Nuit Caline A La Villa Mon Reve – Juillet 1977 (1977 Belgium). Here’s an album I had during the 1990′s, that I ultimately sold. It’s not a decision I regret, but it’s nice to revisit the title from time to time. Nuit Caline… are a large collective from the south of Belgium that sounds to me like many of the albums coming out of Quebec during this time. Very much a communal affair, with many ideas and a general uplifting mood. Violin, female vocals and acoustic guitar dominate, with many other instruments providing some color. A nice one. For fans of Connivence and L’Engoulevent. No CD exists.

Octobre – Survivance (1975 Canada). 3rd album by group who are at the crossroads of progressive and pop music. Somewhat like a Quebecois Supertramp, lead by strong keyboard work, excellent lead guitars, fine vocals in French. The wordless female vocals recall Contraction and the overall style points to Morse Code’s mid 70′s work. The two instrumental tracks highlight this middle-tier work. Not on CD. Actually all of the Octobre albums are not on CD except their 4th.

Vent d’Est – s/t (1980 France). Melodic progressive in the Camel / Pink Floyd vein. The instrumental work is quite good, especially the guitarist who lights it up quite a bit more than most from this era. Plenty of commercially oriented material to wade through as well, similar to the Octobre above. No CD for this one either. The kind of album that Musea used to reissue in the early 90s, but sadly no more.

Rialzu – s/t (1978 Corsica). The album that inspired my colleague Mike to coin the term “anally rare” some 15 years ago. Here we were, two dedicated collectors looking for progressive rock from Corsica. Corsica? Oh for crying out loud, when does it stop? This 4 figure album has always been impossible to obtain in original form, but fortunately for us, someone in our circle owned a copy, as we were able to obtain a cassette tape back in the day. For me, the tape seemed to douse my enthusiasm. Not sure why, but the album’s contents were quickly forgotten by me, and I even misplaced the tape. Then last year a CD-R showed up in a package of goodies, and the revisit clearly proved I had been wrong in my initial assessment. I didn’t even remember the strong Zeuhl presence, which Rialzu most certainly drew their main inspiration from. And now, perhaps amazingly so, I’m listening to the legitimately released CD on the always excellent Soleil Zeuhl label. For awhile it didn’t look like reissue was possible. The original label that issued the album, a dedicated Corsican folk concern, seemed intent on holding onto the rights and only releasing the album in some insane box set with every other album on the label. Rialzu was the odd album out for sure, as Magma inspired bands hardly represented Corsican culture. The original album was barely 30 minutes in length, and featured 3 tracks, two of them epics. The reissue adds two good sounding live pieces from 1977 and 1976 respectively, both unique compositions. They also threw in a one and a half minute video from the same 1977 concert. Haunting vocals, violin and nice guitar soloing distingush Rialzu from the pack. The album isn’t perfect by any means, and there’s even a pedestrian drum solo to endure, but for an album tagged as anally rare, it is better than most in that category (Mike will attest to this statement I think). And it’s the best album to ever emerge from Corsica, at least from the perspective of a progressive rock fan. Not even sure what the competition would be.

Resan – s/t (1973 Sweden). A very unusual album indeed, this Resan is. Starts out in a similar terrain to the The Beatles “White Album”, before drifting off into a folky flute number ala Trad, Gras och Stenar. But then the real party starts, with the remainder containing long, energetic, acid guitar driven numbers, some freaky percussion bits, dreamy cosmic pieces and an overall general sense of the psychedelic. Would’ve been a perfect fit for the Silence label. I could see where this album wouldn’t be well received by many, given its eclectic nature, but I found most of it highly appealing. Would make for an excellent reissue on Transubstans or Mellotronen.

Zog – Do ze Funkie Wiz Me (1983 Netherlands). Entirely unique album from post Het Pandorra Ensemble guys. While still very much a product of the 1980s (song structures, vocal style), Zog also possesses a strong admiration for 1960s psych and even the early 70s Krautrock pioneers. Some wonderful acid guitar soling belies its 80s heritage. There’s also the occasional reference to their fondness for “Red” era King Crimson, featured more prominently in the Pandorra Ensemble days. About the only other album I can think of that sounds like this is Iskander’s “Boheme”, another oddity from the 80s. Maybe the best way to describe is to call it 1980s psychedelia, and I don’t mean neo-psych, if that makes any sense. Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate Zog’s album more and more, perhaps due to its uniqueness. This, Zog’s only album, is a live recording. And at 56 minutes, quite a lengthy album for one disc. No CD exists.

