Saturday, December 19, 2009

News: MNW releases Arbete & Fritid's "Se upp för livet"


Thanks to reader Gal who points out that long time Swedish underground label MNW has reissued another one of their own 1970s albums - Arbete & Fritid's "Se upp för livet" (1977). Originally a double LP that apparently was part of an exhibition. I'm familiar with some of Arbete & Fritid's work, but I've not heard this title.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

News: Garden of Delights latest releases




A diverse batch this time that contains an obscure folk rock band as well as a 5th Xhol live album (4th from GoD alone). Most promising, to me anyway, is the archival release of Zoppo Trump - a band I'm not familiar with at all.

Zoppo Trump review on UMR

Label descriptions below:

"Zoppo Trump from Dortmund are known in collectors' circles only for the sampler LP 'Scena Westphalica'. In addition to these tracks, this CD contains another seven studio recordings. The style of Zoppo Trump can be described as progressive rock, slightly influenced by jazz and classical music, however mostly without any wind instruments. Band member Nicky Gebhard later played in Wallenstein and Martin Buschmann, son of the well-known jazz-musician Rainer Glen Buschmann, joined Cochise."

"(Yggdrasil) The sole album by this hippie-folk group from Munich in 1972 originally didn't make it past the acetate stadium. Now these wonderful sounds, with flute, violin and English lyrics, are finally available for the first time. The CD contains the five tracks from the LP plus eight instrumentals from 1970, including the soundtrack to the TV series 'Sommer in Sizilien' ['Summer In Sicily'], as well as five demo tracks recorded in the rehearsal room. "

"XHOL - ESSEN 1970. Xhol's sound was a mix of jazz-rock and psychedelia. The band from Wiesbaden (formerly known as Xhol Caravan) stood out for their lengthy improvisations, holding barely any vocals. The band became an established underground act with their two LPs released on Ohr. This release features amazing remastered live recordings dating from 1970."

Monday, December 14, 2009

News: Pan reissues Ruphus "Man Made" album


Pan Records, the consistent - albeit sparse, Norwegian reissue label has released Ruphus' last album "Man Made" from 1980. Not the highlight of their catalog, but completists will certainly be interested. And Pan always does a solid job, working with the master tapes.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

News: RPM reissues the first two BLO albums from Nigeria


Apparently December, 2009 is the time to reissue Nigerian psych albums. Earlier we announced the Academy reissue of Ofege. Now comes word that RPM, another of the many Cherry Red labels (Esoteric being the main one we follow), has reissued the first two albums by BLO (Berkeley Laolu Odumosu).

Here's what we said about the debut album:

"BLO (Berkeley Laolu Odumosu) - Chapter One (Nigeria) 1973 private. One of the more famous underground psych albums from Sub-Saharan Africa. Does contain a US psych funk vibe and isn't too far from the works of Fela Kuti, minus the deeper grooves. Shadoks has already done the LP reissue, so expect a CD sometime in the next couple of years."

Well obviously it appears Shadoks was only interested in the LP issue, or only had to rights to that format.

Should we expect an announcement for the Question Mark (Kenya) album next?

Thanks to Laser Ken for the heads up!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

News: Rocket Records to reissue Paroni Paakkunainen and Kaamos



It wasn't long ago we mentioned there didn't appear to be any active label in Finland interested in reissuing classic Finnish progressive rock. I wasn't familiar with Rocket Records prior, but they're based in Finland and have reissued many albums already (outside of our scope here).

Today we learned on Progressive Ears, two albums from our wishlist are coming out on CD for the first time from Rocket Records:

Paroni Paakkunainen: Plastic Maailma (1971)
Kaamos - Deeds and Talks (1977)

Excellent news!

Friday, November 27, 2009

News: Academy Annex reissue Ofege from Nigeria


Academy Records of Brooklyn have established a new reissue label, and their first reissue is Ofege's "Try and Love" (Nigeria), one of Sub-Saharan Africa's best psych albums.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

News: Black Widow to reissue Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come


While surfing around to the various label sites, I noticed that Black Widow of Italy plan on reissuing one of the United States' rarest albums: Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come. Currently all that exists is a rather awful bootleg taken from a scratchy vinyl. The album itself is a mix of early 70s American popular rock and balls out progressive, similar to the Italian style at that time. So a good fit for an Italian label like Black Widow.

UMR review here

Sunday, November 22, 2009

News: Captain Marryat CD to be reissued by Shadoks


As predicted in our Captain Marryat entry back in June, Shadoks will release the CD version of this incredibly rare album. Generally Shadoks waits longer between LP and CD issues, but I suppose they want to capitalize on the name while its still relatively hot within the collector's market.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the music. I expected the worst, but it's one that is definitely worth owning, especially if you're a fan of the distinctly UK style of early 1970s rock as found on the Dawn, Vertigo or Neon labels.

Captain Marryat, Scotland ***REISSUED***


Captain Marryat. 1974 Thor

***Reissued by Shadoks Nov 2009

Moved to UMR

Priority: 2

6/20/09 (new entry); 11/22/09 (complete)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

News: Long Hair to release early archival material from Aera!


As we've said before, no one turns up more interesting unreleased studio and live material than Long Hair. And usually in perfect sound! The CDRWL just learned of a new archival set coming soon from the very good German fusion band Aera. All the music here predates their original albums.

Aera - Mechelwind. 1973 Germany

The label says: "This double CD (1. 44:15 / 2. 41:41) unites absolute rarities of famous German band Aera. AERA founded in 1972 by "Ihre Kinder" guitarist Muck Groh and 2066 & Then keyboard player Steve Robinson were in their very beginnings, when they recorded their special extended version (26 minutes) "Mechelwind Suite" of their later classic title "Mechelwind" (on album "Hand und Fuss"). The Mechelwind Suite is divided into 5 parts and is rather different from the later album-version, not only because of Steve Robinson's excellent keyboard playing but also because of Muck Groh's fine guitar playing and Klaus Kreuzeder's pleasant sax tunes. CD 1 finishes with two SWF-recordings "Hodibbel" and "Mechelwind" from Oktober 1973 again with 2066 & Then keyboarder Steve Robinson. CD 2 contains a live performance of AERA from 23.12.1973 with the same line up as on CD 1. Highlights are the 15-minutes-version of "Hodibbel" and 12-minutes-version of "Papa Doing". The recordings show AERA at their very best during their first decade. Both CDs are digital remastered from the original tapes. Double CD comes with comprehensive booklet with a lot of unseen photos and band history told by founder-member Steve Robinson. A must have."

I don't believe Robinson is on any of the studio albums.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

News: World in Sound reissues Headstone


In news that's a bit out of scope for this list, but will surely interest our hard rock audience, Germany's World in Sound has reissued Headstone for the first time. It's a fine album, very representative of the Indiana-Ohio underground scene of the early 1970s. I'm personally fond of the album, as I lucked out out and found a pile of sealed ones in the basement of a small town Indiana music store (not a record store, but a place that sold trombones and the like to high school kids) in the early 1990s. I traded all but one of those to obtain rare progressive rock albums back in the day. I kept the other one, and plan to own it til the end.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

News: Wooden Hill Records to reissue Dear Mr. Time


According to a contributor on Progressive Ears, Dear Mr. Time's excellent "Grandfather" album is to be reissued by the end of the year on Wooden Hlll, Tenth Planet's subsidiary label. This is excellent news and one of our Priority 3's (maybe even Priority 2).

Dear Mr. Time, England ***REISSUED***


Grandfather. 1970 Square

***Reissued by Wooden Hill Jan 2010

A really nice big budget sounding album on a relatively small label. Somewhere between Moody Blues and the Dawn/Neon stable of bands - Czar comes to mind as well.

---

There's a more comprehensive 3xCD issued by Grapefruit in 2021 if so inclined. 

Priority: 2

7/11/09 (new entry); 11/1/09 (complete)


Saturday, October 31, 2009

Update: Italian box sets are out

Earlier in the month we had been a bit dismayed by the fact that the only way to buy the new Sensations Fix CDs, is to buy the box sets with 5 other releases, most of which have been already reissued (many times).

Well, the good news is that the box sets are only $45 each. At that price point, they make more sense, especially considering that all of these have been newly remastered. They do come with sleeve inserts, as suspected, so they aren't something one would sell or buy individually.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

News: Sensations Fix to be reissued (sort of)

The good news: We are finally going to have an opportunity to own two of the best Sensations Fix albums on CD! The bad news: In what can only be considered aggravating, you can only get them with albums that have ALREADY BEEN AVAILABLE FOR MANY YEARS. I cannot even imagine the thinking behind this. Sensations Fx would sell well enough without the assistance of other albums. And anyone who already has the others, aren't going to buy these to obtain 1/6 of the package price. I suppose the second box set isn't as bad, since you can also pick up the rare Carnascialia album, that has been OOP on CD forever.

So here are the packages:

"Boxset Vol. 1: Featuring 6 CDs among the best known names in italian progressive rock of the seventies. For some of the titles this is the first release on CD.
All masters have been digital remastered by Maurizio Biancani at Fonoprint in Bologna.

Balletto di Bronzo - YS
De De Lind - Io non so da dove vengo
Jumbo - Vietato ai minori di 18 anni
Sensations' Fix - Portable Madness
Latte e miele - Passio secundum Mattheum
Mauro Pelosi - Al mercato degli uomini piccoli"

(I'll say this for it - WOW, what a package!! The first 5 in this list are in my Top 10 of Italian prog albums! I think the Pelosi is making its debut on CD as well. (Nope! Nobuhisa is keeping me honest here - turns out Si-Wan reissued this in the late 1990s))

"Box Set Vol. 2: Featuring 6 CDs among the best known names in italian progressive rock of the seventies. For some of the titles this is the first release on CD.
All masters have been digital remastered by Maurizio Biancani at Fonoprint in Bologna.

