Malachi ~ England

Malachi. 1971 Columbia

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/30/09 (new entry)

Laurelie ~ Belgium

Laurelie. 1970 Triangle

UMR review

Priority: 3

***Reissued on LP by PhilMarie 2011

11/29/09

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.

George Jinda ~ France

Wheel Of Love. 1976 Motors

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/27/09 (new entry)

Inserts ~ USA

Out of the Box. 1983 Nozzle

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/26/09

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

Gass ~ England

Juju. 1970 Polydor

Strange album, this one is. Hard to describe, but I'd say that Gass is to UK blues rock what East of Eden's Mercator Projected is to world fusion. It's a grab bag of styles, including much of what we track here (psych, prog, underground). Blues rock is the root system, with plenty of instrumental sections featuring organ, flute, fuzz guitar, percussion - and of course, downer vocals. Peter Green joined them for awhile after leaving Fleetwood Mac. 

Priority: 3

11/24/09

Falstaff ~ France

Falstaff - Prononcez G. 1981 private

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/23/09 (new entry)

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

UMR review

Priority: 2

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

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.

Baxter ~ USA

Baxter. 1973 Paramount

Dance of Delight. 1974 archival  

UMR review

I haven't heard Dance of Delight to date but it's being touted as far more progressive than their sole release.

Priority: 2

11/19/09 (new entry)

Abraxis ~ Belgium

Abraxis. 1977 Bestseller / IBC

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Replica Sep 2019 

11/18/09 (new entry)

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.

Burning Candle ~ Germany

Burning Candle. 1981 Steyrer

Keyboard trio with a mix of period instrumentation - 1980's tinny synthesizers and 1970's meaty organ. Sort of nutty / unpredictable like El Shalom and Saffran, but perhaps a little less diverse. 

Priority: 3

11/16/09

Frankie Dymon Jnr ~ Germany

Let It Out. 1971 BASF

This is sort of a side project to Achim Reichel's A.R. & Machines circa their Die Grune Reise debut. Reichel wrote most of the music and it features the AR&M group. Dymon provides the poems in words and music. Basically a proto-rap album, and heavily influenced by early 1970's anti-everything street politics. One has to wonder if Gil Scott-Heron didn't get ahold of a copy prior to launching his 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' epic. Naturally, with Reichel at the controls, Let It Out is far more freaky. Cool.

Priority: 3

11/14/09

Ezra Winston ~ Italy

Myth of the Chrysavides. 1988 private

A bit of a surprise that this modern classic has yet to find its way on CD. Ezra Winston's debut was created at the dawn of the digital age, when LPs still outsold CDs. The LP itself features a nice cover and a 14 page accompanying booklet.

As for the music, Ezra Winston also pioneered the Italian progressive rock renaissance that we still enjoy today. It's not a typical Italian album though, with lyrics in English and the music possesses a distinct UK and Dutch "neo prog" sound. Still, for us fans at the time, it gave us hope that our favorite style of music wasn't dead just yet. It wouldn't be long before other Italian progressive rock bands joined the parade. Myth of the Chrysavides deserves its place in history.

Priority: 3

11/13/09

Furekaaben ~ Denmark

Prinsessevarerelset (Prinsesseværelset). 1970 Spectator
Rode Roser (aka RR1; aka Furekåben). 1971 RR

Technically spelled: Furekåben

As the great mail order catalog writer Paul Major once wrote, listening to Furekaaben is like "peeking through the bushes at an ancient mystic religious ceremony." That encapsulates the sound of both of these Christiana albums better than I could hope to achieve. I suppose the original Berlin commune group Amon Duul (sans II) is a guidepost, but Furekaaben are far more exotic, and rather than pound mercilessly on whatever percussive instruments are lying around, they choose a far more melodic route - though not in any kind of traditional sense. I also can hear the New York utopian group Children of One as a possible comparison. The first album managed a release on the Danish cult label Spectator. The second is an extremely rare private pressing, that I somehow managed to own for a number of years. If the psych scene existed in the year 723, this is probably how it would've sounded. Ancient roots stuff here folks.

Priority: none

11/12/09

Gutura ~ France

Des Etres Au Cerveau Apparent. 1980 Sterne

UMR review

Priority: 2

11/10/09

Hydrus ~ Italy

Midnight in Space. 1978 PDU

Hydrus is one of the three indigenous electronic albums on the PDU label along with Eletriktus and Robert Cacciapaglia's Sonanze. Of these, Hydrus is the only one that remains without a CD reissue. Hydrus could have been named Hybrid, as they mix spacey, non sequencer based electronic music with tiny hints of disco. Lovely wordless female vocals adds an exotic atmosphere. Not a bad record at all, though they should've let loose a bit more as the electronics get a bit static after while.

Priority: none

***Reissued on LP by Wah Wah 2012

11/9/09

Izvir ~ Slovenia

Izvir. 1977 RTV

Of all the obscure former Yugoslavian progressive rock albums, I think Izvir remains the most elusive. Album starts out in spacey psychedelic territory ala Igra Staklenih Perli, but oddly enough abandons that sound altogether after the lengthy first track and opts towards a funky fusion direction. Somewhere between mid 70s Santana (notable in the song craft, guitar, and organ sounds) and Dunajska Legenda era Fermata, you will find the music of Izvir. Sounds like a Slovenian Malo, if that's even possible to fathom! This one is a grower, as the disco era melodies hold a certain nostalgic pull. Lots of clavinet, almost defining the funky sounds within.

Priority: 3

11/8/09 (new entry)

Lubat / Louiss / Engel Group ~ France

Live at Montreux. 1972 Les Disques Pierre Cardin

UMR review

Priority: 3

11/05/09 (new entry)

Nuit Caline A La Villa Mon Reve ~ Belgium

Juillet 1977. 1977 Bestseller / IBC

Large collective from the south of Belgium that sounds to me like many of the albums coming out of Quebec during this time. Very much a communal affair, with many ideas and a general uplifting mood. Violin, female vocals, and acoustic guitar dominate, with many other instruments providing some color. Another nice album on the excellent IBC label. For fans of Connivence, Le Temps, and L'Engoulevent.

Priority: none

11/2/09 (new entry)

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).

Osiris ~ Japan

In the Mist of Time. 1980 Sound of Poppy

One man band fancies himself as a Richard Pinhas virtuoso, complete with dark synthesizer runs and ominous guitar journeys. However, there are those annoying late 1970s and early 1980s cheesy synth tones, that in turn bog down a promising album. Especially when considering the wonderful mad bursts of fuzz guitar that come out of nowhere. Worth a few listens, but not essential. Fans of artists like Ilitch would certainly benefit from a CD reissue, and that would be the target audience.

Please note the comment section from the original artist.

Priority: none

11/1/09

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)