Elohim – A L’Aube du Verseau

Before the internet explosion, I used to comb through what was the original version of the Musea book on French Progressive Rock, when it was a little slim thing and didn’t have a red cover, to try and dig up crazy rare stuff, an exercise that I’m perfectly content in letting Tom filter for me now. Here’s a perfect example of what could go awry, this weird, unsettling and somewhat cheesy piece by the first French band who thought “God” (or Gods if you want to be literal)  would be a good band name. In fact with anything of this nature, I’m wondering if this might not be some strange religious item.  This page quotes the Scented Gardens of the Mind blurb and while it’s a slippery slope calling everything that comes out of France zeuhl, the allusion to Hair is definitely spot on, this whole album sounds like some demented Hair by the Rael cult. However Hair at least had a good pop number or two to sing along to and there’s nothing quite that accessible here, even when they’re singing “Elohim” it’s shrill and offsetting. It leaves me with the opinion that the album is of interest just because the band’s so strange, in fact it’s hard not to think of Robert Connolly’s Plateau in terms of progged up new agey concepts.

Armande Altai – Atavisme

Like the Elohim example, this first album by singer Armande Altai also gets the Zeuhl comparisons, and at least with the bass playing it’s somewhat accurate, but it’s also the limit of these comparisons. The album reminds me a little of an obscure and later countrymate Anaid, a female-vocalist led jazz or jazz rock style with instrumentalist approaches that do indeed hint of Magma, except that while you might get away with calling Anaid Zeuhl, Armand Altai’s solo moves a little closer to more inside jazz schools and at times has an approach similiar to Belgians’ Cos. From a certain angle, it’s all rather professionally done and well played, however after a few listens I’ve found it pretty hard to sink my teeth into it and find it a bit unengaging.

Magma – Hippodrome du Pantin, Paris 5/14/77 + Klaus Blasquiz Interview 1/18/78 (DVD)

Perhaps the final upgrade of one of the better unreleased Magma documents, this features a dual-drummer, dual keyboard line up that may be one of Magma’s best, at least three weeks later they’d go into Orleans and mow down the place with one of the band’s all time best shows. This performance is definitely a bit tamer and certainly not a full show, but it’s definitely quite good, although this is my second or third viewing of the show itself and it hasn’t really improved for me over viewings. Still, if you’re a Magma fan this is something of a given and hopefully it’ll get a release by Seventh at some point.

Bevis Frond – Khyber, Philadelphia 5/25/01 (DVD)

I may have mentioned it once before, but when I have to get to list maintenance, which usually means adding junk, I tend to find it a good time to watch music videos as if I’m bored I can watch along and if I’m not I can listen along. And the long weekend was indeed that sort of weekend, finally some free time to get to it. Anyway the second half of the Bilzen show was the first entry, the second was the above mentioned Bevis Frond DVD, which, as of 2002, was basically a duo touring across the US who decided to add a few electric dates plus drummer to the tail end, and apparently this was the last gig of the tour.

I hope I don’t aggravate one reader here by coming out clean on Bevis Frond – not a huge fan here. I’d poke fun at the vocals, which were quite bad on early releases, but they’ve improved quite a bit by this point, definitely well within tolerable range. I’m also not a big of unplugged sets by anyone, and the two acoustic guitars + vox here didn’t do much for me, another thing that I don’t click with on BF are the songs, and especially the lyrics which can be occasionally tacky or at least blunt. So I was mostly looking forward to the electric set.

And indeed it was the funnest part of the gig, although I had to wonder why Saloman isn’t included in that hallowed Hendrixy hall that includes Trower, Marino, Fossati and the like, as he was basically borrowing from the Hendrix canon lock stock and barrel. At times my friend and I would sing Hendrix songs over the Bevis Frond songs, equivalents of Crosstown Traffic, Red House and others came and went, but I’m easy when it comes to Hendrix clones, hell if a guitarist can pull it off, he’s gotta be pretty good and Saloman is indeed quite the axeman.

But after a good 10 or 15 minutes of electricity, it all started to sound a bit shtick to me, a bit limited and my interest waned a little despite some decent playing (well, the drummer had a diffficult time, but BF’s bass player is quite comptetent). But overall, it’s a good sounding audience recording, certainly well worth tracking down for fans.

