Everfriend, USA

Everfriend - Tropicsphere. 1980 private
Everfriend - Sphere of Influence. 1981 private
Everfriend - Shoot to Kill. 1983 Jazzical

Here's the final album of the last batch from MM. He had sent me Sphere of Influence a long while ago, and I decided to hold off posting until he tracked down Tropicsphere, which he'd already told me he had a bead on anyway. And here it is.

Tropicsphere starts off precisely in the place that the title suggests: The Love Boat basically. Breezy lounge styled jazz rock with trumpet, lightly amplified electric guitar, Rhodes piano, and lush dreamy female vocals. And then suddenly... ...suddenly it goes all Hatfield and the North. The drummer, who was going bonkers even on the slow commercial numbers, decided enough was enough, and it was time to start jamming! Here come the synthesizer solos and Northette styled vocals, and now we have something worth talking about! Now that the band has been "outed" as it were, all pretense of anything but keyboard driven Big 3 progressive rock are brought forth. Flip the record over and we start off with a flute driven jazz rock number. This is followed by a classically oriented harpsichord medley. And so it goes getting more and more progressive... a very good album overall.

Sphere of Influence (apparently the band likes the name Sphere) is quite similar in its diversity, though IMO a step down from the debut. In researching the record, I see that Prog Not Frog has posted this one, with the following excellent review: "(Sphere of Influence) displays an interesting mixture of styles, from spacey and classically influenced keyboard pieces featuring tons of vintage gear (including Mellotron!) to full-blown complex symphonic prog and even some weird synth-fronted jazz-rock. This one could only have come from the US prog underground. It just totally has that "feel", if you know what I mean." And yes, I completely concur about the "feel" part.

Everfriend were from New Jersey and, perhaps predictably given their music "sphere", later relocated to Florida.

----

May 7, 2015 update: Well, we thought we'd closed the book on Everfriend, but the ever enterprising AC has dug up a 3rd album, unbeknownst but to a few, perhaps only the band themselves. I think they should have named the album Sphere to Kill? Oh well...

So AC, what do we have here? "The third, final and undoubtedly most obscure Everfriend album sees leader Bill Rhodes (real name Ruprecht) in the latter stages of his (perhaps unfortunate) transition from prog/fusion band leader to typical 80s bedroom solo synth wizard, a path he pursued into general obscurity with many forgotten releases through the rest of the 80s and early 90s. The result here is a first side of embarrassingly goofy song oriented synth/drum machine pieces and a more serious side-long electronic suite that's kind of interesting and atmospheric at times, though ultimately falling far short of greatness. Has some period interest, as the then-recent Flight 007 incident that this piece is themed after was definitely one of the flashpoints of that particularly "hot" period of the Cold War, but that will only take you so far. Kind of a sad end really, as the first two albums, while not classics by any means, had some real moments of interest. As a side note, this has to be one of the most homespun looking LPs I have ever laid eyes on, consisting of nothing but a couple of black and white paste-on covers on a generic white sleeve, an insert that looks like it came straight out of an old typewriter and a laughably cheap and flimsy vinyl pressing."

And with that.... Well, yea, time to close the book on Everfriend methinks.

Priority: 3 (for Tropicsphere)

Danger, Netherlands

Danger - s/t. 1973 Cow.

Still plenty of items to go through here. Perhaps some major new discoveries to report on. We'll see. In the meantime, let's get back to the archives. These are albums in the main list that I haven't reported on prior for a variety of reasons.

I first heard about Danger in the early 90s from one of the rare LP catalogs I was receiving back then. The list compared Danger to Agitation Free. Subsequently Danger quickly became a top want and I searched high and low for it to no avail. Eventually I received a cassette of the album. OMG. Agitation Free??? I don't think so! Alright, but just because an album doesn't meet an unreasonably high expectation, doesn't mean it's bad either. However in this case, at least for my tastes, I'll validate this one is not very good at all.

Danger's one album is an Avant Garde / Systems jazz music made with organ, homemade synthesizers and tenor sax. Great atmosphere created by the organ is ruined by incredibly annoying and atonal saxophone honks and bleeps. Takes the patience of the Biblical Job to get through it all. For fans of extreme music, this album remains much sought after. For the rest of us, it's a mere curiosity.

