News: Sireena to reissue Mythos "Quasar"

I think this is an inspired choice from Sireena."Quasar" was originally released in 1980, and for my tastes, their best album since "Dreamlab". Unfortunately the followup "Grand Prix" is a major let down. Not sure if Sireena will even bother with that title, but it will remain the only Mythos without a CD after "Quasar" is released. Date is tentatively scheduled for March, 2012.

We featured Quasar here.

News: EMI Japan to reissue Chronicle album

An interesting choice coming from Japan. Look for the mini-LP reissue this December.

Here are my notes, published only in the main guide: "Another one of those Japanese albums that's hard to find info on, given different Anglicized spellings to the original Japanese. Very similar to their "Like a Message From the Stars" album (1977) that was originally released on the US based All Ears label. Basically it's Japanese balladry mixed with lightly sprinkled Pink Floyd space rock. Similar to later era Far East Family Band or Flower Travelling Band."

News: Aztec working on Steven Maxwell von Braund album

This morning I wandered over to the website of Australia's Aztec Music, and saw that they are "currently working on" Steven Maxwell von Braund's (Cybotron) solo album. Excellent news for those of us who like pioneering Berlin School styled electronics. Here's our review.

News: Black Widow to issue archival Spettri album

Caught this one while surfing. Don't know anything about it, but it could be interesting!

Black Widow (Italy) says:

"SPETTRI is an Italian band that sees the light of day in Florence in 1964. In those years, the “italian beat” is highly on. The original members are: Ugo and Raffaele Ponticiello (brothers, voice and guitar), Giuliano Giunti (bass guitar) and Ubaldo Palanti (drums) but the latter is soon replaced by Mauro Sarti.
They soon release some 45 r.p.m. records during the early Beat. The sound is amazing and their performances are great. The group is the very first one in Florence who decides to use “100 watt GRS” guitar amplifiers, a real revolutionary choice, since that powerful sound was still unknown until then.
In 1968, Mauro Sarti leaves the band. Giorgio Di Ruvo (a former member of The Players, a rhythm and blues group) and Alessio Rogai (keyboards) join the group. In 1970 he leaves in favour of Stefano Melani. Giuseppe Nenci, bass guitar, is part of the group for a short time in 1970. In 1971, the Ponticiello youngest brother, Vincenzo, takes the place of Giuseppe Nenci.
In 1970 their music is changing. The whole music scene is changing too: the Beat is off. On stage, they perform rock band covers (Spirit, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple...). Their rehearsals are very creative original experimental works. They draw inspiration from bands they listened to in that period. Bands like the ones mentioned before and like King Crimson and Colosseum, for example, strongly influenced every single member of the group. That new kind of music is soon labelled “Avant-garde” : the same sound we call “Prog” today.
Their concept album is really special: all their lyrics are written by Ugo Ponticiello. The lyrics deal with a man who tries to find his way by a spiritualist séance. He gives himself up to the metaphysics and the afterlife to pursue a reason to live. All alone, he leaves a real terrible nightmare where he finally finds his way but it’s brutalized by the evils of modern society.
The musical part is a rock suite: electric and bass guitars, drums and an hammond organ. These instruments coexist in a new perfect experimental rock sound. The group includes this composition in their live performances. During their countless live concerts in the most important Italian pop festivals in Tuscany and Latium, they play side by side with the most influential bands of the genre.
This suite is composed in 1970/71, recorded in 1972 and it is an unpublished work because it was never released up to today. Since 1975 on, some new music tendencies and the growing public indifference to refined music have led the group to different music choices and their original project has been held over until...now, 2011."

News: All 3 Placebo albums coming on CD!

P-Vine, a very respected Japanese label, will be reissuing the Placebo albums on mini-LP. Look for a December 21 release. Not sure if there's a European/US release in conjunction, but great news all the same. These albums are classics in the jazz rock / progressive / kosmigroov space.

Wow!

We featured Placebo here.

News: Arcangelo to reissue Ragnarök's "Fjärilar I Magen" in November!