Grateful Dead – The Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA 3/24/86 (DVD)

Readers may get that every time I play a later Dead show (defined by me as post 1978) I dread the experience and only do so occasionally, mostly to try and get a feel for the whole experience of this band. So it’s always a surprise (and maybe my first one at that) to come across a decent show in the twilight period. It’s not that the set list is particularly inspired (I could do without the whole “Woman is Smarter” jam thing), but the playing is pretty solid and this is also one of those recordings that seems to capture the audience experience well, including a big spike of sound when Bobby Weir says the f-word (why IS that exactly?) Anyway most of this show reminded me of one a good 5-10 years earlier, even the heinous and tacky keyboard playing doesn’t intefere much. Maybe it’s just that it’s a pretty short show? Maybe Jerry had enough coffee? Or maybe they could be good even this late…

Genesis – Midnight Special 12/20/73 (DVD)
Genesis – Melody, French TV 2/12/74 (DVD)
Genesis – Palasport, Turin, Italian TV 2/3/74 (DVD)
Genesis – Treftepunkte, German TV 1975 (DVD)

The second disc of a double collection of various Genesis videos, many of which have been since upgraded. I probably should have hit the “play all” button, as the menu had almost the entire Firth of Fifth, and being busy, I probably heard it a total of two or three times. Anyway this is all England and Lamb Genesis, I’m quite familiar with the Melody performance from video tape and recognize bits of the others from elsewhere, in fact with all the interview segments, I can imagine where I did see them, these were cut out. But as you can imagine, after starting to hear the same song over several performances, especially something like “The Musical Box,” which I could safely never hear again, it all starts to get tiresome, especially with the amped up melodrama quotient which makes it fairly difficult for me to get into it, even if I remember being a freak over this stuff at one point. I think what I need is a ten year Genesis, erm, hiatus.

Chico Magnetic Band – s/t. 1971. Of all the albums I’ve heard in the last two months, Chico Magnetic Band’s sole album has to be my favorite. Quite simply, they don’t make them like this anymore. There are a couple of items here that make this album special. One is the heavy handed use of studio trickery (phasing, radical dynamic shifts, backwards tape, etc…), a common trait found amongst early 70s French and German albums. Cynics say it’s to mask the incompetence of the players, but I prefer to believe that a high amount of creativity was applied, and maybe even expected, for the era. Even more important, though, is Chico himself. Chico is the vocalist, and it’s his ranting, raving, screeching, drooling, mumbling that makes this album so REAL. The listener witnesses a man on the edge – a true freakout captured on tape for all time. There are other albums where this can be found, and they’re all favorites of mine: Dawn on Brainticket’s “Cottonwood Hill”, John L. on Ash Ra Tempel’s “Schwingungen”, and Catherine Ribeiro on “No. 2″ (really any of her early 70s works). The psychedelics that are applied both externally (music) and internally (individual) allow the artist to apply his or her most creative mind gymnastics. Sure, it’s pure madness, but it sends a chill down my spine especially when paired with raging wah wah guitar solos and a cacophony of tribal percussion. It’s funny today to watch bands try to recreate this same sound. When it’s just the music, they do a good, sometimes great job, but when they try the “I’m crazy, here me rant” – they’re faking it. It was a one time “of the era” event. Everything else is just a simulation, a make-believe-let’s-pretend-we’re-freaked-out-and-nuts. And it sounds artificial. Get the real deal and check out Chico Magnetic Band. Though unfortunately there’s no legit CD of this treasure to be had. A far better written review of this album, not to mention an avalanche of infectious enthusiasm, can be found at Julian Cope’s Head Heritage website: http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/thebookofseth/1107

Jorge Pinchevsky – Su Violin Magico la Pesada. 1973. Jorge Pinchevsky was an Argentine violinist (RIP 2003) who is most known for playing with Gong during their fusion stage (“Shamal”). Prior to moving to France, Pinchevsky was part of the early 70s Argentine rock movement and played with bands like La Cofradia de la Flor Solar and Billy Bond y La Pesada. His sole album obtained a release on EMI/Harvest, and is extremely difficult to find (I spent the last 7 years with no luck). Finally, a local friend burned me a copy. I suppose, in the end, it didn’t quite sound like I expected it to. The opening track is an interesting spacious violin number, which is not indicative of the remainder of the album. From there it takes a decidedly blues rock / hard rock approach (featuring many members of the Argentine bands listed above), with violin in the lead, bringing to mind High Tide – but not near as aggressive or as expansive. The album is very short, not quite reaching even 30 minutes. The original recording is a bit rough, and I can imagine a masters tape CD reissue would bring out more clarity and bump up the enjoyment. Especially if there are some quality bonus tracks not yet released.

