News: Lion to release Laurence Vanay's mythical 4th and 5th albums in the Fall! + Many other announcements (Wapassou+)

We just heard from Vincent at Lion and he shared the great news. These two* La Petite Fenêtre and Les Soleils de la Vie have been on their Coming Soon list for some time, but now it has become reality. As you all know, we're big fans of Vanay, and I just hope these latter albums are at (or near) the same level as the breathtaking Galaxies or Evening Colours. Obviously we haven't heard them to date, but this will be for certain one of our most anticipated albums of the year. They will be reissued on both CD and LP and each album will feature many bonus tracks. I don't have covers to share at this point, but will post them as soon as I can.

*It can be argued that these are the 3rd and 4th albums, as many discount Magic Slows as a true Vanay album.

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In addition to these two albums, Lion will also issue a double LP version of Galaxies. The second LP will include one side of the Glaciers Interdits soundtrack (which we have also not heard) plus alternate takes (CD bonus tracks) on the other side. Sounds like a worthy purchase!

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One other major announcement is that Lion will be reissuing the first Wapassou album on LP and CD. And Vincent says this is the best sounding version for certain! If you've read my UMR blog, I've waxed on about how great this album is. I already own two CDs (Musea & Belle Antique) and one LP (Omega Studios). I think I'll add one more LP to that stack!

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There is also plenty more coming out from the Lion camp, much of it falling on, our outside, the margins of the CDRWL, but noteworthy all the same - especially for psychedelic fans. Some of these are out already, some are on the way:

July - Second of July. Digipak CD + 12 page booklet. These are the demos of the legendary July album (pre Jade Warrior).

Nihilist Spasm Band. CD + 32 page booklet. Free improv from Canada circa 1968.

Tin House - s/t. LP + EP.

Wilson McKinley - Spirit of Elijah. LP
Wilson McKinley - Heaven's Going to be a Blast. LP

Ray Pierle (McKay) - Time and Money + Rhythm of the Highway. Both albums on one CD.

Michael Angelo - s/t + Sorcerer's Dream + Nuts (as Michael Nitro). 2 CD set of all 3 albums. +28 page booklet. All for the price of one CD!

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Wow! We're fortunate there are still reissue labels like Lion fighting the good fight. Please support them when and where you can!

News: Exciting announcements coming from the Lion label camp!

December 8, 2013 update: The Vanay albums have been released!

We've recently heard from Vincent, who runs the CDRWL's favorite US based reissue label: Lion Productions. While not all of Lion's releases intersect with the CDRWL's personal interests, this latest set of news either touches the circle, or is a complete bullseye.

I think the most exciting news is that the Laurence Vanay albums are imminent! As in the October / November time frame. The LPs may come a month or two later depending on pressing plant priorities. Vincent states: "Loads of bonus tracks on both CD versions, almost doubling the original length of the albums. The LP versions will be exact replicas (without bonus tracks)." And the big surprise here is that we can also expect reissues of her mythical, and previously unreleased, "Les Soleils de la Vie" and "La Petite Fenetre" albums! What will not be reissued is her "Magic Slows" album, since Ms Thibault isn't very fond of it herself. And fellow Gnosis explorer Lev from Russia has already demystified the contents of the album, thus categorizing the omission as "no loss".

We've also been told that we may see Probe 10 as early as December of this year, or early 2014. So that's also very exciting news for the CDRWL.

With that, let's move onto Lion's three new releases that I think many of you will be interested in. I haven't personally heard any of them to date. The T2 is what amounts to the second post-"It'll All Work Out in Boomland" archival set of releases. Lion was involved with the first set as well which were called "T2" or "Fantasy". Those recordings were from 1970, and this latest batch constitute their 1971 to 1972 output (obviously). And, yes, this has already been issued on LP. This will be its debut on CD.

Tin House is a 1971 hard rock album from Florida that is highly rated in some circles. Based on the reviews I've read, it sounds like something I need to hear. Might as well just start with the Lion CD!

The Guy Skornik is another album that looks intriguing.  Not too many albums will reference Wahkevitch, Berger, Gainesbourg, and Manset in the same paragraph. I've also read comparisons to Popera Cosmic! The promo sheet says: "Digipack CD + 28 page booklet. Between 1970 and 1973, EMI/Path released several ambitious and progressive pop albums, including 'La Mort Dorion' (Grard Manset), 'Puzzle' (Michel Berger), 'Hathor' (Igor Wakvitch), and 'Pour Pauwels' by Guy Skornik. Skornik was a mystic explorer, psychonaut, and gifted musician, who was immersed in the metaphysical revolutions of his time. He presented television reports, laced with elements of Eastern mysticism, on LSD experiences. And then there was Skornik's album, 'Pour Pauwells', inspired by the revolutionary writings of Louis Pauwells, one-time counterculture hero and disciple of esoteric spiritualist G. I. Gurdjieff. Guy was brought to the public's attention for the first time in the beginning of 1970 with the release of a magnificent LP on the Path-label. Skornik tried, and succeeded perfectly, to do with his music what Louis Pauwels did with his huge best-seller 'The Morning Of The Magicians'. This is one of a handful of classic French progressive pop concept albums released in the early 1970's, together with Serge Gainsbourgs 'Melody Nelson' and the titles mentioned above. Features arrangements by Ivan Jullien (Franoise Hardy, Johnny Hallyday, Quincy Jones and Elton John). Licensed from Parlophone. Limited to 500 copies."

