Ginga Rale Band, Austria

Ginga Rale Band - Wir Bedauern... 1980 Reibo.

Here it is: Our 3rd and last of the recent amazing discoveries from the bottom of the mine. And that's not to say the dig is over, as I've been handed a few more albums from various sources. Though the advance word is none are extraordinary. That remains to be seen (or heard) of course.

This is another one courtesy of our good friend The AC. Quick research over at RYM shows that fellow explorer and Gnosis mate Lev had already landed on these shores. He promised a return visit, but he knew he'd found gold that's for sure.

We've said this many times before, but it can be somewhat mind-boggling that an album this good can be so deeply buried for so long. We've certainly turned up albums that are just as rare - but they may be more obviously flawed or teetering on the fringes of the genre we love. But Ginga Rale Band's debut is the kind of album that is likely to have wide appeal. After hearing it for the first time, I wanted an original LP immediately. I braced myself for the inevitable sticker shock. That collectors knew about it already, and the proverbial arm and leg was the asking price. But I was pleased to find one online for under $100. Not cheap to be certain, but it could have been 10 times that for all I knew. It took a long time to seal that deal, and thus the extended delay from point of first hearing (early December) until reporting here.

Musically, what are we talking about anyway? The AC introduced them to me this way: "Led by keyboardist Pipi Furz and guitarist Rainer Hochrainer, this virtually unknown Austrian group conjured up something truly amazing here. The backbone of their music is a kind of loose progressive jazz-rock of the distinctly "kraut-fusion" variety, but that doesn't really tell the half of it. Long, sprawling tracks unwind in a non-linear fashion, with all sorts of unexpected twists and turns, bizarre vocal interjections and sonic detours, creating an unsettling and distinctly surreal atmosphere that hovers over the entire album like a weird mist. Wild, reckless creativity and delirious imagination abound, entirely at odds with the standard funky fusion and symphonic prog that dominated the Germanic scene of the time. These guys were on too strange a trip to ever think about compromising or playing it safe, describing themselves as a "Dada Rock Brainstorming Cooporation" right on the cover. If this album had come out of 1972 Berlin, it would already be legendary. But emerging from this particular time and place, it never really had a chance. A lost krautrock classic if there ever was one."

As any reader of the CDRWL knows, there were dozens of Kraut fusion albums from the late 70s and early 80s. Some are slick and tedious, others had a raw edge that is highly appealing. But Ginga Rale Band took it a step further concerning the latter point. Not only is it raw and complex - the music is incredibly unpredictable and exciting - but there's also this dark haunting cosmic angst that conjures up images of Tangerine Dream's "Electronic Meditation" and Ash Ra Tempel's "Schwingungen" when there are screaming voices present. "Wir Bedauern..." gets wilder and freakier as it goes, almost always a hallmark of a great album.

It would seem obvious the name was a play on the ginger ale drink. And that's been confirmed. There's actually a page on the web about them. The AC took this a step further and added these historical notes: "My German is nonexistent, but with the (somewhat dubious) help of Babelfish, I was able to determine that the band was founded in 1977 in Salzburg as the "Ginger Ale Band". In 1980 they changed the name to Ginga Rale Band, and released "Wir Bedauern...". It seems their "dada rock" concept saw them producing some sort of stage show with film projectors, additional actors, etc, (syncs up with the Austrian guy on RYM who said something like "They held nice open air festivals..."). It seems like after this there were some major line-up changes, and the band took a totally different direction. As you can see on the discography provided by that site, they produced a couple of (presumably private press) singles, which seem to be tied in with some kind of rock opera named "Rock Dream" that they were involved in. I checked around and amazingly found one of these tracks posted on youtube! As you can hear, it's angsty punk/new wave oriented stuff with female vocals, totally at odds with their earlier material. I think this is down to the line-up changes that I mentioned, and this brings up another interesting point. It seems that after "Wir Bedauern...", the band mostly became a vehicle for Hochrainer and his wife. In fact, it turns out that "Rainer" Hochrainer was actually named Paul, and you can also see his rather extensive discography (extending up to the current day) on that site. It turns out that Hochrainer and a couple of the other Ginga Rale guys actually guested on the first Aardvark (the Austrian one, obviously) LP, an album I remember hearing a long time ago and not liking at all (stylistically all over the map, from what I can recall). Anyway, after these singles they made an appearance on an obscure Austrian new wave/punk compilation under the name of "Friques Ginger Rale Band".

This sort of punk attitude unfortunately carries down to the track titles on "Wir Bedauern...", and represents the only problematic aspect of the album. There are only two tracks per side, and none are actually listed on the record label itself. But the back cover is clear on what those titles are. I've spent the last 13 years or so of my career heavily involved with Human Resources, so I shudder at seeing the N word. It's not clear why they use this title twice (even though they are different songs). The album doesn't appear to be racist in any way, and the content is almost entirely instrumental. I would imagine any kind of reissue would have to at least address this within the liner notes or even a renaming of the title(s). Some may say we are all too politically correct for our own good, but I could see many more folks being just flat out offended by it (including me frankly).

Back to The AC's historical notes: "Finally, in 1984 "Information" was released, and then it seems they disbanded. I had heard that this later LP was in a Germanic polit-rock/agit-rock style, but based on the album's entry on that site and the style they had already been playing in for the past 3 years, I'd say it's probably more like a new wave/agit-punk mixture. Obviously well outside our interest area, in any case. Anyway, I haven't been able to find any useful links to this point, but I'm hoping that Hochrainer's relatively recent musical activity would mean making contact with him is still possible, hopefully leading to some interest in a Ginga Rale Band reissue or archival release."

Ginga Rale Band is a bulls eye for those that love the German Kraut fusion style, with the added bonus of successfully re-creating the atmosphere of the edgy cosmic Berlin-styled Krautrock of 1971.

Amazing find.

Priority: 1

Woorden, Netherlands

Woorden - s/t. 1968 Omega.

Ack - no real progress made last night. Still at least a day away from our latest big discovery. Back to the archives.

I could see this album having strong appeal to the right listener. And I'm not the right listener...

Woorden's sole work is a freaky jazz / beat poet / psychedelic album - primarily sung / spoken in Dutch, with some nonsensical English. Real underground sounds here. Imagine hitting North Beach circa 1967, and thinking those cats in Haight Ashbury are nothing more than a bunch of peacenik punks who'd run under Mommy's skirt the moment the "pigs" and "fuzz" broke up the party. But these guys would keep on smoking their cigarillos while still vehemently protesting against The Man..... Man.