Wolfgang Dauner – Et Cetera. 1970. Wolfgang Dauner was one of the true pioneers of the late 60s German jazz scene. And so he was a natural to experiment with rock’s energy and sounds and combine them with his vision of free jazz. I’d managed to obtain all of his rock based albums, except the Et Cetera debut (until now that is), mentioned by many as perhaps his finest work of them all. After a few listens, I’m inclined to agree, though I still have a slightly greater fondness for the “Rischkas Soul” album on Brain. The opening track features a driving staccato synthesized organ sound (somewhat akin to Supersister or Soft Machine) mixed with some freer jazz structures that can be a bit much in places. The next three tracks are Dauner at his best mixing an array of ethnic/world music (mainly Eastern) with some psychedelic rock and modal jazz. The album closes with a free jazz piece, which gets away from my personal tastes. So the opener and closer keep this from being a classic for me – but one that I still hold in high esteem. I think we call than an 11 at Gnosis. Et Cetera comes in a beautiful silver foil cover, and would be an awesome candidate for a Japanese mini-LP reissue (they did “The Oimels”, so it’s possible!)

Acid Mothers Temple – The Empty Bottle, Chicago 5/5/07 (DVD)

AMT are one of those groups I like less than I thought I would, I’d have figured with the connections revealed on their album titles, especially with Gong, that they’d be right along my lines, but for the most part they tend to split time between heavy psychedelic noise and more drifting ambient portions, the latter the half I’m most comfortable with. This is a pretty nicely done audience recording created from a tripod that gets most of the band in the screen and occasional scans to the others. There are strobelights and some grainy definition but overall everything sounds and looks quite good. They play about 2 1/2 hours on this one, which is about two hours longer than I think I’d been able to have stood. However, where AMT often just go in and improv for long stretches, there were a lot of elements in this show that made me feel that they were pre-written, including some almost song-like music with the band’s female vocalist. This does help to break up what often can be monotony when the band pushes everything up to 11 for half an hour. Anyway the DVD didn’t really change my mind about the band, but that also means I’m still fairly intrigued with what they do, and might be more intrigued if they took it easier on their release schedule.

Various Artists – Bilzen Jazz Festival, Bilzen, Belgium 8/21-24/69 (DVD)

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better overall view to the nascent progressive rock movement than this collection of late 60′s, mostly European, groups playing the Bilzen Jazz festival in summer 1969. From your average progressive rock site you might be led to thinking that King Crimson magically invented the genre when they released their debut album in 1969, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The perfect example are the Moody Blues who get two tracks on here. Every element of symphonic rock is already in place, the blaring Mark II mellotron, songs in suite-like construction with obvious rhythm changes, and a lead flute style that was obviously the model for the later Peter Gabriel and PFM, in fact clearly PFM’s strongest model in a pastoral sense was this band. It’s awesome to see, a beautiful Tuesday Afternoon and a Have You Heard pt 1>The Voyage>Have You Heard pt 1 suite with classical/suite structure. In fact another element in common with symphonic rock was its slight tendency to the stodgy and bloated, although the Moodies pop sensibilities only gave a faint whiff mostly during this piece. It’s as if they’re working out the ramifications of the Beatles’ A Day in a Life, stretching it a little farther.

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band get a pretty long set here, but with their sense of humor and theatrics combined with a bit of jazz, it’s hard not to see them as a prior influence of Gong’s early stages, especially with the occasional move into delirium, and there are segments that seem almost identical with parts of Camembert Electrique and the zanier parts of Flying Teapot. The sort of off the seat of pants adventure leads to crazy moments as well as a mistep when the flautist’s mike drops right off the stand as soon as he’s about to start playing.

