To the Highest Bidder (1971)
As with all of my Supersister collection, I first obtained this album in my "pre documentation" phase. And like most of the others, it's been well over 20 years since I last heard it. According to RYM and the specialist Prog Archives site, To the Highest Bidder is their singular best achievement. My memory didn't have it that way, and I recall always being slightly disappointed with the album despite appending an excellent rating for it. As the follow up to Present to Nancy, the bar was exceptionally high to clear and To the Highest Bidder fell a bit short in my estimation. With countless other influences entering my thought process, would a recent deep dive with To the Highest Bidder change my perspective?
No. In fact, my reaction has been the exact same since 1993. That is, I prefer the debut. And my high rating remains as well. Even though I hadn't heard the album in ages, I found myself quite familiar with the contents. Indicating that I had for certain dissected the album prior, just without any corroborating notes to support.
The album opens with its strongest cut 'A Girl Named You' which is largely a continuation of Present From Nancy. Has the same tight rhythmic structure and beautiful flute / keyboard interludes. The breakdown, for me anyway, occurs on 'No Tree Will Grow', a rather maudlin piece. While artistically well done, it doesn't display the optimistic magic the band traditionally projects. Seems to be on the wrong album by the wrong band. Side two is dominated by 'Energy', a lengthy track that possesses various fits and starts. The "go" patterns are aces but there is some curious down time as well. The way-too-short closer 'Higher' brings me back to the Supersister I love with its "running through the fields of happiness" aura.
The UK Dandelion LP includes the single 'She Was Naked' which is missing on the Dutch originals.
Ownership:
1971 Polydor (LP) Gatefold
1990 Polydor (CD) with Present From Nancy.
1993 (acquired); 1995; 7/17/25 (review) 
Memories are New (1971 / 2000)
Even though I consider Present from Nancy as one of the greatest progressive rock albums ever made, I'm not overly familiar with anything else the band released, though I've owned them all going back to the late 1980s and early 90s. Because of this strong affection with their debut, it didn't take much convincing for me to purchase Memories are New not long after release. Like with so many of my purchases, I listened to it upon receipt and filed it away. Nearly 23 years later while physically looking at my collection, I see this CD and have absolutely no idea what it sounds like. Is it even worth keeping? Well, let's see... Memories are new after all.
As noted below, I consider Supersister's debut Present from Nancy one of my Top 50 albums, maybe even a higher bracket. But each subsequent album moved away from the Canterbury core of that brilliant work, and by this 3rd release, Pudding en Gisteren is embracing the Zappa world of silliness more and more. Which resulted in a -1 listen this go round. Having said that, I wouldn't want to consider my collection without Pudding en Gisteren, but the thrills per minute are substantially diminished. For me those highlights include the first half of 'Judy Goes on Holiday' and portions of the side long title track, which maintain the Soft Machine II motif that make Supersister so enduring.Ownership: 1972 Polydor UK (LP). Die cut gatefold. Perfect cut, with no tears which we see sadly too often.
Iskander is Supersister's 4th LP, and steers the band from an insouciant Canterbury styled group toward a more traditional prog rock concept album. Still, on close inspection, one can hear similarities to their first three albums, and there's plenty of familiar rhythms and melodies that one recognizes from the world of Soft Machine. It's just not as overt. So if one thinks of Iskander as played by neighboring Trace, rather than the predetermined expectation of what Supersister should sound like, the album opens up in a big way given this new perspective.
Then there's the presence of American WWII vet and famed jazzer Charlie Mariano on sax and flute. He was in his own discovery phase of life, moving on from his hometown Boston and his underground psych / prog / jazz group Osmosis, and digging deep into the European scene. It appears he spent most of 1973 in the Netherlands, first jamming with flutist Chris Hinze, before hooking up with Supersister - an odd combination that doesn't necessarily gel as one would hope (Supersister weren't a jazz group for certain). Mariano was to eventually head back to Germany and jam with Embryo for a couple of years, which was a better fit for the talented saxophonist.
Overall, Iskander is more consistent than its predecessor, but lacks the charm of the early albums. Objectively though, an excellent album if you approach it on its own terms.
Present From Nancy (1970)
Present From Nancy is a top 50 album for yours truly. At this point they were a bunch of teenagers who studied Soft Machine Volume 2 and somehow managed to improve on it. Perhaps it's the single minded focus that youth can possess, while employing a yet-to-be-disillusioned imagination. Whatever the case, Supersister distilled the best parts out of Soft Machine and Caravan, and left an artifact for the ages. Stips' keyboard playing is top notch, employing the fuzz organ as much as possible, while the remainder of the band puts the tight and complicated rhythms together behind him. Add some beautiful and melodic flute, and the soft affected vocal style that the Dutch seem to have mastered as much as the English, and you have an album that is irresistible.
