Red ~ England

Red (1983)

Red's sole album was released among all the other New Wave of British Progressive Rock albums, what would later be called Neo Prog. But Red were nothing like IQ, Twelfth Night, Marillion, Haze, LaHost, etc... nor were they like mid period King Crimson as their name might indicate. Nope, this is a very strong instrumental fusion oriented album, with some early 80s keyboard sounds. What separates this album from the pack is the ferocious guitar playing, and the outstanding melodies. Another trademark is the constantly moving compositions. It's remarkable just how progressive this album is, even though it sits just as comfortably within the jazz fusion genre. A real gem, one that still remains quite unknown.

Ownership: 1983 Jigsaw (LP)

No reissues as of 3/24/25.

8//84; 9/15/19 (review / new entry)

Shampoo - Volume One. 1971 Belgium

Shampoo were a band from Belgium, who released this one album before dispersing. Though not as revered as many other bands from this classic era, they just happen to play in my personal favorite style. That is to say - jazzy psychedelic progressive rock. Shampoo are in the same genre as Hot Rats era Zappa, Moving Gelatine Plates, Xhol Caravan, and Mad Curry - the latter of which the band obtained the majority of its members from. Throughout, you'll hear plenty of sophisticated ensemble work, with energetic solos (love the electric sax work), and psychedelic dreamy vocals. Not all is a success (the opening straight-up psych track; the overlong drum solo on Side 2), but still worthy of your attention. Overall it's a product of a much missed period in music history.

LP: 1971 Motors (France). Day-glo pink gatefold cover. Online acquisition (2000)

There's some disagreement on the date of release. Here's what I wrote for Discogs: "Looking at our LP copy. There's a stamp inside the gatefold: 17 Nov. 1971. There's also a sticker on each label side: JB 17.11.71. Have to presume that was the receipt date for the original owner (we purchased this copy in 2000). 1971 is also a date used by many other sources going back before the internet (not all sources of course). These data points have lead to the change here. There is no date on the LP itself. We're not seeing any corroboration for the 1972 date on this entry, so moving to 1971 unless other concrete data -emerges." (1971 was later corroborated by another user).

Recently learned (6/5/24) that this album was reissued on CD by a legit label called HKM.

2000; 8/2/09; 9/14/19 (new entry)

Mr. Brown - Mellan Tre Ogon. 1977 Sweden

Mr. Brown, on their sole album, draw deep into the Pink Floyd well ala Wish You Were Here and Animals. Though from Sweden, Mr. Brown seemingly looks south toward the German bands of the day such as Jane, Eloy, Pancake, Fly, and Shaa Khan. The English vocals are too maudlin, but the native Swedish ones are quite nice (unfortunately too infrequent). The stylistic brush here is pretty broad and it gets thin by the end. A good album, but one to hear after you've digested hundreds of others in a similar vein.

Psiglo ~ Uruguay

Psiglo II (1974)

Psiglo II picks right up where the debut left off, with a noticeable production improvement. The muddiness of the debut is mostly absent here (though still far from perfect), and the guitar solos have more bite. As with the debut, Psiglo have a certain outlook similar to the Italian scene from the same era. So for this album, Psiglo starts off in a more conservative manner and track 2 'Construir, Destruir' is squarely in singer songwriter mode (complete with flute). Track 3 'No Tiene Razón de Ser' appears at first to be going into the same direction, but it's a head fake and begins to introduce more complex ideas. From here on out, this one has it all for progressive rock fans - dizzying tempos, inventive structures, psychedelic instrumental sequences, dozens of ideas. Final two lengthy tracks are near masterpieces! Psiglo II is more classic Italian sounding than, for example, Argentina's Los Barrocos, a band they share many similarities with.

Psiglo's second album was originally recorded in 1974 in Argentina, escaping the repression from their home base in Uruguay. Argentina was no bastion of freedom either, and the album remained in the vaults until 1981, where a small pressing eked out in Uruguay before being erased from the market landscape. As such, originals of the second album are rarer than the debut. The album was finally rescued in the 1990s by the CD age - with no further restrictions from more tolerant political regimes.

Ownership: 1997 Record Runner (CD)

2006; 2008; 8/12/12; 9/1/19 (review)

Ideación (1973)

Psiglo's debut starts out in a rather typical fashion for the 1960s (noting this it is from 1973), with straightforward blues based psych rock tracks and hippie styled vocals (in Spanish). 3rd track 'Catalina' is a pleasant ballad with organ and orchestration. By track 4 'Vuela a mi Galaxia', the drugs must have kicked in as the band experiments with wild sounds on the organ and guitar. Not to mention the phasing and other studio effects. Side 2 opens with the instrumental 'Nuestra Calma' and perhaps not surprisingly is the highlight of the album. Album ends on a fine note with the aggressive Deep Purple styled number 'Piensa y Lucha'. Overall the album reminds me somewhat of the very early Italian post-psychedelic / pre-progressive bands like Il Balletto di Bronzo on Sirrio 2222, Formula 3's Dies Irae, or maybe Gigi Pascal e La Pop Compagnia Meccanica. A short, but fun, album. BTW, the missing track on the CD is currently on YouTube, so be sure to check it out if you haven't heard it. It's a varied piece that combines big band, free jazz, and blues rock to mixed results.