Locanda delle fate - Forse le lucciole non si amano più
Sensations' Fix - Finest Finger
Ibis - Ibis
Roberto Cacciapaglia - Sei note in logica
G. Vivaldi/P.Minieri - Carnascialia
Stradaperta - Maida vale"

(Definitely a lesser package with only the first two being essential (and the former is easy to find). As mentioned prior, the rare Carnascialia is part of this package, so that's nice. I'm not familiar with Stradaperta).

I believe these are being released in Japan. (As Ken clarifies in the comments, they are being released in Italy and will be available for a budget price. Thanks Ken!)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

News: Stud - SWF Session 1972 (Long Hair)


When it comes to cool artifacts from the past, no one turns up more interesting items than the Long Hair label of Germany. Here's the latest, from the English band Stud (who were based in Germany by then, like Nektar and Odin), which should be released before the end of the year.

Long Hair says: "Another true classic from the SWF (German Radio Station) vaults comes with the STUD recordings from summer 1972. At that time the STUD members had said "farewell" to their English record label Decca and spent most of their time on the Continent, mainly in Germany where they were rather successful. With John Weider on violin and guitar they had just an album (September) out on BASF and played a lot of Club gigs and festivals. During their 1972 tour they were invited by radio station SWF to play a recording session at radio stations main studio U1 in Baden-Baden. There were two sessions that took place in April and Mai 1972. STUD recorded titles from their first and second album but varied the material to give the recordings a special claim. From hard rocking "Good Things", to fourteen minutes epic title "Horizon" and shining ballad "Make Me High" these recordings are an impressive prove of the bands musical bandwidth and the bandmembers' excellent technical skills. CD comes with band story. Digitally remastered from the original tape. For the first time on CD. Don't miss it."

Thursday, October 8, 2009

News: Esoteric's October and November reissues

From Vicky Powell:

"Our October remastered releases are all dropping in to the office now . Details of tracklistings can be found on the Esoteric website www.esotericrecordings.com

These are as follows

Tony Banks-A Curious Feeling-2CD deluxe with 5.1 surround mix and promo footage and interview with Tony
Tony Banks-A Curious Feeling -standard edition

Quite a lot of interviews with Tony were done for promotion and no doubt will be popping up shortly as well as on the various Genesis specific web sites.

Barclay James Harvest-Sea of Tranquility-3CD polydor years mini box set with extended booklet and lovely artwork.

Camel-Nude-extended
Camel-I Can see Your house from here-extended
Camel-Pressure Points-extended

Steve Swindells-Messages

Igginbottom-Iginbottoms Wrench-
Stray Dog-Stray Dog (our Manticore imprint)
Stray Dog-While Youre Down there (our Manticore imprint)

Novembers titles as follows-tracklistings will be up on the site as of 1st November but if anyone desparately wants them in the meantime please email me

Pete Sinfield-Still (2Cd with large amount of alternative mixes etc) on Manticore imprint

Flash-Flash

Peter Banks-Both sides of Peter Banks

Sweet ok supersister-Spiral Staircase

Darryl Way-Concerto for Electric Violin

Made In Sweden-Made in England

Robert Calvert-Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (will not be any different to the Eclectic release in early 2007--just made re available)"

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

News: Musea releases Acanthe (archival)


It's been a long time since Musea has released anything from the 1970s. Here we don't have a reissue, but a very intriguing looking archival release, which I was unfamiliar with until today. Certainly one I'm interested to learn more about.

Musea says: "From the beginning, one of Musea's aim has been to re-release major French Progressive rock albums from the Seventies. The French album was proud enough to create digital versions of works by ATOLL, MONA LISA or ANGE, together with more obscure, but talented bands. How many others existed during that period, composed and performed live, without leaving any discographical trace ? ACANTHE was one of them: a group from the Grenoble area, it existed from 1973 to 1977. Thanks to Frédéric LEOZ, the original writer and composer, some original tapes were recently re-discovered, leading, after a lot of re-working effort, to "Someone Somewhere" (Musea, 2009). This release is kind of a miracle for every French Progressive rock and Seventies lover: the music of ACANTHE, although never released before, easily takes place among the best French bands of this period. It reveals influences from PINK FLOYD, GENESIS, KING CRIMSON, ANGE or THE DOORS (Some organ parts especially), but offers a personal music, mixing instrumental and sung sequences, in English or French. Well played, refined and worked-out, with beautiful guitar solos and suggestive keyboards, "Someone somewhere" is intense, full of musical ideas and inspiration. Let's also mention a recording sound many current bands would have been proud of. A must-have."

Friday, September 25, 2009

News: Transubstans to reissue Anglabarn and San Michaels soon



A couple of years ago, Transubstans of Sweden (Record Heaven's house label) had pre-announced their intention to reissue the very rare pop psych folk album by Anglabarn. Then silence. Now it is finally slated for release on 9/30.

San Michael's on UMR

About a month ago, we had announced the reissue of the very rare San Michael's debut album (originally released in 1971 and features future Kaipa organist Hans Lundin), along with an archival second album called "Nattåg". At the time, it appeared they were coming out exclusively in Japan on the Belle Antique label. But it appears that is only for the Japanese mini-LP market. Transubstans is the originator and license holder. I've added the cover for the second album (the first is in the original announcement, which I'm too lazy to link to). Both of these will be released on 11/15.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

News: Sireena delays Circus' debut album. Look for new Sky reissues

Sireena has delayed the reissue of the first Circus album to an undetermined future date. That certainly doesn't sound promising.

In the meantime look for a Uli Trepte compilation archive as well as some more Sky albums from Harlis, Bullfrog, Octopus and Breakfast.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

News: Long Hair's latest archival release


Long Hair again has come up with a very interesting looking release from the fantastic archival vaults of the SWF radio station. This is not available yet, but should be out within the next month.

Dieter Bihlmaier Selection (1973)

Their description follows:

"From the vaults of radio station SWF (today SWR) and previously unreleased, this fantastic group with a rather unusual instrumentation (flutes, bass, drums) blow your ears away. They played music you probably haven't heard before. Call it Free rock, living new jazz or just extremely good music, this trio is far out of any limitations. The music of the Dieter Bihlmaier Selection possesses genuine power, where explosive eruptions alternate with lyric moments. On repeated listening the music develops an irresistible pull that we wish to share with all lovers of "good music". These recordings are without any doubt not only of high musical value, they are also an absolute rarity, since unlike the two albums of the Dieter Bihlmaier Selection, they were recorded just in the trio formation flute, bass and drums and without the participation of the vibraphone player. The SWF-Recordings 1973 of Dieter Bihlmaier Selection are an outstanding musical achievement. CD comes with full coloured 12 pages booklet including band history and a lot of photos. Digitally remastered from the original master tape. If you want to listen to more...... listen to Dieter Bihlmaier Selection The SWF-Recordings 1973."

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Climax, Bolivia ***REISSUED***


Climax - Gusano Mecanico. 1974 Lyra

***Reissued by Lyra as Edición Completa 2003

Didn't realize this had been reissued legally by the parent label until 2019!

An extraordinary recent discovery. Mostly instrumental over 6 long tracks with blazing guitar - played avant style ala Pinhas or Fripp at times. Best album I've heard from Bolivia outlasting the also excellent debut by Wara. LP reissue is out on World in Sound, so I suspect they will also cover the CD soon. Great Escher cover would be an excellent candidate for a Japanese mini-LP too!

Priority: 2

2003 (complete); 9/6/09 (new entry)

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

News: Canamii's Concept to be reissued in October!


Following Fresh Music's wonderful CD reissue of Duncan Mackay's "Chimera" comes news that Canamii's "Concept" album will be reissued this October. Canamii is probably South Africa's most overt attempt at symphonic progressive rock, right down to the Roger Dean-esque album cover. This will replace the shoddy bootlegs currently available.

Thanks to Mike M for the heads up!

News: San Michael's (pre Kaipa) album to be reissued on Belle Antique


On September 25, Belle Antique of Japan will be reissuing San Michael's debut album for the first time ever. San Michael's is Hans Lundin's (organist for Kaipa) first group. They also mention reissuing a second album called "Nattag", which I'm guessing is an unreleased album, since there's no mention of it anywhere, including the Swedish rock encyclopedia.

Not really an essential album, but one I think fans of early Swedish blues rock may enjoy. Here's our original entry for this title:

"San Michael's - s/t (Sweden) 1971 California. San Michael's is a typical early 70s song-based organ rock band with Swedish vocals, with an occasional creative instrumental to keep it interesting. Most notable for featuring Hans Lundin (Kaipa) on organ, though this isn't anywhere near the progressive rock sound of his next venture."

Friday, August 7, 2009

News: Duncan Mackay's Chimera out on CD!!!


This is BIG news for the CD Reissue Wishlist, and one of our Priority 1 wishlisters. Fresh Music, who are based in South Africa, and have already provided us with most of the great South African progressive rock releases (Freedom's Children, Abstract Truth, etc..), have released "Chimera" on CD with a 7 minute bonus track from 1990. It is our opinion that "Chimera" is the single greatest progressive rock album from South Africa. The picture is the CD cover and a slightly altered rendition of the original surrealistic LP cover, which I'm fortunate enough to own thanks to a good friend of this site.

Awesome.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

News: Swiss group Circus to have debut album reissued (NOT!)



Sadly this did not happen :-(

Finally! According to their website, Sireena Records of Germany, the same label that recently reissued the debut Sky albums by Octopus, Shaa Khan, and Harlis, amongst others, will be releasing the debut album by the Swiss prog group Circus in October. Decoder reissued "Movin On" in 1992, fell quickly OOP, and there hasn't been another legit reissue of Circus' four albums since then. So this is great news for fans of the band (like myself). Hopefully Sireena will go about reissuing the remainder of their catalog, including a reprint of Circus' recognized masterpiece "Movin' On".

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Shampoo, Belgium ***REISSUED***


Volume 1. 1971 Motors

moved to UMR

---

Well isn't this interesting. As I update this post on 6/5/24, I learned for the first time that this album was reissued back in 1999! A label called HKM, very much a legitimate entity, released this on their "Retro" series. This was the only one they did in that series. It is not on their website, but since it's 25 years old, it's likely long OOP. One copy is for sale.

