mercoledì, dicembre 31, 2008
martedì, dicembre 30, 2008
S P E T T A C O L A R E!!!!Disco bellissimo (impreziosito dalla ristampa repertoire) assolutamente da sentire!!!!Ottimo heavy prog con organo e chitarre tiratissime! è da comprare!è un disco bellissimo!si inizia piano (Hobo) e si arriva lentamente al capolavoro The "Witch" seguito dal Capolavoro Pathfinder per concludere il bellezza con la cavalcata "Madame Doubtfire"...Forza!!!!ascoltate!!!!
This is one of the two best albums Beggar Opera did,it can sometimes remind me of Deep Purple and at other times Caravan or Camel. The opening track, "Hobo", is more of a commercial mainstream rock number,then a great cover of "Macarthur Park", where Beggar's Opera's version sparkles and it seems to be keyboardist Alan Park's main showcase,the title track is a major highlight and "From Shark To Haggis" where the first part has a sinister but monotonous feel and the second part consists more of a series of rock jigs. The only disappointing part of the album is however its climax is the last track starts well enough but descends into the furious and aimless playing The Mellotron, as found on Waters of Change had all but vanished. Virginia Scott (just about the only female keyboardist I know who played Mellotron) had sat this one out, so all keyboard duties were by Alan Parker. The rest of the band at this time consisted of guitarist/vocalist Ricky Gardner, bassist Gordon Sellar, vocalist Martin Griffiths (not to be confused with Martin Griffin, the on and off again drummer for Hawkwind from the late '70s to early '80s who was often wrongly named Martin Griffiths), and drummer Ray Wilson (absolutely nothing to do with the Ray Wilson who replaced Phil Collins in Genesis). The music here is pretty much early '70s song-based prog typical of the British scene of the time, dominated by the Hammond organ. You won't be mistaking this for Gentle Giant, to say the least, so this is quite an accessible album. There are just times you don't want your prog to go through a million meter changes in five minutes with as little melody as possible, there's time you want your prog to at least have some catchy and solid melodies, and this album delivers. A great example would be the opening song, "Hobo", with lyrics referring to an aging homeless man. They also do a cover of Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" (a million versions of this song exists, don't ask me why, the most famous being the hit version from actor Richard Harris back in 1968, and "Weird" Al Yankovic doing a parody of that song in 1993 called "Jurassic Park" in honor of the Spielberg movie that came out that year). Harpsichord dominates this piece, but there is a little Mellotron, and unfortunately the only cut on this album that uses it. There's a couple of sinister, occult-themed songs too, with "The Witch" and "Madame Doubtfire" that could remind you of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (without Arthur Brown's distinct vocals) or Black Widow. The title track has vocal harmonies that remind me a bit of the Byrds, but still unmistakably progressive and '70s, especially the use of guitar and Hammond organ. "From Shark to Haggis" is an odd piece. It starts off rather jazzy, then the band goes exploring their Scottish roots, turning it in to a Celtic folk jig (let's not forget "Haggis" in the song title, which is a food unique to Scotland, and most commonly served during Robert Burns Day, and I wonder if the "From Shark" bit was inspired by Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife", which was a jazzy song with lyrics referring to sharks). "Stretcher" is the album's only instrumental cut, and unfortunately, for me, is rather unremarkable, mainly dominated by Ricky Gardiner's guitar playing. The album closes with "Madame Doubtfire", which, as mentioned before, has a strong occult theme, and the song really gets wild at the end with all the screaming.
It's to my understanding that Pathfinder was Beggars Opera's last fully progressive album, although they did continue on and off again releasing albums until the beginning of the 1980s. This is a nice album to have for those who enjoy early British prog.
Link:http://link-protector.com/696593/
Beggars opera!!!
Dopo il capolavoro Pathfinder scemiamo un filo...questo 2 album sono molto belli ma direi molto diversi dal masterpiece citato prima...il primo Act one è una sorta di remake prog di molte song classiche mentre in water of... c'è un gran lavoro di mellotron, quasi assente in pathfinder (ci fu un cambio di line up...)comunque siamo ancora su livelli altissimi!!!!!
Beggars opera-act one 1970
Everytime I listen to this album I just think wow, what an excellent album, heavy guitars and extremelly classical, any classical and progressive lover should own this album, get this right away its an absolute must have!!!!!