Lots to look forward to here!

News: Lion to reissue Congregacion from Chile

Here's one I thought I had added to the main list, but apparently did not. Our favorite US based reissue label has announced that "Viene..." will be coming out on CD shortly. It's definitely on the folk end of the progressive rock spectrum, but I know many will be pleased on hearing this announcement.

Label says: "Congregacion was the most legendary of the many excellent bands of the early 1970s Chilean music scene-one could easily say that for many people, this album has had the impact of a religious experience. There is good reason for that: Congregacion's music has a highly evocative sense of space, using natural sounds, native Andean instruments, and acoustic textures to foreground ecologist and mystic Antonio Smith's soaring melodies and deeply felt, philosophical lyrics. The results make this one of those perfect albums that works just as well on a Sunday morning as it does late at night. If things had worked out differently for Smith and Congregacion, this album might be as well-known (and well-loved) as comparable albums-comparable masterpieces-Milton Nascimento's "Clube de Esquina," and Joyce and Nelson Angelo's eponymous album. Unfortunately, Smiths lyrics earned him the enmity of the Chilean military dictatorship; he was forced to flee the country and "Viene." (IRT, 1972) proved to be the bands only release. Still, were lucky to have this album, with its perfect sequence of gentle, undulating, heavily-textured arrangements supporting Smiths plaintive, intimate and searching vocals. The result is an atmosphere of peace and enlightenment, with deep and introspective moments of great quality; incredibly beautiful. Congregacion band member Carlos Vittini gave some insight into Smith's charismatic mysticism: "I still get excited about how a musician has a great place in capturing the sensibility of the people. I knew the immense creative capacity of Antonio. From the sound of a bird, he speaks, capturing in passing the chirp of a chincol (sparrow) singing in a square, where these memories were made-from this he created a song." A highly recommended album, surely one of the pinnacles of dreamy psychedelia, despite its relative obscurity and undeniable rarity. Our deluxe, mini-LP gatefold jacket edition comes with a bi-lingual 32-page booklet, which explores the story of Congregacion in the context of the rich Chilean rock music scene."

News: Search Party "Montgomery Chapel" coming soon on Lion!

Here's a reissue we first announced back on December 17, 2011. And now over a year later we have confirmation that this great psych album is coming soon. Here's our feature of the album. This will likely be one of the best reissues of the year (of course Lion is also preparing the amazing Laurence Vanay (2) and Probe 10 albums, so they might even surpass their own accomplishment!) In the last few years, Lion has established themselves as the top reissue label from the USA, at least as far as the CDRWL is concerned. There is an additional CD of material coming from the St. Pius X Seminary Choir, including their 1968 album "Each One Heard About the Marvels of God In His Own Way", which appears to be groundbreaking as an avant garde styled choral project. Sounds like excellent bonus material to me!

Here's the label skinny: "Recorded at the San Francisco Theological Seminary's own Montgomery Chapel, acid-folk-rock psychedelic gem Search Party 'Montgomery Chapel' was the brainchild of (then Reverend) Nicholas Freund. Having left Wisconsin in the late 1960s to join a burgeoning West Coast religious scene, Freund spent considerable time in Sacramento before making their way to San Francisco in 1968 to lay down this one-off with some students of his. The result is a spooky, metaphysical trip that's equal parts God and acid-dripped mind expansion. Laced with haunting vocals and dreamlike passages, Montgomery Chapel is psychedelic music at its most evocative, and most spiritual. Original copies (only 600 were pressed on the custom Century label) carry substantial price tags. The recordings released by the St. Pius X Seminary Choir were made in the year or two which led up to the recording of the Search Party album. Not only did the three St. Pius X Seminary Choir records showcase the first work by Nick Freund, but they also were the first recordings of Search Party guitarist and vocalist Peter Apps. As one of the press clips regarding the Choir stated, "The choral treatment was electrified by a few phrases sung solo by Peter Apps, who is also the lead guitar. If Apps has not already formed a folk-rock group around that voice, he should. It is rich, deep, and ringing." Luckily, Freund and Apps heeded their advice, and the Search Party was the result. But nothing could have prepared listeners for the bizarre avant-garde (in the truest sense) electronic soundscapes backed by rock instruments which open "Each One Heard In His Own Language About the Marvels of God" (1968). The album settles down into a less out-there groove after the opening, but this is still adventurous stuff. During my conversations with Nick Freund, he told me that the electric sounds on the album were the work of composer Dary John Mizelle. Mizelle studied composition and participated in the New Music Ensemble at the University of California, Davis (the first free group improvisation ensemble); there he participated in a course led by Karlheinz Stockhausen. Mizelle is also a founding member of SOURCE Music of the Avant Garde magazine. Our two-disc set includes both albums, plus bonus tracks taken from ultra-rare early albums by the St. Pius X Seminary Choir. The 28-page booklet is packed with information, thanks to Freund, who was gracious enough to delve into his memory, scrapbook, and photo albums to help us flesh out the portrait of one of the most potent-and perhaps one of the most unlikely-psychedelic groups to ever record an album."