Priority: none

Ashby Ostermann Alliance ~ USA

Ashby Ostermann Alliance. 1981 Divide

UMR review

Priority: 2

2/22/12 (new entry)

Artport, USA

Artport - s/t. 1982 private.

Wanted to give an extra day for the Ginga Rale Band to settle in. In the meantime, I started tackling a new stack sent in from Midwest Mike. His posts definitely resonate with our fusion base of readers. I've still got a few more I need to get out of the archives and give a fresh post, as he's turned in quite a bit of these type of fusion albums over the years.

Late 1970s and early 80s American fusion isn't my favorite subgenre of the progressive rock movement, but I'm starting to catch the vibe that fellow explorers MM, AC and long time good friend Jeff Nintzel have been emanating for years.

Artport is the kind of album I find very pleasant to listen to. Perhaps not something I'll froth about, but is easy to appreciate their technical ability, melodies and composition style. The main differentiator with Artport is the guitar is entirely acoustic. This is a very welcome sound in an all too predictable environment. You still get the 80s slap bass and sterilized shopping mall slickness - but the guitar is extraordinary. I can easily recommend this to private fusion collectors. Artport are from Minnesota, and the album is obscure, though not necessarily expensive.

Priority: none

Ginga Rale Band ~ Austria

Wir Bedauern... 1980 Reibo

UMR + AC review

Priority: 1

2/19/12 (new entry)

Woorden, Netherlands

Woorden - s/t. 1968 Omega.

Ack - no real progress made last night. Still at least a day away from our latest big discovery. Back to the archives.

I could see this album having strong appeal to the right listener. And I'm not the right listener...

Woorden's sole work is a freaky jazz / beat poet / psychedelic album - primarily sung / spoken in Dutch, with some nonsensical English. Real underground sounds here. Imagine hitting North Beach circa 1967, and thinking those cats in Haight Ashbury are nothing more than a bunch of peacenik punks who'd run under Mommy's skirt the moment the "pigs" and "fuzz" broke up the party. But these guys would keep on smoking their cigarillos while still vehemently protesting against The Man..... Man.

Cool period artwork for the gatefold cover.

Priority: none

News: Garden of Delights relists Pancake's "No Illusions" for future release

Thanks to a comment from reader Jim D, it appears GoD has re-added Pancake's final album "No Illusions". For my money, this is their best album and I'm glad to see GoD has reconsidered.

I haven't mentioned it prior, but it's been on their site a few months, that Garden of Delights also plans on releasing a second archival album by Tetragon called "Agape" from 1973. The first one, "Stretch", was quite good and better than I expected. So we'll see!

Cellutron & the Invisible, USA

Cellutron & the Invisible - Reflecting on the First Watch, We Uncover Treasure Buried for the Blind. 1978 Green Mountain.

Alright, back again. Work is beginning to dominate all aspects on my life. I sensed that at the beginning of the year. Desperately trying to keep up with the hobbies here. We still have one monster album to report on from the AC's January batch. That LP arrived in the mail earlier in the week (I bought one immediately) and I want to hear it one more time before posting. Hopefully tomorrow.

In the meantime, let's go back to the archives to kill time. This is proving to be a good exercise, as I hadn't added my rating/review for this title to RYM yet, even though the entry has been there for years. Just an oversight on my part.

I remember first stumbling upon Cellutron & the Invisible in an obscure Little Rock, Arkansas record store back in 1992. I thought I'd found the American Heldon, or worst case, Ilitch. It had that right look! I couldn't wait to get home and check this puppy out. But alas it was not to be the case. It's a rather dull and static electronic album, but with a few guitar touches that saved it from being a complete yawner.

Priority: none

Jean-Michel Desbouis (Prince) ~ France

Prince. 1982 FLVM

Jean-Michel Desbouis' sole album was a mystery for years. I had a cassette going back to the 90s that simply stated "Prince (1986 France)". Years later while conducting research for the CDRWL, I received another file. And sure enough, it was exactly this album. Once you realize the album was pressed by FLVM, the French do-it-yourself label, then it becomes clear on how this could happen. How many were pressed? Who knows, probably a small total seeing how few have ever been offered, or are currently owned (as noted by Discogs).

The music is a combination of electronic soundscapes and Berlin School styled sequencer driven composition. The female vocals from Stella Vander - yes that Stella Vander - add an otherworldly vibe to the proceedings. Definitely recommended to fans of 70s French and German electronic music.