Arcangelo, the CD label for Japan's Disk Union record shop, has announced their intention to reissue Ragnarök's "Fjärilar I Magen" in the mini-LP format on November 9th. Now this is interesting, because in general Arcangelo works in conjunction with other labels that do the initial reissue. But Fjärilar I Magen has never been reissued to date. And I have not seen any other announcement associated with this release (for the record they are also reissuing the first Ragnarok - which was done by Silence many years ago). And that's the other part of this story: Silence usually doesn't license out any of their catalog. Recently there was an exception with the Psykofon label concerning Handgjort. So either Silence is indeed behind this, or the band obtained the rights themselves, or a mystery label is behind it. Time will tell I guess.

Anyway, great news as this album has many fans including me. This gives me hope that maybe one day we will see the first Flasket Brinner album after all!

We featured Ragnarok almost exactly two years ago today.

News: Belle Antique to reissue Old Man & The Sea

More exciting news out of Japan! As some of you may recall, I featured this album earlier this year, only to find out it was reissued legit - except hardly anyone knew about it. Belle Antique is the house label for Marquee, so I checked with my friend and Gnosis colleague Nobuhisa - who tell us: "We are going for the original mix + we'd have the bonus track appeared on the legit CD. According to the band, the original master is gone, so this will be from a clean copy of the original vinyl. Tommy Hansen has done the mastering." That works for me! And Old Man & the Sea is the perfect album for a mini-LP. The original LP is a typically great early 70s major label package - with a cool gatefold cover.

So unless you own the very obscure Dunk label version (which most of us never saw even when it was released), the Belle Antique version is the way to go!

News: Garden of Delights releases archival Guildenstern

Garden of Delights comes up with what looks like another archival winner! Between them and Long Hair (and others like Sireena), the pot seems endless. I hope so anyway.

Label says: "Guildenstern were founded in the Hessian town of Rüsselsheim in the spring of 1976 and played some keyboard-dominated progressive rock in the style of bands like early Genesis, early Yes, Camel, or Eloy. The band didn't release anything, but some recordings with a satisfactory sound quality have been preserved: eight tracks recorded in the rehearsal room, as well as three pieces from their rock opera "Life's a stage", recorded live in Flörsheim on September 29th, 1979. They are now to be heard on the Guildenstern CD. All tracks - most of them instrumentals - were written by the artists themselves. Some of them are played on a doubleneck 12-string guitar. Guildenstern keyboarder Bernd Scholl has meanwhile released a lot of LPs and CDs with electronic music and has become one of the leading planetarium musicians in Germany."

GoD also reissued Embryo's "Bad Heads and Bad Cats", which was previously done about 10 years ago on Disconforme. They included the same 17 minute bonus track + added an excellent track from the 1975 Vlotho festival, which we wrote about in the UMR last year. I'll definitely pick up this version eventually, though it won't be a high priority as the Disconforme version that I own is quite excellent as well.

News: Genshi-Kyodotai coming out on CD!!!!!!!

First it was the startling announcement that the Rock Joint albums were coming out (on Sony). Then came the amazing news that the Laurence Vanay albums will be on CD & LP (On Lion - early next year most likely). Then Ken Golden of The Laser's Edge starting a new label called Modulus and the first album will be none other than Het Pandorra Ensemble. Followed by Garden of Delights releasing their best reissues in years with the debut by Sunbirds and Missus Beastly's 3rd album. Then the jaw dropper that the first Eider Stellaire is finally coming out on CD.

It has been an incredible year for truly obscure albums getting the legal digital treatment.

But this has to take the cake.

Holy cow. It was only last December that this album was still shrouded in mystery, only whispered about in the dark walls of a Knights Templar monastery. Then came Heavy Rock's tape that I used for my blog entry, closely followed by Toshiaki Yokota himself uploading it (see Prog Not Frog for more details). And now it will be made available to all. Of course, Japanese presses like this are tough to get as they aren't carried by the usually progressive rock suppliers. You can usually obtain CDs such as this from HMV or Amazon Japan. And sometimes Dusty Groove can bring them over stateside. We'll see. Street date has been set for October.

