Oko ~ Croatia ***REISSUED***

Raskorak. 1976 Jugoton

Raskorak is a mix of hard rock, fusion, and funk. The guitar work here is much better than average, and that's where the interest in this record has come from. In some ways it reminds me of the Izvir album listed here, though less jazz and more rock oriented.

***We learned later this was reissued in 1998 on an obscure label called Max-Plus. Looks entirely legit.

Priority: 3

1998 (complete); 2/28/10 (new entry)

Nautilus ~ Switzerland

20 000 Miles Under the Sea. 1978 Turicaphon
Space Storm. 1980 Musk

Both Nautilus albums were released in the heyday of the Swiss private press progressive rock movement that continued through the early 80s (see Agamemnon, Plamp, Eloiteron, Schakta, and many others here in this list). 20 000 Miles Under the Sea is a bit more "proto prog" than most and carries over some harder edges (organ, guitar) from the days when Uriah Heep and Deep Purple ruled the airwaves. 

Space Storm is a considerably more commercial attempt and was my first exposure to the band some 20 years ago. I sold pretty quickly, and now that I've had a chance to revisit, I'd say it's actually worse than I remember! I wish I'd bought 20 000 Miles Under the Sea instead (if I recall correctly I had the opportunity to buy either). 

Priority: 3

2/27/10

M.O.T.U.S. ~ France

Machine of the Universal Space. 1972 Connection

Machine of the Universal Space is an album that is heavily influenced by the early 70s UK rock / progressive scene, similar to great extent to other like-minded French acts such as Iris, Total Issue, and Alice. Concerning the former, they both are on the Connection label, and both feature wonderful lilac shaded album covers.

Priority: 3

2/26/10

Lindwurm ~ Germany

Im Windschatten. 1981 Recordor

Im Windschatten is a high energy fusion album, with active percussion and some nice guitar. A light and breezy tropical flair can be found in the melodies and rhythms throughout. The album is pretty one-dimensional, with all the tracks possessing the same qualities. Even the synthesizer they use has only one sound. Like a monophonic Moog with one switch and knob. File next to the French group Spheroe and the To Be album on Brain. 

Priority: 3

Not related to the other Lindwurm from 1976. We have a separate entry for that.

2/25/10

Sirius ~ Germany

Running to Paradise. 1982 Brutkasten

Sirius' debut is one of the better Genesis inspired albums out there and compares favorably to other German bands like M.L. Bongers Project, Ivory, or Neuschwanstein. As far as these kind of albums go, Sirius is better than most of their contemporaries. In fact, had they been part of the UK new wave of progressive rock, then I could imagine them having the same kind of success as IQ, who they resemble perhaps the most.

The Three Bushes. 1984 Bear

UMR review

Priority: 1

2/23/10

Komintern ~ France

Le Bal du Rat Mort. 1971 Harvest

An all over the map type release, with just about every conceivable style being represented somewhere. Avant-rock-cabaret-jazz is about the closest I can come to making any sense of it. Fellow countrymen Red Noise (who Komintern were formed from) and Mahjun are a couple of other references one could point to. 

Even though the group were a radical left-wing political collective, there's fortunately little evidence of that here. They just let the music do the talking, as it should be. Had they still been around during the original RIO formation, they most certainly would've been a charter member.

A real mystery that this is still not on CD, since Le Bal du Rat Mort was reissued on vinyl in the 1980s on Cryonic (the predecessor to Musea). 

Priority: none

***Reissued on LP by Cryonic (1986) and Replica (2018).

2/22/10

Gas Mask ~ USA

Their First Album. 1970 Tonsil

The producer should get everyone's attention: Teo Macero (Miles Davis). As will the trumpet player for many: Enrico Rava. Big names for a completely unknown album. There are some monster tracks on here like 'The I Ching Thing' (a flute driven instrumental masterpiece) and 'Immigration Song' (another incredible instrumental with organ, trumpet, guitar, sax). A must for those who like horn rock, not quite up to the level or as progressive as Brainchild or the first Chicago, but better than most in the brass rock genre. 

Priority: 3

Discogs lists no less than 12 original pressings. Wow!

