Psych /
1975
**Edition of 200** Over the many years we've known each other, Joe Carducci had several times mentioned his brother Mark had a cool band back in the pre-punk '70s. Then a couple of years ago, he added that tapes of this project were around, and asked if might we be interested in hearing them. Midknight 1975 is the result. Two different line-ups of the band are documented here -- a quintet studio session recorded on location at the Hippie House, and a live one with a different drummer and one les…
Brigitte Fontaine est folle
2020 repress. French poet and chameleonic vocalist Brigitte Fontaine's career spans over four decades. Only a few years before her 1968 debut, Brigitte Fontaine Est Folle, she moved to Paris to become an actress and took her prodigiously mature voice into the studio. Rich in the drama she brought to theater, Fontaine synthesized chanson (French pop song) and world music, which eventually won her international acclaim as a performer and collaborator with a variety of artists from around the world…
Happy French Band
This French group started out under the spelling of Maajun and their debut album from 1971 is supposed to be a bit of a classic in a mixture of early underground styles. It's not on CD however. They changed the spelling of the name and a released a couple of albums for Saravah in '73/'74 and then this last album in 1977 (on Gratte Ciel). There's a post-Zappa influence involved and they supposedly "melded Arab, Free, and folk influences, doling out derision through satirical lyrics and music whic…
Music To Eat
"Why would we reissue a record that is reputed to be the second worst-selling release in the history of Columbia Records? (Legend has it that it was undersold only by a yoga instructional album.) Well, because in the 47-some years since its release, the Hampton Grease Band's Music To Eat has steadily ascended the list of Greatest Cult Records of All Time so that now it resides at the tippety-top. Indeed, modern-day jam bands genuflect at the sight of the trippy cover art alone (Col. Bruce Hampto…
Paternoster
Paternoster, that UFO of a rock album released unceremoniously on a custom-pressed CBS Austria long player in 1972, is the stuff of legend. It's been known to the rock collecting elite since the 1980s, when it was first rediscovered, and it quickly became one of those rock records, the records you hear about only if you know someone who knows someone with a copy, much like Damon's Song of a Gypsy. Paternoster is a terrifying album, a collection of songs that traverses the sublime, and thus neces…
Dreptul De A Visa
The '70s were the decade of progressive rock music of all calibers. And it seems not one country of this world was spared when the new kind of sound spilled over like a giant wave of inspiration. Even the European Eastern Bloc countries, where rock music was regarded as subversive by the authorities, had their share of rock bands with a hippie, heavy, or freaked-out direction. These include Omega from Hungary, SBB from Poland, Modry Efekt from the Czech Republic, and, of course, Phoenix from Rom…
Reflection
AKA's 1970 debut album Do What You Like (GM 201CD) combines earthy, heavily buzzing, and fuzzed-out rock monuments in the vein of classic UK and US bands with a few tunes in the Continental European heavy rock style, with big chorus lines and a bit of a pop thrown in for good measure, plus great melodic ballads and pop tunes in their native Indonesian language. The Indonesian band carried their trademark sound through whole recording career, including Reflection, their fifth album, originally re…
Pacific Ocean
Early Dawn present a reissue of Pacific Ocean's self-titled album, originally released in 1968. It's a wonder they weren't touring the whole world and playing on huge stages in front of thousands of fans. This 1968 album smashes in like a hot stone with that soulful drive otherwise only Steve Marriott and Humble Pie could provide. A definite recommendation for fans of good old hard classic rock.
In The Woodland Of Weir
Formed in Chicago in 1964, The Little Boy Blues soon became local heroes, opening for The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Paul Revere & The Raiders, and many others. Having played innumerable live dates and appeared on top TV shows, their sound took a psychedelic turn in 1967. Their sole album - made with a revised line-up and originally released in October 1968 - incorporates jazz, classical and acid-rock influences, and makes its long-overdue return to CD here, complete with all their non-album…
Miley Smile / Stage Recall
Burnin Red Ivanhoe, in their most fertile phase of existing from 1969 till 1972, were one of Denmark's finest groups from the period. Their innovative and powerful mixture of psychedelic and progressive rock along with mild experimental or jazz influences gained some international recognition in Germany, UK and the U.S.. Comparisons might be drawn to Traffic, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd and Colosseum (Dag Erik Asbjornsen). Being tired of demanding tours, Burnin Red Ivanhoe decided to disband in spri…
Biglietto Per L'Inferno
**2020 stock** Born in 1972 in Lecco, in northern Italy, from the ashes of Gee and Mako Sharks, Un Biglietto per l'Inferno are still regarded as one of the most influential Italian prog bands, despite a single LP release, their magnificent eponymous album from 1974. The band had an intense live activity, that took to a very powerful sound driven by the twin keyboards of Baffo Banfi (of Klaus Schulze fame) and Cossa and the lead guitar of Mainetti, with flute intermissions by singer Claudio Can…
Hero
This is an excellent progressive recording by the Italian Hero trio, originally released in 1974 for an obscure German label. A very pleasant music style overall, at times close to harder New Trolls, but mainly influenced by the hard-prog style of the British bands of the 70s released on the historic Vertigo label. One of the very first releases on AMS, this album is now printed on LP for its first legit reissue on this format!
