It is unforgivable that an absolute icon like Holdsworth did not have the money to pay the cab that took him to the hospital where eventually he passed on.
............... Amon Duul "Archangel's Thunderbird" from the first double set rules.
But make sure you stay away from the commune "band" Amon Duul. I have their lp set "Disaster" and its exactly that. |
The UK private press scene is an interesting one. Lps were mostly limited to 99 press since anything over that faced taxing.(The straight folk ones were pressed in greater numbers - 300 to 500.) Here folk music holds sway, but there are some rock/prog ones to be found:
CIRCUS -ONE Can you think of any earlier prog UK private?
BODKIN -SAME origionally came without a cover. Later an ex-manager devised a wrap-around cover
ENGLAND -SAME (not early -this is ’76, and not strictly prog. More towards heavy guitar rock. This has nothing to do with the "Garden Shed" band. good lead guitar, maybe 500 pressed.
PEGGY’S LEG -GRINILLA say no more, great lp (Apparently "Grinilla" is some Victorian book. I’m guessing this as I collects old book illustrations - or at least photocopies of said - and there is a beaut for a book of this title.)
SINDELFINGEN -ODGIPIG puissant time changes, complex shit. One of those you either hate or like. If you like Comus -and who doesnt? - Sammmmmy ventures to say, this is for you.
DON BRADSHAW LEATHER -2lp set R.G. Godfrey of Enid
WHITSUNTIDE EASTER - they usually call this folk with a symphonic bent. Not so sure the prog part is that evident. Really its basically a Dutch band who recorded this in UK. (Clear UK-sound with many an English-articulate Dutch band? Opo, Sunforest,....)
CHARGE-SAME wow! Here is a great stoned heavy prog guitar lp. Like a hard Hendrix. Wah-wah and guitar echoing.Primative. Vocalist that goes from screaming to melancholy. A sidelong track "Child of Nations". What else could you ask for? Origionally no cover. Then with white cover with "Charge" written in ink. Ive read the vocalist rated as sounding being close to the End (not the group!),ready to go hand-in-hand with Eternity. Well, to that I reply -you havent heard REAL stoned yet.Try Chico Magnetic or Mecki Mark Men. GRANNIE-SAME A goodun! Amateurish but full of surprizes, hard prog about 200 made.
ITHACA -GAME FOR ALL WHO KNOW Influenced by Moody Blues, as Sammmmmy supposes, was ALCO-THREADS OF LIFE.
SOFT SHOE -FOR THOSE ALONE why has this not yet been reissued??? progfolk
Most of these have been reissued on cd. |
I meant Amon Duul I.
(How do you edit your own posts here?) |
Well thanks a lot,richmon & mapman. Ye wet blankets.
Right off the bat you certainly put the kibosh on my thread.
|
I collect Brittany folk. (I have maybe 15 different Stivell lps.) Also French bands like Malicorne which sound like they could come from the north.
... Epidaurus is DUAL-keys, mainly instrumental (with some mere 5 minutes of female-voice vocalizing.)One side is sequencer-driven, making it sound Berlin electronics school-ish.
The second lp (CD) released some 20 years later - first lp was 1977 - is a let-down.
By the way, I always mix-up Epidaurus with another German prog band, Epidermis "Genius of Origional Force", which is much better prog and one of the very few bands influenced by Gentle Giant.)
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Don't call anyone "dude". Its disrespectful and low talk. |
FROB-SAME '71 all-instrumental heavy guitar/organ tour-de-force with exploito feel to it,sort like Blue Phantom. Also reminds of Deep Purple, Frumpy and Ache
EXIL.
This reminds me of the Swiss(?) group EXIT-SAME. A super lp with
real "German" sound on the English vocals.
Although the vocalist is not near as bad as on Tyburn Tall, some
might find him too quirky/emotive/amateurish. (But I LOVE that
style of vocalist.)
The lp starts off with about 20 seconds of guitar taken just about
straight from Who's Pinball Wizard"! Great synth sound on this lp too.
...
TRITONUS two lps in the ELP-school (also from Germany like: Triloy,
Triumvirat, Rejoice, Sixty-Nine, Tetragon/Trikolon, Amos Key) Not too origional but good nonetheless.
...............
get down boy!
