CD Reissue Wish List

Compass, USA

2012-02-03T07:21:00.004-06:00

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."

As of this writing, it's not listed in RYM.

Priority: none

Wintauge, Germany

2012-02-02T07:47:00.005-06:00

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

2012-02-01T07:22:00.006-06:00

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

2012-01-31T17:25:00.005-06:00

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

2012-01-29T08:00:00.005-06:00

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

2012-01-28T09:00:00.003-06:00

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 fail 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

2012-01-27T06:28:00.005-06:00

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!

2012-01-26T14:10:00.006-06:00

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

2012-01-26T09:16:00.004-06:00

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

2012-01-25T07:39:00.005-06:00

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. 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

2012-01-24T06:27:00.004-06:00

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 sound strong 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

2012-01-23T20:17:00.002-06:00

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

2012-01-23T07:07:00.003-06:00

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!

2012-01-23T06:48:00.005-06:00

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!

2012-01-23T06:30:00.004-06:00

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

2012-01-22T08:25:00.008-06:00

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

2012-01-21T10:36:00.004-06:00

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

2012-01-21T10:24:00.001-06:00

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

2012-01-20T06:20:00.006-06:00

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

Robin Runge, USA

2012-01-19T06:37:00.005-06:00

Robin Runge - Don't Give Up the Ship. 1974 QCA.
Robin - Don't Give Up the Ship. 1977 Century.

Apparently Mr. Runge decided to skip his Creative Writing class or he really, really doesn't want you to give up on the ship (though perhaps a recent Italian captain would have benefited from such sound advice). Regardless of the motivation, these two distinct albums caused quite a bit of confusion for this author anyway.

The second album listed was in the November pile of CD-R's sent in from Midwest Mike. If I'd read his email more clearly, I would've have noticed he mentioned the first album as well. And he sent that along recently too. Thus the delay in posting about it here.

(As an aside, the last album from that November pile is going to be a real revelation. Because there is a lot of activity surrounding it behind the scenes, I haven't written about it yet.)

We'll start with the second, and better album. Though his name is Robin Runge, the male/female duo on this album is known as Robin. The album was recorded and released in 1977 on the Christian oriented Century label (same label behind The Search Party's "Montgomery Chapel"!). The album overall is primarily an acoustic, but sophisticated folk rock work, with plenty of synthesizer to add color. The guitar playing is clearly inspired by Steve Howe and the vocals have a pleasant lilt like Jon Anderson. Could have been a song based Yes album from the same time period (1977-78), with overt Christian, rather than Eastern religious / mystic based lyrics. A good progressive folk album from an unlikely source.

The 1974 album is considerably more raw and amateurish as can be expected from a one man band - though there still is plenty of keyboards, including a cool mellotron blast to open the album. Of interest to local DFW readers - one track is recorded live at Six Flags over Texas in Arlington.

There's lots of misinformation out there (understandably) regarding these two albums. For example, the current RYM entry shows the cover of the 1977 album with the 1974 date.

Priority: 3 (for the 1977 album)

Louis Banks' Sangam / Jazz Yatra Sextett, India

2012-01-17T07:18:00.008-06:00

Louis Banks' Sangam - City Life. 1982 CBS (UK).

Also released in Germany as Jazz Yatra Sextett - Sangam on Eigelstein Musikproduktion.

Oh man, I'm so far behind. There are so many great rarities to talk about, but I'm struggling to get up for air and hear them. The Alaskan Connection has turned in some mighty fine gems in the last few weeks - which I'm sure most of you will be interested in. As mentioned at the beginning of the year, the real job is starting to heat up, so time is becoming an even more precious commodity. OK on to the show - let's see if I can get a few of these out anyway.

Back in the 1980s, one of my favorite discoveries was Embryo's Reise (1980 Germany). Embryo was only a name I'd seen in passing to that point, and so I took a chance on this sprawling double album that documented their musical and literal journey through Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Even to this day, I think it's one of the most successful East meets West blending of styles. A true fusion of cultures. Back then, I had presumed perhaps there may be similar bands from the regions they had ventured to. 25 years on, without much evidence to support that theory, I had pretty much given up hope.

Until The Alaskan Connection sent in this gem from Louis Banks' Sangam. Certainly I'm familiar with L. Subramanian, Vasant Rai and others, but its clear right from the get-go that Banks' album is different - much more of the underground rock fusion that Embryo had provided my ears years earlier - and as you will read below, that is not coincidental. Not all of the ideas on the Sangam album work or flow perfectly, but it's exciting to know that an indigenous artist from India was exploring the vast reaches of the 70s jazz and rock underground.

Here are the fantastic "liners", as it were, from The AC:

CBS: IND 1006, 1982, UK

"Louis Banks (real name Dambar Bahadur Budaprithi), is an Indian jazz pianist who's worked with some of the big names in the jazz/fusion scene, including John McLaughlin. In the early 80s he got together with percussionist Ramesh Shotham and a group of musicians from the Karnataka College of Percussion to form the band Sangam, with the clear goal of mixing jazz-rock fusion with the virtuosic traditional music of India. They went on tour in Europe, and ended up collaborating with Embryo, who Shotham (the composer of all of Sangam's material) would play with off and on throughout the 80s. The group apparently didn't stay together for too long, but their album, recorded in Munich and co-produced by Christian Burchard, is a great piece of classic jazz-rock/ethnic fusion that has remained surprisingly obscure, despite its notable lineage. The first side is dominated by a massive, nearly side-long track, reaching a frenzied level of intensity that will leave your head spinning. Things calm down and get a bit moodier after that, but the standard remains very high throughout. Now, the strange thing here is that there are actually two different versions of this album. The first was released on the small German label Eigelstein under the title "Jazz Yatra Sextet", followed less than a year later by the CBS version reviewed here. Having heard both of them, I can say that the track orders are completely different, as are some of the track lengths, although the recordings themselves seem mostly identical. I'm only speculating here, but I think what might have happened is that once they received a little bit of exposure in Europe and got signed to a major label, they decided to re-arrange the material a bit to better suit their liking. However, the CBS version actually seems to be the rarer of the two, oddly enough."

Not listed in RYM (oh good, it's there now - Isabel added it!)

Priority: 3

News: P-Vine (Japan) to release Marc Moulin; Plus

2012-01-17T06:56:00.006-06:00

Perhaps not surprising news, given that the Placebo albums have recently been given the royal treatment from P-Vine. March 14th is the projected release date for Moulin's 1975 album "Sam Suffy". Personally I think the album is a slight step down from the Placebo albums, but still quite good.

As well, P-Vine will be releasing a very rare 1972 album by the Belgian group Plus. I haven't heard this album, though it appears to be in a similar vein - and there is some cross-pollination between the groups. Plus is also scheduled to be released on 3/14.

News: Creole Stream (Japan) reissues Svenska Löd AB!

2012-01-16T08:18:00.006-06:00

This is the second album we've run across from the mysterious Japanese label Creole Stream (the other was the German jazz rock obscurity Namaz). Since Heavyrock owns that CD I was able to review it, and it looks entirely legit. Still, I was hesitant to rush this news off until I checked with a music industry friend in Japan. He said he wasn't sure about Creole Stream. So I think we'll consider them legit until we hear otherwise.

Reader Bacoso also wrote in to let us know about this reissue. I'm definitely going to pick it up for myself.

We featured this album nearly two years ago when I thought the name of the band was Horselmat.

News: EMI Japan reissues 2 of the 3 Fourth Way albums

2012-01-16T08:09:00.004-06:00

That header sounds like a math formula doesn't it? This news comes courtesy of Mike M. via Laser Ken. I'm not sure why I never put The Fourth Way into the CDRWL - as I own the vinyl of Werwolf and it definitely fits our scope. Fourth Way are yet another band who were really jazzers but experimented with rock textures and instrumentation.

So the debut and the third album "Werwolf" have been reissued. No word on the live album "The Sun and Moon Have Come Together" which was recorded in 1968, but not released until 1970.

VSOP, Japan

2012-01-11T05:45:00.006-06:00

VSOP - s/t. 1973 London / King.

Ahhhh, finally a band from Japan that doesn't require me to type a book as the title! :-)

Here's the last of the Japanese rarities sent in by The Alaskan Connection, though we have a few more non-Japanese albums to cover, including one that's a total mindblower! For me anyway...

VSOP are a fairly typical early 70s blend of blues rock and various other styles. Side 1 is a pedestrian "trail mix" of genres, whereas Side 2 has a nice raw, grungy underground feel about it (and it's a live concert recording). This latter element recalls the Argentinian blues psych scene such as Pappo's Blues or Cuero.

Fortunately for us, The AC has provided a much more insightful review:

"London/King Record (Pop Shop): SKD (L) 1018, 1973, Japan

Side 1:

1 - Shizuka da kara

2 - Ame

3 - Omiyage

4 - Henji wa Irimasen

5 - Tengoku e Ikou

Side 2:

(Recorded Live 3/31/73)

1 - Haru

2 - Yuuwaku sarete

3 - Shinkyokushoukai:

- Chotto dake yo (Taboo)

- Shizuka da kara

4 - Kami ni Sugaru Yowaki Mono ni Utau Uta

Hard rock/heavy psych rarity by this largely unknown unit. Led by guitarist/vocalist Kazumi Mukai, they manage to kick up a pretty good racket here. The first side is a regular studio recording and runs the gamut from blazing guitar-led heavy rock to psych ballads, standard blues rock, etc, and features some fine songwriting throughout. The action really picks up on side two, a live concert recording from early '73. Long, jamming tracks filled with blistering heavy fuzz guitar soloing that will peel the paint off your walls if played at the proper volume. A very good album in this style, and should be a lot more well-known. Cool cover art, too. They also released an even more obscure second LP in 1975 called "Epilogue", which I haven't heard but apparently saw them heading in a less interesting pop-rock direction, as well as a few singles."

And like The AC, I love albums that peel the paint off the wall! Would be interesting to know if they had some archival material from this era.

Priority: none

Galorn, France

2012-01-10T06:35:00.005-06:00

Galorn - s/t (aka Jezaig). 1978 Velia
Galorn - s/t (aka Sands et Derobee). 1980 Velia

This one comes in courtesy of StrawbsFan, who has sent in a nice batch of folk and electronic rarities that we'll also be covering this month.

Galorn are one of many participants in the 1970s/80 Breton folk scene. I haven't really focused too much on the genre for the CDRWL (though I own my share of Malicorne albums), but I do have some peppered throughout the main list and a few more featured on the blog. And while the music is no doubt folk first and foremost, there are underground progressive elements in all of these albums to crossover to our interest area. I'll probably pull a few more out to feature over time.

I've only heard the first album to date, but it's on the darker side of the genre. This isn't gather by the campfire and put-your-hands-together music. Rather these are musical representations of the mystical Dark Ages. The kind of sound that might keep you up all night if you're easily spooked. Violin, flute, acoustic guitar, hand percussion and bass make up the instrument palette, and the atmosphere is misty and haunting. The album cover itself (top one) gives a pretty good idea of the contents within.

Priority: none

Toshio Tanioka / Tom & Jerrys, Japan

2012-01-09T07:47:00.004-06:00

Toshio Tanioka / Tom & Jerrys - Nippon Minyou In New Country. 1972 Tam (Toho)
Toshio Tanioka / Tom & Jerrys - Human Being. 1973 Tam (Toho)

Here are a couple more major Japanese rarities sent in by the Alaskan Connection. This is stuff you can't find listed anywhere (including Rate Your Music). The 70s Japanese underground continues to reveal mysterious recordings not heard of prior. We're in 1600's era exploration mode for the modern age.

I'll admit that many of these albums are difficult to absorb at first. Similar to how we were first able to listen to Zeuhl or Krautrock or Canterbury. At some point all of us into experimental music made a leap from normal convention. To illustrate what I mean, perhaps I should use a food reference. It should come as no surprise that I'm also very much into exploring restaurants as well as trying new beers. One thing you notice over the years is tolerance for different flavors and styles. In effect, you train your palate to be able to distinguish the various ingredients and tastes. I feel the same about music. One has to train their ear palate as it were.

For this particular brand of Japanese rock music, my ear palate is untrained. I have a particular aversion to anything "country", and yet I found both of these albums fascinating. Tanioka has a smooth voice, almost like Marty Robbins (my Old Man had a pretty large C&W collection, so I do have some background knowledge of the genre). As well, harmonica is an instrumental that usually has me coiling in despair, and yet here it has a gratifying Spaghetti Western scene setting mood about it. There's also plenty of loose underground rock sections as well, so this isn't something out of scope.

The Alaskan Connection, on the other hand, has an advanced ear palate for this genre. So that's one reason (of many) on why I copy in his reviews- especially for those that are right there with him. So take it away AC!

Toshio Tanioka & Tom & Jerrys - Nippon Minyou In New Country

Tam (Toho): MX-4001, 1972, Japan

Toshio Tanioka - Violin, Guitar, Harmonica. Taisho-Goto, Percussion

Kazuo Mizobuchi - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar

Yuichiro Toyama - Electric Guitar. Acoustic Guitar

Iwao Tsujita - Electric Bass, Piano, Cembalo

Shotaro Tanaka - Drums, Percussion

Side 1:

1 - Soran-bushi

2 - Tabaru-zaka

3 - Kobiki-uta

4 - Taue-uta

5 - Dompam-bushi

6 - Suisen no Hana

7 - Kiso-bushi

Side 2:

1 - Itsuki no Komori-uta

2 - Tairyo utaikomi

3 - Chamomi-uta

4 - Kuroda-bushi

5 - Asadoya Yunta

6 - Aizu-Bandaisan

7 - Kokiriko

Toshio Tanioka & Tom & Jerrys - Human Being (Ningen De Aru Koto)

Tam (Toho): AX-4005, 1973, Japan

Toshio Tanioka - Violin

Kazuo Mizobuchi - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar

Yuichiro Toyama - Electric Guitar

Iwao Tsujita - Electric Bass

Shotaro Tanaka - Drums

Kazuko Katagiri - Lyrics

Side 1:

1 - Yukidoke

2 - Mike to Tama

3 - Kaminari

4 - Rengesou to Tentoumushi

5 - Okiwasureta Natsu

Side 2:

1 - Akimatsuri

2 - Taian Kichijitsu

3 - Asamoya no Naka de

4 - Furikaereba

5 - Kamakura

Toshio Tanioka is a violinist who made the rounds as a studio session-man in the early 70s Japanese rock scene, even scoring a playing credit on Yosui Inoue's "Koori no Sekai", probably the biggest selling Japanese pop/rock album of the entire decade. Soon afterward, he struck out on his own as the leader of the group Tom & Jerrys. Initially conceived as something of a country-rock band (American country music having a surprisingly large following in Japan), what they ultimately came up with bore scant resemblance to that style. You'll notice from the title of their first LP that, much like the Jirou Inagaki "Dousojin" album which I recently covered, this is another attempt at fusing traditional Japanese "minyou" folk songs with the emerging New Rock movement (or in this case "New Country", confirming their self image as a country-rock band). However, far from standard Japanese folk styles and even farther from any kind of country music you might have heard, the concoction they brewed up here is an exquisite mixture of deep, earthy Japanese folk-rock and languid jazzy psych that is nothing short of extraordinary. There's an incredible emotional depth to this work, something that's very hard to put into words. Each note is perfectly placed, seemingly filled with a deeper meaning related to the whole. The songs are compact and precise, with no wasted or excessive effort, but still fluid and expansive, filled with fascinating small details and nimble musical diversions. Kazuo Mizobuchi's vocals are incredibly beautiful, calm and reflective but filled with melancholy. All of these elements weave together to create an elevated, almost sacred atmosphere that seems to emanate from the very soul of old Japan. A haunting masterpiece which words fail to adequately describe.

