Il Bacio della Medusa - Discesa Agl'inferi D'un Giovane Amante. 2008 Italy

Il Bacio della Medusa is back with their sophomore effort Discesa Agl'inferi D'un Giovane Amante. Just rolls off the tongue doesn't it? Well if there was any doubt where Il Bacio della Medusa's heart was after the debut, then those were put to rest for the opening here. With the addition of violin, Il Bacio della Medusa declares that they are indeed a progressive rock band, and they're here to stay. Simone Cecchini's vocals have definitely improved, and you can tell he's studied the early 70s masters intently (and even more so on their 3rd album). Love the Pholas Dactylus styled psychotic narration. His performance is definitely one of the highlights of the disc. Meanwhile Diego Petrini gives the old fashioned piano more air time, which is always welcome here at UMR. Not to mention plenty of old school organ. Eva Morelli's staccato flute is layered on the constantly changing rhythms, and guitarist Brozetti still has a bit too much pig squeal in his guitar, but he can lay off when appropriate. For those who miss the glory days of Osanna, you could do worse than pick this album up on your next order.

Ownership: CD: 2008 Black Widow

9/28/09 (new entry) 

Il Bacio della Medusa. 2004 Italy

Il Bacio della Medusa may have entered the scene quietly, but that album cover certainly is striking. Like a cross between Nuova Idea's Clowns and Manilla Road's The Courts of Chaos, one might imagine this to be some wacky prog metal take on the classic Italian 70s scene. Fortunately it is not and is much more reverent to the Italian progressive rock masters than heavy metal. Still, this is definitely their heaviest album, and also their most modern sounding. It could pass for sophisticated hard rock as much as symphonic progressive. In that way, Il Bacio della Medusa started their career much in the same way as Deus Ex Machina. Hey, you gotta start somewhere. And in 2004, there was a lull in the retro progressive movement, and it seemed every band coming out of Italy were either prog metal nuts, or Dutch styled neo progressive bands singing in English, neither of which interested me much anymore. So here comes Il Bacio della Medusa with their flutes, psychotic Italian vocals, crazy dynamics, even an accordion, plus more ideas than they could control at that time. In retrospect, it's an excellent album, where perhaps the only fault was the aforementioned crunchy guitars, which belied their overall approach.

Ownership: CD: 2004 Black Widow

9/28/09 (new entry)

M. L. Bongers' Project - Pacific Prison. 1978 Germany

Funny that I'd recently run across the Sirius Running to Paradise album prior to hearing the M.L. Bongers Project album for the first time. My revisit of the Sirius album had demonstrated to me that the proliferation of classic early Genesis moves just hasn't aged as well as I'd prefer. M. L. Bongers Project is cut from the same cloth, but I'd found this album more welcoming. One reason for this is the decidedly earlier era instrumentation. Not so much a distinction from 1982 to 1978, but rather more like 1973, as the M. L. Bongers Projects definitely sounds like a band from a different period. Such characteristics such as fuzz tone guitar, heavy doses of organ, and predominant use of flute add to this perception. Perhaps even more enticing is that Pacific Prison gives off the impression that they're just as comfortable operating as a space rock band than as a Foxtrot wannabee. I'm not sure I've heard this combination of Hawkwind meets Genesis in the past, which justifies for me at least, consideration that this a tier 1 album. If there's an issue I have with Pacific Prison, it would be the heavily accented English vocals, a common problem for German bands in those days.

Ownership: LP: 1978 private. Single sleeve. Online acquisition (2009).

Still not reissued in any format (legally) as I write this entry (6/6/24)

2008; 9/17/09 (new entry)

The Beatles (Mike review)

Yes, I am fully down with the Beatlemania at the moment, I preordered the Stereo box something like a month or so before it finally came in the mail, and I am quite glad seeing some of the waiting times for the next production run. It came in a week or so ago and I'm all the way through Yellow Submarine and can barely wait to get Abbey Road in the player, in fact it would have been today but I left it at home, alas.