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POHJANTAHTI - SAME (Finland)
Your at once thrown into some North Eurasian shamanistic
mindfeck, beating your great keure elk-skin drum, yelping chants,
singing runes,casting incantations up onto the Aurora Borealised Lapp
tundra.
6 members - bassist and psychedelic guitar from Piirpauke, churchy
organ (doesnt come in till halfway into lp), piano, percussion, sax,
clarinet, Irish harp , what sounds very much like trad Finn kantele,
you even get a short bit of kazoo played as if it were trumpet!
its a '86 release -although it sounds very seventies.
This lp is balls to the ground all the way,at the flip of a coin
turning from somber almost Accadian folk music to wild, irreverent
psych (where they are obviously enjoying themselves).
Just what is this? Wyrd psychfolk? World music?-but from some ancient
level, music totally desensitized to trhe modern age.
Think Atman, or the weird imp-ish vocal histrionics of that Latvian
(Estonian?) group that starts with the letter "I".(yeah, you have no idea cos your an audiofool.)
Parts of this have yours truely feeling like he is drugged and sleepily,
slowly falling down some demon-faced shaft -or have I been
playing too much Tomb Raider game on the PC of late?
Get savage. Get pagan.
You NEED to hear this.
Get down boy!
|
CWT - THE HUNDRED WEIGHT
An aggressive brass section has no place in hardrock?
Think again.
This '73 lp with its Sabbathy bass riffage and gruff Sen.Alex/Rod
Steward vocalist steamrolls over you, lays about your ass like
grapeshot/ blackbriarroot-cudgel whomping.
Is Ohrwaschl record label a division of Munich's Kuckuck? (Its on
both.) Anyways, UK'ers going heavy Kraut whiteboy Motown funksoul
heavy.
Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham.
They deem it heavyprog, but I dont see much prog here -maybe
on the track or two where the flute is present instead of the driving
horns.
Not sure if you can even call this proto.
Dont know -mebbe think Heaven (the UK group, not US), Colosseum...
Anyone for Minnesota, Fresh start, White Chocolate?
........
GET DOWN BOY! |
GOBLIN - BACK TO THE GOBLIN (2005)
Afraid not.
Not back to the prog of "Baga..", nor the fusion jabs of "Suspira".
And if we have the hardrock of "Roller", its a mellowed hard muted
with programmed melody.
In a word or two: utterly predictable composition.
When it comes to this cd, you CANNOT say that it takes repeated
resolve to get your ears around it.
Sure ,it sounds okay first listen, but you just know that when you
can see the next note coming throughout the cd, it bodes poorly for
longevity. First go will be pleasant, but there's no reasonably
drawnout shelflife to this - its bound to be downhill from the first
listen.
Its basically that tired old school of layering of basic simple short
compositions on each other to give the sham of complexity. Start
dissecting and this falls apart quickly.
The worse culprit here is track number 5. Wallace deems Yanni would
be content with playing this. Think composition along the lines of
Tangerine Dream "Melrose" or "Rockoon". Oh yeah -return of the rather noxious "pig-squeal" guitar. How come you didnt really notice
that tone of guitar in the 70s prog - or did you? (Oldfield for one
had a bit of it in him.) Is it because the old pig-squeal sounds
ridiculous when put alongside truely psychedelic, unhinged playing?
|
Cummon then!
EVEN on an audiofool forum I figure there must be a handful of prog aficionados.
Affirm yourself, by gum!
I did not set up this thread merely to hear myself jawing. Lets have some of YOUR reviews.
|
COGWHEEL - SIGHTSOUND
Guitarist Paul Vincent Gunia of Missus Beastley,Subject ESQ,Niagara,
Motherhood and Hallelujah.
Great foc art hinting at Middle East-sound.
So...i had high hopes for this.
Big letdown though. No Middle East -sound. Pedestrian compositions. Maybe think Sky or Blonker -no, not
Blonker.Wouldn't wish Blonker on anyone.
'78 private press (Hastings). This lp was never commercially
released, but was put out as a promotional vehicle for a glasses
company called Optyl. (One of the three figures on the front cover is
sporting glasses suspended off the edge of his hat!)
First track is promising with backwards drum and what sounds like
mellotron. Sort of Harmonia-ish.
