Cyklus ~ Germany

Planet of Two Suns. 1979 Erlkoenig

UMR review

Priority: 2

12/31/09

Le Groupe X ~ Italy

Frrrrrigidaire. 1973 CPT

Out, Off. 1978 Radio

UMR review

Priority: 2

12/27/09 (new entry)

Hot Flash ~ USA

First Attack! They'll Never Take Us Alive. 1977 Rockwell

UMR review

Priority: 3

12/26/09 (new entry)

Living Force ~ New Zealand

Living Force. 1977 Atlantic 

UMR review

Priority: 2

12/22/09 (new entry)

News: MNW releases Arbete & Fritid's "Se upp för livet"

Thanks to reader Gal who points out that long time Swedish underground label MNW has reissued another one of their own 1970s albums - Arbete & Fritid's "Se upp för livet" (1977). Originally a double LP that apparently was part of an exhibition. I'm familiar with some of Arbete & Fritid's work, but I've not heard this title.

News: Garden of Delights latest releases

A diverse batch this time that contains an obscure folk rock band as well as a 5th Xhol live album (4th from GoD alone). Most promising, to me anyway, is the archival release of Zoppo Trump - a band I'm not familiar with at all.

Zoppo Trump review on UMR

Label descriptions below:

"Zoppo Trump from Dortmund are known in collectors' circles only for the sampler LP 'Scena Westphalica'. In addition to these tracks, this CD contains another seven studio recordings. The style of Zoppo Trump can be described as progressive rock, slightly influenced by jazz and classical music, however mostly without any wind instruments. Band member Nicky Gebhard later played in Wallenstein and Martin Buschmann, son of the well-known jazz-musician Rainer Glen Buschmann, joined Cochise."

"(Yggdrasil) The sole album by this hippie-folk group from Munich in 1972 originally didn't make it past the acetate stadium. Now these wonderful sounds, with flute, violin and English lyrics, are finally available for the first time. The CD contains the five tracks from the LP plus eight instrumentals from 1970, including the soundtrack to the TV series 'Sommer in Sizilien' ['Summer In Sicily'], as well as five demo tracks recorded in the rehearsal room. "

"XHOL - ESSEN 1970. Xhol's sound was a mix of jazz-rock and psychedelia. The band from Wiesbaden (formerly known as Xhol Caravan) stood out for their lengthy improvisations, holding barely any vocals. The band became an established underground act with their two LPs released on Ohr. This release features amazing remastered live recordings dating from 1970."

News: Pan reissues Ruphus "Man Made" album

Pan Records, the consistent - albeit sparse, Norwegian reissue label has released Ruphus' last album "Man Made" from 1980. Not the highlight of their catalog, but completists will certainly be interested. And Pan always does a solid job, working with the master tapes.

Charlies ~ Finland

Buttocks. 1970 Love

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Shadoks 2013

12/13/09

News: RPM reissues the first two BLO albums from Nigeria

Apparently December, 2009 is the time to reissue Nigerian psych albums. Earlier we announced the Academy reissue of Ofege. Now comes word that RPM, another of the many Cherry Red labels (Esoteric being the main one we follow), has reissued the first two albums by BLO (Berkeley Laolu Odumosu).

Here's what we said about the debut album:

"BLO (Berkeley Laolu Odumosu) - Chapter One (Nigeria) 1973 private. One of the more famous underground psych albums from Sub-Saharan Africa. Does contain a US psych funk vibe and isn't too far from the works of Fela Kuti, minus the deeper grooves. Shadoks has already done the LP reissue, so expect a CD sometime in the next couple of years."

Well obviously it appears Shadoks was only interested in the LP issue, or only had to rights to that format.

Should we expect an announcement for the Question Mark (Kenya) album next?

Thanks to Laser Ken for the heads up!

Sailor ~ USA

The Sailor Band. 1974 private

UMR review

Priority: 3

12/5/09

Release Music Orchestra ~ Germany

Life. 1974 Brain

Garuda. 1975 Brain

Get the Ball. 1976 Brain

Beyond the Limit. 1978 Brain
News. 1979 Brain

UMR reviews

Priority: 1

12/04/09

News: Rocket Records to reissue Paroni Paakkunainen and Kaamos

It wasn't long ago we mentioned there didn't appear to be any active label in Finland interested in reissuing classic Finnish progressive rock. I wasn't familiar with Rocket Records prior, but they're based in Finland and have reissued many albums already (outside of our scope here).

