| Eloy's debut album is one of Germany's 70's heavy weights and one of my personal favs. This stonker of an album captures the wonderful underground 70's krautrock magic, clearly standing up though as a very different sounding Eloy than subsequent album would prove for sure. Like so many great 70's German prog recordings, Eloy's debut album was produced by …..yes you guessed it Conrad Plank. The overall sound is dark and deep with a heavy focus on electric guitar and percussion. From this albums original lineup, 3 of the 5 would stay behind to work on subsequent albums and retain the core of ELOY….Frank Bornemann (Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion), Manfred Wieczorke (Guitar, Bass, Vocals) and Wolfgang Stöcker (Bass) with Erich Schriever (Lead Vocals, Keyboards) and Helmuth Draht (Drums) exiting after recording this masterpiece. Lead vocalist Erich Schriever has actually a great tock voice and adds that extra rough sound which adorns this album. Songs are exploratory and full of great 70's instrumentation with loads of wild guitar solos and great percussive sounds. Their overall sounds is quite heavy and does not yet introduce the space sound Eloy became associated with but I put this album in a different category and think of it as Eloy MK2. I only wish Eloy had recorded a few more albums with this lineup….brilliant stuff.. | |||
| Years ago I first listened to Spectral Mornings and can distinctly remember being totally absorbed into this album. Many years later I look back on this album with kind ears and still consider this to be one of his greatest moments in the recording studio. Spectral Mornings is a very fitting title for this gem with music very suiting to the concept. Hackett gives us a little taste of everything from the progressive roots of "Everyday" and "Spectral Mornings" to the acoustic ditty "Lost Time In Cordoba" and the Japanese samurai sounds of "The Red Flower Of Tachai Blooms Everywhere" and an entertaining British ragtime piece, "The Ballad Of The Decomposing Man. Hackett is helped out by Pete Hicks on vocals, Dick Cadbury on bass, brother John Hackett on flute (as on the two previous solo LP's), John Shearer on drums, and excellent keyboard work throughout by Nick Magnus. Overall a superbly crafted album of the highest order and I would call this a desert island contender. Essential | |||
| I guess if there was 1 album to totally represent the quintessential Canterbury progressive rock album of all times one would have to look to "In The Land Of Grey & Pink". David Sinclair's wandering keyboard solo's dominate this album with it's wild collection of prog, jazz and psychy elements. Of course the most talked about Caravan track "Nine Feet Underground" (22 Mins) epic track adorns the second side of this masterpiece . Once again Genesis' producer David Hitchcock was brought in to engineer this album with Caravan (so too was Waterloo Lily). What I still find amazing is that at the time of release (1971) this album did not ever reach any mentionable UK or USA chart position, unlike neighboring albums like Tull's Aqualung (4), Soft Machine's 3rd (18) or Crimson's Larks Tongues In Aspect (20). The funny thing is that I personally rate "In The Land Of Grey And Pink" in the same lustrous light as those other great albums. In fact I read somewhere that only last year this album finally reached gold status! Without a question the first few Caravan albums are killer prog rock and need to be in your collection. | |||
| Brainticket were among the important pioneers of early psychedelic and spaced out cosmic releases Cottonwoodhill, Psychonaut & of course Celestial Ocean. Brainticket is actually the brainchild of Joel Vandroogenbroeck of Switzerland with other musicians taking part on different albums. On Celestial Ocean Joel is joined by Carole Muriel with her cosmic voice and Barney Palm (Percussion). Music is really early Krautrock mixed with a fair amount of analog and spacey keyboards. Songs definitely explore the outer reaches of your mind with some pretty trippy moments all around. Instrumentation is also quite varied with loads of NASA-like space sound bites and some great percussion. This excellent space journey now can be yours thanks for the folks at Purple Pyramid Records who have released this gem for the first time on CD.....A journey of a lifetime
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| Here is one of the most under-rated Caravan album of all time and is one of my personal favs. St. Dunstan's is a lesson in the prog Cantebury school of music really with some wonderful song writing. I think unfortunately the highest this album ever made it on the charts was something like 50 (UK) and never was really regarded as a classic Caravan album for some bizzare reason. Lineup juggles included Mike Wedgwood (Curved Air) on the bass/congas , Pye Hasting's wonderful guitar/voice , the lovely flute and viola of Geoff Richardson and the organ, moog, clavinet of Jan Schelhaas. Songs are quite soulful actually with some great deep song writing and complex musicianship throughout. When the band really gets groovin' their music actually reaches a semi-funk groove while holding onto a very much overriding Cantebury style. Brilliant music which really progresses…… | |||
