Psych /
Collected Singles
Not many albums can get you in the mood to blow out your speakers quite like Kath “1”, the hideously rare and expensive 1974 low-fi, semi-ramshackle DIY psychedelic LP made by members of Maryland band Badge, recorded in the home of band leader Val Rogolino (and, yes, dedicated to his girlfriend and their pet monkey!). What Patrick the Lama said in Acid Archives about Kath, is equally applicable to Badge: “Obscure and impressive melodic basement garage/psych with a lo-fi atmosphere that would hav…
Lord Sitar
*2023 stock* "Big Jim Sullivan's rock'n'roll credentials go back as long as British Rock's family tree existed. Big Jim's career started in 1959 after meeting Marty Wilde in the 3'i's coffee bar. He's played on fifty nine number one UK hit singles, and his lengthy career included stints with Tom Jones and the James Last Orchestra. Naturally, his Sitar technique was far superior to virtually anyone elses in the western world (yes even Bill Plummers!), although he still is no Ravi Shankar of cours…
The Complete Liberty Recordings
Formed in London in 1969, High Tide featured the intense guitar playing of Tony Hill (formerly with The Misunderstood), the violin and keyboard skills of Simon House, bassist Peter Pavli and drummer Roger Hadden. The band was managed by Clearwater, also home to Hawkwind, Skin Alley and Cochise and were signed to Liberty Records soon after their formation. Their debut album, the stunning ‘Sea Shanties’ was recorded at Olympic studios and some of the heaviest gothic psychedelic rock record ever re…
The Woods Band
An underrated acid folk masterpiece brought to you by the classic couple Terry (guitar, mandolin, banjo) and Gay Woods (vocals), who formed the band after departing from the very influential british combo Steeleye Span. They recorded their debut album in 1971 on the small indie label Greenwich Gramophone Company. Think about the holy magic of the irish folk scene alongside some essential progressive rock scores.
On a Day of Crystaline Thought
Beyond rare private press album from 1974, a fantastic mix of progressive rock with acid-folk, spaced-out psychedelia and cool conceptual / soundtrack vibe. Pete Fine is a virtuoso acoustic and electric guitarist and also a self-taught composer and orchestrator. After playing with psychedelic hard-rock trio Flow in the early 70s in New York, Pete, influenced by classical composers like Anton Bruckner, started to focus on his 12-string guitar, composing music in a symphonic style.
“On A Day Of Cr…
Unhalfbricking
Unhalfbricking is the third album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and their second album released in 1969. It is seen as a transitional album in their history and marked a further musical move away from American influences towards more traditional English folk songs that had begun on their previous album, What We Did on Our Holidays and reached its peak on the follow-up, Liege & Lief, released later the same year.
The album features several Bob Dylan songs, which he had not yet…
Liege & Lief
Liege & Lief is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist (Denny did not appear on the group's 1968 debut album), as well as the first to feature future long-serving personnel Dave Swarbrick and Dave Mattacks on violin/mandolin and drums, respectively, as full band members (Swarbrick had previously guested on Unhalfbricking). It is also th…
What We Did On Our Holidays
Sandy Denny's haunting, ethereal vocals gave Fairport a big boost on her debut with the group. A more folk-based album than their initial effort, What We Did on Our Holidays is divided between original material and a few well-chosen covers. This contains several of their greatest moments: Denny's "Fotheringay," Richard Thompson's "Meet on the Ledge," the obscure Joni Mitchell composition "Eastern Rain," the traditional "She Moves Through the Fair," and their version of Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It …
Kip Of The Serenes
*2023 stock* Ireland's answer to the Incredible String Band, Dr. Strangely Strange engaged in the same type of psychedelic acoustic music with folksy arrangements. With traditional instruments like penny whistle, fiddle, harmonium, and mandolin, Dr. Strangely Strange was more solidly rooted in melody and structure than the group's flaky Scottish counterparts. Produced by British modern folk guru Joe Boyd, Kip of the Serenes is built around simple and repetitious melodies occasionally interrupted…
Carmen Maki Blues Creation
