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Tasavallan Presidentti - "Lambertland" [1972] @ 256 (Finnish Jazz Fusion)

Stuart Nicholson's excellent book "Jazz Rock: A History", has only a few faults, one of which is its too abbrieviated history and analysis of the European jazz rock scene. One or two clues to what has been omitted, will be found from listening to this record. Tasavallan Presidentti are one of those seemingly obscure bands who contributed to jazz rock's development. Even so, they were briefly popular in the UK because of "Lambertland".

Sonet distributed the vinyl version in the UK around 1973, with a sticker on the cover, stating "....Tasavallan Presidentti are a tidied up Traffic...". As selling aid, it told the potential buyer more about the band's earlier albums and much less about the music here. With "Lambertland" TP had developed well beyond the jazz-tempered, psychedelic rock of Traffic, and produced this minor classic of fusion. This is jazz fusion that evolved in the typical European way: rock musicians taking in jazz influences (cf. much of American jazz rock was jazz musicians taking on board rock rhythms and electrification).

--- review taken from Prog Archives

Highly Recommended!

Line-up:
--------
Jukka Tolonen - Guitar
Eero Raittinen - Vocals
Pekka Pöyry - Saxes, Flute
Måns Gründström - Bass
Vesa Aaltonen - Drums

Track 3 - Celebration of the Saved Nine......

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Prog Not Frog radio Presents The Voice of the Moon # 3, with the Herbalist (Best Radio Show on Earth Wannabe)

Well, here we go again. Another show. Another podcast. This one might be considered the birth of Prog Not Frog Radio as I believe we have reached a turning point here and I do hope that we’ll have in the future several webcasts from our team or some similar way to spread music to the general public. Time will tell.
Mean while I invite you to enjoy today’s eclectic selection of music.
We’ll start with the art avant-rock band TuxedoMoon to move then to the twisted mind of Mr. Blixa Bargel, the brainchild of the influential Einsturzende Neubauten. Ahead you’ll find some mind spinning songs by Jaguares from Mexico, or from that beautiful sorceress and wandered known las Lhasa de Sela. Fron there you’ll go to India with Thierry Zaboitzeff one of the men behind Art Zoyd. Beyond that exotic horizon we’ll listen to some amazing surprises from eastern Europe, among them the angelic voice and demonic percussion of Arto Tuncboyaciyan. I will soothe your psychic turmoil at the end with a rare but very acid improvised track by those post-prog heroes that hide behind the words Porcupine and Tree.
I really wish you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed doing it.
I think you’ll discover some great music in this podcast. Actually The Voice of The Moon goal is to spread music we will not post in the blog for a variety of reasons.

Keep Listening…!!!

Interested? go here.

Dreamies - "Dreamies" [1973] @256 & 320 kbps Mesmerisingly beautiful psych pop

His name is Bill Holt, today on 2006 he’s 63 years old, but 33 years ago, on 1973 he decided to end his work for a “Fortune 500’s” company, bought a Moog synthesizer and having little experience in music, improvised himself a recording studio in his basement… that’s the beginning of Dreamies.

This album got everything, as the review at Aquarius Records points: “the Dreamies album is a venture into psych-pop meets musique concrete territory, an elaborate tapestry of samples -- and this is from long before anyone called them samples, and before there was such a thing as samplers and sequencers, which means Holt used the old fashioned, labor intensive tape n' razor blade splicing method, working at home on his beloved TEAC Model 3340 reel-to-reel four-track recorder. Densely woven into his otherwise highly laid back and melodic mix, you'll hear clocks ticking, chattering machine guns in Vietnam combat, JFK speeches, crickets, frogs, NASA transmissions, and ominous but unidentifiable minimalist pulses of electronic/industrial white noise. Or even samples of the Beatles themselves! (Bits of "All You Need Is Love" and others are buried in Holt's sonic collage.) It's both unsettling and soothing at the same time, like surfing through shortwave transmissions from the late '60s psyche. And along with all the sound bites/effects, he also weaves together what must have originally been several different, distinct, enchanting songs he'd written for his voice and acoustic guitar. It's one man and his melodies alone amidst the chaos of the times.”

Sadly, Bill return to his regular work routine, but hey, for me it’s more than enough, I hope someday I can create a similar beautiful artifact… Thanks Bill!!!!!

