Cry Freedom ~ Germany

Volcano. 1976 private

Sunny Day. 1979 Erlkonig

Nobody's Fool. 1980 Erlkonig

UMR review

Priority: 2

4/28/10

Energy ~ Sweden

Energy. 1974 Harvest

UMR review

Priority: 2

4/25/10

Fly ~ Germany

Die Fahrt mit dem Gläsernen Ballon. 1979 Ballong

Primarily instrumental melodic progressive rock similar to many from the time and place like Novalis, Surgery, Indigo, Morpheus etc... There's a light fusion sound that prevails, lead by soprano sax, electric piano, soft electric guitar and some choice synth leads. Goes at its own pace, with seemingly nowhere to go. Pleasant and soothing.

Priority: 3

4/22/10

Lost Nation ~ USA

Paradise Lost. 1970 Rare Earth

UMR review

Priority: 2

4/19/10

Synthesis ~ France ***REISSUED***

Synthesis. 1976 Arc-RCA

***Reissued by Dare Dare in 2002  

Well, it turns out there is a CD on the Dare Dare label from 2002, nullifying this entry.

UMR review

2002 (complete); 4/18/10 (new entry)

Gramigna ~ Italy

Gran Disordine Sotto il Cielo. 1977 Ultima Spiaggia

Not an easy one to describe. Quirky, like all on the label (including the namesake band). Some chamber rock, some pop, some fusion. Sort of an RIO pop album. Elements of Stormy Six and Henry Cow are apparent.

Priority: none

4/17/10

Lodestar ~ USA

Lodestar. 1979 private

UMR review

Priority: 2

4/13/10 (new entry)

Orchestra Njervudarov ~ Italy

Con le Orecchie di Eros. 1979 EMI.

Orchestra Njervudarov are another one of those crazy late 70's Italian acts, mixing in rock, jazz, humor, Zappa, and whatever else pops in their nutty heads. Not too far off from Roberto Colombo, Ultima Spiaggia, and Gramigna. Definitely has that original RIO spirit ala the second Picchio dal Pozzo album.

Priority: 3

4/10/10

Psi Nukli ~ England

Side Effects. 1987 private (MC)

Not heard this one yet.

Number Nine. 1988 private (MC)

This cassette is made up of a collective of two related bands: Psi and Nukli. Both groups were intimately involved with the UK festival space rock psychedelic scene. And the recording media choice of the day was the cassette. By 1989, most had moved on to CD, so this was released at the tale end of the movement. It's about 90 minutes, so it uses the full length of the cassette. It could use a good editing, and contains about 60 minutes of great space rock / experimental found sounds material. Like a more unhinged and unfocused version of Ozric Tentacles. Would be nice for someone to tackle this project, as the potential is mighty. Nukli finally managed a CD on Delerium sometime in 1997, but the group was just a shadow of their former selves by then. Psi Nukli has at least two other cassettes during the 80s, but as with most of the scene, info is scarce and dodgy at best.

Priority: 3

4/7/10

News: Rocket Records to reissue Fantasia and Scapa Flow!

Thanks to a tip from Laser Ken, we learned that Rocket Records of Finland will be reissuing two of our High priority wishlisters: Fantasia and Scapa Flow. Also look for the first reissue of Uni Sono, an obscure spacey rock album from 1975.

They're the label that we announced awhile back that recently released the Kaamos - "Deeds and Talks" and Seppo 'Paroni' Paakkunainen - "Plastic Maailma" albums.

It doesn't look like I ever publised my blurb for Scapa Flow. Here's the entry from the Original Wish List:

Scapa Flow - Uuteen Aikaan (Finland) 1980 Kompass. Outstanding Finnish progressive folk rock, similar to German acts like Carol of Harvest and Rebekka.

Fantasia ~ Finland ***REISSUED***

Fantasia. 1975 Hi-Hat

***Reissued by Rocket Records, Apr 2010

UMR review

Priority: 1

9/1/09 (new entry); 4/2/10 (complete)

Symphonic Metamorphosis ~ USA

Symphonic Metamorphosis. 1970 London

UMR review

Priority: 3

3/31/10 (new entry)

Total Issue ~ France

Total Issue. 1971 United Artists

Total Issue could be considered one of the earliest of French progressive rock albums. The band has that loose jazzy quality that recalls Moving Gelatine Plates with flute and fuzzy guitar leading the way - especially on the brilliant 'La Porte Ouverte'. Not as Canterbury influenced nor as consistent as the almighty MGP, but still a very strong early French effort. There's also a fair amount of acoustic guitar / flute based singer-songwriter / pop material, but arranged in a progressive manner, similar to how the Italians would do. The album is mostly sung in French (a rarity for rock bands in those days), with some English tracks, which are predictably more commercial but all thankfully short. Overall an important historical piece not to be ignored.

This one remains without a proper / legal reissue (as of 3/18/25). Honestly this is more of a Priority 3 for me if the album was reissued just as is. But Total Issue have five singles, of which three were not released beyond the individual 45's (so six songs). As well there is a bootleg running around with a title called 'Psychedelic Jam' or something like that. I haven't heard it, but sounds like good bonus material to me! So if all these tracks could be added - AND we get a full biography of the group, then this would be a Priority 2 for certain. There are some really great tracks on the album proper as well.