Priority: 2

The AC's notes: "The whole presentation of this LP is bound to cause confusion. The front cover has absolutely no text on it, while the back cover is basically the same as the front, but with just "Prince" printed on the top. Only the insert has any information on it, but it only lists the track titles and musicians. There's no release date printed anywhere on the LP. I knew from the sound, style and place of origin that it was probably an early 80s album, but I couldn't be certain until I found Desbouis' own Myspace page, which confirms that it was recorded in late '81 and released in '82. This is definitely one of the rarest of these French electronic prog LPs, so I could certainly envision a scenario where years back some prog fan finds the LP, but it's missing the insert. It then enters into circulation via tape trading, with no real information other than that it's called "Prince"... ...This would also explain why, aside from the fact that it's always been very hard to find to begin with, that it's remained so obscure. Because if people really knew that it had Stella Vander singing on it, I'm sure it would have been a much better known item in the prog underground for years now, due to the general obsession with all things Magma."

And here is his original notes regarding the music: "Extremely obscure French electronic prog album, and quite similar to other efforts of this type from the late 70s/early 80s underground scene. The main difference here is that none other than Stella Vander is on board to provide vocals on some of the tracks, which is a very nice addition. The whole album has a sort of floating, spacey vibe that's somewhat trance-inducing. It's high quality stuff, and definitely recommended to fans of the genre. Unfortunately, it's also one of the rarest LPs of this kind. Desbouis had previously played in a band named Aum, and is still musically active to this day."

2/15/12 (new entry)

Leo Jones Workshop ~ USA

Fire Engine and Crossover. 1974 Mirrorsonic

---2/11/12

Leo Jones Workshop is a great discovery for all of you who love the early 70s dirty deep funk jazz psych rock of Miles Davis.

Leo Jones was an accomplished trumpet player and here he's laying down the deep groove with a bunch of 7th and 8th graders! When you hear this, you will not have any idea most of this is performed by kids in their young teens. It would seem task master Mr. Jones ran a tight ship. What an amazing artifact!

---9/8/19 

In hearing this album again recently, it holds up well under scrutiny. This one is still very unknown, but it's hard to imagine fans of the early 70s jazz rock sound not flipping for it.

Priority: 2

The AC's review: "Leo Jones is a trumpet player who studied under free jazz heavyweight Bill Dixon in the late 60s. In the early 70s, he received a grant from the city of New York to run a program called the "Lower East Side Community Music Workshop", formed to foster musical creativity in the city's youth, and ultimately leading to the creation of this unique artifact, recorded with a bunch of Jr. High school students in Manhattan. The album consists of two sprawling side-long tracks, seemingly stitched together from a couple of live jam sessions. The style presented here is firmly in the mold of early 70s Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band, Eddie Henderson, and the like. A relentless groove is laid down, with Leo and the kids attempting to "run the voodoo down" on top of it, with electronically effected trumpet, electric guitar, electric piano, clavinet, etc."

2/11/12 (new entry)

Demon & Wizard, France

Demon & Wizard - Evil Possessor. 1982 private.

Took a few days off this week from the stereo, but managed to make some progress last night. We still have one monster album to talk about and my LP is on the way now. Of the 3 (including Thomsett and Phase), this might be my favorite of the lot. More to come on that. Also, tomorrow I'll be reporting on an album that I'm certain fans of early 70's Miles Davis will freak on.

Today's post is once again courtesy of the AC. A very interesting album. Many of my initial thoughts were the same as AC's, so let's get his take first this time: "Hailing from Reims, this duo's lone LP, a private press released in micro quantities, is seemingly all but forgotten by time, representing perhaps the deepest, darkest recesses of the old French underground scene. In the unlikely scenario that you were to happen upon this relic collecting dust in some tiny French record store, your first thought might be that it's an unknown Venom style proto-black metal record, what with its ultra-primitive hand drawn cover that looks like something straight out of an old Advanced Dungeons & Dragons module, and track titles like "Medieval Holocaust", "Shaking the Gates of Hell" and "Black Witch". But what a shock you would be in for as the needle drops, revealing a shadowy aural landscape that would serve as the perfect soundtrack to some weird 70s horror film. Haunting, folky acoustic guitar passages blend into classic French electronic prog, with gurgling analog synths, bass, electric guitar, and occasional vocals, creating a strange, occult atmosphere that will stay with you long after the music has stopped. Admittedly, the execution is a bit amateurish at times (these guys were probably mere teenagers when this was recorded), but in a way that only adds to the charm. Definitely worth hunting down for fans of French deep underground sounds and experimental krautrock."