2/20/10

Fire ~ Croatia

Could You Understand Me. 1973 Killroy

Croatian group living in The Netherlands. This is one of the most guitar fuzz overload albums you'll ever hear. High energy hard blues rock, with great drumming/bass work and constant fuzz leads. Compares closest to Icecross, but this is more blues based and a bit heavier. Only misstep is a trad blues style number. Final nine minute instrumental `Flames' has to be heard to be believed. I feel comfortable going on record as saying this track has the most EVIL and MEAN sounding fuzz in the history of recorded music. Forget Archaia, this is the peak of that sound. God knows where they got those effects, but I wish more bands would use them! If you don't know what evil and mean fuzz is, get a hold of this album. Many pirate editions exist unfortunately.

Priority: 2

2/19/10

Elluffant ~ Netherlands

Release Concert. 1972 Disko Thiel

UMR review

Priority: none

***Reissued on LP by Ernst (friends of the band) in 2018.

2/18/10

Desiree ~ Germany

Make it With a Smile. 1976 Lava
Tapes. 1977 Windkraft

A very American sounding hard rock album with inventive song structures, tricky meters and high pitched underground vocals. Could have easily been from Michigan, Ohio, or Indiana. For mainstream references, early Rush or Give Us a Wink era Sweet wouldn't take you too far astray. Exceptional guitar work here. Good record, though the vocals are pretty annoying after awhile. 

I have not heard the Tapes album but gather it is similar in style. I'll make an effort to do that.

Priority: 3

2/17/10

Ceddo ~ Germany

Ceddo. 1979 Saguitarius
Aufhören. 1980 Saguitarius
Step by Step. 1983 Saguitarius

Ceddo, on their debut, is very much from the jazz school, but in the same way as Association PC and Electric Circus. Long tracks, the guitar playing gets pretty wiggy, so a real plus there. The bass plays fretless and has that warm 80's jazz sound. The drumming is scattered which is nice. Closest comparison would be Dzyan's Time Machine (more jazzy though) or maybe Alpha du Centaure's album (rhythm section not so strictly straight jazz). 

Aufhören is very similar and continues with a mixture of jazz and rock styles. Band features guitarist Jochen Schrumpf (and in fact the band is later known as Jochen Schrumpf's Ceddo), who later went onto the reformed Kollektiv. 

Step By Step begins the journey towards fuzak, with smooth jazz sax, Caribbean steel drums, cocktail-hour Spanish themes and an overall feel of a cruise ship lounge act. Despite all of that, there's still some fine guitar work. In this way, I'm reminded of Santana's 1980s output. They also have, incredibly, two more albums. So much output from such an obscure band.

Midwest Mike adds the following:

The other two titles of Ceddo are:

Ceddo & Derschau/Guine Rose Live (1981. More of a strange Krautrock?)
Ceddo/Kathexis (1987. Very jazzy)

And the Guitarist did a private solo album called Jochen Schrumph/Saguitarius (1982)

Priority: 3

2/16/10

Toto Blanke ~ Germany

Spider's Dance. 1975 Vertigo

Blanke's version of the classic Mahavishnu Orchestra style. Great compositions and amazing guitar. For me, his best work, including the Electric Circus and Association P.C. albums. Awesome cover artwork too.

Priority: 2

2/15/10

Aura ~ USA

Aura. 1971 Mercury

Aura is definitely one of the better horn rock albums out there. The movement was quite large after Chicago and BS&T became chart toppers (interesting to note that Aura were also from Chicago). However most of these horn groups tried too hard for pop stardom, and failed miserably. Or they were blues rock groups that added horns in a feeble attempt to be trendy. But Aura just kicks butt from beginning to end. They never lost focus of the horn charts and they're constantly a feature, rather than a side show for some lame songwriting. In fact, Aura are BRASSY, more than any other album I've heard in the style anyway. Also some nice sax, organ, and guitar solos to check out. Aura aren't progressive in the sense of Brainchild or McLuhan - more like BS&T if they'd amped up a bit and hadn't been so schmaltzy. Not sure if there's a market for this long forgotten style, but if there is, Aura along with Rodan and Gas Mask would have to be among the first few to get noticed for a CD reissue.

Priority: 2

2/12/10

Jean-Louis Bucchi ~ France

Sunflower. 1978 Trema

UMR review

Priority: 3

2/11/10 (new entry)

Crypto ~ Netherlands

Crypto. 1974 Pandora

Known as the Dutch Placebo, though I found this more funky and less "cool" than Marc Moulin's outfit. Fairly typical of the era, especially the synth work. The guitar and Rhodes playing is a bit more exceptional, however. Overall a good example of the European instrumental funky fusion sound. File next to Saluki, Pumpkin, and Napoli.

