| The career of rock band Kin Ping Meh from Mannheim lasted almost exactly seven years and reached quite a few heights with their live album "Concrete" culminating at the end of their career. "Concrete" is an incredible album full of deep 70's keyboard runs, heavy guitar jamming/solos with great bass and drum interplay. Vocals are handled by Geff Harrison who has one of those unbelievable raspy but addictive lead vocal styles. 1976 King Pin Meh were a magical mix of Grobschnitt , Deep Purple and Jane all wrapped up around some highly original songs. Album includes one of their live staples……a spaced out version of the Beatles "Come Together" which simply will freak you out. No major surprise, but this album was produced by Conny Plank and the fine folks at Second Battle have done a great job in re-mastering this delicate live album onto 2 great sounding CD's. For those who love 70's rock/prog will need to track this gem down for sure and stands up as one great live album. | |||
| Now if this album does not change your life then nothing will. The early 70's music of Vytas Brenner is full of twists, surprises and magic music with "La Ofrenda De Vytas Brenner" representing IMHO his most complete progressive piece of work. All the music is written by Vytas who plays all the stunning piano, organ and synthesizer work on the album including orchestra conducting and arranging. He also adds some pretty tasty acoustic guitar throughout with lots of Spanish fingerings. "La Ofrenda De Vytas Brenner" houses some wonderful musicians and instrumentation as well with banjo, electric guitar , drums and percussion (maracas), harp and orchestra. This album would be one of my all time favourites from Venezuela with so much musical beauty throughout. This album would likely be one of my alltime choices for a desert island pick.....captivating and absolutely an essential album.
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| Rainy Season's "Return" was their crowning moment and represents a wonderful mix of space, ambient and electronic progressive rock. This album consists of three long cuts. The first two were obviously Side 1 of the original LP, and the third was a side-long cut on Side 2. The first two cuts I would describe as Gong meets Pink Floyd with some Klaus Schulze tossed in for effects. The guitar work is slowly soloed over a heavy dark tapestry of space vibes. The total effect is something like a slowed down version of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" without the drums and vocals. The third track focuses much more on an electronic texture aka Tangerine Dream with a nice long exploratory 20 mins song. The atmosphere created is dark and forboding very representative of the bands dark album cover and title "Rainy Season". In many ways this last track actually runs along like horror movie soundtrack. Overall "Return" is a well recorded album with some nice deep tones and self reflexive melodies.
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| "Beam Me Up Scotty" ….Sun Ra's "Cosmic Tones" represents the height and mastery of what is referred to as his "Solar Years". Caution….This Album may scare children and even some adults….In many ways "Cosmic Tones" runs like an African psychedelic horror movie soundtrack with a full array of hand and wind instrumentation. This album is really something of a Copernican revolution delving into some of the darkest regions your mind will ever travel truly defining and introducing the world to space music. Sun Ra surely proves on this album that he is/was the philosopher-king of Afro-psychedelia. Where this album stands alone clearly is in the elaborate and intricate use of mostly non-electric instrumentation with atonal reeds taking the place of electric guitars, congas replacing the drum kit , African polyrhythms taking the place of standard time signatures and a full brass section bursting in and out. In many ways after you are into this album it becomes somewhat reminiscent of Ummagumma era Pink Floyd. This album is as much an album of music as it is a true study of tones. A masterful piece of space rock but definitely not for the uninitiated. | |||