Cool period artwork for the gatefold cover.

Priority: none

News: Garden of Delights relists Pancake's "No Illusions" for future release

Thanks to a comment from reader Jim D, it appears GoD has re-added Pancake's final album "No Illusions". For my money, this is their best album and I'm glad to see GoD has reconsidered.

I haven't mentioned it prior, but it's been on their site a few months, that Garden of Delights also plans on releasing a second archival album by Tetragon called "Agape" from 1973. The first one, "Stretch", was quite good and better than I expected. So we'll see!

Cellutron & the Invisible, USA

Cellutron & the Invisible - Reflecting on the First Watch, We Uncover Treasure Buried for the Blind. 1978 Green Mountain.

Alright, back again. Work is beginning to dominate all aspects on my life. I sensed that at the beginning of the year. Desperately trying to keep up with the hobbies here. We still have one monster album to report on from the AC's January batch. That LP arrived in the mail earlier in the week (I bought one immediately) and I want to hear it one more time before posting. Hopefully tomorrow.

In the meantime, let's go back to the archives to kill time. This is proving to be a good exercise, as I hadn't added my rating/review for this title to RYM yet, even though the entry has been there for years. Just an oversight on my part.

I remember first stumbling upon Cellutron & the Invisible in an obscure Little Rock, Arkansas record store back in 1992. I thought I'd found the American Heldon, or worst case, Ilitch. It had that right look! I couldn't wait to get home and check this puppy out. But alas it was not to be the case. It's a rather dull and static electronic album, but with a few guitar touches that saved it from being a complete yawner.

Priority: none

Jean-Michel Desbouis, France

Jean-Michel Desbouis - Prince. 1982 FLVM.

Here's another album, like the US band Window that we reported on this past summer, where I had a cassette for many years which contained almost no info, and thus I couldn't corroborate any of the data. So I never added it to the CDRWL. For all I knew it was a demo of some sort that never was released.

The cassette was simply labeled: Prince [1986 France]. Gnosis had the same title as me (Prince - s/t. 1986), now since adjusted. RYM currently has a Prince listed as 1977 without a cover. It looks all the world to be this album. They also had the Desbouis album listed, but without a rating until now.

How did we get here? Well, another submission from the king of treasure hunters: The AC. My eyes perked up as soon as I saw it. I wonder if...? I mentioned it to him about my suspicion. As always, he had a thoughtful response, that gives a very reasonable explanation towards the confusion. "It's quite possible that both of these mystery albums you mentioned are actually the Desbouis album. The whole presentation of this LP is bound to cause confusion. The front cover has absolutely no text on it, while the back cover is basically the same as the front, but with just "Prince" printed on the top. Only the insert has any information on it, but it only lists the track titles and musicians. There's no release date printed anywhere on the LP. I knew from the sound, style and place of origin that it was probably an early 80s album, but I couldn't be certain until I found Desbouis' own Myspace page, which confirms that it was recorded in late '81 and released in '82. As I mentioned in my notes, this is definitely one of the rarest of these French electronic prog LPs, so I could certainly envision a scenario where years back some prog fan finds the LP, but it's missing the insert. It then enters into circulation via tape trading, with no real information other than that it's called "Prince"... ...This would also explain why, aside from the fact that it's always been very hard to find to begin with, that it's remained so obscure. Because if people really knew that it had Stella Vander singing on it, I'm sure it would have been a much better known item in the prog underground for years now, due to the general obsession with all things Magma. It's only a theory, but if these other albums you mentioned do indeed turn out to be one and the same, it could be a plausible explanation." (BTW I feel obligated to say this: This note wasn't even written with publication in mind - and just shows you the depth of his writing/cognitive skills. I know he won't mind me sharing.)

So after hearing the album and then doing a quick comparison. YEP! They're the same!

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

Leo Jones Workshop, USA

The Leo Jones Workshop - Fire Engine and Crossover. 1974 Mirrorsonic (CS 7237)

And as promised from yesterday, here's a great discovery for all of you who love the early 70s dirty deep funk jazz psych rock of Miles Davis. I know I do, and I have to thank long time Gnosis mate Vdorje for that appreciation.

This album once again arrives from the vast resources of The AC. His perspective: "Leo Jones is a trumpet player who studied under free jazz heavyweight Bill Dixon in the late 60s. In the early 70s, he received a grant from the city of New York to run a program called the "Lower East Side Community Music Workshop", formed to foster musical creativity in the city's youth, and ultimately leading to the creation of this unique artifact, recorded with a bunch of Jr. High school students in Manhattan. The album consists of two sprawling side-long tracks, seemingly stitched together from a couple of live jam sessions. The style presented here is firmly in the mold of early 70s Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band, Eddie Henderson, and the like. A relentless groove is laid down, with Leo and the kids attempting to "run the voodoo down" on top of it, with electronically effected trumpet, electric guitar, electric piano, clavinet, etc. Due to the raw nature of the recording and the mostly amateur musicians involved, this can seem somewhat sloppy and aimless at times. But, when it all finally comes together it does get pretty intense and hypnotic. I suppose the term "kosmigroov" might come to mind, but this is actually quite a bit darker and freakier than that generally implies. This LP can be hard to track down, but it's certainly one that warrants investigation for fans of psychedelic electric jazz."

Now that's some story! An accomplished trumpet player laying down the deep groove with a bunch of 7th and 8th graders! When you hear this, you will not have any idea most of this is performed by kids in their young teens. It would seem task master Mr. Jones ran a tight ship. What an amazing artifact!

A must for fans of the genre.

Priority: 2

Demon & Wizard, France

Demon & Wizard - Evil Possessor. 1982 private.

Took a few days off this week from the stereo, but managed to make some progress last night. We still have one monster album to talk about and my LP is on the way now. Of the 3 (including Thomsett and Phase), this might be my favorite of the lot. More to come on that. Also, tomorrow I'll be reporting on an album that I'm certain fans of early 70's Miles Davis will freak on.