Now, how does a group of mere mortals follow up such a transcendent work of art, merely a year later? Well, there's no way they really can, but "Human Being" is still a wonderful album in its own right. Leaving the traditional adaptations behind and concentrating on their own compositions, they created a fully realized concept album using the passing of seasons as an analogy for growing up and aging. A more light-hearted folk-rock sound predominates, and at times their country-rock roots finally come to the fore. But the musical imagination, impeccable performances, and focus on creating a unified whole all make this much, much more appealing than that description might imply. A subtle undercurrent of psychedelia is still present, and the many interesting sound effects and sonic colors evoke a palpable atmosphere, creating a sort of received nostalgia for a childhood spent in the rural Japan of an era long since passed. Aside from these albums, the group also appeared on the soundtrack of the film "Nippon Sanjuushi", which resulted in a single featuring a couple more original songs.

These LPs were both released on the Tam label, a subsidiary of the famous Toho film studios. Japanese prog fans might recognize this as the same label that also released the excellent Yasuo Inada and Bemi Family LP, but that minor classic is practically growing on trees compared to the mind-numbing level of rarity we're dealing with here. Even in Japan, these incredible albums are almost completely unknown. I sincerely hope that this lamentable situation will be rectified by a full reissue campaign at some point in the future. But until that time, Toshio Tanioka & Tom & Jerrys will remain one of Japan's greatest buried musical treasures.

Serious rarities for sure. And we've covered the Yasuo Inada and Bemi Family here on the CDWRL prior.

Priority: none

Thanks to Shige, a very knowledgeable fan of Japanese rock as well, we have a YouTube video we can share.

Mio Hani / Osamu Kitajima, Japan

2012-01-06T07:12:00.005-06:00

Mio Hani / Osamu Kitajima - Mio to Juuippiki no Neko. 1972 Warner Pioneer.

Now here's an odd bird! Mio Hani is a 7 year old girl who pretty much recites non-stop throughout the whole album about her 11 cats - in Japanese of course. So it's basically a children's record... BUT... with the psychedelic band Far Out providing the background music. I won't lie to you, this one's a tough listen. However I think plenty of folks out there will be interested in this one, especially some of the darker fuzz laden moments towards the end of the album.

As usual, The Alaskan Connection writes a far better review and detail (not to mention providing the music itself!):

"Mio Hani was a young girl whose father was film director Susumu Hani, known mostly for his French-style New Wave films of the 1960s. In the early 70s, he apparently decided to give his little girl a star turn, casting her in the leading role of his latest film, "Yousei No Uta" (known simply as "Mio" in the west), a Japanese/Italian/French co-production (you can actually watch the whole thing on Youtube, just search for "Mio Hani"). Undeterred by its relative lack of success, he pressed on, conceiving an integrated media tie-in which included a children's book full of Mio's photographs and poems, as well as this unusual children's record of the same name. The whole concept behind this thing seems to be her obsession with cats and the strange fantasy dream-world that she inhabits with them. Anyway, her father decided to charge Osamu Kitajima with the job of providing musical backing for Mio's silly little songs/poems and odd ramblings, who naturally brought along his buddy Fumio Miyashita and the rest of the nascent Far Out (who had already released a single and appeared on the "Rock Age Concert" compilation and were just about to record their debut LP) to help him out. The end result is a concept album of sorts, although full comprehension will obviously be lost on those who don't speak Japanese (I can say that the lyrics are often quite amusing, for what it's worth). Musically, the best way to describe this is as a children's folk-rock album, although that doesn't really do it justice. It flows quite nicely through a variety of moods, and there are lots of neat little psychedelic touches going on in the background, if you listen closely. Occasionally (primarily on side two), the whole band gets brought in for a bit of Far Out-style psych/prog jamming, although that only lasts for a few minutes in total. Overall, it's probably closer to the Fumio & Osamu "Shinchuugoku" LP that was released around the same time than Far Out, but I honestly like this one a lot more. Maybe my brain was warped from watching too much of Carole and Paula's "The Magic Garden" as a young child back then, but I find the whole "psychedelic 70s kids show" atmosphere highly appealing. Comes in a really nice gatefold with an illustrated booklet."

And our friend Isabel copied this review from Tilapia Records of Japan into RYM:

"Mio Hani & Osamu Kitajima with Fumio Miyashita, SAYU EIICHI, ISHIKAWA KEI and ARAI MINAMI (basically Far Out backing up): “Mio To 11 Piki no Neko” (Warner – L-8014W) Hideously rare and impossible to get Japanese psychedelic masterpiece by ex-Far Out and Far East Family Band main man assisting a 7 year old kid on his trip through the love and death of 11 beloved cats. Basically this by Osamu Kitajima produced album was completely backed up by the band Far Out, who did not record their eponymous album until the following year in 1973 but their slowly acidic drenched lysergic jamming is already present on this monster album, only to fully explode when the second side rolls in and which they would perfect for their sole album the following year. The whole affair starts off with a distinct Far Out vibe backing up this young kid singing and talking about her cats. So basically this is a children’s disc where the musicians are tripped out lysergic gunslingers and although it may be deceptively innocent at beginning to dive into this album, it slowly grows darker and darker and acidic intoned. Mio starts singing off in an upbeat, playful and joyous style, interrupted by instrumental breaks where she lovingly raps away about her beloved cats. The scenery is almost folky but with some stoned laidback vibes shimmering throughout. The mood is light, upbeat and optimistic but as soon as side a draws to a close and side b begins the whole affair gets darker and darker as one of the cats gets sick and eventually dies, sucking you into a distorted perceptive and hallucinational vortex of slow bubbling paranoid dementia. And on that moment the true lysergic downer jam-infested riffage of the backing band comes shining through, revealing the true identity of the hired, longhaired acidic gunslingers that are Far Out in the making. Just a splendid record that till this day is still undetected by non-Japanese psychedelic music lovers. The reason for this is that it is a hideously rare album and that it basically always got rightly labeled as a children’s album but no one bothered to point out the lysergic nature of this gem. Largely unknown, but mind-blowingly great, this is one of my all-time treasured and favorite Japanese children/ psychedelic/ hybrid records of all time. Just never shows up on these shores since the album sold so depressingly badly upon its release that only a handful copies remain in circulation. Still affordable at a cheap price until a larger crowd will get air of it and push it through the roof. Just a massive disc and possibly the one to pick up out of this list. Filled with great acid deranged guitar licks and that will please everyone who is into Far Out and Far East Family Band discs. Simply a MUST!!!!! Price: 600 Euro"

Crazy.

Priority: none

Jirou Inagaki / Soul Media, Japan

2012-01-05T07:08:00.004-06:00

Jirou Inagaki & Soul Media - Dousojin (Yabunirami Minyoukou). 1972 Columbia.

So let's get back into the Alaskan Connections very rare Japanese selection. This one is definitely worth pursuing - a collection of traditional folk songs, but in many cases distorted beyond recognition, and at times, very psychedelic. I quite liked this one.

Here are the details from the AC, with his usual fantastic review:

"Nippon Columbia: NCB-7017 (Adventure In Sound series), 1972, Japan

Jirou Inagaki & Soul Media (Music) Yasushi Sawada (Vocals) Yasuhiro Koyama (Composer, Arranger)

Side 1: 1 - Inanome 2 - Kigishi 3 - Susomi 4 - Kusakahi 5 - Arisobe

Side 2: 1 - Tabute 2 - Sasara 3 - Yabunirami No Isan

Saxophonist and band leader Jirou Inagaki was a familiar face to Japanese jazz audiences in the 1970s, putting in countless hours as a studio session man, collaborating with most of the other big names on the scene, and fronting his own group, the Soul Media. Their early 70s catalogue is a real mixed bag of serious jazz (including collaborations with luminaries such as Masahiko Satoh and Hiromasa Suzuki), exploitation/covers LPs and a few albums worth of easy-going jazz-funk, such as "Head Rock" and "Woodstock Generation", which unsurprisingly later found favor with the hipster DJ types, leading to easily available CD reissues. However, in the midst of all this they also produced one album that should hold great interest to fans of progressive and psychedelic rock. Would it surprise you to hear that it also just happens to be horrendously rare and virtually unknown? No, I didn't think so. In any case, "Dousojin" (a type of Shinto fertility deity, often depicted on stone statues such as those seen on the album cover) is yet another attempt at fusing traditional Japanese music with "New Rock", in this case an interesting fusion of prog/psych and a uniquely Japanese sort of folk-rock. The songs, arranged by composer Yasuhiro Koyama (who also penned one side of Toshiyuki Miyama's "Tsuchi No Ne", another of Columbia's "Adventure In Sound" albums), are all actually variations and elaborations on traditional Japanese "minyou", old folk songs known to people all across Japan for countless generations. The whole album flows very nicely, running seamlessly from solemn folky songs to fuzz-guitar and piano led progressive pieces and back again, always maintaining a deeply Japanese atmosphere. The musicianship and production are both top-notch, as well. Another of Japan's truly excellent "lost" albums, terribly rare and barely known even in its own homeland. Hopefully a proper CD reissue will rescue this from obscurity someday, as I believe it could have wide appeal to fans of prog/psych, folk-rock, and enthusiasts of Japanese music in general."

Priority: 3

News: Vadim to release CCPP and Janko Nilovic CDs

2012-01-02T06:52:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everyone!

This year we open with a news item, which had slowed considerably in the last couple of months.

Before going to the announcement, let's recap some of what we can expect in 2012: 1) The first reissues from Modulus in March (Het Pandorra Ensemble, Randy Roos); 2) the remainder of the Sunbirds and Missus Beastly CDs from Garden of Delights; 3) and finally the much anticipated Laurence Vanay albums from Lion Productions. There are others of course in the hopper. 2011 was a great year for obscure progressive rock CDs, especially from Japan, so the bar has been set high for 2012.

Today's announcement comes from the hipster French label Vadim. Their label output crosses into CDRWL territory on occasion, generally in the areas of early/mid 70s jazz rock. Their best reissue to date, for me anyway, is Laurent Petitgerard's "Pop Instrumental de France".

For my tastes, neither CCPP nor the Nilovic are essential, but I know many who revere these records highly. We never featured the Nilovic and we have the CCPP only in the main list, where I had this thumbnail sketch: "Ceccarelli / Chantereau / Padovan / Pezin - C.C.P.P. (France) 1975 Flamophone. Typical funky fusion, though the guitar solos have more bite to them than usual, thus adding more to the score." Believe it or not, that's actually more informative than the label's description, which says: "Vadim brings you a shining example of 70s European jazz funk with this legendary and unique album from French supergroup C.C.P.P."

Just a quick note to state we still have plenty of rarities to talk about here. A large amount of albums came in from The Alaskan Connection that I still need to absorb. As well we have a couple left from the Midwest Mike stack, including one I think many of you will want to seek out instantly. And finally, StrawbsFan has sent in a nice batch of progressive folk and electronic rarities. Time is my eternal enemy, and the new year promises to be very busy from a career perspective - so we'll see how it goes. The more I can get done in the next couple of weeks, the better....

Random, USA

2011-12-27T06:58:00.004-06:00

Random - Nothin' Tricky. 1977 Hell Yes Productions.

I received this tip from my Gnosis friend Lev back in the summer. You can download their entire album from the band directly.

Random are a very interesting avant progressive band from Illinois. Starts off with a disco(?!) track, but you know it's a head fake from the beginning. Mostly the band goes for a chamber music sound, with all sorts of other styles mixed in, most notably jazz. Highly inventive for 1977, and one has to presume Henry Cow were an influence here.

Priority: none

Columbus Circle, USA

2011-12-20T08:02:00.002-06:00

Columbus Circle - On Saint John's Eve. 1976 Pharoah (PHA-105)

We still have a few great ones coming in from Midwest Mike, The AC and Strawbsfan, but wanted to get this one out there. This was a recommendation from Moe Curly this past summer, and now I've finally heard it.

Columbus Circle are a very interesting group from Connecticut. Side 1 is a bombastic serious symphony with rock elements thrown in. Almost like a proto-Art Zoyd if you can imagine that. Side 2, on the other hand, is almost the complete opposite and features a more simplistic horn rock sound with female vocals, organ and guitar. The second side of the album is about half a dozen years too late on the pop scene, but I found it the more enjoyable portion. Really strange, almost anachronistic album. Worth seeking out!

Priority: 3

Apprentice, USA

2011-12-17T08:38:00.005-06:00

Apprentice - Rough Draft. 1982 Mainstream Records (not the Mainstream Records presumably)

Another good one sent in by Mike. Apprentice could be classified as a straight ahead fusion album, but it has just enough of an edge, especially in the 70's inspired guitar work, to add it here as a featured item. There's no mistaking its 1980s heritage though, especially noticeable in the thin sounding synthesizers, warm bass tones and slick production qualities.

I'm probably going to be peppering more of these types of albums into the main blog as I revisit them. Many are sitting in the main list, but haven't been featured here yet. There seems to be an ever growing audience for late 70s and early 80s fusion. Perhaps its time has come.

There's an excellent review over at Prog Not Frog

Priority: none

The whole album has been posted on YouTube and is embedded below

Updated post: The Search Party

2011-12-17T08:35:00.001-06:00

So a quick glance over at what Vincent is up to at Lion Productions shows that The Search Party is indeed going to be reissued soon! Cool. Look for it in 2012 maybe?

Here's our original feature.

Smoke, USA

2011-12-16T07:32:00.005-06:00

Smoke - Everything. 1973 MPS. Released only in Germany.

Here's another one that found its way to my door recently. We haven't focused much on the early 70s jazz / jazz-rock here, but I thought this one crossed the line nicely to our interest area.

"Everything" is a varied, but super cool atmospheric jazz rock album. Freaky in the MPS tradition, though group is California based (rather than German as is often thought). The bass clarinet piece recalls Lard Free on I'm Around Midnight. Speaking of which, lots of great midnight lounge organ sounds. No other album like this one. A kozmigroov classic.

Since this one is on MPS, we can only hope that it ultimately gets reissued with the others from the label (the current reissue series goes in fits and starts).

They have another album from 1970 that I understand to be different (more jazz influenced), though I haven't heard it.

Priority: 3

Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd, Japan

2011-12-14T07:02:00.005-06:00

Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd - Tsuchi No Ne (Nippon Densetsu No Naka No Shijou). 1973 Columbia.

