Magic Bus - The Earth Years. 2020 Back to the Garden (LP). Magic Bus are one of many bands trying to capture the glory years of the Canterbury movement, mixing psych, prog, pop, and jazz. Unfortunately Magic Bus can't seem to shed a 90's indie/alt influence in their songwriting. In fact, concerning the songwriting, that element is almost nonexistent here. And that's the indie thing - strum a few chords and sing out of tune about things that are important to them and no one else. The opposite of what the Canterbury groups brought. Not all is a loss, as there's plenty of good neo psych to be found here too. But not enough to save it from the sell bin. (May)
Vance - An Epitaph for Mary. 1982 private (LP). As the years go by, my appreciation of the original neo prog movement has gone considerably up. Much of that can be attributed to nostalgia versus objective analysis. I had fallen hard for prog in the early 80s, but there were very few contemporary bands, and many of those I didn't know about until many years later. By that time I was already dismissing neo prog too lol. But in the last 10 years I've slowly added more and more albums from that era in (or back in) to the collection. Vance is a band I remember, but never heard, primarily because no one suggested I do. Sadly, in this case, they were correct. Vance is one of those Dutch bands that have their heart in the right place, but didn't have the proper background to understand the allure of prog that audiences were craving. The melodic songwriting, lengthy tracks, and guitar work are definitely prog rock motivated. But the canned production and plodding rhythms are stilted and boring. They were a product of the early 80s and I think they wanted to fit in with modern audiences while bringing a decade old approach. It didn't work then, and it still sounds wrong. An Epitaph for Mary is like a proto SI label album. I really wanted to like this and gave it more time than usual. But I just can't get into it. (Apr)
The Brotherhood Of Eternal Love - Green Morning Baby. 2000 Garageland (CD). Collection revisit (Apr). From the same heads that gave us Holy River Family Band, The Brotherhood Of Eternal Love would be their jam outlet. Similar to Humus / Frolic Froth in that way. Featuring one 73 minute track, some of this indeed does get tedious, but for much of it, I found it enjoyable. It really will test your tolerance of the space rock style, as it can jam for what seems like three hours. Find something to do while listening to it though, or you will doze off.
Frolic Froth - Eponymous. 1997 Smogless (CD). Collection revisit (Apr). As you have read in these very pages, I'm a huge fan of Humus. They were one of the few bands to take a page from the Sensations' Fix playbook for space rock. That is to say, they add a strong progressive / Canterbury rock component. Frolic Froth, on the other hand, is mostly the same cast of characters, but here they give up any composition aspect for pure Krautrock jamming. It's one of many albums shooting for the Guru Guru UFO sound. This is probably the best example of something I enjoyed in the late 90s (bought new when it came out) and I'm just tired of it by now. I can listen to Guru Guru and others from that era all day, but these newer bands just don't possess the same magic or background. Pretty tedious stuff, and this listen resulted in a -1.
*3rd Ear Experience - Boi. 2013 private (CD). Collection revisit (Apr). I misunderstood this title. It's not really just space rock, but has a strong hard rock prog angle to it as well. These kind of albums are much more interesting to my ears. More Nektar and less Hawkwind that is to say. Easy keeper.
The Vocokesh - Smile! And Point At The Mountain? 1995 Drag City (CD). Collection revisit (Apr). I got this in a collection buy in the late 90s, and I think it's been in the weedout stack ever since. The Vocokesh were related to F/i and are a Milwaukee based collective of freaks who were one of the first bands of the 1980s to try for a cosmic Krautrock sound. Almost all of their early albums are noisy, and lack the focus of the 70s masters. They were to improve, but this one remains chaotic to my ears.
Marillion - Brave. 1994 IRS (CD). Thrift shop find (Apr). In a parallel universe, I could see myself having stuck with Marillion and been a loyal fan to this day. In the life I chose, I remained loyal to IQ instead. There were a lot of parallels between the two bands from their beginning neo prog roots to their ultimate embracing of pop rock. Of course Marillion were far more popular with the general public, so it was much harder for them to retrace their steps. Steps that IQ proudly went back on and never lost their way again. Because I ultimately dropped Marillion at the time after Misplaced Childhood, I never heard another one of their albums, only adding Clutching at Straws many years after the fact. And with Marillion what that basically means is that I have no foundation whatsoever with the "Hogarth era". Even Fish will tell you that Hogarth has done an extraordinary job with the band, and it made no sense for him to return. To be honest, this album was much better than I thought it was going to be. It's not really my kind of progressive rock, definitely forged into the 90s model of mixing in commercial sounding pop and alt rock. But there was far more 80s neo prog in here than I thought there would be. Especially in the former half of the album. I almost kept it anyway. But I have no nostalgia here as I do for other bands of the era. And that's what would have been needed for me to continue on. I suspect later albums are going to be even of lesser interest to me, but I'll buy them as I find them in the wilds and report back.
