Flame Dream ~ Switzerland ***REISSUED***

Calatea. 1978 Philips
Elements. 1980 Vertigo. (To be reissued on their own label in 2024!)
Out In the Dark. 1981 Vertigo (To be reissued on their own label in 2024!)

***Calatea has just been reissued by the band in Apr, 2026, so we can now close this group off. Finally. One of the most requested bands to have their albums on CD. It was 17 years ago that we added this to the blog, and I can assure you people were calling for these since the 90s.

---5/30/09

One of the more known groups on this list, Switzerland's Flame Dream managed to get their albums distributed pretty well around the world. I've had all three on LP for years. One of the last of the major label progressive bands, debut Calatea and Elements are both very strong symphonic efforts, both with complex melodies and arrangements. Out In the Dark begins to creep slowly into the AOR world, but is still nice enough to consider for reissue. After this, they headed pretty fast into pop irrelevance. Though I'm sure those albums have their fans too.

Priority: 1

5/30/09 (new entry); 4/10/26 (complete)

Nite People ~ England

P.M. 1970 Page One

There aren't a whole of lot of English rock bands from the late 60s and early 70s that are relatively unknown, but I think Nite People qualifies. It's a band that missed my personal radar all these years, and I'm not exactly new at this. In addition to this LP, Nite People released no less than seven 45s between 1966 and 1970.

OK yea, I can see how this one wasn't offered my way. P.M. is a type of psychedelic blues, of which many British bands had gravitated to from the late 60s on. It's not pure electric blues like Cream, Savoy Brown, or early Fleetwood Mac. Nor does Nite People have a full-time sax or flute player, so that fact also keeps the album from moving in a more progressive direction similar to peers like Raw Material, Hannibal, Aquila, and Diabolus. But in between these bookends, the sound of Nite People emerges. The distorted electric guitar, along with the Hammond organ, adds to the psychedelic aura. Another problem, if we are to call it that, is the album lacks original material. Only two tracks out of ten were penned by the band (A1 and A5). However, their covers are inspired choices, with Sandy Coast's 'North Canadian Paradise' being the most obscure, Curtis Amy's 'Native Land' the most creative, while Frank Zappa's 'Peaches en Regalia' arguably represents the highlight. The latter closes the album giving the impression the album is more progressive rock oriented than it truly is. And you can hear what Nite People would have sounded like with a stronger sax presence.

Page One was an interesting label. Most known for releasing the The Troggs, their best selling album was likely to have been Vanity Fare's Early In The Morning, a very common LP that was pressed everywhere including the States. But the label also released the holy grail An Apple a Day, as well as music from the Dutch beat group Sandy Coast that are highly sought after. P.M. was not only released in the UK, but also in France (with arguably the better cover), Australia, and New Zealand. Despite these multiple pressings, P.M. is another one of Page One's tough scores if in the market for an original.

Discogs does list a CD, but it lacks provenance, and is highly likely not to be licensed. So we'll add this review here.

Priority: 3

4/9/26 (new entry)

Big Amongst Sheep ~ England

Striding Edge. 1980 private (MC)
Terminal Velocity. 1982 Rock Solid
Syndrome. 1983 Rock Solid (MC)

Here's a band I was familiar with way back in the day. They were sold through Lotus Records, a prog rock specialist mail order concern from England, and one of the earliest catalogs I ever received from the genre (1983 / 84 time frame). That's where I learned about bands like Haze, Pendragon, Twelfth Night, Red, and many more from the UK.

Then I completely forgot about Big Amongst Sheep. I mean completely. It was only recently I saw their Terminal Velocity album being sold online, and not for very much. Oh yea, I remember them! Never did hear their albums and don't recall ever having them on a wantlist, which tells me that Lotus Records wasn't hyping them as a prog band (at the very least). I think I might have those old catalogs here somewhere, and see what they originally said.

In researching the album, the data out there is also confusing. RYM says it's Space Rock. Discogs has the LP labeled as Space Rock too. However, same website has the cdr (not CD, hence it's placement on this blog) listed as New Wave, Pop Rock, Synth-Pop, and Power Pop. Truth is, it's all the above. You won't find it in ProgArchives (and yea, it would qualify). Even with Hawkwind's Nik Turner guesting on winds (and his presence is obvious), the album remains somewhat unknown. Given the latter's presence, I'm sure that's why the Space Rock tag was applied, something of a knee jerk reaction. 

Personally I was hoping for music like the great unheralded Body Album or maybe a proto Omnia Opera. No such luck. While listening to it, one can understand why this album has fallen through the cracks. It's certainly not proggy or trippy enough to capture the space rock audience. But it's not tough or snotty enough to appeal to punkers. It lacks hooks, and they hardly are a match for the synth pop stars of the day like Duran Duran or Depeche Mode. They have no feminine tendencies whatsoever. They look like your typical smelly English pub band from the early 80s. I'm more reminded of The Clash but with synthesizers, flute, sax, and more variety.

So what do you do with this album? It's way too arty for their preferred music choice. And yet not near arty enough to crossover to a different audience. All this to say, it's not a bad album at all. I can appreciate an album that sounds unique within expected boundaries. But I can't hear who the target audience may have been. And even for today, it's easy to understand why there's been no revival. The pseudo punky-space rock-power pop album. There's a niche audience for you.

As for their two cassettes, the debut is labeled by Discogs as Experimental and Post Punk. And the latter as Space Rock. RYM abdicated their responsibility on these. Your guess is as good as mine as to what the truth is.

Priority: none

4/8/26 (new entry)

Kevin Fisher ~ USA

The First of Fisher. 1977 P. Pan

From Los Angeles, California, The First of Fisher has drawn some interest in the prog world. According to Discogs, only 75 were made, though who knows how accurate that total is, and what the source of the number is. If there was an interview with Mr. Fisher about this album, I missed it. Based on what I'm reading below, the total is suspect. But it would be fair to presume it was a limited run.

This is one of those lo-fi private pressings that have a built-in audience. My mind wandered over towards the Michael Angelo album, a work released in the same year. The recording is fairly muddy, but that only adds to the allure. It's a mix of classical bombast, low key folk, some sizzling extended guitar soloing, jazz pop, horn rock, and drum solos. The final track is a ripping psych oriented number, with horns, denying its 1977 heritage.

A little detective work finds him on the internet! Here you go. He doesn't talk about this album at all, though he wrote songs for TV, movies, and other artists. He is not an unknown musician, but as a solo artist, he is unknown. We learn elsewhere this was an album made for a high school play. Now we're getting to Tom Nehls and Richie Duvall territory, other high school whiz kids who released all-over-the-place albums. Fisher's album is not as engaging as those two from a progressive rock perspective, though it's still a fun listen.

Priority: 3

4/7/26 (new entry)