There are other albums by the New Herd, but for now, I'll just list this one.

Yet another amazing find from the Japanese underground. A great discovery from The Alaskan Connection!

You know, it's not everyday that you hear music described as complex horn rock meets Ian Carr's Nucleus meets Vortex. But, in effect, as the AC notes below, that's exactly what this is. I've only heard one other New Herd album, the Yamataifu album mentioned below, and it was too "out jazz" for me. This album, however, is definitely within the rails, and I found it highly enjoyable.

After some research, I was amazed to actually find this album on RateYourMusic. It was somewhat mislabeled, but unless you can read Japanese, it would be near impossible to know what the title was. Here's the entry.

As usual, the AC provides a full review with insights. What a treasure of information this gentleman is!

"Nippon Columbia: NCB-7023 (Adventure In Sound series), 1973, Japan

Toshiyuki Miyama - Conductor
Yasuhiro Koyama - Composer
Kozaburo Yamaki - Electric Guitar, Composer
Masaaki Itoh - Electric Bass
Isao Yomoda - Drums
Kiyoshi Takano - Piano, Electric Piano
Kazumi Takeda - Trumpet
Shin Kazuhara - Trumpet
Yoshikazu Kishi - Trumpet
Shuji Atsuta - Trumpet
Teruhiko Kataoka - Trombone
Masamichi Uetaka - Trombone
Tokura Seiichi - Trombone
Takehide Uchida - Trombone
Kazumi Oguro - Alto Sax, Soprano Sax
Eiji Toki - Alto Sax
Mamoru Mori - Tenor Sax
Seiji Inoue - Tenor Sax
Shigeru Hirano - Baritone Sax

Side 1:

1 - Youkai Kappa Konnichi Izuko Sumi Ya
- Kappa Torai No Tsuchi
- Mokuhi No Yotabi
- Bourei No Numa
- Okugidenjushiki
- Neneko No Nakibushi
- Senshouiwaiutae Shinkokka

Side 2:

1 - Kurozuka

Band leader Toshiyuki Miyama and his New herd orchestra were a ubiquitous presence in the 70s Japanese music scene, churning out album after album of mainly straight big band jazz, along with some typical pop-covers/exploitation fare. However, during the heady days of the early 70s "New Rock" boom, they did find themselves experimenting on a few interesting LPs. There was the relatively well-known "Yamataifu", a collaboration with famous pianist Masahiko Satoh, as well as the more obscure "Eternity?/Epos", working once again with Satoh along with drummer Masahiko Togashi and a percussion ensemble. They were soon to abandon this adventurous direction (along with most of the many seasoned jazzmen, studio musicians, and bewildered major label executives who had been temporarily sucked into the psychedelic vortex of New Rock Japan), but not before leaving behind one more dark jewel in the rubble. "Tsuchi No Ne - Nippon Densetsu No Naka No Shijou", roughly translates to "Sound of the Earth - The Poetry in Japanese Legends", and like a number of other classics of the era, it attempted to draw on the essence of ancient Japanese folklore and mythology as inspiration for a new and radical kind of music. But "Tsuchi No Ne" is somewhat different from its musical peers, choosing to dwell on the dark, sinister side of these myths and legends. This is quite evident in both the striking cover art and the track titles themselves, referencing ghosts, grotesque monsters (the Kappa, a hideous river-dwelling creature thought to drag unsuspecting victims to a watery grave) and a macabre Noh drama about a vile man-eating ogress. Most importantly, this theme infuses the music, a fascinating mixture of electric big band jazz-rock and what can only be called avant-prog, despite the seeming incongruity of applying that term to an early 70s Japanese jazz album. Two mammoth side-long pieces are on offer here, the first a suite divided into six smaller sections, composed by regular New Herd guitarist Kozaburo Yamaki, the second a monolithic opus penned by film and television soundtrack composer Yasuhiro Koyama. Certain comparisons can be drawn to the more rigorous side of early British jazz-rock (Soft Machine circa 5/6 and the best of Ian Carr's Nucleus) and perhaps also to the most complex horn rock works of the era, due to the heavy brass presence of the big band. But interestingly, what I'm reminded of most is classic French avant-prog/jazz-rock of a slightly later vintage. In particular, I'm thinking of Vortex's shadowy masterpiece "Les Cycles de Thanatos", as well as some of Yochk'o Seffer's great works with Zao and Neffesh Music. The strange, dark tension and compositional complexities are very similar, and quite unmistakable to my ears. However, these comparisons can only go so far. Distinctly Japanese atmospheres are palpable, and Yamaki's wicked fuzz/wah guitar-work will not let you forget what era we are truly in here. This is a special album, in my opinion, and certainly deserving of a much wider audience. Unfortunately, as is often the case with these things, it's by far Miyama's rarest LP, until now only known and cherished by the small group of Japanese collectors aware of its quality. Miyama's back-catalogue has not seen much action in the CD reissue market, so I'm afraid this album might be doomed to spend eternity trapped in its own dusky realm. Here's to hoping that I'm wrong."

Priority: 2

The Mannheim Rock Ensemble, Japan

2011-12-13T05:00:00.005-06:00

The Mannheim Rock Ensemble - Rock Of Joy. 1971 Columbia.

While still working through the Midwest Mike stack, I also recently heard from another county: The Alaskan Connection. And he's back with another batch of insane rarities. And most of them are from the mysterious early 70s Japanese underground.

As we stated last year at this time, I feel no other country is harboring more hidden treasure than Japan. Rock Joint Biwa and Toshiaki Yokota's Primitive Community were the highlights from Heavyrock's stash last year. Who knows what this batch will bring, but the first one I heard (this entry) was a lot of fun anyway, though not something we're dying for a CD reissue or anything. The instrumental psych rock sections are excellent though, and the album as a whole is better than you might think at first glance. The AC's hysterical notes below explains the album far better than I ever could. Take it away AC!

"So, during the boom days of the great Japanese New Rock gold rush, many, many exploitation albums were released. Major label bosses, stacks of yen gleaming in their eyes, would corral a well-known studio/jazz musician, sign him to a contract and tell him something like "Here, go and get a bunch of your weirdo hippy friends and record a rock album! What? Original material?! Are you out of your mind? Just do a bunch of show-tunes or something. The kids will love it! By the way, you have 2 days to knock this one out, so I better not see your face outside that studio until Monday! Now get lost!". Well, I don't know if that's how these conversations ACTUALLY went, but it is how I like to imagine them. In any case, most of these things were completely silly and utterly forgettable, as you might imagine. But a precious few times, a mystical thunderbolt appeared from the heavens and struck these poor bedraggled groups of talented musicians with a type of divine inspiration (or temporary insanity), and something magical was born. Well, maybe I'm getting a bit carried away here, but... Anyway, the infamous People "Buddha Meet Rock" is one such example, and here is another. Nobody's certain who actually played on this thing, as despite the extensive liner notes related to the classical pieces themselves, there are no musicians credited anywhere ("Musical credits? Who needs those?! Now take your damn checks and get outta here!"). However, it's almost a certainty that some of the usual suspects were on the job, meaning Akira Ishikawa on drums, Kimio Mizutani or Ryo Kawasaki on guitar (I'm going with Mizutani here based on style), and of course the one and only Yusuke Hoguchi and his magical exploito-organ to really get the party rolling. So, what we have here is obviously rock exploitation covers of classical music. But to leave it at that would never do this album justice. No, you just can't properly understand the true beauty of classical music until you've heard it played as crazed early 70's Japanese psych/prog full of blasting fuzzed-out wah-wah guitar solos, vintage organ assaults, and a fat, thumping rhythm section (including the wholly incongruous but oddly effective use of congas). There's even a couple of more mellow tracks, backed by a real string quartet, for you fussy types that might want to listen to some "real" classical music. Whatever, man. All things considered, this is probably one of the most entertaining albums you'll hear (or not hear, as the case may be) any time soon. Of course, it should go without saying that this thing is rare beyond belief, only a few copies known to exist, almost totally unknown, yadda yadda yadda. ("How did it sell?! Don't make me laugh! We decided to print up around 50 copies, but we gave most of them away to the secretaries at the office Christmas party, and... What's that? You want one copy to show your wife and kids?! What do you think this is, a charity?! Now get back in the studio and don't let me see your mug again until next Friday!") Sadly, an album of this ilk is unlikely to ever see a legit (or even non-legit) reissue, but the People album did, so hope springs eternal! (maybe...)."

Priority: none

Tony Palkovic, USA

2011-12-12T07:09:00.003-06:00

Tony Palkovic - Deep Water. 1980 Deep Water Records.

And, as you'll see below, guitarist Tony Palkovic has a couple of other 1980s albums. I've only heard this title.

Throwing this one out there for you fusion fans who are looking for new items to uncover. Mike sent this along with the batch, and it's definitely worthy of consideration. The one element of Palkovic's music I enjoyed is the heavy use of electronic-music styled synthesizer within the usual guitar fronted jazz rock instrumental setting. The guitar tone is a bit too light for me to sink my teeth into, and it's not exactly a tear-up session ala Bill Connors on "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy". But that's not the purpose of the album I'm sure. Apparently Palkovic is an artist who has received great praise from the guitar playing community. The below segment is taken directly from Palkovic's own website. Best I can tell, none of his 1980s works are available, and the original LPs currently sport a high price tag.

"Praised by the prestigious Guitar Player and 20th Century Guitar Magazines, Tony Palkovic has performed in clubs and concert halls including the BET television network... He studied music and film for six months at Columbia College in Chicago before transfering to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he spent the next four years finishing with a Bachelors Degree in Composition... After graduating, he started leading his own band playing jazz-fusion in the Midwest, but eventually moved to Los Angeles which has been his home since 1983... In 1980, Palkovic released his first album "Deep Water" which made many Top 10 lists for airplay on Jazz Radio stations all over the U.S. , Canada and eventually in Europe. This led to the recording of his second album "Every Moment" following the same path in '83, "Born With a Desire" in ’85...

...If you haven't yet heard Tony Palkovic's brand of music, you don't know what you're missing - Guitar Player Magazine"

Priority: none

Pollen, Belgium

2011-12-10T16:16:00.003-06:00

Pollen - Ry d'Oxhe. 1978 Beo.

Another album I sold from my first Creativity & Chaos mail order catalog in 1995. And like The Machines Have Landed, it was something I didn't have a copy of. So Mike sent it along with the others. It's not something I regret selling, but it's good to have for the archives.

Pollen's sole album is an odd combination of Dylan-esque street folk, depressing blues and dramatic Ange inspired progressive rock - all sung in French. A bit outside my interest area, but there's some challenging and compelling music to be found here. Worth seeking out for a couple of listens.

Priority: none

Wolfgang Duren, Germany

2011-12-07T15:24:00.004-06:00

Wolfgang Düren - Eyeless Dreams. 1980 WPL.

Back in the 1980s, there used to be a really cool store here in Dallas called The Record Gallery that stocked all sorts of European imports, with a strong slant towards the avant garde. Electronic music was one of the specialties of the owner (who now lives in Portland and still sells on ebay). It was here that I discovered bands like Ashra, Heldon and many others. Oh, and he sold original art paintings as well - thus the name of the store.

I remember seeing Wolfgang Düren's sole album back then, but there was just too much for me to still discover, and this one looked a bit synth-poppy to be honest. But it's nothing of the sort. Mike sent this along as he thought I'd enjoy it, and as usual he was right.

Eyeless Dreams is a solid entry for those into 1970s Berlin School sounds. Sequencers and synthesizer solos are the order of the day. Lots of Klaus Schulze, some Adelbert von Deyen and even a little Kraftwerk. Since I'm fond of the genre, this is an easy one for me to recommend.

Priority: 3

Mike Warren + Survival Kit, USA

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000-06:00

Mike Warren & Survival Kit - Please Yourself First. 1978 Dobre Records.

Ah, we found a little more gold here. Maybe not as exciting as the Werkhoven (for me), but this one is almost certainly going to put the fusion fans in a lather.

Another completely new name for the CDRWL, Warren's sole album is a fine mix of typical late 70's fusion (side 1) with a more ferocious side 2, bordering progressive rock and even includes some psychedelic guitar. Progressive rock laced fusion with acid guitar is one of my favorite mixes. And this has to be the only jazz rock album I've heard that uses timpani extensively. Overall a mixture of Pierre Moerlin's Gong, Colosseum II, Randy Roos and Frank Zappa. I'm sure the latter was a major influence and one hopes Frank's outlook is the inspiration behind the title of the album. Otherwise, a rather unfortunate choice of words.

In looking for the album, it appears there's already some buzz about it in the jazz rock collecting world. It's easy to see why, as this one separates itself from the norm of the day. I could see Modulus going for this one.

Priority: 3

Henk Werkhoven, Netherlands

2011-12-05T05:00:00.001-06:00

Henk Werkhoven - Orphical Positions. 1982 VMU.

I'm reporting from down here in the mine, and we already struck gold! The Midwest Mike stash has already paid off.

Prior to Mike sending this over, I'd never even heard of Henk Werkhoven. But once I saw the album cover, I was intrigued. After hearing this once, I bought an LP on the spot. You can read about Mr. Werkhoven here. Another one of those Renaissance guys, constantly in creativity mode, yet few know who he is or what he does. As you read the bio, you could come away thinking this is a new age album. Couldn't be further from the truth.

Basically "Orphical Positions" is good old fashioned instrumental progressive rock lead by flute, violin and guitar (acoustic and electric), along with exotics like sitar. A crack rhythm section keeps the proceedings moving along at a crisp pace. At once I'm reminded of Camel's "Snowgoose" and Rousseau's"Flowers in Asphalt". But I also hear Anthony Phillips, Kenso, Flairck, Coda and Verdaguer. A very fine release, and definitely a new discovery for the CDRWL.

Apparently this is one of those albums reissued by the Dutch company Fonos. Basically you can walk up to the Fonos offices, hand them your LP and they'll go off and make a custom CD (or CD-R? I'm not sure). And of course they'll make a handful to sell to others to cover costs. And they'll obtain the rights first. It's a totally legit operation, but not the kind of CDs we want to see here (master tapes, liner notes, bonus tracks, etc...). This would be a perfect fit for a label like Musea.

Priority: 2

White Wing, USA

2011-12-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

White Wing - s/t. 1976 ASI.

I recently got back into the Asia (Rapid City, South Dakota) albums that were diligently reissued on CD by Michael Piper / The Wild Places back in 1995. While reading the liners, I had forgotten that the precursor to that band was White Wing, an album I heard way back when and completely forgot about (didn't even have it rated anywhere). So I asked Midwest Mike to send along a copy to revisit. Of course he has it! Mike has everything (well just about!).

There's nothing really special about White Wing. It's pretty much a mix of hard rock and AOR styles with some good organ runs and mellotron strings. Recorded in the same studio as the Minnesota group Cain, and there are some similarities regarding the hard rock aspects. Not at the same level as the successor band Asia, especially Armed to the Teeth, but an album worth hearing a couple of times for certain.