Link: http://link-protector.com/696594/
Beggars opera-waters of change(1971)
'Waters Of Change' is possibly Beggar's Opera's finest hour'...
Link: http://link-protector.com/696595/
lunedì, dicembre 29, 2008
A blown minds masterwork. Jazz, Prog, hard, Psych, space...a must have album !!!
The suite that makes up the A-side is really neat. All in all, this is above average jazz prog, and a huge improvement since the band's debut album. Recommended.
http://link-protector.com/696589/
Splash - Splash 2 (1978)
http://link-protector.com/696590/
domenica, dicembre 28, 2008
Come il titolo non suggerisce siamo di fronte ad un disco di musica psych hard argentina!...gli 'album sono caratterizati da una complessità
piuttosto forte con molte parti strumentali di stampo pre-prog che si intervallano a pezzi cantati che invece rispecchiano i canoni della musica psych!non siamo all'eccellenza ma al di sopra della sufficenza si!
a voi!
Espíritu - Crisalida
Great prog rock album from Argentina. Crisalida was the debut LP from Espiritu, originally released in 1975 (they had a couple singles released as far back as 1973). Cover artwork is by Juan O. Gatti, same guy responsible for the Crucis album covers. This album is a wonderful, South American take on the Italian prog sound, especially of groups like PFM, Celeste, Biglietto per L'Inferno, Semiramis, etc. with some nice vocal harmonies that sometimes draw comparisons to Yes. You won't find much in the way of Latin/Spanish/South American or tango influences here, but rather of the Italian scene. It's only the vocals (which are in Spanish) that reveal that they aren't Italian. The band consisted of Carlos Goler on drums, Claudio Martinez on bass, Osvaldo Favrot on guitar and backing vocals, Fernando Berge on vocals, and Gustavo Fedel on keyboards. The music tends to the more melodic spectrum of prog, with lots of great guitar from Favrot and wonderful analog keyboards from Fedel (like Hammond organ, Mini Moog, Solina string synth, piano). The music alternates between the most acoustic-end of prog, like PFM and Celeste, and the more heavy, aggressive end like Semiramis, when Favrot uses electric. "La Casa de la Mente" starts off rather electronic, with heavy doses of string synths and Moog, before the music kicks in with that PFM-like vibe. "Polijas Virtudes del Olvido" is a short piece with more of that Italian feel. I love how Gustavo Fedel closed the song with the Mini Moog before seguing in to "Sueños Blancos, Ideas Negras". Here is some really amazing, laid-back atmospheric guitar work I never could have imagined coming from a Latin country! Then the music gets heavy in the Biglietto per L'Inferno, Semiramis, or Il Balletto manner, even the vocals tend more to the hard rock spectrum here, not unlike Il Balletto. "Sabios de Vida" is a piece alternating between more mellow passages dominated by string synths and rocking passages. "Eterna Evidencia" is an instrumental piece with Moog soloing. "Tiempo de Ideas" continues in that Italian-style of prog complete with more great use of vocals. "Hay un Mundo Cerrado Dentro Tuyo" at times brings to mind Yes' "And You and I", especially the bass work. The final cut, "Hay un Mundo Luminoso" is basically two different songs. The first dominated by Hammond organ, with almost a jazzy feel, while the second half is basically a theme repeated, first with piano, then synthesizer. Espiritu proves that prog acts out of Argentina can be up there with many of their European counterparts in terms of quality of music and production. If you didn't know that they were from Argentina, you might think they were from Europe, like Spain (or not paying attention to the vocals, Italy). This album is truly one of the best things I've ever heard from Latin America, proving to everyone there's much more to Argentina than tango. Highly recommended stuff!
http://link-protector.com/692320/
Espiritu - Libre Y Natural - 1976( psych)
http://link-protector.com/692321/
sabato, dicembre 27, 2008
Pentwater - Out Of The Abyss(usa 1976)
A 6-piece ensemble from Chicago -Illinois, in the vein of Yes, performing such a good progressive rock in the late seventies, with a touch of Gentle Giant and also a remarkable use of vocals ...They are inferior than for example Babylon, Mirthrandir or Yezda Urfa, regarding of such derivative bands performing in the same period, but anyway this album is very interesting!! Recommended!!
