2006 News Archive

(12/4/06) Looks like Relapse, based on their success with the cult 70s group Pentagram, have taken to reissuing Warpig, the rare 1970 Canadian hard rock album.

(12/4/06) Rise Above Records, one of the big names in the Stoner/Desert Rock field, have also decided to reissue albums from the original heydey of hard rock. Look for reissues of the rare UK group Luv Machine plus an archival released by Possessed, a UK group from 1971 reported to have a heavy electric blues rock sound ala Led Zeppelin.

(11/27/06) Protos' very rare "One Day a New Horizon" has been released by the band. The album has an instrumental Yes vibe - and very different from almost anything else coming out of England in 1982.

(11/9/06) Orkestra International, a label that focuses on French jazz has taken to reissuing Jacques Thollot's great "Cinq Hops". Mio was going to do this one before they closed up shop. Glad this one didn't get away!

(11/9/06) Vadim Music, a French label specializing in "rare grooves" has reissued Pop Instrumental de France, an album we had in "Section 2". So now we all have a chance to hear it!

(10/23/06) WHOA! Total surprise here - but the first 2 Thirsty Moon albums are out according to the Long Hair website (it's on their label)! These are 2 of the most anticipated Brain album reissues for many years. Didn't even realize they were under consideration. Looks like Long Hair wanted to conceal it until the last moment! Also on Long Hair is Brian Davison's first post-Nice album "Every Which Way". What a great label! More Long Hair news under (9/14)

(10/23/06) Tiliqua Records of Japan has reissued a very rare (unbeknownst to anyone I know) acid psych folk album from 1979 by The Tree People (Portland, OR based). Sounds intriguing!

(10/23/06) Opio Media and Voiceprint have announced the reissue of Jon Anderson's 1983 "Animation" album.

(9/14/06) Great news as Long Hair has obtained the master tapes from Universal and will be reissuing the great Brain LP by Kollektiv! Woo-hoo, certainly a top wish lister for this site! Look for a reissue in 2007, though no formal date has been given. More Long Hair news can be found under (5/19).

(9/14/06) Transubstans has reissued the first Radiomobel album "Tramsebox". This follows last year's reissue of "Gudang Garam". More Transubstans news can be found under (3/14).

(9/14/06) Lion Productions have released the outstanding Canadian prog folk LP by Ptarmigan. This has been released prior, by the band, as a CD-R under the name "Nordstrom/Dias". So good to see a regular CD of this now. As well, Lion has released the "Maison Rose" album by Emmanuelle Parrenin.

(9/14/06) Water Music has released the amazing second album by Franco Battiato "Pollution", which was on Artis and BMG previously. More Water news can be found under (7/5).

(9/14/06) Lightning Tree (UK) will reissue for the first time legit, the debut album from Andwella's Dream "Love and Poetry".

(9/14/06) A new UK label known as Fallout Records recently caught our attention with the release of the rare 1971 RCA prog/psych/jazz album by Stark Naked. This lead to a quick investigation of the label and they have some other interesting psych releases like Fields (USA), Thorinshield, Common People and the Human Beinz.

(9/14/06) Added to the Guersson "coming soon" is the first legit release by Bolivia's greatest album, Wara's "El Inca", which reminds us of the freakier moments by Los Jaivas. More news can be found under (7/5).

(8/27/06) ReR will reissue the long OOP second album by Picchio dal Pozzo: "Abbiamo Tutti I Suoi Problemi". The CD versions were available from Japan and Korea prior and have been impossible to find in recent years.

(8/27/06) Garden of Delights have released their 3rd quarter reissues. A mish mash this time that includes the rare 1975 Swiss basement rocker Viking's Invasion. Art rockers Waniyetula received an archive release of their 1971 to 1978 works titled "Iron City". And, as reported earlier, Missus Beastly's live recording "Bremen 1974" has been issued featuring legendary Dyzan, Vita Nova guitarist Eddy Marron. However, it's been described as "free" jazz/rock, and different from any of their studio work. We haven't investigated yet. More GoD news can be found under (5/27).