Priority: none

The Machines Have Landed, Canada

2011-12-03T14:47:00.002-06:00

The Machines Have Landed - Part One. 1981 North Shore Records.

The Machines Have Landed (aka Machines) is an interesting mix of spoken word, space rock via the mid 70's Pink Floyd lens, and early 80s synth-pop. Somewhat like the Body Album from England, mixed with the Human Adventist Concept and FM. I had this album years ago, and sold it. Not something I'm actively looking for someone to press on CD, but an interesting artifact all the same. Special thanks to Midwest Mike who gave me a chance to hear this album for the first time in 16 years!

Priority: none

The Search Party, USA

2011-11-29T07:20:00.006-06:00

The Search Party - Montgomery Chapel. 1969 Century.

Time to crank up the CDRWL engine again! It was a nice little break, as I spent the last 6 months or so putting focus onto my existing LP & CD collection, rather than on the continuing dig through the rarity mine (with some exceptions of course). But I've got my pick ax and hard hat, and we're ready to be dropped into the shaft.

Midwest Mike has just sent me a pile of rarities on CD-R. And fusion fans of this blog know that no one has the jazz rock obscurities like Mike! So lots to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Before I start on that stack, I have a psych relic to cover off on first. I've heard about The Search Party ever since the 1980s when I first started receiving progressive and psych rarities catalogs. Even then, this album was off the charts rare and expensive. I never did bother to seek it out, figuring it was another over-hyped Christian psych album (you won't see me use the term over-hype very much, but with Christian psych, it truly does apply). So finally last week I heard the album. Oh wow, this really is good. No wonder everyone made a fuss years ago. My kind of atmospheric , doomy psych with Voxx organ, acoustic guitars, haunting male/female vocals and occasional fuzz guitar outbursts. About the only comparison I could think of is the brilliant Music Emporium album, on their more cosmic tripped out tracks.

Excellent then, I said to myself, now I need to buy the CD. What? There isn't one? Oh sure, I saw the usual suspects in the pirate world. But nothing that was confirmed legit. Now, there is a legit LP on the Void label, but no one it appears followed his lead for a CD. That's crazy! Where is Sundazed when I need them? As an aside, the Century label is not some boiler room operation, but rather a mainstream Christian music label from Los Angeles.

Obviously, I should have been on top of this one years ago. The Search Party therefore is making its long awaited debut today.

12/17/11 note: OK, it looks like Lion Productions (USA) will be reissuing this in 2012! Alright!

Priority: 2

News: Sireena to reissue Mythos "Quasar"

2011-11-09T05:48:00.004-06:00

I think this is an inspired choice from Sireena."Quasar" was originally released in 1980, and for my tastes, their best album since "Dreamlab". Unfortunately the followup "Grand Prix" is a major let down. Not sure if Sireena will even bother with that title, but it will remain the only Mythos without a CD after "Quasar" is released. Date is tentatively scheduled for March, 2012.

We featured Quasar here.

News: EMI Japan to reissue Chronicle album

2011-11-09T05:44:00.003-06:00

An interesting choice coming from Japan. Look for the mini-LP reissue this December.

Here are my notes, published only in the main guide: "Another one of those Japanese albums that's hard to find info on, given different Anglicized spellings to the original Japanese. Very similar to their "Like a Message From the Stars" album (1977) that was originally released on the US based All Ears label. Basically it's Japanese balladry mixed with lightly sprinkled Pink Floyd space rock. Similar to later era Far East Family Band or Flower Travelling Band."

News: Aztec working on Steven Maxwell von Braund album

2011-10-30T08:05:00.003-05:00

This morning I wandered over to the website of Australia's Aztec Music, and saw that they are "currently working on" Steven Maxwell von Braund's (Cybotron) solo album. Excellent news for those of us who like pioneering Berlin School styled electronics. Here's our review.

News: Black Widow to issue archival Spettri album

2011-10-29T14:17:00.004-05:00

Caught this one while surfing. Don't know anything about it, but it could be interesting!

Black Widow (Italy) says:

"SPETTRI is an Italian band that sees the light of day in Florence in 1964. In those years, the “italian beat” is highly on. The original members are: Ugo and Raffaele Ponticiello (brothers, voice and guitar), Giuliano Giunti (bass guitar) and Ubaldo Palanti (drums) but the latter is soon replaced by Mauro Sarti.
They soon release some 45 r.p.m. records during the early Beat. The sound is amazing and their performances are great. The group is the very first one in Florence who decides to use “100 watt GRS” guitar amplifiers, a real revolutionary choice, since that powerful sound was still unknown until then.
In 1968, Mauro Sarti leaves the band. Giorgio Di Ruvo (a former member of The Players, a rhythm and blues group) and Alessio Rogai (keyboards) join the group. In 1970 he leaves in favour of Stefano Melani. Giuseppe Nenci, bass guitar, is part of the group for a short time in 1970. In 1971, the Ponticiello youngest brother, Vincenzo, takes the place of Giuseppe Nenci.
In 1970 their music is changing. The whole music scene is changing too: the Beat is off. On stage, they perform rock band covers (Spirit, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple...). Their rehearsals are very creative original experimental works. They draw inspiration from bands they listened to in that period. Bands like the ones mentioned before and like King Crimson and Colosseum, for example, strongly influenced every single member of the group. That new kind of music is soon labelled “Avant-garde” : the same sound we call “Prog” today.
Their concept album is really special: all their lyrics are written by Ugo Ponticiello. The lyrics deal with a man who tries to find his way by a spiritualist séance. He gives himself up to the metaphysics and the afterlife to pursue a reason to live. All alone, he leaves a real terrible nightmare where he finally finds his way but it’s brutalized by the evils of modern society.
The musical part is a rock suite: electric and bass guitars, drums and an hammond organ. These instruments coexist in a new perfect experimental rock sound. The group includes this composition in their live performances. During their countless live concerts in the most important Italian pop festivals in Tuscany and Latium, they play side by side with the most influential bands of the genre.
This suite is composed in 1970/71, recorded in 1972 and it is an unpublished work because it was never released up to today. Since 1975 on, some new music tendencies and the growing public indifference to refined music have led the group to different music choices and their original project has been held over until...now, 2011."

Fungus, England

2011-10-27T05:00:00.001-05:00

Fungus - Premonitions. 1973 private (demo only)

Fungus issued this one demo album, released in a plain white sleeve. It's about 38 minutes long and the music is a mix of progressive rock and electronic oriented music. Fungus is post Second Hand / Chillum and pre-Seventh Wave - and the music seems to be the transition from one style to the other. It's an orchestral oriented progressive rock, with long instrumental electronic journeys. A ridiculously rare artifact that is near impossible to find.

I've had this on tape for close to 20 years. I gave it to a friend a few years ago without realizing its historical importance, and I didn't make a copy for myself. When Gnosis friend and colleague Jim H. started pestering me for a copy, I knew I'd made a mistake. Unfortunately my friend had misplaced the tape - and it took 3 years to find! But after an exhaustive search through his home - he found it! So here we are. Not the greatest album I've ever heard, but a nice one for the UK progressive style as found on the Dawn or Transatlantic labels.

Photo is courtesy of Popsike.

Priority: 3

News: All 3 Placebo albums coming on CD!

2011-10-26T21:43:00.003-05:00

P-Vine, a very respected Japanese label, will be reissuing the Placebo albums on mini-LP. Look for a December 21 release. Not sure if there's a European/US release in conjunction, but great news all the same. These albums are classics in the jazz rock / progressive / kosmigroov space.

Wow!

We featured Placebo here.

News: Arcangelo to reissue Ragnarök's "Fjärilar I Magen" in November!

2011-10-03T16:06:00.007-05:00

Arcangelo, the CD label for Japan's Disk Union record shop, has announced their intention to reissue Ragnarök's "Fjärilar I Magen" in the mini-LP format on November 9th. Now this is interesting, because in general Arcangelo works in conjunction with other labels that do the initial reissue. But Fjärilar I Magen has never been reissued to date. And I have not seen any other announcement associated with this release (for the record they are also reissuing the first Ragnarok - which was done by Silence many years ago). And that's the other part of this story: Silence usually doesn't license out any of their catalog. Recently there was an exception with the Psykofon label concerning Handgjort. So either Silence is indeed behind this, or the band obtained the rights themselves, or a mystery label is behind it. Time will tell I guess.

Anyway, great news as this album has many fans including me. This gives me hope that maybe one day we will see the first Flasket Brinner album after all!

We featured Ragnarok almost exactly two years ago today.

News: Belle Antique to reissue Old Man & The Sea

2011-09-29T08:04:00.005-05:00

More exciting news out of Japan! As some of you may recall, I featured this album earlier this year, only to find out it was reissued legit - except hardly anyone knew about it. Belle Antique is the house label for Marquee, so I checked with my friend and Gnosis colleague Nobuhisa - who tell us: "We are going for the original mix + we'd have the bonus track appeared on the legit CD. According to the band, the original master is gone, so this will be from a clean copy of the original vinyl. Tommy Hansen has done the mastering." That works for me! And Old Man & the Sea is the perfect album for a mini-LP. The original LP is a typically great early 70s major label package - with a cool gatefold cover.

So unless you own the very obscure Dunk label version (which most of us never saw even when it was released), the Belle Antique version is the way to go!

Updated post: Genshi Kyodotai

2011-09-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

Nobuhisa has provided some more great news concerning the Think label that is reissuing the Genshi-Kyodotai.

News: Garden of Delights releases archival Guildenstern

2011-09-20T05:00:00.001-05:00

Garden of Delights comes up with what looks like another archival winner! Between them and Long Hair (and others like Sireena), the pot seems endless. I hope so anyway.

Label says: "Guildenstern were founded in the Hessian town of Rüsselsheim in the spring of 1976 and played some keyboard-dominated progressive rock in the style of bands like early Genesis, early Yes, Camel, or Eloy. The band didn't release anything, but some recordings with a satisfactory sound quality have been preserved: eight tracks recorded in the rehearsal room, as well as three pieces from their rock opera "Life's a stage", recorded live in Flörsheim on September 29th, 1979. They are now to be heard on the Guildenstern CD. All tracks - most of them instrumentals - were written by the artists themselves. Some of them are played on a doubleneck 12-string guitar. Guildenstern keyboarder Bernd Scholl has meanwhile released a lot of LPs and CDs with electronic music and has become one of the leading planetarium musicians in Germany."

GoD also reissued Embryo's "Bad Heads and Bad Cats", which was previously done about 10 years ago on Disconforme. They included the same 17 minute bonus track + added an excellent track from the 1975 Vlotho festival, which we wrote about in the UMR last year. I'll definitely pick up this version eventually, though it won't be a high priority as the Disconforme version that I own is quite excellent as well.

News: Genshi-Kyodotai coming out on CD!!!!!!!

2011-09-19T15:31:00.007-05:00

First it was the startling announcement that the Rock Joint albums were coming out (on Sony). Then came the amazing news that the Laurence Vanay albums will be on CD & LP (On Lion - early next year most likely). Then Ken Golden of The Laser's Edge starting a new label called Modulus and the first album will be none other than Het Pandorra Ensemble. Followed by Garden of Delights releasing their best reissues in years with the debut by Sunbirds and Missus Beastly's 3rd album. Then the jaw dropper that the first Eider Stellaire is finally coming out on CD.

It has been an incredible year for truly obscure albums getting the legal digital treatment.

But this has to take the cake.

Holy cow. It was only last December that this album was still shrouded in mystery, only whispered about in the dark walls of a Knights Templar monastery. Then came Heavy Rock's tape that I used for my blog entry, closely followed by Toshiaki Yokota himself uploading it (see Prog Not Frog for more details). And now it will be made available to all. Of course, Japanese presses like this are tough to get as they aren't carried by the usually progressive rock suppliers. You can usually obtain CDs such as this from HMV or Amazon Japan. And sometimes Dusty Groove can bring them over stateside. We'll see. Street date has been set for October.

Nobuhisa of Marquee tells me "It is planned to come out from THINK label. They mainly deal with reissue of Japanese Jazz obscurities, and for most case the actual pressing are done by the major labels that still own the right for them (like Wounded Bird or Esoteric) so they should be totally legit."

A wealth of riches I tell ya.

9/29/2011 update:

Nobuhisa has provided even more fantastic information. Thanks again!!

Website for the label is here.

"The Think! Label is part of the Disk Union group and they operate under their Jazz division.

Along with Genshi-Kyodotai, they would release

Tousha, Suiho : Yugen No Sekai
* a major rarity that features Noh-Kan and Shinobue (sort of Japanese traditional Flute and recorder) player Tousha collaborating with an electric Jazz / Rock band (Inomata Akira and Sound Unlimited).
Mizutani Kimio plays the guitar. An ambitious record that contains side long suite titled "Concerto For Shino Flute & Rock Band: 1st Movement - 2nd Movement - 3rd Movement" though not totally successful.

and other two titles which I haven't heard.

Sato Masahiko Trio : Transformation 69/71
Freedom Unity : Something

Sato would be Straight Jazz with Free leaning (I've heard few of his albums from the same period / similar personnel). Have no idea on how the Freedom Unity sounds like."

I've said it before and I'll say it again here - Japan is harboring the most undiscovered music from the 1970s.

News: Esoteric to reissue The Norman Haines Band Den of Iniquity in October!

2011-09-18T12:10:00.005-05:00

This is news I've been waiting on for some time. Vicky had told me well over 3 years ago that they were waiting "for clearance" to reissue this gem. And it makes sense, of course, that Esoteric would reissue it since they had already tackled the Locomotive album, a group that Haines played in. Even though the album had been reissued legit prior, on the very obscure Shoestring label in the early 90s, I never saw a copy of it - even back then. So now we will all have a chance to own this excellent album!

Esoteric says: "Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce a new remastered edition of the 1971 album by THE NORMAN HAINES BAND, the legendary "DEN OF INIQUITY". Soon after recording the iconic album "WE ARE EVERYTHING YOU SEE" with his band LOCOMOTIVE, Norman departed the group to found this heavier outfit. Joining the keyboard player were guitarist NEIL CLARK, bassist ANDY HUGHES and drummer JIMMY SKIDMORE. One of the most sought after releases of the Progressive Rock era, "DEN OF INIQUITY" was the only album recorded by the band and was a dark and heavy affair with superb compositions that included a reworked version of "Mr. ARMAGEDDON" (previously recorded by LOCOMOTIVE), the excellent title track and the epic thirteen minute long 'RABBITS'. Issued on EMI's Parlophone imprint in 1971, the album was available for a few short months before being deleted. An excellent keyboard dominated Progressive Rock album, this Esoteric reissue has been re-mastered from the original master tapes and includes six bonus tracks, taken from the singles issued by Parlophone and the rare track 'I REALLY NEED A FRIEND'. The reissue also includes the single version of 'RABBITS', previously unreleased on CD."

We featured this album a couple of years ago.

Window, USA

2011-09-10T05:00:00.000-05:00

Window - The Empyreal Ballet. 1978 Cottage Records.