| "The Fall Of Us All" is exotic , intriguing guitar music rich with vivid pictures, elegantly morphing images that seem to float over and through one another. This is Tibbetts' sixth album for ECM, marking arguably his most intoxicating innovative album yet. Tibbett's music is explosive and high energy with a dynamic study of Eastern modality and universal spiritualism. Tibbett as usual has called on Marc Anderson to handle the wonderful percussive parts throughout this album with tantalizing congas and steel drum. What is the center piece of this album for me is the wonderful juxtaposition of the percussive tapestries of Anderson and the guitar soundscapes of Tibbett. Immediate touchstones represented include the Zenlike art pop of Brian Eno and when he gets raging…Carlos Santana. Overall a highly charismatic album full of some incredible musicianship and expansive song writing | |||
| Clearly for me Floyd's early catalogue is one of my most enduring and beloved albums from my collection……Like so many of you I grew up with albums like Meddle and Dark Side Of The Moon which to this day still hold up as superior albums in every way. Without a question "Echoes" would be one of my all time favourite Floyd tracks with its sheer brilliance in perfect combination of Blues and psychedelia genres. Another one of my favourite Floyd numbers is also "A Pillow Of Winds" with its melancholy Dobro guitar and hammond organ backdrop. Meddle also houses some humorous moments with "San Tropez" and "Seamus" taking some very unusual shapes and twists. "Fearless" is another magical Floyd moment with its allusion to Obscured By Clouds. | |||
| Many years ago while attending University I discovered the music of Michael Hedges when I immediately become mezmorized by his guitar playing. "Live On The Double Planet" is a live reconstruction of snippets from his mid 80's tour of North America. As you would expect presentation is very basic with only his voice and his acoustic guitars. Along the way we are treated to some pretty comprehensive soulful playing with loads of wild fretting expressionism. Hedges also adds a nice mix of original and cover versions as part of the fun. He does a wonderful version of The Beatles classic "Come Together" and a hysterical yet reverent cover of Prince and Sheila E.'s "A Love Bizarre." Hedges composes splendid textural instrumentals such as "The Double Planet" and "Because It's There"; rhythmically upbeat tunes like the feel good "Funky Avocado" (where he breaks into a verse from the Stones' "Miss You"); and some lyrical pieces, the best being "Ready Or Not." Overall a great live CD with some incredible acoustic guitar playing guaranteed to make you tap your toes throughout. | |||
| Without a question Änglagård are/were one of my personal progressive rock favourites with their dynamic vintage 70's sounds and deep dark mellotron runs. Both albums Hybris and Epilog are killer albums of epic proportions and deserve to adorn everyone's collection. Hybris was their first album and really introduced me to their deep picturesque music. For those less familiar with Änglagård will simply freak out over their real keyboard accents with mellotron, hammond B3, piano and church organ and their amazing guitar, drum, flute and bass interplay. This stuff really does sound like something out of the 70's with long songs and excellent musicianship. There is a little bit of singing in native Swedish tongue but is not ever in the forefront and gets lost in the instrumentation. One of the biggest highlights for me here has been Änglagård's use of classic instruments including the ol' Richenbacker bass, Gibson electric guitars, flute and mellotron. Nothing sounds "synthy" or plastic here…only rich pure music. If you are lucky enough to snag a copy of Mellotronen's re-mastered version will get an extra bonus demo track of a early working of a tune from Epilog. Essential music guaranteed…. | |||
| As far as I know Cargo only managed to release in their short history a few 7" singles and one killer album on Harvest records back in 1972. Comprised of dual guitarists (Jan De Hoyt and Ad De Hont), Bass (Willem De Vries) and drummer (Dennis Whitbread), Cargo deliver some pretty magical musical expressions of classic rock and progressive all in one. Obviously this is heavy guitar driven music with clever bass and drum interplay. Lead vocalist Willem De Vries has one of those amazing rock voices which you swear you have heard before and in many ways completes this album. When the twin guitars get crackling along we are provided some of the most thought provoking music you will ever hear. Up until now this gem of an album was not available and through Pseudonym records we are now able to enjoy a re-mastered transfer with their earlier 7" singles as bonus tracks as well. Breathtaking and inspired music for your mind.
