Monday, April 16, 2007
Sensitiva Immagine - E Tutto Comincio Cosi (1976)
This band from Bologna was formed in 1975, only released a self-produced cassette and had a good live act with use of stage costumes in Genesis' style. The music also had english symphonic prog influences but the band had a good sound with italian lyrics.Their only tape was released around the end of the 70's and privately sold at their concerts; the liner notes on the japanese CD issue mention 1980 as release date, but other sources talk of 1977 or 1978. No musicians were credited on the original tape, and the first CD reissue only had four names mentioned, to add some mystery to the band.
The 6-track tape was finally released on CD in 1991 by the japanese Melos label (the same that released the lost LP by Buon Vecchio Charlie) in limited quantity and soon deleted, while a second reissue was made by the italian label Kaliphonia with the addition of two instrumental introductions and four extra tracks.
The album contains some very nice long tracks with good guitar and keyboard playing, like the Genesis-inspired Harlem; the playing is of a very good quality but the overall impression is that the recording suffers from the lack of production, especially in the vocal parts, short but a bit weak at times.
Italian Prog
Published earlier by great Prog Not Frog but the link is long dead.
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Sunday, April 15, 2007
Amenophis
The story of this group goes back to 1978. Stefan and Michael Roessmann played in a band called TUT ENCH AMUN. Later on Wolfgang Vollmuth joined this band. Here they took their first steps in the direction of progressive rock. When in early 1978 TUT ENCH AMUN splitted up, Wolfgang Vollmuth and the two Roessmann brothers founded AMENOPHIS. AMENOPHIS first concert was in October 1979. In 1980 the band bought a comprehensive equipment and Erwin Hillebrand joined AMENOPHIS on keyboards. AMENOPHIS had several gigs in the southern part of Germany, mostly together with more known bands to reach a wider audience. The Flower, the second song on the first album is an example of the activity of this period.In 1981 and 1982 AMENOPHIS increased their repertoire by composing up to 30 titles. Songs like Venus and The Last Requiem were written at this period. The band gave 12 concerts between 1981 and 1982 until they decided in end of 1982 to do recordings.Since a professional studio was too expensive for the band, AMENOPHIS decided to build their own studio from their live equipment and an the 8 track tape from sound engineer Rudolf Wiedemann. End of 1982 AMENOPHIS started their first recordings in their studio. They did a lot of experiments, the bonus tracks on the CD release of the first albums are a part of the outcome from this period.Overall studio work was an important experience for AMENOPHIS, giving the band more freedom to realize ideas. Some compositions like Suntower, the first song on the Amenophis album were written within this period, recorded but never played live. In February 1983 AMENOPHIS started recording their first album. The Flower was chosen as a representative title of the former period of the band. All other songs on the album were written in 1982. Cover painting was done by Wolfgang Vollmuth's sister Rosalia. Hubert Fischer took over the responsibility for the cover print. End of 1983 the first album was officially released marking the end of the first period of the band.
In 1984 and 1985 AMENOPHIS was very quiet. They did some smaller sessions with guests musicians but no new songs were written. Early 1986 AMENOPHIS got the offer recording a second album. This project was called You & I. Kurt Poppe on keyboards and Rene Kius joined the band. The following year the band built up a completly new repertoire and in Nov. 1987 AMENOPHIS could be seen live again. Early 1988 AMENOPHIS recorded the You & I album with ELke Moerle on vocals. Later on Isolde Reichmann on vocals joined the band in 1988. Until 1989 AMENOPHIS did several concerts and interviews on radio shows.