So here's one I've been wanting to post about forever. I had a cassette of it from long ago, but without info. Usually a simple Google search will find me an album cover and other data. Except in this case, it was as if the album didn't exist. I couldn't find anything about it anywhere. I asked Midwest Mike, The Alaskan Connection and others, but no one seemed to know anything about it. When that happens, I begin to question the tape markings. Was it mislabeled? Was it ever actually released? Did I get a demo album way back when?

Then, about 2 weeks ago, I received a note out of the blue asking if I was interested in knowing more about the album (it's in the main list and I was asking for info). Of course I said yes! But that trail seemed to go cold as I never heard back - until today, but he had already sold it! On a whim, I decided to Google it again - and lo and behold - there it was, sold on ebay just 3 days ago! So I have to figure it was the same gentleman. That's pure speculation, but whatever, the ebay auction had photos and some info! So thank you to the ebay seller (blind-boy-records) - and if it's the same person who contacted me - thanks again!

So it appears Window are a San Francisco / Bay Area based group, and they released this one very good progressive rock album. Honestly, I was certain I was going to find out the band were from Illinois or Missouri, because it does indeed have that Midwest progressive rock sound, especially apparent in the vocal sections. The mix of complex progressive rock, piano jazz-rock and AOR FM radio ambition only cements the comparison. Excellent electric / acoustic guitar work, flute, tuned percussion, with a horn section and complex rhythms is what you'll find on "Empyreal Ballet". Curiously for a band of its type, there are no keyboards (beyond the piano of course).

Priority: 2

Notice: Ragnarok (NZ) albums available on CD-R

2011-09-09T07:11:00.003-05:00

As regular readers of the CDRWL know, we don't count CD-R's as completely reissued albums. However, that doesn't stop us from letting you know about them! Going forward, I will only announce CD-R's if the band themselves are releasing it in this format.

A tip from an anonymous reader earlier this week pointed me to a Youtube with an e-mail address on how to order their "CD". That lead me to a friendly discussion with Ragnarok member Andre Jayet. I made a few suggestions on having their album pressed by a quality and honest label, and so we'll see if that ever comes to fruition.

But in the meantime, if you would like to obtain legitimate homemade CD-R's, here's the instructions on how to do so:

"The CD’s are CD-R. (Ragnarok, Nooks and Ragnarok Live). There are some liner notes inside. The bonus tracks can be found on the live CD-R.

There is a Facebook page (Ragnarok New Zealand) Where you will find unpublished pics, info, comments and some video.

Orders for the CD-R’s are taken from this email site (ragnarok.nz@gmail.com).

Each CD-R is $NZ20.00 plus post’n’package."

We featured Ragnarok about a year ago.

News: Modulus to release Randy Roos "Mistral"!

2011-09-06T21:17:00.007-05:00

While we await the first reissue on the Modulus (Laser's Edge) label - Het Pandorra Ensemble - we now have official word on the second release: Former Luna guitarist Randy Roos "Mistral" album. Regular readers of the CDRWL will note that Midwest Mike had actually sent me the LP of this excellent fusion album last winter. And here it is already on CD!

We featured the album back in February. Excellent news for American fusion fans, who like a little progressive rock thrown into the mix! Another excellent choice for a reissue from Ken.

News: Rocket Records reissues Woodoo and Lemon

2011-08-31T22:48:00.007-05:00

As always, Rocket Records continues to reissue some of the most obscure records from Finland (I keep hoping for Nimbus and Sepi Kuu). Today's announcement are two albums that were originally on the UFO label.

For Woodoo, which we featured in December of 2009, my review stated: "Terribly rare album from Finnish rock-jazz-vocal group. Lots of hand percussion drives the rhythms while sax takes the lead lines. Vocals in Finnish dominate. This one has a nice groove to it, despite the heavy reliance on vocals. Can be trance inducing. Short album, well under 30 minutes. Worth seeking out for a few listens."

Apparently this was reissued about a week ago, so you should be able to order it direct from Finland now.

As well, Rocket also plans on reissuing the Lemon "Vanha Vakaa" record in September. Now here's a band that lives up to its name! I compared them to The Partridge Family - but that's coming from my preference for underground progressive rock music. I'm sure the album has many fans back at home.

In any case, it's just great to see Rocket Records cruising along!

News: Eider Stellaire finally being reissued on CD!!!

2011-08-29T08:06:00.004-05:00

To say it's been a slow summer on the CD reissue front would be an understatement. We wrapped up April and May with a smattering of exciting announcements. And then it pretty much died. Until this morning. It appears that Alain at Soleil Zeuhl has finally succeeded in getting this beauty out into the open market, after many years of trying. Congratulations to everyone involved! This is a BIG Priority 1 for me (and many others), and will most certainly prove to be a popular reissue.

This is a future announcement. No release date as of yet.

Here's the blurb from Shiny Beast this morning:

"EIDER STELLAIRE - EIDER STELLAIRE (CD/SOLEIL ZEUHL)Christian Vander's post-Magma band Eider Stellaire frequently functioned as the opening act for Magma's concerts in the late '70s and early '80s. This made perfect sense since both bands shared the same sources of inspiration, f.i. the European 20th century classical composers (Bartok, Stravinsky, Orff) and the energy of rock music. Also notable were the importance of the rhythm section and mysterious, wordless female vocals. Eider Stellaire's excellent self titled album from 1981 is still regarded as a masterpiece from the French progressive era and now it's reissued on CD, including a superb 10 minute alternate version of 'Nihil' as a bonus."

Rancid Poultry, England (Part 2)

2011-08-08T05:00:00.006-05:00

Rancid Riffs. 1985 Land of Yrx
Leyline Lords of the Motorway Web. 1986 Land of Yrx
Midnight Disendowed. 1986 Land of Yrx
* Delicate Creatures. 1986 Land of Yrx
* Rock 'N' Roll Won't Never Die! 1987 Poultry Productions
* Controlled Exposure. 1989 Poultry Productions
* Lungs Full of Lead (2xMC, 1989) Poultry Productions
HTIABR! 1990 Poultry Productions
* Live In Leads (But Steve Doesn't). 1992 Poultry Productions
* Musicide 19??. ???
* Qaotic Pestilence 19??. ???

All released on cassette originally.
* - Are the ones I've personally heard.

This is probably the single largest entry in the CDRWL, if the sole criteria is number of albums not reissued. I first heard of Rancid Poultry via Audion Magazine in the late 1980s, and picked up Controlled Exposure through their Ultima Thule mail order channel not long after it was released. We featured this album a little over a year ago. According to the Freeman's, Controlled Exposure was probably their most accomplished work, and now after having devoured 6 other titles (including a double album), I would have to agree with their original assessment.

As mentioned back in late January, The Alaskan Connection had a few of these on hand as well to share with me. I knew by the sheer volume of releases, and the type of music that Rancid Poultry play, it would take me some time to fully immerse myself into these recordings (I predicted then that it would probably be the summer before I completed them - and here we are). So I've finally finished them all. Whew! Exhausting is the only word I can come up with to describe the experience.

My review for Controlled Exposure basically stated: "Rancid Poultry came out of the 1980s festival scene, but arrived with some influences out of the industrial movement... ...Good raucous space rock - with some interesting screamed vocals." And that more or less describes all the albums listed here. One correction though to my original review: Even though the band came from the festival scene era, I don't believe they were an actual live act performing at the festivals. I could be wrong, but my impression based on reports is they were more of a "city band" who played in and around small clubs in England.

There's a little bit of history on Rancid Poultry from the Land of Yrx page, which gives us insight into their beginnings (go to the bottom of the linked page). I've only heard Delicate Creatures from this phase of the band, but based on that I think I can safely presume the first 3 albums are not going to be for me I'm afraid. This is Rancid Poultry at their most experimental and noisy, with dare I say, a rancid 80's computer drum sound. By the time of Rock 'N' Roll Will Never Die, the band is clearly leaning in a space rock direction, with more emphasis on traditional guitar, bass, drum jamming and less of the keyboard knob twiddling. It's still quite primitive though. After this comes their landmark Controlled Exposure tape, and we hear a group more focused, with actual compositions mixed in with the jams. Lungs Full of Lead is a sprawling mess of industrial, space rock, progressive and experimentalism. If you want to gain the full Rancid Poultry experience, this may be a good introduction, though it can be frustrating for those of us with (admittedly) more narrow tastes. By 1992, Live in Leads demonstrates a much more professional band, though the bootleg quality of the recording itself leaves much to be desired. As for Musicide and Qaotic Pestilence, there's absolutely no data I can find on them, beyond the covers the AC provided me. Based on sound alone, I'd hazard a guess that Musicide comes after Lungs Full of Lead - though again the recording is a bit primitive. But musically very interesting. Of all the albums listed here, Qaotic Pestilence is probably the closest to Controlled Exposure, except there are no vocals here. This may indeed be the most fully realized Rancid Poultry album I've heard to date. I would suspect this to be an early 90's release.

The band continued on as the prpGROUP (Post Rancid Poultry). You can check them out here. It appears this band has also been quite prolific, with a pile of CD-R's and at least one actual CD. More info here. Plus some reviews of the prpGROUP at Aural Innovations. I've not heard any of these albums as of this writing.

Priority: 3

News: Shadoks latest reissues

2011-07-22T07:36:00.004-05:00

An interesting batch this go round, with what looks like a potential monster. These albums are set to be issued in late August.

Bump 2 is the CD issue of the archival LP they released roughly a year ago. I still haven't heard it, though it does have a good reputation (though I never cared much for the actual 1970 release).

Question Mark is a pretty good psych rock band from Nigeria, circa 1974. Their sound isn't too far from other African psych outfits that you will hear from Nigeria or Zambia. Shadoks had issued this on LP back in 2007. Here's our blurb from the Original CD Reissue Wish List: "One of a handful of interesting African rock albums. This one is in the same genre as B.L.O., Witch, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, etc... Features some nice old organ sounds, a lot of scratchy fuzz and 1960s psych style melodies. Better than most Sub Saharan African albums I've heard - closest comparison would be the Nigerian band Ofege."

What really caught my eye is their LP reissue of Estrella De Marzo. I'd never heard this title from Bolivia before, but anything that compares to Wara and especially Climax is going to garner interest from me. Hopefully it's not hype, because the following description from Shadoks has my name all over it: "Most do not know much about music from Bolivia, like us. What's flashing our minds are the Andes, La Paz and flute music by Indios. But there are some great rock & underground bands such as Wara, Climax and most of all Estrella De Marzo. This album (still unknown to most collectors) is not only special because it's from an country not many listeners know much about. This album is so great, so much underground, so unique and well crafted, that it goes into a strong competition with most "classic underground releases" from South America. If you are in to wild fuzz guitar ala Zappa, and if you like Kissing Spell from Chile, beautiful vocals with strong lyrics and great beats , you will love this album. The early Pink Floyd has also influenced this album. For us it was one of the big musical discoveries for this year. Every track is great, high spirit progressive underground rock, as good as it can be. This album "A Los Ninos Con Amor" (to children with love) was recorded in 1974 with, keyboards, guitars, drums, bass & vocals."

And finally we have an archival release from the American expatriate King George Clemens. I haven't heard the 1968 album proper, though this claims to be more in line for what us underground heads prefer. We shall see. Label says: "King George Discovery - Peace Of Mind, was recorded in Sweden in 1968 with the US musician King George Clemens on guitar & vocals. A close friendship to Jimi Hendrix, who toured also Sweden in 1968, dropped many tracks from the release plan when the band was recording an album which also came out that year. All tracks who where competing with the music of Jimi Hendrix was not released, until now. A collector from England found the unknown tracks who where pressed only as a demo LP for the band. What a great find. Some tracks where placed on youtube and collectors where starting raving about this album. It is soo good, the guitar work is amazing, as psychedelic as it can get. We could release this album in cooperation with King George Clemens and we are proud to have this treasure released on vinyl and later onto CD. It's just great! One of the most important release this year for sure!"

Beyond, USA

2011-07-21T05:00:00.002-05:00

Beyond - Music and Beyond. 1979 private.

Here's an album my buddy Jeff turned me onto years & years ago. And to be honest, it never really grabbed me. Until now. As usual, he was right all along, and it's really a very good LP worthy of recognition.

Generally you'll read the group is from Texas (mainly due to an error in the Acid Archives book). But actually they're from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the management of the group is from Coffeyville, Kansas (on the border with Oklahoma). Jeff met the drummer years ago and confirmed the data. So I suspect various members are from the NE OK, SE KS area.

The music is a mixture of classic hard edged arena rock and all-out complex progressive rock. A little heavier than the usual Midwest progressive rock sound that we've featured extensively with a small to non-existent keyboard presence, but in reality Beyond were under the same influence as other groups from the region. Converse to tradition, Side 2 is the more commercial oriented part of the album, and it leaves one with a slightly bitter taste at the end (which is why I think the album never resonated with me prior). The complex songs do recall Astre, another Tulsa based group. Some fantastic acid guitar throughout, with some fuzz bass, and even some jazzy tuned percussion. A very cool relic from America's heartland.

Thanks again goes to Moe Curly for the reminder on this one.

Priority: 3

Quasar Light, USA

2011-07-20T05:00:00.002-05:00

Quasar Light - Experience This. 1981 Jet Eye.

One of the absolute funniest reviews I've ever read concisely stated the following: WTF is this? That got a belly laugh out of me. How many times have I felt exactly like that? Who knows, but no album I've heard in the last few years qualifies that expression more than Quasar Light.

WTF is this indeed. I don't even know where to begin. Umm... yea, it's like... OK. No more like... yea, that.

The first half of the album is like an alien pop album with hard rock guitar and disembodied female vocals. And no mistaking its 1980's heritage. So far, so bad - to be honest. But then this thing starts to go off the rails. In the weirdest way possible. Not that it's avant noise or anything so overt as that. No, they still are going strong with actual songs. But they're weird, twisted, distorted and downright complex at times. It's progressive rock in the 6th dimension. There is absolutely no reference here. Band is from the York area of Pennsylvania and one has to suspect that they're Amish on a Rumspringa binge. The only reference I could find on this album was a stream of consciousness rant on MySpace from the Quasar Light founder. Yea, what a surprise that.

Do I want to see this reissued? Yea, I kinda do actually. It's just too unique to ignore. Underground America at its weirdest right here.

Special thanks goes to Moe Curly for the tip on this one.

Priority: 3

News: Sireena to issue archival Mythos album and Franz K's second album

2011-07-17T18:03:00.004-05:00

A quick trip over to Sireena shows a couple of interesting looking titles.

First we'll announce the second archival live release from the Stagge's Hotel series that started with Thirsty Moon (and I have yet to hear). This is a 1976 live recording called "SuperKraut" (I really like the Ohr album inspired cover art!). Since this is from their "Strange Guys" era, I'm more curious than excited. Musically Mythos were quite good during this period, mixing hard rock with flute and progressive structures, but they had become a vocal heavy band, and the vocals are definitely their Achilles Heel. Perhaps in a live setting, they focused more on instrumentals. We shall see.