| Now this is a fine little recording my friends……Cafeine's "Nouveaux Mondes" is a superbly well crafted album blending an original musical prowess with a brilliant technical expressionism. Songs are well conceived with loads of dynamic mood and tempo changes and are delivered with great emotion. Although their music is quite sophisticated and electrically charged, they maintain a high degree of control never sounding "over the top". Instrumentally speaking this 4 member band are simply killer with great guitar, keyboard, bass and drum interplay. Hard to peg these guys down as their music draws from so many different influences, but perhaps one could draw parallels to Ange, Liquid Tension Experiment, Visible Wind and King Crimson all wrapped into one. Cafeine's music is meaty with some grand time signature changes and musical phrasing. | |||
| Now here is one of Canada's heavy stonkers from the late 60's and IMHO an essential piece of Canadian prog history. Nucleus were the pre-cursor to "A Foot In Coldwater" with Hugh Leggat on the guitars and Danny Taylor on the drum kit. Nucleus' music is quite 70's sounding with characteristic jabbing warblie hammond keyboards (aka Deep Purple), Hendrix'ish driving guitars with cleverly accentuated bass and complex drumming throughout. I must personally thank Mr. Paul Leask for putting me onto this essential little album from the archives. Their music is imaginative , full of aroma and contains some real trippy heavy riffs all while sustaining some great melodies. Vocals are excellent and are sung with great emotion and expression. Wickedly essential music.....
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| "...Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space...." Right from the opening moments of this album we are introduced to a highly cerebral metaphysical world of surreal sound…uncompromising and innovative. Opening melody of this album hits the listener right off with an allusion to Pacabel's "Canon" in an ethereal number titled "Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space". I will admit that I have always been a fan of "Spacemen 3" and Spiritualized and certainly this album must be given a spotlight from this music lover. Their music that is both raw and graceful (and as always quite spacey) & lyrically touches on Pierce's favourite 3 topics ….love, heroin and music. On this album we find Spiritualized incorporating a vast array of finely tuned session musicians and instrumentation.
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| Several years ago I was travelling on a vacation through the UK when I discovered this little gem. As I recall this album clearly stuck in my mind as for weeks I was humming and singing songs from this album….especially "Magical Machine Gun" and "Great Hosannah". Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts is a wonderful collage of Eastern, 70's and modern rock elements. Complete with drums, tabla, electric guitar, trumpets, trombone, hammond and Faffisa organs, bamboo flute, bagpipes all put to some great raga-like songs, This radical album will simply freak you out with great varied instrumentation, melodies and lyrics. An album very hard to peg down as it hits so many different musical tones. Without a question Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts is a personal desert Island choice and is a Pickering Festi-Fave!. | |||
| For those who are deep into the world of electronic music will likely recognize the name Deuter who released some simply mind bending electronica in the early 70's. Land Of Enchantment is Deuter's 10th album and as you would expect combines acoustic instruments and synthesizers in his customarily skillful fashion reaching some other worldly experiences. "Maui Morning" is one of those deep bright inspirational songs which has filled my heart with music. Deuter's music is colorful and relaxed offering some thoughful musical passages and clever use of the electronics never sounding too "Teckie- electronikie". Deuter delivers light, well textured spacey songs with flutes, bells, whistles, acoustic guitars and extensive use of wild nature sounds. | |||
| I have always held a certain spot in my heart for the music of Caravan and none come so finer as their debut album. Opening Cantebury classic "Place Of My Own" remains to this day one of my most beloved tracks. Tragically Caravan's first album is far too oft overlooked in their discography and in most cases forgotten completely. Songs on this album carry an early Cantebury-psychedelic edge to them with some great organ sweeps , guitar , bass and drumming. Richard Sinclair's vocals are choice with some great vocal harmonies and pure sounding voice. | |||