Taste seem a successor of Cream and other blues-influenced small rock bands and while they’re not the most obviously experimental aspect of the sound, noticing the trend towards jamming and improvisation seems another element of the period. Brian Auger would call his work pop music, but for a jazz festival his band’s clearly the closest to the style and the band led by a virtuoso soloist (and let’s make no mistake, Auger is a master chopster on the B3) seems another theme of the era.  

There are, of course, a number of classic era rock and pop groups that stuck a bit closer to the inside, but still showed the hallmarks of the era by incorporating slight hints of other musics, such as the Blossom Toes and Humble Pie. But then there’s the Soft Machine doing Moon in June and this is where my heart practically stopped as the quality is fabulous. Harmonically they seem by far the most advanced of the bunch (especially Ratledge), but the focus is on a young Robert Wyatt at the kit. It’s hard not get misty-eyed over such a thing as I never imagined such a perfect looking document, but as the song progresses I started thinking I never imagined them slaying the jam as hard as they did. Wow, what an absolute monster!

The Italian Exploitation Explosion Post!!!!!!!!!!*

Braen’s Machine – Underground. 1971.
Braen’s Machine – Temi Ritmici e Dinamici. 1973. “Underground” is simply an amazing find. Take one part instrumental film/library/exploito ala Blue Phantom, The Bigroup and Ugly Custard and complete that with atmospheres that rival the earliest Krautrock scene ala early Guru Guru. Absolutely phenomenal fuzz guitar throughout, with loads of studio effects. Quite a bit of high quality drumming can be found here as well. First track of nine is a bit of a let down, having an almost 60’s “Batman” feel to it, but it greatly improves from there. The sound on “Temi Ritmici e Dinamici” is a lot more hokey, with goofy electronics and ancient organ. There’s also some nice flute passages, but the fuzz is gone here. Would make a good 2 on 1 CD, as “Underground” is a must. These impossibly rare albums will set you back close to $1K each, so a legit CD issue is definitely due.

The Psycheground Group – Psycheground. 1970. Yet another all instrumental psych rock album from Italy similar to others like Blue Phantom, The Underground Set and Fourth Sensation. This one is a little more developed than most in the genre, as the songs take longer to evolve (only 5 in total). The slower pace allows more time for quality instrumental soloing (primarily guitar). Not as edgy as the Braen’s Machine “Underground” album above, but probably better than the bands listed above. More akin to what Roland Kovac was doing in Germany during this time. No CD exists.

Fourth Sensation – s/t. 1970. This album is more typical of the instrumental psych/blues/jazz tinged library film/TV music, with roller rink organ and half Les Paul era electric leads/half psychedelic fuzz. The kind of music that would be used in the “party sequence” of an old “Streets of San Francisco” episode. All good fun, though again nothing extraordinary like the Braen’s Machine “Underground” album. No CD unfortunately.

* – yea – I did that on purpose…

I’m back after a freakin’ HIGH ATE US. Or, more to the point, I’ve managed to dig out from the avalanche of work I was under. It was always my hope to write about everything I listened to. But it’s obvious I cannot keep up. There are many places I can sneak in the tunes, but not in a position to write about. And then there’s the issue of not having anything to say. Do I really need to comment about Amon Duul II’s albums (not to mention someone like King Crimson)? Not sure I have any great insight that hasn’t been shared already. I would rather focus my time on items that have few words written about them (both new and old groups) – where you the reader may learn about a cool album. As well, there’s the countless number of (Gnosis) 8 and 9 level albums I go through. Many of them are fine albums, but I’m not motivated by the recording to say anything of interest.

In any event, I will be a pretty infrequent poster overall (though there may be some continuous days). Mike is far better at maintaining a schedule for getting down reviews. Mine will always be a spontaneous situation, pending on personal/work circumstances.

So it’s been about a month since I last posted. And this batch represents three of the best four or five I heard during that span.