Second we have Franz K's album "Rock in Deutsch" receiving its first CD reissue. Over 15 years ago I picked up Repertoire's reissue of their 1972 debut "Sensemann" and have always enjoyed it, despite the German political context. Over the length of two side long cuts, the band delivers on a number of fronts, especially the guitar. I have no idea why I never bothered to check out their 1973 followup (originally on Zebra), especially since it has a similar positive reputation. So that's why its absence on the Original CDRWL. Whatever the case, it will be easier for me, and everyone, to hear now!

News: RPM releases Armada

2011-07-17T17:43:00.003-05:00

We just returned from a week long vacation without computer access, and generally when I do that, the news comes flying in. But not last week. However this one did catch my eye, while reviewing The Laser's Edge latest additions. RPM is one more wing of the Cherry Red series of labels, and our site usually features their Esoteric imprint.

I'll copy in Ken's description here. It definitely sounds interesting! "Archival collection of unreleased recordings from an unknown British prog rock band that existed in the early 70s. No one in the band that is particularly well known although the leader Sammy Rimington apparently has been active in the US jazz scene for decades now. Rimington is the band's guitarist. He also plays flute and sax. The material has a strong emphasis on flute leads but offers up some nice cutting guitar leads as well. Vocalist Terry Cooke isn't a mind blower but he's certainly up to the task and contributes flute as well. The label hype references early Genesis, Frank Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and King Crimson as influences. Frankly the only one I can say I hear is a vague comparison to Islands-era Crimson. There is a jazz influence but I wouldn't really call this "jazz rock". This is prog rock that would have easily fit on Neon or Vertigo. Sound quality varies from"yeah I guess this is OK" to "perfect". Quite a nice discovery and essential for anyone interested in early British prog."

Crow, England

2011-07-05T05:00:00.001-05:00

Crow - Live at the Oyster Stores. 1992 private cassette.
Crow - Medicine Wheel. 1992 private cassette.
Crow - The Tides of Apsaroke. 1993 private cassette.

As we are in the midst of the unknown UK festival psych scene of the 1980s and early 90s, I'm happy to announce what may be the absolute best group I've heard in the entire genre: Crow. I first heard of this group from a posting by Uwe Zickel over at ProgArchives a few years ago (and props goes to Uwe for turning me onto many newer space rock bands as well!). He posted their Myspace page, but for whatever reason I never bothered to check it out. But I did add all 3 albums to my Curiosity List, and out of the blue, The Alaskan Connection sent me two of them this past winter with a bunch of other UK psych rarities (like the AMA albums we just posted recently).

Holy moly! This is the good stuff right here. No pussyfooting around with electronica or reggae. Just hardcore space rock, in high flight mode most of the time, with loads of effects applied to the guitar. The guitarist plays not only fast solos, but a multitude of rhythm wah-wah that drives the music forward in an exciting way, with plenty of meter and thematic shifts to keep you guessing all the way through. There are sparse vocals, generally applied to add a trance-like effect and do not deter or become the centerpiece at any time. There are no keyboards to speak of, so the guitar and bass have the responsibility for all the tones and atmosphere - and they do a fantastic job at just that.

"Medicine Wheel" is the more psychedelic of the two albums, with plenty of tribal drumming and freaky guitar sequences with intense build-ups and actual climax releases. Both albums add didgeridoo to great effect. "The Tides of Apsaroke" ups the ante to a whole new level of intensity. Dare I say the guitar is almost heavy metal? Not a 1992 post-Metallica palm mute method, but rather a 1979 NWOBHM sound, similar to maybe early Saxon or Iron Maiden - but with the sound on sound fuzzy technique like Ed Wynne of Ozric Tentacles. I've never heard anything like it! And what an exciting path for other bands to pursue! There are a few more vocals on this album, and the material is definitely angrier, but no less satisfying for space rock heads. I haven't heard the live album, though the two live "bonus" tracks on "Medicine Wheel" are pretty rough in the recording department - so hopefully it's better than that would imply. Of the two albums, I prefer the purest "Medicine Wheel", but Tides is the more adventurous and also just plain awesome.

So filtering the above, what do we have: Take the heavier Ozric Tentacles tracks like 'Eternal Wheel' and 'Dissolution', mix with the punk angst of Omnia Opera, toss a little pyrotechnic Mandragora jamming, throw in the progressive tendencies of 'White Rhino Tea' Ozric or the obscure band Blim, and add a dash of metal to the guitar sound. Almost sounds like the perfect formula - not sure I could have drawn that one out any better in the playbook.

Crow was awesome, and definitely the best band from the UK psych scene no one's heard of (even besting Blim). They reformed briefly, and I hope that's not it from them. Reissue labels? This is a no brainer pick up. For certain they would have sold back in the day - if only anyone had heard them!

Priority: 1

Omnia Opera, England

2011-07-01T07:54:00.005-05:00

Omnia Opera - Beyond the Tenth. 1986 private cassette.
Omnia Opera - Celebrate for Change. 1987 private cassette.
Omniasphere - Surfing the Zuvuya. 1990 private cassette.
Omnia - Seeking the Elusive. 1997 private cassette.

On the announcement of Omnia Opera's new album "Nothing is Ordinary" (to be released July 21), I felt this would be a good time to post about their rare cassettes and try to push along the reissues. And besides we're right in the midst of posting on the neglected UK space rock scene of the 1980s and early 90s, so the timing is perfect. I've delayed the posting of this entry for well over a year now, as the band has stated their intentions to reissue the first two albums. From their website: "Squalor studios is currently engaged on a project to digitally remaster the popular Omnia Opera early cassette albums: 'Beyond the Tenth' and 'Celebrate for Change'. A project that is long overdue for those whose originals have worn-out! The final decision as which record company to use has yet to be made but there are rumours that Voiceprint may be taking an active role in promotion and distribution."

As for the music, Omnia Opera can best be described as a heavier and more in-yer-face variation of the classic UK festival space rock sound. About the only band I can think of that rocks harder than Ozric Tentacles in this genre. See our Under the Radar entry for their second CD "Red Shift". And their debut CD is even better. The first two cassettes listed here are very similar to the CDs, and in fact some feature reworked versions.

No word on the Omniasphere or Omnia projects. I've heard the former, and it's quite good, perhaps a bit more geared towards the electronica crowd. I haven't heard the Omnia album (it barely gets a mention on their webpage), though The Alaskan Connection is digging around the boxes looking for his copy.

As an aside, if you're a fan of Omnia Opera, you may also want to seek out the Blim cassettes, which we also hope to see on CD someday!

Priority: 2

News: Esoteric's 2011 June-Aug schedule

2011-06-29T16:50:00.003-05:00

I'm a little late on the June announcements, but some pretty cool stuff in this batch.

Some of what caught my eye: Earth and Fire's "To the World of the Future" is a good choice and hasn't been on the market for years. This is really the first proper reissue of the album.

Socrates "Phos" is an interesting choice. Reissued a couple of times by Vertigo in Greece, I'll be curious what Esoteric will add beyond the usual excellent liner notes of course.

It's good to see Esoteric diving in the Italian reissue market a bit deeper. There's almost no classic Italian progressive album that hasn't been reissued (and our list has a few scattered about - but the great ones have already been done - in multiple formats). However, many of the Italian greats are still limping along with poor mastering. BTF has gone back and done a nice job with a lot of the old Vinyl Magic CDs - and added some liner notes as well. Acqua Fragile is a good band to tackle and I've been looking for a nice reissue of "Mass Media Stars" myself. Hopefully they don't stop at just the English language Italian groups.

Even more exciting for me is to see Aardvark's sole album get the royal treatment. There's been a "common" copy reissued many times - and I own the Japan mini that is taken from this source. I'll keep the mini for the cover, but it would be nice to know more about the band and to hear a properly done reissue. I personally love this curious organ freakout album, with quaint, almost Canterbury-ish psych tunes thrown in.

And finally the two CD set of Tangerine Dream's "Atem" looks most promising, as that second disc is: "This Esoteric reactive edition is expanded to include a bonus CD of a previously unreleased forty minute live performance given by Tangerine Dream at the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin on November 29th 1973 and features a lavishly illustrated deluxe booklet with new essay."

Here's the announcement from Vicky at Esoteric:

"June
Lol Coxhill-Ear of the Beholder-with contributions from kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield and David Bedford
David Bedford-Nurses Song with Elephants (featuring Kevin Ayres and Mike Oldfield)
CCLR--s/t (new studio album with Bernardo Lanzetti of PFMs band with Steve Hackett as guest.)
Bill Nelson-Northern Dream (Bills 1st ever album)
Dave Brock and the Agents of Chaos-Agents of Chaos
Earth and Fire-To the World of the Future
Acqua Fragile-s/t (Italian prog with bernard Lanzetti)
Acqua Fragile-Mass media Stars

July
Aardvark--s/t Excellent Deram Nova album.
Tudor Lodge-s/t--lovely classic folk rock album with great new artwork
Richard Wahnfried and Arthur Brown-Time actor(Richard Wahnfried is Klaus Schulze)
Arthur Brown and Vincent Crane-Faster than the Speed of Light
Speedy keen-Y' Know Wot I mean (voice of Thunderclap Newman)
Soft Machine-Tales of Taliesin (lovingly packaged anthology of the Harvest Years)

August
Tangerine Dream-Atem (2Cd)
Tangerine Dream-Underwater Sunlight
Socrates-Phos
Jack Bruce-Out of the Storm
Speedy keen -Previous Convictions"

News: Achim Reichel to reissue remainder of catalog in 2012

2011-06-29T16:41:00.003-05:00

Thanks to a ProgressiveEars note from Charles at progressiverock.com, we learned that Achim Reichel will reissue his other excellent works including Echo, 3, IV, Autovision and Erholung in 2012. This is according to a note on Reichel's Facebook page.

We'll be sure to keep an eye on this one. We still haven't seen the CD issue of Gunther Schickert's "Samtvogel" yet (though the LP did come out). Unrelated? Sure, but it reminded me of it all the same.

AMA, England

2011-06-25T05:00:00.006-05:00

AMA – Not Blobs. 1988 Poultry Productions PP6
AMA – Liveloudandlumpy. 1988 Poultry Productions PP8
AMA - Genuflex. 1989 Poultry Productions ??. These were all pressed on cassette originally. The date of Not Blobs is based on the catalog number. Genuflex is listed 3rd as that's how the Freeman's from Ultima Thule have it ordered. Given that Liveloudandlumpy is from November 1988, I'll surmise this one is from 1989. But it's only a guess.

Back in the January / February time frame the Alaskan Connection had shared with me quite a few very rare psychedelic albums from the 1980's English underground (only one was listed in Gnosis and no entry on RYM or anywhere else). Some of these were from the "festival scene" and others were just private garage operations. The Poultry Productions label is an example of this latter movement, and perhaps most known for the multitude of Rancid Poultry albums (update coming soon). I told him at the time that I probably would get to these by the summer. And here we are!

AMA can quite simply be described as long and improvised, primitive sounding guitar-bass-drums psychedelic instrumental music with a muddy production. The kind of group that makes Tangle Edge sound like Conservatory students with an academic pedigree. A little of this kind of music goes a long way. Probably the "Improvised Drop Outs" sessions from Tangle Edge are the best reference here. It has a hypnotic effect as background music, but close inspection reveals all sorts of cracks, lines and warts. Like going to a dark restaurant and appearing on the surface to look beautiful, only later to be exposed in the bright lights to demonstrate the ugly truth. Personally I like the raw intensity of the recordings, though probably not enough to lobby for a reissue. Perhaps the cassette format is perfect for these kind of recordings in that, like the medium itself, it's old and creaky.

Start with "Not Blobs" if you're curios, as that one has an inkling of compositional acumen at least.

Thanks again goes to the AC for these incredibly rare recordings!

Priority: none

Updated post: Garden of Delights Coming Soon list

2011-06-23T08:44:00.002-05:00

Nothing too major to report here, so I decided to update the post from January.

Take a look!

Syncope, Canada

2011-06-22T05:00:00.002-05:00

Syncope - s/t. 1980 private.

A very obscure LP from Quebec, where scant information can be found on the internet. I hear a mix of way-past-its-sell-date horn rock, late 70s fusion, complex progressive rock similar to Opus 5 / Pollen and even a little downer blues rock. The more I hear it, the better the album gets. The horn rock angle is really weird given the 1980 date, especially since it's of the 1969 Chicago / BST variety.

If you do decide to go surfing the web on this one, what you will find is fellow Gnosis colleague Sean Trane's excellent analysis of the album, which I'll quote here: "Hiding behind a poetic musical dawn artwork (see the full artwork PA's site), this septet is a very brassy affair, presenting a bit like a Quebecois version of Chicago through seven tracks ranging from four to six and a half minutes and one splendid mini-epic nearing eleven minutes.

The aptly-named septet develops some excellent syncopated prog-enhanced brass-rock, that sounds very Quebecois, not least through the relatively accent-less duo French vocals (often close to Opus-5), bar the swingy blues Bleu d'Hull track, which sticks out a bit too much from the rest of the album. Indeed the four tracks of the opening side sound like a calm and thoughtful version of Chicago or a less-kitschy Lighthouse without being derivative, the main difference being in the double vocals and an uncompromising songwriting. The flipside opens on the album's centrepiece, the instrumental self-titled mini-epic lasting almost 11 minutes, often running quite complex and even symphonic (grandiose intro on a church pipe organ), but never needlessly so. After an average mainly-sung track, the album closes on two splendid tracks, the first Cible (target) sounding like a brassy Opus-5 song, while the amazing instrumental finale of Rage features some wild Spanish-sounding horns that draws chills in the back of the neck. What an awesome way to finish an album.

If you'll make the exception of the sung-swing-song closing the A-side that ruins its cohesiveness, the album is a very impressive, filled with often-superb brass-rock that is probably more brilliant than the early Chicago classic albums."

Trane really nails it here! This one is a real grower, and I've raised the priority one point over the last 3 listens.

Priority: 2

Kashmir, Switzerland

2011-06-17T05:00:00.001-05:00

Kashmir - Alarme! (aka Je Suis...). 1979 Kiswell. (Je Suis... was the original private issue)
Kashmir - Histoire Cruelle. 1982 Kobold.
Kashmir - Les Reflets du Lac. 19??.

Here's a group that I had forgotten about in my original CDRWL. Years ago I had the LP version of "Alarme!". It was fairly decent, but not enough to keep and I moved it in an ebay auction.

Based on a comment from StrawbsFan, I checked the album out again, and I found it to be slightly better than I remembered, but still not something I'd be willing to stump for to a CD reissue label. Basically it's similar to other electronic duos like Eden (France), Jonathan (Germany) and maybe even Space Art.