Nobuhisa of Marquee tells me "It is planned to come out from THINK label. They mainly deal with reissue of Japanese Jazz obscurities, and for most case the actual pressing are done by the major labels that still own the right for them (like Wounded Bird or Esoteric) so they should be totally legit."

A wealth of riches I tell ya.

9/29/2011 update:

Nobuhisa has provided even more fantastic information. Thanks again!!

Website for the label is here.

"The Think! Label is part of the Disk Union group and they operate under their Jazz division.

Along with Genshi-Kyodotai, they would release

Tousha, Suiho : Yugen No Sekai
* a major rarity that features Noh-Kan and Shinobue (sort of Japanese traditional Flute and recorder) player Tousha collaborating with an electric Jazz / Rock band (Inomata Akira and Sound Unlimited).
Mizutani Kimio plays the guitar. An ambitious record that contains side long suite titled "Concerto For Shino Flute & Rock Band: 1st Movement - 2nd Movement - 3rd Movement" though not totally successful.

and other two titles which I haven't heard.

Sato Masahiko Trio : Transformation 69/71
Freedom Unity : Something

Sato would be Straight Jazz with Free leaning (I've heard few of his albums from the same period / similar personnel). Have no idea on how the Freedom Unity sounds like."

I've said it before and I'll say it again here - Japan is harboring the most undiscovered music from the 1970s.

News: Esoteric to reissue The Norman Haines Band Den of Iniquity in October!

This is news I've been waiting on for some time. Vicky had told me well over 3 years ago that they were waiting "for clearance" to reissue this gem. And it makes sense, of course, that Esoteric would reissue it since they had already tackled the Locomotive album, a group that Haines played in. Even though the album had been reissued legit prior, on the very obscure Shoestring label in the early 90s, I never saw a copy of it - even back then. So now we will all have a chance to own this excellent album!

Esoteric says: "Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce a new remastered edition of the 1971 album by THE NORMAN HAINES BAND, the legendary "DEN OF INIQUITY". Soon after recording the iconic album "WE ARE EVERYTHING YOU SEE" with his band LOCOMOTIVE, Norman departed the group to found this heavier outfit. Joining the keyboard player were guitarist NEIL CLARK, bassist ANDY HUGHES and drummer JIMMY SKIDMORE. One of the most sought after releases of the Progressive Rock era, "DEN OF INIQUITY" was the only album recorded by the band and was a dark and heavy affair with superb compositions that included a reworked version of "Mr. ARMAGEDDON" (previously recorded by LOCOMOTIVE), the excellent title track and the epic thirteen minute long 'RABBITS'. Issued on EMI's Parlophone imprint in 1971, the album was available for a few short months before being deleted. An excellent keyboard dominated Progressive Rock album, this Esoteric reissue has been re-mastered from the original master tapes and includes six bonus tracks, taken from the singles issued by Parlophone and the rare track 'I REALLY NEED A FRIEND'. The reissue also includes the single version of 'RABBITS', previously unreleased on CD."

We featured this album a couple of years ago.

News: Modulus to release Randy Roos "Mistral"!

While we await the first reissue on the Modulus (Laser's Edge) label - Het Pandorra Ensemble - we now have official word on the second release: Former Luna guitarist Randy Roos "Mistral" album. Regular readers of the CDRWL will note that Midwest Mike had actually sent me the LP of this excellent fusion album last winter. And here it is already on CD!

We featured the album back in February. Excellent news for American fusion fans, who like a little progressive rock thrown into the mix! Another excellent choice for a reissue from Ken.

News: Rocket Records reissues Woodoo and Lemon

As always, Rocket Records continues to reissue some of the most obscure records from Finland (I keep hoping for Nimbus and Sepi Kuu). Today's announcement are two albums that were originally on the UFO label.

For Woodoo, which we featured in December of 2009, my review stated: "Terribly rare album from Finnish rock-jazz-vocal group. Lots of hand percussion drives the rhythms while sax takes the lead lines. Vocals in Finnish dominate. This one has a nice groove to it, despite the heavy reliance on vocals. Can be trance inducing. Short album, well under 30 minutes. Worth seeking out for a few listens."