The Grodeck Whipperjenny – s/t. 1970. As Mike mentioned earlier, I pointed him towards this band as I knew it would be something right up his alley. The Grodeck Whipperjenny were a Cincinnati based group, who also happened to be the backup band for James Brown during this period (and thus the album was released on Brown’s People label). Without Brown at the microphone, the band obtained a chance to extend their compositional abilities. Not surprisingly, there’s plenty of killer fuzz guitar fronted funk, but here it’s mixed with an almost European progressive rock take on the Jefferson Airplane! So you get a mix of bands somewhere between Stark Reality and Sandrose or Julian’s Treatment. A great find and an excellent candidate for a legit CD (there does exist a bootleg).

The Beat of the Earth – s/t. 1967. In the late 1980s, I was a frequent guest at the house of one of the Rockadelic guys. Before they even had a label, they were commissioned as “private investigators” for tracking down some of the rarest psych and rock albums in the US. Especially in those days, most of what they tracked down wasn’t to my (overtly progressive rock) tastes. Today I have a different viewpoint (though still by no means my preferred style) . However, The Beat of the Earth appealed to me right away on first listen. Unfortunately the album was a small fortune even then. The album did receive a legit LP press (put out by the band themselves), but a CD has yet to surface (not including boots). A friend dubbed me a CD-R and this is my first time to hear it in nearly 20 years. And it’s 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. Also it’s one of the most drugged out albums I’ve ever heard, except the bandleader (Phil Pearlman) was anti-drugs! Maybe if the Velvet Underground had more of that Californian sunshine, they’d sound like this. Also worth reading is this wonderful interview from one of the original female members of the band: Beat of the Earth

Children of One – s/t. 1969. Not really a rock album, but as psychedelic as any album I’ve come across. Meditative, Eastern influenced acoustic jazz with flute, female voice, sitar, hand percussion, cello, piano and other instruments. Otherworldly and deeply peaceful. Has THAT vibe that reeks of the real underground, a certain something that is found more frequently in the Krautrock genre (the atmosphere of Dom’s “Edge of Time” comes to mind in parts – though musically quite different). A wonderful album that would certainly benefit from a masters tape CD reissue. Children of One were from one of the many hippy communes that existed in upstate New York during that time.

Hopefully will be able to find time to listen to some things to write about over the long weekend, been a little too busy lately to do so. Hiatus, hiatus, hiatus.

Iron Duke – First Salvo
Iron Duke – Gammel Dansk

Iron Duke are the Danish entry into the Emerson, Lake and Palmer school, a band who created two albums in the mid 70s with a very unique take on the classical rock style, in fact they probably had as much Ekseption influence as they did Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The results are often extremely twee and sentimental, although you might have gotten that from First Salvo’s opening “Happy Band” title. In fact, First Salvo is probably the album that ties in closest to Ekseption and even Trace, as the last two tracks, “Psalm” and “Rockin’ Edward” both seem like classical rock pastiches.

“Gammel Dansk” from three years later, shows little evolution, a change to Danish titles rather than English (and I should mention, Iron Duke are instrumental) and less reliance on classical rock cliches, while still remaining a bit foofy. Both albums fall into that obscurity range where rare dealers take advantage of comparisons, these are two that are likely to fall under expectations. Maybe the only thing positive in terms of comparing them to ELP is they eschew silly songs and the sort of cabaret-ish feel that band could occasionally work up. Fans of the keyboard trio will probably want to give these a listen, just don’t expect something like a “Tarkus” and you might find some enjoyment in these.

Rush – Montreal Forum 4/9/83 (aud DVD)

This is one of two consecutive shows given audience recording treatment, the other being from the 8th and as I look at my notes and lists, I seem to remember watching that one once, but don’t remember what I thought of it. I think I’ve got to be in the mood for Rush to really appreciate them as they tend to interfere with the more jazz-oriented, swinging, funky side of my musical tastes. I saw the band, first, in 1986, this dates back to, I believe, the Signals tour, given the number of tracks played from it, in fact that might be part of the issue, I REALLY have to be in the mood for Rush to dig Signals, which is an album I liked a whole heck of a lot as a young ‘un (an old friend of mine and I both remember the very day I bought it on cassette from Tower). So I was kinda just hanging in there through most of this, definitely not a bad audience shot and everything sounds reasonable and watchable, I just wasn’t moved a whole lot. I do remember thinking that the Police must have had a pretty big impact on the band for Signals.