Keep Listening!

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Dreamies-program eleven part 7

Miriodor - "Rencontres" [1984] @ 224 (French-Canadian Prog/RIO)

Those who are only familiar with the recent three-piece version of Miriodor may be unaware that the band began in Quebec City in the early eighties as a full six-piece, a perfect marriage between the more chamber-oriented sound of bands like Univers Zero and (later) Henry Cow, and the more symphonic woodwind-oriented sound of bands like Happy The Man and VDGG. Rencontres is a most welcome reissue of their very first LP, long out of print and unfortunately so, because until their 1996 release Jongleries Élastiques this one was hands down their best effort. Added for good measure are four tracks from the band's 1986 cassette-only release Tôt ou Tard (a four-piece by that time, the other five tracks ended up on the reissue of the band's self-titled album from `88). In these early days the band featured flute, clarinet and violin, as well as the saxes that survived to the three-piece incarnation, two keyboardists (covering electric piano, synthesizers and organ), a full time guitarist/bassist/stick player, and of course drums, all of which made possible some very lush and organic arrangements within their very angular chamber rock style. The liberal use of dissonance and (what seems to be) improvisation offer a solid connection to the RIO school, while the lengthy multi-sectional tracks, strong melodies, the rich and varied arrangements, and the occasional touch of bombast have more in common with symphonic rock and the Canterbury school. The result is positively unique. Also unheard of on any other Miriodor release, this one features vocals, albeit only on two tracks La Maison-Dieu and Egrégore (surprisingly with English lyrics, given their French titles). In all, the Miriodor of 1984 was a meeting ground of many of the best elements progressive rock has to offer.

-- review by Peter Thelen @ Miriodor.com

Highly Recommended!

Lineup:
François Émond (flute, violin, synthesizer, electric piano, clarinet, vocal)
Pascal Globensky (electric piano, 12 string guitar, bass)
Sabin Hudon (soprano, alto and tenor saxophones)
Rémi Leclerc (drums and percussions)
Marc Petitclerc (synthesizers, organ, bass, electric piano)
Denis Robitaille (bass, electric guitar, stick, vocals)

Track 1 - Echec et Mat......

Track 2 - Les Passants......

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Taste of Blues - "Schizofrenia" [1969] @224kbps Swedish Metronomic Farfisa Voodoo Madness

OK, fans of early Can!… hold up your arms! A lot of hands, aren’t it?! Let’s see now… fans of the “Farfisa sound”!, say Here!… whoa man!, cool!. And at last, all the fans of cheesy 60’s “witch doctor wannabe” vodoo films soundtracks!, Jump!… Is that a bunch of crickets making noise or what? Were all the people went? Why that man is turning off the light?!

Ok people let’s calm down. If you are a person that likes –at least- one of the above-mentioned categories, certainly you will love Taste of Blue’s “Schizofrenia” album. They were from the same bunch of remarkable Swedish bands like Mecki Mark Men, International Harvester or Panta Rei, just a little detail… they didn’t gained the international recognition of that bands, they stay in the underground circuit but they sounds like nobody!

The first track (Schizofrenia), is -as I told you before- an epic 17 minute hypnotic vodoo spell: A metronomic journey full of Hawaiian guitar sounds, spacey effects, groovy jazz-sax, flutes… in short, a hysterical apocalyptic a go-go dance, NOT TO BE MISSED.

All the tracks besides Schizofrenia are short –max 4’ 52”- but they all are killer bluesy themes sang in English by the only American in the band, Mr. Don Washington. Here you will find effective complex guitar solos, great Farfisa presence and nice vocalization… by the way they play an awesome version of John Mayall’s “Another kinda love”.

Ok, go pick your miniature heads, put your bone in your head, and let’s dance the Voodoo!

Keep Listening

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Taste of Blues-on the road to nidaros

Lonnie Liston Smith - Astral Traveling (Expanded) [1973] @ 224-320 (spacy jazz)

There was a request for Lonnie Liston Smith, so here is, in what I think is his finest moment.

This Smith should not be confused with organ wizz, Dr Lonnie Smith, a very different beast indeed.