After over 10 years AMENOPHIS gave the goodbye concert in June 1989. Amenophis home page
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Amenophis - Amenophis (1983)
Amenophis - You and I (1987)
Batteaux - S/T (1973 )
Very nice, very obscure rock/soul album on Columbia -- with a vibe that's difficult to describe, but which fits in nicely with a "Free Soul" aesthetic, and which also gives a strong nod to the Folk Funk Experience. There's nice acoustic guitar, some good space arrangements, and vocals that are very flanged-out! Includes the nice sing-song groover "Tell Her She's Lovely", plus "Mirror", "Wake Me In the Morning", "Lady of The Lake", "Katy", "High Tide", and the cut "Dig Up The Love", which has a bit of a break in the intro.Dusty Groove AmericaRate Your Music
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Friar Tuck - Friar Tuck And His Psychedelic Guitar (1967)
An oft-overlooked piece of the LA pop-psych jigsaw, this 1967 oddity combines typically complex vocal arrangements bythe legendary Curt Boettcher with virtuoso guitar interludes from LA session legend Mike Deasy, and features backing from the team responsible for the landmark Millennium and Sagittarius LPs. A truly deranged mixture of cover versions and originals, it’s presented here complete with four ultra-rare bonus tracks from non-album 45s, making it an essential purchase for fans of sunshine pop and psychedelia. Freak EmporiumRate Your Music
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Trúbrot
Trúbrot were born when members of Hljómar (Owens, Júlíusson and Þórðarson) and Flowers (Sighvatsson and Hákonarson) decided to form a 'supergroup' in 1969. Their first album appeared in the same year - a collection of late-sixties pop songs (featuring male and female vocals) with orchestral arrangements on some tracks and a kind of Bacharach-like aura, due to the frequent use of jazz chords. They did Icelandic versions of José Feliciano's "Rain", Lennon-McCartney's "I'll Be Back" and Holland-Dozier-Holland's "My World Is Empty Without You". More ambitious is their pop version of an extract from Richard Wagner's opera, "Tannhäuser" and their own tongue-in-cheek pop opera, "Afgangar" (9:00). The album was recorded at the Trident Studios in London. It was strongly influenced by British pop music. Perhaps those tracks with a hint of hippie folk and vocal harmonies, acoustic guitar, flute and percussion are the most memorable ones. It is not a bad album within its field."Undir Áhrifum" (1970) was recorded in Denmark by a revamped version of the band. All of the material was written by the group this time around, but mostly featuring English lyrics. Among the 8 tracks were some fantastic imitations of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ("In The Country" and "Everything's Alright"). Slightly more progressive tendencies are detectable on the great closing track, "Stjörnuryk" (7:28).
"...Lifun" (1971) was their pop opera comprised of interconnected tracks, influenced by The Move, Led Zeppelin and Keith Emerson (and also the Beatles and CSN&Y). The album came in a hexagonal cover and was their most accomplished work, recorded with Gerry Boys in London.
"Mandala" (1972) was a simpler offering and a return to basic, well-crafted pop style. Taken from Scented Gardens of the Mind - A guide to the Golden Era of Progressive Rock (1968-1980) in more than 20 European Countries, by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-12-2
Thanks to Alex Giltin
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Trúbrot - S/T(1969)
Trúbrot - Undir Áhrifum (1970) & ....Lifun (1971)
Ashada- Circulation (2006)
ASHADA is the name of a Japanese duet made of female singer TAE (Also playing mandolin and piano) and keyboards player MIDORI (Piano, programming, accordion and vocals). Joitly published by the Musea and Poseidon labels, "Circulation" (2006) includes several contributions of Akihisa TSUBOY on violin and DANI on bass (Both of KBB), plus a guitarist and a drummer. "Circulation" is an exquisite and romantic album, full of refinement and delicacy, influenced by classical and Japanese music. It sometimes recalls RENAISSANCE or OCTOBER PROJECT's airy atmospheres, and is enhanced by magnificent sequences of electric guitar or violin. The sound and arrangements are unusual, the melodies intense and sensible. Just beautiful!Buy CD from Musea
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Cincinnato - Cincinnato (1974)
The odd story of Cincinnato was not unusual in the confusion of the early 70's italian musical scene: signed to a major label, PDU, this group of unknown and little experienced musicians had the chance of releasing an album and then disappeared.The group was from near Varese, and had previously played since 1970 as Eros Natura, but the record company suggested a change of name, and Cincinnato came out in 1972.
Their label PDU is remembered by italian collectors because of their distribution of german cosmic classics like the ones on Ohr and Kosmische Kuriere labels, and this was (along with Logan Dwight's sole album) one of their very limited ventures into prog territory.
The album was recorded in just three days, in a single take; side A includes three instrumental tracks that can easily described as jazz-rock or in some cases simply jazz (as in Esperanto), built on piano and with good guitar playing by Gianni Fantuzzi. Side B contains a long track, L'ebete, more than 20 minutes long, with a good vocal beginning (vocals are uncredited on the cover, the voice was by keyboardist Urbanelli), that evolves in a jazz-influenced instrumental part but doesn't lose its prog influences.
A disjointed album that contains good playing and that nice long track, but unfortunately unknown to many fans, being very difficult to find before the recent CD reissue.
The group split in 1973 when Urbanelli and Vanetti quit; the only member having had some success is drummer Donato Scolese, who played with Franco Battiato in the 80's and then returned to the jazz club circuit. Italian Prog
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