Apparently this was reissued about a week ago, so you should be able to order it direct from Finland now.

As well, Rocket also plans on reissuing the Lemon "Vanha Vakaa" record in September. Now here's a band that lives up to its name! I compared them to The Partridge Family - but that's coming from my preference for underground progressive rock music. I'm sure the album has many fans back at home.

In any case, it's just great to see Rocket Records cruising along!

News: Eider Stellaire finally being reissued on CD!!!

To say it's been a slow summer on the CD reissue front would be an understatement. We wrapped up April and May with a smattering of exciting announcements. And then it pretty much died. Until this morning. It appears that Alain at Soleil Zeuhl has finally succeeded in getting this beauty out into the open market, after many years of trying. Congratulations to everyone involved! This is a BIG Priority 1 for me (and many others), and will most certainly prove to be a popular reissue.

This is a future announcement. No release date as of yet.

Here's the blurb from Shiny Beast this morning:

"EIDER STELLAIRE - EIDER STELLAIRE (CD/SOLEIL ZEUHL)Christian Vander's post-Magma band Eider Stellaire frequently functioned as the opening act for Magma's concerts in the late '70s and early '80s. This made perfect sense since both bands shared the same sources of inspiration, f.i. the European 20th century classical composers (Bartok, Stravinsky, Orff) and the energy of rock music. Also notable were the importance of the rhythm section and mysterious, wordless female vocals. Eider Stellaire's excellent self titled album from 1981 is still regarded as a masterpiece from the French progressive era and now it's reissued on CD, including a superb 10 minute alternate version of 'Nihil' as a bonus."

News: Shadoks latest reissues

An interesting batch this go round, with what looks like a potential monster. These albums are set to be issued in late August.

Bump 2 is the CD issue of the archival LP they released roughly a year ago. I still haven't heard it, though it does have a good reputation (though I never cared much for the actual 1970 release).

Question Mark is a pretty good psych rock band from Nigeria, circa 1974. Their sound isn't too far from other African psych outfits that you will hear from Nigeria or Zambia. Shadoks had issued this on LP back in 2007. Here's our blurb from the Original CD Reissue Wish List: "One of a handful of interesting African rock albums. This one is in the same genre as B.L.O., Witch, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, etc... Features some nice old organ sounds, a lot of scratchy fuzz and 1960s psych style melodies. Better than most Sub Saharan African albums I've heard - closest comparison would be the Nigerian band Ofege."

What really caught my eye is their LP reissue of Estrella De Marzo. I'd never heard this title from Bolivia before, but anything that compares to Wara and especially Climax is going to garner interest from me. Hopefully it's not hype, because the following description from Shadoks has my name all over it: "Most do not know much about music from Bolivia, like us. What's flashing our minds are the Andes, La Paz and flute music by Indios. But there are some great rock & underground bands such as Wara, Climax and most of all Estrella De Marzo. This album (still unknown to most collectors) is not only special because it's from an country not many listeners know much about. This album is so great, so much underground, so unique and well crafted, that it goes into a strong competition with most "classic underground releases" from South America. If you are in to wild fuzz guitar ala Zappa, and if you like Kissing Spell from Chile, beautiful vocals with strong lyrics and great beats , you will love this album. The early Pink Floyd has also influenced this album. For us it was one of the big musical discoveries for this year. Every track is great, high spirit progressive underground rock, as good as it can be. This album "A Los Ninos Con Amor" (to children with love) was recorded in 1974 with, keyboards, guitars, drums, bass & vocals."

And finally we have an archival release from the American expatriate King George Clemens. I haven't heard the 1968 album proper, though this claims to be more in line for what us underground heads prefer. We shall see. Label says: "King George Discovery - Peace Of Mind, was recorded in Sweden in 1968 with the US musician King George Clemens on guitar & vocals. A close friendship to Jimi Hendrix, who toured also Sweden in 1968, dropped many tracks from the release plan when the band was recording an album which also came out that year. All tracks who where competing with the music of Jimi Hendrix was not released, until now. A collector from England found the unknown tracks who where pressed only as a demo LP for the band. What a great find. Some tracks where placed on youtube and collectors where starting raving about this album. It is soo good, the guitar work is amazing, as psychedelic as it can get. We could release this album in cooperation with King George Clemens and we are proud to have this treasure released on vinyl and later onto CD. It's just great! One of the most important release this year for sure!"

