The Selection ~ Germany

Pop In Action. ?? private

Pop In Action is a private press from an era (supposedly) when such things were unheard of, especially in Europe. Though careful study of the Discogs release notes makes me suspicious that it was actually released back in the day. A lot of hearsay and third party copies are referenced. The labels looks like a later 70s or 80s release to me. The recording date of late 1969 is much more believable, however. Likely an archival release, and pressed in small quantities, so no doubt it's rare regardless. Also to note that none of the musicians or producers ever turned up anywhere else. 

Musically, there are many ties to what we find here in America, albums that did get released real time. All over the place musically, with a definite psychedelic approach in tone and outlook. Once again we hear the creativity of Sgt Peppers, and what impact that album had on many young minds of the era. Frank Zappa and The Mothers also gets referenced. There's a bit of incompetence, which becomes more apparent in the folkier sections. These are traits, of course, that only add to the allure for many collectors. 

Though German, there isn't a hint of the burgeoning Krautrock movement. It completely misses the cosmic aura, and the angst of the scene. Which isn't entirely surprising when one considers the 45's released in Germany in the late 60s, mostly influenced by England and the USA.

A fun artifact, though not likely to be in anyone's favorite column. Except maybe those who prize rarity over quality.

Priority: none

Crusade ~ Netherlands

Small And Blue. 1974

This album has never been released in physical form. It's an archival recording that has been shared on Bandcamp. I can't even recall how I heard about it, but I'm glad I did (probably RYM now that I see it there). My eyes perked up as soon as I saw Cleem Determeijer as the keyboardist. He of Finch fame, and a long time personal favorite band of Genius Hans. The album was professionally recorded and was ready for release when things fell apart. A simple Google search will get you to the page that I'm listening to right now. 

The music is very much in the Dutch school of melodic prog rock. Flute is one of the key drivers of the solo instrumentation, always a good sign. Focus is one of the obvious influences, though I would think most Dutch bands would have followed that course back then. One can hear the music of Finch here, mostly from the songwriting, not so much the energy or instrumentation. Determeijer, for his part, contributes mightily with his Hammond organ (and even some pipe organ). ELP most certainly gets referenced as well, especially on the instrumental parts. The vocals are a little bland, yet another hallmark of the The Netherlands scene. 'Circle of Light' sounds like something out of early 70s Italy and is arguably the most progressive track here. 'Angel of Death' sounds like a modern recording and has been appended to the album.

There are a total of 15 tracks (not counting the final one), more than enough for the planned single and album. No idea what was slated for release.

I'm voting for a physical release, whether on CD or LP. I think it would be well received.

Priority: 2

4/17/26 (new entry)

Scarab ~ Finland ***REISSUED***

Scarab. 1983 private

While the early 80s neo prog movement would seem solely the provenance of the UK, and most of the known progenitors are from the area, there were other bands drawing similar conclusions from all over the world. Germany and The Netherlands had a pretty strong scene, where Genesis was the lead influence, going back to the late 70s. But there were also some serious obscurities, whose identity have only surfaced in the internet age (not counting the multitude of tapes). Groups like Nexus Erratic and Tempo e Modo come to mind. You can add Scarab to that short list.

While the cover gives the impression a heavy metal album awaits, the album is very much in the vein of Kyrie Eleison, Ivory, IQ, and, of course, Genesis. It was still early days of the movement, in faraway Finland, so they were more likely to be influenced by the originators than the Marillion's of this world. Violin adds a nice touch, recalling Solstice.

Interesting to read multiple reviews pointing to Kansas. Guessing the violin plays a role in that observation. But I'm rather certain Steve Walsh never sounded like Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins. This isn't brash music in that American way, but rather a more subtle European approach. I realize I'm way too immersed into the sound of the American Midwest prog scene, of which Kansas was the torch bearer, so it's just my filters tend to be oversensitive.

The band evolved into Ageness, a group that I've somehow managed to miss all these years.

Was all set to assign a Priority here, when a little further research shows the album was reissued on CD.

It's a bit hidden, but the album was reissued under the Ageness moniker, though the cover features the original artwork. It also features a full concert from 1983 with what appears all original material not found on the LP. 

***Reissued by the band in 1995.

4/16/26 (new entry)

Flame Dream ~ Switzerland ***REISSUED***

Calatea. 1978 Philips
Elements. 1980 Vertigo. (To be reissued on their own label in 2024!)
Out In the Dark. 1981 Vertigo (To be reissued on their own label in 2024!)

***Calatea has just been reissued by the band in Apr, 2026, so we can now close this group off. Finally. One of the most requested bands to have their albums on CD. It was 17 years ago that we added this to the blog, and I can assure you people were calling for these since the 90s.

---5/30/09

One of the more known groups on this list, Switzerland's Flame Dream managed to get their albums distributed pretty well around the world. I've had all three on LP for years. One of the last of the major label progressive bands, debut Calatea and Elements are both very strong symphonic efforts, both with complex melodies and arrangements. Out In the Dark begins to creep slowly into the AOR world, but is still nice enough to consider for reissue. After this, they headed pretty fast into pop irrelevance. Though I'm sure those albums have their fans too.

