First Band from Outer Space - We're Only In It For the Space Rock. 2005 Transubstans (CD). Collection revisit (Dec). As with electronic music, I have way too much space rock. I have a strongly favorable review of their second album and there's mention of flute and even Swedish vocals. I suspect those are the magic ingredients needed to maintain interest here. This is their debut and it's pure Hawkwind worship at this point. And sure enough the last track possesses the fine counterpoint that the flute brings, and represents the album's best cut. A day late and a dollar short though. Solid album for certain, but I have enough it, so it can go.
Happy the Man - The Muse Awakens. 2004 InsideOut (CD). Collection revisit (Dec). Tri-fold digipak. One of those albums I dutifully picked up near the time of release, listened to once, thought it decent, and filed away. I had no memory whatsoever of what it sounded like. The Muse Awakens was met with initial enthusiasm from the "prog audience" (presuming one ever existed) and it's easy to see why. Essentially Happy the Man took the formula of their first two albums and brought it to 2004. On reflection, that's all this is. Nothing really groundbreaking or inspiring, just a watered down version of Crafty Hands without the goosebump inducing melodies. It's still a very good album, but not enough for me to hold onto. I have enough of the real deal. Much is made that it would have been better had the lead composer and keyboardist Kit Watkins been involved. I don't agree. It's not like Watkins was releasing prog classics in this era. Perhaps the original synergy would have been there, but we'll never know. As for reunion albums, it fits in the middle - not an uninformed try at being hip and relevant, nor a band who still had a creative fire burning that needed an outlet.
The Vocokesh - All This and Hieronymus Bosch. 2007 Strange Attractors (CD). Collection revisit (Nov). The Milwaukee based collective of F/i and The Vocokesh were always an extreme bunch, taking space rock to its logical conclusion. At first I thought I might keep this one, as it's relentless in its pursuit of maintaining a high degree of intensity. But over time I was worn out, as these albums often tend to do. They don't have a lot of ideas, so they make up for it with grinding through the next jam. This is a very good example of the style, but once again, I just have too much of it.
Titan - Sweet Dreams. 2010 Relapse (CD). Collection revisit (Nov). The album prior to this, The Raining Sun Of Light... is, in my estimation, one of the greatest modern interpretations of progressive Krautrock one can find in the market. Brilliant in every way, I was very excited to obtain the follow up upon release. And was disappointed. In listening to it for the time since last night, I settled in on a -1 (in this case I rated it too high to begin with). But musically it's still quite good, I'm just not fond of the production and tones. It's as if they felt the need to "stoner it up", which was entirely unnecessary.
Collegium Musicum - Continuo. 1998 Opus (CD) (1978). Collection revisit (Nov). Despite featuring three long tracks, Continuo is a much more conventional release than what the band had released prior. Take same era Emerson Lake and Palmer (side 4 of Works Volume 1), but with room to jam, especially on a new weird sounding synthesizer. The vocals are subpar but otherwise the music isn't hard to listen to, especially for organ fans. Certainly a decent work overall, but not enough to distinguish itself and maintain room on the shelf. I can let it go.
Ars Nova - Seventh Hell. 2009 Altavoz (CD). Collection revisit (Nov). Ars Nova's swan song goes out swinging and takes no prisoners. Completely over the top bombast whilst keyboardist and band leader Keiko Kumagai takes her sex kitten routine to its logical extreme. After 17 years and two handfuls of releases, Ars Nova had nowhere else to go with the concept. Kumagai could have continued to take her ideas further into metal, S&M, and other extreme forms, but it would have been painful to watch and listen to a desperate person attempting to stay young. Better to retire gracefully. I almost kept this considering its no holds barred approach. But decided it's not really that interesting musically. Their first three albums are likely to be permanent fixtures of the collection given my personal history with the band, and their fourth is TBD. Otherwise I either didn't buy, or keep, the others. I prefer their more traditional progressive rock keyboard trio albums.
Amygdala - Complex Combat. 2008 Soleil Zeuhl (CD). Collection revisit (Nov). Bought this not long after release, and my memory had it as an aggressive type of Zeuhl, somewhat typical of the Japanese branch. On this first revisit some 15 years later, that wasn't really the correct conclusion. Amygdala play a decidedly energetic form of avant prog with Zeuhl trimmings. This is exactly the type of music I've lost complete interest in. A lot of notes, rigid structure, and edgy instrumentation. And no tunes. The music seems to be created by a computer. For the genre though it's still a fine album, so if your tastes run that way, Complex Combat comes recommended.
*Bo Hansson - Magician's Hat. 1973 Charisma. From the Denver record show (Oct). Hansson's albums used to be ubiquitous in the used bins during the 80s (not so much anymore), so I had a chance to hear all of his classic 70s works back then. My grades are useless and I plan to zero them all out until I revisit each. I had no foundation with Swedish prog, and that would apply to 99.5% of Americans I'm sure - to this day. Why Hansson's albums sold much copy in the States at all remains a mystery. Though it probably helped he played on Tolkien themes, which had a cult following even then. The original came out on Silence and sounds very much like their stable of bands at the time, notably Kebnekaise and Flasket Brinner - all contemporary cronies of Hansson. A beautiful instrumental album with tons of vintage keyboards, flute, electric guitar, and superb Swedish folkloric melodies. I had planned on buying all of Hansson's albums as I found them in the wilds, but they haven't surfaced (or they're too expensive). Eventually they will though.
Aviator. 1979 Harvest (UK). Another inexpensive Dr. Boom pickup (Oct). Nice original UK copy. I thought I might really like this title as it seemed to be another "proggy AOR" type album from the late 70s that I've been digging of late. Its reputation is pretty solid too. However, this one is a bit too radio friendly for my tastes and I'm not fond of the smooth jazz style of the saxophone. It does finish strong however. Thought about keeping it, but there's no more room anymore for albums like Aviator.
*Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Solar Fire. 1978 Bronze (Germany) (1973). How I got this far in life without hearing Solar Fire is something of a mystery. Though Mann is rarely mentioned in progressive rock circles, he most certainly should be. This is just as much of-the-genre as any obscurity coming out of Europe during this era. Mellotron, synthesizers, loud guitar, and complex compositions. The album is common as spit here in the States. Usually fairly trashed though. This beautiful gatefold import edition is the nicest I've seen. Grabbed from Dr. Boom here in town for a thrift shop price. (Oct)
Rinnesya. 1995 Double Trap. Collection revisit (May). This is from the Japanese school of all-intense, all-the-time instrumental progressive rock. Very much like Bondage Fruit, Koenji Hyakkei (though not Zeuhl), and Pou Fou. I was thinking the other day that I do like some bands in this space, especially Happy Family, so it would appear they're missing an emotional component that resonates. If the term "brutal prog" gets you excited, I would definitely recommend this album. It's very obscure but not unattainable.
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