So some quick thoughts. I think everything sounds fantastic. While I've been afforded with copies of Dr Ebbets work and various mono versions and this and that I think I heard about the remaster project long enough ago that I was never in a hurry to hear the unofficial stuff and was kind of glad I waited. These all have the clarity and three dimensionality I was always hoping to hear and I'm still virtually stunned that the artists and so on managed to record so many of these classics on 4 and 8 track machines. But I suppose calling the Beatles remarkable is pretty obvious these days, it's not only true but fairly redundant.

I'll admit, I can easily give the first five albums very little attention. I do love songs throughout all five but I think when you take this part of their canon and realize that so much of this stuff really never became icons like so much of the post Rubber Soul material, that they weaken a little with time. Of course the great remastering did indeed pull me through listens of all of them and I'll probably give them another couple for respect, but Rubber Soul is where it starts for me, even if it's clearly the transitional record into Revolver. Things just get better and better. Putting on Magical Mystery Tour on mix with some other things with friends one night last week, late night, was just powerful, it's truly like looking a magnificent work of art from all sides, as if not only the songs, but the effects and production stand out in crystalline clarity. It's really hard not to envision the whole wide world of psychedelia and spirituality bubbling up from this well, not entirely true of course, but perhaps enough to be true. On Mystery and, naturally, Sgt Peppers there's a sense of innocence, wonder and timelessness that age just won't fade, it's just so redolent with the splendor of human creativity. Frankly I felt some pain readjusting Gnosis numbers after listens as albums like Peppers, the White Album and Abbey Road are just objective 15s in every way, they define shifts in the musical paradigm as clearly as anything possibly could. But at least I know I'm on my way with these.

So yes, in the thralls of Beatlemania I am.

Mike's Top 30 Unreissued Titles (Part 5 of 6)

21. Jukka Hauru - Information (Reissued by Lipposen Levy Ja Kasetti 2021)

Finnish guitarist with a Jimi Hendrix complex, like many guitarists had worldwide in the early 70s and perhaps half of his debut album has the overshadowing influence during some high energy workouts. The other half ranges between more songwriter oriented spots and some zanier moments, all of which manage to create an "in hold" dynamic that makes the guitar freak outs even more powerful when they show up. My review can be found here.

22. Peter Frohmader - Jules Verne Cycle

The Jules Verne this most reminds me of is 20,000 Leagues under the Sea due to a prevalance of bubbling synths. As I mentioned before with Orakel/Tiefe, this is one of the Auricle cassette releases and a mighty fine one at that, with an amazingly huge sound for the format, layered electronics and some great pulses moving it all forwars. It reminds me that the finest thing about Frohmader during so much of his early work is this great sense of science fictional imagination, one that never manifests as something geeky so much as mysterious, unusual and evocative. Often this one surpasses Orakel/Tiefe for me, depending on mood.

23. Limbus 3 - Cosmic Music Experience

A free music ensemble better known for the Ohr label album Mandalas (by Limbus 4), I've always preferred the earlier work due to its more vast atmosphere and instrumental panorama. Something of a precursor of bands like Aktuala, Between and the like, in this case the same-period albums by Don Cherry might also be a reference although like Mandalas, it doesn't have much in the way of jazz chops. Just a lot of drumming, droning, and varying noises by all sorts of instruments, none of them played particularly splendid, but nonetheless a beautiful chaos does arise from the collaboration. For now only a Germanofon bootleg seems to exist (and it's actually one of the better ones soundwise).

24. Zanov - Green Ray (Reissued by Groove Unlimited 2016)

Debut album by French synthesist who manages to create a Berlin inspired electronic album with some of the thickest analog sounds on record thanks to the ARP 2600, VCS3 and the like. IIRC the Green Ray's one of those theosophy inspired ideas and a Jules Verne book, all named from the solar phenomenon where the sun temporarily gets a green flash around it during sunset or sunrise. This differs from the usual Berliner style by the sequences being fairly slight for the most part and for an unusual dark atmosphere to it. Similar in ways to Wolfgang Bock Cycles when it's not in Moondawn mode.

25. Mars Everywhere - Industrial Sabotage

Review here. Great US mix of space rock and electronic tendencies and their prime effort.