Guruh Gipsy ~ Indonesia

Guruh Gipsy. 1975 private (MC)

Incredible progressive rock album with strong Yes overtones combined with the local Gamelan musical tradition. This album avoids the lounge music trap that many of their brethren suffer from. The best vintage progressive rock from Indonesia. Interesting to note that Guruh Gypsy were formed by the son of Soekarno, the former president who was ousted by the ruling president of that time, Soeharto (thanks to the comment below!).

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Shadoks 2006 (there's strong data to suggest this was a bootleg, something Shadoks was not above doing in this era).

8/30/09 (new entry)

Kvartetten Som Sprangde ~ Sweden

Kattvalls. 1973 Gump

UMR review

Priority: 1

***Reissued on LP by Subliminal Sounds in 2013

8/27/09 (new entry)

Light ~ Netherlands

The Story of Moses. 1972 Barclay (also 1972 Brain)

Originally released in France as a single sleeve. Shortly thereafter it was licensed to Brain / Metronome in Germany and issued as a gatefold. The group is actually known as Light Formation per the historical liner notes on the back of the LP (I've had both the Brain and Barclay originals and it's on both). The label on the original Barclay version calls them Light Formation as well, but the Brain label has it simply as Light.

Musically this is a grand scale attempt at interpreting the Biblical story of Moses. The vocal / narration segments recall the similarly minded Salamander of Ten Commandments fame. Fortunately most of the album is instrumental, with most of the musical sections handed over to the organist who does a splendid job of melodic soloing. Concerning the instrumental sections, same era Earth & Fire comes to mind. Plenty of flute, guitar, bells, etc... to augment the keyboards. 

Priority: 2

8/26/09 (new entry)

Michel Madore ~ Canada

Le Komuso a Cordes. 1976 Barclay
La Chambre Nuptiale. 1979 Egg

The debut is a rather intense affair, with an instrumental wall of sound keyboard approach (and Madore has quite an impressive layout of analog keys), strumming acoustic guitars and an active drummer. Sometimes an accompanying instrument will solo, such as a violin. Strong release that recalls at once Klaus Schulze's more rock oriented works such as Moondawn, along with Mike Oldfield and early Duncan Mackay (Chimera). 

I'm not as keen on the second album as it's a mite slow going with a pile of thin sounding polyphonic synthesizers to sit through. All the energy of the debut is lost here.

Priority: 2 (for the debut)

8/25/09 (new entry)

Alain Markusfeld ~ France

Le Monde en Etages. 1970 EMI

Le Son Tombe Du Ciel. 1971 EMI
Le Desert Noir. 1977 Egg
Platock. 1978 Egg

Contemporus. 1979 Visa / Egg

Perhaps the most unheralded of all French progressive rock artists of the 1970s, Alain Markusfeld had no less than six albums throughout the 70s and early 80s, and none have seen a CD or LP reissue.

UMR reviews

Older reviews that need a fresh listen:

Le Monde en Etages is a great psychedelic, proto-progressive type album. Has some of those unique French touches that penetrate most albums from there (effected vocal styles, weird sonic changes, experimental bits). Not to mention the sublime Hendrix styled guitar. Excellent.

More exploratory and adventurous than the debut, Le Son Tombé du Ciel is perhaps Markusfeld's finest work within a creative period that spans throughout the 1970s. He continues his love affair with Hendrix, and the psychedelic blues rock numbers on here prove it. But there's a new dimension added, one that is based in experimentalism, jazz, and folk. These latter elements show up in the incredible pleasant atmosphere, rather than as dissonant noise. In fact the last track 'Eve' is immensely beautiful, the female wordless voices taking you to a different world. This latter track seemingly the blueprint for the Lourival Silvestre "Fiction Musicale" album that would come along a few years later. Overall, an album that is very French, and I mean that as a high compliment. The album is housed in an incredible textured (single sleeve) cover and would be an excellent Japanese mini-LP candidate.

Need to review Le Desert Noir.

Priority: 1

8/23/09 (new entry)

Lethe ~ Netherlands

Lethe. 1981 M.M.P.

UMR review

Priority: 1

8/21/09 (new entry)

Mirror ~ Netherlands

Daybreak. 1976 private

One of the true European rarities that I was fortunate to hear as early as 1992 or so, and then eventually traded my way into an LP copy a few years later. Sometimes it's hard to be objective about big ticket items such as this. On one hand there's a tendency to say it's great, just because it's rare as hens teeth (though the internet has mitigated this effect somewhat). Then, on the other hand, there's the temptation to state all of these rarities are just amateurish wannabees, and the only reason it's a rare private release is because they weren't good enough to sign to a major. Of course, as with most things, the truth is found on a case by case basis, and the generalities rarely apply.