1:http://link-protector.com/692312/
2:http://link-protector.com/692313/
Polestar 1 - Flying Thru the Universe(usa??? 1980)
venerdì, dicembre 26, 2008
giovedì, dicembre 25, 2008
Open Sky Unit - Open Sky Unit 1974 bel jazz fusion
This is really great!! A unknown jazz-fusion album recorded in Belgium with an extraordinary singer and electric piano player (Ron Wilson), a beautiful young lady (Micheline Pelzer) playing drums (vividly!), her father in saxophones and her uncle in electric bass giving beautiful solos... Definitely a surprise, only the recording sound is a bit deficient, but the live gig is magical by the way... Here's some great stuff for modern soul-jazz lovers (Zero 7, Jazzanova, Gilles Peterson is listening?)!
http://link-protector.com/692300/
Laurelie - Laurelie (1973 prog)
mercoledì, dicembre 24, 2008
Vi propongo questi 2 album provenienti dalla porzione "inglese" del Canada, sono molto buoni anche se non trascendentali ma vi garantisco chi il risultato sarà apprezzato!!!
Symphonic Slam - Symphonic Slam(1976)
Canadian band formed in Toronto. This, their debut was a pretty decent slice of 70s space rock/prog, with a funky groove.
The band was; Timo Laine-360 systems polyphonic guitar synth/vocals, David Stone-Keyboards/background vocals, John Lowry-Drums/background vocals.
This LP was hailed as being one of the 1st ever guitar synthesizer albums. Timo Laine helps give this a very dark and ominous presence at times, and there are some very original and unique sounds happening here.
Keyboard player, David Stone is an incredibly talented player in his own right, and is classically trained. He went on to replace Tony Carey in 'Rithcie Blackmore's Rainbow'. Hard to believe this is the same guy that later played on 'Rainbow' classics like 'Long Live Rock and Roll' and 'Kill the King', but it's really him!
Sometimes it may be hard for the average listener to distinguish between Timos guitar synth, and Davids Keyboards.
I was fortunate enough to see Symphonic Slam on three different occasions in Toronto, and I've always felt that David Stone could have made at least one really good solo album.
Each live show they performed, David would go into a 20 minute solo, displaying his massive keyboard arsenal, and his vituosity. Very much in the same vein as Rick Wakeman.
On this LP he almost takes back seat to Timo, which is understandable.
This is sounding like a David Stone review, Sorry Timo!
Synphonic Slam's music was much better live back in 1976, than on this album.
Anyways, these guys made some pretty good music together, and though it may not come close to many other prog bands achievments, it's still worth checking out.
http://link-protector.com/298350/
Symphonic Slam - Timo SS II (1978)
(as Timo Laine - Symphonic Slam)
http://link-protector.com/298351/
martedì, dicembre 23, 2008
Oggi vi posto queste band che credo siano entrambe spagnole(ovviamente in giro info ce ne sono poche...anche se poco ho cercato!)...niente di superbo ma personalmente hanno fatto passare buoni momenti !
Banana - Aún es tiempo de soñar(Arg 1979)
http://link-protector.com/675874/
Abedul - Nosotros(1979)
lunedì, dicembre 22, 2008
Ancora un capolavoro proveniente dalla svezia...so di non essere imparziale ma credo che questa mia imparzialità ve la stia trasmettendo piano piano anche a voi!!!
vi posto questi 2 dischi che secondo me sono spettacolari e piacerannno un po' a tutti, sia i progster più incalliti sia quelli che amano anche "divagazioni" sul tema progressive!!!sono assolutamente consigliati!!!!
Fläsket Brinner - Fläsket Brinner (masterpiece swe heavy prog 1971)
Mindblowingly intense progressive jazz rock from Sweden. There are times the music just won't let up, with wild organ and guitar work, with sax and flute. Bo Hansson makes an appearence to, and the band also consisted of flautist/keyboardist Sten Bergman and saxist Gunnar Bergsten, who both appeared on Bo Hansson's own albums. While Hansson's albums tended to be much more relaxed and often went more for atmosphere, Fläsket Brinner went the more aggressive approach. You'll also hear a theme from Hansson's Lord of the Rings somewhere in this album. For a debut album, it's a little strange it would be recorded live (recorded in 1970), but it's more than well-worth it. The album was originally released on Silence (the Swedish label that gave us Bo Hansson, Samla Mammas Manna, and Älgarnas Trädgård). Great stuff that's really deserving of a proper CD reissue (Silence, do something). It's only available as a rare LP (but I have a CD-R, with its technical glitches). Great stuff that too few people heard of.
