Bollywood Hippie Freakout

While I'm preparing new goodies & some re-ups - enjoy mighty Jan Pehechan-Ho - lost hero of Bollywood rock!

Indian Beatles

Neptune's Empire - S/T (1971)

Norway psych pre Junipher Greene. Excellent!

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Welcome - S/T (1976)

Swiss prog

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Sundragon - Green Tambourine (1968)

British '60s pop, psych, soft-pop, R&B, blue-eyed soul

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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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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 America

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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 Emporium

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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!

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Cold Blood - Sisyphus (1971)

Classic US blues rock/funk.

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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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Neue Heimat - Die Härte (1982)

NDW!

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Cyklus - Planet Of Two Suns (1979 )

German prog/fusion

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Fungus

Fungus is founded in 1972 in the Dutch town of Vlaardingen. The band consists of founder Fred Piek, Bob Dekenga and Kees Maat. At first they almost exclusively play English and Scottish folk.
Bob Dekkenga leaves the group in 1973 to study and is replaced with Sido Martens, a former Farmers Union and Hello member and bass player Koos Pakvis. They publish the single "Farewell To Tarwathie".

Fungus is the first band to combine Dutch folklore and folkrock in 1974. The titleless debut LP, with half Dutch traditionals and half British material, will be Fungus's most succesfull album, mostly because of the hitsingle "Kaapren Varen".
Drummer Louis Debij joins the band after recording the album with Fungus. Bob Dekenga return and replaced Kees Maat on keyboard. Kees Maat joins "Electric Tear". Fungus is the only Dutch band at the Pinkpop festival of this year and starts a tour soon after, playing in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the UK. During the tour Debij is temporarily replaced with drummer Jack van den Blink.

The more balanced album "Lief ende Leed" is published in 1975. It contains exclusively rock versions of Dutch traditionals. Martens leaves the group halfway during the recording of the album to persue a solo-career. He is replaced by Rens van der Zalm, ex-Lascarrol and Bill Brooker's Jugband, who brings more than just his electric guitar: a mandoline, bagpipe and fiddle for example.

1976 After recording the third album, "Van De Kiel Naar Vlaring", the co-founder Dekenga leaves the band a second time.

1977 A changing musical climate forces the group to find new ways. They return to a lighter English folk repertoire. This more early-Fungus style results in the LP "Mushrooms". Arie van der Graaf is the guitarist on this album.

1978 The group continues to slink. Piek, Pakvis and Van der Zalm play for awhile as a succesfull accoustic trio. At the end of the year Fungus ceases to exist.

1979 The fairly succesfull farewell-LP "De Kaarten Zijn Geschud" contains, as did the 1st, a mix of Dutch and English material. However the catchy single "De Moord Te Raamsdonk" leaves the masses unmoved, silenced in the beginning of the punk-era.
Van der Zalm join the more puristic "Wolverlei" while Piek and Wim Kerkhof start the duo "The Amazing Stroopwafels".


password: ezhevika.blogspot.com

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Fungus - Fungus (1974)




















Fungus - Lief ende Leid (1975)




















Fungus - Van de Kiel naar Vlaring (1976)




















Fungus - Mushrooms (1977)





















Fungus - De Kaarten zijn Geschud (1979)

Flame Dream - Calatea (1978)

Geneva, 1979. In a record shop, I find a flyer announcing a new prog band is gigging in the surroundings... A band called Flame Dream with a logo a la Roger Dean! Ouch, a Swiss band playing progressive rock... Surprising! Progressive, not cosmic I should say : no connection whatsoever with Tangerine Dream! In fact one of the greatly unknown yet basic prog bands to be with a destine similar to Anyone's Daughter's. One of the best groups at the beginning of the eighties on the European symphonie prog scene, no less...

The band could have been compared to Genesis during the Peter Gabriel era (similar vocals, flutes and keyboards) with influences of Van Der Graaf Generator (dark climates and sax) and Gentle Giant (syncopated structures), however it Kwas by no means a clone! The compositions moere characterised by the stress on the keyboards and the virtuosity of the keyboards tiwizard playing tunes, always melodic and often melancholy, on top of a very dynamic and complex rhythm section, the whole stuff embroidered by superb flute and sax parts. The sound was characterised too by the absence of guitars, and by the singer's peculiar colour, often reminding Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins.

They released 6 albums. The 4 first album (Calatea, Elements, Out In The Dark and Supervision) are available on CD on Tachika Records). professional sound since they luckily signed for a major by the very first opus (Phonogram). "Those were the days..." The first and second album were produced by the band yet, while the further works were produced by John Acock : remember this man coproduced most of Steve Hackett albums.

The group was a quartet most of the time : Peter Furrer (drums), Urs Hochuli (bass, vocals and... cover illustrations), Peter Wolf (woodwinds, main vocals and lyrics ; notice this guy had nothing to do with J. Geils band's singer!), Roland Ruckstuhl (keyboards and compositions). Another founding member of Flame Dream, John Wolf Brennan (keyboards), Peter's brother, left the band before the first album. He concentrated on jazz, new music and contemporary classic and published several CDs. Flame Dream vas reduced to a trio by "8 on 6" (Peter Furrer, Peter Wolf, Roland Ruckstuhl), Urs Hochuli being only a guest on some songs. The band had two guitarists episodically : Urs Waldispuhl who only played on the first album, and Dale Hauskins on "Out ln The Dark".

The Albums

"Calatea" (1978) is a good album with a light jazz-rock touch, rather ordinary vocals (Peter Wolf was perhaps a bit Young at that time), guitars on accompaniment only. It was recorded in the famous Aquarius studio in Geneva (see Pulsar, Yes...) and remains, being very rare, a real collector.

"Elements" (1979) is a great album featuring very
symphonie prog, with mellotrons, pianos, flutes, without guitars, based on poems by English writers (such as E. Spenser, R.W. Emerson...) about the four elements and thus a bit clumsy sometimes : it's hard to sing poems, you know, to put music along verse. It was recorded in the Aquarius studio too.

"Out In The Dark" (1980) is perhaps the best dise, the most Genesis-like, a concept featuring two Bides (dark and sun) a bit long though. It was recorded in the Aquarius studio once again.

"Supervision" (1982) is good too. It features short, contrasted and dense songs a la "And Then They Were Three" (Genesis). And has a cleaner sound (very dry drums and rhythrnic). lt was recorded in London.

"Travaganza" (1982) is the twin brother to "Supervision" but not so good. Flame Dream tried to be more commercial, composing songs like Phil Collins's "In the air tonight", or Genesis's "Turn it on again". Curiously the name of the
band turned to Travaganza when a small British label, Aura, decided to publish this record in UK...

"8 on 6" (1986), despite its gimmick cover, is not really nice. After this long silence, the fandom expected much more. It contains simple compositions, automatic rhythms, concise and direct tracks, typically 80's sounded (in the way of Genesis's "Abacab" or akin to New Music's). This album sadly ends the story of a great band... A band leaving no live testimony, curiously. Taken from band's unofficial page

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Agamemnon - Part l & ll (1981)

Swiss prog.

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Elysium - Fogdays (1982)

Swiss 1982 prog, hints of Genesis & that typical Teutonic sound.

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Deutscher Kaiser - Halli Galli Tanzmusik (1981)

NDW. GreaT!

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