Corpus – Creation a Child

Due to the proximity of listening, I’ve kind of paired the selt-titled Bedlam album along with this Corpus record, both are hard rock bands, with a strong focus on riff based songs, that is even with hints of the Stones and other rock n roll bands, Corpus sound more like a child of Black Sabbath. Strangely enough if I was given a blind test I’d say Corpus was the British band and Bedlam the American one, but in actuality it’s reversed. Corpus seems like they would have been quite comfortable on the Vertigo label next to Sabbath, Clear Blue Sky and the like, there’s enough angularity and a little less blusiness than you’d expect from a US band of this era. Overall another 10 and already my memory is fading…

Iona – The Circling Hour

Iona’s among the top 5 best and most relevant symphonic progressive rock bands operating in the current market. I almost said British, but given the international heritage of the musicians, it might be inaccurate now. Not only are they working on the fringes of rock and folk but based on some comments made on their most recent DVD, it’s probably not safe or accurate to classify them as a Christian rock band anymore, or at least they’re continuing to develop that merging of spiritualities that reflects the merging of ancient Celtic myth with newer Western sensibilities. It’s this sort of operative pantheism that best describes their work, almost all of their music drawn together by the glue of rich and deep synthesizers, many songs of which float in and out on these waves as if the music is just one big dream. I was familiar with several songs on this album already from the Live in London DVD, which they apparently delievered flawlessly given these studio versions. In fact the break the band took between these new projects and their past seems to have given them a greater sense of livelihood as this could be the band’s most powerful and assured studio album since Journey to the Morn. I’m always utterly in awe of this band as they seem to strike such a great balance between an accessible sense of song styling and the long epic instrumental and solo sections that give so much bite to what could have been a much fluffier bunny. Everything is nearly always top notch about Iona, long may they continue.

Steve Hillage Band – Gong Unconventional Gathering, Melkweg, Amsterdam 11/5/06

I had to file the Unconventional Gathering under the wish I could have been there category, as I know there was a time I would have fought tooth and nail to see Steve Hillage back in the rock field even for a weekend, but it had probably passed. Based on this recording of the gig, you’d guess that the main reason Hillage was staying away is that time hasn’t been good to his voice, in fact at times he’s barely recognizable here. Fortunately on the instrumentals, and despite the fact most of the music played here was originally done with larger groups and overdups, we’re in safer territory and the trio does a remarkable job sounding pretty big and going through songs like “It’s All Too Much, “Salmon Song” and the like, in fact it’s interesting that most of the material comes from Hillage’s first two solo albums, the first in itself really a Gong album of sorts. Anyway the crowd loved it and even if Hillage isn’t the utterly peerless guitar player he once was, the chance to hear him do this material again (and not to mention Gong’s stuff) is well worth it. Indeed, I wish I could have been there.

Emmanuel Booz – Au Restaurant d’Alice

I did an overview of this French musician’s work at Gnosis a while back and don’t have all that much to add to my appraisal of this first work. I did have a bit of an Arlo Guthrie interest in my youth and had fun spinning the original Alice’s Restaurant a few times, but of course so much of that record is the lyrics and my high school level French isn’t up to the task here. With that said there does seem to be that same sort of casual and upbeat humor here, and my opinion of this has come up a couple of notches, although at this point I don’t think I’ll be hanging onto it.

Jean-Luc Hamonet/Algue – Melodie, Melodie Rock

Musea’s progressive rock book (although I’m definitely going from memory here) has this rare-ish one off project pegged as something of a Camel clone (my words) and while that may be true in part, I’d say the dominant influence on the music is the Allman Brothers. I don’t remember which song it was but there’s definitely an homage to “Blue Sky” that reminds me a little of an analagous Allmans tribute on Motorpsycho’s Let Them Eat Cake. Unfortunately for Hamonet he’s severely handicapped by his equipment and production, with what is one of the thinnest guitar tones I’ve ever heard and his backup group seems a little too tight and amateur to help let the inspirational floodgates loose. I like its breezy upbeat mood but this isn’t an album that’s likely to even convince fans of the influences.