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| On their brilliant sophomore effort, Travis have harnessed the emotive force of Radiohead's OK Computer with some lovely pop songcraftmanship. Many may be wondering why I am including this little pop album in amongst my prog favs, but I actually find this album quite progressive in character. This Scottish foursome play a heavily melodic yet thought provoking rock with a strong allusion to the best parts of Radiohead. Without a question singer/songwriter Fran Healy's voice is falsetto-moany and lethargically groany like Radiohead's Thom Yorke's,. "The Man Who" boasts some solid arrangements including the jazzy nod of "The Fear" and the piano dressed choral recitation "The Last Laugh of the Laughter". Travis also backs Healy's downbeat emotionalism with well conceived arrangements full of chiming acoustic, streaming guitar washes, the occasional elastic, humming solo from guitarist Andy Dunlop, and added parts for harmonica and strings. Like many albums of today a hidden track sits at the very end of this CD and is actually the hardest song on the album hitting some great moments. Overall Travis' "The Man Who" is a great album full of great melodies and musicianship. | |||
| Historic second album from one of Italy's most prolific and stylistically influential psych, pop, beat, prog bands of all. This work was stopped from release back in 1969 due to problems with the record company of the time. The fine folks at On Sale Music have kindly digitally remastered this beautiful album for the first time on CD ever. The CD Includes their hit single "Piccola Katy", the early version of "La Leggenda Della Luna" and 7 bonus tracks taken from hard-to-find original vintage sixties singles by Pooh. Although there are some 70's progressive leanings here, I might put this one more in the late 60's era with Procol Harum-Moody Blues-Beatles/ Psychedelic leanings. Songs are short and sweet with horns and organ soaked romanticized melodies and that 60's beat feel. ..a definite must for lovers of Pooh. | |||
| Excellent classic 70's Ital-prog with complex yet melodic compositions reminding me somewhat of elements of PFM, Jumbo and perhaps even Biglietto Per L'Inferno . Eneide juxtapose a liberal amount of organ, Hammond and Moog and flute throughout even some violin. The most amazing parts IMHO are when Eneide get into their groove and then they really take off. Bass and drum lay a fantastic backdrop for keyboard , electric guitar and flute to overlay. Songs are well written and offer a nice array of mood and tempo changes with some grand well thought out melodies. Considering this album has been hidden away for a large number of years the sound quality is quite amazing. Vocals are shared among the band and are quite good with lots of emotive character and clever harmonies. Overall an excellent slice of 70's Italian Progressive Rock. | |||
| Sh'mantra have struck gold with their second album "Formula Orange" mixing the minimalistic tones of Radiohead with the spacey spectrum of Porcupine Tree and Pink Floyd. This space-rock quintet serve up some pretty far reaching music with lots of space background atmospheres. Their music is quite involved and offers a wide range of tempo and mood swings. Infrequently they inject heavy freaked-out King Crimson'ish interludes over their carefully etched musical canvass. They seem to love to play in the "space/mind music" realm with their pattented airy tunes which are given lots of space to meander about. Songs are deep and involved with lots of spacey riffs and lighter rhythm sections. For the most part SH'Mantra concentrate on playing mostly instrumental music, however at times droned vocals do surface (I think this is where perhaps I get the Radiohead feeling). My personal favourite parts are when they layer on great space guitar and keyboard expressions over intoxicating percussive landscapes. Without a question fans of Porcupine Tree/IEM will drool over the music of Sh'Mantra. Hypnotic yet still very progressive and never repetitive. A real mind melt for sure......I love this album and find it to be a perfect Sunday evening listen. Inquiries about Sh'Mantra can be made at the following link. www.users.bigpond.com/dovoxe | |||
| From the opening moments of popping this short mini EP CD into my stereo I was in love. TidalFlood belong to the Ozric Tentacles school of Progressive space rock producing some lovely rhythmic thumping and guitar ripping magic. This mini Cd contains 3 shorter tracks from these fine musicians and my only complaint is that this CD is far far far too short, but of course this hopefully is only the start of what we can only hope for is a prosperous career for this band. Inquiries about TidalFlood can be made at the following website www.tidalflood.com | |||