With Mirror, knowing full well my sympathies weigh heavily in favor of a positive outcome, and trying to be as objective as possible, I still feel it's a strong album based on merits alone. It certainly isn't a flashy release, and the compositions aren't going to win any Conservatory awards. But what they lack in academic pedigree, they make up for in naive sincerity. Mirror bring that intangible known as atmosphere, that certain something that special recordings possess. Make no mistake, "Daybreak" is seriously flawed, but that's part of its charm. Even in my most cynical musical moments, I find albums like this refreshing. A tier 1 album. Mirror evolved into Lethe, and even managed to improve on a similar methodology. I'll feature Lethe tomorrow.

Priority: 2

8/20/09 (new entry)

News: Canamii's Concept to be reissued in October!

Following Fresh Music's wonderful CD reissue of Duncan Mackay's "Chimera" comes news that Canamii's "Concept" album will be reissued this October. Canamii is probably South Africa's most overt attempt at symphonic progressive rock, right down to the Roger Dean-esque album cover. This will replace the shoddy bootlegs currently available.

Thanks to Mike M for the heads up!

Moira ~ Germany

Crazy Countdown. 1977 Schneeball 

Certainly one of the more obscure bands from the vast Gunderground, Moira were a fascinating progressive fusion collective formed by veterans of the Krautrock scene including Edgar Hoffman (Embryo) and Butze Fischer (Missus Beastly, Guru Guru, Embryo). Both their albums were recorded for the Schneeball label, the record consortium setup by members of Embryo and Missus Beastly. Musically, Moira fit snugly into the label’s distinct school of fusion and are part of the German “M” scene of jazz rock groups (Morpheus, Missus Beastly, Mosaik, Munju).

For the debut, Crazy Countdown, Moira explored many of the areas that were popular at the time, including Latin-tinged jazz fusion ('Para Jofrey, 'Spain Mandala'), Eastern meditation journeys with sitar and flute ('Smile'), acoustic seriousness ('Gemini'), acid cosmic space rock ('Always Later'), lounge funk ('Mata Meme'), even post-Miles Davis intense jamming (title track). During this era, the band were clearly lead by guitarist Jorgen Kanwischer, who is credited with scoring all the compositions as well as being the sole instrumentalist on 'Gemini' and 'Always Later'.

Moira (aka Reise Nach Ixtlan). 1981 private

UMR review

Priority: 1

8/19/09 (new entry)

News: San Michael's (pre Kaipa) album to be reissued on Belle Antique

On September 25, Belle Antique of Japan will be reissuing San Michael's debut album for the first time ever. San Michael's is Hans Lundin's (organist for Kaipa) first group. They also mention reissuing a second album called "Nattag", which I'm guessing is an unreleased album, since there's no mention of it anywhere, including the Swedish rock encyclopedia.

Not really an essential album, but one I think fans of early Swedish blues rock may enjoy. Here's our original entry for this title:

"San Michael's - s/t (Sweden) 1971 California. San Michael's is a typical early 70s song-based organ rock band with Swedish vocals, with an occasional creative instrumental to keep it interesting. Most notable for featuring Hans Lundin (Kaipa) on organ, though this isn't anywhere near the progressive rock sound of his next venture."

Panta Rei ~ Sweden

Panta Rei. 1973 Harvest

Panta Rei are a difficult group to describe. On the song front, they are relatively weak. It appears they're going for a US West Coast psych sound mixed with a dash of Wishbone Ash thrown in. But the instrumental sections, with emphasis on guitar soloing, is absolutely extraordinary. And fortunately the last 70% or so of the album is primarily instrumental. Closest band I can think of when they're in this type of jamming mode is the Dutch group Cargo, who are one of my personal favorites. I'm sure it's the dual guitar setup that makes me think of this. Last track's ethnic approach gives off a whiff of Kebnekaise as well. As an aside, definitely not an easy cover to look at.

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There are a couple of LP reissues but still not on CD.

Priority: 2

8/17/09 (new entry)

Alain Buro ~ Belgium

Fume, C'est du Belge. 1975 Omega.

Multi-instrumentalist Buro leads this interesting Brussels based rock group. Primarily in the singer-songwriter tradition (vocal heavy), all in French, but with breaks that recall the progressive rock masters. Hard to avoid comparisons to groups like Ange and Mona Lisa, though Buro's work is more straightforward than that might imply. Hints of folk and even AOR can be heard. Overall a nice record, that will appeal to fans of French language rock.

