general principle that everything no matter how expensive or rare becomes available eventually, back we come to this one and this time with a full download for everyone to enjoy, thanks to an unknown and faceless but hugely generous ripper.

It was about two years ago that I reviewed this insanely pricey little quasi-Pulsarish symphonic rarity and mentioned how it was slightly disappointing for us digital collectors, and I imagine, bone-crushingly disappointing for anyone who might have experienced the epileptic fit of purchasing on a site such as discogs.  Now no need for anything of the kind for all of us ordinary humans, since the cost of upgrading to a 'true lossless' not a proven fake lossless is hardly worth another mortgage on the house, and will, no doubt, result in some matrimonial acrimony-- should your wife ever find out.  Just be thankful that in divorce court you'll get to keep your record collection (including your precious Rhea Sad Sorceress) as you watch the judge give the home and SUV to your wife. Of course, enjoy it as much as possible, because before long you'll be broke and be forced to sell it all to pay the danged lawyer and child support.  And don't offer him your precious records, he'll laugh at you outright, he doesn't want your stupid Rhea, maybe pity you a bit as he hears you talk of sad sorceresses you once loved and how much of a sad loser you are like in that Paula Moore song with a sixpack at your side, singing along to records in the basement that are 40 years old already...

You can read my past comments which in my opinion are totally accurate, certainly much more so than any other reviewer, or Tom's review which was more harsh.  Most of the tracks are well worth more than one listen, perhaps one and half for 4 out of 7, with a couple warranting repeat study.  It all depends on to what extent you have patience for bland symphonic progressive rock (e.g. Novalis, Grobschnitt, etc.) with by the numbers chord changes and monotonous vocals.

The best song is the instrumental asylum one as mentioned earlier, with its nice tritonal and other dissonances, and you can hear the sample I uploaded before:

The Fents' 1979 EP

From Tom Hayes:

The Fents - s/t. 1979 private (EP).

The Fents - First Offense. 1982 VIP (later on the Not Yachting label).

When I first got together with my good friend Jeff in the late 1980s, we did what any two fanatical music fans do: Bring new tunes over to discover. By that time I had a pretty decent collection of rare progressive rock LPs from Italy, Germany, France, Scandinavia, etc... and Jeff possessed a lot from the US, England and Japan. And Jeff was also way ahead of the curve when it came to fusion. I wasn't as keen on the sounds of the 1980s back then, so some of the obscurities he brought over were lost on me. The Fents "First Offense" was one of those albums. A couple of years ago, Midwest Mike sent me a pile of CD-R's and this was included amongst them. That reignited my interest...

There's no question that "First Offense" is of 1982 vintage, especially after taking in the opening track. Funky slap bass, synthesizers and slick production qualities are laid out early and offer a somewhat dubious beginning. Perhaps a First Offense indeed. But The Fents were far more interesting than that, and as the album unfolds, a sophisticated blend of instrumental jazz and rock emerges, with complicated rhythms, smoking solos, and grittier sounds. The band themselves were influenced by some of the leading fusion artists of the day like Bruford, Holdsworth and the Dixie Dregs, and those artists' fingerprints are all over this.

Perhaps even more surprising on this visit with Jeff was his rediscovery of the very rare first EP. This album contains 4 songs, and a decidedly rougher edge - more akin to the progressive rock meets fusion bands of the late 70s. A CD that contains both of these albums would be ideal. The Fents finished their career with the 1987 album "The Other Side", which I understand was pressed on CD at the time of release.  Of interest to modern progressive rock fans, keyboardist Adam Holzman now occasionally plays with none other than Steven Wilson...

Priority: 3

Typical of their Muffins-like happy bussing along is the first track on the EP (to me, superior to First Offense) something called Ladsize, by guitarist Ted Hall:  

Note on the back the thanks given to Immanuel Kant and the laws of physics...

There is some biographical information to be found here.

Bonus, their first full length album, thanks to the blogger who ripped and shared that one long ago...

Master Cylinder's Elsewhere in the United States 1981, an old masterpiece

Who doesn't love a car crash cover?

This was reviewed long ago by Tom Hayes in 2010:

Not much is known about this Ft. Worth based jazz rock group (even though they're from my neck of the woods, their album wasn't exactly a staple of local jazz or rock radio). On the usually soulless Inner City label, Master Cylinder was anything but that. Their album has a strong melodic sense, and it seems the group must have been informed by the Canterbury groups like early Soft Machine or National Health, as well as the DC based Happy the Man. While ostensibly a jazz album, it's these rock elements that bring Master Cylinder to the next level. A very good album that time has forgot.