News: Sireena to issue archival Mythos album and Franz K's second album

A quick trip over to Sireena shows a couple of interesting looking titles.

First we'll announce the second archival live release from the Stagge's Hotel series that started with Thirsty Moon (and I have yet to hear). This is a 1976 live recording called "SuperKraut" (I really like the Ohr album inspired cover art!). Since this is from their "Strange Guys" era, I'm more curious than excited. Musically Mythos were quite good during this period, mixing hard rock with flute and progressive structures, but they had become a vocal heavy band, and the vocals are definitely their Achilles Heel. Perhaps in a live setting, they focused more on instrumentals. We shall see.

Second we have Franz K's album "Rock in Deutsch" receiving its first CD reissue. Over 15 years ago I picked up Repertoire's reissue of their 1972 debut "Sensemann" and have always enjoyed it, despite the German political context. Over the length of two side long cuts, the band delivers on a number of fronts, especially the guitar. I have no idea why I never bothered to check out their 1973 followup (originally on Zebra), especially since it has a similar positive reputation. So that's why its absence on the Original CDRWL. Whatever the case, it will be easier for me, and everyone, to hear now!

News: RPM releases Armada

We just returned from a week long vacation without computer access, and generally when I do that, the news comes flying in. But not last week. However this one did catch my eye, while reviewing The Laser's Edge latest additions. RPM is one more wing of the Cherry Red series of labels, and our site usually features their Esoteric imprint.

I'll copy in Ken's description here. It definitely sounds interesting! "Archival collection of unreleased recordings from an unknown British prog rock band that existed in the early 70s. No one in the band that is particularly well known although the leader Sammy Rimington apparently has been active in the US jazz scene for decades now. Rimington is the band's guitarist. He also plays flute and sax. The material has a strong emphasis on flute leads but offers up some nice cutting guitar leads as well. Vocalist Terry Cooke isn't a mind blower but he's certainly up to the task and contributes flute as well. The label hype references early Genesis, Frank Zappa, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and King Crimson as influences. Frankly the only one I can say I hear is a vague comparison to Islands-era Crimson. There is a jazz influence but I wouldn't really call this "jazz rock". This is prog rock that would have easily fit on Neon or Vertigo. Sound quality varies from"yeah I guess this is OK" to "perfect". Quite a nice discovery and essential for anyone interested in early British prog."

News: Esoteric's 2011 June-Aug schedule

I'm a little late on the June announcements, but some pretty cool stuff in this batch.

Some of what caught my eye: Earth and Fire's "To the World of the Future" is a good choice and hasn't been on the market for years. This is really the first proper reissue of the album.

Socrates "Phos" is an interesting choice. Reissued a couple of times by Vertigo in Greece, I'll be curious what Esoteric will add beyond the usual excellent liner notes of course.

It's good to see Esoteric diving in the Italian reissue market a bit deeper. There's almost no classic Italian progressive album that hasn't been reissued (and our list has a few scattered about - but the great ones have already been done - in multiple formats). However, many of the Italian greats are still limping along with poor mastering. BTF has gone back and done a nice job with a lot of the old Vinyl Magic CDs - and added some liner notes as well. Acqua Fragile is a good band to tackle and I've been looking for a nice reissue of "Mass Media Stars" myself. Hopefully they don't stop at just the English language Italian groups.

Even more exciting for me is to see Aardvark's sole album get the royal treatment. There's been a "common" copy reissued many times - and I own the Japan mini that is taken from this source. I'll keep the mini for the cover, but it would be nice to know more about the band and to hear a properly done reissue. I personally love this curious organ freakout album, with quaint, almost Canterbury-ish psych tunes thrown in.

And finally the two CD set of Tangerine Dream's "Atem" looks most promising, as that second disc is: "This Esoteric reactive edition is expanded to include a bonus CD of a previously unreleased forty minute live performance given by Tangerine Dream at the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin on November 29th 1973 and features a lavishly illustrated deluxe booklet with new essay."