Today's post is once again courtesy of the AC. A very interesting album. Many of my initial thoughts were the same as AC's, so let's get his take first this time: "Hailing from Reims, this duo's lone LP, a private press released in micro quantities, is seemingly all but forgotten by time, representing perhaps the deepest, darkest recesses of the old French underground scene. In the unlikely scenario that you were to happen upon this relic collecting dust in some tiny French record store, your first thought might be that it's an unknown Venom style proto-black metal record, what with its ultra-primitive hand drawn cover that looks like something straight out of an old Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module, and track titles like "Medieval Holocaust", "Shaking the Gates of Hell" and "Black Witch". But what a shock you would be in for as the needle drops, revealing a shadowy aural landscape that would serve as the perfect soundtrack to some weird 70s horror film. Haunting, folky acoustic guitar passages blend into classic French electronic prog, with gurgling analog synths, bass, electric guitar, and occasional vocals, creating a strange, occult atmosphere that will stay with you long after the music has stopped. Admittedly, the execution is a bit amateurish at times (these guys were probably mere teenagers when this was recorded), but in a way that only adds to the charm. Definitely worth hunting down for fans of French deep underground sounds and experimental krautrock."

Haha - that was my first thought too: "Black Metal" by Venom. As an old metal head from back in the day (as in 1979-1983), I can only imagine my look of horror as I dropped the needle on this album, thinking I'd uncovered an underground metal masterpiece.

Demon & Wizard fall in line with many of the obscure acts of the French underground of the late 70s and early 80s. I would have expected this to be released on the D.I.Y. FLVM label, as it has that vibe. Or perhaps Disjuncta. The sparseness created by the acoustic guitars and synthesizers had me thinking at once of Images, Kennlisch, Lourival Silvestre, Flamen Dialis and even early Richard Pinhas circa "Rhizosphere".

Another nice find from the AC!

Priority: 3

News: Garden of Delights to release live May Blitz Show

Garden of Delights, via their non-German oriented Thors Hammer imprint, will release an archival live show from the UK based power rock trio May Blitz called "Essen 1970". GoD has released some other Essen shows in the past most notably from Xhol Caravan. I think this one could be interesting, as it would seem that May Blitz could be an adventurous act in a live setting. We shall see!

Label says: "On Tuesday, 22nd October 1970, the group performed in the Gruga hall at the third Essen Pop & Blues Festival. The event was recorded semi-professionally. The recordings could be purchased from the promoters and were re-mastered in a studio with great effort and care. The sound, however, is naturally not as good as that of the two studio LPs. The 32-page booklet contains a long band history in German and English, photographs, a detailed discography, numerous cover and label repros as well as a personal retrospective report by guitarist and singer James Black. A must for collectors. It is the first legitimate release of a May Blitz live recording and is released both as LP in deluxe gatefold cover and as CD."

News: Modulus to reissue fantastic new discovery: Phase - Midnight Madness!!!

And here it is, as hinted for some days now, the second of 3 monster albums we're reporting on from our latest dig into the rarities mine! And this is the first time in CDRWL history where the post coincides with an announcement of a CD reissue!

Phase - Midnight Madness. 1979 Red Mark - QCA. (aka Fusion Quartet - Comprovisations. 1981 Happening.)

This is the final album from the original November batch that Midwest Mike sent in. It was the one he was the most enthusiastic about, as he knew it was a great discovery. So good in fact, it created a firestorm behind the scenes. And thus its delay in getting this posting out.

It's almost hard to believe an album like this can remain completely unknown until 2012 (neither version is listed in RYM (like many of our titles, Isabel has been kind enough to have now added these to RYM!) - and I just added it to Gnosis). Especially considering there were two full pressings of it with local distribution in a large metropolis area like New York / New Jersey. And with the locale in mind, it didn't take long for Modulus owner Ken Golden to track the band down. They're practically in his backyard! And it's official: Phase will be Modulus' 3rd release after Het Pandorra Ensemble and Randy Roos (BTW - those two now have a street release date of March 25).

So let's get Ken's quick summary of the background first: "Phase was keyboardist's Regan Ryzuk's band and they were based out of Montville, NJ. Two years later Regan released it under the Fusion Quartet "Comprovisations" title. It's a very good album that I think will floor a lot of people and it deserves to be more widely known."

Now let's get some impressions of the music. MM says: "Instrumental progressive jazz rock of the highest caliber. From the very start this album explodes out and doesn't leave you with much room to catch your breath! Top notch musicianship with fiery solos of bass, piano, Moog and electric guitar. Odd and complicated time meters with killer trade-offs as well as incredible unison sections. This sometimes reminds me of Iceberg, a bit of Return to Forever and the Italian band Nova (at their peak). As mesmerizing at it is amazing! I believe once this gets known it will become a future rarity. Highly recommended to jazz rock, fusion and progressive rock fans."

The AC was brought into the action as well. He picked one up immediately and had this response: "Killer album! Really complex and edgy for a private fusion LP of this sort, almost getting avant-progish at times. I think the fact that the keys player uses a regular piano rather than a Rhodes also lends to this impression. Guitar gets quite ferocious at times, too. Love the ultra-technical music geek notes on the back of the sleeve! Wonder whatever happened to these guys? They really were top-notch players."

So I think those comments sum it up well. It's smoking fusion first, instrumental progressive rock second. A great mix of instrumental dexterity, with complex compositions and ferocious playing. RTF meets Kenso; or Iceberg meets Transit Express for a more obscure reference.

An amazing find.

And it will be on CD this year!

Wow.

Yog Sothoth, France

Yog Sothoth - s/t. 1984 Cryonic.

Still on track for our announcement tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll need to pull in a "gap filler" from the main list to cover today's post. Now this is an album where my mediocre rating is in the minority. Many of my friends and peers seem to enjoy it. My notes upon hearing Yog Sothoth were "Like a more free jazz version of the 80s Zeuhl based efforts by Yoch'ko Seffer or Bernard Paganotti. Can get a bit annoying in places." I've seen comparisons to that most dark of Zeuhl adopters Shub Niggurath, but I just don't hear it myself. They share an affinity for Lovecraft and that's about it.

There are a handful of Cryonic albums that didn't make the transition to Musea. Most notably the Komintern LP reissue. The more radical the album, the less likely it saw a CD on Musea.

All the same, many folks want to see this on CD. Probably would make sense to see it reissued on a label like Soleil Zeuhl (though I personally could think of many other albums in the genre that are more deserving).

