News: Rise Above Relics to reissue Horse, Bran and Fusion Orchestra

Thanks to a note from Laser Ken via the label's newsletter, it looks Rise Above Relics is ready to reenter the reissue market fray after a couple of years off.

Of the 3 prominent reissues announced, only Fusion Orchestra has been released prior. However it was through the "common copy" Asian markets like EMI (Japan) and Si-Wan (Korea). These are entirely legit and from master tapes, but lack the kind of retrospective history and bonus materials that a specialist label like Rise Above will most assuredly give us. I have the Japanese mini-LP and original LP, but most likely will add this version to the collection and own all 3. It's a great album with a great cover, so it's worth owning the extra copies.

I've never featured Horse on the CDRWL, though they are in the main list. They seemed rather an ordinary hard rock group to me, but reading reviews on RYM demonstrates that fans of the genre consider them well above average. Since I only have a cheap CD-R, perhaps a well researched and great sounding CD will change my view. That wouldn't be the first time. And this will be the first ever legitimate reissue of the album.

Brân (note diacritic) is a very obscure Welsh folk rock band from the mid 1970s. This isn't within my interest area, but I know many of you out there are dedicated fans, and I'm rather certain this will be met with great anticipation, especially given they haven't been reissued prior in any form. I'm not sure which (or all) of the 3 albums will be released, but my guess would be a full set on 2 CDs. That's purely speculation on my part.

Welcome back Rise Above Relics!

News: William Sheller's "Lux Aeterna" released on Omni

Thanks to readers Mio and Gal, we learned of this reissue. Now this isn't the first reissue of the album (despite the advert you see below from the label), and I own the original CD which was pressed by CBS France many years ago (and distributed primarily to Japan).  It was certainly one of the rarer CDs in my collection. But no more! And this version looks to be a huge improvement on the "single card" jewel box CBS CD.

Review added to UMR

I haven't run into the Omni label of Australia before, but they have a sterling reputation. Here's what they say about the album: "Written in 1970 and released in 1972, William Sheller’s Parisian Love In/Freak Out “Lux Aeterna” is a psychedelic mass of staggering beauty and dexterity. Composed to celebrate the marriage of a dear friend, the LP’s twin themes of spiritual and global union are mirrored in its grand orchestral and choral arrangements, rock drums, fuzz/flanged guitars and gurgling stratospheric analogue synthesis.

This renowned and treasured rarity was originally issued in miniscule amounts and is officially reissued for the first ever time. Remastered with stunning depth and clarity from the original master tapes and presented with exclusive liner notes, rare photos and a swathe of rare 45 only tracks (including the sitar-fuelled/beat driven score for the 1969 film “Erotissimo”).

*Remastered from the original CBS mastertapes 2012.
*19 track CD. All original recordings.
*20 page full colour booklet with exclusive liner notes and rare photos.
*Includes the staggeringly beautiful concept LP reissued for the very first time anywhere! Plus a swathe of rare 45 only and original film score tracks!

1. Introit (3.22)
2. Ave Frater, Rosae Et Aurae (4.25)
3. Opus Magnum - Part 1 (2.47)
4. Opus Magnum - Part 2 (3.10)
5. Lux Aeterna (1.30)
6. Sous Le Signe Des Poissons (5.57)
7. Hare Krishna (6.22)
8. Sous Le Signe Du Verseau (6.41)

10. Generissimo (1.49)
11. Excitissimo (1.16)
12. Erotissimo (4.20)
13. My Year Is A Day* (3.06)
14. Lands Of Shadow (2.54)
15. Couleurs (2.12)
16. Le 4 Saisons (3.45)
17. Leslie Simone (2.52)
18. Adieu Kathy (2.19)
19. She Opened The Door (3.01)
20. Living East Dreaming West (3.21)

All the above tracks (except*) were released on CBS Records (France) (1968-1972)
Tracks 1-8 from the CBS LP 65030 (1972)
Tracks 10-12 from the CBS O.S.T 45 EP “Erotissimo” 4231 (1969)
Track 13 from the Arabella/CBS 45 3330 (1967/1968) (released as “Les Irrésistibles”)
Licensed courtesy of Jean Eckian
Track 14 from the CBS 45 3600 (1968) (released as “Les Irrésistibles”)
Licensed courtesy of Jean Eckian
Tracks 15-16 from the CBS 45 3451 (1968)
Tracks 17-18 from the CBS 45 4564 (1969)
Tracks 19-20 from the CBS 45 4810 (1970)

Original CBS/Arabella Recordings
Produced by William Sheller and Jean Eckian

Track 9 is two minutes of intentional silence to separate the original album programme from the (markedly different) extra tracks