Ownership: 1997 Record Runner (CD). Worth noting that while the Record Runner CD combines both of Psiglo's albums, it does exclude the track 'Es Inútil' from the debut which, at close to nine minutes, is a pity. However it does add the 1972 single 'Gente sin Camino' (6:07), which is arguably a better composition. There isn't enough space to include both unfortunately so they made the hard choice to go with the single. The CD also features all the lyrics, band snapshots and a newly written short essay in English. Acquired in 2008.

2006; 2008; 8/12/12 (review)

8/12/12 (new entry)

Sincerely P.T. ~ Germany

Sincerely P.T. (1973)

Sincerely P.T. is quite an interesting album. It starts out in typical Euro jazz territory, with some soft Rhodes piano and horns. But... as the best albums always do... the album gets freakier and freakier as it goes. There's plenty of wiggy fuzzed out keyboards and exotic stringed instruments to digest here. The P.T. stands for Peter Trunk (who plays bass) and he surrounds himself with an all-star cast of underground Kraut jazzers including Sigi Schwab on guitar (Vampyros Lesbos, Embryo), Jasper Van't Hof (Pork Pie) on keys, and Curt Cress on drums among many others. I'd say Schwab has the most influence here musically speaking (especially considering the various stringed instruments referred to above). Overall Sincerely P.T. finds the middle ground between horn rock, Krautrock, and European fusion. An excellent find, the type of album that one would normally hear on MPS for example.

Ownership: 1973 Spiegelei (LP). Gatefold.

No legit reissues have surfaced as of 3/18/25.

3/2/10 (review); 9/1/19 (new entry)

Jan Dukes de Grey - Mice and Rats in the Loft. 1971 England

Truly one of the most innovative rock albums from an era when that was the norm rather than the exception. Comus’ First Utterance is the only band that remotely comes close and that’s because it’s from the same school of insane acid folk rock. A three piece of guitar (mainly acoustic until the final title track where it’s electric), flute and drums with some occasional trumpet, trombone, clarinet, sax and "Zelda Chord" (an organ sounding stringed instrument). Not to mention the madcap vocals… and the whole thing rocks like nobody’s business. Three very long tracks with more ideas in one song than most conjure up in a career. Pure genius.

Ownership: LP: 1971 Transatlantic. Gatefold. Acquired online (2015).

CD: 2005 Strange Days (Japan). Papersleeve edition.

Due to a poorly thought-out design, many originals have damage to the first track on one side or the other (or more). It's a gatefold cover, but with a hard plastic PVC sleeve and a foam edge to store the vinyl in. Over time, this foam will chemically react with the vinyl to create permanent damage to the grooves. And the PVC sleeve is no friend of vinyl either. I lucked out with my copy. The PVC sleeve had jarred loose causing the vinyl to move away from the foam. So the only damage I have is in the dead wax not the music (whew!). Of course now I have it stored in an audiophile sleeve. As such, I have a more valuable copy than usual.

My introduction to the album was via the crappy Poor House cd-r (2001). Hard to believe we actually paid good money for those back then!

2001; 3//05; 9/1/19 (new entry)

Vita Nova. 1971 Germany

Vita Nova were an international trio based in Munich, who’s sole album was released in Austria. Featuring Eddy Marron (Dzyan) on guitar, who frequently plays with a psych edge. Also plenty of great fuzzed out Clavinet, Hammond, and pipe organ provided by Sylvester Lavay. Truly inventive rock with no real obvious comparisons. Vita Nova could be seen as the followup to Os Mundi’s psych influenced Latin Mass album.

The liner notes reveal perhaps the biggest surprise: That Lavay was behind the mid 70s disco group Silver Convention, best known for their hit 'Fly, Robin, Fly' among many others (and a group, by pure happenstance, that we just featured recently here on UMR).

CD: 1995 Penner

The above features 2 bonus tracks that were to be released as a single but never materialized, and are of the same high quality as the album proper.

Tomorrow's Gift ~ Germany

Goodbye Future (1973)

Goodbye Future is Tomorrow's Gift's second album and completely different than the debut. Gone are the female vocals, heavy guitars, and general Krautrock proto prog 1971 mayhem, and in its place is a keyboard centered Canterbury styled album. Not too far from same period Supersister (think Pudding En Gisteren), especially considering the additional and obvious Frank Zappa influence. It's a very satisfying album on the whole, and yet it feels like it should have been just that much better.

Tomorrow's Gift later evolved into the fusion oriented Release Music Orchestra. They also participated in the long-past-its-shelf-life Krautrock psych band Dennis as well.

Ownership: 1973 Spiegelei (LP). Gatefold with die cut cover. Acquired in 1988.

Not reissued on CD as of 7/24/26.

1988; 9/1/19 (review)

Tomorrow's Gift (1970)

Tomorrow's Gift's debut is a great example of the hard driving, proto progressive sound that flourished throughout western Europe in the early 1970s. Most of these bands featured husky female vocals in the Grace Slick or Janis Joplin manner and for instrumentation the leads were flute, guitar (usually played in a loud acid style), Hammond organ and sax. It's one of my personal favorite sub-genres of music. Some other examples of bands that play in this style are: Affinity, Fusion Orchestra, Delivery, Goliath (UK), Sandrose, Mad Curry, Julian's Treatment / Julian Jay Savarin, Circus 2000, Analogy and many more.

My only complaint is the overlong four minute drum solo that closes Side 2 (of 4 sides). But otherwise a corker.

Ownership: 2012 Second Battle (2xLP). Gatefold. Acquired in 2012.

First copy: 1991 Second Battle (CD). Acquired in 1992.

1992; 2/3/10 (review)

2/3/10 (new entry)