Today we learned on Progressive Ears, two albums from our wishlist are coming out on CD for the first time from Rocket Records:

Paroni Paakkunainen: Plastic Maailma (1971)
Kaamos - Deeds and Talks (1977)

Excellent news!

Malachi ~ England

Malachi. 1971 Columbia

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/30/09 (new entry)

Laurelie ~ Belgium

Laurelie. 1970 Triangle

UMR review

Priority: 3

***Reissued on LP by PhilMarie 2011

11/29/09

News: Academy Annex reissue Ofege from Nigeria

Academy Records of Brooklyn have established a new reissue label, and their first reissue is Ofege's "Try and Love" (Nigeria), one of Sub-Saharan Africa's best psych albums.

Inserts ~ USA

Out of the Box. 1983 Nozzle

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/26/09

News: Black Widow to reissue Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come

While surfing around to the various label sites, I noticed that Black Widow of Italy plan on reissuing one of the United States' rarest albums: Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come. Currently all that exists is a rather awful bootleg taken from a scratchy vinyl. The album itself is a mix of early 70s American popular rock and balls out progressive, similar to the Italian style at that time. So a good fit for an Italian label like Black Widow.

UMR review here

News: Captain Marryat CD to be reissued by Shadoks

As predicted in our Captain Marryat entry back in June, Shadoks will release the CD version of this incredibly rare album. Generally Shadoks waits longer between LP and CD issues, but I suppose they want to capitalize on the name while its still relatively hot within the collector's market.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the music. I expected the worst, but it's one that is definitely worth owning, especially if you're a fan of the distinctly UK style of early 1970s rock as found on the Dawn, Vertigo or Neon labels.

Captain Marryat ~ Scotland ***REISSUED***

Captain Marryat. 1974 Thor

***Reissued by Shadoks Nov 2009

UMR review

Priority: 2

6/20/09 (new entry); 11/22/09 (complete)

News: Long Hair to release early archival material from Aera!

As we've said before, no one turns up more interesting unreleased studio and live material than Long Hair. And usually in perfect sound! The CDRWL just learned of a new archival set coming soon from the very good German fusion band Aera. All the music here predates their original albums.

Aera - Mechelwind. 1973 Germany

The label says: "This double CD (1. 44:15 / 2. 41:41) unites absolute rarities of famous German band Aera. AERA founded in 1972 by "Ihre Kinder" guitarist Muck Groh and 2066 & Then keyboard player Steve Robinson were in their very beginnings, when they recorded their special extended version (26 minutes) "Mechelwind Suite" of their later classic title "Mechelwind" (on album "Hand und Fuss"). The Mechelwind Suite is divided into 5 parts and is rather different from the later album-version, not only because of Steve Robinson's excellent keyboard playing but also because of Muck Groh's fine guitar playing and Klaus Kreuzeder's pleasant sax tunes. CD 1 finishes with two SWF-recordings "Hodibbel" and "Mechelwind" from Oktober 1973 again with 2066 & Then keyboarder Steve Robinson. CD 2 contains a live performance of AERA from 23.12.1973 with the same line up as on CD 1. Highlights are the 15-minutes-version of "Hodibbel" and 12-minutes-version of "Papa Doing". The recordings show AERA at their very best during their first decade. Both CDs are digital remastered from the original tapes. Double CD comes with comprehensive booklet with a lot of unseen photos and band history told by founder-member Steve Robinson. A must have."

I don't believe Robinson is on any of the studio albums.

Baxter ~ USA

Baxter. 1973 Paramount

Dance of Delight. 1974 archival  

UMR review

I haven't heard Dance of Delight to date but it's being touted as far more progressive than their sole release.

Priority: 2

11/19/09 (new entry)

Abraxis ~ Belgium

Abraxis. 1977 Bestseller / IBC

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Replica Sep 2019 

11/18/09 (new entry)

News: World in Sound reissues Headstone

In news that's a bit out of scope for this list, but will surely interest our hard rock audience, Germany's World in Sound has reissued Headstone for the first time. It's a fine album, very representative of the Indiana-Ohio underground scene of the early 1970s. I'm personally fond of the album, as I lucked out out and found a pile of sealed ones in the basement of a small town Indiana music store (not a record store, but a place that sold trombones and the like to high school kids) in the early 1990s. I traded all but one of those to obtain rare progressive rock albums back in the day. I kept the other one, and plan to own it til the end.

