★Akarma
The Cycle Is Complete
After leaving the Buffalo Springfield because of a drug bust, bassist Bruce Palmer released this 1970 solo album for Verve Forecast. Consisting of only four tracks, The Cycle Is Complete seamlessly explores psych, folk and jazz territories to cultivate a sound that now seems decades ahead of its time. Opening track "Alpha - Omega - Apocalypse" features vocals by Rick Matthews (later known as psychedelic soul star Rick James). An exploratory cult classic.
A really great trance psychedelic album f…
The Farm Band
*Warehouse find! In process of stocking* The Farm Band was unbelievably not the only band that sprung from a hippie farm community in the 70s. Between 1972 and 1977 the band released four albums including this self titled double LP featuring 8 tracks highly influenced by the Grateful Dead-esque psychedelic trips, like in the 17 minute "I Believe It".
St. Radigunds
*Warehouse found! In process of stocking* "The quartet of singer/guitarist/songwriter Martin Cockerham, singer Barbara Gaskin, violinist/keyboardist Julian Cusack, and bassist Steve Borrill were obviously short a member, with future Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks coming on board for the recording of St. Radigunds, the group's debut album. The group's sound was unusual, with Cockerham's brittle, almost adenoidal vocals counterpointed by Gaskin's crystalline tones. Musically, too, the b…
Magic Lady
*In process of stocking* Spriguns Of Tolgus (later shortened to just Spriguns) were a British folk-rock group formed in 1972, who have long been admired by connoisseurs of that era. Having made two self-funded albums, they attracted a major label deal with Decca for two further LPs, which demonstrated their growing originality, and caught the attention of some significant figures in that world.
After two Decca albums Mandy decided to form her own label and rebranded as Mandy Morton and Spriguns …
Arzachel
One of the great lost albums of British psychedelia, original copies of Arzachel's 1969 self-titled debut fetch huge sums on the collectors' market and it is not difficult to understand why. Originally released in 1969 on the small Evolution label, this album quite simply contains some of the best psych to ever come out of the UK. However, like so many other great albums of the era, it soon dropped entirely from the radar due to bad promotion. In fact, it may not have ever been rediscovered at a…
You Are Here... I Am There
*In process of stocking * The overall atmosphere and aura of You Are Here... I Am There points at the influences of American jazz musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and Charles Mingus. The record shows a strong tendency, however, towards a distinctive sound that was, at the time, new, embraced by musicians such as Jan Garbarek and Ian Carr. Above all, Keith Tippett's compositional style bears traces of the artist's classical training, unveiled by his harmonic and dynamic awareness an…
Glastonbury Fayre Festival
** Perfect replica of the original. Black vinyl** Originally released as a triple album, this record has been re-released in abridged versions of this impressive 1972 live festival. Now the original album is back with this repressing of the original triple album in its entirety, repressed & packaged exactly like the original release with inserts galore. Posters, booklet, etc.
Spring
Spring were a Leicester-based British progressive rock band that represented the early 1970s progressive rock movement. A one-shot band, it recorded only one album in its career, a self-titled LP released in 1971. The reissue includes three bonus cuts ("Fool's Gold", "Hendre Mews" and "A Word Full of Whispers") that were from sessions of a never-completed second album from 1972. Spring's music is notable for the use of the mellotron, with three of the its five members credited with playing that …
Fuzzy Duck
The group's self-titled studio album Fuzzy Duck was released in 1971. It featured Mick Hawksworth of Five Day Week Straw People, Killing Floor and Andromeda, as well as Crazy World of Arthur Brown keyboardist Roy Sharland and drummer Paul Francis of Tucky Buzzard (and later of Tranquility). The group disbanded soon after the release of their album, additionally, in 1971 vocalist Garth Watt-Roy (the elder brother of bass player Norman Watt-Roy) was asked by the band Steamhammer to provide vocals …
Skin Alley
Skin Alley were a British progressive rock band founded by Thomas Crimble and Alvin Pope in the autumn of 1968. The original lineup consisted of Crimble on bass guitar and vocals, Pope on drums, Max Taylor on guitar, and Jeremy Sagar on lead vocals. Taylor and Sagar left early in 1969, and were replaced by Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewic on Hammond organ and Bob James on saxophone, flute, guitar and vocals. The band, comprising Thomas Crimble, Alvin Pope, Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz and Bob James, …
Asylum
After a very promising debut album, Cressida proceeded with a stunning artwork on their sleeve, but somehow I feel that it does not work fully either as the backside of the gatefold is the same but reversed shot of the front. Heyworth had left (but not completely) but was replaced by Culley and flute player McNair also joined (but his interventions will be few). With this jacked-up sound, it is no surprise that Cressida sounds even more enthusiastic, more instrumental, and their melancholy reach…
Dedicated to You ...
The album opens on a conga-driven groovy track that gets its inspiration between the three horn players, but in the background, Keith Tippett's piano is the one thing that makes this piece so rollicking. Followed up by the tough to grasp Thoughts To Geoff, a 10-mins corker that often veers dissonant and improvisational, which strangely enough becomes more fluid and melodic as it unravels. Even young Gary Boyle (out of auger's trinity) manages to follow this difficult track, which had to faded ou…
Stratosfera
"Stratosfera" offre in cd tutta la sua produzione per la Cramps con ben cinque album raccolti in uno splenido box deluxe ["Cantare la voce", "Metrodora", "Le milleuna", "Recitarcantando" e "Concerto Dell'Elfo"] Awesome deluxe 5 CD box set documenting one of the most important artists in Italian musical history. As lead singer for prog art terrorists Area, the Greek-born Stratos used his voice as an instrument in ways never heard before or since. Some of the weirdest purely vocal music ever made …