| After many years of separation Kansas finally have re-united with a grand symphonic album full of great songs and excellent musicianship. Very much in the style of old Kansas "Somewhere To Elsewhere" contains all those huge Livgren epic keyboard runs with fantastic vocal harmonization's. Guitar work is also quite tasty with some intricate technical playing which sounds superb mixed along with Robby Steinhardt's violin and viola solos. The opening track is perhaps the best on the album "Icarus II" with some great sound explosions and mood shifts….very symphonic and full of grandeur. Welcome back Kansas! | |||
| Without a question Crisalida is one of my personal favourite progressive rock albums from the 70's South American scene. Espiritu blends the melodic romanticism of 70's Italian prog scene with a strong Southern cultural influence. This album is filled with plenty of warm melodic synth runs and electric and acoustic guitar pharasing. Mood and tempo change very frequently with sudden shifts to heavy electric guitar and back into softer symphoinia. Vocals are also plentiful with some great expressionism and vocal harmonization throughout. Lovers of 70's prog will love this album to death .Highly recommended album! | |||
| 100% pure and sure guitar solos from the Zappa man!. 3 CD's full of tantalizingly exquisite improvised compositions, mostly culled from live performances during 1979-80. Backed by a host of different bands and musicians , Zappa makes his instrument express stuff more blasphemous than any mere words could ever convey. "Five-Five-Five" and "Hog Heaven" draw his most brutal and metallic tones; "Ship Ahoy" puts Zappa's distorto-funk shuffle over a cooking rhythm section. "Canarsie" lays Zappa's sinuous SG against bizarre rhythm passages featuring Warren Cucurullo's sitar. "Treacherous Cretins" finds him soloing over a reggae riff; "Variations on the Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression" lives up to its title with the band aping a Latin percussive groove; "Beat It With Your Fist" is two minutes of maximum-velocity metal. But there's also some prettier moments here, like the reflective "Pink Napkins" and "Canard du Jour," an improvised duet with FZ on bouzouki and Jean-Luc Ponty on violin. Well known guest musicians include Steve Vai, Peter Wolf, Eddie Jobson and Terry Bozzio. These albums were originally released only by mail-order and now have been all put together in one lovely CD package. Essential from the Zappa vaults! | |||
| The same year that Gentle Giant released "Octopus" they released in the UK only "In A Glass House" which unfortunately never saw the light of day in the US or Canada. In sharp contrast to Octopus, this album takes on a much more accessible sound with a sharper focus on the melodic horizon. Of course all of the patented Gentle Giant'isms are present throughout culminating into perhaps my personal favourite Giant song of all time "In A Glass House". "In A Glass House" is a real prog lovers album with some highly complex interludes and well thought out tempo shifts and melodic runs. I guess if Spock's Beard borrowed from any of Gentle Giant albums this would be it. An essential album most definitely with some totally musically all-inspiring moments. | |||
| Canada's Celtic songstress Loreena McKennitt released what I would consider one of the top albums of the 1990's with the masterpiece "The Mask & Mirror". 100% unconventional and 100% inspirational from the haunting Celtic-like vocal intro "The Mystic Dream" to the conclusion "Prospero's Speech. On this album Lorrena employed a vast array of Eastern , Medieval and World instrumentation including the Sitar, Tamboura, Tabla, Uilleann Pipes, Cello, Dumbeg, Fiddle, Balalaika, Esraj and Hurdy Gurdy . As you would expect from Loreena McKennitt her music is tranquil and very cerebral with some incredible musicianship. Her music is rich and songs very gentle yet full of movement and deep moods. Highly recommended album for those who love a real array of world instrumentation and wholesome music…..highly intelligent music. | |||
| Fabulous new mind bending psychedelia from Texas featuring Ozric -like instrumentals with heavy traces of early Porcupine Tree (aka Voyage 34) and the UK's Dead Flowers. "Exploring The Psychedelic" is essentially just that with long trippy but lovely instrumentals with cosmic vibes throughout. Essentially the Liquid Sound Company are 3 space heads from the US (John Perez - guitars, mellotron, woodwind and vocals, Jason Spradlin - Drums, woodwinds, Terry Pritchard - Bass and percussion). Finally a band pays homage to the ol' illusive Lava Lamp which adorns the centre of the CD booklet….For those who love the Ozrics will most certainly need to own this little CD full of imaginative musical space travel. Trippy yet very thoughtful music for your young mind. | |||