Priority: 3

To me it also recalls those masters of melodious RIO the Muffins, particularly in the highly creative last track called Hobb and Geeb which I've listened to all week trying to tease out all the ideas (or 'unpack' for the 'stakeholders' to use our favourite cliches du jour) they stuffed into one five-minute long composition.  At all times they are thinking outside the box and jumping around the bashed in box they broke out of like hyperactive kids on breakfast cheerios with an ecstatic surfeit of creativity, so much so that every 20-30 seconds the song changes directions, tempos, keys, etc.  Even when a passage is repeated something unusual like a polytonal accompaniment is tacked on.  It's as if they poured their whole lives' stories into one 40-minute long circle of carbon polymer plastic:





Sparse information here.

I would love to know who the composer was and how much time he spent on this work.  Another one-off piece of brilliance, for me, another of the true and unforgettable American masterpieces of the genre like the afore-reviewed Feigenbaum and Scott, or Tom's Genre - Commercial Success.

Kennlisch, 1976, another rarity

From Tom:

Kënnlisch - s/t. 1976 private.

Here's another major league rarity sent in from The Alaskan Connection. This is another one I'd never even heard of until now.   Terms like "haunting folk" and "folk psych" are two of the most overused in the music collecting business. There was a time in the early 90s that I was truly excited to hear the albums that these collectors described ("enchanting", "mystical", "from the mists of time","shrouded in mystery"). Until I did. Most of the albums in this field are purely folk, with maybe a few minutes of electric instrumentation. And much of it is drinking around the campfire music, hardly the dark / mystical imagery that they would have you believe. With that in mind...

Kënnlisch is haunting folk personified. 

The group is made up of two members, the Macherey brothers, and it's Philippe who makes this album very interesting. He plays electric guitar, harmonium and Moog. The latter element in particular makes this one far more interesting to me. And the harmonium recalls Windy Corner at their best. Though the location of the recordings is in Paris, I would suspect the band is Alsatian. I say that because there is a distinct German quality at play here. There are sparse vocals in French, but they're sung more forcefully. As well, the brief narration sounded Germanic to me (though still in French). The downside of the album is a few tracks are simply Jean-Francois strumming his acoustic guitar. I could see doing that for one song tops, but with about 30-35% of the album like this, it begins to drag a bit.   

If there's a hot commodity in the collector world right now, it's psychedelic folk. This one is actually close to living up to its name. 


Not a cheap record either, I might add.  I would definitely second his opinion though with regards to mislabelled haunting folk-- at this point I specifically steer away from anything described with the dreaded 'psychedelic' label.  Replace that with the word 'ordinary' and you get pretty much as close to the truth as you could hope.  On the other hand, as you have seen on this blog, there are plaintively haunting folk albums which are totally unknown and do deserve the positive assessment, like the recent Rosemarie Taylor.  But curiosity always has to get the better of us I guess.

Boxing Day Specials: Early Times Second Album 1976

From our old friend Tom:

Not to be confused with the contemporaneous Early Times String Band (a Japanese 70s folk-rock ensemble that has become slightly better known due to a couple of reissue/archival releases), this incredibly obscure album was the second effort of a local Sapporo based group. Their first is so rare that, while it must exist, has apparently never been glimpsed a single time by even the most hardcore Japanese collectors after all these years. All that aside, what we have here is a very interesting anachronism that sounds more like an underground Japanese take on early 70s British proto-progressive styles than anything else. Even the Monty Python-esque cover art seems to point in that direction. It kicks off with with an extremely cool horn rock-ish affair, featuring vintage organ, electric piano, funky percussion and psych guitar backed by a female chorus to great effect. This is followed by a lengthy proto-prog style guitar/organ led jam that slowly builds in intensity, with some great soloing. The rest of the first side then kind of puts on the breaks, with a couple of slow blues rock pieces that still have a very palpable early 70s UK feel to them. The second side starts with another gradually building instrumental jam, that eventually hits an awesome groove while the soloing breaks out overhead, before slowing down again into a more pensive mood. We then reach the real climax of the album, with the nearly 13 minute long final track. Building slowly once again (a hallmark of theirs, it seems), this starts out in a jazzy/bluesy horn rock mode, then builds in intensity as the soloing picks up and the vocals join in again, ending in a long crescendo of bluesy psych guitar soloing over the horn rock/proto-prog style jamming. Great stuff, and the whole album has a very loose, underground sound and vibe that is just flat out cool.


Personally I wasn't so impressed with this, though my taste is deficient when it comes to the more 'psych' sounds others seem to go crazy over.  At any rate this demonstrates the principle that no matter how rare a record, eventually a digital version will turn up somewhere or another, in this case, here.  That is, if you're paying attention, or still on the lookout for it.