*Our Solar System - Origins. 2018 Beyond Beyond Is Beyond (LP). OK, what's with the annoying label name? I recently found a new sealed copy that was heavily marked down. I hadn't heard of this Swedish collective even though this is their 5th album and features Dungen members. Yea, it's Brooklyn Hipster alright. As I stated about Earthless, I'm pretty much filled to the brim with music such as this, but it's also hard to shuffle it out the door. I still enjoy a good old fashioned psychedelic Krauty jam here and there. It's nowhere near as engaging as the original masters, nor does it take the sound to the next level as the aforementioned Earthless recently did. It's definitely style over substance, but if this is considered mundane, then we must live in a very exciting world. Keeping it for now, and sometimes music like this clicks later on. (Mar)
Seventh Wave - Psi-Fi. 1975 Janus (LP). Seventh Wave is post Second Hand and the ultra obscure Fungus. They were popular with my runnin' set in Dallas in the early 90s, though I never took a shine to their two albums. But as been reported here often, time has been good to many of these revisits. Not so much with Psi-Fi. There's a strain of music coming from England that I've never really enjoyed, and Seventh Wave dabble in that here. It has glammy and theatrical elements, somewhat like Queen in that way. There are some pretty good progressive rock moments here, and I enjoyed a +1 listen. But not enough for a spot in the collection. (Mar)
*Earthless - Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. 2022 Nuclear Blast. 3 sided LP package with etched 4th side, all on gold vinyl. Yippee yayhoo. Hipster Essentials. But I might as well get my money's worth. As I mentioned before, when you have trade credit at a local store, there's pressure to take on new albums to settle the debt. I was familiar with Earthless, from their Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky album, which I heard not long after release (2007). If there's a style of music that I need less of, it's the kind Earthless peddle - that of the long form space rock jam. But if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right, and Earthless most certainly does. There are three long jams here, with the first being broken up into two parts. The last track 'Death to the Red Sun' is something special, with the kind of rave-up one rarely hears from modern bands who seem content to go along with image and sound, but little else. 52 years on from Guru Guru's UFO, and bands are still plowing that field looking for yields. Earthless takes the core of that sound and stretches it out. I really appreciate the energy the band brings to this recording. So yes, highly recommended, though I really didn't need another example. But this will likely outlast many others that are similar. (Mar)
*Alain Markusfeld - Contemporus. 1979 Visa/Egg (LP). I find it somewhat amazing that you can still buy high quality sealed prog albums from the 70s for under $10 (part 1). From the same good friend who sent me the Tyton (see Metal Journal), I purchased this album - sealed with no sale marks even. This is Markusfeld's 5th album. Concerning the predecessor I wrote: "On Platock, Markusfeld turns mostly to the acoustic guitar, with bursts of electric throughout - as well as a few wordless voices. This isn't so much a prog rock album, nor jazz fusion, but rather a cyclical piece that draws from both genres. Similar in that way to Mike Oldfield, and perhaps more specifically Michel Moulinie. Something like an Inventions for Acoustic Guitar, though far less cosmic. It's a unique album, one that doesn't grab your attention on paper, but becomes mesmerizing over the course of the album." All of that could be said here, perhaps even more academic. Almost an unclassifiable record, but one that satisfied on multiple listens. (Mar)
Mike Keneally - Boil that Dust Speck. 1995 Immune (CD). Thrift shop find (Mar). There's a style of progressive rock that I'm predisposed not to like, and Mike Keneally exists exclusively in that area. At least on Boil that Dust Speck. It lacks focus, is incredibly self-conscious on how complex it is, and comes across as more virtuous and superior to what you and your friends tend to like. Oh look how smart we are! Despite all of these preconceived notions, I almost kept this one. There are some truly fantastic progressions to be found, but sometimes I feel artists like this wouldn't know the difference. As my wife likes to say (in an unrelated context) "they can't see the dirty from the dirt".
*Ruphus - New Born Day. 1973 Polydor (LP). Collection revisit (Feb). We talked about this debut a bit in the recent Ranshart entry. New Born Day is their heavy prog debut, and is more in line with the Norwegian scene of the day like Junipher Greene, Aunt Mary, Popol Vuh and their ilk. There are hints of the UK prog scene here, and the odd Yes reference, but nothing like Ranshart. Really strong work if early 70s Scandinavian styled heavy prog is your bag. Like with Murple, I hadn't heard this album in 20+ years, at the point of procuring this LP. Also checked out the bonus tracks on the CD, which is their 1974 single. Both of these are heavily Yes influenced and should have been included with Ranshart, rather than here. Given they are unique to this release, and quite excellent, I'm holding onto the CD as well.
*Wucan - Sow the Wind. 2019 Made in Germany (LP). Clear vinyl. Repressing of 2015 debut. I have their second full length album reviewed in here somewhere, and general wisdom has it that it's the greater of the two. But I liked this one better - really strong heavy psych / prog / Krautrock. The latter shows up in particular on the final 15+ minute track. By the time of the female narration in German, ou know you're sitting on a near masterpiece. One of the better recent-era albums I've heard. (Feb)
* - Keeping for the collection
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