This Heat – Out of Cold Storage (box set)

ReR make beautiful box sets, in fact I’ve been pulling out Art Bears albums of late, a band I’m not all that inclined towards, just to see if I can get used to them enough to grab the box set. This Heat on the other hand have always been one of my favorites from this corner of the musical world, their concentration on atmospheres and drones appeals quite a bit to my ambient side and I like quite a few of their songs. I didn’t notice a major sonic upgrade from the old versions, but it was fun to hear the few ephemeral releases I hadn’t heard yet, even if most of, say, Repeat is pretty tedious. Maybe the Health & Efficiency EP was the biggest surprise, but I didn’t hear anything else in the box that tops their second and best “Deceit.” The box set also includes one of the biggest booklets I’ve seen, comparable in some ways to something like the Miles Davis box sets in detail, in fact it almost felt like putting another book on my list to consider reading it. A great job from what I could tell, though, with some long interviews (or maybe just one big one).

Delaunay Boffo Coppin – Deboco

This came out to some small acclaim in the French symphonic rock scene in the late 90s, combining the talents of labelmates Jean-Pascal Boffo on guitar and Giles (or Gilles? or something else?) Coppin on keys from Halloween with drummer Eric Delaunay who released a fairly obscure progressive rock album called Antagonisme in the 80s. The results just don’t really do much for me and I’ve returned to the album several times as I enjoy work from all three artists. Definitely in that classic French 90s sound, along with the above you might count Minimum Vital, Tiemko and Edhels along with the similarities, a bright brassy, very digital feel. I’d say an 8 probably fits it OK, but time’s up on keeping it.

Macabre –  New York 3/24/01 (video)

I’m surprised a band like Macabre exists given the fact they’ve carved out a niche within a niche, they’re death metal for sure, but death metal with a morbid sense of humor, creating lyrics based on various murderers. Sinister Slaughter is generally consider an old school classic, although it’s one that didn’t impress itself too much on me, given that it’s difficult to understand lyrics in this format on one hand and that their songs are generally short, not quite tech, not quite standard, and usually unmemorable. Still it’s hard to fault the talent of the lead guitarist and vocalist who sings and plays some rather tricky stuff without missing much of a beat, even if his weird guitar solos often leave me wondering whether they’re genius or accident. Entertaining overall and a little off the beaten path, it’s probably a good thing it was about 40 minutes.

Joanna Newsom – The First Unitarian Church Sanctuary, Philadelphia 11/16/06 (video)

It’s taken me a little while to check out Newsom’s music, and clearly a lot as been said around the net about her extremely idiosyncratic style, but where I was expecting something related to indie rock, I ended up watching a virtuoso harpist and band play a unique blend of folk music, classical sophistication and modern song stylings. Vocally she reminds me quite a bit of a nascent Alanis Morrisette although a Morrisette infected by some old Appalachian folk singer. It’s clear she’s a prodigy and while I was warned about her voice, which must have spawned from the fact she hadn’t started singing until recently, I found her style to be warm and intimate. Her harp playing is another matter, it at least seems masterful, an adjective I’m hesitant to use being that I can count the harpists I know on one hand. But this is skill, just watching her two hands, as independent as a good drummer’s, play counter melodies and rhythms, often changing or doubling tempos within an overall 4 beat itself, was mesmerizing. It’s kind of baffling she has the popularity she does, although her combination of accessible songcraft with virtuoso musicianship is a rare one. I was surprised to hear she grew up in Nevada City, a town less than an hour from where I live where I used to visit once or twice every summer as a teenager, hell, I’d have guessed the Appalachian part without hearing her had I just known that. :D Anyway, on the other side there’s maybe a touch of the formal and classical, I know at about 30 minutes into this 90 minute show I was thinking about saving the last hour for later, but the harping on a microcosmic level (not to mention the fine camera work) was the overall tip of the balance. It’s easy to see what the fuss is, plus the band’s mellow and celtic enough to possibly appeal to a more conservative generation, provided they can get past the vocals. I can imagine, having heard the album in its entirety on this, that I’d probably give it a 10 and have it stick. Was interested to hear Newsom was a big Nabokov fan as well, something that if not obviously from the lyrics, isn’t a surprise given the lyrics intricate and interesting wordplay. Quite a talent here…