Gutura ~ France

Des Etres Au Cerveau Apparent. 1980 Sterne

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/10/09

Lubat / Louiss / Engel Group ~ France

Live at Montreux. 1972 Les Disques Pierre Cardin

UMR review

Priority: 3

11/05/09 (new entry)

News: Wooden Hill Records to reissue Dear Mr. Time

According to a contributor on Progressive Ears, Dear Mr. Time's excellent "Grandfather" album is to be reissued by the end of the year on Wooden Hlll, Tenth Planet's subsidiary label. This is excellent news and one of our Priority 3's (maybe even Priority 2).

Dear Mr. Time, England ***REISSUED***

Grandfather. 1970 Square

***Reissued by Wooden Hill Jan 2010

A really nice big budget sounding album on a relatively small label. Somewhere between Moody Blues and the Dawn/Neon stable of bands - Czar comes to mind as well.

---

There's a more comprehensive 3xCD issued by Grapefruit in 2021 if so inclined. 

Priority: 2

7/11/09 (new entry); 11/1/09 (complete)

Update: Italian box sets are out

Earlier in the month we had been a bit dismayed by the fact that the only way to buy the new Sensations Fix CDs, is to buy the box sets with 5 other releases, most of which have been already reissued (many times).

Well, the good news is that the box sets are only $45 each. At that price point, they make more sense, especially considering that all of these have been newly remastered. They do come with sleeve inserts, as suspected, so they aren't something one would sell or buy individually.

Round House ~ Germany

'Scuse Me. 1972 Harvest

Down to Earth. 1973 Harvest

UMR reviews

Priority: 2

10/29/09 (new entry)

Von Zamla ~ Sweden

No Make Up! 1983 JA&RO

UMR review

Priority: none

10/26/09 (new entry)

News: Sensations Fix to be reissued (sort of)

The good news: We are finally going to have an opportunity to own two of the best Sensations Fix albums on CD! The bad news: In what can only be considered aggravating, you can only get them with albums that have ALREADY BEEN AVAILABLE FOR MANY YEARS. I cannot even imagine the thinking behind this. Sensations Fx would sell well enough without the assistance of other albums. And anyone who already has the others, aren't going to buy these to obtain 1/6 of the package price. I suppose the second box set isn't as bad, since you can also pick up the rare Carnascialia album, that has been OOP on CD forever.

So here are the packages:

"Boxset Vol. 1: Featuring 6 CDs among the best known names in italian progressive rock of the seventies. For some of the titles this is the first release on CD.
All masters have been digital remastered by Maurizio Biancani at Fonoprint in Bologna.

Balletto di Bronzo - YS
De De Lind - Io non so da dove vengo
Jumbo - Vietato ai minori di 18 anni
Sensations' Fix - Portable Madness
Latte e miele - Passio secundum Mattheum
Mauro Pelosi - Al mercato degli uomini piccoli"

(I'll say this for it - WOW, what a package!! The first 5 in this list are in my Top 10 of Italian prog albums! I think the Pelosi is making its debut on CD as well. (Nope! Nobuhisa is keeping me honest here - turns out Si-Wan reissued this in the late 1990s))

"Box Set Vol. 2: Featuring 6 CDs among the best known names in italian progressive rock of the seventies. For some of the titles this is the first release on CD.
All masters have been digital remastered by Maurizio Biancani at Fonoprint in Bologna.

Locanda delle fate - Forse le lucciole non si amano più
Sensations' Fix - Finest Finger
Ibis - Ibis
Roberto Cacciapaglia - Sei note in logica
G. Vivaldi/P.Minieri - Carnascialia
Stradaperta - Maida vale"

(Definitely a lesser package with only the first two being essential (and the former is easy to find). As mentioned prior, the rare Carnascialia is part of this package, so that's nice. I'm not familiar with Stradaperta).

I believe these are being released in Japan. (As Ken clarifies in the comments, they are being released in Italy and will be available for a budget price. Thanks Ken!)