(8/27/06) As mentioned below on (7/05), ProgQuebec will be reissuing L'Engouvelant's sole album. What we didn't know at the time is the inclusion of Etoifilan's only album (on the same disc), which is essentially L'Engouvelent's second album. Great news! More ProgQuebec news can be found under (7/05).

(8/27/06) England's Angel Air will be reissuing both the Carmen albums, which have also been OOP for many years.

(8/27/06) We've recently heard from the manager of Aera and the Erlkoenig label, and they've informed us that the last two Aera albums "Too Much" and "Akataki" are still under the rights of Spiegelei, and they have no control over the reissues. That's unfortunate as "Akataki" is quite a splendid album that is one of the better 80s Krautrock albums along the lines of Embryo's "Zack Gluck".

(8/27/06) Active UK label Sunbeam Records, has reissued the long OOP album by The Open Mind. As an original LP, this psych rock album from 1969 is one of the rarest major label (on Philips) ever made. More Sunbeam news under (5/19)

(7/22/06) A new Italian label has emerged by the name of AMS, and will be exclusively distributed by BTF. They open with a bang, as two long time "wish listers" have finally received the digital treatment: Cincinnato and Hero. Cincinnato, originally released on the quirky PDU label, is a great example of the Italian jazz progressive scene which continues to live in the shadow of the more well known symphonic sound. Compares favorably with bands like Agora and the Bella Band. Hero, originally released only in Germany on the Pan label (Metropolis, Sahara, even some Secret Oyster), is a mix of hard rock and complex prog, and some very unusual songwriting not that distant from what Battiato was doing then. Both will be remastered, and include bonus tracks and histories. See more BTF releases under (4/21).

(7/22/06) Aztec Records of Australia will complete the Rainbow Theatre discography by reissuing the debut "The Armada" sometime soon! More Aztec news can be found under (4/21).

(7/22/06) The Japanese mini-LP section is fully updated (thanks to fellow Gnosis member Hubert Jakobs!). Note that Space Circus' two albums have finally been reissued! Please see the link above for more exciting mini-LP news.

(7/5/06) Water Music has announced they will be issuing the Alan Sorrenti classic "Aria" on CD. A fine folk prog album, originally on Italian Harvest, featuring Jean-Luc Ponty on violin. More Water Music reissue news can be found under 2/18.

(7/5/06) Looks like Guersson Records of Spain will be picking up some of the lost classics from Portugal. They've announced their intention to do the following: Quarteto 1111 (first 2 albums by iconic group lead by Jose Cid); Petrus Castrus - "Mestre" (first album) and Banda do Casaco's rare 3rd and 4th albums "Hoje Há Conquilhas, Amanhã Não Sabemos" and "Contos da Barbearia". More Guersson news can be found under 4/08.

(7/5/06) Next Secret Oyster release from the Laser's Edge will be "Straight to the Krankenhaus", the group's 4th and final studio release. At the beginning of 2006, LE reissued Secret Oyster's second album "Sea Son". Still to go are the band's debut, an unreleased studio + an archival live recording!

(7/5/06) More exciting reissues coming from ProgQuebec. L'Engouvelent's wonderful prog folk album will see its first CD reissue. Originally released on the gone-too-quick Le Tamanoir label in 1977. Also coming in September will be a live rendition of Maneige's classic second album "Les Porches Live". Hopefully the studio versions will be available sometime (the first 2 Maneige albums were on Harvest, so could be some issues with the ownership). And finally Pollen bandleader, Jacques Tom Rivest, will see his first solo album being reissued. More ProgQuebec news can be found under 5/19.

(7/5/06) A double CD containing both the classic Dionne-Bregent albums "Et le Troisième Jour" and "Deux" will also see the light of day shortly. Great albums in the electronic tradition - somewhere between Tangerine Dream and the French Egg label (Ose, Michel Madore, Heldon). On the XXI label and ProgQuebec will be the sole distributor.

(6/22/06) Mellotronen will be reissuing the excellent one-off album by Saga, a 1974 rock-psych-prog album with gorgeous guitar! Some of the best to ever come out of Sweden in fact. Features a beautiful psychedelic lettering cover with Renaissance-era angels. Saga are post November, but weren't quite as blues/hard rock based. Also planned is an archival live release. No further word from Mellotronen on the second press of Kultivator.