Link: http://link-protector.com/675862/
Fläsket Brinner-Fläsket+ (The Swedish Radio Recordings 1970-72-75)
domenica, dicembre 21, 2008
Bijelo dugme - Bitanga i princeza(1979)
http://link-protector.com/301616/
Bijelo dugme - Doživjeti stotu 1980
http://link-protector.com/301610/
sabato, dicembre 20, 2008
Among all the albums by Kaipa, perhaps this is the most balanced one, very close to some of the solo works by Roine Stolte, without particular excesses and with a good taste as well...instead after this experience Roine began to explore new music fields, also within the jazz progressive style, but with controversial results. It's difficult to indicate such a particular song inside,however this stuff resumes the best music ideas, then taken again by "The Flower Kings", in a remarkable way,(even though sometimes -in other circumstances-you will find some less inspiring compositions), as referred rightly to the early material by Roine. "The Flower Kings" indeed performed such good and less good albums, so that for this reason alone, I should prefer listening to a good part of the early albums by Kaipa, than those ones by F.K. (with a few exceptions only)...
Make your choice!!
http://link-protector.com/672104/
Kaipa - Solo (1978)
The third release from KAIPA and maybe their most complete work. Roine Stolt delivers here his great potential of composing and playing. Wonderful and colorful progressive recording, honest and well done. The first track Den skrattande grevinnan or in english the laughing countess, is the best from here, you could see haw easy they play, great ideas, well played. It's a shame that the later Kaipa albums don't reach the same value like this one or previous one from '76, but we have Solo and that is enough to erase the uninspired albums from nowadays of this scandinavian band. 4 stars recommended.
1:
http://link-protector.com/672105/
http://link-protector.com/672106/
venerdì, dicembre 19, 2008
Sensory System - Sensory System(1974 hard psych-blues)
the music is great. once again sounds like a group of young kids having fun.
but they can obviously play their instrument.
1:http://link-protector.com/675869/
2:http://link-protector.com/675870/
Agathorn - Agathorn(1980 prog)
1:http://link-protector.com/675871/
2:http://link-protector.com/675872/
giovedì, dicembre 18, 2008
1:http://link-protector.com/675864/
2:http://link-protector.com/330326
The Next Morning - The Next Morning(1971 hard rock blues)
The Next Morning was a Philadelphia based band, with their roots in the Caribbean. The album is a great mix of rock and funk, with some fantastic playing from guitarist Bert Bailey.The title track, "Stone Age"' and "A Jam of Love" are all great tracks. The cd has been reissued by the great Sundazed label. Definitely recommended.
http://link-protector.com/330322/
mercoledì, dicembre 17, 2008
Come presupporrete dal titolo stiamo nello spazio profondo!i nostri eroi si dilettano a trovare un interessante mix tra sonorità jazzy e quelle più tipiche del prog spaziale...dal mio punto di vista lavoro compiuto! Comunque approcciatevi con un orecchio privo di preconcetti altrimenti non lo apprezzerete a dovere!
German band similar to Tangerine Dream. : Johannes Lütz (Moog, organ), Holst Seisert (synthesizers, electric piano, effects), Reinhard Karwatky (synthesizers, percussion, organ).
Link:http://link-protector.com/672111/
Elfenbein - Made in Rock(great kraut-hard rock 1977)
Ottimo disco, forse non vicinissimo agli standard del krautrock ma piuttosto a quelli dell'hard rock classico (incluso il cantto in inglese)...ci sono canzoni molto cariche con assolo molto tirati e altri con piacevoli melodie che sembrano solo accarezzate dal vento...consigliato!!!
Link:http://link-protector.com/672112/
martedì, dicembre 16, 2008
The music - nothing here is going to shock anybody, but this is great vintage prog, very quirky, mostly based on guitar and saxophone with lashings of keyboard and flute. German vocals sound jarringly poppy at times - this may take a few listens to get into!! This was their only release as Talix - they renamed themselves Pinguin and released a real nice keyboard-based album called "Der Grosse Rote Vogel"
Link: http://link-protector.com/672098/
Sparifankal - Bayern - Rock (1970-good kraut)
Link:http://link-protector.com/672099/
Energit - Energit (1974 krautjazz)
Link:http://link-protector.com/672100/
lunedì, dicembre 15, 2008
Band with similar style like Renaissance or Novalis. Members: Marcus Egger (vocals), Anne Dierks (vocals), Annette Schmalenbach (vocals), Mario Schaub (flute, clarinet, sax, vocals), Dirk Schmalenbach (violin, piano, synthesizers, sitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals), Hans Fritzsch (guitars), Michael Dierks (organ, piano, clavinet, string ensemble, vocals), Michael Claren (bass, vocals), Hans Müller (drums, percussion), Emil Wirth (congas).
