*Larry Coryell - Planet End. 1975 Vanguard (LP). The album represents two different sessions: 1970's Spaces and 1974's The Eleventh House. Also included is one Coryell solo guitar piece which serves as an interlude. I prefer the heavy fusion of the Eleventh House, and both of these tracks would have fit great on the debut. No surprises if you're familiar with that album. Even though they represent half the tracks, it's only about 30% of the time (10 minutes). I'm less familiar with Spaces, a much more "out" setting reminding me some of Wolfgang Dauner's work from this period. Fairly raw and a mite untogether that is, of course, the point. Not an easy listen, but not uncomfortable either. This version of the band represents about 60% of the material here (about 20 minutes). In essence, Planet End is more geared towards the Spaces audience with some extra mid 70s fusion punch. (Dec)
*Carpenters - Close to You. 1970 A&M (LP). Pulled this out of What's Left for $1 (Dec). I see this album all the time in the thrifts, but usually not in the best condition. I had a copy prior that I gave to a friend. Anyway I get all weepy with this title. 'We've Just Begun' just slays me every time, hitting on some core nerve of innocence from my 5 year old self. And it's never been fair (at all) to pair up Bacharach and these two siblings. Sentimentality overload! Has anyone ever listened to that last Richard Carpenter piece 'Another Song'? What the hell? Sounds like Krautrock, and Karen is bashing the drums like Klaus Schulze's sister, not Richard's. What did Nixon say? "Finest young group in America is going to entertain us tonight. The Carpenters ladies and gentlemen." Wow. Bet they didn't play 'Another Song'... Crate digger tip: The white label promo version of this album goes for big bucks. Since I learned that little tidbit, I've inspected the label from scores of copies, but never have yet seen one. It is indeed scarce.
Pharoah Sanders - Love Will Find A Way. 1978 Arista (LP). Thrift shop find (Dec). You're not going to find too many people who say this is the Sanders album to buy. Though one could argue it's his most accessible work. Smooth jazz and disco are not the qualities Sanders brings to the table. It starts off pretty nice actually but the material runs thin after awhile. And it gets almost irritating by the end. The general populace ranks this as his low point.
Junior Vega - Images of Music. 19?? Variety (LP). Interesting recent thrift shop find (Dec). Trumpeter Vega plays a compendium of Latin jazz styles including Samba, Bossa Nova, Mambo, Bomba, and Guajira. Mambo is about 40% but I'll be damned if I could tell you much of a difference between them. Blindfolded I doubt I could identify even the Bossa Nova track, a genre I've become very familiar with in the last 3-4 years. He's backed up by no less than 11 musicians. This one is a borderline keeper, as it has a very satisfying sound.
Oriental Wind - Live in der Balver Hohle. 1978 JG (LP). Collection revisit (Sep). Back in 2001 I was taking chances on ebay for any interesting looking jazz rock records, mostly European. This was long before the CDRWL, YouTube, and other outlets provided to me. If I saw something at a good price, that appeared like I would enjoy it, I would pop for it. Oriental Wind was somewhat typical of the style of albums I was buying. This is a very fine world fusion effort, with spirited Turkish drummer Okay Temiz leading the Swedish quintet through a serious of extended workouts. Musically I'm reminded of Embryo's later jazz efforts (many years after this) and some of Aera's work, in particular the saxophone playing. All in all, falls a bit too much into the jazz playing field for me to grab ahold on, though my rating remains the same (very good). 21 years on from that first listen and I don't think this one will make the cut, even though there are no reissues. Bar keeps getting higher.
Krzysztof Zgraja - Laokoon. 1981 Polskie Nagrania (LP). Collection revisit (Sep). Same as the above, purchased near the same time for the same reason. And like Oriental Wind, my rating remains unchanged, but this isn't really much in my wheelhouse. Laokoon is hardcore flute jazz, well done for the style, and certainly isn't pop influenced fluff. But it's not avant garde either. This title, however, did manage to get reissued in 2018. So if I change my mind at least a copy can be attainable.
Anna Margarida - Anna. 1968 Vault (LP). Recent thrift shop find (Sep). Since I restarted my crate digging activities in 2019, two types of music emerged as new styles of choice for me: funk - especially jazz funk - and bossa nova. Ms. Margarida is of the latter. From Brazil, naturally enough, this is her primary album. It's very soothing and well done. However it's a bit too orchestrated and syrupy for me to want to go extra rounds with it. So it falls short of the Sergio Mendes bar. Not enough tequila in this Margarida (just had to write that didn't I?).
Chakachas - Jungle Fever. 1972 Polydor (LP). This ended up being a disappointment. I had a rare single by these Belgian guys (captured here on UMR) and thought a full album would be pretty cool. I expected Latin Funk or even some Latin Rock. What you get is Latin Jazz. Pretty much the same kind of music Rene Bloch was doing a decade prior. Nothing wrong with that of course, just not what I'm looking for. Closing title track is by far the best thing here. Oh well, can't win 'em all. (Sep)
*Pekka Pohjola - Keesojen Lehto. 2021 Svart (1977) (LP). Pohjola's 3rd solo album, known in the English world as The Mathematician's Air Display. I didn't currently own a copy, and since this reissue features a gatefold with a history, I went ahead and grabbed it - at a good price too. I don't find Pohjola's solo work all that gratifying, but they are still very good, worthy of ownership. This album has a lot of participation from Mike Oldfield. So much so, that in the early 80s they tried to pass this off as a Mike Oldfield solo album! That was not very nice - and probably downright illegal. (May) I later ended up with the UK original as well. Kept this for the "wall of albums".
*Rafael Moreira - Acid Guitar. 2005 Music Magnet (CD). Thrift shop find (Apr). With a title like that, there was no way I'm leaving it behind. I have no idea who Moreira is, but this is one superb album. Acid Guitar is not exactly what I expected though. In fact I was afraid it would be one of those nauseous guitar feedback overload albums like we hear coming from Japan. It's nothing of the sort - rather it has a bit of funk and Bossa Nova mixed in. The latter an homage to Moreira's native Brazil. There are some sublime psychedelic guitar moments as well as hard rock. A wonderful surprise on what appears to be a mostly unknown CD. A CD I might add that is a private pressing that comes in a first class 6 panel digipak.
* - Keeping for the collection
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