Amir s/t

The early 80s French new music/jazz outfit works sort of in the same circles as Confluence or Clivage, musical ensembles working in both classical and the occasional world or exotic styles to give the entirety a somewhat chamberish feel. It builds slowly with pianos and winds only for the gentleness to start being disturbed by discordant strings as the music develops with a tendency to improvise freely. Throughout the album we’re treated to lots of “found object” sort of sounds, whistles and more unidentifable sounds all of which reminds me of outfits like Limbus 3/4, Ossian and others. Overall it’s a pretty fascinating piece although its inclusion in any rock book is something of a stretch.

Jox – Joxifications (1982 France). A super find from the always surprising FLVM label. Starts off heavily in the French folky bag recalling Troisieme Rive’s “Banlieues” or Manu Lannhuel, but after about 5 minutes, the mood changes and the music moves into a primarily instrumental direction. In the end, you come away feeling like you’ve just heard a French Gryphon circa “Red Queen to Gryphon Three”. Just replace the bassoon with an oboe. Other than the last, and short, 3 minute instrumental, the album does not use drums (a primitive drum machine was applied on the last track, for no purpose it seems). The music is driven by piano, acoustic guitar, Moog and best of all, a very rocking bass, that keep the music driving forward. In this way, I’m reminded of Circus’ amazing “Movin On’” album. Great, and memorable melodies, also define this album. Musea should dip back into the reissue market with this gem.

Roland Hollinger – Bardo Thodol (1978 France). Primarily haunting and dark electronic music in the 70′s tradition. Some accent instruments pop up here and there like guitar, piano, saxophone and percussion, but primarily “Bardo Thodol” is a pretty bleak work. A logical companion to the two Jean Baptiste Barriere albums. Would make for an interesting CD reissue.

Odin – SWF Session 1973 (1973 Germany-England). I really don’t have much to say here (search for my review of the self-titled album elsewhere on these pages), but I wanted to call out this superb archival find by Long Hair. The SWF Sessions have proven to be a treasure chest, and both Garden of Delights and Long Hair have done a good job of mining the lode. Odin themselves are a band that managed only one release in their lifetime (on Vertigo, released in Germany only). Even though they featured English members amongst their staff, the band seemed to have immersed deep into the German scene of the time. This means long sections devoted to organ and guitar soloing over shifting meters. There’s also a strong love for Zappa, as represented by two lengthy cover tunes, including “King Kong”. Great liner notes and sound add to the designation of “must pick up”.

Larry Young – The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Larry Young disc 1-2 (includes Grant Green – Talkin’ About, Larry Young – Into Somethin’, Grant Green – Street of Dreams)

I’m giving this old Mosaic set a once through as, except for a couple of later records, almost all of this set exists released by Blue Note elsewhere, even if for some of these the issues are getting a bit aged. Larry Young is one of those musicians who graces everything he’s been a part of, truly the John Coltrane of the organ as he’s often credited to be. What’s instantly impressive is how good the three early records are, which are basically the first three albums he recorded with Grant Green and Elvin Jones, adding Sam Rivers for Into Somethin’ and Bobby Hutcherson on Green’s Street of Dreams. Young and Green cross the river separating hard bop from the spiritual jazz to come and do so jamming long pieces that homage Coltrane successfully due to the absolutely brilliant interplay of the main trio. Even Rivers and, later, Hutcherson, seem somewhat overwhelmed by the fire Grant and Young bring to the recordings. Green’s tone is always fine, but here there’s a slightly biting edge that takes over at times that makes everything so aggressive. All three of these records really push the 11 envelope for me, with Talkin About’ striking me like it’s Young’s version of Coltrane’s s/t Impulse album. I guess it’s because I’ve been spinning them all separately, but they just getter with every listen. And Young’s best was still to come…

Moby Grape – ’69

Been a long time since I played this album, so long, in fact, that I’d even forgotten I’d ever heard it. Back when I did a high school radio show, it was this sort of thing I’d play, all the late 60s psychedelic rock and at least 2 or 3 Grape albums were always at hand for a play. I’d actually forgotten that by this point they were doing some rather folky music, it’s almost like everyone in the bay area by the end of the year was getting the Americana bug. While it’s not Grape’s best by any stretch (both the first and Wow are much more interesting), at least it portrays a bit of a different take on the folky thing, in fact this is probably as close to Quicksilver as the band got.