Shortly thereafter, StrawbsFan also shared with me the very rare second album 'Histoire Cruelle". I had remembered seeing this in rare LP catalogs, with a prohibitive price tag and I'd left it on a curiosity list forever. Until it dropped off. That was a mistake, as I hear this second album better than the debut. It is, however, not an easy album to describe. 4 listens in, and I'm not sure what I can tell you here. It's a mix of Tangerine Dream styled electronic, new wave synth pop, keyboard heavy progressive rock with fat fuzzy guitar leads and early Klaus Schulze styled dirges. There's a lot here to discover, and I think it could be a grower. Reason enough to warrant a CD.

Very little data can be found on this third album. I recommend you check out Mutant Sounds for their "Alarme!" entry, and read the comments section from Raphael who states he is the son of the founder of Kashmir - and has some fantastic information. Still I have to wonder if this third album was actually released? Anyone know for sure?

Thanks again to StrawbsFan!

Priority: 3 (for Histoire Cruelle)

News: Vos Voisins to be reissued by Prog Quebec in November!

2011-06-12T09:37:00.005-05:00

I've been sitting on this news for some time, having first caught wind of it in early January. And in fact, I do recall their being a premature announcement in early 2010. No matter, as we now have an announced release date from ProgQuebec of November 1, purposely after Halloween because of the track "Le Monstre de la Main".

Our feature of Vos Voisins here.

The topic came up in Progressive Ears for the announcement of the blues rock group Offenbach's double album "Tabarnac" (which you can order now).

Also noted is an October 4th release of a new album by ExCubus, a 1970's vintage group that PQ first introduced to us a few years ago.

And perhaps most exciting is that PQ is still working with Sony on reissuing Michel Madore's "Le Komuso a Cordes" and Franck Dervieux's "Dimension M".

Catch Up, Germany

2011-06-08T05:00:00.001-05:00

Catch Up - Catch Up 2: Birth of the Second Life. 1976 Calig.

A few years ago, Crippled Dick Hot Wax reissued the debut by Catch Up under their "rare groove" series. It's a superb album, one that grows on repeated listens, with a mix of dirty electric keyboards, woodwinds and a slight funky undertone. I didn't realize Catch Up had a second album until very recently, and was surprised to learn it is of a similar quality to the first album - and it's not on CD. Not sure why CDHW didn't see this one just as worthy as the debut, though maybe it just didn't sell well.

The quality of Catch Up's second album isn't quite as apparent as the debut, and it takes awhile to assimilate the various styles present here. "Birth of the Second Life" starts off with a funky, disco-ish instrumental that recalls perhaps bands such as MFSB. This leads to a Hammond organ and piano driven track with an Andalusian theme. Followed by a moody horn and keyboard jazz track. And so it goes. Until the last 3 tracks, where Catch Up really take it up a notch. There are great Moog and organ solos, deep bass grooves, timeless melodies, and the closer that features tripped out female narrative bits against atmospheric keyboards and tuned percussion that instantly recall the early 70s Krautrock masters. A really fine album.

Priority: 2

News: Long Hair to release another Papa Zoot Band archival album

2011-06-06T07:38:00.005-05:00

This is Long Hair's second archival release for the Papa Zoot Band. I thought the "Last Concert" from 1978 was pretty good, though this one sounds better to me honestly. We'll see! As always, Long Hair does a fantastic job on both sound and with the informative booklets.

Label says: "Great lost band from Frankfurt, Germany. In 1973/ 1974 Papa Zoot Band played all over Germany, mainly in clubs but also on festivals (German Pop Meeting) 1st and 2nd February 1974 in Essen, Grugahalle. Titles 01 - 04 were recorded live at SWF-Studio U1 in Baden Baden on April 13, 1973. The titles 05 - 10 were recorded at "Bunker", the bands rehearsal room in Frankfurt. The band played a very melodic sound but with a sense of drama comparable to Nektar, Eloy or Jane. Outstanding 20 minutes titles "Fly away" could be a long track by Pink Floyd of the Meddle/ Wish you were here/ Animals-Era. Characteristic for the bands sound are especially the swirling organ sound played by Ex-Nosferatu organ-player Tammy Grohe. These recordings show Papa Zoot Band during there best period. Hard to believe, that there was no record company to give them a contract. The sound of the CD is brilliant. All titles were remastered from the original master tapes. CD comes with comprehensive booklet and rare photos. Secret tip! A must have for all lovers of the genre."

News: Garden of Delights to reissue Sunbirds and Missus Beastly!!

2011-05-30T09:17:00.008-05:00

What a great way to close the month. Top shelf reissue label Garden of Delights will release both the first Sunbirds album and Missus Beastly's "Dr. Aftershave and the Mixed Pickles" all with bonus tracks! These should be available very soon. And it sounds like "Space Guerilla" is right around the corner! It's not everyday we get a Priority 1 reissued (Sunbirds) and two Priority 2's (Missus Beastly). And I'm sure the second Sunbirds will follow soon as well.

It wasn't long ago that we discussed the Coming Soon list from Garden of Delights, and these were of course on there. We also have separate features for the Sunbirds and Missus Beastly.

Label says about the Sunbirds: "The fusion group Sunbirds was founded by the jazz musicians Klaus Weiss (drums) and Fritz Pauer (keyboards) in Munich in 1971, when the two of them had already made a name for themselves. They got Ferdinand Povel on flute, Jimmy Woode on bass and the world-famous guitarist Philip Catherine to join them. The band name Sunbirds was Fritz Pauer's idea, as well as the songs in E major and E minor, carrying titles including the word "sun". E is the sound representing the sun in esotericism. Due to their good connections, they could soon sign a contract with the then newly-founded BASF label. The LP was released in that same year of 1971, simply under the name of "Sunbirds" (BASF 2021110-2). The two as yet unreleased bonus tracks are from the same master tapes as the LP/CD tracks and were recorded at the same time. The second Sunbirds LP, "Zagara" is to follow on CD at a later point."

And they continue with Missus Beastly: ""Dr. Aftershave and the mixed-pickles" (April 00001) was Missus Beastly's third album, which once more presented some solid jazz rock, mostly instrumental. It was at the same time the first album to be released on April, the new self-distributing label run by Missus Beastly, Ton Steine Scherben, Embryo, and Sparifankal. The LP was recorded in the well-known Stuttgart Zuckerfabrik studio (a former sugar refinery) at the beginning of 1976. The two CD bonus tracks were recorded at the Vlotho festivals ("Umsonst und draußen" [outside and for free]) 1976 and 1977. At that time, they were presented on the annual festival LPs. "Dr. Aftershave" was actually planned to be released on CD years ago, but some unexpected obstacles caused a long delay. The fourth and last Missus Beastly LP, "Space Guerilla" from 1978, will soon be released on CD, again provided with bonus tracks." The delay is that the label Funfundvierzig was originally going to reissue these, but I don't think the label exists anymore.

I should mention that GoD's Thors Hammer label will also be issuing an archival release from the British folk band Fotheringay and the CD is entitled "Essen 1970".

News: Bureau B reissues the first two You albums

2011-05-30T08:33:00.003-05:00

Thanks to a tip from Laser Ken, we learned that the German label Bureau B have reissued the first two You albums with bonus tracks. These have been reissued before (which is why they're not listed separately here on the CDRWL), but on the very rare and expensive 5 CD set known as "Era" that Cue put out in 1996. Naturally I just laid out $85 for that set, when my primary interest was only for these two albums. That figures! I may pick these up anyway, and move the set later on.

I've had my eye on Bureau B for awhile, as they've been putting out a lot of interesting stuff (mainly new material), especially around the Cluster / Guru Guru camp. So this is the first time I've been able to highlight one of their reissues.

If you're not familiar with You, they were one of the best groups playing in the Berlin School of electronic music from the late 1970s and early 80s. In particular, I really enjoy "Electric Day", with the addition of guitar and real drums, that gives it an added rock dimension that is most welcome in this setting.

Label says: "A hitherto less celebrated, yet outstanding exponent of the so called Berlin School of electronic music was the Krefeld combo YOU. Udo Hanten and Albin Meskes teamed up with another iconic figure of electronic music, Harald Grosskopf (drummer for Ashra, Klaus Schulze), to issue their fantastic debut album "Electric Day" 1979. Definitely worth to be rediscovered! Available on CD, 180g vinyl, and download. CD and download will include four bonus tracks!

Four years after releasing their debut YOU delivered the sophomore LP, entitled "Time Code". Reduced to a duo, YOU largely remained faithful to their style, but expanded upon it. The album perfectly illustrates the transition of electronic music from the 1970s to the 1980s. Available on CD, 180g vinyl, and download. CD and download include two bonus tracks!"

News: Capability Brown to be reissued by Arcangelo of Japan

2011-05-16T06:11:00.007-05:00

Happened to catch this update from Neolith this morning. Arcangelo is the house label for the Disk Union store in Tokyo. I think "Voice" received a CD reissue over 20 years ago (also in Japan) and this is the first legit release for "From Scratch", but I'm not 100% entirely sure. These will be in the mini-LP format. Since the dollar has plunged against the yen dramatically in recent months, these mini's have become prohibitively expensive. I'm not too concerned though, as currency valuations fluctuate all the time. I'm just hoping they don't go out of print before that happens! Look for a June 8th release.

News: Sireena to release live Thirsty Moon concert from 1976

2011-05-03T07:25:00.005-05:00

Happened to catch this one while reviewing what's new at Sireena. This is probably past Thirsty Moon's sell-by date, but sometimes a live concert can be a pleasant surprise, especially if it features unique material. And the 1975 concert that Long Hair released was pretty good.

I have scant details as Sireena says nothing more than the following: "With THIRSTY MOON's "Lunar Orbit" (Sireena 2085) we start a cd-series with live recordings from the legendary Stagge's Hotel in 1976. An exciting journey with amazing sound quality."

It sounds like it could be an exciting series. We'll see!

News: Polyphony to come out on Gear Fab!

2011-05-02T13:44:00.005-05:00

Well I'll be darned. Never thought I'd see a legit reissue of this one come out. Gear Fab is a quirky US based label, who primarily focus on 60's psych and garage, but from time to time will also reissue albums in what the CDRWL features. Glenn Howard confirms this reissue on his Facebook page. I have no details of bonus tracks or if it's even from the original masters tape. We'll find out soon enough (tentative date is set for July 2011).

This one has been booted many times. Hopefully everyone will ditch their former copy and obtain this one. That's exactly what I plan to do. I also have the original LP, which I would not sell in any case.

Wow - the reissues are coming fast and furious now! What a great month it's been.

Our feature of Polyphony here.

News: Laurence Vanay albums to come out on Lion!!!

2011-04-29T07:51:00.006-05:00

As if yesterday's news wasn't big enough, I heard from Vincent (Lion Productions' owner) last night who informed me that the first two Vanay albums are coming out on both CD and LP! The CD will be a mini-LP sleeve and will contain many bonus tracks (perhaps from the mythical last 2 albums, or from the Magic Slows album - I'm not sure yet). No date has been given for release. These are Priority 1's for me, especially Galaxies, an album of pure genius. Our feature of her albums here.

Vincent says: "I've just signed a contract with Jacqueline Thibault to reissue "Galaxies" and "Evening Colours" (at least), both (mini-LP sleeve) CD versions with plentiful bonus tracks; both LP versions as straight-up LP reissues (I think). I'm still sorting through the many CDs of music she sent to me before we determine what exactly will be included on my re-releases."

With news of Rock Joint Biwa, Het Pandorra Ensemble and Laurence Vanay, April has proven to be one of the most exciting months in years concerning reissues! Let's hope it continues.

News: Modulus to reissue Het Pandorra Ensemble!!

2011-04-28T13:29:00.007-05:00

Wow - big news today! I've been sitting on this for awhile now, and I'm glad it's now official.

Before getting into the first release, the naming contest is officially over. The Laser's Edge new limited reissue series will be called Modulus. Congratulations to the poster that named it!

And Modulus' first reissue is a Priority 2 for us. This is a very auspicious beginning for the label, and we can only hope more will appear as time goes on. The fact the first reissue is a rare and obscure Dutch group proves that Modulus will not be a US only label. Here's our post on the album.

Ken states: "The first planned release that we have contracted for is Het Pandorra Ensemble "III". It will feature the original 1978 release plus assorted unreleased bonus tracks (still being sorted out by Dolph Planteijdt). Bob Katz will handle the mastering from the original analog tapes. It will be a strictly limited edition of 500 copies. Since this is not going through normal distribution channels. I have not established an exact release date but I hope to have it available sometime during the early part of the Summer."

Ken's shared with me some other potential reissues, and they're all exciting possibilities!

New blog: Under the Radar CDs

2011-04-24T05:00:00.002-05:00

This is an idea I've had in the back of my mind for awhile. Basically a similar blog style to this, but featuring either obscure progressive rock CDs of the past - or - newer bands that are receiving very little press and I think deserve more notice.

For a more detailed explanation and to see the first album featured - the blog is now up and running!

And don't worry, we still have plenty more albums to add to the CDRWL!

Floyd Hunchback Group, Switzerland

2011-04-23T05:00:00.001-05:00

Floyd Hunchback Group - s/t. 1978 Sunrise.

Yet another obscure Swiss band to feature. My first couple of listens last summer didn't convince me to list it separately. As I hear this again after about a 9 month break, I think it crosses the line into what I tend to enjoy. In fact, this is one I'd like to have on CD for myself, thus I bumped it up to a priority 3.

Floyd Hunchback Group is a tough album to describe. You can tell they're jazzers, and the typical late 70's fusion elements are all out in force (Rhodes, sax, funky bass). But they have this mean streak too, and some of the gymnastic rhythms, coupled with Moog and guitar solos, point to a love for complex instrumental progressive rock. The drumming is quite exceptional. Strangely I'm hearing more of a mid 70's Eastern European sound here, as found in bands like Fermata or SBB.

Priority: 3

News: Karthago Live at The Roxy reissued by Made in Germany

2011-04-22T07:47:00.004-05:00

And a followup to the last post, Made in Germany also plans to reissue Karthago's Live at the Roxy (1976) as a 2 CD set. Just like the "Victor" album, this one did get pressed by the parent Bacillus label back in the late 1980s. Looks like MiG cut a deal to get these back into the market. I'm sure they will do a great job as always, and will be the desired end product to own. Even though Karthago are typically labeled a Krautrock band, they're in reality more a plain US styled rock n roll group. I have a couple of friends that are huge fans of the group, so I know this will be a much welcome reissue for many.

News: Rigoni / Schoenherz reissued by Made in Germany

2011-04-22T07:36:00.005-05:00

Made in Germany appears to be the successor to the InsideOut.de reissue series that started last decade. They're slowly adding more and more interesting titles. Last year they surprised us with the 3 CD set by Niagara. Now we learn that MiG is reissuing the epic double LP by Rigoni / Schoenherz. This is not the first time for the album to find itself on CD, as it was reissued by the parent label Bacillus in the late 1980s, but it's been OOP forever. To be perfectly honest, I never cared for this Austrian album much personally. But I know many of you will be pleased to see this.

Label says: "Before Richard Schönherz became famous as creator of the "Rilke" - and "Hesse" projects, in 1975 he created - along with Manuel Rigoni - the concept work "Victor".

