Wednesday, October 31, 2012

News: Eastworld to reissue first two Storm (Sweden) albums


Thanks to a tip from Laser Ken, we learned yesterday that the first two Storm albums from Sweden will be coming out on the Eastworld label. For those who enjoy the humorous bits of Frank Zappa and Samla Mammas Manna, then Storm will be right up your alley! These guys are way too silly for me, and I just realized that I hadn't bothered to add them to the main list. I remember when I first obtained the LP of "Stormwarning", and plopped the needle down on Side 1 - I thought I'd discovered a new monster! It's really good. Unfortunately it doesn't maintain that momentum. A lot of my friends seem to enjoy this album more than myself, so this will no doubt be met with much enthusiasm. The cover of "Storm at the Top" represents their mindset quite well I think.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

News: Joy Unlimited's Instrumental Impressions now on CD!

Thanks to a tip from our friend Lev, we learned today that the very obscure music library album by Joy Unlimited has been reissued (in fact, it was released yesterday!). I haven't personally heard this album, and given that it's all instrumental, it's presumably quite a bit different from the band's proper albums (which have been dutifully reissued - mostly by the excellent Garden of Delights label). According to Lev it's a typical film music album with sketches of songs at varying tempos and beats. Therefore, the album has been highly collectable amongst the DJ crowd who treasure rare vintage recordings such as this. The reissuing label is Sonorama Records, a label that caters to this particular genre.

The website Underground Hiphop (See? I told you we're pretty far off course here!) says this about "Instrumental Impressions": "Lost classic for the collectors of Italian Library Funk: One of the most sought after cult LPs on the tiny Devega label from Milan, produced in 1972 for license purposes only. The German progressive band "Joy Unlimited" plays a terrific mixture of funk 'n'soul , jazz, psych rock and Latin moods, with clever arrangements and perfect grooves. 12 excellently produced soundtracks for an imaginary film of the counterculture, including many cool DJ spins like "Parabolica", "Soul Gravy", "Jamara" or "Blue Box", spiced with killer breaks & electronic effects. First LP & CD release of their famous "unofficial" album, carefully remastered and with the original cover design.

Many original records with Italian Library Music are among the most sought-after collector's items of the jazz, funk and soundtrack fans today. They were produced by minor labels during the 1960s and 70s in small editions for license purposes only. One of these worldwide hunted cult albums from Italy is called "Instrumental Impressions" and appeared on the obscure Devega label from Milan in 1972. The rare LP was recorded by the legendary German progressive band "Joy Unlimited" from Mannheim, which caused quite a sensation with their mix of psychedelic rock, funk, soul and pop.

"Instrumental Impressions" features twelve excellent tracks of jazz-funk, psych rock and Latin music, with clever arrangements and perfect grooves. Frantic horns and flute lines, wah-wah guitars, psychedelic organ, Latin rhythms and jazzy saxophone or vibes develop a true kaleidoscope of varied retro sounds. The band plays music for an imaginary film of the counterculture, spiced with "killer breaks" and electronic effects."


Thursday, October 25, 2012

News: Long Hair to release Missus Beastly 1974 archival SWF album!

Now this is the kind of announcement that gets my blood pumping! The always-great Long Hair label plans on issuing a new SWF album, this time by one of the CDRWL's all-time favorite bands: Missus Beastly! For over a decade, Long Hair has successfully mined the SWF archives and they've proven over and over what a treasure trove it is.  Let's just hope that one day they issue the brilliant Tortilla Flat SWF session, one of the most stunning recordings I've ever heard.

From my perspective, there is some cause for concern here. Why? Because Garden of Delights a few years back also released a 1974 live concert from Missus Beastly titled "Bremen 1974", with the added drool-factor of Eddy Marron (Dzyan, Vita Nova) on guitar. Unfortunately it ended up being way too improvisational for my tastes, and much of it was a snooze fest. I was extremely disappointed, especially given the premise (or promise).

My big hope here is that the SWF Sessions are generally more composed than a typical live setting, and it appears this is the same line-up as the sublime 1974 Nova label album. On the hype sheet (see below), it does refer to the "band's great talent for improvisations", so this could go either way. I'm going to be optimistic and hope this is a killer!

Label says: "Recorded early 1974 at the SWF-Studio in Baden-Baden, Germany by the same line-up, which recorded at the same time the 2nd Missus Beastly album. Improved versions of older titles and some new titles prove the bands great talent for improvisations. Brilliant sound of brilliant tunes played by refined musicians. This kind of instrumental krautjazzrock is timeless. The musical orientation of the new Missus Beastly rather followed afro-american than European music traditions, but influenced by that certain Krautrock feel. Great music by a great band. Digitally remastered from original master tape. Comes with informative booklet and rare photos (vinyl-version with insert). Also on vinyl. Don’t miss it."

Look for a November release.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Planes, Germany ***REISSUED***


Planes (Gregor Cürten and Anselm Rogmans) - I'll Remember the Landscape on Your Face). 1974 private. CN 501

***Reissued in Oct 2012 by Entr'acte

Moved to UMR

Priority: 3

8/16/10 (new entry); 10/15/12 (complete)

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tamarisk, England ***REISSUED***



Tamarisk. 1982 private. Cassette only release
Lost Properties. 1983 private. Cassette only release

***Both reissued on CD by the band in Dec 2012

Moved to UMR

Priority: 2

1/22/10; 10/11/12 (complete)

News: Tamarisk CD coming soon!

