Golden Dragon ~ USA

Golden Dragon. 1981 private

UMR review

Priority: 3

***Reissued on LP by Subliminal Sounds (Oct 2021)

3/31/25 (new entry)

Euclid ~ USA

Heavy Equipment. 1970 Amsterdam

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by BCP (2023)

A lot of CD pirate editions out there, but nothing legit like the LP above.

3/30/25 (new entry)

Lite Storm ~ USA

Warning. 1972 Beverly Hills

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Out-Sider (2019)

3/29/25 (new entry)

Gary Saracho ~ USA

En Medio. 1973 Impulse / ABC

UMR review

Priority: 1

3/28/25 (new entry)

***Reissued on LP by Verve (2022). One year after our feature of it.

MAX (Rodan) ~ USA

Rodan. 1974 Pandora

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Digital Cellars (2024)

6/22/09 (new entry); 3/17/25 (update)

Octobre ~ Canada

Octobre. 1973 PGP
Les Nouvelles Terres. 1974 Les Disques Zodiac
Survivance. 1975 Trans-World
Live Chants Dans La Nuit. 1978 CBS (2xLP)

Clandestins. 1981 Kebec

***L'autoroute Des Rêves (1977) reissued by Sony in 1991

UMR reviews

Priority: 3

These were in the main list prior, but never featured.

***The first two albums have been reissued on vinyl by Return to Analog.

3/9/25 (new entry)

The Tangerine Zoo ~ USA

The Tangerine Zoo. 1968 Mainstream

Outside Looking In. 1968 Mainstream

UMR review

***The Tangerine Zoo reissued on vinyl by Sundazed (2023)

Priority: 1 (for Outside Looking In)

2/22/25 (new entry)

Fondation ~ France

Sans Etiquette. 1980 Eurock (MC)
Metamorphoses. 1980 private (MC)
La Vaisseau Blanc. 1983 Tago Mago (MC)

***Compilation issued by Bureau B Jan 2018. Since none of the albums have been reissued in full, the entry stays.

Fondation were a duo made up of Ivan Coaquette (Spacecraft, Musica Elettronica Viva) on guitar and electronics and Annanka Raghel on organ and voices. For Sans Etiquette the first side contains one long, dark electronic soundscape (primarily droning organ), with haunting female voice. The other side is more rhythmic with some fine guitar. Metamorphoses is the best of the three featuring a more varied palette, and tracks closest to the Heldon / Spacecraft model (though more dynamic and interesting than Spacecraft). No less worthy, the final album features female French narration from Annanka (she has a beautiful speaking voice), with plenty of excellent guitar and electronics floating on top.

Priority: 2

***La Vaisseau Blanc reissued on LP by Tunnel Vision (2017)

8/4/10; 1/12/18

Peter Wale ~ South Africa

The Memoirs of Hakeford Wart (Goodbye Cape Town... and Good Riddance). 1972 private

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Strawberry Rain (2019)

The AC's notes: "Peter Wale is a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Cape Town, South Africa. He was the leader of a band called Wakeford Hart who were active in the local underground rock scene around 1970. After that band dissolved, he seems to have gathered a new group of musicians to help him perform under his own name. However, he quickly became disillusioned with the state of affairs (both musically and politically) in South Africa, and decided he was going to pack up and set off for South America as a crew member on a yacht. But before that, he decided to give one more concert with his group in early 1972, almost as a sort of protest event. Shortly afterwards, he selected a handful of tracks from the performance and privately pressed around 300 or 400 copies of this LP, to be sold around Cape Town on a fairly informal basis shortly before he left. Apparently he didn't make too much headway with this, and very few were sold or have survived to the present day. Fast forward to 2010, and Peter Wale, now married and living in the Seattle area, receives word from a gentleman back in South Africa that the original master tapes of the 1972 concert have been discovered. Astonished by this news (his own lone copy of LP hadn't even survived the trip overseas), he set about remastering the tapes, recently making them available for purchase as a handmade CD-R set. Unfortunately the set doesn't replicate the cool original LP cover (the back of which features a hilarious Monty Python-esque history of Wakeford Hart and its untimely demise), but it does include lyrics and liner-notes.

Now that we have that bit of (rather remarkable) backstory out of the way, let's talk about the music. The original LP was a selection of 4 songs (at around 40 minutes) from the concert tapes, but the entire show actually ran for about 90 minutes over the course of 14 individual tracks, so there's plenty to digest here. I'd tend to describe it as a mixture of psychedelic, progressive and folk rock. Song-oriented, but with plenty of room given for extended instrumental jamming. There's a kind of easy, natural flow to the whole set, and Peter Wale is a fine songwriter. Instrumentally, it's dominated by acoustic piano and fantastic liquid electric guitar work (with plenty of fuzz and wah-wah) over a solid rhythm section. And if you happen to like flute in a rock setting, you'll be in heaven here, as the band featured a dedicated flautist, fluttering and echoing all over the place in decidedly trippy fashion. The vocals (both male and female) are also very good. He did a great job with the remastering as well. The sound is crystal clear and is a marked improvement over the original LP. As mentioned, it's quite a lengthy set, and there are a couple of brief sing-songy tracks and some audience banter that could be edited out, but overall this material is remarkably strong. I'd even go as far as to say that this is amongst the very best that the classic early 70s South African psych/prog scene had to offer, which makes it all the more unfortunate that it's remained buried and undiscovered for so long. This would seem to be a no-brainer reissue project for one of the current crop of psych-oriented labels out there, especially since albums from "exotic" locals in Africa, Asia and South America seem to be all the rage with many of them."

2/14/14 (new entry)

Plebb ~ Sweden

Yes It Isn't It. 1979 private

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Sommor (Jun 2021).