Priority: none

8/16/09 (new entry)

Pinguin ~ Germany

Der Grosse Rote Vogel. 1972 Zebra

UMR review

Priority: 2

8/15/09 (new entry)

Plat du Jour ~ France

Plat du Jour. 1977 Speedball

Simply, a super album. Great throbbing bass, fuzz guitars, organ, sax, madcap vocals and deep grooves. It's so VERY French in sound but with an almost Italian progressive approach to songwriting. Takes a few spins to penetrate, but the end result is fantastic.

Priority: 1

8/13/09 (new entry)

Red ~ England

Red. 1983 Jigsaw

UMR review

Priority: 1

8/11/09 (new entry)

Claudio Rocchi ~ Italy

Essenza. 1973 Ariston

UMR review

Priority: 2

8/9/09 (new entry)

News: Duncan Mackay's Chimera out on CD!!!

This is BIG news for the CD Reissue Wishlist, and one of our Priority 1 wishlisters. Fresh Music, who are based in South Africa, and have already provided us with most of the great South African progressive rock releases (Freedom's Children, Abstract Truth, etc..), have released "Chimera" on CD with a 7 minute bonus track from 1990. It is our opinion that "Chimera" is the single greatest progressive rock album from South Africa. The picture is the CD cover and a slightly altered rendition of the original surrealistic LP cover, which I'm fortunate enough to own thanks to a good friend of this site.

Awesome.

News: Swiss group Circus to have debut album reissued (NOT!)

Sadly this did not happen :-(

Finally! According to their website, Sireena Records of Germany, the same label that recently reissued the debut Sky albums by Octopus, Shaa Khan, and Harlis, amongst others, will be releasing the debut album by the Swiss prog group Circus in October. Decoder reissued "Movin On" in 1992, fell quickly OOP, and there hasn't been another legit reissue of Circus' four albums since then. So this is great news for fans of the band (like myself). Hopefully Sireena will go about reissuing the remainder of their catalog, including a reprint of Circus' recognized masterpiece "Movin' On".

Shampoo ~ Belgium ***REISSUED***

Volume 1. 1971 Motors

UMR review

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Well isn't this interesting. As I update this post on 6/5/24, I learned for the first time that this album was reissued back in 1999! A label called HKM, very much a legitimate entity, released this on their "Retro" series. This was the only one they did in that series. It is not on their website, but since it's 25 years old, it's likely long OOP. One copy is for sale.

Priority: 2

8/2/09 (new entry); 1999 (complete)

Solar Plexus ~ Sweden

Solar Plexus. 1972 Odeon

The self titled album is two LPs of groovy jazz psych. Organ, electric piano (with lots of effects applied), guitar, bass and active drumming. Primarily instrumental, though with a few Swedish vocals that add a joyful disposition to the mix. Even some elements of Bacharachian pop lounge, and when combined with the Swedish vocals, makes for an interesting smorgasbord. Side 3 is a long suite for classical orchestra and jazz rock, and is definitely the weakest portion of the album. The idea is good, but it's poorly executed, with long stretches of noodling/down time. But the other 3 sides are exemplary, and thus a Tier 1 album that is in definite need of a CD reissue.

Solar Plexus 2. 1973 Odeon

I feel that Solar Plexus 2 is a huge drop off in quality from the first. Sounds as if they wanted to be the Swedish equivalent of Blood Sweat and Tears, but without the horn section. Plenty of lounge, gospel and pop tinged tracks with only one interesting instrumental towards the end of the album. Disappointing considering the strength of the debut.

Det Är Inte Båten Som Gungar - Det Är Havet Som Rör Sig. 1974 EMI-Harvest

UMR review

Hellre Gycklare Än Hycklare (Sweden) 1975 EMI-Harvest. I haven't heard this 4th album, but have been advised that it's not their standard sound rather filled with ballads.

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Still no reissues for any of these beyond a compilation from 1998.

Priority: 2 (for the first album)

7/31/09 (new entry)

Tabletom ~ Spain

Mezclalina. 1980 RCA

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued by RCA / Sony on LP (2020).