Some strings on the lp.
Dual electric guitars. Acoustic.
Flute. Keys.
Dismal, robotic drumming.
10 short and simple tracks.
........................
BIB SET - IT WASN'T MEANT TO HAPPEN
Where have you been all of my life??
This has just been propelled to the top of my wantlist. Good luck in snagging a copy though - its one of the three rarest Swedish 70s prog lps .
Sounds like Hansson & Karlsson (only the drummer is
more interesting than Karlsson.) '69 lp by a trio. The name comes from one of the members: Bjorn
Ingvar Bjornsson. Mainly lazy vocals are in good English. Insane drumming spills over churning, wailing organ mayhem. You can
hear this music is coming out of R'n'Bs. The organist does those
jerky organ jabbing moves like Bo, or Spencer Davis Group.
Just a touch of guitar -not much. Invigorating.
Indispensible.
Why lick a toad's back when you can get instant high off this?
|
dillinger - don't lie to the band
'76 Toronto rock/prog.Their second effort. Some similarity on guitar to fellow Daffodil labelmates, Foot In
Cold Water. Sammmmmy noted the flute on one track sounds exactly like that on the
first Hunt lp. Since Hunt were also on Daffodil ,it had to be no
coincidence. Indeed, I later learned, half the band became The
Hunt.
Where it differs from FICW or The Hunt, is that its more organ-
orientated. (Also there is mellotron, harpsichord.)
Side one is marred by a ballad. The cover of The Beatles' "Taxman" is
nothing to write home about but the cover of Spooky Tooth's "Munchkin
Men" (from "The Mirror") is quite adequate.
The slow start is salvaged by the second side of the lp which is
solid with 3 longish tracks - one of which, what with the vocal
harmonies and organ, reminds of the band Gypsy.I had this lp in the 80's and, despite the striking silver and
black foc art, traded it off. Heard it again now and then, and wasn't
too impressed.
Now, on revisit,I've come to the decision its a keeper.Either I'm mellowing or certain lps take a while to appreciate.
Late growers and all that.
Persevere and you might grow to enjoy it, but then again you just
might prove yourself correct in your origional valuation.
|
Mapman said: "Fireballet...now that’s one I wish I still had "
Sammmmmmy has trade copy of both lps. Vinyl is in m- shape ,but bear in mind that both lps were released on the shabby, low quality Passport label |
Japanese bands with some touch of Canterbury-mimicking:
Pochakaite Malko
Bondage Fruit Happy Family
|
ZOG - DO ZE FUNKIE WIF ME '79 Dutch private. After Het Pandora Ensemble. (Later Grin)
Didnt do that much for Sammmmmy, likely down to fact there is basically
no keys and I am no big fan of King Crimson post-Red
guitar. Probably would have taken it in better had the production not
been so poor. Seems to be live concert.
Deranged vocalist is going at it all the time -and it IS a long haul.
Not much by way of instrumental relief.
|
LOST AARAAFF - SAME
What the feck?
Keiji Haino, guitarist of Fushitsusha, collaborator with Magical Power
Mako, Boris, Fred Frith and later in Sanhedolin (with member of Ruins). '71 . Indeed a "hell of screams".
Sparse - electric guitar, drums, "vocals" (in japanese), repetative
banging on the piano, some crude sax??
Haino is said to be influenced by Blue Cheer and Guru Guru but you
dont hear any of that here.
This is free jazz/noise improv. Feckin' 61 minutes of it. Feck'd if Sammmmy gonna waste any more time on this abysmal avant-shite.
First track (of three) has him sawing away on the feedback-laiden
guitar making vocalizations of a confined ape being abused/tormented
with sharp sticks. Absolutely unstructured.
Need Sammmmy say more?
Not sure if this is on the NWW list, but if it is, this is the BAD
side of the "sound".
|
"Banquet" is their only lp that is close to prog (the two tracks on side one). |
Israel band. Pretty decent. I believe there were two versions made. |
Fireballet is the bee's knees.
Creamcorn from the socket of Sammmmmmy.