Priority: none

JAS, USA

JAS (James Arthur Schneider) - Awakening. 1977 private. (1975-1977 recordings)

OK - we have a big announcement coming up on Monday - and it features one of the 2 albums I've been hinting about for days now. That LP arrived in the mail today, and I want to hear it one more time before posting. I know I won't get to it tonight, so it will be tomorrow, with a post on Monday. Exciting stuff. And it will be wrapped together with a CD reissue announcement. Yes, that's right, a total superb unknown LP with a CD reissue all at the same time! So everyone will have a chance to own it soon.

In the meantime, let's cover off on this major rarity recently sent in. Now this one is wrapped in an interesting story (perhaps only for me LOL - so you can skip a few paragraphs if you only care about the music). As I may have stated before, I started compiling "curiosity lists" as far back as 1988 or so. I started bringing in mail order catalogs from the back of the pages of Goldmine. Guys like Paul Major (the best catalog writer ever!), Gregg Breth, Greg Pawelko, Zary Smith, Jeff Baker, Walter Geertsen, Willi Oertel amongst many other worthy lists (old timers will remember these guys). I would diligently catalog the unknown titles. Originally written in a notebook, and then later to computer text files and ultimately into spreadsheets. I did that until about 1996 or so, and then I tired of all the also-ran albums that were being hyped up a bit. What we would later call in the Gnosis world an 8 level album (2.5 stars in RYM land). Not terrible by any means, but just average. So I gave it a rest, and focused on either new bands or collecting originals of albums I already knew.

Then came ebay (early 1999 for me), and a whole new slew of unknown albums were thrust upon us. And once again I began to diligently capture anything that looked interesting. I came up with all sorts of interesting "saved searches" on ebay to smoke out even the most obscure album. Over time, even that list was finally exhausted. Except for Jas - Awakening. And that's just how I had it listed. I had some generic music tag on it like "jazz psych with Indian instruments". Years of searching the internet turned up nothing. I handed my curiosity list to Heavyrock around 2005 or so, and even all his well-heeled contacts didn't have a clue. I saw the album listed in other folk's want-lists, with my exact description, along with other albums I had been looking for in the past (and had already found), so I knew the source of the want list: Heavyrock. Or me by extension. Eventually I concluded that I must have written the album down wrong, or missed some key bit of information. After all, I had found 100s of albums just like that back then, and I wasn't doing a deep dive. They were "casual curiosities" to be honest. Maybe another way of me saying I wasn't prepared to pay actual $ for it, but it would be cool to hear it first and then I'll lay down some jack if I like it. But since it never showed up in 10 years of looking for it (anywhere!), I pretty much wrote it off.

Fast forward to November 2011. I rarely scan ebay much anymore, except to look for a handful of LP originals I'm willing to pay $ for. But one evening, lacking anything else better to do while listening to an album, I decided to pull out some of those old "saved searches" I had on ebay and go through them. Most of these were built from 1999-2001, and I still have all of them. Perhaps most surprising is that they even still work (ebay is a case study on how to screw up a good thing). Many of these searches I haven't even looked at in 6+ years.

And lo and behold, on the one time I use an old search - there it was: Jas - Awakening. The ebay description filled in some blanks. Jas is J.A.S. - James Arthur Schneider. The auction featured photos of the front and back cover, which are on display here. Since MM is a huge fusion fanatic, I alerted him to it figuring he'd probably get more out of it than me. So he put in a bid. And lost. Much to our surprise. I mean who else knows this album? Well, all the folks that got a hold of my curiosity list years ago - that's who. Oh well, no big deal. We'll hear it eventually.

Two months later - guess what shows up in my virtual mailbox? - JAS. From the AC! Holy cow! Sure enough he knew someone who won that album. Are you kidding me? What amazing timing for all of us. So let's get his viewpoint:

Not to be confused with the 80s Atlanta-area spiritual jazz group Jas, this recording is actually the work of one James Arthur Schneider, an apparently west-coast based pianist and multi-instrumentalist whose bearded and totally stoned-looking visage adorns the back cover of this ridiculously obscure LP, recorded in two different sessions (live in Fairfax, California, 1975, and in the studio from Eugene, Oregon, 1977). Schneider's group is a seven piece jazz/rock ensemble, with a number of the musicians doubling on various Indian instruments as well. Schneider's acoustic piano forms the backbone of the music, joined by sax, flute and various other background elements over an active jazzy rhythm section. Both sides of the album, each consisting of two lengthy untitled instrumental tracks, unfold in a similar manner. The pieces generally start out in a somber jazzy mode, gradually building in intensity until the excellent and very McLaughlin-esque electric guitar joins in, taking things to another level. The best is saved for last, as the final and longest track rides a darkly intense rhythm, exploding into a frenzied crescendo with some of the most insanely ferocious, coruscating jazz-rock guitar I have ever heard. After this breathtaking peak, the piece further develops with flute at the lead, until eventually descending into an eerie conclusion, with ethnic percussion, backwards sound effects and creepy monk-like vocals. This track in particular is easily one of the most mind-blowing pieces of music I have heard in a very long time, and honestly left me in a state of near shock the first time I listened to it. I could perhaps envision some freaked-out underground jazzers from Germany or maybe Sweden having come up with something approaching this, but for a totally unknown US recording I found it to be highly unusual, to say the least. I would love to see this reissued and exposed to a larger audience, but unfortunately there's no way this would be feasible in its current sonic state. The sound is very raw and unbalanced, and would need a good deal of cleaning up to really make it presentable. But, if Mr. Schneider was to ever resurface and the original recordings still survive, I believe this would be a highly worthwhile project, especially if any additional archival material also exists. Finally, a quick note on the possible reason for the obscurity and scarcity of this album: Based on my copy of the LP, I would speculate that this never actually received a true commercial release, as the LP labels are completely blank, and both the back cover and original protective sleeve bear personal dedications from Schneider himself, indicating that this was perhaps only printed in a tiny run to give to friends, hand out at concerts, etc.

So, if you read carefully, the AC captured a very important point: This album wasn't ready for prime-time. It sounds like a bad demo. It makes Astre's "Foresight" sound like Dark Side of the Moon by comparison. Some of those smoking electric guitar solos are so buried in the mix, you can barely hear them. And yet you can tell he's really wailing. Intensely so.

Obviously, this is a very rare album. Not listed in RYM as of this writing (thanks Isabel for adding!). Mr. Schneider if you're out there - give us a shout!