Priority: 1

5/30/09 (new entry); 4/10/26 (complete)

Nite People ~ England

P.M. 1970 Page One

There aren't a whole of lot of English rock bands from the late 60s and early 70s that are relatively unknown, but I think Nite People qualifies. It's a band that missed my personal radar all these years, and I'm not exactly new at this. In addition to this LP, Nite People released no less than seven 45s between 1966 and 1970.

OK yea, I can see how this one wasn't offered my way. P.M. is a type of psychedelic blues, of which many British bands had gravitated to from the late 60s on. It's not pure electric blues like Cream, Savoy Brown, or early Fleetwood Mac. Nor does Nite People have a full-time sax or flute player, so that fact also keeps the album from moving in a more progressive direction similar to peers like Raw Material, Hannibal, Aquila, and Diabolus. But in between these bookends, the sound of Nite People emerges. The distorted electric guitar, along with the Hammond organ, adds to the psychedelic aura. Another problem, if we are to call it that, is the album lacks original material. Only two tracks out of ten were penned by the band (A1 and A5). However, their covers are inspired choices, with Sandy Coast's 'North Canadian Paradise' being the most obscure, Curtis Amy's 'Native Land' the most creative, while Frank Zappa's 'Peaches en Regalia' arguably represents the highlight. The latter closes the album giving the impression the album is more progressive rock oriented than it truly is. And you can hear what Nite People would have sounded like with a stronger sax presence.

Page One was an interesting label. Most known for releasing the The Troggs, their best selling album was likely to have been Vanity Fare's Early In The Morning, a very common LP that was pressed everywhere including the States. But the label also released the holy grail An Apple a Day, as well as music from the Dutch beat group Sandy Coast that are highly sought after. P.M. was not only released in the UK, but also in France (with arguably the better cover), Australia, and New Zealand. Despite these multiple pressings, P.M. is another one of Page One's tough scores if in the market for an original.

Discogs does list a CD, but it lacks provenance, and is highly likely not to be licensed. So we'll add this review here.

Priority: 3

4/9/26 (new entry)

Big Amongst Sheep ~ England

Striding Edge. 1980 private (MC)
Terminal Velocity. 1982 Rock Solid
Syndrome. 1983 Rock Solid (MC)

Here's a band I was familiar with way back in the day. They were sold through Lotus Records, a prog rock specialist mail order concern from England, and one of the earliest catalogs I ever received from the genre (1983 / 84 time frame). That's where I learned about bands like Haze, Pendragon, Twelfth Night, Red, and many more from the UK.

Then I completely forgot about Big Amongst Sheep. I mean completely. It was only recently I saw their Terminal Velocity album being sold online, and not for very much. Oh yea, I remember them! Never did hear their albums and don't recall ever having them on a wantlist, which tells me that Lotus Records wasn't hyping them as a prog band (at the very least). I think I might have those old catalogs here somewhere, and see what they originally said.

In researching the album, the data out there is also confusing. RYM says it's Space Rock. Discogs has the LP labeled as Space Rock too. However, same website has the cdr (not CD, hence it's placement on this blog) listed as New Wave, Pop Rock, Synth-Pop, and Power Pop. Truth is, it's all the above. You won't find it in ProgArchives (and yea, it would qualify). Even with Hawkwind's Nik Turner guesting on winds (and his presence is obvious), the album remains somewhat unknown. Given the latter's presence, I'm sure that's why the Space Rock tag was applied, something of a knee jerk reaction. 

Personally I was hoping for music like the great unheralded Body Album or maybe a proto Omnia Opera. No such luck. While listening to it, one can understand why this album has fallen through the cracks. It's certainly not proggy or trippy enough to capture the space rock audience. But it's not tough or snotty enough to appeal to punkers. It lacks hooks, and they hardly are a match for the synth pop stars of the day like Duran Duran or Depeche Mode. They have no feminine tendencies whatsoever. They look like your typical smelly English pub band from the early 80s. I'm more reminded of The Clash but with synthesizers, flute, sax, and more variety.

So what do you do with this album? It's way too arty for their preferred music choice. And yet not near arty enough to crossover to a different audience. All this to say, it's not a bad album at all. I can appreciate an album that sounds unique within expected boundaries. But I can't hear who the target audience may have been. And even for today, it's easy to understand why there's been no revival. The pseudo punky-space rock-power pop album. There's a niche audience for you.

As for their two cassettes, the debut is labeled by Discogs as Experimental and Post Punk. And the latter as Space Rock. RYM abdicated their responsibility on these. Your guess is as good as mine as to what the truth is.