Jaga Jazzist – The Stix

May just be me, but this modern jazz/fusion/groove sound that takes drum n bass or techno rhythms and then layers the vocabulary of jazz over the beat, doesn’t really do all that much for me, as part of why jazz works in almost any form is due to the swing, even if it’s not overt in the music. Before I start sounding like a representative of Wynton Marsalis, I’m just stating this as a reason why this type of thing doesn’t quite to do it for me, rather than dissing the idea of combining two different styles, which Jazzist do quite well (in fact they could be one of its formative exponents). Certainly there’s a great deal of melodic work here of note and all the playing is … well, I guess it’s that this sort of thing makes me feel like I’m trapped in a club listening to a DJ and there seems to be an entire intuitive level that’s either missing or too sublimate for a first listen. It’s definitely a modern kosmigroov outfit, I’m reminded of similar work by As One, Cinematic Orchestra or Erik Truffaz, all of which I might make similar comments upon.

Fresh Maggots – Fresh Maggots (Hatched)

Instantly obscure thanks to the visual imagery and terrible band name, at least in this case it wasn’t hiding anything particularly special, a British folk group in the Fairport Convention or even Spirogyra mold, flirting a little here with pop, a little there with cheesy orchestra, but at heart a singer/songwriter group who generally leave the Celtic tinges behind. From a tracking perspective it kind of winds its way over some different maps, which, at least helps to keep one’s attention over the duration, but I heard little here that wasn’t dispensed perfunctorily and with the occasional tacky turn of tone or musical phrase. Undoubtedly quite minor.

King Crimson – In the Wake of Poseidon

Crim’s second album has often been given the very fair criticism that it’s something of a clone of its much more famous and relevant first album, but such an approach definitely makes it a less enjoyable item than it is if one comes to it blank slate from the perspective that it’s a contemporary of a progressive music scene waxing into full bloom. Like its follow up, Lizard, there’s less of the initial Moody Blues influence and an approach more akin to bands like Gnidrolog or Van der Graaf Generator, a production that glosses over some very compressed guitar dones and a sinuous jazz inflected drum attack that drives the music to some very powerful moments. You can kind of draw up the songs in the comparison to the first album, from everything from the two aggressive opening tracks to the two that meander and experiment like an avant garde jazz group noodling on some free time, and of course these comparisons make this look like a sophomore slump. However I guess I felt like I’ve absorbed these similarities and now don’t really draw the comparison chart when I listen, which is partially because over the years I’ve grown quite tired of the first album, which is generally too morose and melancholy for me to enjoy outside Schizoid Man. So even if Court is the better album, Poseidon is the one I enjoy more.

Mighty Baby – “India” (1969 studio outtake)

That might not sound like much, but when the duration of this one track comes in at 44 minutes, you know you’re in the presence of something a lot more special than you had originally considered. Mighty Baby are a rather unheralded psychedelic era rock group that you might compare to some of the more jammy oriented British groups like Skin Alley or Man, a band more akin to what would happen a year or two later. Obviously they’re fed on good bay area psych rock like Quicksilver or the Dead, although their origin finds them starting to work this into progressive rock like frameworks. Some will find this piece pretty meandering, over 44 minutes there are some jamming moments that paint into a corner, but there’s an underlying structure that either shows them up as surprisingly good improvisers, or there was also a method to their improvisation, guiding them into new patterns as they went. Quite impressive, and I wonder if the band will ever release this as part of a 2 CD set one day.

Isabel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Ballad of the Broken Seas

This unusual collaboration seems to weave together strands of British psychedelic folk, traditional Western music and some modern production values for an occasionaly Morricone-esque, epic and mythical fabric. It’s definitely unusual for both musicians, Campbell hailing from Belle & Sebastian and Lanegan from Screaming Trees, and the result is often something like Tom Waits meets Mellow Candle or Johnny Cash doing old Pentangle numbers. It’s all delivered in a somewhat mystical, folkloric tone that also rings modern due to the percussion and the merging is somewhat reminiscent of world/ambient fusions with this sort of past/present juxtaposition. Quite nice overall.

Derek Bailey – Pieces for Guitar

These almost sparse and bizarre guitar viginettes remind me quite a bit of the old Fred Frith guitar albums. The silence here is almost as important as the notes and it’s a lot like soft chiming at times, certainly in improvised and often dissonant themes, but all of it is strangely beautiful and I was very surprised, as I’m not usually as interested in solo work, how captivating this all is. Some are likely to hear this and think it’s some rank amateur banging away on the guitar randomly because it’s so far away from normal Western scales, in fact, I get the impression so much of this is tied together by a certain intuitive sense rather than any obvious rhythms or melody lines. So obviously only one to approach if you’re interested in music well beyond boundaries.