Quel Giorno di Uve Rosse ~ Italy

Quel Giorno di Uve Rosse. 1976 PCC (Pro Civitate Christiana)

UMR review

Priority: none

10/14/09 (new entry)

P. P. Zahl ~ Germany

P. P. Zahl - Alle Türen Offen. 1978 Antagon

UMR review

Priority: 3

10/13/09 (new entry)

News: Stud - SWF Session 1972 (Long Hair)

When it comes to cool artifacts from the past, no one turns up more interesting items than the Long Hair label of Germany. Here's the latest, from the English band Stud (who were based in Germany by then, like Nektar and Odin), which should be released before the end of the year.

Long Hair says: "Another true classic from the SWF (German Radio Station) vaults comes with the STUD recordings from summer 1972. At that time the STUD members had said "farewell" to their English record label Decca and spent most of their time on the Continent, mainly in Germany where they were rather successful. With John Weider on violin and guitar they had just an album (September) out on BASF and played a lot of Club gigs and festivals. During their 1972 tour they were invited by radio station SWF to play a recording session at radio stations main studio U1 in Baden-Baden. There were two sessions that took place in April and Mai 1972. STUD recorded titles from their first and second album but varied the material to give the recordings a special claim. From hard rocking "Good Things", to fourteen minutes epic title "Horizon" and shining ballad "Make Me High" these recordings are an impressive prove of the bands musical bandwidth and the bandmembers' excellent technical skills. CD comes with band story. Digitally remastered from the original tape. For the first time on CD. Don't miss it."

Machine ~ Netherlands

Machine. 1970 Polydor 

UMR review

Priority: 3

10/10/09 (new entry)

News: Esoteric's October and November reissues

From Vicky Powell:

"Our October remastered releases are all dropping in to the office now . Details of tracklistings can be found on the Esoteric website www.esotericrecordings.com

These are as follows

Tony Banks-A Curious Feeling-2CD deluxe with 5.1 surround mix and promo footage and interview with Tony
Tony Banks-A Curious Feeling -standard edition

Quite a lot of interviews with Tony were done for promotion and no doubt will be popping up shortly as well as on the various Genesis specific web sites.

Barclay James Harvest-Sea of Tranquility-3CD polydor years mini box set with extended booklet and lovely artwork.

Camel-Nude-extended
Camel-I Can see Your house from here-extended
Camel-Pressure Points-extended

Steve Swindells-Messages

Igginbottom-Iginbottoms Wrench-
Stray Dog-Stray Dog (our Manticore imprint)
Stray Dog-While Youre Down there (our Manticore imprint)

Novembers titles as follows-tracklistings will be up on the site as of 1st November but if anyone desparately wants them in the meantime please email me

Pete Sinfield-Still (2Cd with large amount of alternative mixes etc) on Manticore imprint

Flash-Flash

Peter Banks-Both sides of Peter Banks

Sweet ok supersister-Spiral Staircase

Darryl Way-Concerto for Electric Violin

Made In Sweden-Made in England

Robert Calvert-Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (will not be any different to the Eclectic release in early 2007--just made re available)"

News: Musea releases Acanthe (archival)

It's been a long time since Musea has released anything from the 1970s. Here we don't have a reissue, but a very intriguing looking archival release, which I was unfamiliar with until today. Certainly one I'm interested to learn more about.

Musea says: "From the beginning, one of Musea's aim has been to re-release major French Progressive rock albums from the Seventies. The French album was proud enough to create digital versions of works by ATOLL, MONA LISA or ANGE, together with more obscure, but talented bands. How many others existed during that period, composed and performed live, without leaving any discographical trace ? ACANTHE was one of them: a group from the Grenoble area, it existed from 1973 to 1977. Thanks to Frédéric LEOZ, the original writer and composer, some original tapes were recently re-discovered, leading, after a lot of re-working effort, to "Someone Somewhere" (Musea, 2009). This release is kind of a miracle for every French Progressive rock and Seventies lover: the music of ACANTHE, although never released before, easily takes place among the best French bands of this period. It reveals influences from PINK FLOYD, GENESIS, KING CRIMSON, ANGE or THE DOORS (Some organ parts especially), but offers a personal music, mixing instrumental and sung sequences, in English or French. Well played, refined and worked-out, with beautiful guitar solos and suggestive keyboards, "Someone somewhere" is intense, full of musical ideas and inspiration. Let's also mention a recording sound many current bands would have been proud of. A must-have."