Priority: 2

8/2/09 (new entry); 1999 (complete)


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

News: Jun Fukamachi 21st Century Band to be reissued on Sony

Look for a September 9th release from Sony of Japan. Our entry from the original wishlist is below:

Jun Fukamachi 21st Century Band - Rokuyu (Japan) 1975 Toshiba. Keyboardist Fukamachi made many fusion albums throughout the late 1970s. Supposedly this is his best and most progressive oriented album. Parts are great heavy fusion with smoking electric guitar, and one could see a band like Kenso getting wind of this prior to launching their career. One track is a pretty mundane, standard 70s jazz, that would later be known as "smooth jazz". Side 2 is more varied and includes some experimental bits, electronic rock (mellotron, el. piano, synths, rock drums) and blistering heavy fusion. Pretty cool record.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

News: Dragon - Universal Radio out now on Aztec!


Aztec Records, the high quality Australian concern, has reissued Dragon's debut album "Universal Radio" from 1974. It will be the usual high quality Aztec product, with a 6 panel design, bonus tracks and a 24 page history. This is the first legit CD of this album, and was issued on July 2nd.

Dragon were a New Zealand progressive rock band that found pop success in Australia with their 3rd album.

Look for the followup "Scented Gardens for the Blind" later this year.

As well, back in March, Aztec reissued the debut album from Madderlake called "Butterfly Farm" (1973), thus completing their discography with "Still Point" reissued not long ago.

March 2011 update: Still waiting on Scented Gardens for the Blind!

Friday, July 3, 2009

News: Long Hair and Garden of Delights recent archival releases





We hadn't focused on archival releases so much here at the CD Reissue Wish List, though we will going forward, as this is an exciting market. And the high quality German labels Long Hair and Garden of Delights have recently put out some very intriguing looking items. Two have just come out in the last week, and two were put out by Long Hair in the last couple of months. I'll use their descriptions. They sure do sound great! (The latter two are available from our friends at Wayside and Lasercd - and I would suspect Syn-phonic to have soon).

Papa Zoot Band - Last Concert. 1978 Germany. (Long Hair)

"Great lost band from Frankfurt, Germany. In 1973/1974 Papa Zoot Band played all over Germany, mainly in clubs but also on festivals (German Pop Meeting 1st and 2nd February 1974 in Essen, Grugahalle). Lutz Sommer guitar, Robby Matthes bass, voc, Reinhard "Tammy" Grohe organ(Ex-Nosferatu !) and Christian Engel drums, voc. played mainly long tracks, very melodic but also with a sense of drama comparable to Nektar, Eloy, Jane or Pink Floyd. Outstanding 20 minutes title "Fly away" could be a long track by Pink Floyd of the Meddle/Wish you were here/Animals-era without being an imitation. The other two long tracks "I Wish" (9 minutes) and "Friendship or Love" (11 minutes) also show throughout fantastic guitar and organ work (as you know it from "Nosferatu" album). Unbelievable that Papa Zoot Band never made an album. 4 Years after they called it a day, Papa Zoot Band played in early 1978 a sole reunion concert at there basic venue "Sinkkasten" in Frankfurt. This concert, which had the same playlist as their performance on German Pop Meeting 1974, proved again, that their music never lost its magic. This great performance was taped from the soundboard and has a superb sound quality. As bonus tracks there are two cover versions of great Eric Burdon song "When I was Young" in a 9 minutes psychedelic version and the classic "Tobacco Road" with former bandleader and great singer Ernst Nadler (nickname: Papa Zoot) who left Papa Zoot Band in early 1973. CD comes with comprehensive booklet, photos from their performance at the German Pop Meeting, 1974 (a. o. with Guru Guru, Kraan, Nektar, Eloy). Digitally remastered. Secret tip and a must have for all lovers of the genre."

Tetragon - Stretch. 1971 Germany. (Garden of Delights)

"Tetragon, successor of Trikolon, were founded in Osnabrück (Lower Saxony) in the spring of 1971. They released their first and only LP, "Nature", in that very year. It came out as CD on Musea in 1995. At the end of 1971, Tetragon recorded in a Hamburg studio five long tracks in their well-proven style for their second LP, the release of which, however, failed. Fortunately, the master tape has survived until the present day, so that now, 38 years past schedule, the work is released on CD. Three of the five songs have been written by the band itself, one by Eddie Harris ("Listen here") and one by John McLaughlin ("Dragon song"). The two latter ones had already been worked on by Brian Auger. Especially remarkable are Hendrik Schaper's exceptional play on keyboards and Jürgen Jaehner's hot guitar play. The other two, however, are their equals in skill and talent. "

The following two were released in May and June:

Puppenhaus - Jazz macht Spazz, SWF-Session. 1973-1974 Germany (Long Hair)

"No progressive rock music fan should be misled by the album title "Jazz macht Spazz", a bowdlerization of "jazz makes fun", this is progressive jazz-rock at its best. Büdi Siebert (flutes and saxes), Herbert Binder (gt), Frank Fischer (bass), later with Release Music Orchestra, Thomas Rabenschlag (keys) and drummer Bea Maier (later with Zomby Woof and Moira), all well trained on the instruments, played a varied, inventive, melodic and often furious kind of music with lots of Krautrock magic influenced by Frank Zappa, King Crimson, Soft Machine and Weather Report. 5 titles on this CD were recorded at German radio station SWF, 2 titles are live recordings (taped from the soundboard), all in all 77 minutes of great flute and sax playing, furious and lyrical guitar and bass work, hypnotic rhythm patterns and perfect keyboard sounds. Hard to believe, that Puppenhaus never recorded an album. In 1980 Büdi Siebert with friends recorded an album under the name "Herrgottsax", which also will be released in the next month on Long Hair. Digitally remastered from original master tapes. CD comes with comprehensive booklet, band story by the musicians, many photos and especially with a wonderful cover based on a painting by drummer Bea Maier. Highly recommended."

Cannabis India - SWF Session. 1973 Germany. (Long Hair)

"Another forgotten pearl from the vaults of radio station SWF, Germany. Like Coupla Prog or other delights from the early 70ies who never made an album, Cannabis India, founded 1971 in the region of Düsseldorf, show their great talent playing their own compositions influenced by groups like The Nice or ELP Bandleader and organ-player Oliver Petry studied piano from the early age of seven. When he heard Keith Emerson for the first time he changed his instrument and played organ with great enthusiasm. Together with drummer Rüdiger Braune (in the 80ies with Gianna Nannini) and furious bass-player Dirk Fleck Cannabis India run through their pieces with infernal speed but also with a sense of drama. Nearly 12minutes epic "Lapis" and 11 minutes adaption of Beethovens 9th show what for Cannabis India music was all about. CD comes with 2 bonus tracks from follow-up band Universe. Digitally remastered from original master tapes and bandstory. Don't miss it!"

March 2011 update: After having bought all 4, personally I thought the Tetragon and the Puppenhaus were excellent, whereas the Cannabis India and Papa Zoot Band were good, but not essential.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

News: Esoteric to reissue Manticore albums

From Vicky Powell:

"Cherry Red Records and their imprint Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the exclusive licensing acquisition of the entire MANTICORE RECORDS catalogue. This legendary imprint was established by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER and their management in 1973 to handle not only future albums by ELP, but also to actively sign and promote music by artists admired by the band. In the three years of the label's active existence the Manticore imprint released four albums by Italian Progressive Rock maestros PFM, two albums by singer songwriter KEITH CHRISTMAS, two by heavy rockers STRAY DOG, US group THE IMAGE, and individual albums by King Crimson and ELP lyricist PETE SINFIELD, HANSON and the Italian band BANCO. The licensing arrangement sees all of Manticore's non-ELP related material handled by Cherry Red's imprint Esoteric Recordings. Esoteric label manager Mark Powell commented; "It is a very special thing to be given the opportunity to reissue and remaster these wonderful albums from the original master tapes and to resurrect the legendary Manticore imprint under the Cherry Red umbrella. For many fans of Progressive Rock, the Manticore catalogue is legendary. With access to the Manticore tape vaults we will also be looking at adding previously unreleased bonus material to our reissues".


The Manticore series of releases will begin in November 2009 with the release of a deluxe various artists compilation which details the history of the Manticore label and will include tracks by EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER, GREG LAKE & KEITH EMERSON, along with selections from the catalogue by PFM, KEITH CHRISTMAS, STRAY DOG, THEE IMAGE, PETE SINFIELD, HANSON and BANCO. Also gaining a newly remastered release in November is the album "STILL" by PETE SINFIELD, which features contributions from GREG LAKE, JOHN WETTON, IAN WALLIS and MEL COLLINS. The remainder of the Manticore catalogue will appear throughout 2010. Further announcements will follow."

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

News: Picap reissues Jazz rock bands Barcelona Traction, Blay Tritono and Musica Urbana

The following jazz rock and jazz funk albums have been reissued by Picap of Spain. The first two, I believe, have never been reissued prior.

Barcelona Traction - s/t. 1975
Blay Tritono - Clot 20. 1976
Musica Urbana - s/t. 1975 (repress)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

News: Wounded Bird to reissue Stardrive soon

Stradrive's 1974 self-titled album, sometimes known as "Stardrive featuring Robert Mason" will be coming out soon on the Wounded Bird label.

News: Luc Henrion's "Galerie" out in September????

Luc Henrion's highly regarded 1977 album "Galerie" will be reissued on September 15, with many bonus tracks.

March 2011 update: Well, scratch that. Never happened. False alarm from Mauro at Mellow.

January 2013 update: And, now, it has finally been reissued.

Friday, June 19, 2009

News: ProgQuebec to reissue the Sloche albums in September!!

This is an announcement we've been waiting on for some time. Congratulations to Sean and the whole ProgQuebec team. Great news!