Ownership:
Even though I consider Present from Nancy as one of the greatest progressive rock albums ever made, I'm not overly familiar with anything else the band released, though I've owned them all going back to the late 1980s and early 90s. Because of this strong affection with their debut, it didn't take much convincing for me to purchase Memories are New not long after release. Like with so many of my purchases, I listened to it upon receipt and filed it away. Nearly 23 years later while physically looking at my collection, I see this CD and have absolutely no idea what it sounds like. Is it even worth keeping? Well, let's see... Memories are new after all.
Memories are New is really three albums in one, and the documentation of what it contains is poorly handled. The first four tracks (~26 minutes) are from a live concert (no idea where and when) that contains some of their best work from Present from Nancy and Pudding and Gisteren. There's a short undocumented interlude that leads to the only provenance noted here: An NDR radio concert from April of 1971. These seven songs (~24 minutes) are very interesting. Some familiar Supersister themes are infused with new material and the studio's home orchestra. In reading other reviews, many aren't keen on this symphonic approach, but I think it represents the meat of the release, and makes it worth owning. It isn't an academic high brow exercise, but rather a true mix and match of instrumentation and style. The "third album", as it were, is what appears to be pre-Supersister recordings (~10 minutes). We're left to believe these come from the late 60s, at least based on what I've found. Fun to hear Supersister in their developing stages moving from freakbeat and psychedelic into prog.
To conclude - one hour of previously unreleased Supersister, mostly unique in both sound and composition. +1 listen for me.
Ownership: 2000 Soss (CD). Booklet contains memorabilia scans.2001 (acquired); 11/4/23 (review)
Pudding en Gisteren (1972)
As noted below, I consider Supersister's debut Present from Nancy one of my Top 50 albums, maybe even a higher bracket. But each subsequent album moved away from the Canterbury core of that brilliant work, and by this 3rd release, Pudding en Gisteren is embracing the Zappa world of silliness more and more. Which resulted in a -1 listen this go round. Having said that, I wouldn't want to consider my collection without Pudding en Gisteren, but the thrills per minute are substantially diminished. For me those highlights include the first half of 'Judy Goes on Holiday' and portions of the side long title track, which maintain the Soft Machine II motif that make Supersister so enduring.Ownership: 1972 Polydor UK (LP). Die cut gatefold. Perfect cut, with no tears which we see sadly too often.
1992 (acquired); 10/17/21 (review)
Iskander (1973)
Then there's the presence of American WWII vet and famed jazzer Charlie Mariano on sax and flute. He was in his own discovery phase of life, moving on from his hometown Boston and his underground psych / prog / jazz group Osmosis, and digging deep into the European scene. It appears he spent most of 1973 in the Netherlands, first jamming with flutist Chris Hinze, before hooking up with Supersister - an odd combination that doesn't necessarily gel as one would hope (Supersister weren't a jazz group for certain). Mariano was to eventually head back to Germany and jam with Embryo for a couple of years, which was a better fit for the talented saxophonist.
Overall, Iskander is more consistent than its predecessor, but lacks the charm of the early albums. Objectively though, an excellent album if you approach it on its own terms.
Ownership: 1973 Polydor (LP). Gatefold.
10//88 (acquired); 4/14/18 (review)
Present From Nancy (1970)
Present From Nancy is a top 50 album for yours truly. At this point they were a bunch of teenagers who studied Soft Machine Volume 2 and somehow managed to improve on it. Perhaps it's the single minded focus that youth can possess, while employing a yet-to-be-disillusioned imagination. Whatever the case, Supersister distilled the best parts out of Soft Machine and Caravan, and left an artifact for the ages. Stips' keyboard playing is top notch, employing the fuzz organ as much as possible, while the remainder of the band puts the tight and complicated rhythms together behind him. Add some beautiful and melodic flute, and the soft affected vocal style that the Dutch seem to have mastered as much as the English, and you have an album that is irresistible.
Ownership:
1970 Polydor (LP). Gatefold. First pressing
1990 Polydor (CD). with To the Highest Bidder.
1993 (acquired); 3/9/10 (review); 3/17/17
3/9/10 (new entry)
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