For me the most listenable track is b1, Time Out:





Check out the inserts included in the package that show how the musicians wanted to show off their ability at writing music correctly (as did Noctett on Full Score).

Ocean's Keyboards and Percussion: Melody from 1981

From our Friend Tom at CDRWL

This came as a big surprise, as most of these small German presses from the early 80s are best left alone. And with a moniker like Ocean, a band name that must have been used 269 times by then, the word "generic" couldn't slip my mind. Until I put the disc on that is. If you're looking for references, "Symphonic Pictures" era SFF isn't a bad place to start. It's not quite in that league, but it's not like the world is filled with similar albums to SFF's debut. Plenty of mellotron (including the much loved choir). Maybe Odyssee's "White Swan" is another good check point. On the same label as Nanu Urwerk. This one for certain should be reissued by Garden of Delights or Musea. Both labels would enjoy success with this title.

Totally agree with that, as well in places it reminds me of the classic Italian mellifluous keyboard bands like Le Orme, or any other of the ELP imitations that were so much less harsh.

Their Wild Pig:






Many thanks for this superb sounding rip and the chance to post it for everyone to enjoy!

Azabu Ongaku Shudan (JPN,1971) [no download, just samples!]

Here's the best true progressive rock album I've heard so far this year.  And what a surreal cover!  Clearly in this case you do-- definitely-- judge the book by its cover!

Here's a very rare album from the Azabu section of Tokyo that appears to have been just discovered. The first track is heavily influenced by 1968 era Chicago Transit Authority, which is a really good thing in my book. Then there's some random messing about in the studio, with some chamber/classical bits, and in comes a guitar freakout - and once again Terry Kath leaped straight to mind. What is this anyway? Off to the AC's notes I went... 

"Things get underway with a blast of driving brass rock-esque jazzy psych, before some spacey classical flute leads into a weird piano and percussion motif that repeats over and over, starting again just as you think it's finally done. You can tell that they're just trying to mess with your mind at this point. Soft acoustic folk-psych follows, but is disrupted by a noisy outburst and radio speech that is swallowed up in ominous avant-garde piano dissonance. A brief flute interlude precedes a headlong dive into wild garage psych, morphing into a full-on psychedelic jam with organ and absolutely insane fuzz guitar soloing. Quietly, a rising chorus of birdsongs emerges, backing a return to the gentle acoustic folk guitar and flute heard previously. But then, a strange surge of fluttering electronics heralds a chaotic collage of Japanese phone conversation, backed by a sinister electronic dirge. Clattering percussion rises from this seething mass, heralding an onslaught of pounding rhythms, droning horns and destructive psych guitar, with wisps of strange noise and moaning in the raging storm. Abruptly, the haunting acoustic folk psych and flute cut in, ending the chaos in a moment of zen. This is a truly harrowing piece of music, encapsulating the bad acid freakout visions you're glad you never had. Unfortunately, side two can't keep up this kind of all-out delirium, and the group's roots as a large-scale amateur music collective come to the fore, with some strange and inept jazz and folk songs, rambling detuned jazz bass and piano, and even a lengthy late night jazz club jam session. However, a few moments of interest are still lurking within. A couple of somewhat experimental classical piano and flute pieces, and a very Third Ear Band-esque number with percussion, flute and droning strings are the highlights, and the album closes with one final brass rock/orchestral blast with bleeping electronics to come full circle. Privately pressed in micro quantities and still only known to a few hardcore Japanese collectors, this album, while by no means a consistent masterpiece, is still an essential snapshot of authentic psychedelic freakout on the outer fringes of the era's underground scene."

This is one of those albums that really strikes a chord because of the time and place. Truly a group stretching the boundaries of what was known - very much a product of 1971, an era when this mentality was the norm rather than the exception. The highs go really high here, and so the corresponding down time is more tolerable. Because there's some serious payoff action to witness. Always a hallmark of an album worth repeated listens.

I disagree 100% with the notion that side b is inferior, on the contrary, let's listen to some samples from that 2-D surface.  Igor's Ascencion (a reference to Stravinsky, no doubt, who died in the same year, April 1971)

Clearly a university musical education composition exercise, but boy does it succeed as such.  Then, as a cover version, they take one of the tritest and most played Beatlesian songs and check out how they transform it, utterly, simply by playing the melody in the correct key of G, but then hanging below it the most off-kilter chords.  A Day in The Life:

Track 13, called Stillness demonstrates the group's feeling both for emotion and for the purest art of music:

I apologize that I can't share more, but these three will give you a taste for the contents, nor are they the only three tracks worth hearing, believe me.

Seek this one out like a ballistic cruise missile, preferably not North Korean.