"Today, ProgQuebec signed a licensing agreement with Sony Music Canada to reissue the two albums by Quebec-based 1970s symphonic fusion artists Sloche. This agreement is the culmination of close to four years of communication with various groups within Sony in an effort to make a legal, high-quality reissue of these essential progressive rock albums a reality. Both albums, 1975's "J'un Oeil" and 1976's "Stadaconé", will be released on September 15th 2009 and will be available at the 2009 edition of the FMPM.

Originally released on the now defunct label RCA, the masters for these two albums have been located in Sony's archives, and the reissues will be remastered from these tapes. This is ProgQuebec's first licensing agreement with Sony, and follows the 2007 licensed reissues of the Morse Code and early Maneige catalogs from EMI.

Sloche is one of the best-loved 1970s groups from Quebec, having created two albums of exceptional quality inspired by symphonic rock, in particular Gentle Giant, and jazz fusion. The line-up that recorded these two albums was virtually a complete turn-over of the original Sloche line-up, driven by a relentless search for superior musicianship by the conservatory-trained keyboardist Rejean Yacola. While their instrumentals can be compared to groups such as Finch or Gentle Giant, the atmospheric vocal passages on the first album also bring to mind other Quebec groups such as Opus 5 or Morse Code.

Sloche has been one of the most hotly requested progressive rock reissues from any part of the world for over a decade, and has been our top priority for a while. For years, the only way to get this album was to find it on vinyl, or buy unauthorized knockoff pirate releases. It will be one of ProgQuebec's proudest moments when properly licensed and high quality editions of these CDs are finally available. And after 30 years, the members of Sloche will finally start getting paid for their work again.

ProgQuebec also hopes this will be the start of a fruitful relationship with Sony Music Canada, who have the rights to a number of excellent projects that have been largely forgotten by the mainstream markets but are beloved to progressive fans. We intend to pursue further collaborations with Sony Music Canada going forward.

Thank you to everyone who has waited patiently and held off on buying bootleg versions while we pursued this through the proper channels. It has taken a long time to get to this point and we are very excited about it. "

News: Ruphus - Flying Colours has been reissued!

Pan Records, the high quality, but slow releasing Norwegian concern, has reissued Ruphus' 1978 jazz fusion album "Flying Colours".

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

News: Melodiya Ensemble and Certain Lions and Tigers have been reissued

Thanks to long time friend Alex, we just learned of two reissues, buried under other guises.

To quote Alex:

"Certain Lions & Tigers - (El) Soul Condor was re-issued by MPS as a part (CD1) of 4cd box set: Peter Herbolzheimer - "Big Band Man - The MPS & Polydor Studio Recordings." All the compositions go in the proper order. I have also heard about an earlier cd-re-issue with alternative track order. Never seen it though...

Melodiya Jazz Ensemble – Labyrinth was re-issued (in 2004) by Melodia (Russia) as a beginning part of the compilation: George Garanian - "All that Jazz. " "

Thanks Alex!

Sometimes this is how reissues are done. In fact, I was talking with Mike M the other day about the first Smak album, which was reissued in its entirety under the name "Best of Smak".

Thursday, June 11, 2009

News: Sony of Belgium to release the Kandahar albums!

Well as unbelievable as it sounds, Sony Music of Belgium (I didn't even know Sony had a special division in Belgium?) has reissued the first two Kandahar albums "Long Live the Sliced Ham" and "In the Court of Catherine Squeezer". Kandahar were a Belgian group influenced by Zappa and Canterbury, somewhat like Supersister and Pazop, though perhaps more zany like Dr. Dopo Jam. I need to listen to these again!

Sunday, June 7, 2009

News: Sireena to begin reissuing albums from Sky Records!

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but it looks like the very German label Sireena (that is to say, they don't bother describing anything in English) have begun to license the more progressive rock leaning albums from the classic post Brain label, Sky Records.

In the next couple of months look for Octopus' classic "The Boat of Thoughts", both Shaa Khan albums, Bullfrog's "High in Spirits", and the Harlis album.

UMR review of Shaa Khan

Perhaps Sireena will be the label that finally penetrates the Schneeball label?

Friday, May 15, 2009

2009 News through 5/29

(05/29/09) Mammut's album has FINALLY been reissued! Long Hair was successful in getting it out, though it took close to a year after it was announced.

(05/29/09) The Tree People, a folk band from Oregon that we've featured here before, have reissued their second album from 1984 called "Human Voices" (on Spain's highly regarded Guerssen label). This album was originally released on cassette only.

(05/10/09) We recently found out that BTF of Italy plans on reissuing the Psycheground LP that we have listed on the main site. Thanks to reader Mike for letting us know!

(05/02/09) We've received early word that Radio Noize Ensemble's "Yniverse" will be reissued by Garden of Delights in mid May.

(03/22/09) So there's an interesting reissue of the Chico Magnetic Band that came out in 2008 on the Nosmoke label from Portugal. Imagine my surprise when I saw the back liner notes... which were written by.... ME! (the liner notes? what you see in the main section of the Reissue Wishlist). Guess we can safely assume this is a bootleg as well, since I certainly wasn't contacted prior! It's a pretty decent boot actually, with extra tracks taken from 45s and Ep's, also from the bootleggers collection no doubt. There's also a full history of the band, up through 2003, probably pulled from the net as well. The sound quality is pretty good, a vinyl copy no-noised to death. So we'll keep waiting for a legit press.

(03/22/09) We've recently heard from Lion Productions of Chicago, and it looks like they're starting to license some of the classic Krautrock that were previously released on labels like Zyx and Spalax. The first batch include Emtidi "Saat", Lord Krishna von Goloka and Guru Guru's "UFO". All feature large booklets with histories, interviews, etc... and are a huge upgrade to the original CD reissues. Maybe Captain Trip will license these versions from Lion for a Japanese mini-LP release? They've already done "UFO" prior, so too late for that - but not the others!

(03/22/09) We've also been in touch recently with Antoni of Guerssen Records (Spain) and they've informed us of some new CD reissues including: Warlus, One Way Ticket and Factory. Their primary focus is psych and folk, so a little out of range for our website, but I know many of you will be interested in these, and Guerssen is a great label!

(03/22/09) I feel bad for not mentioning all of the Esoteric reissues that have been piling out. Most of them are remastered versions of albums already out on CD. But Vicky has been great in keeping us informed of all the great albums coming out. Of course we hope that one day they tackle albums still dying to be reissued for the first time like Goliath, Dear Mr. Time, Norman Haines Band, and Time (amongst many others). We know they're doing everything they can, and they remain the top label today dedicated to reissuing progressive rock albums.

(03/15/09) Long Hair is at it again, this time reissuing the legendary 1971 Haboob album with Jimmy Jackson (Embryo, Passport, Amon Duul II) featured on organ. Also, they're issuing for the first time an SWF archival release by a band called Cannabis India from 1973.

(03/15/09) A German label called Sireena, who specialize in German rock (not necessarily what we typically refer to as Krautrock, or even progressive rock - but rather actual German rock with German lyrics), is reissuing a 4 CD set of the Umsonst & Draussen Festivals from 1975-1978, which covers most of the ones I know of (there was one in 1983 as well). So I'll remove those from the list. Maybe Sireena will take over some of the much needed Schneeball reissues?

(03/01/09) ProgQuebec has announced their intention to reissue the sole album by Vos Voisins from 1971. Expect the release sometime this Spring / early Summer.

(02/24/09) On 12/22 we announced that Indie Happy Trails, a new Czech concern, had reissued the Combo FH albums. We have now found out from reader Mike that they are also issuing both albums by post-Flamengo fusion outfit Energit. If that wasn't enough, also look for the two albums from the Canterbury inspired group Mahagon. AND the full works of a jazz rock group named Impuls, who I was unfamiliar with prior to this announcement. Excellent news!

(02/16/09) Ultima Thule's Cosmic Egg label has finally reissued the Kontrast album, that was announced a few years ago. Comes with 30 minutes of bonus material! Kontrast are post Out of Focus and represent one of the best Krautrock albums from the 1980s.

(02/09/09) Soleil Zeuhl has announced their intention to reissue Shub Niggurath's first album. Their debut was a cassette only release that pre-dated "Les Morts Vont Vite". This will no doubt be exciting news for Zeuhl fans everywhere!

(01/31/09) Finally added an FAQ for the site.

(01/22/09) Belle Antique of Japan has announced mini-LP reissues of the classic Amon Duul II and Eela Craig albums (not including the first Eela Craig though). All of have been issued on CD before, except Eela Craig's "Hats of Glass", which will be making its first appearance in full. It had been previously reissued only in part along with all of "One Niter".

(01/12/09) Some 8 years after it was first announced, Garden of Delights is finally reissuing Ibliss' sole album "Supernova". Originally released in 1972 on Aamok, the album is a tour de force of freaky jazz and Krautrock. GoD will also be issuing the folky 1970 debut by Emtidi, which is also making its debut on CD.

(01/11/09) This has been out about 8 months, but we just found out about it: Laser Pace's "Granfalloon" from 1974 was reissued by the band and is available here . Wow, strange nobody's talked about this one. It's a good US prog album from the heyday of the scene, and recalls German groups such as Streetmark or latter day Pancake.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

2008 News Archive

(12/30/08) One of our one star reissue wishlisters is now out: Cortex's debut album "Le Troupeau Bleu", on Underdog Records, the same label behind their archival live 1979 album. This has been rumored for over a year now, so it's nice to see it finally being reissued.

(12/22/08) A Czech label called Indie Happy Trails has reissued Combo FH's long awaited RIO classic "Veci" along with their second album called "Situace na Strese". There's also additional bonus material covering the period from 1976 to 1986. This is a 2 CD set, that will be available in the US from Wayside soon!

(12/22/08) EMI of Japan has finally awaken and will reissue both Ethos albums in the mini-LP format sometime in February of 2009! Great news for many fans, beyond the usual obscure prog heads. Still no word of a domestic release. Thanks to reader Mike for the heads up!