(6/22/06) Viejero Inmovil will be reissuing for the first time ever, the very rare 1974 album by Argentine group Los Barrocos "Sin Tiempo Ni Espacio". It's been on our want list for close to 15 years and we still haven't heard it. But it's supposedly quite a good symphonic progressive album.

(6/22/06) It wouldn't be a CD Reissue News update without yet another announcement from Eclectic. They're now going to attack the Jade Warrior classic Island-era albums. Only available prior as a pretty hard to find box set. Expect the usual high quality mastering. More Eclectic news below.

(6/22/06) Rumor mill says Galileo, Switzerland's top progressive label (as long as Black Rills stays silent that is) will be issuing ALL of the Circus albums, including the long OOP "Movin' On". The other 3 have never seen legit issues. These reissues would be very welcome if they can pull it off. Plus there's talk of a new album!

(5/27/06) Garden of Delights is quickly back with two new titles. First and foremost is the reissue of the debut album by Emma Myldenberger, a great German folk progressive band from the late 70s and early 80s. Even better is their followup "Tour de Trance", which I suspect (hope) will be out shortly. The other reissue is Ainigma's fuzz drenched classic "Diluvium". Ainigma always struck me as sounding more like an underground American band, than anything traditionally Krautrock, though the pieces are all extended. There was a legit Little Wing reissue years ago, but they used generic covers on all their CDs, and new elaborate paintings for their LP reissues. So it's nice to see a CD with the original cover art intact. Both CDs have bonus tracks. More Garden of Delights news below...

(5/27/06) Eclectic continues to raid the classic UK 70s scene with four new reissues. High Tide's outstanding first 2 albums (long extended instrumental journeys with fuzz and violin) will get the Eclectic remaster treatment. Repertoire originally reissued these well over 10 years ago. As well, the first two Skin Alley albums will be released. Originally reissued legit on Audio Archives, these promise to be an improvement. Skin Alley were another classic UK band that were influenced by the local jazz scene that was so prolific in those times. More Eclectic news below.

(5/19/06) Last month we mentioned a new UK folk-oriented label has emerged by the name of Sunbeam Records. They've already emerged as a major player in the reissue market. And run by music enthusiasts who care about the artists! Latest exciting release for these pages is GF Fitzgerald's "Mouseproof", a wild 1970 mix of Canterbury jazz rock, jazz and "what all". Earlier they released the very rare Norwegian band Oriental Sunshine's one album "Dedicated to the Bird We Love". Another highlight reissue for the label was Moonkyte's psych folk classic from the early 1970s. And they were behind the latest Fresh Maggots release too - one of the most "out there" fuzz folk albums you can hear.

(5/19/06) There have been some surprising reissues in the last couple of years, but few have taken us a back as the Long Hair announcement to do Joe Beck's Sabicas album. Entitled "Rock Encounter", and released in 1970, it could be considered the prototype for the Spanish progressive rock sound that would emerge a few years later. And it's American!? They also announced another Joe Beck album "Nature Boy", a 1969 release that we're totally unfamilar with. Won't be for long. As of today, these are still in the planning stages. Earlier in the year, LH found even more Fashion Pink / Brainstorm archive material and released them under the title "Encore".

(5/19/06) Seems the most active label today is Prog Quebec. And that's a wonderful thing, as the region was the most neglected of the CD reissue era. New releases include the wonderful violin led symphonic prog album by Charles Kaczynski titled "Lumière de la Nuit". Also just out are the two sought after Conventum albums, both reissued by Kozak just before they went out of business and have been very hard to find. Earlier in the year PQ released both the 3rd and 4th Maneige albums (with 7/8ths of "Composite" split between them) as well as Yves LaFerriere's (Contraction,VEBB,Conventum) 1978 instrumental jazz rock album. No further word on the reissues of the Sloche albums yet.

(5/19/06) For us, one of the most exciting announcements is the reissue of Guru Guru's "Dance of the Flames" on InsideOut. This album is the odd one out in the Guru canon, and really could be seen as the successor to the two Eiliff albums (sans keyboards). A very powerful fusion album that they never attempted again. As well, InsideOut has reissued the first 3 CLASSIC Amon Duul II albums "Phallus Dei", "Yeti" and "Tanz der Lemminge". Bonus tracks are recent recordings. Doesn't look like an upgrade from the Repertoire digi-paks are necessary, but for those who don't already own these gems, now's the time to get them! For more InsideOut reissues, see below.