This was made a a time when the keyboardist was heavily influenced by Pharoah Sanders and you can hear that in this album. Some of Sanders band are also here, bassist Cecil McBee and percussionist, Mtume. If I recall correctly, it was Smith who provided keyboards to the Sanders classic"The Creator Has A Master Plan"

If you need to gain a detailed background to this album and Smith, I suggest you enlarge the back cover, it should be readable.

I just say this, I have listened to this album with great affection for 30 years and still find it fresh and immensely enjoyable. There is great sax playing from George Barron and wonderful Indian percussion from Badal Roy (former Miles Davis band member).

Enjoy!

In Search Of Truth

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Old Posts Revisited, Part 1

Marc Benno - Lost In Austin (Eric Clapton & Albert Lee) [1979] @320 (rock)

When virtual unknown Marc Benno wanted to make another album of his songs, he felt it only natural to ring his mates to be the backing band. In this case, Benno was a part of the Leon Russell / Shelter Records group of musicians.

Clapton had had his "sea change" as a result of listening to The Band' "Music From Big Pink" and had earlier toured with Delaney & Bonnie, so he had a connection with Benno's band. So here Ben

no the unknown manages to get together a dream band including:

Eric Clapton, Albert Lee - guitars
Jim Keltner - drums
Carl Radle - bass

You'll find Radle on a heaps of 70's albums, including George Harrison's "Concert For Bangla Desh".

That said, Benno writes good songs and has a distinctive vocal style, the sample below is a good guide, note the dirty slide from Clapton.

Enjoy!

Hotfoot Blues

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Flaviola e o Bando do Sol - "Flaviola e o Bando do Sol" [1974] @256kbps Brazilian Acid Folk Gem

Hello, I’m new here, I will share with you some reviews from music that I usually listen and enjoy a lot. I hope that you will be pleased with that music as much as I am.

So let’s start:

What would happen if Robin Williamson, Mike Heron or Vashti Bunyan had been born in Recife, Brazil? … How they would sound? Probably, we will never know, but for me the closest answer lies in 1974’s album “Flaviola e o Bando do Sol” (Flaviola and the Flock of the Sun).

Williamson, Heron or Bunyan weren’t in Brazil at that time, but Flávio Lira, Lula Côrtes, Pablo Raphael, Robertinho of Recife, and Zé Ramalho certainly were, and they could have been perfectly the "Incredible String Band Brazilian counterparts”, their self tiled lp sounds astonishingly fresh, full of native acoustic Brazilian instruments, gloomy at times [canto funebre], hysterical [asas (pra que te quero)] or extremely poetical [noite].

If you like the folkier side of other Brazilian kids Called Os Mutantes (I know that you like them) you certainly will love Flaviola, as Forced Exposure points: “this is a brilliant album, full of strange moments (cellophane crinkled into the microphone as percussion), some deft acoustic guitar, and some of the prettiest songs this side of Vashti Bunyan”

This mystical album alongside Zé Ramalho & Lula Côrtes “Paêbirú” (recorded the same year and almost with the same lineup as Flaviola…) and Satwa’s “Satwa” constitute the three jewels of Recife’s acid folk crown.

What are you waiting?, put your headphones, turn on the music, and smell the perfumed night of Recife. This could be the cheapest and exciting Holidays ever!

Keep Listening…!!!

Links in comments.

Flaviola e o Bando do sol-como os bois

C Cat Trance – “Les Invisibles” [1989] @256 Spectacular and Intense World Music Flavoured Post-Punk

There are things in the history of music that I just can’t understand. Why has this band been so utterly forgotten? How is possible that they never achieved any decent degree of international recognition? The only possible explanation for this is that their albums distribution was done really bad, or possibly, the late edition of the cd’s was too limited. Otherwise I will need to lose the little hope for humankind that’s left in me. (At least in terms of our race’s musical tastes)

But well… life’s unfair…but C Cat Trance … they were incredibly, spectacularly intense.

This is the story: during the mid 80’s singer and sax player Rees Lewis was in a band called Medium Medium which had some success with the punk anthem So Hungry, So angry, included in the legendary Glitterhouse album. With this cult hit Medium Medium toured extensively around Europe although in small venues and punk hang out bars. Eventually, as any dweller of the small but good side of punk, Rees wanted to do more serious and complex stuff and left Medium Medium with drummer Nigel Stone to form the fantastic muslimrock combo that we came to know as C Cat Trance. (which I am most pleased to present you today)

They retained the dark, strong mood of Medium Medium but added middle eastern scales and tempo to the mix and gave a much deeper starring role to Rees fierce, teeth grinding and very wicked saxophone playing.