Cardiacs – On Land and In the Sea

Well the Cardiacs sure have a lot of really incredible albums, in fact I almost wish I’d have started with the late 80s/early 90s records rather than Sing to God and Guns. For one thing, after immersing myself in the lower quality live videos, these albums sound positively radiant in their production. In a lot of ways, I wonder how these guys get away with what they do. Their music seems similar over their career, based on very strange but almost signature chord progressions, all delivered with fantastic energy and bearing the stylisms of epic prog rock and bonkers punk. From a ways off I can imagine a lot of this sounding the same at first, but it’s really amazing how fast some of these songs start to stick to the head, revealing what is not just iconoclastic but brilliant songwriting. The epic finale “The Everso Closely Guarded Line,” at just under 9 minutes, works an instrumental melody that would put some of the classic symph bands to shame. To my estimate this band is still one of the world’s most occulted treasures, with a professionalism and sense of originality that belies how obscure they still are.

Jean-Luc Ponty – The Bottom Line, New York 11/21/76 FM

Jean-Luc Ponty’s various lines ups were responsible for some of the finest melodic fusion in the 70s, certainly worthy contemporaries of bands like Return to Forever, Michael Urbaniak, Weather Report and the like. This show, recorded on tour for Imaginary Voyage, is almost flawless from both sound and performance perspective, the band deftly working through the material and managing to keep a surprising dynamic range from the fusion rippers you expect to much more impressionist and gentle music, progressive rock and even slightly classical diversions. It’s really a joy all the way through.

Herbie Mann – Ludlow’s Garage, Cincinatti, OH 12/29/69

I always find it amazing that Sonny Sharrock used to be in Mann’s bands around this time given his later, far more out predelictions. This hits the band after two rather pivotal Mann albums, Memphis Underground and veering really close to this show, Live at the Whiskey A Go Go. Mann’s got a kind of chugging jazz sound that’s often more Booker T. than Bobby Hutcherson, with very populist grooves laying back for Mann’s flute. Sharrock fans are likely gonna be waiting for him to break out, but like the albums of the time it only happens in full once or twice, and of course, are really the high points of this music. Course Stone Flute was to come, which could be his best 70s record, so this is catching Mann close to the peak of the era.

Jake Holmes – “The Above Ground Sound” of Jake Holmes

Weird and amateurish sounding folkster/songwriter who opens the album with a really amazing, fuzzed out psychedelic track with great stinging guitar. After this piece I thought I was on the verge of hearing a rare classic, only for this to degenerate into what sounds like an out of sorts Mick Jagger trying to do the Tim Buckley catalog.  It’s an awfully weird amalgam of 60s influences, definitely Bob Dylan and other folksters, but it also kind of points to a sort of Amon Duul-ish like anarchy which isn’t delivered quite so well due the rather fair songwriting.

Malón (Juan Carlos Caceres) – “El Camino” “Dale Negro” (1972 Argentina). Title is presented just as on the cover. Essentially at its core, Malon is a Latin pop album in the grand Tropicalia tradition as would be more commonly found in Brazil during this period. Like Os Mutantes, Malon will on occasion conjure up the freaky undergound with flipped guitar, echoed flute, droning organ and frenzied vocals. Elements of Los Jaivas, Bwana, Modulo 1000 and Santana all pop up here and there, for no other reason than to disturb your Corona advertised beach bliss. For this, we are grateful. No CD exists.

San Michael’s – s/t (1971 Sweden). San Michael’s is a typical early 70s song-based organ rock band with Swedish vocals, and 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. There are rumors a CD reissue may be coming soon. Mellotronen, Transubstans or Musea would be my 3 guesses as to who will do it.

Joy Unlimited – Minne (1975 Germany). More varied than the previous, and heavier, two albums “Schmetterlinge” and “Reflections”. “Minne” mixes German language (male vocals) folk with horn rock, some jazzy sequences, even some classical moments. More challenging than previous works, though it can be a mite slow going at times. Like “Reflections”, “Minne” doesn’t feature band namesake Joy Fleming. Now that Garden of Delights has reissued the two previous albums mentioned above, I would suspect “Minne” will get the VIP treatment soon.