Psych /
Hannibal
*2023 stock* Hannibal was a band from England. Their debut album, released back in 1970, offers a tasty, psychy, bluesy and jazzy progressive rock, with use of saxophone and organ. Wasted vocals and an original, cryptic underground approach. Solid guitar by Adrian Ingram. Elements of Raw Material, Aquila and Colosseum, but with their own identity.
Roy Rutanen
*200 copies limited release* Roy Rutanen’s self-titled album has remained a best-kept secret among psychedelia and acid-folk collectors ever since its original release in 1971. What could have been the solid foundation for a promising career in the music industry was abandoned due to the lack of label support, subsequently surviving as a one-off museum piece, accessible to a select few who can afford the price commanded for original copies. This is the time for Roy’s music to shine through with …
Bright City
*2023 stock* His 1971 debut Bright City was released on the legendary Deram, sub-label of Decca, and is such a stellar example of modern folk with lush strings arrangements. A brilliant songwriting alongside a pastoral feeling, gentle melodies and a solid background with several amazing players literally bridging the gap between contemporary pop and blues. The album – faithfully remastered – offers a vision of urban Scotland with a bluesy feel and it has to be ranked alongside the work of lumina…
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…
The Fillmore West July 7 1966
Previously unreleased live soundboard recordings from this groovy group from the '60s San Francisco Bay Area scene. Along with The Sopwith Camel, The Beau Brummels, The Mystery Trend, The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, The Warlocks and The Grateful Dead, The Final Solution were part of the first wave of San Francisco rock bands having formed in 1965. They were very popular all over the Bay Area and appear on countless early posters of the period, but they never released anything. If you dig …
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 …
So far and further on ...
*6 Colour variants limited to a total of 276 numbered copies* Introducing a meticulously crafted DIY limited vinyl box set housing 3 LP’s and a comprehensive illustrated booklet. This set is highlighted by a captivating textured sleeve handmade with deluxe Bookbinding Savanna Cloth combining the timeless charm of vinyl records with the tactile allure of vintage materials. Immerse yourself in the depths of folk-rock’s best hidden gem and the thrill of a collector's treasure trove. This limited ed…
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…
Heavy Petting
*2023 stock* On their first album, Irish band Doctor Strangely Strange declared themselves to be "strangely strange but oddly normal," and by their time of their second effort, 1970's Heavy Petting, it's possible that "oddly normal" no longer applied. The spiritual cousins of the Incredible String Band, although less rooted in folk traditions, their music flitted around like a butterfly, rarely settling anywhere for long -- and certainly never for the length of an entire song. "Gave My Love an A…
First
*2023 stock* German proto heavy metal and proto doom metal has always been more of an underground topic due to the fact that most bands only reached a regional level in every aspect. Dies Irae are certainly something of an exception to the rule when it comes to the quality. What you get here is a heavy and dark music with open song structures that leave much room for experimentation. Despite the fact that the simmering fuzz guitar cuts through your burning soul like a chainsaw there are still ma…
Larks' Tongues In Aspic
Larks' Tongues In Aspic is the fifth in a series of audiophile King Crimson vinyl reissues. Newly cut from masters approved by Robert Fripp, this super-heavyweight 200gm vinyl re-issue is housed in a reprint of the original sleeve. With its raw tone, inspired improvisations and hard hitting odd-metered rhythms, the album marked a radical departure for this most forward thinking of groups and was the first to include Bill Bruford and John Wetton as band members. King Crimson reborn yet again -- t…
Infinity
*2023 stock* "Infinity" is the only album by Planetarium, a band of which nobody knows who the players are, since the musicians are not listed on the LP. There is, as some reviewer noticed before, an evident Ennio Morricone's influence on this work, which is most of the time instrumental, with very few sung moments ( "The Beginning" and "The Moon"). According to the liner notes the musicians devoted their attention to the birth and to the flow of life from its origin to its end in infinity, ling…
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…
Hot Summer Day
Multifaceted San Francisco psyche-delic band It’s A Beautiful Day drew on aspects of folk, classical, jazz and world music, their outstanding differences driven by the lead vocalist and violinist David LaFlamme, his keyboardist wife Linda, and harmony singer Patti Santos. This engaging compilation joins the anthem ‘White Bird’ and the spirited ‘Hot Summer Day’ with ‘Don And Dewey’ (based on ‘Wring That Neck’ by Deep Purple, who nicked one of their musical themes for the intro to ‘Child In Time’)…
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.
Sea Shanties
With the Misunderstood, Tony Hill co-wrote epochal psych-rock anthems like "Children of the Sun"; however, while High Tide's sound has roots in the peace-and-love era, the band was also in tune with the post-psychedelic comedown at the decade's darker end. On Sea Shanties, there's nothing fey and flowery in Hill's bleak lyrics or his doomy Jim Morrison-like delivery, and psychedelia's melodic whimsy is supplanted by a physicality more in line with the visceral heft of metal progenitors such as C…
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…