Soft Machine with Heavy Friends - BBC In Concert 1971

Recorded live at London's Paris Theatre on March 11, 1971, BBC in Concert 1971 captures Canterbury scene avant-garde jazz-rock icons Soft Machine augmented by prominent UK jazz guests, featuring a massive 30-minute improvisational medley and an introductory billing hosted by John Peel.

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Maggie & Terre Roche - Seductive Reasoning 1975

Seductive Reasoning is the debut album by the sibling folk duo Maggie and Terre Roche, released in 1975 on Columbia Records. It precedes their 1979 debut album as a trio, The Roches.

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Micah - I'm Only One Man 1971

"One of the truest examples of an early US prog obscurity, Micah was a progressive rock band that formed in Terre Haute, Indiana and existed for three years before becoming a mere footnote in history. This band featured Gary Taylor Ohlson (keyboards, Hammond organ, synthesizer), George Robert Wolff (drums, percussion), Martin "Marty" Horne (lead guitar), Gus Hernandez (bass) and Robert "Bob" Rowe (lead vocals).
The band only left behind this sole trace of its existence. I'm Only One Man appeared in 1971 with only a few private pressings. The original vinyl has become one of those highly desired collectibles however it has been re-released both on vinyl and CD on the Shadoks label in recent years. An interesting little musical specimen, there are really only two title tracks respectively with the added titling "Part I" and "Part II" however on the album itself it lists seven tracks with different titles. The entire album was only 30 minutes long but what an outstanding job these guys did!

This music is an excellent mix off 60s psychedelic rock with the classic Hammond organ sounds of Quatermass, Beggar's Opera, Cressida and even Deep Purple however the vocals are more in the soul category reminding of Steve Windwood and other bluesy singers from the late 60s. The energetic drive however is much more in the realms of the contemporary early 70s in the vein of Uriah Heep, Deep Purple and other heavier rock bands. Add the fuzz guitars, extraordinarily competent drumming wizardry and some bantering bass grooves and you got yourself an interesting specimen of underground prog here.
In many ways Micah sounded like a garage band at least in tone and timbre. There is an amateurish DIY vibe to the whole thing but brought to the next level with more than competent songwriting and exquisite instrumental interplay. While the two tracks are composed of myriad motifs, the entire album sort of connects in a continuous stream of consciousness. The segments are melodic and there is sort of a chorus / verse / bridge thing going on but the entire run features interesting connective instrumentals which lead back to a reprise of the vocal parts. It's all quite intelligently designed and while the main focus is on the melodic developments, the extended time allows some excellent soloing most pronounced on the organ but also from the guitar and drums.

This wasn't love at first listen. I'm not really fond of this vocal style and the organ sounds dated for 1971. This really evokes the 1968 timeline however some of the slower transitions remind me of The Move especially on "Shazam." More than anyone else though, Micah sounds like the American version of the UK's Cressida. The vocal range is similarly limited in range. The organs are the dominant instrumentation and the music exhibits a straightforward songwriting approach that has merely been augmented into crafting a longer stream of flow by adding jamming sections and off the wall twists and turns. It took a few listens but it finally sunk in how excellent this album really is. This is quite the undiscovered gem from the early US prog underground." Silly Puppy/ ProgArchives.

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Paul Butterfield's Better Days - Paul Butterfield's Better Days 1973

"We're the only band around that's playing rooted American music," Better Days vocalist and former folkie Geoff Muldaur told an interviewer when this album was first released in 1973, and with perhaps just a handful of exceptions he was right. The band's mix of various styles of blues, from rural (Robert Johnson), to cosmopolitan (Percy Mayfield), along with hints of New Orleans R&B, boogie woogie, and early rock and country, was tremendously out of step with the pop trends of its time.

These days, of course, there are many bands doing more or less the same thing (although rarely as well), but the fact that these guys couldn't have cared less about appearing trendy is one of the reasons why BETTER DAYS sounds timeless. Another reason, of course, is world class musicianship; Muldaur, Paul Butterfield, and stupendously stylish guitarist Amos Garrett in particular come across as both relaxed and passionate. Despite their essentially formalistic approach to music making, they never sound academic or sterile. BETTER DAYS is one of the great lost albums of the '70s. AMG.

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Alan Lorber Orchestra - The Lotus Palace 1967