(5/19/06) The latest batch from Garden of Delights includes 3 separate Xhol live concerts. The first is from their transitional period as a soul band to a freaky jazz band, when they were known as Soul Caravan. The other two, entitled "Altena 1969" and "Altena 1970", are under the Xhol Caravan and Xhol moniker's respectively. We suspect these will be similar to the "Motherf**kers Live" 2 CD live set that was released by United Durtro about 5 years ago. Earlier, GoD opened 2006 with 3 new releases including the brilliant 1974 self-titled album by Missus Beastly. In reading the detailed booklet, it appears GoD will also reissue a live Missus Beastly titled "Bremen 1974" which will feature Eddy Marron on guitar (Dzyan, Vita Nova)! Other reissues from January include Missing Link's one great album "Nevergreen!", which was apparently reissued as a boot prior; and Faithful Breath's long OOP (reissued legit on Lasers Edge almost 15 years ago) "Fading Beauty" received a fresh issue.

(5/19/06) Spanish label Wah-Wah has reissued the rare hard rock / progressive album by The Storm, a one shot group from 1975.

(4/21/06) Aztec Records of Australia has been in touch, and alerted us that it is they who released the Cybotron "Implosion" album that we mentioned on February 18. And this allows us to tie to something we mentioned late last year: We've heard from Julian Browning of Rainbow Theatre and in 2006 look for both of their great albums to be reissued legit on the Aztec Music label in 6 panel digi-paks! And, as it turn out, according to the label web page, "Fantasy of Horses" was released on April 5! Also to be released soon is Band of Light's "Total Union" album. Prior releases include legit reissues of the early albums by the excellent hard rock/prog band Buffalo.

(4/21/06) As mentioned earlier in the year, BTF will release a much improved version of Campo di Marte's classic 1973 album. Says band member Enrico Rosa: "BTF will release within few days a Campo di Marte CD reissue of the 1973 record done after mastering of the original recording in order to get closer to the original sound. The order in which the music was written and recorded was, before releasing the LP in 1973, changed by the UA doing the side B to side A to have a start with a stronger impact but in this way altering the intentions of the work. The original composition is now preserved and everything appears in its authenticity. More pictures and info are added in the digisleeve and booklet." Earlier in the year, BTF released the new mini-LP reissue of Alusa Fallax's sole classic album. Also, the label has unearthed some Maxophone tracks (and videos) and released it under the title "From Coccoon To Butterfly".

(4/8/06) Cosmic Egg, the reissue wing of UK music retailer Ultima Thule, has released for the first time the archival album by GAM (Gunther Schickert's mid 70s band) entitled "Eiszeit". If it's anything like the cassette of "1976", we're in for a treat!

(4/8/06) Guerssen Records (Spain) have announced plans to reissue the super-rare Subway album, the French/American duo who got their name by playing in "the tubes". Earlier in the year, Guerssen released the very rare 1971 hard rock psych album by Tapiman (related to Maquina and future guitar player for Iceberg). The label also just issued the rare Welsh folk psych second album from Perenin called "Teithgan".

(4/8/06) Mellow has reissued Phillippe Grancher's "3000 Miles Away" album. They've had this title on their Coming Soon list for a long time, so it's nice to see it finally come to fruition. It's been many years since we've heard this French electronic music album.

(4/8/06) Breathless will reissue the Titus Groan album, the English band which has had a couple of legit issues in the past, but has been OOP for awhile.

(4/8/06) Latest Klaus Schulze releases on Inside Out: "Irrlicht", "Dziekuje Poland", "Are You Sequenced?", "The Crime of Suspense". January releases include: "Moondawn", "Angst", "Das Wagner Desaster - Live", and "Vanity Of Sounds".

Latest Kraan releases on Inside Out: "Live 2001", "Flyday" and a new album "Dancing in the Shade".

