Kvartetten Som Sprangde ~ Sweden

Kattvalls. 1973 Gump

UMR review

Priority: 1

***Reissued on LP by Subliminal Sounds in 2013

8/27/09 (new entry)

Alain Markusfeld ~ France

Le Monde en Etages. 1970 EMI

Le Son Tombe Du Ciel. 1971 EMI
Le Desert Noir. 1977 Egg
Platock. 1978 Egg

Contemporus. 1979 Visa / Egg

Perhaps the most unheralded of all French progressive rock artists of the 1970s, Alain Markusfeld had no less than six albums throughout the 70s and early 80s, and none have seen a CD or LP reissue.

UMR reviews

Older reviews that need a fresh listen:

Le Monde en Etages is a great psychedelic, proto-progressive type album. Has some of those unique French touches that penetrate most albums from there (effected vocal styles, weird sonic changes, experimental bits). Not to mention the sublime Hendrix styled guitar. Excellent.

More exploratory and adventurous than the debut, Le Son Tombé du Ciel is perhaps Markusfeld's finest work within a creative period that spans throughout the 1970s. He continues his love affair with Hendrix, and the psychedelic blues rock numbers on here prove it. But there's a new dimension added, one that is based in experimentalism, jazz, and folk. These latter elements show up in the incredible pleasant atmosphere, rather than as dissonant noise. In fact the last track 'Eve' is immensely beautiful, the female wordless voices taking you to a different world. This latter track seemingly the blueprint for the Lourival Silvestre "Fiction Musicale" album that would come along a few years later. Overall, an album that is very French, and I mean that as a high compliment. The album is housed in an incredible textured (single sleeve) cover and would be an excellent Japanese mini-LP candidate.

Need to review Le Desert Noir.

Priority: 1

8/23/09 (new entry)

Lethe ~ Netherlands

Lethe. 1981 M.M.P.

UMR review

Priority: 1

8/21/09 (new entry)

News: Canamii's Concept to be reissued in October!

Following Fresh Music's wonderful CD reissue of Duncan Mackay's "Chimera" comes news that Canamii's "Concept" album will be reissued this October. Canamii is probably South Africa's most overt attempt at symphonic progressive rock, right down to the Roger Dean-esque album cover. This will replace the shoddy bootlegs currently available.

Thanks to Mike M for the heads up!

News: San Michael's (pre Kaipa) album to be reissued on Belle Antique

On September 25, Belle Antique of Japan will be reissuing San Michael's debut album for the first time ever. San Michael's is Hans Lundin's (organist for Kaipa) first group. They also mention reissuing a second album called "Nattag", which I'm guessing is an unreleased album, since there's no mention of it anywhere, including the Swedish rock encyclopedia.

Not really an essential album, but one I think fans of early Swedish blues rock may enjoy. Here's our original entry for this title:

"San Michael's - s/t (Sweden) 1971 California. San Michael's is a typical early 70s song-based organ rock band with Swedish vocals, with an occasional creative instrumental to keep it interesting. Most notable for featuring Hans Lundin (Kaipa) on organ, though this isn't anywhere near the progressive rock sound of his next venture."

Pinguin ~ Germany

Der Grosse Rote Vogel. 1972 Zebra

UMR review

Priority: 2

8/15/09 (new entry)

Red ~ England

Red. 1983 Jigsaw

UMR review

Priority: 1

8/11/09 (new entry)

News: Duncan Mackay's Chimera out on CD!!!

This is BIG news for the CD Reissue Wishlist, and one of our Priority 1 wishlisters. Fresh Music, who are based in South Africa, and have already provided us with most of the great South African progressive rock releases (Freedom's Children, Abstract Truth, etc..), have released "Chimera" on CD with a 7 minute bonus track from 1990. It is our opinion that "Chimera" is the single greatest progressive rock album from South Africa. The picture is the CD cover and a slightly altered rendition of the original surrealistic LP cover, which I'm fortunate enough to own thanks to a good friend of this site.

Awesome.

News: Swiss group Circus to have debut album reissued (NOT!)

Sadly this did not happen :-(

Finally! According to their website, Sireena Records of Germany, the same label that recently reissued the debut Sky albums by Octopus, Shaa Khan, and Harlis, amongst others, will be releasing the debut album by the Swiss prog group Circus in October. Decoder reissued "Movin On" in 1992, fell quickly OOP, and there hasn't been another legit reissue of Circus' four albums since then. So this is great news for fans of the band (like myself). Hopefully Sireena will go about reissuing the remainder of their catalog, including a reprint of Circus' recognized masterpiece "Movin' On".

Shampoo ~ Belgium ***REISSUED***

Volume 1. 1971 Motors

UMR review

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Well isn't this interesting. As I update this post on 6/5/24, I learned for the first time that this album was reissued back in 1999! A label called HKM, very much a legitimate entity, released this on their "Retro" series. This was the only one they did in that series. It is not on their website, but since it's 25 years old, it's likely long OOP. One copy is for sale.

Priority: 2

8/2/09 (new entry); 1999 (complete)