A versatile and commercially successful composer, arranger, and producer, Alan Lorber has had a hand in thousands of recordings, ranging from pop (Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," Mike Clifford's "Close to Cathy") to R&B (Chuck Jackson's "I Wake Up Crying," Jackie Wilson's "Baby Workout") to psychedelic rock (Ultimate Spinach, Orpheus). He was busiest throughout the 1960s and wasn't merely a hired hand. In 1964, for instance, he put together the Mugwumps, a group notable for having featured future members of the Mamas & the Papas and the Lovin' Spoonful. (Lorber produced the latter's first Top Ten single, "Do You Believe in Magic.") During the late '60s, he established and developed the Boston (or Bosstown) Sound, a marketing concept that morphed into a full-blown rock scene. He has also released many of his own recordings, beginning with 1967's The Lotus Palace -- an orchestral pyschedelic album, consisting mostly of pop covers, that incorporated Indian music -- and continuing through the early 2000s, with a prolific run of releases credited to Alan Lorber 21st Century Orchestra. In his breathtakingly overblown liner notes, Alan Lorber describes this album as "one of the earliest examples of classical Indian music/jazz fusion." He also mentions that the concept grew out of a 30-second commercial he created for Chemical Bank, which tells you all you need to know about the authenticity of the end result. It's a cheesy relic of the psychedelic age, a few originals sitting side by side with faux Indian restaurant versions of contemporary rock songs by the Beatles, Tim Hardin, and the Blues Project, as well as covers of "Up, Up and Away" and "The Look of Love." With the recent explosion of interest in sordid vintage easy listening experiments, this may finally find its audience, but it would be erroneous to pretend that it was the product of any great artistic inspiration. The Lotus Palace was reissued on CD -- with bonus cuts, of course -- in 1997. AMG.

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Tako - Tako 1978

Tako's history begins when the first lineup of the band Opus had broken up. Bassist Dusan Cucuz wanted to form a new band, so he gathered musicians who where fond of a more complex rock sound. After he met Djordje Llijin in the spring of 1975, they showed each other their compositions and concluded that the material would work well. They invited Sava Bojic and Milan Lolic and this become the first lineup of Tako (which literally means "this way"). After months of rehearsals and gigs, the band made their first recordings that were offered to several record companies with no success. In November 1975, they had the opportunity to share the stage with a lot of famous bands of Belgrade. This gave the band new opportunity to make new recordings. During 1976, Tako worked on new compositions and accumulated experience by playing live. Then the guitar player had to join the army and the drummer started to drink too much. So, a new guitarist (Miroslav Dukic) and a new drummer (Slobodan Felekatovic) joined the band. This lineup first appeared at a concert at Pinki hall in Zemun with some other pop/rock bands. Tako was completely different from the other bands and made a good impression on public and critics.
After a very good performance at the Belgrade Summer Festival at Dom Omladine (Youth Center), Tako played in front of an audience of 100,000 people at an open-air concert in Kosutnjak with other local bands. This appearance at the Youth Festival and in others, mainly in Subotica, brought the band their first LP contract with RTV Ljubljana and their material was recorded and mixed in 36 hours. In 1979, things were not good for the band. In the middle of preparing for the second LP, Llijin developed arthritis. After some discrepancies between Dukic and the rest of the band, he quit and formed his own group while the band tried to find a replacement. But it didn't last long and Dukic came back. The band was together again and new ideas and everyday rehearsals marked the next period. Disappointed with the approach and manners in the other studio, Tako decided to record a second LP in a private studio. In September 1980, the band signed with RTB and played gigs in Belgrade.
In the beginning of 1980, the band had a chance to take part in a big show as bands from Belgrade gave concerts in Zagreb and vice versa. Although they gave a memorable performance and got a good reaction from the public, Tako was almost ignored by the critics, who at the time turned their ideas to punk and new wave. This change, coupled with bandmembers' lifestyle changes, led to their last concert at the Philosophy College in Belgrade. Felekatovic went to the army; Dukic went to work as a producer and recording engineer; Llijin became a teacher, ethnologist in a museum, and a record engineer; and Cucuz supplied sound equipment for gigs in Belgrade.
After a proposal of reissue of both two albums from Thomas Werner, a collector and amateur of the '70s Yugoslavia rock scene, the band got the first master tapes (they already had the second). In 1997, Rock Symphony, a record label of prog rock in Brazil, reissued both albums. AMG.

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The Remains - The Remains 1966

Most 1960s garage rock obsessives collect singles rather than albums for a good reason: While plenty of snarling teenagers could come up with two decent songs at a stretch, a precious few seemed able to brainstorm a dozen tunes without reaching to the bottom of the barrel or resorting to covers of other people's hits. But there were exceptions to this rule, among them the Sonics, the Litter, and, especially, the Remains, who never enjoyed much success on the national charts but were fabled heroes in their home town of Boston. The Remains' 1966 album for Epic is a classic, packed with great songs from singer/guitarist Barry Tashian, bassist Vern Miller, and pianist Bill Briggs, and boasting exciting, fiery performances, and if the full firepower of their legendary live shows didn't always come through on tape, even the album's weakest moments made clear the Remains were tougher, smarter, and tighter than the vast majority of their competition. The Remains is mid-'60s American rock & roll at it's best, and you don't have to own any paisley clothing to enjoy it. [When Epic/Legacy reissued the album in 1991 (with the band's name augmented to Barry and the Remains), they added a handful of non-LP singles and unreleased tracks and gave the album a crisp digital remix, and against all odds, Epic actually improved a masterpiece. If the old analog version sounds harder and dirtier (a good thing for garage rock), the CD allows you to hear more of the details, and nearly every one of the 21 cuts on board is killer stuff (their cover of Don Covay's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" shows them beating the Rolling Stones at their own game, and after you've heard "Don't Look Back," you'll always wonder why it wasn't a Top Ten hit).] AMG.