*2023 stock* Folk singer-turned-rock singer Carmen Maki collaborated with Blues Creation on this album ('71).Immediately after the release of her masterpiece 'The Devil and the Eleven Children', Carmen Maki's youthful voice, which was influenced by Janis Joplin, fused with a sturdy sound reminiscent of Bruce Creation's Led Zeppelin, and it was a miracle of the early days of Japanese rock music. Later on, Kazuo Takeda's Blues Creation was active as Creation, and Carmen Maki formed OZ. This is a m…
Ben
*2023 stock* “A reissue of Ben's self-titled album, only album, originally released in 1971. Canterbury-based progressive jazz-rock act Ben only released one obscure album, issued on Philips' prog subsidiary Vertigo in 1971, but it's a lovely collective of extended instrumental jams, worthy of discovery for those that missed it the first time around. Peter Davey's saxophone and clarinet melodies push the material to high peaks, against an understated backing from future Nashville Teens bassist, …
McDonald And Giles
Following the meltdown of the original King Crimson lineup, Ian McDonald and Michael Giles brought brother Peter Giles back, which helps to account, in some ways, for the resemblance of this album to the 1968 Giles, Giles & Fripp recordings -- though the songs here tend to go on at some length, combining prog rock's traits of length and multiple sections with some of the lighter feel of the GG&F days. The 20-minute "Birdman" tends toward self-indulgence, while "Tomorrow's People - The Children o…
Cueille Le Jour
"Once in a while, a piece of music jumps out of the loudspeakers and grabs me by the throat. The opening track Couleurs is one of these pieces of music. The twenty-two minutes of music is a blend of symphonic prog, Canterbury prog and jazz. The opening salvos of moog is just heaven and utter heaven. The rest is a mix of superb vocals and the above mentioned styles of music, pretty much dominated by Claude-Marius David's superb flute and sopransaxophon pieces. Couleurs is a creative triumph for t…
Live at Club7 1973
*250 copies limited edition* A unique live concert experience from Club7 Norway 1973 – Organ trio w/ Christian Reim, Tom Karlsen and Swedish Rickard Rolf.
Gryphon
Non-standard prog act Gryphon made their mark by incorporating abandoned instruments and ancient classical elements in their work, giving their self-titled 1973 debut outstanding differences to standard rock fare. With co-founder Richard Harvey on recorders, mandolin, harpsichord, and glockenspiel and Brian Gulland, on bassoon, crumhorns, and vocals, backed by guitarist Graeme Taylor and drummer/percussionist Dave Oberlé, GRYPHON expertly channelled contemporary English folk through forgotten me…
Wild Boy: The Lost Songs Of Eden Ahbez (uncut studio versions)
The new release of Wild Boy intends to keep the atmosphere of studio cuts as authentic as possible. The album has a few minutes more of Eden Ahbez in the studio than the previous release had. Minutes full of emotion and life...
Antico Teatro Da Camera
Having had a good career as lyricist, singer-songwriter Gianni D'Errico, from Brindisi, released some singles in the early seventies that went unnoticed, and an album that was released only in 1976, after his death (in September 1975, run over by a car). The LP, Antico teatro da camera, is usually considered as one of the best prog-inclined albums by solo artists, and a hard to find one! Produced by Equipe 84 leader Maurizio Vandelli (who also acted as producer for the first album by Reale Accad…
Banana Moon
** Original 1971 BYG album. Digitally mastered from BYG tapes by Nick Robbins. 16-page booklet with photos & exclusive liner notes by author and journalist Kevin Le Gendre ** Debut solo album by the legendary purveyor of music that daringly blurred the boundary between psychedelic rock and raucous, riotous Dadaism. Australian vocalist-guitarist Daevid Allen was a part of the highly experimental Canterbury scene, alongside the likes of drummers Robert Wyatt and Pip Pyle, before he relocated to P…
A Vulture Is Not A Bird You Can Trust
Another underground folk masterpiece back on the map. Forerunner of the british revival Ian A. Anderson licensed the album on his own The Village Thing on December 1971. Besides a couple of excellent cover- Black Uncle Remus penned by Loudon Wainwright III and a minor Bob Dylan classic as One Too Many Mornings – the album shows a more forward thinking production, with several bucolic progressive arrangements.
Io Come Io
*2023 stock* "Io come Io" could be regarded as the first Italian heavy metal effort. Ok, the sound results a little smoothed by a typical 1970s production, psychedelic influences can be easily found (most of all in the semi-power ballad "Non io" and the jazzy coda to "Io come Io") and the style of the band here is not so far from what Osage Tribe did the year before this album was released. Nevertheless, "Io come Io" has got such a real tension and straight-in-your-face approach you'd hardly exp…