I've been sitting on this news for about a week, but we've received word from the band themselves via the NWOBPR Yahoo group that a CD (entitled "Frozen in Time") will hopefully be released sometime in November to celebrate Tamarisk's 30th anniversary. From what I can gather, this will include all of their studio recordings (including the two cassettes we featured nearly 3 years ago), plus maybe some live material "if the quality is good enough" as they say. So this is excellent news for fans of the original NWOBPR movement (which includes moi). I'll be a first day buyer!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

More News regarding the Baba Scholae CD release

All of this news is courtesy of Jean-Yves Labat. The album will indeed be released on October 10th as announced. And as you can see we now have cover art to share.

And he has indicated that there will an LP press sometime in the future (no other details provided).

I was also asked for a track listing, and here it is:

1. 1984 –Melancolia Street
2. Half Day
3. Will Meant Ciment
4. Julius
5. La chasse au serpent à la flûte
6. Go down sunset
7. Telegram
8. Song My (My Lai)
9. Kaleidoscope
10. Keep it 'rythmique'
11. Just like George
12. White bird
13. She's an Indian in minor
14. Song for a new connection
15. L'œil du maître

Here are more details as well as a direct link to buy the CD.

As well, the album was recently reissued on vinyl (July 2013). Details here.

If this all sounds good, please consider buying this one to support the effort!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

News: Baba Scholae (1969 France/England) will be issued in October!

There's no cover for this one yet (well, that I'm privy to anyway), but look for the release on October 10th (internationally on November 20th).

Baba Scholae is a legendary psychedelic/early progressive rock band from England that included one Jean-Yves Labat on keyboards. Labat is better known as M Frog, the synthesist and keyboard maestro on Todd Rungren's early Utopia albums. As well, he had a solo album under the name M Frog. And as it turns out, Baba Scholae was even given consideration to be released on Bearsville Records back in the day. Labat also went on to release two electronic albums in the late 1970s that coincidentally SF provided for me, and I had heard only a couple of weeks ago. There's been a lot of synchronicity regarding this release, I'll tell you that.

There's a fascinating history of Labat weaved into the review of the M Frog album on the verbose and highly informative Book of Seth (Head Heritage), that I would encourage everyone to visit. Especially note the visit to Uganda and Idi Amin!

I had been fed a digital copy of the Baba Scholae album about 6 months ago, but just didn't get around to listening to it until this week. One reason is I couldn't find any info (initially) on the album itself, which makes me suspicious (fake albums are more common than you would think). 

And the reason I didn't find anything out is this album was never released!

So I did a bit of inquiry, and one of the kind souls on the Psychedelica Yahoo chat board provided me contact info for Jean-Yves Labat, and a couple of subsequent back and forth e-mails confirms the date as October 10th for release. The international distribution is set for November 20th. At this point it's CD only, but I've asked about an LP reissue as well. We'll see...

Ad Vitam is Labat's own label and is distributed by Harmonia Mundi. Due to that, this is a CD that is likely to be widely available - but a different distribution channel than most of us are accustomed to.


Consider me a first day buyer!

UMR review here

Thursday, October 4, 2012

News: Acintya now on CD?(!)

I formed it in the phrase of a question (thank you Alex Trebek) because I had no idea it never was on CD. No one ever wrote in to correct me (well, they probably did, but I wasn't paying attention). I bought the Musea LP when it came out in 1989 (the original is from 1978). Over time, I decided it was one I could part with. So I never really thought about the album again. And besides I figured every Musea reissue LP had eventually come out on CD. Right? So when I saw today that this was the "first CD reissue", I said to myself - that can't be correct. Can it? Well... it is. What an oversight on my part.

I'm not sure if maybe the most exciting aspect of this is that Musea may be getting into reissues again? Of course, they already did the LP, so the upfront work would be minimal. But still, we can hope! France has dozens of great albums yet to see a CD issue (that are spread throughout this blog). And Musea, in my mind, remains the Godfather of progressive rock reissues, and set the high standard other labels still aspire to.

I think I'm going to buy this CD. I did like it, it was just getting lost in the weeds of my collection at the time I sold the LP.

Musea says this about the album: "Keyboardist Philippe De CANCK's group recorded one sole album in 1978, "La Cité Des Dieux Oubliés" in 1978. The two long tracks making the vinyl, not to mention the opening-track "Adyane", are enlightened by the use of solemn and majestic keyboards, including the organ of Saint-Nicolas-De-Port's famous basillica. These parts are cleverly completed by an inspired violin, played by Philippe CLEESE. Somewhere in the tradition of the Frence neo-classic Progressive rock, the art of ACINTYA may recall the complex and elaborated themes courtesy of WAPASSOU, for instance. A quarter of a century after having reissued it in vinyl, the Musea label now delivers its digital version. This CD edition ends up with two extra-tracks, captured during one of the first rehearsals by the band in the year 1976. Musea also found a live performance in its treasure vault, captured live at Nancy's Salle Poirel, January 12th, 1979. Here's the only opportunity to listen to two tracks of the album plus three unreleased ones, played with organ, synthesizers, piano and Mellotron. Now reduced to a trio without violin, the band relies on a strong rhythm section. "In Live" is an unique document for a group gone much too soon... Not to be missed !"

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...