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Tyburn Tall - Tyburn Tall 1972

Tyburn Tall originated from a 1960's German beat band called The Screamers, eventually changing style when becoming influenced by the likes of The Nice, Colosseum, and other bands that they toured with. Like Frumpy and Renaissance, they drew in a wide variety of complex classical and hard-rock influences into their music.
 

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Water - Damburst 1976

Dutch rock band active from 1974 to 1977. Damburst seems to be some sort of concept album about a struggle between man and nature. The band that made the album is named Water, and they include among their personnel ex-members of the old 60's proto-prog band Sandy Coast.Also, they include a harmonica player, unusual for a prog band. The gentle flute playing, churning string-synths and sustain-filled guitar-solos on tracks like "Sail away" remind me mostly of Camel.There are also some more mainstream rock pieces, but they aren't really offensive enough to make me skip them, though most of them aren't especially exciting or distinctive. The vocals are occasionally memorable, resembling Roger Daltrey on "Damburst II". 

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Houston Fearless - Houston Fearless 1969

Houston Fearless was an American hard rock and psychedelic band from Los Angeles, California, that released a self-titled debut album on Imperial Records in 1969. Known for a heavy, fuzzy sound comparable to Steppenwolf, the quartet released only one official album before disbanding.

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Streetmark - Nordland 1976

"Nordland" was a brillant debut record, the band had taken the time to play the compositions live and to work them out. The general musicianship is quite high; the only weak point, as often in German bands are the English vocals. In 1977 Streetmark released their second record "Eileen" with Wolfgang Riechmann, a solo recording artist, who had joined the band on vocals and keyboards. Tragically he was murdered in 1978, before the release of his solo record "Wunderbar". Sky re-released "Eileen" in 1979 with the new title "Wolfgang Riechmann and Streetmark" with one bonus track. Later on the record was renamed "Dreams". The third (fourth) record "Dry", entirely instrumental, was released in 1979. In 1981 Streetmark released their last record "Sky Racer", with Dorothea Raukes as the only founding member left. It is still an interesting record, but much more Pop-influenced. ProgArchives.

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Nova - Blink 1975

Italian prog-fusion band, formed out of the ashes of ex-Osanna split-off band Uno along with Corrado Rustici from Cervello. It is said that they were formed in London in 1975 and they stayed in the UK for a while. By the time of their second album only two original members remained: Elio d'Anna and Corrado Rustici, with new members Renato Rosset, Percy Jones and Narada Michael Walden turning them into a more international band, with the latter two then replaced by Barry Johnson and Ric Parnell. Genesis drummer Phil Collins also featured as guest percussionist on some releases.

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Ramasandiran Somusundaram - Skinny Woman 1974

Skinny Woman is the only solo album by Indian percussionist Ramasandrian Somusundaram, who was an active member of the Genoese prog rock scene. He worked with bands like Bambibanda E Melodie (founded by Italian prog rock pioneer Bambi Fossati after his trailblazing group Garybaldi disbanded), Maya, and the New Trolls. Originally released in 1974, the album features some of New Trolls' members – including Vittorio De Scalzi, Gianni Belleno, and Giorgio Usai – and can be regarded as a side project from the band. The result is an eclectic production that blends Indian sounds and influences with psychedelia, progressive rock, and funk.
 

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Freeport - Freeport 1970

This band from Cleveland, Ohio, formed in early 1968. They began their career under the name "Paper Sun and the Freeport Express." The band played late-'60s-style rock, performing in clubs and dance halls in and around Cleveland, where they enjoyed some popularity among local youth. After some time, Eric Janson left the band and was replaced by two guitarists: Dennis Stredney and Roger Lewis, who also parted ways with Lewis shortly afterward. With this lineup, and changing their name to "Freeport," they recorded their only LP in Miami for Mainstream Records. The band's frontman, vocalist and keyboardist Kevin Raleigh, played keyboards for the well-known Cleveland group "Michael Stanley Band" in the late 1970s and 1980s and co-wrote all of the band's hits (with Michael Stanley). In 1989, he released a solo album, "Delusions of Grandeur."

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Dzyan - Dzyan 1972

This album was the result of Dzyan Mach 1, convened solely as a studio project and not lasting beyond the production of this LP. The record is a conglomerate with many different styles from Zappa-esque jazz to King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator-styled prog rock, with bits of tape effects and some wild conga drums added in. From the minimalist synth drones that open "Emptiness" to the bouncy jazz rhythm of "Fohat's Work," to the monster bass riff and soaring guitar of the closer, "Back to Earth," the album offers a hodgepodge of unusual songs in unusual time signatures. The vocals at times, and even more so the lyrics, are drenched too deep in prog pretension, but at least there are some long instrumental passages to get lost in. The album is a flawed experiment, interesting in its own right, though not fully realized like the two albums that followed. The fact that this Dzyan sounded like an entirely different band is because it almost was. AMG

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