Priority: none

4/8/26 (new entry)

Kevin Fisher ~ USA

The First of Fisher. 1977 P. Pan

From Los Angeles, California, The First of Fisher has drawn some interest in the prog world. According to Discogs, only 75 were made, though who knows how accurate that total is, and what the source of the number is. If there was an interview with Mr. Fisher about this album, I missed it. Based on what I'm reading below, the total is suspect. But it would be fair to presume it was a limited run.

This is one of those lo-fi private pressings that have a built-in audience. My mind wandered over towards the Michael Angelo album, a work released in the same year. The recording is fairly muddy, but that only adds to the allure. It's a mix of classical bombast, low key folk, some sizzling extended guitar soloing, jazz pop, horn rock, and drum solos. The final track is a ripping psych oriented number, with horns, denying its 1977 heritage.

A little detective work finds him on the internet! Here you go. He doesn't talk about this album at all, though he wrote songs for TV, movies, and other artists. He is not an unknown musician, but as a solo artist, he is unknown. We learn elsewhere this was an album made for a high school play. Now we're getting to Tom Nehls and Richie Duvall territory, other high school whiz kids who released all-over-the-place albums. Fisher's album is not as engaging as those two from a progressive rock perspective, though it's still a fun listen.

Priority: 3

4/7/26 (new entry)

Lindwurm (76) ~ Germany ***REISSUED***

Fruhjahr 76: Erinnerungen an Klaus. 1976 private

***Reissued by Garden of Delights Dec 2025

---1/15/11

There are two obscure bands from Germany in the 70s and 80s named Lindwurm. Now why would two groups name themselves after a skin rash? Ahh, it turns out Lindwurm is a type of dragon. Which is obvious from the front cover of course. Not.

So let's talk about the first Lindwurm to market, with their incredibly obscure Fruhjahr 76: Erinnerungen an Klaus (translating to Spring 76: Memories of Klaus). Whoa - this is really deep in the basement hard rock right here. Recently I wrote about another very obscure German band called Florian Geyer. They had a single from 1974 named 'Candle of My Burial / Monday Afternoon' that was incredibly crude. Compared to Lindwurm, that single might as well have been recorded and produced by Alan Parsons at Abbey Road.

It's amateur hour all the way. But there's a certain charm in hard rock music such as this. It's not terrible by any means, and there's some excellent guitar work throughout. But they had a long way to go before they would have entered a proper studio.

As for its rarity, yea this one is the real deal. Looks like my friend Lev missed out on a deal at 7000 Euros. Turns out the only copy in the wilds today is going for 10000 Euros and it's never been for sale on ebay - nor have I ever seen it in a rarities catalog going on some 30 years now. That's a lot of balloons!

Garden of Delights announced their intent to reissue this... oh, when was it? After the fall of the Berlin Wall I think. Not really sure it's worth a reissue to be honest, but for deep dive obscurists it certainly will be the only way 99.999% will have a chance to own it properly/legally.

Priority: 3

---1/15/11

Long time Gnosis friend, and German underground expert, Lev Gankine has provided some fascinating data regarding the first Lindwurm listed:

"I've got interesting news about the first Lindwurm LP. I'm just back from Moscow record fair and believe it or not I have seen the record there, but couldn't buy it because the price was way higher than I could afford. But I held it in my hands for a while and even got to listen to the first track, which is pretty amazing power-trio heavy psychedelic blast! Definitely would like to hear the whole LP one day!

What is also interesting is that I now have a tracklist of the album (meticulously copied from the original cover) as well as other bits of the info that were on the LP - and it appears that this Lindwurm was hardly related to the band that did the "Im Windschatten" record. Although the cover doesn't state clearly who plays what on the "Fruhjahr" LP, there's a list of the musicians, and no one from it is on "Im Windschatten" unless they used pseudonyms. The sound is highly different too, according to the first track at least. So currently it is my understanding that there were two bands called Lindwurm in Germany.

By the way, Klaus who they refer to in the album title, is a deceased friend of the band whose photo graces the back cover, and the album is dedicated to his memory.

Hope this will be interesting for you and for your blog's readers!"

---8/7/12

And Lev has confirmed now that it is indeed a different group! Here is his review: "I suspected this for a long time, but now, after getting hold of a copy of this elusive album, can confirm 100% that this is a different band from the one that recorded "Im Windschatten" 5 years later. This Lindwurm is a basic heavy rock combo, for fans of Grave, Arktis, Kaputter Hamster, Rockport and the likes, and the album is dedicated to a deceased friend of the band (pictured right here on the back cover), which probably explains why they are totally ripping it in terms of energy and dedication - they've put their souls into this thing for sure! Actually, this is what ultimately makes the record listenable and even charming in its own way, because musically it's rather meh - bloozy heavy rock that only get saved by a few extended Hendrixoid guitar jams. The recording is rather crude too, and apparently at least a part of this material was recorded live, because at some point I can clearly hear the unforgettable high-pitched squeal of a microphone that was placed too close to a monitor or something like that."

1/15/11 (new entry); 8/7/12 (update); 3/15/26 (complete)