Exposé Online » Reviews of releases for 1994

Anyone's Daughter - First Five Reissued

Anyone's Daughter was one of a group of late 70s German symphonic bands who brought forth a highly melodic rock, colorful and saturated with emotion. Their vocal harmonies were strong, and...

Vangelis - 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Blade Runner, Voices & Oceanic

I had almost left the Greek hero for dead following 1987's Direct, but five years hence Vangelis managed to rekindle the magic spark, and 1492 was the album to do it. A...

Faith & Disease - Fortune His Sleep & Livesongs: Third Body

These being two of the three albums to date by this Seattle-based duo. The band is Dara Rosenwasser, vocals / lyrics and Eric Cooley, bass / lyrics. Both albums have several additional musicians to...

Djam Karet - Collaborator

Having followed this band since their 1987 cassette release The Ritual Continues, I've always felt that their strongest suit was their ability to create atmospheres, emotional sonic...

The Spacious Mind - Organic Mind Solution

The Spacious Mind is a contemporary Swedish band that wants nothing more, nothing less, than the opportunity to blow your mind with their authentic psychedelic rock. Layers of guitars echo in the...

Kingston Wall - Kingston Wall I, II & III

Kingston Wall is a Finnish power trio who seem to operate outside the normal "progressive rock" distributors, yet would certainly be a crossover group of great potential. While the band...

The Grip Weeds - House of Vibes

The Grip Weeds are an American power pop band from Highland Park, New Jersey founded in 1988. Their first album, House of Vibes, originally released in 1994, has now been reissued on vinyl...

Philharmonie - Nord

Philharmonie was formed as an electric guitar trio by Frederic L'Epee, best known as the founder and leader of the brilliant 70s French group Shylock. After a relatively unknown self-released...

Philharmonie - Nord

It seems like only about six months since the last Philharmonie disc, these guys are a hard working group for sure! The original guitar trio of Frederic L'Epee, Laurent Chalef and Bernard Ros...

Philharmonie - Nord

Originally formed as an electric guitar trio, this French band led by ex-Shylock fretman Fredric L'Epee has expanded to a four-piece with the addition of Jean-Louis Boutin on drums for the...

Shylock - Gialorgues

Gialorgues is one of those classic prog albums from the 70s that sky rocketed in value in collector circles. In the typical Musea tradition this CD reissue includes all the tracks from the...

Shylock - Gialorgues

Most prog bands that came out of France in the 70s had something stylistically in common: a minimalist approach. Not minimalist in the sense of Philip Glass, say, but rather a profound thematic...

De Ros - Ad Dei Gloriam

De Ros is a three-piece (guitar / bass / drums) South American group led by guitarist Marcos V. de Ros. Their all instrumental album is a blazing shredfest! If Ad Dei Gloriam was released...

Didkovsky / MacLean / Vrtacek - Flies in the Face of Logic

This disc is sectioned into three distinct perspectives of composition, using an unfamiliar primary instrument for each composer: the piano. First up is Steve MacLean, who in the course of four...

Simon Steensland - The Simon Lonesome Combat Ensemble

Cutting-edge, unpretentious and imaginative are three adjectives that describe this offering by Swedish multi-instrumentalist and composer Simon Steensland. Mixing elements of rock, neo-classical,...

Simon Steensland - The Simon Lonesome Combat Ensemble

This new release on Musea’s Parallele series is essentially a solo effort by Simon Steensland with a little help on guitar and keyboards from his friends Johan Boberg, Pelle Halvarsson,...

Garmarna - Vittrad

Garmarna is doing its part to bring Swedish traditional music into the modern age, coupling the medieval sound of droning fiddles and folk melodies with energetic drums, electric guitars, and...

Space Streakings - First Love Remastered, 7-Toku & Shakuhachi Surprise

The band called Space Streakings didn’t last very long, with three years or so between their beginnings and splitting up, but the two albums they released, plus a collaboration with the...

Heretic - 1984-88

Heretic was a Japanese synthesizer / guitar based band from the mid-80s; this release collects three tracks from their first album Interface (1985) when they were essentially a three-piece...

Heretic - 1984-88

Active in Kyoto from 1984 until about 1989, Heretic was a trio which consisted of Hirofumi Kawahara, Toru Ohta, and Suguru Mori, performing on synths, guitar, and cello. For this CD release Belle...