Priority: 3 (in its current state) Priority 1 if remixed properly!

Compass, USA

Compass - Compass Rises. 1973 Schoolhouse.

While still waiting for "that" LP to arrive, let's go dig into the bag of rarities that the AC sent across last month. This one is definitely out of range for the CDRWL, but I still found it a very pleasant jazz record. As the AC notes, it's almost rare to hear a US jazz band use this much restraint during the early 70s. "Brit-jazz" is an apt comparison. This is the kind of record my wife really likes. Not squeaky and squonky experimental jazz nor the new age slop gloss that was to come around later in the decade. Just well played jazz, with a rock edge. Nice.

Compass were from upstate New York and recorded the album in Marblehead, MA (NE of Boston). According to data I found on the Net, it appears the band is looking into reissuing this title themselves in the near future. You will often see this band listed as Compass Rises, but it's definite the band is known as Compass. This group is not related to the American blues rock band Compass, who released one album in 1970.

The AC says: "Compass is an upstate New York jazz group who released this lone obscure LP, which was actually recorded in Massachusetts and pressed in Cincinnati. This one sort of straddles the line between electric modal jazz and early jazz-rock/fusion styles. But unlike many albums of this ilk from the early 70s US jazz scene, this lacks any of the free and freaky elements that were in vogue at the time. Instead, it embraces a more reserved and melodic sound, reminiscent of certain "brit-jazz" works that were being produced across the pond in the UK. The quality is quite consistent throughout, but the lengthy track "Schizoid" from side two is especially effective, with its echoing Fender Rhodes and plaintive sax creating a haunting, late-night vibe. Speaking of the Rhodes, anyone who (like myself) is a big fan of this classic instrument should consider this a mandatory listen, as the album is absolutely drenched in it from start to finish. Nothing mind-blowing here, but a very enjoyable effort nonetheless."

Priority: none

Wintauge, Germany

Wintauge - Dem Anfang ein Lied. 1983 private.

I was really hoping to report on one of the other "big 2" I have on tap, but there's been another delay, so let's cover off on another major rarity. I was first tipped to Wintauge by Gnosis friend Lev, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of German music. And leave it to the AC to track this one down for us. I'm grateful to both for the knowledge and the resources they possess.

To simply put: Wintauge are a rock band that sings in German. A style of music that is actually known as Deutschrock in Germany itself, and which is distinguished from Krautrock. What makes the band interesting, are the instrumental portions of the songs, which have a strange 1960s aura - primarily due to the use of primitive keyboards and guitar tones. So imagine the music of late 70s Novalis but sounding like Oratorium.

The AC comments: "Private press mixture of anachronistic prog-folk and spacey, slow moving symphonic rock, quite typical of the late 70s/early 80s German scene. Generally well done for the style, if a bit amateurish at times."

In reviewing Popsike, it appears this album consistently sells between $300-$400. So it's rare even in Germany. Great cover art.

The below video is an absolute hoot. To me it looks like the band invaded a department store for a TV shoot. A truly low-budget early 70's PBS-styled production. The stilted crowd looks completely bored, ready to pounce on the first Warsteiner offered. The lead singer appears to have been a castoff from a failed SWR bid to license Hee-Haw. Maybe these guys knew Akropolis? Stay for the entire 3 minutes (actually the music is quite good on this one), and look for the banner being hoisted up. What a riot.

(Just click on the Watch it on YouTube link after they give the disclaimer of embedding disabled)

Priority: none

Rob Thomsett, Australia

Rob Thomsett - Yaraandoo. 1975 private.

I've been hinting at this for days now - but here's the first of 3 brilliant (IMO) albums I'm going to be reporting on. Of the 3, this will be the most recognized due to an LP reissue, though I think this title is sailing way below the radar. I find it amazing that there's still so many great albums yet undiscovered (or barely discovered) - even though there are dozens of folks just like myself looking under every rock for a new treasure.

Thanks again goes to the AC for tipping me to this one. He sent along a digital copy and informed me that there's a legit LP reissue (on Roundtable from Australia). I bought one immediately after hearing the album (you can purchase it from Dusty Groove - though they're temporarily out of stock). I wouldn't mess around too long with it - if any of what is said below tickles your fancy, and you still have a turntable setup, then by all means race out and buy one now!

But being that this is a CD reissue wishlist, we're obviously calling for a reissue in a more convenient format. It's pretty apparent the LP is taken from an original vinyl copy, and there's only 100 of those in existence. And given that Mr. Thomsett himself authorized this release, then one has to presume the masters are nowhere to be found.

OK - onto the music. I'd like to type out some of the liners from the LP reissue. If this doesn't get you going, not sure anything else we say will. I wish I could write like this! "Australia's burnt landscape is sketched in hypnotic washes of Moog oscillations, Bamboo flutes and tape delay. The 40,000 year-old sound of antediluvian Aboriginal folklore is channeled through Mellotron, dilatory jazz guitar solos, and Avant cross rhythms, all symbolizing the harsh and isolated landscape of rural Australia. Yaraandoo is a bold sound exploration never attempted this adventurously again with this country." Wow!

The AC further adds: "Fascinating and somewhat unique psychedelic/progressive jazz-rock artifact from down under. Originally released as a tiny run of 100 copies with handmade covers, and finally reissued last year by small Australian label The Roundtable. Unfortunately, it's an LP only reissue, and while it does include a nice insert, I'd much prefer to see a proper CD version with more extensive liner notes, photos, etc. In any case, this one is certainly deserving of wider exposure. It's a short album (barely topping 30 minutes), but the interconnected suite of tracks flow together seamlessly on both sides, being a sort of concept album based on ancient aboriginal "dreamtime" mythology. It's highly evocative and dripping with the hazy, surreal atmospheres of the Australian outback. Flutes, percussion, droning synthesizer and mellotron, and of course Thomsett's excellent guitar-work make for a very pleasing sound overall, despite the somewhat primitive nature of the recording. Thomsett actually returned to this work years later and released a new, re-recorded version of it on CD in 2004. While obviously not at the same level as the original, it's still quite good in its own right and is well worth tracking down if you enjoy this LP."

In regards to this 2004 CD, I have one on the way to me now so I can compare for myself. And, as the AC points out, the only flaw of the original is it's too short. I could have easily digested 45-60 minutes of this!