"Victor" is still considered a milestone of prog-rock, a concept album that creates the balance between orchestrated classic and sophisticated rock in a unique way.

With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Academy Chamber Choir, musicians such as the recently deceased Kurt Hauenstein (Supermax), Harry Stojka, Achim Buchstab or Johan Daansers, "Victor" became a cinematic masterpiece about the power of youth and a plea for deference to authority, war and cruelty.

Partly recorded and mixed in the legendary Abbey Road Studios, "Victor" still is a timeless work that is worth exploring.

The MIG-new edition contains the complete, extensive booklet of the vinyl edition and has been lovingly remastered.

TRACKLISTING:

The Invitation
The Head Of The Circus Sings For His Beloved Audience
Who Is Victor
Victor's Song For Himself
Victor's Song For His Father
Where Is Victor
Victor's Dream
Victor's Song For The White Man
The Song Of Life

CREDITS:
Produced by Peter Hauke
All lyrics, music and arrangements by
Manuel Rigoni and Richard Schoenherz
Symphonic Orchestra composed and arranged
by Richard Schoenherz, dedicated to Sonja

Recorded at
Abbey Road Studios, Chipping Norton Studio, AIR Studios England, Europa Sound Studio, Germany Austrophon Studio, Vienna

Engineered by
Peter Bown, Barry Hammond, Fred Schreier, Hartmut Pfannmüller, Steve Nye, Gregor Hornacek, Wolfgang Engel

Remixed at
Abbey Road Studios, Advision Studios, AIR Studios
Remixing engineers
Peter Bown, Dec O'Doherty, Peter Henderson

Personel
Richard Schoenherz - keyboards, lead vocals
Manuel Rigoni - drums, percussion
Kurt Hauenstein - bass, lead vocals on "Song Of Life"
Harry Stojka - guitars
Achim Buchstab - lead vocals on "Who Is Victor" and "Where Is Victor"
Johan Daansen - guitars
Peter Wolf - ARP on "The Invitation"
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Wiener Akademie Kammerchor

Cover Art by Karl Strnad
Photographs by Kurt Waldert and Karl Strnad "

Lear, Switzerland

2011-04-22T05:00:00.003-05:00

Lear - Swiss Rock History Vol. 1. recorded: 1969-1979 released: 1996 Blue Moon.

Later archival release, but so far still only on LP. Swiss based female vocal lead hard psych / progressive rock album. Lots of great fuzz guitar and organ leads. The classic European progressive take on Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin. File next to Circus 2000, Sandrose and Goliath. A really good album, though some of the recordings are a bit rough, especially the live material towards the end (last 4 tracks).

As an aside, there were 3 releases in this Swiss Rock History series. Vol. 2 is the pedestrian rock album by Exit (which was also reissued by Black Rills on LP, but never on CD). Vol. 3 is by a band called Taurus (not related to the Dutch Taurus presumably), and one I've still not heard.

Priority: 2

Emerald Web, USA

2011-04-21T05:00:00.003-05:00

Emerald Web - Dragon Wings And Wizard Tales. 1979 Stargate.

Nice mix of sequencer based electronic music, fluttering flute, airy female voice and acoustic/electric guitar. Excellent atmospheres and even a few heavy rocked out moments towards the end that are well placed to add some much needed spice. A quite varied album, that needs a few listens to appreciate.

The Florida based duo of Kat Epple and Bob Stohl went on to record a few more albums, though supposedly in the new age genre. I remember seeing these 80's albums back then and avoided like the plague, but I haven't heard them to be fair. For now, I'll presume these later albums to be out of scope for our list. But their debut album is definitely cool.

Priority: 3

Trocarn, Switzerland

2011-04-18T05:00:00.005-05:00

Trocarn - s/t. 1977 Studiovox.

One of our readers suggested I give this one a closer spin, and so I did (a good suggestion I might add!).

Trocarn play in that charming, but hopelessly low budget, maudlin, French progressive folk genre. Epic but somewhat confused. Towards the end of the album, we're presented with a loud burst of fuzz guitar, coupled with the freaky fast complex changes. It appears the band possessed tons of pent-up anger and went nuts at the end. More of that interspersed throughout would have made for a monster album. One has to think there is more of that sound in a canister somewhere. From the French section of Suisse. File next to Emeraude, Subversion and Alpha Centauri. I also have to think a newly remastered CD taken from the masters could do wonders for an album like this, and maybe take some of the "low budget" aspects off of it.

Priority: 3

Dragon, New Zealand

2011-04-17T05:00:00.002-05:00

Dragon - Scented Gardens for the Blind. 1976 Vertigo.

Same situation as yesterday's Mackenzie Theory post. I've been waiting for this one for two years (in 2009 they reissued Dragon's "Universal Radio" and pre-announced this one for 2010), and I'm most excited about what Aztec will do with the sound on it. Like the album yesterday, I have the original LP (which is featured predominantly on my wall since the cover is absolutely stunning), but Aztec typically does a great job of mastering.

Dragon are one of the premier, if not the premier, New Zealand symphonic rock acts. Very similar to other Australasian bands like Sebastian Hardie or Ragnarok. Also Ireland's Fruupp comes to mind here as well. Personally I think this is Dragon's best album by a long shot.

Priority: 2

Mackenzie Theory, Australia

2011-04-16T05:00:00.002-05:00

Mackenzie Theory - Bon Voyage. 1974 Mushroom.

I've delayed the posting of this one long enough. It was pre-announced to be reissued by Aztec in 2009 along with the second pressing of "Out of the Blue" (which was first put on CD by the original label Mushroom, before they went out of business). Aztec no longer publishes their coming soon list (or I couldn't find it), and so I'm not sure if this is still on their docket or not. Exact same dilemma as with the much anticipated reissue of Dragon's second album "Scented Garden's For the Blind".

Mackenzie Theory are an excellent fusion band lead by electric viola and guitar, similar to a slightly stripped down Mahavishnu Orchestra. "Bon Voyage" is a bit more jammy than the debut. Four long tracks.

Priority: 3

Granicus, USA

2011-04-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

Granicus - s/t. 1973 RCA.

Like Polyphony, this album has been bootlegged so much on CD, it's completely understandable why most folks think this one is already out legit on CD. According to multiple sources, it was due for reissue in 2001, with bonus tracks, but the label (Rewind) went out of business before release. And it still remains in that state. Ugh.

Granicus are a Cleveland, OH based hard rock group. Probably the single best example from the US to attempt a Led Zeppelin like raucous electric blues sound. Has a Midwest America sensibility and directness as found in other bands from the region (Poobah for example), but otherwise Page and company is definitely the influence here. Mellotron and acoustic guitar touches combined with Robert Plant styled high pitched vocals puts this album somewhere between Zeppelin's "IV" and "Houses of the Holy". This is essential for hard rock fans, especially those who like a little adventurous progressive compositions mixed in.

Priority: 2

Earwacks, USA

2011-04-14T05:00:00.004-05:00

Earwacks - Distances. 1981 private.

As promised in the Eardance review about 10 days ago (my, how the time flies), I finally found the Earwacks album after digging around for awhile.

We frequently speak of the late 1970s Midwest progressive rock sound on the CDRWL, and the St. Louis based Earwacks would seem an obvious candidate. But it's really not. There's no bid for AOR airplay here. This is truly private press land - an oddball album that is more 1960s in spirit and early-1970s in sound. The shelf date for this kind of music had expired a full ten years before its release. I could see this as a pointed retro album from the late 90s or 2000's, but have absolutely no idea where the inspiration came from in 1981? A scattered mixture of pop, rock (and both styles decidedly non-1980s sounding) and epic progressive rock (with mellotron, flute, sax and fuzz guitar).

Not too many albums with mellotron that you won't find on the Planet Mellotron site, but here's one. BTW, a copy just sold for all of $11 and change back in February (I wasn't looking for it, but I should have been!). Way too obscure this one.

Based on a comment from ProgCzar, I visited their website, where apparently you can get this on CD. Many times when a band does this, they mean an on-demand CD-R, but sometimes it really is a pressed CD. Anyone know?

Priority: none

Jenghiz Khan, Belgium

2011-04-12T05:00:00.003-05:00

Jenghiz Khan - Well Cut. 1971 Barclay.

It was in the late 1980's that I first began to trade with dealers from around the world. And Jenghiz Khan was one of the first albums I traded for, and it cost me some rare gems (at least for what I had to offer at the time). "A psychedelic progressive masterpiece from Belgium." I don't think I could have been more disappointed. In fact, I thought it was terrible and I'd just been taken to the cleaners. An early lesson for me in "dealer hype". See my definition of hype in the Passenger (UK) entry. Anyway, looking back on it, I can see where Jenghiz Khan would be popular with a certain fan base. So no way would I call it hype today. And it's aged a bit better for me, but no chance would I froth about it either.

Jenghiz Khan are a fairly typical early 70s hard rock / blues rock band with organ and guitar leads, and half-way decent English vocals. Very ordinary songwriting. Somewhat like the UK blues rock scene ala Ashkan and Elias Hulk, but far more inconsistent. Last track, clocking in at 10 minutes, is the clear winner of the bunch.

There are at least 3 bootlegs of this album. So the demand is there.

Priority: none

News: Shadoks reissues O Bando from Brazil

2011-04-09T06:26:00.006-05:00

Interesting new batch of CDs and LPs from Shadoks. As usual with the deep divers at Shadoks, not all is relevant to our site, but I cherry picked a few out. Since this is the CDRWL, we'll start with the shiny thing.

I haven't heard O Bando prior, but in typical Shadoks fashion, it appears they reissued it on LP first. As you'll see below, I generally try to seek some of these vinyl albums out as well, but I just missed this title altogether. The label says:

O Bando was recorded in 1969 in São Paulo by 5 guys and a beautiful singer Marisa Fossa. The production was state of the art hosted by the 3 top producer of Brazil. For 1969 it was recorded in Scatena studios in São Paulo with 8 channels equipment which was the best you can get at this time. The music has sophisticated brass arrangements very much like the same level as US bands Chicago Transit Authority, The Flock and Blood Sweat & Tears with the charm and rhythms of Brazil Exotics. If you like the album by Liverpool this one would be for you. A real summer record, should make the stoned Psychedelic listener move his hips and dance or at least nod their feet. Great guitars, smashing vocals, Samba rhythm, horns, tons of effects, a real trip to Brazilian underground music. One of the best!

Perhaps even more interesting is their new lineup of obscure LPs. I don't usually call these out, since that's not the purpose of our list, but what the heck - I'm already here. And there's a good chance all of these will see a CD reissue from the label sometime in the future. The Eugene Carnan (band name, not person) in particular could be promising, especially if it lives up to the groups its being compared to. I also included the second Bump LP, which was part of their last batch of releases. I didn't care much for the first album by them, but this sounds more interesting - on paper at least.

Label descriptions below:

Here is a great surprise for us. An unknown UK album with such a great musical potential. Musically it is a very powerful guitar dominated underground rock such as Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Dark or Grannie. The rarety factor is way above all those other rare UK album, which stay in low pressings of 99 copies and 15-20 such as Dark. This one has been pressed only 4 times ever. In September 1971 Eugene Carnan entered a UK-wide competition for “Best New Band” run by the famous Melody Maker magazine, they recorded the album in 1972 and took it to London to Eden Studios for a demo pressing and cut 4 acetates. Eugene Carnan a 3 piece band are from Sheffield, UK with guitar & vocals, bass and drums. All own composition. A killer album from beginning to end.

1968 Hollywood, USA. The Churchill Downs recorded 16 great tracks at the studio from famous producer Gary S. Paxton. The band was very young at the time but the musical output was on the highest level you can imagine with a damn good production. How can a band like this not become famous is a mystery. Fantastic compositions, great multi vocal singing, strong guitars, organ, drums, bass, effects, everything you desire to get catchy Underground songs with tons of great ideas in it to make those songs unique and out of bounce and not middle of the road. It is just what we love about the productions of Phil Spector and Andrew Loog Oldham. The Churchill Downs are one of the best US unknown albums among Beauregard Ajax and Public Nuisance. With Don Adey on guitar & vocals, Gary Dalton Stovall guitar & vocals, Dirk Acree bass & vocals, Mick Newton keyboards & vocals, Al Stigler & Fred Darling on drums. If we could go back in time, lets say 40+ years and release this album in 1968 we would have been rich. Why this album was never been pressed is still a mystery. So for the first time ever those great songs made it onto vinyl. We love it.

BUMP 2 (the unreleased second album) was recoded in 1971, just a year later after the debut album, also on Pioneer Records and also produced by Gary A. Rubin. Paul Lupien - organ / George Runyan - bass, vocals / Alan Goldman - guitar / Jerome Charles Greenberg - drums recorded 8 great tracks which never came out so far. We could even use the original artwork. This is a fantastic prog / psychedelic monster LP, a mixture of dreamy organ psych with heavy fuzz bluster, very much like CA Quintet. Ghostly swirly organs, burning rough guitars, sound effects, fuzz/wahwah guitars, trippy lysergic vocals and great melodies. A killer album from start to end.

News: Sony to reissue Rock Joint Biwa and Rock Joint Sitar!!!!

2011-04-08T12:36:00.006-05:00

In the WOW!!! category comes this amazing news out of Japan. The Alaskan Connection gave me the heads up 3 days ago (which I saw via my iPhone), and I've been bursting to share, but unfortunately couldn't get to the computer while away for business.

We featured the Rock Joint Biwa album back in December as part of our duo of very rare Japanese albums. This is the album commonly referred to as Fulukotofumi.

Interesting to note that the albums will be issued under the name Hiromasa Suzuki.

Since that post, I have heard parts of the Rock Joint Sitar album (courtesy of a YouTube video that the AC sent me - you can Google for it under the Hiromasa name). It's definitely more in the jazz realm than the Biwa album.

Here's the note the AC sent me. Thanks again for letting me know!

"It turns out that both of the Rock Joint albums are finally being reissued! They're being done by Sony Music, and are due to be released on May 25 at a price of 2100 Yen each. It should be noted that the artist name being used for these is Hiromasa Suzuki or Hiromasa Suzuki Trio. For some reason, the Sony Music Japan site still doesn't have anything up about this, but they've been listed on all the major Japanese retailers now, and I've spoken to a couple of Japanese sources who have confirmed that these are definitely coming. To say these reissues are necessary is an understatement, as the price on the originals has really gotten out of control. I just saw another copy of Rock Joint Sitar go for over $1000, and it was just the regular 2-channel version, and a rather beat-up looking example at that. As I mentioned, pretty much all of the Japanese webshops will be carrying these, but here are the Amazon Japan links just so you can see for yourself:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/ロック・ジョイント琵琶%7E組曲-ふることふみ-鈴木宏昌/dp/B004U7LJW2/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8& qid=1302052831&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.co.jp/ロック・ジョイント・シタール%7E組曲-シルクロード-鈴木宏昌トリオ/dp/B004U7LJKE/ref=sr_1_2?s=music& ie=UTF8&qid=1302052931&sr=1-2"