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".