Areski / Brigitte Fontaine - L'Incendie. 1995 Spalax (CD) (1973). Collection revisit (Nov). Hypnotic and haunting are two very good adjectives that describe this unusual folk album. I really appreciate Fontaine's breathy French vocals. I think this is a good example of an album I'd keep on vinyl but doesn't seem to fit with the CD format. The opposite of progressive electronic I'd argue. It doesn't help that this CD version is a needle drop that has been muffled. I enjoy this album, but not enough to keep on CD.
Ole Lukkoye - Toomze. 1999 Lollipop Shop (CD) (1996). Collection revisit (Aug) Very similar to the debut (see below). Repetitive world trance music, which is still very good, but I prefer when it's mixed with psychedelia similar to Korai Orom. This album does have a psychedelic effect via the constant percussive beat, exotic instrumentation, and voices, as evidenced most on tracks 5 and 9.
Renaissance - Illusion. 1995 Repertoire (CD) (1971). Collection revisit (Aug). The odd album out in Renaissance's canon. I was very pleasantly surprised how strong their 1969 debut really is on a recent revisit. As groundbreaking as In the Court of the Crimson King when talking the advent of progressive rock. On Illusion, Renaissance goes back to the shed and brings forth mostly a set of folk rock tunes. And not really any good ones at that. It isn't until the two minute mark on the album's 4th track that anything resembling progressive rock shows up. I'm fond of the lengthy closing jam though it would have been more effective at half the length. All of which helps hold the rating, but not enough to keep I'm afraid. The story has been told many times, but Renaissance were disintegrating and it looked like they would be gone forever. They were to rebuild themselves entirely on Prologue and went about releasing no less than six studio classics in a row (I include A Song for All Seasons in this category).
Stacia Cushing - In Between. 1981 Fairfield. Found this for a couple of bucks at a local store. Never seen it before and it had "the look". Sure enough, worth a heck of a lot more than $2. Private pressing from Wichita, Kansas. I was also hoping for a lost folk album (which the cover indicates) or maybe a sweet kind of pop. None of the above. Even if there was one great track, I probably would have held onto it. The first couple of cuts are probably the best. Cushing's voice indicates she had dabbled in country music before, but made a career change somewhere down the line. Overall it's pop folk, and her voice is sort of irritating. Not for me. (Jul)
Congregacion - Viene... 2012 Lion (CD) (1972). Kind of a mystical folk / folk rock album from the last days of Allende's rule in troubled Chile. Wonderful papersleeve gatefold with a full history from Lion, who always does a first class job. Admittedly had I found an original LP, I would keep it - goes with the esoteric vibe the album emits. Plus it's a real monetary asset. But I think I can let this CD go. (Jul)
Ole Lukkoye - Zapara. 1996 Exotica (CD) (1993). Collection revisit (Jun). Like with Korai Orom, Ole Lukkoye loosely falls within the psychedelic festival circuit as well as various ethnic dance circles. This debut from the Russian group is a bit more world fusion and less psychedelic than their later albums, at least as I recall them. This is a very good title, but I have plenty of others to listen to in this space that are more interesting to my ears.
*Nu & Apa Neagra - Omag. 2008 Lollipop Shop (CD). Collection revisit (Apr 2022). A very interesting band from Romania that mixes the experimental with indigenous traditions to come up with something entirely psychedelic sounding. One of those genre defying albums that could be labeled Avant Folk, Experimental, World Fusion, etc... Somewhat like the Polish band Atman in that way. I have to really be in the mood for music such as this to appreciate. I find it best just to put it on, and let it ride as background music. Hard to get involved with it otherwise.
*Projekt Karpaty Magiczne - Ethnocore. 1999 Fly Music (CD). Collection revisit (Apr 2022). Speaking of Atman, I've been a fan of their albums going back to my first discovery of them in the late 90s. One day some 20 years ago, while rummaging around Amoeba Records in San Francisco, I came across the CD of Magic Carpathians Project's Ethnocore 2 album. Loved it immediately (and haven't heard it since!). The Magic Carpathians are, as you may know, Atman version 2.0. But what of that first Ethnocore album? It was a bitch to find back then, since it was only released in Poland, unlike the second one that obtained an American imprint. I finally was able to import it from Germany at a hefty import cost. Values of LPs and CDs sometimes make no sense, as today one can find this CD very cheaply. Damn. In any case, the review I wrote above for Nu & Apa Neagra is the same one I could write for this with a bit more psychedelia infused.
* - Keeping for the collection
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