Priority: 3

2/10/10

Dr. Dopo Jam ~ Denmark

Fat Dogs and Danishmen. 1974 Zebra 

Cruisin' at Midnite. 1981 Dopo-Di-Doo-Platts

UMR reviews

Dr. Dopo Jam's debut was reissued in 2004 by Karma.

Priority: 2

2/9/10

Ex Ovo Pro ~ Germany

European Spassvogel. 1976 Amayana
Dance Lunatic. 1978 Amayana

Yet another fine German fusion band from the late 1970s. Both albums play a typical Eurofusion with melodic wind lines (generally supplied by sax with some flute), some good deep grooves and acid-y guitar solos and some standard late 70's CTI fusion. I could see this being the 5th or 6th Secret Oyster album if that makes sense. At its best, similar to groups like Missus Beastly or the Canterbury scene.

Priority: 2

***Both albums reissued on LP by the original label (2022)

2/8/10

Frantz ~ France

Peut Etre Aux Yeux Silence. 1971 Cat Records

Interesting French pop psych album, with female vocals / narration, organ, guitar. Not a lot of albums like this coming out of France from this era. If France Gall went underground, I could see this being the result. Fans of Popera Cosmic should check it out. Pretty cool album.

Priority: 3

2/7/10

Le Grand Nébuleux Et Les Laveurs De Consciences ~ France

Les Pirates du Cortex. 1978 Hocco Mit

Interesting and complex jazz rock album with some freer structures. It tends to get a bit shrieky in the sax department and the compositions stray towards the unhinged. But that's not to say their aren't some stellar moments as well. Rhythm section is super tight, and the guitar playing sometimes has an acidic tone, which is more than welcome. Best track, and at complete odds with the rest of the material, is a mellow hand-percussion / flute piece with quirky French voices. Had the album been more composed and less improvised, it would've been a monster. As it stands, it's still quite good.

Priority: 3

2/6/10

News: Look for 3rd Jan Dukes de Grey album in March

Well it goes to show that you never know what might turn up. Jan Dukes de Grey's "Mice and Rats in the Loft" is one of my Top 50 albums of all time, so I'm viewing this news with much interest. It's hard to tell exactly what the final result will be, but I'm most curious what they come up with. A different sounding project from 1976-1977 probably isn't going to sound anything like Mice and Rats, as it states below very clearly.

Label says: "Responsible for two of the strangest, most beguiling acid folk albums of the early 1970s, Jan Dukes de Grey have long been a legendary name on the prog/folk/psych collector circuit. When Cherry Tree reissued Sorcerers and the extraordinary Mice And Rats In The Loft on one handy double CD last year (to widespread acclaim, we might add), it seemed to be the final word on the band. However, during conversations with arch-Duke Derek Noy - the band's founder, guitarist, singer and songwriter - it transpired that Jan Dukes had actually gone on to record a third album, Strange Terrain, that had failed to appear at the time, largely due to the emergence of punk and the ensuing Collapse of Western Civilisation As We Know It. And here it is, complete with a handful of bonus tracks cut during the same timeframe (including the novelty single 'Standing In A Little 'Ole', issued under the band's punk-era pseudonym Rip Snorter). Recorded across 1976-77 under a production deal with Pink Floyd (Roger Waters produced and mixed two of the tracks), Strange Terrain reflects Derek Noy's desire to approach each album as a separate project rather than endlessly remake the same record. Dark, sombre and mysterious, Strange Terrain retains the boundless spirit of adventure and idiosyncratic approach to music-making that characterised their earlier albums, and is a vital addition to Jan Dukes de Grey's small but fascinating body of recorded work."

(08/27/2010 note: OMG - this is AWFUL. It's worse than I could have ever imagined).

Fred Israel ~ Denmark

Fashions of Moon. 1977 Hookfarm

UMR review

Priority: 3

2/4/10 (new entry)

Munju ~ Germany

High-Speed Kindergarten. 1976 April 

Moon You. 1977 Schneeball

Brot + Spiele. 1979 Schneeball 

Le Perfectionniste. 1982 Exil

UMR reviews

All the masters are apparently lost. To date, the band seems content to offer their music for free as a download, rather than as a proper reissue. 

Munju's albums can be downloaded by request from the band. Details here from their website. (link updated)

Priority: 2

2/1/10 (new entry)