2nd lp is great also - that is if you disregard the front sleeve. |
DANDELION
(Not to be confused with Canadian Daffodil label)
Beautiful logo label put out by John Peel. '69-'72:
Bridget St John - Ask Me No Questions Beau - Beau Principal Edwards Magic Theatre: Soundtrack Occasional Word Ensemble - Year of the Great Leap Sideways Gene Vincent - I’m Back and I’m Proud Siren - Siren Mike Hart - Mike hart Bleeds Medicine Head - New bottles Old Medicine Lol Coxhill - Ear Of the Beholder Siren - Strange Locomotion Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Asmoto Running Band Way We Live - Candle For Judith Medicine Head - Heavy On the Drum Beau - Creation (with members of Tractor) Bridget St John - Songs For the Gentle Man Burning Red Ivanhoe - W.W.W Supersister - To The Highest Bidder Stackwaddy - Stackwaddy David Bedford - Nurses Song With Elephants Bridget St John - Thank You For Clifford T Ward - Singer Songwriter Tractor - Tractor Kevin Coyne - Case History Stackwaddy - Bugger Off Various - There Is Some Fun Going Forward
GET DOWN BOYS!
|
Yep. "B, The Magpie" is a masterpiece. Use of woodwinds on that lp is totally unique and , I’d say, anti-US jazz. Finnish Broadcasting Co. voted it best Finnish lp of the year in ’75. Pekka’s first lp is even better.
Pekka was in Jussi & the Boys, Wigwam and for a while in the Swede group, Made in Sweden. Humor & sadness are a part of his composition.
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Wots going on here?
That's twice now that I posted on Don Shinn and twice that my post has been removed! |
EYE - CENTER OF THE SUN (2015???)
Quite good cd.
The title track starts off with a shitload of spacey whoosh,etc sound effects (but recorded poorly cos no panning as in the origional krautrock days with the artificial head). The rumbling riff from the first track off Floyd's "Meddle" lp is taken down pretty-well note-for-note. The last minute of the track reminds of Bauhaus "Bela Lugosi's Dead"!
The lyrics are cosmic - vast spaces, the sun...
Vocals elsewhere seem to be coming from something like More Soundtrack also its clear they were influenced by side 3 & 4 of "Ummagumma".
|
That would be "Mathematician's Air Display" lp. |
ARGENTINA
Argentinian 70s rock is unique to the rest of SA. Its as if Argentina were some
traumontane Shangri-La cut off from other influences.
The reason for their unique sound is obvious - the small
market. The fact that so many of these bands were inter-related or spin offs
(Almendra-Pescado Rabioso -Color Humano -Aquellare -Invisible). They all shared
similar traits. This sort of inbreeding can be seen as a bad thing, but
in this case this proved to be homogeneity of the enriching kind.
So then what makes the sound unique to Sammmmmy?
Okay, discounting a few bands like Crucis,Mia,Espiritu and Bubu, the Ital-prog
feel of ,say Brazilian prog is notably less.
Discounting the heavy exceptions like Diaz or Reloj, the defining sound is this
wondrous, soft, relaxed style of prog -or more correctly, psych.
This resides mainly in the vocals - this old hippie "laid-back
groove". The vocals are SO sincere. None of that Joplinesque ridiculous
melodramatic -prancing. Sammmmy usually prefers less vocals. Not so in the case of Argentina. The vocals here
are a pure joy. Lots of this is down to one man -Luis Spinetta. Even in the
late 70s early 80s fusion period,the vocals retain this soothing calm.(The
Spinetta Jade lps I have all come out of Brazil. Whats the story there? Did
Luis then form with Brazilian musicians?) Sammmmy's easy favorite of all South American tracks is Almendra's "Color
Humano" .(Not to be confused with the band of same name). This track
perfectly illustrates this "spaced-out in the SA. sun' laziness of vocal
style, coupled to ,at first ,that wonderful slow, dulcet electric guitar tone (reminding
of Clapton's guitar tone on some of Disraeli Gears). Then you get the
incredible wah-wah psych-out. And, of course, return back to calm. One of the
best tracks ever recorded, ANYWHERE .
Get, get DOWN boy!
|
Sadistic Mika Band sucks bigtime.
I would not call it prog either.
....
Perigeo - wotever - is not a good example of Italian fusion. Sure, its the best-known Ital fusion band - with many a lp released - but they are lame, American-sounding, slick fusion. Think shitty Weather Report. Or Casiopea/Spyro Gyra mould .