(11/13/08) Long Hair has announced its intention to reissue Ralf Nowy's acclaimed 1973 album "Lucifer's Dream" for the first time. We have a copy of the original LP here, but haven't heard it yet. Also to note, that the Mammut album we announced back in July, still hasn't been reissued. We hope they haven't run into the same legal wrangling with Little Wing that happened with Ohrwaschl over 10 years ago.

(11/13/08) We've heard from Robert Baglione, and it appears the band has self-released Continuum's "End of Line" album on CD. More info can be found here .

(11/13/08) Amongst the many Esoteric reissues coming out (most have been reissued prior), we noticed that both Galliard's, for the first time ever, are slated to come out in January of 2009. As always, Esoteric reissues a first class product, completely remastered, with liner notes, bonus tracks and other extras.

(11/13/08) Garden of Delights issued an archival release by Embryo called "Wiesbaden 1972". That's right in the middle of their heyday, so should prove to be an interesting release.

(10/08/08) Thanks to a tip from one of our readers, Esa Kotilainen's "Ajatuslapsi" is coming out on CD from the parent label, Love Records of Finland. It appears to contain bonus tracks as well.

(10/08/08) The same reader also wanted me to point out that Manuel Gottsching has taken over much of his old catalog and is reissuing many of the classic Ashra albums, starting with "New Age of Earth", on his own MG.ART imprint. The "Correlations (complete)" appears to be the same as "The Making of... Correlations" that came out on Manikin a few years back. Maybe they'll tackle more of the old catalog - though it seems the "Private Tapes" is pretty comprehensive (glad I have the complete set as it's quite the rarity). Though no one has yet issued the 'Gedanken' track that appeared on a Kosmische Kourier sampler in 1975.

(09/06/08) The Swedish group Ragnarok has reformed and released a new album entitled "Path" (on Musea). This has lead to hopes that maybe the classic second and third Ragnarok albums will see a CD reissue. I hope that's the case, though Silence hasn't yet licensed any albums out to date.

(09/06/08) Another group who it seems to have reappeared is the French band Ma Banlieue Flasque. It will be interesting to see if they reissue their sole album. There was a rumor a few years back that Musea was to do this, but it appears to have either been unfounded or the deal fell through.

(09/03/08) Thanks to a tip from one of our reader's, we've received advanced word that Long Hair plans on reissuing Wolfgang Dauner's "Et Cetera" album (aka "Lady Blue"). Will incude bonus tracks as well. This is in addition to the Mammut we mentioned below.

(08/17/08) Garden of Delights has come in with their 3rd quarter releases, which include the anticipated Joy Unlimited's "Minne". Also are archival recordings (1973 to 1975) of the Metronome/Brain label band Os Mundi called "Sturmflut". Also look for a rare 1972 album from Gurnemanz, which may also be an archival release, at least I'm not familiar with the title.

(08/17/08) We've recently heard from Lion Productions (the legit US based label), and it appears they're going to reissue some of the Musea catalog that has gone out of print (the 70s classics like Sandrose, Jean Phillippe Goude, Tetragon, etc...) plus many other titles! Just reissued are albums by Sunforest and Stone Harbour.

(08/17/08) Esoteric has a pile of reissues coming out in August and September. Perhaps most surprising are the reissues of four Stomu Yamashta albums.

(07/20/08) Always happens, as soon as I go on vacation, a pile of reissues are announced. Of the ones I've seen, the biggest news has to be that Mammut will be reissued on Long Hair soon. Finally! After many years, one false start by Ohrwaschl and a legal battle with Little Wing, it appears a reissue will be available. I actually have the rare Ohrwaschl version, but it's value should come down now. Great news for Krautrock fans. Will have 2 bonus tracks.

(07/20/08) In other Krautrock news, Franz K.'s first 2 albums, which are long OOP from Repertoire, are going to be reissued by SPV. Both are fine examples of the German language being used in a rock context. As well, Revisited Records will be reissuing the first 2 Agitation Free albums AGAIN (Garden of Delights and Spalax had done both prior). The bonus tracks look like they may be from the "Fragments" albums that Musique Intemporelle did in the mid 90s. I'm surprised there's much demand given the GoD version hasn't been out that long. Personally, I'd like to see these two get the Japanese mini-LP treatment, as I've always treasured my LP copies, and would enjoy a CD companion for each.

(07/20/08) Didn't realize this until today, but it looks like the second Broselmaschine album DID come out on CD years ago on the Zyx label. I'm sure it's not easy to find given that the Zyx CDs were from the early 90s, though I do see one German retailer carrying it for regular price. So I'll remove it from Part 2.

(06/13/08) Well it looks like the big news of the week is that the two Fireballet albums will finally be reissued in 2009! Fireballet are one of those bands that transcends past our usual limited audience, as they were relatively well known, in the United States at least, due to their albums being on the widely available Passport label. More info can be found here

(06/13/08) We've just recently heard from a long time friend of the CD Reissue Wish List, and he's reported that the very rare Joachim Skogsberg album "Jola Rota" from 1972 (originally on Gump) will be reissued on the excellent Tiliqua label of Japan (best known here as the label that reissued The Tree People). I personally haven't heard the album yet, but it appears I will be soon!

(06/08/08) It appears, and I'm still in the process of confirming this, that Quarteto 1111's - "ONDE, QUANDO, COMO, PORQUÊ CANTAMOS PESSOAS VIVAS" is now available on CD! This is one of our top wants from Part 1. Guerssen had originally intended on issuing it, and now it looks like they will do the LP reissue. The label listed is called iPlay, that I'm not familiar with. It seems on the surface totally legit. If so, this is GREAT news for symphonic progressive rock fans. (08/21/08 note: I have it now: 100% legit and a great sound!)

(06/08/08) Lion Productions of Chicago (not to be confused with the dubious Lion Music of Germany) have sent a recent announcement. Look for legit reissues of The Third Estate - Years Before the Wine (previously done legit on Mellow) which includes an unreleased 1973 demo album called "Agonistes"; T2's "It'll All Work Out in Boomland" with the 3 BBC live tracks, as well as the second posthumously released album (sometimes known as "Fantasy"); The French group Ophiucus' self-titled debut. Ergo Sum's "Mexico" (a reprint of the Musea reissue but with a 28 page history); And from the South American rock scenes: Uruguay's Opa and Montevideo Blues as well as Peru's We All Together with 2 CDs. All in all, a great label.

(06/08/08) Esoteric proves onces again they are today's most active reissue label. The previously announced Man and Supersister albums have been released (I'm secretly hoping the Supersister's come out in Japan on mini LP.). June's releases include: Jack Bruce (as mentioned -6CD box set-"Can you Follow"
Darryl Ways Wolf--Night Music/Saturation Point and Canis Lupus
Curved Air-Curved Air Live
Satisfaction-Satisfaction
Claire Hamill-Love in the Afternoon
Claire Hamill-Voices
July offers: Johnny almond Music Machine-Hollywood Blues
Quintessence-Self
Walrus-Walrus
and the delayed Bond and Brown release-2 Heads are better than one.
Of the above, I'm most curious about the Satisfaction, an album I was previously unaware of. We also received advanced word that they intend on reissuing Norman Haines Band's "Den of Iniquity" later in the year - one of our Part 1 wishlisters!

(06/08/08) The always excellent BTF label of Italy has released one of our Part 2 wishlisters: Luciano Basso's "Cogli Il Giorno", which is quite a bit different from the symphonic progressive rock of "Voci".

(05/17/08) Long Hair will be reissuing both albums from Baltimore hard rockers Orange Wedge. Albums include "Orange Wedge" and "No One Left But Me" from 1972 and 1974 respectively.

(05/08/08) Mellotronen of Sweden have reissued Kultivator's "Barndomens Stigar", which I consider to be one of the Top 10 albums ever made, and the single greatest album from the 1980s. This reissue meets renewed demand for the long OOP version from the APM label. As well, to entice owners of that disc, Mellotronen not only has included the bonus tracks from that CD, but have added a second disc with 4 more bonus cuts!

(04/23/08) Zolder & Clark (aka Jasper Wrath) have self-released (d.b.a. Oxford Circus) their sole 1977 prog album, that was originally released on the tax loss label Dellwood.

(04/11/08) We just found out the Michigan based group Inserts are still around. Their excellent "Out of the Box" album is scheduled to be released by the band in the near future. More info about the album can be found in Part 2 of the Reissue Wish List.

(04/10/08) RPM Retro, one of the many labels from Cherry Red (including Esoteric, our house favorite), will be reissuing the Megaton album for the first time legitimately. A pretty straightforward hard rock album, that features an awesome cover, and is a favorite with collectors of rare hard rock. We had this is Part 2, and will now consider it officially reissued!

(03/19/08) Through some discussions on Progressive Ears, it appears BTF are working on reissuing the Sensations Fix albums. For us, the last great Italian band to be missing a CD issue (other than "Fragments of Light" on Mellow). Great news!

(03/19/08) We mentioned in our Reissue Wish List that we hoped that Aztec of Australia would release the first two Dragon albums from New Zealand. And we just found out they have indeed signed up to do just that! Yes! We also noticed they are still planning on reissuing the two Pirana albums in the future as well, not sure if we ever mentioned that.

(03/18/08) The ever surprising Long Hair label out of Germany, has announced their intention to release both Human Adventist Concept albums from Canada. Titles include "Invasion" from 1979 and "Supra Surge" from 1980. Both albums are solid post psychedelic albums, pre-dating the 1980s neo psych movement by a few years. Release date is set for the beginning of April.

(03/15/08) We don't normally mention LP reissues, but we'll make an exception here, as we've heard from two independent sources now that a California company has obtained rights to the first two Laurence Vanay albums, which we have in our TOP WANTS section of the Reissue Wish List. Still no word on the missing three albums that seems no one has heard (but has been confirmed as existing by Jacqueline Thibault herself).

(03/14/08) It's just been recently called to our attention that Al Basim is alive and well! Turns out he wasn't executed by Iranian revolutionaries in 1979. That would be because 1) He's Iraqi and 2) lives in France now. He has a website, and has self-released the "Revival" album, which can now be considered a legit issue.