(P) Originally Recorded 1967-1970. All Rights (except 13/14) Reserved By SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

Executive in charge of CD reissue: David Thrussell
Layout and design: David K. Landis for Shake It Loose Graphics
Remastered 2012 by Alvin Lucia at The Iron Mountain Analogue Facility

All titles (except 13/14) licensed courtesy of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (AUSTRALIA) PTY LIMITED
This compilation (P) + (C) The Omni Recording Corporation 2012"

News: FM (Canada) albums coming soon on Esoteric

According to an announcement on Progressiveears, Esoteric plans on reissuing the first 4 FM albums plus other live material. Other than "Black Noise", I don't believe any of these have been on CD until now. They also announced Happy the Man, though those albums have been available for many years.

News: Aztec Records is back up and running!

Thank goodness for this. Back in April we learned that Aztec had gone bankrupt. Some new investors have arrived, and Australia's best CD reissue label is again in business. It remains to be seen if they continue reissuing their more progressive oriented titles. But we're cautiously optimistic.

According to their website: "Aztec Music, the Melbourne based music distributor which has been releasing, distributing and importing music since the late-nineties, has been acquired by a consortium of strategic investors led by Paul Dainty. The consortium assumes immediate ownership of Aztec’s suite of assets (including a vast catalogue of DVDs, CDs and LPs) after the business was placed into receivership in March 2012. The news was announced via a joint statement today.

“Aztec Music has left an indelible mark on the Australian music scene. The new team looks forward to continuing the tradition through the reissue of classic Australian albums and the importation of rare and highly collectible compilations from overseas”, said Paul Dainty.

Gryphon Entertainment will handle distribution. Gryphon Entertainment Managing Director, Glenn Elliot, is also delighted to be supporting the new direction for Aztec, commenting: "Gryphon Entertainment is excited to be associated with Aztec whose passion and expertise sets it apart as a proudly Australian brand".

Aztec Music stalwart Ted Lethborg, who will head up the new operation, is excited about the future: "To get a second chance to continue the preservation of Australia's rich musical heritage (via the Aztec Music reissue label) is an unexpected and welcome surprise. We are all looking forward to both working towards resurrecting the label and continuing our unique music importing model.""

Lindwurm (2) (Germany)

Long time Gnosis friend, and German underground expert, Lev Gankine has provided some fascinating data regarding the first Lindwurm listed:

"I've got interesting news about the first Lindwurm LP. I'm just back from Moscow record fair and believe it or not I have seen the record there, but couldn't buy it because the price was way higher than I could afford. But I held it in my hands for a while and even got to listen to the first track, which is pretty amazing power-trio heavy psychedelic blast! Definitely would like to hear the whole LP one day!

What is also interesting is that I now have a tracklist of the album (meticulously copied from the original cover) as well as other bits of the info that were on the LP - and it appears that this Lindwurm was hardly related to the band that did the "Im Windschatten" record. Although the cover doesn't state clearly who plays what on the "Fruhjahr" LP, there's a list of the musicians, and no one from it is on "Im Windschatten" unless they used pseudonyms. The sound is highly different too, according to the first track at least. So currently it is my understanding that there were two bands called Lindwurm in Germany.

By the way, Klaus who they refer to in the album title, is a deceased friend of the band whose photo graces the back cover, and the album is dedicated to his memory.

Hope this will be interesting for you and for your blog's readers!"

------

August 7, 2012 update:

And Lev has confirmed now that it is indeed a different group! Here is his review: "I suspected this for a long time, but now, after getting hold of a copy of this elusive album, can confirm 100% that this is a different band from the one that recorded "Im Windschatten" 5 years later. This Lindwurm is a basic heavy rock combo, for fans of Grave, Arktis, Kaputter Hamster, Rockport and the likes, and the album is dedicated to a deceased friend of the band (pictured right here on the back cover), which probably explains why they are totally ripping it in terms of energy and dedication - they've put their souls into this thing for sure! Actually, this is what ultimately makes the record listenable and even charming in its own way, because musically it's rather meh - bloozy heavy rock that only get saved by a few extended Hendrixoid guitar jams. The recording is rather crude too, and apparently at least a part of this material was recorded live, because at some point I can clearly hear the unforgettable high-pitched squeal of a microphone that was placed too close to a monitor or something like that."

News: Mike Selesia's "Flavor" reissued!

I didn't see this one coming. But the Shout! label of Japan (distributed by Universal), via their "Deep Jazz Reality" series, have uncovered this obscure gem from Fresno, California and released it on CD as a mini-LP.

This was one of our Priority 2's, so a much welcome reissue indeed!

We featured Mike Selesia almost exactly 2 years ago.