12/17/13 (new entry)

Pulse ~ USA

Pulse. 1968 Poison Ring

Pulse are a heavy blues rock band from New Haven, Connecticut. I particularly enjoy the heavy tone coming from the guitar and the appropriate-for-the-genre gruff voice. There's quite a bit of harmonica to sit through, which is unfortunately one of my least favorite instruments. For the style, Pulse is a cut above the norm. Some of the tracks are lengthy and as such, they’ll throw in a creative idea or two with respect to composition and instrumentation. 

Priority: none

***Reissued on LP by Out-Sider 2023

12/14/13 (new entry)

John Bassman Group ~ Netherlands

Filthy Sky. 1970 A.S.P.

UMR review

Priority: none

***Reissued on LP in 2010 (Missing Vinyl)

11/27/13 (new entry)

J&F Quintet ~ Switzerland

Contrast. 1976 Delta

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by BBE (Jun 2023)  

10/6/13 (new entry)

Nucleus ~ Canada

Nucleus. 1969 Mainstream 

UMR review

Priority: 1

***Reissued on LP by Sundazed (2024)

9/18/13 (new entry)

Smoke ~ USA (CA)

Everything. 1973 MPS

Everything is a varied, but super cool atmospheric jazz rock album. Freaky in the MPS tradition, though group is California based (rather than German as is often thought). The bass clarinet piece recalls Lard Free on I'm Around Midnight. Speaking of which, lots of great midnight lounge organ sounds. No other album like this one. A kozmigroov classic.

They have another album from 1970 that I understand to be different (more jazz influenced), though I haven't heard it.

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Q-Tape (2004)

12/16/11 (new entry)

Tony Palkovic ~ USA

Deep Water. 1980 Deep Water

And, as you'll see below, guitarist Tony Palkovic has a couple of other 1980s albums. I've only heard this title.

Throwing this one out there for you fusion fans who are looking for new items to uncover. The one element of Palkovic's music I enjoyed is the heavy use of electronic-music styled synthesizer within the usual guitar fronted jazz rock instrumental setting. The guitar tone is a bit too light for me to sink my teeth into, and it's not exactly a tear-up session ala Bill Connors on Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy. But that's not the purpose of the album I'm sure. Apparently Palkovic is an artist who has received great praise from the guitar playing community. The below segment is taken directly from Palkovic's own website. Best I can tell, none of his 1980s works are available, and the original LPs currently sport a high price tag.

"Praised by the prestigious Guitar Player and 20th Century Guitar Magazines, Tony Palkovic has performed in clubs and concert halls including the BET television network... He studied music and film for six months at Columbia College in Chicago before transfering to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he spent the next four years finishing with a Bachelors Degree in Composition... After graduating, he started leading his own band playing jazz-fusion in the Midwest, but eventually moved to Los Angeles which has been his home since 1983... In 1980, Palkovic released his first album "Deep Water" which made many Top 10 lists for airplay on Jazz Radio stations all over the U.S. , Canada and eventually in Europe. This led to the recording of his second album "Every Moment" following the same path in '83, "Born With a Desire" in ’85...

...If you haven't yet heard Tony Palkovic's brand of music, you don't know what you're missing - Guitar Player Magazine"

Priority: none

***Born With a Desire (1985) was reissued on LP by Numero (2024)

12/12/11 (new entry)

The Beat of the Earth ~ USA

The Beat of the Earth. 1967 Radish.
Our Standard Three Minute Tune. 1994 Radish (recorded in 1967).

One of the most extraordinary early recordings you'll ever hear. Maybe the best aural document we have of the free wheeling Southern Californian culture of 1966 and 1967. This is one continuous track, broken up by the sides of the record. Non stop percussion, acoustic and electric guitar (a fuzzy surf sound), sitars, an ancient organ, and droning vocals. One of the most drugged out albums I've ever heard, except the bandleader (Phil Pearlman) was apparently anti-drugs! Maybe if the Velvet Underground had more of that Californian sunshine, they'd sound like this.

A legit LP was reissued by the band itself at the same time they unearthed the archival Our Standard Three Minute Tune, which is very similar in sound and structure to the album proper. Neither of these have been issued legit on CD. Watch for bootlegs.

Priority: 2

7/8/09 (new entry); 5/10/11

Emerald Web ~ USA

Dragon Wings And Wizard Tales. 1979 Stargate

UMR review

Priority: 3

***Reissued on LP by Sebastian Speaks (2012) and Long Hair (2017)

4/21/11 (new entry)

Dragon ~ New Zealand

Scented Gardens for the Blind. 1975 Vertigo

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Replica (2023)

Universal Radio was reissued in 2009 by Aztec, and this title was announced for the following year, but it never happened.

4/17/11 (new entry)

Jenghiz Khan ~ Belgium

Well Cut. 1971 Barclay

It was in the late 1980's that I first began to trade with dealers from around the world. And Jenghiz Khan was one of the first albums I traded for, and it cost me some rare gems (at least for what I had to offer at the time). "A psychedelic progressive masterpiece from Belgium." I don't think I could have been more disappointed. In fact, I thought it was terrible and I'd just been taken to the cleaners. An early lesson for me in "dealer hype". See my definition of hype in the Passenger (UK) entry. Anyway, looking back on it, I can see where Jenghiz Khan would be popular with a certain fan base. So no way would I call it hype today. And it's aged a bit better for me, but no chance would I froth about it either. Jenghiz Khan are a fairly typical early 70s hard rock / blues rock band with organ and guitar leads, and half-way decent English vocals. Very ordinary songwriting. Somewhat like the UK blues rock scene ala Ashkan and Elias Hulk, but far more inconsistent. Last track, clocking in at 10 minutes, is the clear winner of the bunch. 

Priority: none

***Reissued on LP by PhilMarie (2011)

4/12/11 (new entry)