(03/14/08) Esoteric is by far the busiest reissue label going today. Here's their latest update flyer, which we'll just paste in here: "March remastered releases will be available within the next 5 days at Cherry Red: mellow Candle-Swaddling Songs (sounds and looks FAB); Room-Pre Flight(with notes by the band) Denny gerrard-Sinister Morning (never before on CD); plus the following old Eclectic titles made reavailable: (Keef Hartleys Overdog and Time is Near(notes have been redone by Keef); Giles Giles and Fripp and Khan
Aprils titles will be as follows all remastered and repackaged: Bond and Brown-2 Heads are better than one; Love Sculpure-Forms and Feelings; Love Sculpture-Blues Helpings; Keef Hartley-Battle of NW6--notes by Keef; Keef hartley-Little Big Band-notes by Keef; Keef hartley-Halfbreed-notes by Keef; Web-Theraphosa Blondi (notes by John eaton); Stud-Stud
Mays titles will be: Supersister X 1st 4 albums; Man-Maximum Darkness; Man-back Into the Future; Man -Slow Motion; Jan Schelhaas-Darkships--new studio album from the Camel/Caravan keyboard maestro.(clips on www.myspace.com/janschelhaas)
Junes titles will include: Darryl Ways Wolf X 3 titles; Curved Air Live; Henry Lowther-Childsong"

(03/03/08) The original 1976 version of Art Zoyd's "Symphonie Pour Le Jour Ou Bruleront Les Cités" will be available for the first time on CD soon (the 1980 re-recording has been available for many years on CD). Apparently it will be reissued in Japan with a mini-LP sleeve.

(02/24/08) We've obtained advanced word on the next batch of Garden of Delights reissues. Look for the rare 1980 album by Sun (not to be confused with Michael Borner's Sun), an album we've been wanting to hear for some time. Also look for the second Pancake album "Out of the Ashes", and finally a band called Aqua from 1972, that we are presuming is an archival release. Looks like a couple of the members were with Wyoming and Marz, so it may not be anything incredible, but you never know.

(02/11/08) The big news of the day is that we just found out that the two original studio Igra Staklenih Perli albums are out on one CD. The first album is in our TOP WANTS section and "Vrt Svetlosti" is in Section 1. Apparently they've been released by the original state label RTS (Radio Television Serbia) and it came out at the end of last year. No one seemed to know about this, but more info can be found here . There's a new bootleg of the first album out there, and now we're finding out it was taken from this legit CD - how awful (don't buy the bootleg!!) We're hoping this legit reissue will be available in America soon!

(02/10/08) As we first mentioned on (03/27/07), Rävjunk's "Uppsala Stadshotell Brinner" will finally be released by Transubstans on Feb. 23. This will include an extra disc filled with guitar driven jams, exactly what they excelled at on their one album. Should prove to be an excellent package!

(02/05/08) We finally obtained the Speed Limit reissues that were mentioned on (12/21/07) below. It appears they were licensed directly from Yoch'Ko Seffer, and brokered through Musea. Belle Antique were planning a Zao box set and inquired about related bands. This started the ball towards Speed Limit being reissued for the first time. That's the good news. The bad news is other than splendid packaging (in a typically nice Japanese mini-LP format), the reissues are barebones. The insert is entirely in Japanese, while the mastering was done from clean/mint LPs taken from a collector in Japan. Still, much more preferable than no reissue at all (totally legit), and considerably more desirable than a lesser sounding CD-R copy or, even worse, a cheap bootleg.

(01/30/08) Available now from Ultima Thule is THE CRACK IN THE COSMIC EGG CD-ROM EDITION, the foremost guide on Krautrock. Go here for more info.

(01/26/08) One of the band members from The Elastik Band and Rodan (the latter featured in Part 1 of our list), has started his own label called Digital Cellars. The Elastik Band was reissued in 2007 and look for a reissue of the fantastic high energy progressive horn rock Rodan album in 2008. Thanks to reader Dave G. for the heads up!

(01/26/08) Further info on the Cai reissue mention on (01/01/08): Apparently this reissue is being done by one of the band members. Unfortunately it appears to be a needle drop without any noise control or remastering. We're still unsure what else is on here to justify a 2CD set. Thanks to reader Greg W. for the info.

(01/22/08) ProgQuebec announced today they will be reissuing Jacques Blais' sole album from 1975 called "Themes". Blais' album features many band members from the Contraction/VEBB family. We're unfamiliar with this release, but looks very promising!

(01/22/08) Esoteric has pre-announced their March schedule, which will include a remastered version of Ireland's most famous prog folk band Mellow Candle ("Swaddling Songs").

(01/19/08) As first reported on July 5, 2007 below, Rialzu's sole Magma-inspired album will be reissued soon. Turns out the label will be Soleil Zeuhl, who always do an outstanding job with their reissues. Excellent news and another Part 1 wishlister gets done!

(01/14/08) As mentioned on (11/6/07), Esoteric's new batch of reissues are out including Heaven's "Brass Rock I", Web's "I Spider" and the Samurai (1971) album. New for February will be both Julian's Treatment and Julian Jay Savarin's albums (reissued prior by See For Miles, excluding one excellent track from the "Waiters on the Dance" album). As well, John G Perry's "Sunset Wading" will be reissued (previously done by Voiceprint). Expect the usual remastering, histories and photos. Always great packages from Esoteric!

(01/04/08) BTF of Italy has just reissued, for the first time, Nascita della Sfera's very rare 1978 album "Per una Scultura di Ceschia".

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

2007 News Archive

(12/30/07) Portugese label Companhia Nacional de Música (CNM) has reissued "Mestre", the debut album by Petrus Castrus. We said: "This 1973 album is a mix of late psych and early hard rock. Reminds us of some of the Italian beat groups from 1970 or so (and their relative progression)".

(12/30/07) BTF/AMS have reissued the rare 1972 Italian jazz rock album by the Showmen 2.

(12/30/07) Wooden Hill has reissued the archival 1967 psych release by Dantelian's Chariot "Chariot Rising" (originally issued in 1996). Features legends such as Zoot Money and Andy Summers.

(12/21/07) Looks like Pseudonym Records of The Netherlands is back! Their first comeback reissue is an extended version of Coda's "Sound of Passion", which had been reissued by the now defunkt SI label in the 1990s. Lots of great Dutch material that still needs a proper reissue, and Pseudonym were definitely The Netherlands finest indigenous reissue label.

(12/21/07) According to one source, it appears that Belle Antique of Japan will be reissuing both Speed Limit albums from France (and is in our Part 1 section). Not sure if these will be mini's or straight jewel case issues. Rare that a rare European album comes out in Japan first, so not sure if this is a collaboration, or that these will be exclusive to Belle Antique.

(12/21/07) Eclectic label Water has issued an archival release by Harmonia titled "Live 1974" and is reported to be excellent (and all original material), similar to "Cluster 2" or "Musik von Harmonia". (and since verified - outstanding release!)

(12/21/07) We didn't report this originally, but there's a 1975 archival release out by a band called Scarecrew, released on the US based Ricochet label. Scarecrew featured, amongst others, such Krautrock luminaries like John L. (Ash Ra Tempel) and Steve Schroyder (early Tangerine Dream). We have it on order, so we'll see how it turns out! (And verified...see our "Other Reviews" section from the main home page. Well worth getting!)

(12/21/07) As first reported on (10/30/07), the Achim Reichel "Die Grune Reise" is now available.

(12/16/07) As we first mentioned on (9/14/2006), Long Hair will indeed reissue the long awaited green Brain 1973 album by Kollektiv. With SPV inheriting the rights to the long neglected Metronome line, it was unclear where Kollektiv would fall. This is great news for us, as it's been in our TOP PRIORITY list for many years. Included are 28 minutes of bonus tracks by a slightly different era of the band who supposedly play in a KC "Red" era style (that should be interesting!). Also look for a new double live CD from Rufus Zuphall called "Outside the Gates of Eden", which was taken from a reunion concert in 2006. Thanks to reader Jim for the heads up on both items!

(12/16/07) On (10/09/07) we mentioned Garden of Delight's latest batch of releases would include Joy Unlimited's "Reflections", P205's "Vivat Progressio Pereat Mundus" and a live recording by Out of Focus called "Palermo 1972". Those are all out now PLUS they reissued Faithful Breath's second album "Back on My Hill" from 1980 (and recorded in 1978). As well, GoD's non-German Thors Hammer line has put out the Irish Coffee album from 1971. The band themselves put the CD out in the 90s but it had fallen OOP.

(12/16/07) Sunbeam Records is finally giving proper reissues to albums that may have been reissued legitimately, but without much information or insight. Their next important reissue is the sole album by Human Beast "Volume One", with photos and historical liner notes. A brilliant trio, and one of the most inventive guitar trio albums from the golden age. As well, Sunbeam is tackling The Habibiyya album "If Man But Knew", an early foray into world music by former members of Mighty Baby.

(12/8/07) We were given a CD-R by a friend that was called Art Jackson's Atrocity, and the album is titled "Gout". Supposedly an unreleased demo on Columbia from 1974 that is in need of a CD reissue. What a bunch of baloney. This is most certainly a hoax. We could give many reasons why, but just do your own search for this album and see if you see anything prior to 2007 about it (oh, and take a look at the "album cover" closely, etc, etc). It's all good fun, and it's not like they charged money for the scam. The album is actually quite good (in a Praxis meets early 70s era Miles Davis sort of way). They should release it as a new album and maybe call the band Art Jackson's Atrocity! There's an audience out there for this album. We hope they put it out properly. (update: There's been some research done that suggests the album may be from the late 1980s! Hopefully we'll learn more)

(12/2/07) Now out on Aztec Records (Australia) is Kush's debut album "Snow White... and the Eight Straights" which is reported to be a cross between David Bowie and Blood Sweat and Tears (!). We haven't heard it yet, but it's already been queued up for a listen in the near future. In Aztec's "Coming Soon" section, there are many more 1970s progressive items including Pirana's two albums!