7/30/09 (new entry)

David Stoughton ~ USA

Transformer. 1968 Elektra

UMR review

Priority: 2

7/29/09 (new entry)

Verto ~ France

Krig / Volubilis. 1976 Pole

Reel 19 36. 1978 Fleur

UMR reviews

Priority: 2 (for Krig / Volubilis)

***Reel 19 36 reissued on LP by Replica in 2019

7/27/09 (new entry)

Tomorrow's Gift ~ Germany

Goodbye Future. 1973 Aamok

UMR review

Priority: 2

***Reissued on LP by Long Hair 2017

7/26/09 (new entry)

Ra Can Row ~ USA

Ra Can Row. 1982 Eye

Ra Can Row were a band from Cincinnati, lead by guitarist Don Schott. At the time of this recording - namely 1982 - almost no one was doing this kind of heavy psychedelic music. Perhaps only LS Bearforce in Germany, and even they had roots in a Guru Guru past. Ra Can Row actually predicted the UK Festival Psych scene by about 3 to 5 years, and could be considered a proto-Ozric Tentacles. This is a very well produced, yet unhinged driving instrumental psych music, with wild guitar solos, and relentless rhythms. The opening 16 minute+ 'Things Beyond Our Control' is the highlight, but all the tracks are satisfying on some level. Could of used a bit of editing and some more focus on songwriting, but for the time and place, Ra Can Row is quite extraordinary.

There are two distinct presses of the album, and the latter promises much better sound and precision. After many years, I finally compared the two copies back to back. Honestly I don't hear much difference. The second press is truly a re-mix, not anything unique. I think it's a bit more crisp overall, but not enough to warrant an upgrade or to keep both.

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As you can see here in the comments, Don Schott was in touch back in early 2014 to inform us that a reissue LP and CD were in the works. Unfortunately nothing has come of it to date.

Priority: 2

7/24/09 (new entry)

Pantha ~ Australia

Pantha - Doway Do Doway Do. 1975 Wizard

UMR review

Priority: 1

7/23/09 (new entry)

News: Jun Fukamachi 21st Century Band to be reissued on Sony

Look for a September 9th release from Sony of Japan. Our entry from the original wishlist is below:

Jun Fukamachi 21st Century Band - Rokuyu (Japan) 1975 Toshiba. Keyboardist Fukamachi made many fusion albums throughout the late 1970s. Supposedly this is his best and most progressive oriented album. Parts are great heavy fusion with smoking electric guitar, and one could see a band like Kenso getting wind of this prior to launching their career. One track is a pretty mundane, standard 70s jazz, that would later be known as "smooth jazz". Side 2 is more varied and includes some experimental bits, electronic rock (mellotron, el. piano, synths, rock drums) and blistering heavy fusion. Pretty cool record.

Ocarinah ~ France

Premiere Vision de L'Etrange. 1978 Calypsia

UMR review

Priority: 1

7/21/09 (new entry)

Mad Curry ~ Belgium

Mad Curry. 1971 Pirate's

UMR review

Priority: 1

***Reissued on LP by Wah Wah (2013)

7/19/09 (new entry)

The Chris Hinze Combination ~ Netherlands

Stoned Flute. 1970 Columbia
Live at Montreux. 1971 Columbia
Who Can See the Shadow of the Sun. 1972 Columbia
Mission Suite. 1973 MPS/BASF
Sister Slick. 1974 Columbia

UMR reviews

Priority: 1 (based on the strength of Mission Suite and Sister Slick).

7/18/09 (new entry)

Images ~ France

Images. 1977 Voxigrave

The first side is pleasant folk, with acoustic guitars and flute, and sparse vocals sung in a soft French tone. Side 2 rocks out with the addition of electric guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. Plenty of progressive meter changes, and comparisons to bands like Memoriance or Pentacle wouldn't be out of place. A splendid little album that very few know about, but is not to be missed! Comes in a plain white cover with an Images sticker as seen here. Also has a nice insert with baby pictures of all 5 band members.They also participate on a second album (that I once owned) that is avant garde, and a bit out of scope for this list.

Priority: 2

7/17/09 (new entry)

Tribu ~ Mexico

Cuauhtemoc Aguila Solar. 1987 Pentagrama

Tribu have a lot more albums than this, in fact Discogs shows 14 of them. Finding any info about Tribu has proven to be a challenge. The album featured here is the only one I've known about for years, and remains the only one I've heard. Tribu collaborated quite a bit with Jorge Reyes during this period.

Sometimes the album is known as Fusion Etno-Rock as it's stated that way on the cover, but that was to inform the buyer of the style of music. Cuauhtemoc Aguila Solar is a fusion of pre-Hispanic indigenous tribal music and modern day rock. Most of it is the former, but there are some supreme examples of the latter, with wonderful fuzzed out guitars and synth soloing. On these pieces, I'm most reminded of the Arco Iris album I recently listed, as well as Lula Cortes & Ze Remalho's Paebiru album. 