News: Lion releases archival Rotomagus from France

This weekend I did a quick scan of our favorite labels and came up with a couple of news items.

This one caught my eye from Lion Productions, a label who is quickly becoming a favorite (not to mention that they will release 2 Laurence Vanay albums and Probe 10 within the next couple of years!).

Rotomagus looks to be a bit out of scope, but anytime I see the words "Chico Magnetic Band", I must take a closer look. Even if in this case the reference is peripheral.

CD is available as of last week. LP is due in June.

Label says: "ROTOMAGUS "The Sky Turns Red: Complete Anthology" There’s no way to know why CBS Records unceremoniously dumped Rotomagus and the Chico Magnetic Band after one single apiece; suffice to say that decision was a poor one, as both bands have (quite rightly) developed a cult-like following over the years. All in all, the artistic trajectory of Rotomagus was peculiar: they started out as a harmony pop-psych band, shifted through a brief Jimi Hendrix-ian interlude (‘The Sky Turns Red’), straight into a Vanilla Fudge groove; they then went down in flames as a hair-raising monolithic heavy rock power trio. On Julian Cope’s excellent Head Heritage web-site, the Seth Man raves about Rotomagus thus: "The first time I heard this track (‘Fighting Cock’), I did not freak out. I merely walked into a nearby closet and screamed my head off for a minute solid, beat the floor and ripped my t-shirt... then I cowered when it hit me: this thing came out in 1971? Before "Raw Power"?! I just lost my mind... The only thing that predates this monster in terms of being a full-on amassing of all things heavy are all the many key points on Sir Lord Baltimore’s "Kingdom Come" LP and THAT’S it, brother." French magazine Rock & Folk was succinct: "Rotomagus create an emotional music, violent, even aggressive." Violent. Aggressive. Intense. On this disc we bring you the entire output of Rotomagus, including an album-length demo from 1971, the band’s tumultuous, thunderous swansong, recorded as a super jam (live with no overdubs). Our Lion Productions and Martyrs of Pop edition of Rotomagus comes replete with a bi-lingual 32-page booklet, with the entirety of the Seth Man’s article on the band, plus the band’s history in both English and French, printed on FSC recycled, chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer fiber paper, manufactured using biogas energy. Hard to believe this is all pre-1971, as much of the demo is not just proto punk but proto hardcore—with enough fiery attitude to make you want to scream along. The vocals are wild, while the guitar riffs and grinds and approaches a Stooges via Motorhead apocalyptic grandeur. Amazing! 

CD Track List: the unreleased demo (39:41): 1. Laureline; 2. Little Green Man; 3. Fighting Cock; 4. The Sky Turns Red; 5. Runnin’ For Life; 6. I Dig Life; 7. Shout Now; 8. Hello the Binaries; 9. The Flufluting Flatmul. the singles: 10. Le Haut du Pavé (2:48) (Polydor 66 664-A); 11. Nevada (2:40) (Polydor 66 664-B); 12. Eros (2:20) (CBS FR-4997-A); 13. Madame Wanda (3:26) (CBS FR-4997-B); 14. Fighting Cock (3:34) (Butterfly BS 007-A); 15. The Sky Turns Red (2:57) (Butterfly BS 007-B); 16. Laureline (2:22); 17. Porquoi les Hommes (2:29) 

CD edition catalogue number: LION 660 UPC: 778578066024 (CD) 2xLP edition catalogue number: LION LP-121 UPC: 778578312114 (2xLP)"

News: Lion to reissue Probe 10!!!!!

Lion Productions has officially announced their intention to reissue the fantastic 1975 album from Probe 10, including some bonus tracks! Label owner Vincent tells us to be patient though, and it probably won't be released until 2013 or so. Fine with me - I'd much rather it be a first class production than a rush job.

This is HUGE news for the CDRWL (and we played a small role in the events as well).

You can read my fanboyish ramblings of the album here.

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

December 8, 2013 update: The Vanay albums have been released!

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.