Priority: 2

3/21/10

Totty ~ USA

Totty. 1977 Our First Record Company

The Totty Brothers of Tulsa, Oklahoma provide us with a strong hard rock entry, complete with a mixed up Christian-score-with-chicks message. And just how many righteous men have gotten religion for a chance at a piece of sweet ass? Hmmm-mmm, homeboy know! No matter though, 'cause this delivers the goods in the layman's sense - solid distorted guitar fronted hard rock. Pre NWOBHM, but with that same take no prisoners attitude. File alongside Truth & Janey and Poobah. This is the good stuff.

I recall their second album to be more straight ahead AOR music

Priority: 2

3/20/10

Os Mundi ~ Germany

Latin Mass. 1970 Metronome

One of the earliest examples of what we now call Krautrock. Nice organ and guitar leads, with the added gimmick that they sing in Latin (years later, this idea was picked up by the Italian group Deus Ex Machina). Still has a holdover 60s psych rock sound, making it somewhat unique for German rock.

43 Minuten was reissued by Repertoire (1998).

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Missing Vinyl (2014)

3/18/10

News: Sireena to reissue the Curt Cress Clan album in May.

Germany's Sireena, along with Garden of Delights and Long Hair, continues to give us hope that some of the more obscure German albums will eventually see a reissue.

Our original entry about the album said: "Curt Cress Clan - s/t (Germany) 1975 Atlantic. Hot funky fusion from Cress' mid 70s band. Typical jazz fusion of the era, something we've heard 100s of times before, but perfectly executed. A safe bet if you're a fan of said style."

TOuCH ~ Germany

Traumwerk 1. 1980 private

TOuCh's sole album is a nice example of Berlin School electronics mixed with rock elements, primarily in the form of real drums and flute. Not as dynamic as Klaus Schulze's Moondawn or Wolfgang Bock's Cycles, but some of the sequences are inventive and the album holds up well to modern ears. The group owns a large palette of keyboards, not uncommon for the genre, though it doesn't appear they took full advantage of the tones available to them, and the album could use some color. This is particularly true on the opening 'Gethsemane 1', which is a bit dull. Once the sequencers and drums kick in on part 2, the album gets more interesting. In fact, I'd argue each subsequent track is better than the prior. The group's name is an amalgamation of the two protagonist's "TOm und CHarly". Worth seeking out for fans of the genre.

Priority: 3

3/17/10 (new entry)

Third Quadrant ~ England

Seeing Yourself As You Really Are. 1982 Rock Cottage

One of my favorite titles ever, the philosophical Seeing Yourself As You Really Are was released just a few months prior to the New Wave of Progressive Rock movement (aka Neo Prog). It arrived just a tad early to receive the press and distribution it needed to survive. It's considered one of the major rarities from the era, along with the Airship label groups like Protos and Gemini. Musically it's fairly under produced, but does possess a strong mid 70's Genesis to late 70's Pink Floyd feel. 

Mellow Records reissued a later cassette called Layered many years ago, but never did tackle this one. 

Third Quadrant have two earlier cassettes that I will attempt to hear at some point.

Priority: 3

3/16/10

Mama Bea Tekielski ~ France

La Folle. 1976 Isadora

Mama Bea's debut album is clearly indebted to Catherine Ribeiro & Alpes' early 1970s works, but honestly this is much more dense, and truth be told, completely unhinged. Perhaps it's Ribeiro's Portuguese heritage verse Tekielski's Polish background, but there's something far more disturbing going on with La Folle than anything Ribeiro coughed up (literally). While Ribeiro is far from an easy listen, she still comes across as the mysterious troubled damsel in distress. Perhaps it's her runway-fashion-model looks, but Catherine seems to be reaching out for help while still dominating all that is around her. With Mama Bea, she delivers 100 ragged nights of booze, pills and rock and roll. She has both the look and the attitude. The cover of her smoking a cigarette, with a face that says that she's had just about enough of this crap, is priceless. And so she takes out her frustrations on this recording. There are times when it would seem more appropriate that the medics come in and hustle her off to safer pastures. Meanwhile all the earmarks of a classic underground album are going on in the background, with plenty of psychedelic guitar, rumbling bass (a trademark of the French scene) and pounding percussion. It's all a bit unsettling, but it's also too real to ignore. A real grower if I ever heard one.

Priority: none

3/12/10

Tau ~ Germany

Tau. 1981 Plane

Simply put, Tau play a symphonic rock style, with bits of humor spread throughout. The progressions are very much out of the early Genesis school, and Tau could be considered contemporaries of Ivory or even Neuschwanstein. But there's also a strain of late 70s Grobschnitt found throughout, both in the zaniness and even in the AOR moments. Sung in German, which is unusual for this type of prog rock. Lots of mellotron for an 80s album. Fans of neo progressive rock are likely to enjoy this one.