Haha - that was my first thought too: "Black Metal" by Venom. As an old metal head from back in the day (as in 1979-1983), I can only imagine my look of horror as I dropped the needle on this album, thinking I'd uncovered an underground metal masterpiece.

Demon & Wizard fall in line with many of the obscure acts of the French underground of the late 70s and early 80s. I would have expected this to be released on the D.I.Y. FLVM label, as it has that vibe. Or perhaps Disjuncta. The sparseness created by the acoustic guitars and synthesizers had me thinking at once of Images, Kennlisch, Lourival Silvestre, Flamen Dialis and even early Richard Pinhas circa "Rhizosphere".

Another nice find from the AC!

Priority: 3

News: Garden of Delights to release live May Blitz Show

Garden of Delights, via their non-German oriented Thors Hammer imprint, will release an archival live show from the UK based power rock trio May Blitz called "Essen 1970". GoD has released some other Essen shows in the past most notably from Xhol Caravan. I think this one could be interesting, as it would seem that May Blitz could be an adventurous act in a live setting. We shall see!

Label says: "On Tuesday, 22nd October 1970, the group performed in the Gruga hall at the third Essen Pop & Blues Festival. The event was recorded semi-professionally. The recordings could be purchased from the promoters and were re-mastered in a studio with great effort and care. The sound, however, is naturally not as good as that of the two studio LPs. The 32-page booklet contains a long band history in German and English, photographs, a detailed discography, numerous cover and label repros as well as a personal retrospective report by guitarist and singer James Black. A must for collectors. It is the first legitimate release of a May Blitz live recording and is released both as LP in deluxe gatefold cover and as CD."

Yog Sothoth, France

Yog Sothoth - s/t. 1984 Cryonic

Now this is an album where my mediocre rating is in the minority. Many of my friends and peers seem to enjoy it. My notes upon hearing Yog Sothoth were "Like a more free jazz version of the 80s Zeuhl based efforts by Yoch'ko Seffer or Bernard Paganotti. Can get a bit annoying in places." I've seen comparisons to that most dark of Zeuhl adopters Shub Niggurath, but I just don't hear it myself. They share an affinity for Lovecraft and that's about it. I think Hiatus of Avant-Demain fame is  another reference here.

Priority: none

JAS, USA

JAS (James Arthur Schneider) - Awakening. 1977 private. (1975-1977 recordings)

OK - we have a big announcement coming up on Monday - and it features one of the 2 albums I've been hinting about for days now. That LP arrived in the mail today, and I want to hear it one more time before posting. I know I won't get to it tonight, so it will be tomorrow, with a post on Monday. Exciting stuff. And it will be wrapped together with a CD reissue announcement. Yes, that's right, a total superb unknown LP with a CD reissue all at the same time! So everyone will have a chance to own it soon.

In the meantime, let's cover off on this major rarity recently sent in. Now this one is wrapped in an interesting story (perhaps only for me LOL - so you can skip a few paragraphs if you only care about the music). As I may have stated before, I started compiling "curiosity lists" as far back as 1988 or so. I started bringing in mail order catalogs from the back of the pages of Goldmine. Guys like Paul Major (the best catalog writer ever!), Gregg Breth, Greg Pawelko, Zary Smith, Jeff Baker, Walter Geertsen, Willi Oertel amongst many other worthy lists (old timers will remember these guys). I would diligently catalog the unknown titles. Originally written in a notebook, and then later to computer text files and ultimately into spreadsheets. I did that until about 1996 or so, and then I tired of all the also-ran albums that were being hyped up a bit. What we would later call in the Gnosis world an 8 level album (2.5 stars in RYM land). Not terrible by any means, but just average. So I gave it a rest, and focused on either new bands or collecting originals of albums I already knew.