(11/26/07) In addition to SPV tackling the Brain catalog, they have now announced they will be reissuing some gems from the great MPS label, Germany's finest purveyor of underground jazz fusion from the early 1970s. Looks like we can expect releases from Wolfgang Dauner and Association PC amongst many others! More InsideOut SPV news can be found at (10/18/07) below.

(11/6/07) Esoteric has just announced an exciting release schedule for January and February of 2008. For us, the big one is Heaven's "Brass Rock I" (anyway we can talk you into doing a Japanese mini-LP license?). This is one of the best progressive horn rock albums and has never been put out legit. Also of great importance is the reissue of Web's "I Spider" which has only been available as a very expensive Japanese import and has been OOP for about 10 years (another title that would benefit nicely in a Japanese mini-LP package). They're also reissuing Web's followup album by the renamed Samurai, which is an utterly brilliant album (and existed on CD briefly in the late 90s). All of these will be remastered and we will definitely pick them up upon release. Also look for albums by Mike Moorcock and Deep Fix-"New Worlds Fair", Fair Weather-"Beginning From an End', Gary Farr-"Strange Fruit" (featuring Richard Thompson and Mighty Baby), Claire Hamill-"One House Left Standing", and Claire Hamill-"October". More Esoteric news can be found on (7/5/07) below

(11/6/07) We were doing a little idle research when we came across a title we had put in Part 2. "Blumen Des Exotischen Eises - Karawane Der Mystiks (Germany) 1987 private. Low budget Krautrock before the revival movement gained some momentum. Still, a nice curiosity piece for fans of the genre." It's actually on CD from Psycho-Path Records and is available from Forced Exposure.

(10/30/07) Some great news for one of the most requested reissues: Achim Reichel will be reissuing "Die Grune Reise" along with the short film of the same name! Apparently Reichel owns all of his prior work, and he may reissue all of them soon. We can hope! Thanks to reader Mike for the heads-up.

(10/30/07) Paul Marcano of Lightdreams has reached out to inform us that the "Islands in Space" album is available on their website as a download for a fee. As I told Paul, I'll continue to leave in the CD reissue wishlist for those (like me) who prefer that medium.

(10/18/07) Looks like InsideOut's Revisited division is really amping up their Brain reissue series. For the most part they've only reissued what Repertoire did when they had the Metronome license (many of the "new" reissues include Grobschnitt, Jane and Novalis), but two caught my eye. One is Spermull's sole hard rock album, which Second Battle did many years ago and has been OOP for a long time. The other is the electronic supergroup Liliental, which has never been reissued legit! We had the LP years ago, and was in the process of revisiting it for an entry here. No need for that now! Maybe Satin Whale's "Desert Places" and the Kollektiv album won't be far behind?

(10/18/07) Wooden Hill is the CD arm of the reissue label Tenth Planet, which specializes in lost UK psych rarities. They have a few new CDs out including Icarus' "The Marvel World of Icarus" and Forever Amber's "The Love Cycle". Maybe of most interest to our readers is the archival folk psych album by Chimera that featured both Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac members.

(10/09/07) We have advance word that Garden of Delights next batch of releases will include Joy Unlimited's excellent 1973 album "Reflections" (guessing "Minne" won't be far behind now), P205's very rare Brutkasten release "Vivat Progressio Pereat Mundus" and a live recording by Out of Focus called "Palermo 1972", recorded between their second and third albums. More GoD news can be found on (8/20/07).

(10/05/07) We've recently heard from Epilogue Records and they've asked that we mention that there's a new pressing of Truth's "Them and Other Tales" available at CD Baby . At CD Baby there's an excellent description from Mr. Lama Reviews, but we'll also mention that this is one of the best archival psych reissues we've come across (having stumbled onto the original CD a few years ago). Most of the great 1960s psych scene did make it to LP, and so most of the "lost tapes" were best left that way. Truth is the exception. Check it out!

(9/21/07) Long Hair of Germany have just reissued Wolfgang Dauner's "The Oimels". Hopefully they'll tackle the remainder of Dauner's Krautrock / electric jazz period - as there are many to go! (More Long Hair news can be found on 7/5 and 5/9 below).

(9/21/07) In the "oops" category, I had the English band CWT listed in the reissue pages. But the album was reissued by the excellent Ohrwaschl label many years ago and is still available... Doh!

(9/16/07) EMI of Argentina has reissued a handful of albums, most of which have been OOP for some time (Bubu, Alas, Polifemo, Los Jaivas, etc..). However one album is a first timer (and we had in Pt. 2 of the list): Jorge Pinchevsky's "Su Violin Magico Y La Pesada" that was originally released in 1973 on the Harvest imprint. It wasn't until the beginning of this year that we finally heard this album, and it's one that we considered a top curiosity for a few years. Has nice violin and hard guitars, with a slight experimental vibe. Reminds us somewhat of High Tide. The album is short, and doesn't clear 30 minutes. It doesn't look like the CD has bonus tracks either. Still worth a listen if you get a chance!

(9/16/07) Karma Records of Denmark has done the CD reissue for Terje, Jesper & Joachim, the superrare 1971 hard psych album that Shadoks issued on LP earlier this year. (11/6/07 note - This isn't right. Shadoks themselves did the CD of the above album as well as Indonesia's Shark Move!)

(8/28/07) The Laser's Edge has announced the much anticipated Secret Oyster reissue album for 2007 and it's.... wait.... they did both of the remaining studio albums! So we get their 4th "Straight to the Krankenhaus" and debut "Furtive Pearl" (with the much preferred original street scene cover). This leaves a live album and an unreleased archival album to go. Plus there are hints of a new album in the works!

(8/28/07) As announced on 1/28/07 below, ProgQuebec is going to production with the first two Maneige albums, very welcome news!

(8/20/07) Garden of Delights has recently put out two archival live recordings: Guru Guru "Wiesbaden 1972" and Emma Myldenberger "Emmaz Live". More news can be found at (5/9/07) below.

(8/20/07) 1980's English prog band Solstice has reformed and are celebrating by self-releasing their three studio albums on CD in the very near future.

(7/21/07) Well it looks like Musea is finally getting around to reissuing the third Edition Speciale album "Horizon Digital", which may be our favorite of the bunch. Bonus tracks include the demos for a 4th album.

(7/21/07) It looks like Sunbeam Records will *finally* be the legit label that gets the Czar album out on CD. It's been booted so many times, it seemed that it was owned by public domain.

(7/21/07) Fallout Records, which seems to have an association with Sunbeam, has recently reissued Parish Hall, which we had in Part 2. I also noticed they had done Pulse awhile back, so I'll update that as well. Both Sunbeam and Fallout have quite a few reissues, some of which we've announced, but most we haven't (mainly as they fall slightly out of our interest area). Check the Forced Exposure catalog for more info, as they seem to be the primary dealer in the USA.

(7/5/07) In the "ask and ye shall receive" category, Long Hair did in fact reissue Odin's sole 1972 Vertigo album (see 5/9/07 below).

(7/5/07) High quality Eclectic Records now goes by Esoteric, and has an aggressive release schedule planned for the remainder of 2007. Maybe of most interest is the CD reissues of the first two Rare Bird albums, which have been OOP for as long as anyone can remember. Also look for Paladin's two albums, Egg's "Civil Surface", Marsupilami's "Arena" (interesting how their remaster will sound on this one), both Hatfield and the North albums, 8 albums from Welsh group Man, 2 albums by Love Sculpture and more... One album that caught our eye is Big Sleep's 1971 "Bluebell Wood", which we haven't heard, but understand its quite worthy. More Eclectic/Esoteric news can be found on (2/3/07) below.

(7/5/07) German label World in Sound will reissue one of our "Part 2" albums: The Tea Company's 1968 album "Come and Have Some Tea With the Tea Company". Here's what we said "This band puts the psych in psychedelic. One of the more freaky albums from the era, especially for a mainstream label (on Smash). Lots of experimental studio effects and noisy avant guitar bits amongst the usual songcraft of 1968. A mite untogether, but certainly a fascinating listen.". More World in Sound news can be found on (1/28/07) below.

(7/5/07) Lightning Tree, the label responsible for Andwella's Dream "Love and Poetry" reissue, has announced an archival release by a UK band call Stallion, album titled "The Hard Life". Features future Mandragora keyboardist Phil Thornton. The press release states "Their previously unreleased album is certainly a lost gem of British progressive rock and with renowned keyboardist Phil Thornton on board, Stallion played a remarkably tasty brand of song-based, erstwhile prog-influenced rock. Typically seventies mixing the sound of similar in style to Fantasy, Mainhorse, Wishbone Ash, Stackridge & Armageddon, and with a vocalist somewhere between early Genesis and Wishbone Ash this is a genuine missing piece of British Progressive Rock"

(7/5/07) According to Wayside's last mailer, Rialzu's sole Zeuhl inspired album is due for a CD reissue. This is one of our coveted "Part 1" albums! Not sure who is reissuing this, though the album was originally released on a Corsican folk label, which is still active today.

(6/27/07) Transubstans has sent an update still promising the Anglabarn and Taste of Blues reissues. As well, Ravjunk's planned reissue has now ballooned into a 2 CD set with tons of unreleased tracks. Should be a great bonus given that Ravjunk excelled best in a free jam format.

(5/27/07) Japan's Captain Trip have reissued an exact mini-LP replica of Zweistein's 3 album "Trip, Flipout and Meditation", one of Krautrock's most bizarre and experimental recordings - originally released on Philips (and probably safe to say the loss leader for the label in 1970!). An astounding tri fold out package complete with mirror. Musically a difficult album to digest, but considered a high watermark for fans of unhinged experimentalism.

(5/27/07) Viajero Inmovil of Argentina has reissued Miguel Cantilo y Grupo Sur's sole folk prog album from 1972.

(5/27/07) The remainder of the This Heat catalog has been reissued by band's own label This Is.