Priority: 3

7/16/09 (new entry)

Claude Engel ~ France

Claude Engel. 1972 CBS

Engel is most known to fans of underground rock as the first guitarist for Magma. He also played in Omega Plus, Troc, Univeria Zekt, Lubat / Louiss / Engel Group, and many other notable groups in the early 1970s. This album starts as a relatively generic singer-songwriter piece (as the LP cover suggests), but gradually evolves into an innovative guitar fronted rock album. Plenty of guitar soloing and, on one track, has some intriguing wordless voice. A little bit of funky business too. He has a few other solo albums, that I have not heard.

You can still find original LP's for under $10 as I update this in 2024.

Priority: none

7/15/09 (new entry)

Gamma ~ Netherlands

Gamma. 1973 private 

Darts. 1974 Pandora

UMR review

Priority: 2

7/14/09 (new entry)

Graced Lightning ~ USA

The Graced Lightning Side. 1975 private.

An exceptionally well done instrumental progressive rock album by this obscure group from Chicago. Recorded only to one side of the LP, there are 3 tracks totaling 18 minutes. And not a moment wasted. Excellent keyboards/piano, coupled with inventive guitar solos. At times the music is very complex. Doesn't sound like anyone really, except maybe Virginia's Polyphony from a few years prior. Would make an excellent reissue with another group who had a short album - like Bounty maybe?

More data from an ebay dealer: "We purchased this copy new from Gary Gand at his store circa 1975. Per Gary only about 100 copies were pressed in '75 for demonstration purposes. It was not 'distributed' per se, copies were only given away or sold out of his store." 

More info here about the band.

Priority: 2 (if there were more than 18 minutes of the same quality, this would be an easy Priority 1)

7/13/09 (new entry)

Chico Magnetic Band ~ France

Chico Magnetic Band. 1970 Vogue

UMR review

Priority: 1

7/10/09 (new entry)

Arco Iris ~ Argentina

Agitor Lucens V. 1974 Music Hall

They have a few other albums not on CD, mostly cassette only, that I haven't heard yet.

UMR review

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Was reissued as a 2xLP by Sony in 2020, but still no CD. 

Priority: 1

7/9/09 (new entry)

Bwana ~ Nicaragua

Bwana. 1972 Caytronics

You can practically count the number of great progressive / psych albums from Nicaragua on one finger. And here it is. But their sole representative isn't only good, it's nothing short of amazing. I suppose it comes as no surprise that the major influence here is Santana. In particular the first two albums. The organ tones are not as heavy (I don't think it's a Hammond either) and the guitarist doesn't have near the chops as Carlos (though he's no slouch either). And while vocals exist on Bwana, they aren't key to the sound. And when it's time to get indigenous, they naturally raise the sounds of pre-Colombian South America versus Mexico. So at this point you may be thinking we have a watered down version of "Abraxas", but that's not the case at all. Where Bwana gains ground is in their use of percussion, which is more varied and is also a feature rather than an accent. There's also a tribal voodoo element going on throughout, making me wish I knew of other groups coming out of Nicaragua during this era. Six long tracks, totalling over 45 minutes, and not a dud amongst them.

For years it was presumed Bwana were from Colombia, but some of the members of the band have resurfaced and it turns out they were from Nicaragua. Some band members still live there - while others are in the United States now.

A couple of bootlegs exist (and I own one of them)

The original cover art is pretty tacky, though I doubt it was meant to be offensive, given the time and place. It would be nice, however, if new cover art was added (similar to the original, but dubious, Acid Symposium CD).

Priority: 1

7/5/09 (new entry)

News: Dragon - Universal Radio out now on Aztec!

Aztec Records, the high quality Australian concern, has reissued Dragon's debut album "Universal Radio" from 1974. It will be the usual high quality Aztec product, with a 6 panel design, bonus tracks and a 24 page history. This is the first legit CD of this album, and was issued on July 2nd.

Dragon were a New Zealand progressive rock band that found pop success in Australia with their 3rd album.

Look for the followup "Scented Gardens for the Blind" later this year.

As well, back in March, Aztec reissued the debut album from Madderlake called "Butterfly Farm" (1973), thus completing their discography with "Still Point" reissued not long ago.

March 2011 update: Still waiting on Scented Gardens for the Blind!

Coley ~ England

Goodbye Brains. 1972 private

A very crazy, and creative, horn rock band with a strong jazzy progressive feel. Some great wah wah fuzz guitar and fuzz bass which plays well against the trumpet/flugelhorn and saxophone. Some weird narration and flute passages. Much more complex than your average horn rock band - in the McLuhan and Probe 10 higher echelon of the genre. There's a couple of missteps like the country rock song and the final narrative piece, but overall this one is a winner and would love to see on CD.

Priority: 2

7/4/09 (new entry)