Then came ebay (early 1999 for me), and a whole new slew of unknown albums were thrust upon us. And once again I began to diligently capture anything that looked interesting. I came up with all sorts of interesting "saved searches" on ebay to smoke out even the most obscure album. Over time, even that list was finally exhausted. Except for Jas - Awakening. And that's just how I had it listed. I had some generic music tag on it like "jazz psych with Indian instruments". Years of searching the internet turned up nothing. I handed my curiosity list to Heavyrock around 2005 or so, and even all his well-heeled contacts didn't have a clue. I saw the album listed in other folk's want-lists, with my exact description, along with other albums I had been looking for in the past (and had already found), so I knew the source of the want list: Heavyrock. Or me by extension. Eventually I concluded that I must have written the album down wrong, or missed some key bit of information. After all, I had found 100s of albums just like that back then, and I wasn't doing a deep dive. They were "casual curiosities" to be honest. Maybe another way of me saying I wasn't prepared to pay actual $ for it, but it would be cool to hear it first and then I'll lay down some jack if I like it. But since it never showed up in 10 years of looking for it (anywhere!), I pretty much wrote it off.

Fast forward to November 2011. I rarely scan ebay much anymore, except to look for a handful of LP originals I'm willing to pay $ for. But one evening, lacking anything else better to do while listening to an album, I decided to pull out some of those old "saved searches" I had on ebay and go through them. Most of these were built from 1999-2001, and I still have all of them. Perhaps most surprising is that they even still work (ebay is a case study on how to screw up a good thing). Many of these searches I haven't even looked at in 6+ years.

And lo and behold, on the one time I use an old search - there it was: Jas - Awakening. The ebay description filled in some blanks. Jas is J.A.S. - James Arthur Schneider. The auction featured photos of the front and back cover, which are on display here. Since MM is a huge fusion fanatic, I alerted him to it figuring he'd probably get more out of it than me. So he put in a bid. And lost. Much to our surprise. I mean who else knows this album? Well, all the folks that got a hold of my curiosity list years ago - that's who. Oh well, no big deal. We'll hear it eventually.

Two months later - guess what shows up in my virtual mailbox? - JAS. From the AC! Holy cow! Sure enough he knew someone who won that album. Are you kidding me? What amazing timing for all of us. So let's get his viewpoint:

Not to be confused with the 80s Atlanta-area spiritual jazz group Jas, this recording is actually the work of one James Arthur Schneider, an apparently west-coast based pianist and multi-instrumentalist whose bearded and totally stoned-looking visage adorns the back cover of this ridiculously obscure LP, recorded in two different sessions (live in Fairfax, California, 1975, and in the studio from Eugene, Oregon, 1977). Schneider's group is a seven piece jazz/rock ensemble, with a number of the musicians doubling on various Indian instruments as well. Schneider's acoustic piano forms the backbone of the music, joined by sax, flute and various other background elements over an active jazzy rhythm section. Both sides of the album, each consisting of two lengthy untitled instrumental tracks, unfold in a similar manner. The pieces generally start out in a somber jazzy mode, gradually building in intensity until the excellent and very McLaughlin-esque electric guitar joins in, taking things to another level. The best is saved for last, as the final and longest track rides a darkly intense rhythm, exploding into a frenzied crescendo with some of the most insanely ferocious, coruscating jazz-rock guitar I have ever heard. After this breathtaking peak, the piece further develops with flute at the lead, until eventually descending into an eerie conclusion, with ethnic percussion, backwards sound effects and creepy monk-like vocals. This track in particular is easily one of the most mind-blowing pieces of music I have heard in a very long time, and honestly left me in a state of near shock the first time I listened to it. I could perhaps envision some freaked-out underground jazzers from Germany or maybe Sweden having come up with something approaching this, but for a totally unknown US recording I found it to be highly unusual, to say the least. I would love to see this reissued and exposed to a larger audience, but unfortunately there's no way this would be feasible in its current sonic state. The sound is very raw and unbalanced, and would need a good deal of cleaning up to really make it presentable. But, if Mr. Schneider was to ever resurface and the original recordings still survive, I believe this would be a highly worthwhile project, especially if any additional archival material also exists. Finally, a quick note on the possible reason for the obscurity and scarcity of this album: Based on my copy of the LP, I would speculate that this never actually received a true commercial release, as the LP labels are completely blank, and both the back cover and original protective sleeve bear personal dedications from Schneider himself, indicating that this was perhaps only printed in a tiny run to give to friends, hand out at concerts, etc.