Dusty Groove writes: "A strange, cool and stylistic boundary busting set from Australian jazz rock guitar player Rob Thomsett! Yaraandoo is a 1975 set inspired by Aboriginal folklore. It has some spare, dryly wispy bits of percussion and bamboo flute that feels that gives it that feel – but Thomsett also brings in some loose, proggy and jazzy rock dynamics with heavy drums and electric guitar, some improvisational jazz inspired passages, plus some tape delay and other effects."

This is one trippy album, I'll tell you that. And there's some Canterbury like grooves mixed in here too and you'll hear a couple of Nucleus / Soft Machine style runs. One thing to note - Thomsett assembles no less than 9 people to play on this album. This isn't a private bedroom affair, but a full scale psychedelic work. This is one of those six dimension type albums that I love so much. The real-deal freaky underground. You'll recognize the pioneering field tapes of Agitation Free's Malesch and the otherworldly-ness of Algarnas Tradgard. For my tastes, this album is genius.

Priority: 1

Rainbow Generator, Australia

Rainbow Generator - Dance of the Spheres. 1978 Fission Chips.

Well, I'm finally back here. Seems spending time with the stereo is getting harder and harder to do. Unfortunately my job is highly transactional and social, and when not onsite, is entirely conducted by phone. Not a conducive environment to solo pursuits like listening to music that's for sure. I try to reserve evenings for a little solitude and music. The wife has other ideas sometimes.

The other day I mentioned 3 unknown monsters and one goodie to report. This is the goodie. I've heard about Rainbow Generator for years, but somewhere along the line I either read or understood that they were a mechanical Systems styled electronic band. That peculiar genre of minimalistic sound sculpturing is way too static for me. However, Rainbow Generator is no such thing. They are in fact a highly inventive electronic meets space rock band. In some ways, they're like fellow countrymen Cybotron, though Rainbow Generator do not pursue the obvious Tangerine Dream temptations. With the electric guitar explosions, female and male semi-singing/narrations, didgeridoo, and synthesizer solos - Rainbow Generator conjure up images closer to that of the Cosmic Courier clan. They do use a very primitive drum machine, but it oddly recalls Klaus Schulze's "Picture Music" than anything associated with the cheesy 1980s experiments that were to be hoisted on us. Really swell stuff here for old school space rock heads like me.

I see a couple of references to a CD from 2005, but honestly it looks a bit dubious. Stays here until I hear differently. I also see the band has released some of their older material. Going to guess these are CD-R's as is often the case. Anyone know for certain?

Priority: 2

Bahamas, France

Bahamas – Le Voyageur Immobile. 1976 Motors.

I didn't get to the stereo yesterday, so here's another rarity from the main list.

Bahamas' sole album is song based progressive pop music sung in French. Relatively harmless, but does feature a few truly inspired progressions hidden within the commercial attempts. Not dissimilar to how the US groups operated in the mid to late 70s. Features a beautiful gatefold cover. I owned the LP in the early 90s, but sold. No regrets.

Priority: none

Stefan Zauner, Germany

Stefan Zauner - Narziss. 1976 Ariola.
Stefan Zauner - Prisms and Views. 1978 Teldec.

So now I have 3 monsters to tell you about (coming soon!), plus one goodie I heard last night that I should be able to post about tomorrow (I need to hear it one more time). Anyway, let's continue the clearing house of the main list. I really don't care for these Zauner albums much, but I don't think they're worthless either.

Zauner was a figure involved with the late 70's Amon Duul II albums, and that's clearly not at their best stage. With that in mind, Zauner's own solo albums show enormous potential but fall considerably short. Narziss is the more interesting, as it features German lyrics and more quality synthesizer solos ala Banks. The tone of his voice and the overall structure of some of the compositions point to a love of the early 70s Genesis albums. But there are far too many other elements at play here to call this a progressive rock album - mostly it's straight ahead vocal rock. Prisms and Views falls further down the drain, now singing in English and pretty much tossing all progressive ambitions out the window. I owned this record many years ago, and sold it as quickly as I bought it. This revisit proved that was not a mistake.

Priority: none

A Paradise is Born, Germany

A Paradise is Born - s/t. 1978 TTS Records.

Following on my lead yesterday with Sustain, I'm going to start featuring albums from the main list that never received their own post. I will use these as "gap fillers" while I await some free time to checkout the great music already sent in from The AC, MM, SF and others.

Most of these albums are in the folk or fusion category, styles I didn't feature exclusively in the past. While still not my personal favorite genres, I know many of my audience here are dedicated fans. As hinted at prior, we still have 2 monsters to inform you all of, that I'm very excited about.

I first heard A Paradise is Born back in my cassette tape trading days of the early to mid 1990s. Below are my notes from the last listen back in 2007 or so:

German folky with dual male/female vocals, that sounds more English in execution (and language of course). Parallels to Carol Of Harvest can be found, but without the progressive elements. Some nice electric guitar leads. File next to Stone Angel.

You will sometimes find this album under the name Richard Abt. This album is still largely unknown and very obscure.

Priority: none

News: The Laser's Edge to reissue Hermann Szobel!

The news continues to fly in this January. Ken has officially announced the reissue of this rare title from Arista. We featured this album long ago. You have to love an album that features the Flatiron building (maybe my favorite skyscraper architecture ever).

Ken is still determining if best fit is on his flagship TLE label or the fusion oriented Free Electric Sound. This will not be a Modulus release.

Excellent news!

Sustain, Netherlands

Sustain - s/t. 1978 private.

As mentioned on the Rhea spot, I realized I never posted about Sustain. It's definitely not a big deal, but given its rarity, I should at least put the word out. I first heard the album about 7 years ago,and had it buried in the main list.

Sustain's debut is one of those big time rarities that have collectors turning every stone over for. And when you finally here it, you go "What? That's it?" Sustain are about as generic as it gets. Slow to mid tempo rock/jazz tracks, amateur thin production, slightly spacey textures, poorly executed accented English vocals, some mild sax and guitar leads. I suppose if you look at some of the other Dutch/Flemish albums from the era, like Flyte and Isopoda, you can get an idea of their sound. It's not that its terrible or anything, but it's hard to imagine ANYONE getting too worked up about it. It's just so... so.... so....

Plain.