| As far a classic albums go I have to put Love's "Forever Changes" on my personal favourite list for so many reasons. Call it psychedelic, mod, pop, folk or prog….your choice….I call it brilliant. This album has been under the magnafine glass for some time and is really only now being discovered by a new generation for its genius. IMHO few albums were able to catch the deep spirit Love managed to on "Forever Changes" delivering tonal strangeness with melodic beauty. Most songs have symphonic orchestration (strings, brass….) juxtaposed over Arthur Lee's acoustic melodies and instrumentation. Songs really play on 2 different levels…soft wave-like melodies and on the other dark concept reaching album. In both cases this album delivers a highly well thought out album with complex song writing which flows through your ears with extreme ease. In discussions and essays I have read over the years, this album was written and recorded to represent Lee's requiem and final statement to society. After all the smoke cleared "Forever Changes" represented one of the most influential albums of this era and in many ways represented a mantra for the mood of the day. Rhino records have carefully remastered this classic album on CD with a nifty little book and handy - dandy packaging and is in my opinion an essential album in your collection. | |||
| I guess if I could only take a few albums with me to my grave then "Friday Night In San Francisco" may be one of the necessities. This "classic" brings 3 of the world's most talented acoustic guitar giants together for one magical evening where emotion, talent and chemistry just clicked to perfection. The Album is filled with the musical intensity of Al Di Meola with the rhythmic complexity of Paco de Lucia and the sheer technical brilliance and speed of John McLaughlin. Opening track "Mediterranean Sundance" puts Di Meola with De Lucia capturing an incredible opening number full of flamingo guitar swoops and excellent plucking and strumming. "Short Tales of the Black Forest" has McLaughlin and Di Meola navigating a tight call-and-response pattern on this Chick Corea-penned tune. Not only is it a staggering speedfest, they slam strings, smack the sides of their guitars, and scratch their picks up the length of their strings. Midway through, they quote from Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther" theme, before breaking into the most complex 12-bar blues ever recorded. Next up, DeLucia and McLaughlin demonstrate picked and freehand style traditional flamenco guitar licks with dizzying speed and empathy. All three masters take the stage for the nearly nine-minute "Fantasia Suite," in which they play musical "dodge the ball". The album ends with an amazing studio track that the three guitarists recorded after the fact in a studio in White Plains, New York. In spite of its non-live context, "Guardian Angel" contains a hell of lot of fire and brimstone, with an added crispness to the sound thanks to the controlled studio setting. The final proof is in the listening. An essential recording, if ever there were one. | |||
| A Dutch instrumental-progressive group who display the musical aura of YES with elements of a more fusion-influenced Focus. IMHO this masterpiece of progressive rock spends its time concentrating purely on the instrumentation, delivering complex and fulfilling moods and grooves. "Glory Of the Inner Force" was Finch's first album and consists of four long and complex tracks with 2 bonus tracks released on a vinyl 7" to "Glory". The musicianship and playing of this band is highly energetic and highly efficient. Mellotron fans will love the keyboard talents of Clem Determeijer who also adds some tasty Hammond and moog. Leader and guitarist Joop Van Nimwegen is also multi -talented musician whose playing reminds me at times of Jan Akkerman. Bass and drumming is also quite exciting and propulsive making this album a treat to listen to time and time again. Finch's . "Glory Of the Inner Force" is a wonderful 70's prog album that must be owned by all good music lovers out there…….
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| I suppose everyone has this in their music collection already but my god what a great album and without question deserves to be included in my most beloved albums of all time. Some may squak at it being included in with "Prog-Rock" but I have always loved the way they were able to blend blues with psychedelic genres. Songs are all blues based with some pretty psych strips carefully added throughout. Typical of Cream, the instrumentation is tasty with Clapton's wicked guitar work, Ginger Baker's Drumming and Jack Bruce's Bass & Keyboard work.