Link:http://link-protector.com/672101/
Eden - Perelandra(kraut-1980)
link: http://link-protector.com/672102/
Eden - Heimkehr (1981krautrock)
domenica, dicembre 14, 2008
Non me la sento di parlare di kraut rock puro (basta sentire la prima traccia per rendersene conto!)ovviamente gli influssi e le influenze sono quelle ma c'è una anima meno sperimentale e più rilassata! a voi!
HARLIS was founded by ex-JANE bassist Charly Maucher. He was soon joined by another JANE member Wolfgang Krantz after his first post JANE act ANTARES. Drums were handled by Werner Löhr who claims early membership of the SCORPIONS. The HARLIS album was the debut release on the now renowned Sky label. Krantz later created EFENDI'S GARDEN whilst Maucher rejoined JANE. WOLFGANG KRANTZ issued a solo album in 1999 'Kreuz Und Quer' that included Löhr. Maucher guested on Canadian act DR. GLUE's 'Too Hot For The Mouse' album. Schulz later joined fellow Hannover act the FREEWAY BAND.
Link: http://link-protector.com/672095/
Harlis - Night Meets the Day(1976)
Link:http://link-protector.com/672096/
sabato, dicembre 13, 2008
Link: http://link-protector.com/670570/
Cardeilhac - Cardeilhac(1972-heavy prog)
Link: http://link-protector.com/670571/
Pacific Sound - Forget Your Dream(psych prog)
Cool trippy LP originally released in 1972 on the Swiss 'Splendid' label, which also
released LP's by other obscure prog/psych bands like 'After Shave' and 'Country Lane'.The band lineup consisted of Chris Meyer (vocals), Mark Treuthardt (guitar, bass), Diego Lecci (drums) and Roger Page (keyboards). The album features great organ and guitar passages as well as some really manic vocals by Chris Meyer, what a freak!The original pressing of this great LP is almost impossible to find, and if you're lucky enough to find one, be prepared to spend upwards of $1,000 US or more!It was re-issued on vinyl back in 1989 by 'Splendid', and they even re-did the gatefold cover. Though the picture on the back cover is black and white. (the original Splendid release was in colour). The re-issue vinyl includes the pre-LP 45 singles as well. One of them, 'The Drug Just Told Me' is a cool tune.This album was also recently re-issued on CD by the folks at the 'Long Hair' label, and contains three bonus tracks from their singles.
Link:
http://link-protector.com/670572/
venerdì, dicembre 12, 2008
Oggi vi propongo un po' di roba svizzera!!!per la verità nulla di superbo ma tanto sano divertimento! un po' di livello sono i Flame dream(ascoltateli se amate le influenze "Genesis"), un po' più "rock duro" sono gli aftershave! assolutamente da ascoltare la traccia "If Your Soul Is Uncultivated" dei pacific sound.
dategli un ascolto!
Flame Dream - Out in the Dark(1980)
Swiss band similar to Eloy or Anyone's Daughter.
Peter Furrer (drums), Roland Ruckstuhl (keyboards), Urs Hochuli (bass, guitars), Peter Wolf (voice, woodwinds).
...maybe the best progressive album from swissland, before of marillion,iq or pendragon,flame dream had already invented the neo-progressive rock,if you liked genesis circa"duke" album or kayak,buy this album!
Link:http://link-protector.com/670566/
http://link-protector.com/670567/
giovedì, dicembre 11, 2008
Kamaleon - Kamaleon (1978 jazz prog)
http://link-protector.com/672109/
mercoledì, dicembre 10, 2008
http://link-protector.com/670561/
Lutha - Lutha (1972)
Almost entirely acoustic, bright and sometimes beautiful music, not very progressive though with some touches of keyboards. "Then I Saw Her Face" with its 60's feeling (somewhat like famous "I'm A Believer" but much better) is my favourite song here, energetic and memorable.
http://link-protector.com/670562/