(5/9/07) Listening to the obscure Wisconsin hard rock band Euphoria tonight (1973's "Lost in Trance") and was researching its current CD status. Turns out the band has released the album themselves + two other recordings one of which is new. More info can be found here: Euphoria

(5/9/07) Garden of Delights is back with a reissue of another fine, and obscure band, from the Umsonst and Draussen festival set: Skyline, whose one album "Louise For One Night" is a fine example of the German jazz rock tradition - most like Morpheus' 1976 album or Moira's "Crazy Countdown". As well, GoD's sub-label Thors Hammer has reissued F.G. Experimental Laboratory's "Journey Into a Dream" - a very obscure 1977 album from Switzerland. More news can be found on 2/24/07 below.

(5/9/07) Long Hair has taken on two archival releases by the British band Odin (who, like Nektar, were based in Germany). One is the SWF Sessions 1973 and the other is "Live at the Maxim 1971". Maybe they'll actually release their Vertigo album as well, which has been booted by others many times. More Long Hair news on 1/28/07.

(5/9/07) Guerssen of Spain has reissued the very rare 1976 prog folk album by the French group Dandelion. I had forgotten all about this album, never did hear it, but searched in vain for close to 10 years for it!

(5/9/07) Subliminal Sounds of Sweden has put together an archival CD (similar to their effort on Parson Sound) of one of the pioneer collectives (1967) of Swedish psych: The Baby Grandmothers. Should prove to be an interesting listen.

(5/9/07) Pan Records of Norway has tackled Ruphus' 4th album "Inner Voice".

(5/9/07) The ProgQuebec Morse Code reissues mentioned on 1/28 will be available very soon!

(3/28/07) At this point, I believe everything will get a legit reissue eventually. The most obscure record in my curiosity list was reissued about 3 weeks ago - without fanfare! That would be Toshiaki Yokota & Beat Generation - Flute Adventure. On King Records no less, somewhat of a major label in Japan. A 15 year search to hear this will be over soon! It probably won't live up to my expectations, but that's OK.

(3/27/07) Transubstans, in addition to the Taste of Blues reissue mentioned below, have announced their intention to do Ravjunk and Anglabarn, two very obscure 1970s releases. Ravjunk, in particular, is one to note. They mix long track space rock with some early Stooges psych punk for something wholly original.

(2/24/07) BTF's next round of reissues include Pangea (Madrugada related), Elekriktus (excellent electronic space rock album), Nascita Della Sfera (avant garde) and Gruppo D'Alternativa. Looks to be another great batch! I forgot to mention that BTF also reissued the first Dalton album in a mini-LP format. I was also involved with the translation of the liner notes. Interesting insights the original author has!

(2/24/07) Garden of Delights first quarter reissues for 2007 include the following: Emma Myldenberger's "Tour de Trance", "More Arktis Tapes" by Arktis and a 1974 archival recording by a band that simply went by Live. The Emma Myldenberger is of particular interest and is one of the finest acid folk albums from the Krautrock scene, and could've easily been on the Pilz label in the early 1970s. Maybe GoD will now tackle the cousin album by Radio Noisz Ensemble?

(2/15/07) Durtro Jnana, one of the many labels from the Current 93 troupe, will take on a 2 CD reissue of the super rare Don Bradshaw-Leather "Distance Between Us" 1972 album!

(2/3/07) As mentioned on 1/13/07, you can now buy a copy of Skywhale at CD Baby here: Skywhale . Though the price just doubled since I looked 2 days ago? $25.50 seems high. (2/5/07 note: Looks like it's back to $15 now.) (2/15 note: Have it now and it is indeed put out by the band. It's from vinyl - but totally legit. Very good progressive jazz rock record!)

(2/3/07) Guersson Records has announced their intention to do Quarteto 1111's 1975 mellotron masterpiece "Onde, Quando, Como, Porquê Cantamos Pessoas Vivas", certainly one of Portugal's best progressive albums. Features Jose Cid on keyboards. Negotiations are still in session.

(2/3/07) Transubstans has announced they plan to reissue Taste of Blues' 1969 "Schizophrenia" album sometime during the spring. This title was originally reissued by Garageland and has been OOP for some time.

(2/3/07) Top notch UK label Eclectic has been busy reissuing albums by Barclay James Harvest and are now taking on Hawkwind side projects like Robert Calvert and Nik Turner's Sphynx.

(1/28/07) ProgQuebec has not one, but two lengthy announcements for albums long overdue for CD reissue. First and foremost is a new partnership with EMI Canada. This will result in the first three Morse Code albums ("Le Marche des Hommes", "Procreation", and "Je Suis le Temps"). Possibly even more exciting is the reissues of the first two Maneige records ("Maneige" and "Les Porches"). I don't remember the last time a label wiped out FIVE wish-listers in one announcement! Exciting all around.
--- As well as the above partnership, PQ will also release 2 CDs from Lasting Weep, a band that could be seen as the pre-cursor to Maneige. "Lasting Weep 1969-1971" will cover their embryonic stage with the usual psychedelic influences (over 80 minutes of material). "Le Spectacle de l'Albatros" was composed in 1971, and played live in concert in 1976. It's these latter shows that make up this CD. Both of these albums are archival recordings that are being released for the first time.
--- As if that wasn't enough, the brothers Bregent's 1979 "Partir Pour Ailleurs" opus will receive its first digital release. A whole year's worth of announcements, and it's only the first quarter!

(1/28/07) BTF of Italy, through their AMS and Vinyl Magic brand lines have announced 5 new papersleeve CDs. The three AMS reissues hold the most interest for first time reissues. Both Madrugada albums have finally been reissued (leaving only Sensations Fix / Falsini as the last of the major label Italian acts of the 1970s not to have all their works as on a legit CD reissue). As well, the obscure group Piero e i Cottonfields sole 1972 album "Il Viaggio, La Donna, Un'altra Vita" will receive its first CD reissue. The Vinyl Magic papersleeve reissues include both Panna Fredda and Metamorfosi. The former is the first CD issue since the late 1980s and the first time in a papersleeve format. Will contain 4 bonus tracks. Metamorfosi had been issued by the Korean label M2U in the same format prior, but will contain unique liner notes. Speaking of the liner notes, yours truly was involved in the translation of all of the above except the Piero album. I haven't seen the final product, so not sure I want to be bragging about it just yet ;-)

(1/28/07) Italian label Nightwings, the ones responsible for the legit reissue of Fuchsia, are back with the first legit issue of the 1970 UK group Five Day Rain, a band who represent both the psychedelic and progressive eras.

(1/28/07) Swiss label RD has found the members of a band previously known to the record buying community as "C1C2" through a Shadoks LP issue awhile back. Turns out the band was called Mad Dog and the album is titled "Dawn of the Seventh Sun", a very rare 1969 "West Coast styled psych" album from California. Now available on CD.

(1/28/07) Speaking of Shadoks, new on CD are: Bunalim (a compilation of rare singles from this Turkish band circa 1969-1972); Brush (a rare 1971 Japanese psych album); Ariesta Barawa Group (one of the only psych albums from the early 1970s from Indonesia).

(1/28/07) World in Sound, a German label similar to Shadoks, has issued an archival recording by a Detroit band called Wazoo, apparently the blueprint for Zappa's similarily titled album. Sounds very intriguing.

(1/28/07) Yet another German reissue label, Red Lounge, has released the impossibly rare album by German experimental artist Reinhold Weber. "Elektronische Musik" was released in 1970 and is apparently very similar to the first two Kluster albums. They promise a second reissue soon.

(1/28/07) Long Hair has completed their Thirsty Moon series with the third album "Blitz" and a live album called "I'll Be Back" from 1975.

(1/13/07) We recently found out that The New Age's rare 1980 album "Neptuned" has been self-released. He now goes by Jordan (rather than Larry) Oliver and the album has been released under his name. You can find a copy at CD Baby here: Neptuned . For more info, visit New Age website

(1/13/07) We recently received an e-mail that Skywhale's excellent 1977 album "The World at Minds End" has been remastered and will also be available on CD Baby shortly. We're guessing it's self-produced as no other details were presented.

(12/27/06) Mellotronen has released the 1975/76 symphonic prog album by the Swedish group Friendship Time (unreleased in its day). Comparisons such as Cathedral (Stained Glass Stories) and the UK biggies have been thrown out. Sounds like it could be similar to the Norwegian group Deja-Vu, which was discovered over a decade ago. Sounds very promising! (note: we've since bought our copy and definitely a must pick up. Reminds us of the first 2 albums by Trettioariga Kriget, Lotus' first album and the UK group Flash)

(12/27/06) Portugese label Companhia Nacional de Música (CNM) has reissued for the first time on CD Banda do Casaco's "Hoje Há Conquilhas, Amanhã Não Sabemos" 1977 album. Haven't heard this one myself, but if it's anything like the first two (and I understand it is) then should be another winner.

(12/26/06) So we begin another year of the CD Reissue Wish List, which first launched in 2003 (see above links for archives of 2006 and 2005). A little head start here, but I anticipate 2007 to be a very busy year for me concerning my "real job", and thus I'm streamlining some of my hobby activities. This site is one of my favorites, so I pledge to keep it going for at least one more year (I hope). And many more if possible. After some reflection, I've made a few key alterations. The OOP section has been somewhat merged with the main list (all titles are designated as OOP). I've added a 3rd section to the main list for more clarity as to what I know and what I don't. And, on that topic, I've started adding descriptions. I would like to get a least a sentence on every album in PART 1 if possible. Honestly, I think a lot of the albums in Part 1 will end up in Part 2. Again, trying to add focus to the most neglected items IMO. Also, I've decided to stop tracking the Japanese mini-LPs. There are a couple of really good sites that do nothing but this, and are far more comprehensive than what I was doing. Click on the Japanese mini-LP section above for one such site.

Nova Express, Germany

Space Khmer. 1987 Syndicate Germany's Nova Express, a common band name derived from William Burroughs' novel title, are a band I fi...