Arrow Head
Osage Tribe were an Italian Prog band who released just one album in 1972, "Arrow Head", before splitting up and disappear - even if all bandmembers went on playing in other groups as Duello Madre, Capsicum Red, The Trip and Il Volo. The band was founded by Franco Battiato, who left right after the release of the single "Un falco nel cielo" to pursue a solo career that's still active nowadays. The other musicians then significantly changed their musical style, moving towards a hard rock-based pr…
Io Sono Murple
**2020 stock**Another band that deserved much more consideration than they got, Murple released a lonely beautiful album in 1974 on the German Basf label, one of very few Italian releases on this label, that didn't cared to promote the group at all and issued the record long after its recording. It's a shame, because Io sono Murple is a very regarding album, well presented in a fantasy cover and with lyric insert, and very well played by this experienced four-piece from Rome.
The album contains…
Brez Naslova
**Reissued for the first time. Limited to 500.** When it comes to a fusion of jazz and rock music, most of us connoisseurs look over to England. Canterbury is not only a place, it is a term to define a whole scene and sound in the field of jazzrock. And this scene spawned some magical names, bands and musicians, being carved into the soul of every woman and man who were engaged in jazz and progressive rock music in the 70s. Now we can only wonder how the call of Canterbury reached Yugoslavia, a …
Vrt Svetlosti
Second album by this Yugoslavian band from 1980, typical in sound, style and emotional expression for the classic Eastern European progressive sound. The symphonic aspect with straight but very mind blowing synthesizer harmonies and cheerfully grand guitar leads have taken over the scepter from the debut album’s more space rock oriented direction here. A colorful, very lush but still strong and visionary ocean of melodies and sounds capes opens up before your ears and invites you to dive deep in…
Live Trips 1971
Their 1969 album “Trip thru hell” is one of the holy grails of late 60s heavy psych rock and certainly deserves to be rated this way by fans and collectors of that heavy rocking sounds. Due to the internet it easily made its way to the minds of a whole new generation of fans already. What awaits you here got recorded live, two years later than their cult debut. The record starts with a unusual Beatles cover “And your bird can sing”, originally from “Revolver” in 1966. You do not even realize it …
Growl
**In process of stocking** Another fantastic and explosive album by Japanese saxophonist Ryoko Ono who is a regular collaborator of Ruins, Richard Pinhas and Acid Mothers Temple. The four virtuosos Ryoko Ono (alto sax), Kota Ueji (drums) Tsuyoshi Hayashi (guitar) and Yuji Muto (guitar) have recorded this album composed by Ryoko Ono. The perfect symbiosis between the musicians allows them to create an amazing sound full of power and energy which transcends the aforementioned genres.
Daughter Of Time
**180 gram vinyl. Gatefold sleeve. Limited edition of 1000 Individually numbered copies on gold coloured vinyl** The pioneering English progressive jazz-rock band Colosseum recorded their fourth album Daughter of Time in the midst of an upheaval in the band's line-up. War plays a central role on the concept album based on a man's fascination for all what war brings to the world. The different instruments combined creating a brilliant and versatile musical world. It's a is a very different album …
Embrujo
**500 copies** Chilean prog band Embrujo began as El Embrujo Ques Besa or Kissing Spell, formed by the guitarist, singer and drummer Carlos Fernandez with chief songwriter Juan Carlos “Tato” Gomez on bass and vocals and Ernesto “Kiko” Murillo on lead guitar, with organist/flautist Ernesto Aracena and pianist/flautist Guillermo Olivares joining later. Signing to Camilo Fernandez’s Arena Producciones in 1970, debut LP 'Los Pajaros' was issued under the Kissing Spell moniker, but Chile’s unstable p…