So, if you read carefully, the AC captured a very important point: This album wasn't ready for prime-time. It sounds like a bad demo. It makes Astre's "Foresight" sound like Dark Side of the Moon by comparison. Some of those smoking electric guitar solos are so buried in the mix, you can barely hear them. And yet you can tell he's really wailing. Intensely so.

Obviously, this is a very rare album. Not listed in RYM as of this writing (thanks Isabel for adding!). Mr. Schneider if you're out there - give us a shout!

Priority: 3 (in its current state) Priority 1 if remixed properly!

Compass, USA ***REISSUED***

Compass - Compass Rises. 1973 Schoolhouse.

*** Reissued by Kray (Italy) in 2023

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."

Priority: none

Wintauge, Germany

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

Rainbow Generator, Australia

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.

See the comments for updates from the band!

Priority: 2

Bahamas, France

Bahamas – Le Voyageur Immobile. 1976 Motors.

Song based progressive pop music sung in French. Relatively harmless, but does feature a few truly inspired progressions hidden within the commercial attempts. Nice organ and bluesy guitar leads are interspersed throughout. Not dissimilar to how the US groups operated in the mid to late 70s. Or perhaps one can be forgiven thinking of this album as a French Alan Parsons Project. Features a beautiful gatefold cover.

Priority: 3

Stefan Zauner, Germany

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 fall 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

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!

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!

Hermann Szobel ~ USA ***REISSUED***

Szobel. 1976 Arista

***Reissued by The Laser's Edge 2012

UMR review

Priority: 3

10/28/09 (new entry); 1/26/12 (complete)

Sustain, Netherlands

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 listen to some other Dutch/Flemish albums from the era, like Flyte and Isopoda perhaps, you can get an idea of their sound, though not as professional as either. It's not that it is 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

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(our friend Isabel has now added it!). 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

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 five 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? ....

....Genius Hans 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's debut 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. 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 sounding string synths (there is that too though).

So for every Genshi-Kyodotai, there are five Rhea's. That is to say, for every mythical album that is great, there are five 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.

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

1/24/12

News: Aztec working on Jackie Orszáczky's "Beramiada" album

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

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!

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!

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.

November 2, 2012 update: From the label: "Reissue of a rare, 250 copy private press progressive rock album from France.  Recorded on a 4 track Akai in the small town of Luxueil-les-Bains, this album was only sold at a few shows and in one local shop.  Pressed at the small Le Kiosque D’Orphee pressing plant, this was truly a private offering with the band having made and glued the covers themselves.  A long album, including the 14+ minute Theme Guerre, the music spans from lo-fi fuzz laden garage sounding numbers to strong progressive songs with numerous bridges and changes. Conceptually a Rock Opera, but plays like a full length progressive album that could rival anything from France at the time.  Remastered with wonderful sound quality, this is sure to open the ears of many who’ve overlooked the band until now.  Limited edition one time pressing in heavy paste-on sleeves, including insert full of photos and history of the band as told by Rol Brultey himself.  LP limited to 550 copies, CD limited to 1000 and includes bonus songs not included on the original album.  Shipping late this month, in shops by November 2012."

Rictus ~ France ***REISSUED***

Rictus - Christelle ou la Decouverte du Mal. 1981 Le Kiosque D'Orphee

***Reissued by Strawberry Rain, Nov 2012

UMR review

Priority: 2

12/16/09 (new entry); 1/23/12 (complete)

Irolt ~ Netherlands

De Gudrun Sege. 1975 Universe
Kattekwea. 1977 Philips
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!

There appears to be cd-r reissues of these (which we don't count). On Discogs, Kattekwea is shown as a CD, though I suspect it's a cd-r not properly identified (same label). Anyone know?

Priority: none

1/22/12

News: Caldera's Sky Islands reissued in Japan

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

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

Tempo e Modo - Um Mundo a Construir. 1982 RCS

Given that Tempo e Modo are of Portuguese origin and supposedly from the early 80s, 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. 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. 

Priority: 3

1/20/12

Robin Runge ~ USA

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

UMR reviews

Priority: none

1/19/12

Louis Banks' Sangam / Jazz Yatra Sextett ~ India

City Life. 1982 CBS (UK)

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

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."

Priority: 3

1/17/12

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

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.