Priority: none

Matao (with Atilla Engin), Denmark

Matao (with Atilla Engin) - Turkish Delight. 1980 Ra Records RALP-6046

Another insane obscurity from The Alaskan Connection. As noted by the AC, Atilla Engin is a Turkish percussionist who landed in Denmark and formed a fusion group. My first thought was this is Engin's response to Oriental Wind (who were based in Sweden)! But Matao are a more fiery bunch with a strong rock component (especially in the guitar work), verse the more decidedly jazz direction of Okay Temiz's group. As if a Turkish drummer suddenly took over Secret Oyster. Not surprisingly, there's a strong slant towards Middle Eastern melodies and scales. The AC's observation about the Rock Andaluz scene in Spain is very astute as well. Another excellent discovery and well worth a CD.

The AC says: "Atilla Engin is a Turkish drummer/percussionist who emigrated to Denmark in the 1970s and formed the band Matao with local Danish musicians. It seems they only stayed together long enough to record this one LP, but what an LP it is! This actually has some similarities with the Louis Banks/Sangam record I covered recently, in that it's an intense sort of ethnic jazz-rock fusion with a strong percussive drive, but obviously in this case with Turkish influences rather than Indian. But what really sets Matao apart and pushes this album over the top is the heavy dose of complex instrumental progressive rock that they throw into the mix, often achieving a sound that bears striking resemblance to some of the classic "Rock Andaluz" groups from Spain. In fact, one of the tracks here is actually named "Rain In Spain", so that style may have been a real influence on them rather than just a strange coincidence. In any case, this is a truly choice blend here. The musicianship and production are superb, and on top of that it's a fairly lengthy LP (over 45 minutes), but remains entirely consistent all the way through, with nary a dull moment or duff track to be heard. A real gem in my opinion, that unfortunately seems almost completely unknown. After Matao broke up, Engin formed a new band (still in Denmark) called the Atilla Engin Group. Their first album, "Nazar" (1982), while not nearly at the level of this one, is also worth tracking down."

Another serious rarity. Not listed in RYM(our friend Isabel has now added it!). As with many of these titles from the AC, I personally added this to our Gnosis database.

Priority: 3 (borderline 2 - probably a couple of more listens and I'll be there!)

Rhea, Switzerland

Rhea - Sad Sorceress. 1980 private (HD 363).

And here it is - probably one of the most mythical of the sought-after releases by progressive rock fans around the world. I first heard of this title about 5 years ago from Heavyrock. Once I started to search for it, I realized it was on tons of want lists, including from some of the world's largest collectors (which would include Heavyrock!). So it sat on my want list untouched - until now. Of course, leave it to the Alaskan Connection to turn this one up. When it comes to digging for rare treasure, he has no peer.

And with that fanfare out of the way, let's reveal the big secret....

.... exciting isn't it? ....

.... Tom pulls back the curtain....

Oh NO! It's a banana creme pie! (Let's Make a Deal anyone?)

While listening to Rhea I was most reminded of another treasure I hunted down for years: Sustain** from the Netherlands.

There were a few of these kind of European progressive rock acts in the late 1970s and early 80s. Long on ideas, but short on execution. You can tell they had talent, but without the major label funding and expertise, the level of professionalism was incredibly lacking. So I thought it was very astute of the AC to call out Schakta below, as that's a very apt comparison. They are both: From 1980, Swiss, amateurish, feature cool covers, nominally progressive, and mythical for collectors. In fact, Schakta was one of my top curiosities throughout the 1990s, after first hearing about it in a 1980s issue of Marquee Magazine (Japan). My review of Schakta here.

All the same, I enjoyed this album a bit more than both Sustain and Schakta (though hardly worthy of a CD reissue). It is quite charming in its ineptitude. The melodies are not bad, and I enjoyed the organ work - which was surprisingly good. Perhaps this latter element is the separator. Most of these type of albums rely heavily on thin sounding string synths (there is that too though).

So for every Genshi-Kyodotai, there are 5 Rhea's. That is to say, for every mythical album that is great, there are 5 that are hardly worth bothering with.

So unfortunately we have no choice but to demystify Rhea. Certainly my words alone will not stop the search, nor would I recommend that. But just be prepared: Rhea isn't going to be the next Dun or Kultivator.

Don't fret - we have at least two unknown monsters to talk about in the coming days. A few things behind the scenes are being worked out first.

Here are the excellent liner notes from The AC: "Swiss private press mega-rarity that has haunted the want lists of many a prog collector for years. The only problem is that it's not very good. The stumbling, amateurish musicianship and shaky, heavily accented female vocals are no treat to begin with, but are even further marred by a lo-fi, barely produced "live in the studio" sound that quickly grates on the ears. To put it in Swiss progressive terms, these guys make Schakta sound like Flame Dream in comparison. Most of the material is very basic and song-oriented, with only one brief instrumental that doesn't exactly light the world on fire either. About the only highlight here is the lengthy second track, "Going Through the Time To Live", with its droning organ and depressingly morbid lyrics, which has a sort of anachronistic proto-prog feel. I'm afraid it's all down-hill from there, though. At least the typically crude hand-drawn fantasy sleeve art is kind of cool, but that's only going to take you so far. In any case, the band seems to have been from the French speaking part of Suisse, and the album was recorded in Montreux. Oh, the irony..."

Priority: none

** Hmm... I just realized I never posted about Sustain separately. I'll take care of that later. Believe me, you're missing nothing with that album.

News: Aztec working on Jackie Orszáczky's "Beramiada" album

Like the Steven Maxwell Von Braund, here's another one that Aztec is working on!

We featured this former Syrius and Bakery bass player's sole album here.

News: Musicbazz to reissue both Pete & Royce albums

And here's the first announcement from Musicbazz. I haven't heard the Pete & Royce (Greece) albums in ages, so I had them in the main list for a revisit. But I'll just buy the CD now! Spyros tells us: "The debut release, already pressed with only covers still pending, is the first two PETE & ROYCE albums on a single disk. Licensed directly from the band’s leader Panos Tsiros and mastered by their original keyboardist Nick Ghinos who is a professional studio owner."

Suffering of Tomorrow (1980)
Days of Destruction (1981)

News: Two new reissue labels launching soon!

I first got wind of this news from a regular reader on Saturday morning. By Sunday, I had full details. This is the most exciting industry news for the CDRWL since Ken started the Modulus label!