Indigo ~ Germany

Meer der Zeit. 1977 Haddenhall

Germany's Indigo - not to be confused with the Austrian post-Kyrie Eleison pop group - were a melodic progressive rock band that seem to be clearly influenced by Novalis, maintaining the slower pace, with plenty of organ, early polyphonic synths, fine nice electric lead guitar, and spacey vocals defiantly sung in German. Other references include mid to late 1970s Pink Floyd, Faithful Breath's Fading Beauty, Fly, and Minotaurus. 

Die Angel Im Gras. 1979 Stall-Studio

UMR review

Herbstwind. 1982 Stall-Studio

Priority: 3

10/6/09 (new entry)

Gash ~ Germany

A Young Man's Gash. 1972 Brain

UMR review

Priority: 2

One of the very last classic Brain albums still not reissued.

10/2/09 (new entry)

EGBA ~ Sweden

EGBA. 1974 Grammofonverket

Jungle Jam. 1976 Sonet

Egba also have eight albums after this and none are on CD! Only their last two (1989 and 2004 respectively) have been issued on CD. I've not heard any of the others beyond these first two.

UMR review

Priority: 3

9/29/09 (new entry)

News: Transubstans to reissue Anglabarn and San Michaels soon

A couple of years ago, Transubstans of Sweden (Record Heaven's house label) had pre-announced their intention to reissue the very rare pop psych folk album by Anglabarn. Then silence. Now it is finally slated for release on 9/30.

San Michael's on UMR

About a month ago, we had announced the reissue of the very rare San Michael's debut album (originally released in 1971 and features future Kaipa organist Hans Lundin), along with an archival second album called "Nattåg". At the time, it appeared they were coming out exclusively in Japan on the Belle Antique label. But it appears that is only for the Japanese mini-LP market. Transubstans is the originator and license holder. I've added the cover for the second album (the first is in the original announcement, which I'm too lazy to link to). Both of these will be released on 11/15.

Ablution ~ Sweden

Ablution. 1974 CBS

UMR review

Priority: 2

9/25/09 (new entry)

News: Sireena delays Circus' debut album. Look for new Sky reissues

Sireena has delayed the reissue of the first Circus album to an undetermined future date. That certainly doesn't sound promising.

In the meantime look for a Uli Trepte compilation archive as well as some more Sky albums from Harlis, Bullfrog, Octopus and Breakfast.

News: Long Hair's latest archival release

Long Hair again has come up with a very interesting looking release from the fantastic archival vaults of the SWF radio station. This is not available yet, but should be out within the next month.

Dieter Bihlmaier Selection (1973)

Their description follows:

"From the vaults of radio station SWF (today SWR) and previously unreleased, this fantastic group with a rather unusual instrumentation (flutes, bass, drums) blow your ears away. They played music you probably haven't heard before. Call it Free rock, living new jazz or just extremely good music, this trio is far out of any limitations. The music of the Dieter Bihlmaier Selection possesses genuine power, where explosive eruptions alternate with lyric moments. On repeated listening the music develops an irresistible pull that we wish to share with all lovers of "good music". These recordings are without any doubt not only of high musical value, they are also an absolute rarity, since unlike the two albums of the Dieter Bihlmaier Selection, they were recorded just in the trio formation flute, bass and drums and without the participation of the vibraphone player. The SWF-Recordings 1973 of Dieter Bihlmaier Selection are an outstanding musical achievement. CD comes with full coloured 12 pages booklet including band history and a lot of photos. Digitally remastered from the original master tape. If you want to listen to more...... listen to Dieter Bihlmaier Selection The SWF-Recordings 1973."

M. L. Bongers Project ~ Germany

Pacific Prison. 1978 private

UMR review

Priority: 2

9/18/09 (new entry)

Zog ~ Netherlands

Do ze Funkie Wiz Me. 1983 Disaster Electronics

UMR review

Priority: 2

9/16/09 (new entry)

Brave New World ~ Germany

Impressions on Reading Aldous Huxley. 1972 Vertigo

UMR review page for Brave New World

Priority: 1

***Reissued on LP by Wah Wah 2016

9/8/09 (new entry)