Heretic - 1984-88

Heretic was a Japanese group that released two albums in the 80s. This CD combines these two albums and includes a bonus track recorded live in the studio. 1984-88 is interesting in that...

A.R. & Machines - Die Grüne Reise - The Green Journey

There are three prime figures in German music for the echo guitar: Manuel Göttsching, Gunter Schickert, and, here, Achim Reichel. A lot of great music was made with this technique of using...

Koenjihyakkei - Hundred Sights of Koenji

The latest entry from the ever-growing Japanese zeuhl scene is Koenji Hyakkei, a four piece of guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, with male and female voice. Their sound lies firmly along the...

Ash Ra Tempel - Schwingungen / Seven Up & Join Inn / Starring Rosi

Here we have domestic releases of the consummate Krautrock band’s early albums. Though not as quotable to neo-Kraut hipsters as Can, Faust, Kraftwerk and Neu! — Ash Ra Tempel were...

Mr. Sirius - Dirge

When considering the finest releases of the Japanese symphonic rock scene, the first two albums by Mr. Sirius come to mind immediately, not only for their apparent absence of any immediately...

Visitors - Visitors

The brainchild of producer Jean-Pierre Massiera, Visitors was his project "band," intended to be a one-shot affair and go no further. Massiera utilized an expanded lineup featuring...

The Muffins - Open City

For the uninitiated, The Muffins were a Washington DC based band who existed from about 1973 to '81. Despite that many years, they only released three regular albums during their career...

Il Berlione - In 453 Minutes Infernal Cooking

Il Berlione's eponymous debut was a sleeper-classic of 1992. Combining fusion, heavy rock, and avant/experimental music, they've forged their own path as unclassifiable instrumentalists....

Il Berlione - In 453 Minutes Infernal Cooking

This Japanese quintet has widened their scope a bit for this, their second regular release, bringing in some ethnic, folk, and jazz elements to share the already crowded space with their fast and...

Il Berlione - In 453 Minutes Infernal Cooking

One of the things I dislike about the CD revolution is the fact that many artists feel obliged to fill out at least 65 minutes of music on it, when it's obvious they don't have that many...

Il Balletto di Bronzo - Ys

McLatchey's Second Tier

In the early 90s when Vinyl Magic was exploding onto the reissue market, there were still a number of Italian albums that weren't in that wave and...

Mastermind - III - Tragic Symphony

Ever wonder what happened to progressive rock? Especially the rock part? Wonder no more. Mastermind has returned with a third album that is every bit as potent as one might expect after...

Banda Elástica - Los Awakates de Nepantla

Dedicated to the memory of Frank Zappa, this Mexican RIO ensemble's superb new album is almost as reminiscent of another underappreciated influential innovator in rock music as it is of Zappa....

Banda Elástica - Los Awakates de Nepantla

I haven't much music coming from across the border recently. However, we are very lucky that Banda Elástica managed to record their third album before the peso crashed. Los...

Steve Hillage - L

L was my first Hillage record when I was much younger, and I didn't catch on to it as fast as I did with Fish Rising, which in some ways was really the Gong album after...

New Trolls - Tempi Dispari & L.I.V.E.N.T.

The New Trolls always only seemed to flirt with the progressive genre, only in the early 70s and then not always consistently. To sum up their career with a mere description doesn't do them...

David Bedford - Great Equatorial

According to the liner notes, Bedford composed these six pieces for the Royal Observatory Telescope room after a modernization upgrade. For those of you who’re unfamiliar with Bedford’s...

Germinale - Germinale

One of the better of the new Italian progressive bands, their eponymous debut just escaped the second part of our "New Italian Progressive Rock Scene" overview back in issue #4. So with...

Kenso - Overview of Pre-1996 Releases

Kenso - Overview of Pre-1996 Releases

The Enid - Tripping the Light Fantastic

The world’s premier symphonic group is reborn. With the release of this album, Robert John Godfrey opens up the third chapter in the now over twenty-year history of one of England’s...

Yes - Talk

Here's yet another album with the Yes name on it that bears almost no resemblance to the band's classic period, essentially a Trevor Rabin solo album with Jon Anderson singing. First,...

Circus 2000 - Circus 2000 & Escape from a Box

Circus 2000 is an entirely different beast from the rest of the Vinyl Magic catalog, falling more in the psych realm than in the more classically styled progressive genre. It's not to say they...