Here's the announcement from Vicky at Esoteric:

"June
Lol Coxhill-Ear of the Beholder-with contributions from kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield and David Bedford
David Bedford-Nurses Song with Elephants (featuring Kevin Ayres and Mike Oldfield)
CCLR--s/t (new studio album with Bernardo Lanzetti of PFMs band with Steve Hackett as guest.)
Bill Nelson-Northern Dream (Bills 1st ever album)
Dave Brock and the Agents of Chaos-Agents of Chaos
Earth and Fire-To the World of the Future
Acqua Fragile-s/t (Italian prog with bernard Lanzetti)
Acqua Fragile-Mass media Stars

July
Aardvark--s/t Excellent Deram Nova album.
Tudor Lodge-s/t--lovely classic folk rock album with great new artwork
Richard Wahnfried and Arthur Brown-Time actor(Richard Wahnfried is Klaus Schulze)
Arthur Brown and Vincent Crane-Faster than the Speed of Light
Speedy keen-Y' Know Wot I mean (voice of Thunderclap Newman)
Soft Machine-Tales of Taliesin (lovingly packaged anthology of the Harvest Years)

August
Tangerine Dream-Atem (2Cd)
Tangerine Dream-Underwater Sunlight
Socrates-Phos
Jack Bruce-Out of the Storm
Speedy keen -Previous Convictions"

News: Achim Reichel to reissue remainder of catalog in 2012

Thanks to a ProgressiveEars note from Charles at progressiverock.com, we learned that Achim Reichel will reissue his other excellent works including Echo, 3, IV, Autovision and Erholung in 2012. This is according to a note on Reichel's Facebook page.

We'll be sure to keep an eye on this one. We still haven't seen the CD issue of Gunther Schickert's "Samtvogel" yet (though the LP did come out). Unrelated? Sure, but it reminded me of it all the same.

News: Vos Voisins to be reissued by Prog Quebec in November!

I've been sitting on this news for some time, having first caught wind of it in early January. And in fact, I do recall their being a premature announcement in early 2010. No matter, as we now have an announced release date from ProgQuebec of November 1, purposely after Halloween because of the track "Le Monstre de la Main".

Our feature of Vos Voisins here.

The topic came up in Progressive Ears for the announcement of the blues rock group Offenbach's double album "Tabarnac" (which you can order now).

Also noted is an October 4th release of a new album by ExCubus, a 1970's vintage group that PQ first introduced to us a few years ago.

And perhaps most exciting is that PQ is still working with Sony on reissuing Michel Madore's "Le Komuso a Cordes" and Franck Dervieux's "Dimension M".

News: Long Hair to release another Papa Zoot Band archival album

This is Long Hair's second archival release for the Papa Zoot Band. I thought the "Last Concert" from 1978 was pretty good, though this one sounds better to me honestly. We'll see! As always, Long Hair does a fantastic job on both sound and with the informative booklets.

Label says: "Great lost band from Frankfurt, Germany. In 1973/ 1974 Papa Zoot Band played all over Germany, mainly in clubs but also on festivals (German Pop Meeting) 1st and 2nd February 1974 in Essen, Grugahalle. Titles 01 - 04 were recorded live at SWF-Studio U1 in Baden Baden on April 13, 1973. The titles 05 - 10 were recorded at "Bunker", the bands rehearsal room in Frankfurt. The band played a very melodic sound but with a sense of drama comparable to Nektar, Eloy or Jane. Outstanding 20 minutes titles "Fly away" could be a long track by Pink Floyd of the Meddle/ Wish you were here/ Animals-Era. Characteristic for the bands sound are especially the swirling organ sound played by Ex-Nosferatu organ-player Tammy Grohe. These recordings show Papa Zoot Band during there best period. Hard to believe, that there was no record company to give them a contract. The sound of the CD is brilliant. All titles were remastered from the original master tapes. CD comes with comprehensive booklet and rare photos. Secret tip! A must have for all lovers of the genre."