In addition to the brilliant "Dance of the Flames" mentioned above, InsideOut will also issue the more typical goofy Guru Guru album "Hey Du", though it does feature one excellent long track in their early style. Also notable is this was originally a Brain release. Maybe InsideOut has access to their vast catalog that remains unissued (Thirsty Moon, Satin Whale, Kollektiv, RMO, etc...)? We can hope anyway.

Also look for Grobschnitt's "The International Story", a comp of sorts that looks to include their landmark "Solar Music Live" album from 1978.

(3/28/06) Looks like Voiceprint will be reissuing both the Mainhorse and Refugee albums soon. Both are remastered by Patrick Moraz.

(3/14/06) From the Garden of Delights' Missus Beastly booklet, it was announced that the quirky German label, Funfundvierzig, will reissue the last 2 MB albums (also very good) "Dr. Aftershave and the Mixed Pickles" and "Space Guerillas". It would appear that Funfundvierzig has a channel into the much neglected Schneeball label, given their reissue of Real Ax Band a couple of years back.

(3/14/06) Pan Records of Norway, who reissue about one or 2 albums a year, have announced that the first Thule album (from the late 1980s) will come out. A couple of years back they reissued "Natt".

(3/14/06) Out now on Transubstans is the reissue of Mr. Brown's sole 1977 album "Mellan Tre Ögon". Earlier in the year, they reissued the obscure 1975 Swedish prog album by Råg i Ryggen.

(3/14/06) Similar to Pan for Norway, Karma Records of Denmark has been solely responsible for getting most of the 1970s Danish rock scene out on CD (not including Secret Oyster of course!). Latest releases include the post Culpepper's Orchard group Moirana and their album "Loners and Lovers" as well as an archival release from local legends Alrune Rod.

(2/18/06) One of the most surprising reissues has to be that of Moolah's 1974 "Woe Ye Demons Possessed" on a Japanese label we hadn't encountered before: EM Records. Looks to be 100% legit too... not sure how they tracked this band down. Their one album is a highly sought after private press from New York that has more in common with Krautrock than anything ever released in America. Commonly mistaken to be on the relatively common label Annuit Coeptis, which is due the cover using a dollar bill with the Latin phrase intact. Great to see this title! More info to come as we pursue the CD. (10/23/06 update: And yes, I do now have it. Even though there appears to be no band involvement, everything seems on the up and up - including an awesome sound!)

(2/18/06) The original Cluster album on Philips (aka Cluster '71) has been reissued by Water Music with the original cover and liner notes. Certain to be an improvement on the previous barebones Sky issue (with the lesser cover that Sky originally used for the LP).

(2/18/06) Eclectic Records, known primarily for their outstanding re-masters of British classics, has taken on the US psych classic Saint Steven's "Over the Hills", a pretty rare album from 1969. Perhaps this will herald a new line of US minor label classic psych that desperately needs legit reissues, first and foremost in our mind being Morgen's stellar 1969 album.

(2/11/06) Rollercoaster Records, a label that specializes in 50s and 60s music, has released the oddball folk/psych/jazz album by Roger Bunn called "Piece of Mind". Originally released on Philips in the Netherlands, it was also licensed by Major Minor in the UK and Ohr in Germany (the only non-German album on the label). The album is also of note for sporting one of the all-time great psychedelic covers! Sadly, it appears Mr. Bunn died last summer in London.

(2/11/06) Moon June Records has released an archival live recording from Soft Machine entitled "Floating World Live". Recorded in January of 1975, the material is primarily culled from their outstanding "Bundles" album and promises to be a smoker!

(2/11/06) An independent label from Turkey called Istanbul Plak has reissued the debut album by Turkish psych guitar legend Erkin Koray.

(1/2/06) Some exciting news from South Africa, as finally an indigenous reissue label has emerged: Fresh Music. They've been around for a few years, but we weren't aware of them until recently. They've reissued the following (all are legit, but many of them had their master tapes lost in a studio fire that also destroyed most of the 1970's works from South Africa): Abstract Truth's 2 studio albums on one CD "Silver Trees" and "Totum"; Freedom Children's classic "Astra" as well as their final album "Galactic Vibes"; and finally the 2 albums by the politically charged group Hawk - "African Day" and "Africa, She Too Can Cry".