I have only one Perigeo lp in my collectro.( I think "Genealogia") |
From Canada, Sammmmy has ELECTRONIC ORCHESTRA ’80 and MYHAEL DANNA "ELEMENTS" . These are very rare lps put out on an Oakville,Ontario label (Frederic ...). The Co. was more known for putting out music scores. "Elements" is rather important since Danna ( now living in, I believe, California) has become likely the premier Canadian soundtrack composer (big bucks man). He started off doing pretty well all the Atom Agoyian films. An early US film which he scored was that Amish thing with Harrison Ford where the music is very sparse, open-country; new-agish.
"Elements" however is different . It’s his first lp -an instrumental keysprog. Electronic Orchestra has him conducting and one of the synth players was my friend Roger Humphreys ,who put out the Beyond the Gates of Slumber cd in the late 90s which sounds of Renbourn/Pentangle.
In ,as early as ’79 Roger and his group Vertigo were covering "Supper’s Ready". I have a great tape of Vertigo doing their own compositions - VERY "Trespass"-period Genesis. Electronic Orchestra is nothing to write home about -just very classical-sounding synth renditions of classical music biggies. the other rare one is the CLEMENTS AND DANNA lp, which I do not have and , last I heard, neither does Clements.
Funny how fate casts the dice: one guy lost to obscurity , the other becomes famous.
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Forgot to add - or maybe was reluctant to add: Mychael
Danna played keyboards on Rock & Roll Machine
by...errrrr... feckin' Triumph ! Foxsake!
|
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Forgot MAGMA - SAME. One of the best lps from South Korea. Hardrock. |
Cousins first lp, "2 Weeks Last Summer" has Dave writing at his height on the track ,"Blue Angel".
(I understand that at the acoustic live sets he was giving away books of his poetry) |
"People No Names" is the highly-touted lp of the Kalevala trilogy, but for Sammmmmy the ignored second lp beats it. "Abraham's Blue Refrain" is a great lp. On reading the lp title, I suppose people think that the band were turning in a blues direction and are turned off. Wrong. this is the band turning more HEAVY.
...... Strange how many serious progheads deride YES "Tormato". Okay - sure Wakiepoo's Casio-sound keys can be irritating and the production is bad on this release, but then again you have COMPOSITION like "On The silent Wings of Freedom". .................
Irene Pappas and Vangelis have the errie "Odes" lp which is an interesting listen. |
Proto prog is the bestest. So...Rare Bird first two lps are gold.
"Epic Forest" lp rather sucks except for the long track. |
Harold: here is another Finn lp that few seem to be aware of.
If you like the quieter,wide-open spaces ECM sound
AILLOHAS "SAMI EATNAN DUODDARIDD" ’78
Newage-jazzy . Reminds me maybe of the band Talisker "Land of Stone"
7 musicians including Esa Kotilainen (moog,Hammond) and "Baron" Seppo Paakkunainen (flute,sax).
A mystical lp with the haunting vocalizing of the Northern Finnish (Lappland)Sami indigenous peoples. |
Obvious one is The Nice. After O'List left.
By the way, his solo lp is excellent. |
Proto prog is where the Hammond organ comes to full bloom and has its day. Guitar is relegated to the backdoor, or not existant at all. Bands on labels like Neon were guitar-less or guitar-muted.
I just got a (duplicate) of Swegas "Child of Light". First track is a cover of Rare Bird, "Beautiful Scarlet"! (A cover of a band from the same immediate time period...and not that well-known either. Which means someone in the band had great admiration for Rare Bird.)
Of course after Graham Field and Ashton left Rare Bird, the sound changed dramatically and was guitar-prominent. More rock than prog. Still, like Sammmmmy said above, the title track from "Epic Forest" is real good. Maybe reminds of....errr.....Nektar???
I have a Polish Muza press (with complete different cover art)of the second Rare Bird. Well, mostly . This is the tracklist: sympathy down on the floor nature fruits as your mind flies by what you want to know bird on a wing hammerhead times |
Like you say,not prog but progheads' main Jimmy lp want would be "Rootdown". Also one of the rarest.
The prog-sounding lp would have to be "Peter & The Wolf" .
Smith did not use Leslies. |