Long time friend and charter Gnosis member Spyros is involved with the new venture and he elaborates further: "A parent label baring the “Musicbazz” title and logo that will be dedicated to reissuing progressive, psych, folk, electronic stuff from 1965-1979. So as you can understand the musical style of the label will be somewhat multi-selective, covering a wide range of subgenres. The criteria will be simply “the greatest “unsung” albums from the aforementioned period still not on any CD or LP format”.

"A sub-label called “Cosmic Eye” focusing on post 80s stuff in the acid folk, cosmic electronics, psych doom, neokraut, avant ambient, retro progressive & space rock fields. The scope is reissues/resurrection of very rare material (previously issued only on cassettes or CDrs with minuscule original distribution) or new and promising bands."

Wow! He shared with me some of the newer bands they are seeking out, and they're exactly the type of music I love most, and are featured prominently on my Under the Radar CD blog. I'm not sure where all of the albums he mentioned to me (reissues and new) stand contract-wise, so I will refrain from posting about them just yet.

In the next post, MusicBazz has announced a couple of titles from our main list!

Very exciting!

News: Rictus debut to come out on Strawberry Rain!

Here's one that comes out of left field! Rictus band member Roland Brultey wrote in yesterday to let me know about this exciting development. I wasn't familiar with the Strawberry Rain label prior, and one look at their website showed a few other interesting releases, mostly from Indonesia. Apparently they are based in Canada, and it looks like a label worth following.

I asked Rol if the album was from the master tapes. His response: "No original tape, but a very good transfer and a restoring job which is made by one of the people restoring the Virgin and Atlantic catalogs. And on the CD, there will be bonus songs, and many photo's and an insert with the history of Rictus. I think that makes you happy guy!". And indeed it does makes me happy guy!

Thanks again to Rol for this exciting news. And to Carlos for the introduction!

We featured Rictus a little over 2 years ago.

Irolt, Netherlands

Irolt - De Gudrun Sege. 1975 Philips.
Irolt - Kattekwea. 1977 Philips.
Irolt - De Smid Van Earnewald. 1979 Philips.

These three albums were sent in courtesy of StrawbsFan (thanks again!), one of our more dedicated folk experts. As stated prior, I'm not the world's most famous progressive folk fan, but I do have an appreciation of the genre. My issues probably stem from my early childhood when my old man would torture me with his Irish/Celtic folk collection (when I just assume go out and throw the baseball with him instead...) And we're not talking the good stuff either - I mean this was the hardcore gather-round-the-pub drunken singalong stuff. But after hearing bands like Mellow Candle and Hoelderlin's Traum, that provided a whole other dimension of the folk genre for me, and I know many of you out there are big fans, so I'll report what I can with my somewhat limited knowledge / palate.

To my ears, Irolt straddle the line between progressive and contemporary folk. This is primarily acoustic folk with inventive arrangements. In this way, they are to folk what fellow countrymen Flairck are to classical music. I love hearing the Dutch language (Oops - correction. Thanks to reader Bas - the language is West Frisian. More info here.) , something that is sadly missing in almost all of the region's progressive rock recordings. If pressed for comparisons, I was most reminded of the German band Ougenweide or perhaps even the first Emma Myldenberger album. These are the Germanic equivalents of Fairport Convention and Pentangle. Though there's not really much of a rock element present here at all. Very professional and worth seeking out for fans. And the album covers are pretty cool too!

Priority: none

News: Caldera's Sky Islands reissued in Japan

Been meaning to post this for a couple of days. Out of the same series (EMI Japan) that sees the reissues of The Fourth Way albums, comes the second Caldera album. The first album was reissued years ago in Europe on EMI (2004). I haven't gotten around to writing about any of these yet, though I put a placeholder in the main list last year (which is more than I did for The Fourth Way).

News: Esoteric February and March reissues

Nothing here caught my eye from my list, but I'm sure many of you will be interested in these titles. Esoteric always does a first class job and these will most likely be the best reissues to date.

"These are as follows

Terry Riley-A Rainbow in Curved Air
Terry Riley-In C
Jan Akkerman-Talent for sale
Gary Boyle-Electric Glide
Gary Boyle-The Dancer
Touch-Touch
Dave Brock-memos and demos
Hawkwind-It is the Business of the Future to be Dangerous

Februarys titles are
Matching Mole-s/t 2cd expanded
Matching Mole-Little Red Record-2cd expanded
Lindisfarne-Back and Forth
Lindisfarne-Magic in the Air
Bill Nelson -Luminous
Omnia Opera (Delerium)--Omnia Opera/Red Shift
Colosseum 11-Strange New Flesh
Tangerine Dream-Live Miles


March titles are
Sanguine Hum---Diving Bell with 3 bonus tracks--
Tangerine Dream-Electronic meditation
Tangerine Dream-Pergamon
Decameron-Say Hello to the Band
Todd Rundgren and Utopia--Disco Jets (first Cd release outside of japan)
David Bedford-Stars End
Jim Capaldi-Whale Meat Again
Jim Capaldi-Oh How we danced"

Tempo e Modo, Portugal

Tempo e Modo - Um Mundo a Construir. 1983? private.

This one comes courtesy of our friend Isabel at Prog Not Frog. I'd never even heard of this album, and one look at the cover had me intrigued. Given that they are of Portuguese origin and supposedly from 1980, I had presumed the album would be a symphonic fusion along the lines of Tantra and Ananga Ranga (which would have been great as well). But that's not really the case at all. Primarily it's a mixture of instrumental symphonic progressive rock combined with a distinct new wave element, that tilts the album towards the neo-prog camp. This latter style, as I've noted in prior posts, was quite a good genre in its early stages, and Tempo e Modo are an excellent example of it. Think early 80s IQ / Pendragon / Twelfth Night. The instrumental tracks are the highlight here, with a strong melodic content coupled with excellent guitar and keyboard runs. A very nice surprise. This is the kind of album Musea used to release in their prime. I keep hoping, perhaps naively so, that they will dip back into the reissue market.

The date commonly affixed to the album is 1980, but as noted in the YouTube video below, I also see 1983. And that does seem more like the logical date. Isabel also posted the back cover, but it doesn't indicate when it was recorded. Pure speculation on my part, but it sure does have that early 80s New Wave of British Progressive Rock thing going on.

The YouTube below gives you an idea of their "neo prog" sound. And to consider the instrumentals are even better, Tempo e Modo is a real nice find!

Oh, and be sure to read the comments from Dom. Excellent info- thanks!

Priority: 3