The result is stunning, unexpected and amazing. In my never so humble opinion, they became one of the most energetic, effective and peculiar bands in rock history. C Cat Trance gave us the oppressive atmosphere and mood of a big Islamic metropolis in the future, under layers of a great rhythmic section. They sound like a band of renegade hip muslims gone wild in a bar in Mars. They sound like a calvary of Sarracens on speed. They sound like the King Crimson, playing Ladies on the Road in a hash den in Morocco accompanied with an intoxicated Arabic ensemble.
But, sadly, they were ignored and misunderstood. Actually, C Cat Trance was years ahead of its time and that’s another reason for they not having the success they deserved.. They introduced Gregorian Chant in rock, years before The Prayers or Enigma. They drank from the waters of Algerian Rai, or Pakistani Qawaal, before we even start thinking about world music.

They did a kind of post punk that no one dared at the time, taking their anger beyond the western world.

They explored not the crappy nice side of new age & world music but the sound and vertigo of the crowded streets of big modern cities like Cairo or Baghdad. They sound honest and very mad.

Welcome to the craziest hours of the 1001 nights. You can dance if you need to.

Extremely recommended. Open your ears.
And…

Keep Listening…!!!

Links in comments, Baby.

C Cat Trance - Shake The Mind...

Alphonse Mouzon - "In Search Of A Dream" [1977] @ 320 (Jazz Fusion) Kindly submitted by Martin

Alphonse Mouzon is the Chairman/CEO of Tenacious Records. He composes, arranges and produces, as well as acts, but he is most well-known as a percussionist. Born on November 21, 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina of African-American, French and Blackfoot Indian background, Alphonse Mouzon's popularity as a performing artist first became realized in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

He received his first musical training at Bonds-Wilson High School and moved to New York City upon graduation. He studied drama and music at New York City College as well as medicine at Manhattan Medical School. He continued receiving drum lessons from Bobby Thomas, the drummer for jazz pianist Billy Taylor. He played percussion in the Broadway show "Promises, Promises", he then worked with pianist McCoy Tyner, then he was a member of Weather Report with Larry Coryell on guitar, Joe Zawinul on keyboard and Wayne Shorter on saxophone. After that Alphonse Mouzon signed as a solo artist to the Blue Note label in 1972.

This is an obscure Alphonse Mouzon recording, which, along with Mind Transplant, accounts for Mouzon's best work as a solo artist. The presence of former Weather Report band mate Miroslav Vitous provides for much of the session's excitement ("The Light" being a standout). Fusion vets Philip Catherine, Stu Goldberg, and Joachim Kuhn also turn in fine performances, as does the relatively unknown Bob Malik. There is a great deal of integrity on this session, a quality that was often missing from Mouzon sessions both before and after this. Highly recommended.

-- pieces of this review by Robert Taylor @ www.music.com/

Musicians:
Alphonse Mouzon: drums, percussion, organ, electric piano
Philip Catherine: electric guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar
Joachim Kühn: electric piano, acoustic piano
Stu Goldberg: electric piano, acoustic piano, mini moog, organ
Bob Malik: tenor saxophone
Miroslav Vitous: electric bass, acoustic bass, mini moog, electric piano

Samples coming soon

Keep Listening!!!!

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Charlie Mariano, Philip Catherine, Jasper van't Hof - Sleep My Love [1978] @ 256 (European modern jazz)

I have posted a few albums with Mariano and Catherine elsewhere in this blog. They were in the context of fusion, heavily relying in electric instruments.

This is different in that it is mainly acoustic and is in a trio setting, much more intimate and personal.

That's not to say that you won't hear an electric piano or guitar, but the use and context are a mile away from Pork Pie's

"Transitory" and Michael Gibb's "The Only Chrome Waterfall Orchestra", both of which you'll find in this blog.

A modern jazz album, not a fusion album.

This is about the dymanics between great musicians in a small group setting, their interplay and invention, great stuff.

Here we also get to hear Catherine, the electric bass player. He's good, so good that there is no doubt that he could also have been a very successful bassist.

Enough from me, enjoy.

Janet

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