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| IMHO in 1997 Saga wrote and recorded arguably their strongest album of all time. A pure and pure concept album exploring over 25 songs and interludes the story of social misfit "Sam" and his adventures. Album contains a very wide range of tempo and mood swings with whispered and spoken parts, sound effects and wrapped up in Saga's instrumentation. Every song bleeds into the next and the entire album runs like a continuous story musically with very few hard stops. This album has also been exceptionally recorded with great sound dynamics for your ears. Generation 13 is a complete departure from Saga's song driven days and instead works more on the Whole than on the parts. Lyrics are dark and introspective giving the listener a real thought provoker to make his/her way through. I hope genetic engineering does not ever produce a specimen like Sam to be honest…..Overall a captivating piece of musical brilliance with some incredible breathtaking parts. Saga also employ some orchestration at a few critical moments throughout making this an album which you must live to get .. | |||
| Genesis' "Second's Out" is a classic "Genesis Mark II - period" album with some great live performances. Of course at this stage in Genesis' history Phil Collins had replaced Peter Gabriel on lead vocals and drumming was contributed by Chester Thompson and Bill Bruford on tours. Songs performed include stirring renditions of Cinema Show, Afterglow and Dance On A Volcano/Los Endos. Although I always have preferred Gabriel on the lead vocals, Phil does a great job in creating Gab's expressions and phrasing. Seconds Out sounds best when you have the bass and volume on 11…….I love the deep bass vibes achieved with Rutherford's Moog Taurus pedals and Bank's Mellotron runs. An essential double album from the gods of progressive rock! And a monster album to boot……. | |||
| Indispenable classic progressive rock album taking the band in a different direction than that explored on their classic debut album (Glory Of The Inner Force) . I guess if you had 1 instrumental album to buy this year then I have your stocking stuffer kids! There are only 3 nice long songs on this album and is much more exploratory than their debut album. Finch were well known for being an unpredictable band blending chunky hard driving parts with more spacey softer subdued interludes. Once again a fair amount of analog keyboards are utilized with some lovely moog and mellotron runs. At times Finch sound like Yes trying to perform Perpetual Change while on speed….Without a question the center piece of Finch is the Les Paul guitar work of Joop Van Nimwegen who performs some highly technical and full bodied parts. Hard for me to pick a fav between "Glory.." and "Beyond Expression" but I would definitely put into the essential category….. | |||
| Cunning Stunts is another superb Canterbury prog release from Caravan mixing all the right elements throughout. Songs range from more pop orientated (side A) to the side long epic "The Dabsong Conshirtoe" which shows a more progressive side of Caravan ( a six part movement). Cunning Stunts in many ways is actually my fav of Caravan's output with some great gentle Camel-like canterbury keyboards and songs. Vocals are picture perfect with great harmonies and thoughtful backing vocals. The reason why I love this album is that although Cunning Stunts carries all the trademarks of classic Caravan they involve more Camel imagery than say Soft Machine influences. A beautiful album worthy of your collection......
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| Long since forgotten gem from the late 70’s Ital-Prog scene with some beautiful melodies and colorful character. In many ways this album is reminiscent of the best work of PFM with the addition of loads of scrumptious fuzz guitar. This quartet juxtapose classical keyboard arrangements with a heavy dose of Progressive elements characteristic of this region during this time. Zero – 7 features some strong keyboard work with organ, mellotron, moog and piano to boot! Sonically this well preserved but aged recording offers some wonderful stereo panning and grand speaker separation. IMHO I would rank this right up there with the classics of this era ….. An essential album my friends. Do not stop..do not pass go…go directly to jail. | |||
| Traditional Swedish folk-prog with some very fresh and unique song writing. Kebnekaise mix a nice array of instruments to work each song to a different mood and atmosphere. You can clearly hear the folk roots, but it is the psych/prog branches which makes this such a memorable album for this music lover. In some ways the sound is not unlike mid period Pink Floyd and Focus really. Instruments used throughout include guitar, violin, congas, drums, bass and a nice assortment of other gadgets. Songs are generally quite long and instrumental and are given lots of space to unwind and get into some pretty warped folk-prog interludes. Overall this is a picture perfect album with real beauty and charm and is clearly one of my personal fav’s from the lovely Swedish 70’s. I would say 100% essential. | |||
| Captivating Italian prog offering a high melodic and musically refined album somewhat reminiscent of the work of early PFM with a unique personality. Instrumentation and song writing ranges from slower acoustic/symphonic parts to faster more aggressive interludes. The main focus throughout remains the interplay between the guitar and keyboard work. As far as I know this was unfortunately the only work by these folks which is absolutely criminal.