| Miles Davis' musical career was deep and rich in both scope and scale with Bitches Brew representing IMHO a major milestone in the fusion of progressive rock, jazz and World genres. ….In fact Bitches Brew really helped coin the term "Rock 'N Soul". Without a question this album truly deserves an entire essay devoted to its genuis of which my review does not even do justice to this album….Imagine a mix of Weather Report, Miles Davis and his trumpet and Gentle Giant and I think you may be somewhere in the neighborhood. For the recording of Bitches Brew, Miles drew on some familiar faces including Joe Zawinul (electric piano), Chick Corea (Electric Piano), Dave Holland (Bass) and John McLaughlin (Guitar). All musicians join Miles in this intricate improvisational album of controlled mayhem. Songs are definitely jam based with some pretty trippy interludes and extended instrumental grooves all joined by the clever use of Davis' trumpet toots.
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| The Sonic solo comeback album from the wizard man of High Tide, Hawkwind and Bowie... A fantastic symphonic space album with some pretty tasty violin and keyboard work. Spiral Galaxy Revisited is fine space rock with lot's of long jams, plenty of Houses' trademark violin, and lot's of swirling keys. The album includes a grand epic track "Glencoe (19:00) and new versions of old Hawkwind tracks "Hall of the Mountain Grill", "Force of Vulcan" and "Chronoglide Skyway". There is no question in my mind that House was the best instrumentalist in Hawkwind (a band which I have not been overly all that attracted to over the years). The music on this album pretty much stays in the space genre with a few moments standing on the fringes of New Age. | |||
| Here is a great little album that I came across recently which completely took me by surprise…..Raimundo’s music offers soft seductive acoustic Spanish guitar with some lovely symphonia . Suenos Dream is a delicate album which really does work like a dream with the flowing flute and soft drum and percussion. Raimundo’s guitar work is the centre piece of this work with some amazing guitar fretting and phrasing. Throughout we are treated to a wide array of guitars with electric, acoustic, classical, spanish, banjo and mandolin. His music is melodic and ever flowing with lots of dream-like passages and sounds used throughout. The focal point of the album rests in his 21 min epic suite “Universal Codes” which gives the listener the best of all worlds. | |||
| In’terview marked the end of Gentle Giant's early wildly progressive rock rein leaving behind a string of great albums. For me In'terview is another wonderful album with some superb musicanship and clever song writing. Tempo swings are abundant (as you would expect) with tons of great vocal syncopation and harmonization. Interview is loosly a concept album with some interviewing actually going on in a few parts throughout the album. Too bad it ever had to end.
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| Writing a follow up to their brilliant sophmore release "The Man Who" was going to a large task, but with "The Invisible Band" they have done it and then some! The Invisible Band opens up with their most poppy tune on the album with the catchy "Sing". Complete with Banjo plucking and Porcupine Tree-like song structure, this song opens up on a rather positive note which quickly turns less so thereafter. Without a question Fran Healy is an amazing song writer who once again is credited with all the songs on this album. Songs once again cross over in sound into the Radiohead camp but as always are highly developed , spacial and melodic.
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| A wee while back I stumbled onto a great little psychy prog/rock band from Australia whose first album really held my interest with their toe tapping mind melting music. Brainstorm second release "Two" is a collection of unreleased music throughout their history with some great little psychy songs and excellent musicianship as well. When these guys get into the instrumental sections of their songs they really shine with some lovely space keyboard backdrops and clever guitar and percussive overlays. Songs are best described as a 1950's space journey with catchy little car rockin' grooves. A very original release for sure and should please all fans of space rock. | |||