Priority: 3

3/9/10

L.S. Bearforce ~ Germany

L.S. Bearforce. 1983 Up Art

UMR review

Priority: 2

3/8/10 (new entry)

Tantalus ~ Germany

Sitting in a Dream. 1980 Srilanca

Sitting in a Dream is a generic, but tasteful, symphonic progressive. Elements of Camel and Pink Floyd abound. Nice keyboard and guitar leads, and mediocre vocals. Pretty much what you would expect from this era of German symphonic rock. File next to Shaa Khan, Fly, and Indigo.

Priority: 3

3/7/10

News: Long Hair to reissue Amos Key archive material

It's been a little slow on the news front of late, so it was with great excitement that I saw the latest gem from Long Hair. Amos Key's album "First Key" is still not on CD, so maybe Long Hair will pick that one up as well. In the meantime, this CD certainly looks intriguing!

Amos Key - Keynotes: The Lost Tapes SWF Session 1973.

Long Hair says: "For the first time on CD: The radio session of classical rock influenced great German krautrockers Amos Key. Amos Key owed great debts to Bach, Beethoven and Schumann, adding a heavy krautrock twist to a music closely resembling the Nice or Egg, full of angst and weird psychedelic and space-rock touches (Freeman Brothers: In A Crack In The Cosmic Egg). Amos Key lived in Munich and consisted of great organ-player Thomas Molin, congenial bass-player Andreas Gross and superb drummer Lutz Ludwig. This fairly competent outfit recorded the radio sessions before they released their famous and very rare album "First Key" in 1973 on label "Spiegelei". Sadly bandleader and organ-player Thomas Molin passed away in the 90ies but bass-player Andreas Gross tells the band story in a very vivid and funny way. 24 pages booklet contains also a lot of unseen photos. Sound is perfect; remastered from the original tape. Don't miss this superb item."

Not sure the term "fairly competent outfit" is the way I'd advertise it... LOL.

Laura ~ France

Laura. 1980 Laura Records
Colis Postal. 1981 Laura Records

Laura's debut is a high energy, very expressive album, with lots of dual female / male vocals excitedly sung over complex progressive rock music. While the keyboards clearly represent their era, they're still played with verve. And the guitar tone is the typical compressed fuzz tone that the French are so wonderful at producing. 

Colis Postal sees the band trying their hand at more commercially oriented material with mixed results. 

Priority: 1 (for Laura)

3/6/10

Sincerely P.T. ~ Germany

Sincerely P.T. 1973 Spiegelei

UMR review

Priority: 2

3/2/10

Oko ~ Croatia ***REISSUED***

Raskorak. 1976 Jugoton

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

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

Priority: 3

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

Nautilus ~ Switzerland

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

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

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

Priority: 3

2/27/10

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

Machine of the Universal Space. 1972 Connection

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

Priority: 3

2/26/10

Lindwurm ~ Germany

Im Windschatten. 1981 Recordor

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

Priority: 3

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

2/25/10

Sirius ~ Germany

Running to Paradise. 1982 Brutkasten

UMR review

The Three Bushes. 1984 Bear

Sirius' second and last effort, The Three Bushes, sees the band moving from Genesis' Selling England by the Pound to... Marillion's Script for a Jester's Tear. In comparison to their debut, their sophomore effort has a contemporary modern sound (especially the period synthesizers, for better or worse), with a determined pop approach, though there's still no mistaking the band's early 1970s Genesis-minded heritage. Punchy and poppy, but still quite satisfying.

Priority: 1

2/23/10

Komintern ~ France

Le Bal du Rat Mort. 1971 Harvest

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

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

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

Priority: none

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

2/22/10

Gas Mask ~ USA

Their First Album. 1970 Tonsil

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

Priority: 3

Discogs lists no less than 12 original pressings. Wow!

2/20/10

Fire ~ Croatia

Could You Understand Me. 1973 Killroy

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

Priority: 2

2/19/10

Elluffant ~ Netherlands

Release Concert. 1972 Disko Thiel

UMR review

Priority: none

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

2/18/10

Desiree ~ Germany

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

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

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

Priority: 3

2/17/10

Ceddo ~ Germany

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

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

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

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

Midwest Mike adds the following:

The other two titles of Ceddo are:

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

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

Priority: 3

2/16/10

Toto Blanke ~ Germany

Spider's Dance. 1975 Vertigo

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

Priority: 2

2/15/10

Aura ~ USA

Aura. 1971 Mercury

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

Priority: 2

2/12/10

Jean-Louis Bucchi ~ France

Sunflower. 1978 Trema

Former Speed Limit member Jean-Louis Bucchi released this diverse, electronically-tinged, instrumental album. One which was typical of the time and place. Reminds me quite a bit of Roland Bocquet's (Catharsis) Paradia album from the year before. Not as engaging as former Speed Limit mate George Jinda's Wheel of Love, but somewhat in the same ballpark. For those who prefer sketches of music rather than fully composed works.

Priority: 3

2/11/10 (new entry)

Crypto ~ Netherlands

Crypto. 1974 Pandora

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

Priority: 3

2/10/10