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| As the life expectancy of the band Spiritualized ended, the backbone of the band - Sean Cook (bass), Mike Mooney (guitar) and Damon Reece (drums) formed Lupine Howl…a band designed to carry the psychedelic soul of Spiritualized with a vast twist of the ol' soul. Song carry mix of acid blues and krautrock with a twist of the Spencer Davis Group. I love the space grooves these guys get into with some clever melodies and wild instrumentation. Songs are nice and exploratory with lots of psychy interludes and dark foreboding rhythms and lyrics. I must admit that I do find the art used throughout a tad bit freaky but the music is genuine and highly original | |||
| In complete contrast to the other brilliant 70's British Prog band of the same name, this Samurai blend space particles with progressive interludes all wrapped in some pretty far out tunes. In many ways I find the song writing not unlike early Syd Barrett really with some 70's prog rock instrumentation. I believe Samurai were a 6 piece outfit who utilized a full range of instrumentation and space vibes. Overall, this album covers a lot of territory with some space trippin imagery, exploratory interludes and psychedelic vocals and effects. This is one of those albums which will take repeated listens before the genius and beauty unfolds totally.
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| Waterloo Lily was the last album which really captured in its entirety their classic 70's early sound. This album has it all…..great musicianship, excellent vocals and highly developed songs. Caravan were exceptionally influential in helping define the Canterbury sound with their involved jazz-rock sequences and wonderful instrumentation. Waterloo Lily may be their most progressive effort in pure definition with some wonderfully inventive aspects clearly giving the listener the feeling of musical exploration. This album is full of wide mood and tempo swings with some quiet parts and then leaping into full jazz inspired prog rock. There is no question that the combination of Hastings, Sinclair and Coughlan were a wicked musical combination. Waterloo Lily is a highly recommended album offering some of Caravan's best work ever ! | |||
| Eloy's Colours is a 'must - have' album clearly representing IMHO one of their best pieces of work. Following close on the tails of "Mighty Cries and Mighty Echoes, "Colours" re-capitulates their classic boundless space corridors with some articulate song writing and deep tones. I think Colours may be the most accessible of all their mid period recordings and strays away from any musical allusions to Pink Floyd and instead mixes in more of the sounds of say the Alan Parsons Project and perhaps Tull. I think "Mighty Echoes.." although brilliant was more about a band looking for a fresh identity and it really did not begin to blossom until Colours was recorded. I guess this could be called their transitional album. As you would expect Eloy create their large tapestries of space mythos while Frank Bornemann adds his grand guitar solo overlays creating some pretty far reaching musical moments. On Colours Eloy opted for some real different sounds and musical expressions making the title of the album very fitting. Overall a great album representing a milestone in German Progressive Rock.
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| Ladies and gentlemen I would like to introduce you to one of the tastiest soft US Symphonic progressive rock bands on the scene today. Scapeland Wish blend lush orchestral symphonia with highly emotive vocals and continuous fluid harmonies throughout. Their songs are quite accessible with some lovely melodies and excellent instrumentation. At times in the instrumentation I get a semi feel of IQ and Echolyn (although not as complex). The vocals on this album are clear and picture perfect something many neo-prog bands do not offer. The best parts for me is when they let their hair down a bit and get into some lovely instrumental grooves. Without a question this trio have delivered an excellent album which I would heartily recommend to all fans of the Neo-Prog genre. …perfect for the lighter side of the progressive rock genre. You can order this CD direct from the band at the following link "Scapeland Wish". | |||