Circus 2000 - Circus 2000 & Escape from a Box

Circus 2000 is an entirely different beast from the rest of the Vinyl Magic catalog, falling more in the psych realm than in the more classically styled progressive genre. It's not to say they...

Barrock - Oxian

Like their name seems to imply, Barrock's music combines elements of Baroque and rock. The rock, in this case, is a modern Italian symphonic progressive sound with a clear allegiance to the...

Barrock - Oxian

Barrock is a band I want to like very much. Their music is strongly reminiscent of classic early 70s Banco (one of my favorites), both in the fluid contrapuntal writing and creative orchestration,...

Jasun Martz - The Pillory

Mellotron fans take note. Unique and uncompromising music, this masterpiece of neo-classical avant-garde rock stands alone. Martz began composing "The Pillory" around 1976, assembling his...

Pulsar - Görlitz

Pulsar was perhaps the best French band in the mid-70s. In fact they were the first French band to be distributed by an English label. From 1975 to 1977 they released three albums culminating with...

Dixie Dregs - Full Circle

After a less-than-spectacular live release a few years back, the Dregs are back with an all new studio release, their first in well over ten years. So what's new with these well known purveyors...

Gandalf - To Our Children's Children

Please spare me the preachy environmental awareness lesson; few things annoy me more than socio-political cause lyrics on top of otherwise excellent music. Once upon a time Gandalf created...

Various Artists - Progressive & Melodic Rock Vol. 1 - 3

Can you say Neo? Do you enjoy the music of bands like Marillion, Rush, Saga and Tears for Fears? Do Univers Zero, Area, Etron Fou and Il Balletto di Bronzo give you nightmares? If the answer to the...

Various Artists - Progressive & Melodic Rock Vol. 1 - 3

Can you say Neo? Do you enjoy the music of bands like Marillion, Rush, Saga and Tears for Fears? Do Univers Zero, Area, Etron Fou and Il Balletto di Bronzo give you nightmares? If the answer to the...

Ensemble Nimbus - Key Figures

Amazing when a new label takes off so well. Ad Perpetuam Memoriam has given the world both the powerful Kultivator and the hilarious Myrbein, both relatively unknown Swedish groups of high quality....

Roine Stolt - The Flower King

Its been a while since we've heard from former Kaipa guitarist Roine Stolt. This album received a lot of hype recently, and claiming to be a symphonic rock album from a member of Kaipa, I...

Sebastian Hardie - Live in L.A.

Live in L.A. is taken from part of Sebastian Hardie's headlining Progfest 1994 set, and represents their first, and only, show since their previous "final performance" in...

Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways & Moonloop EP

Having defined themselves as the modern standard bearers of the Pink Floyd sound – a title rightfully deserved (save the Roger Waters psychosis), they have set about further refining that...

Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways & Moonloop EP

Their third full album, The Sky Moves Sideways is Porcupine Tree's strongest release yet. Featuring three long 17-18 minutes tracks, the album flows effortlessly from laid back...

Van Zyl and Gulch - Regeneration Mode

Chuck van Zyl and his compatriot, ex-Nightcrawler Peter Gulch, continue to mature musically with each new release. Gone are the driving sequencers that have characterized much of their recent work....

Magma - Mekanïk Zeuhl Wortz

Here's one of those unbelievably powerful Magma concerts that's been circulating on cassette for years, finally cleaned up and transferred to CD. Hallelujah! This is one of the best live...

Magma - Mekanïk Zeuhl Wortz

A two CD set, this contains the second half of the concert begun on Theusz Hamtaahk. The first disc features a stunning and powerful rendition of "Mekanïk Destruktïw...

Visitors - Visitors

Here is a short one-off Musea reissue that deserves some notice. Forget the tacky artwork of the alien invaders, Visitors contains some very strong music. Believe it or not, there are 20...

Magma - Retrospektïw I & II

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the formation of Magma, without a doubt one of the most innovative and progressive bands of all time. Their music combined very intense and spiritual...

Magma - Retrospektïw I & II

The second album culled from the 1980 reunion concerts is a double, and features breathtaking performances of two of Magma's epic live pieces. The first official release of "Theusz...

Clearlight - Visions

Fourteen years after releasing the album, Cyrille Verdeaux delivers a fine remake of Visions. On first listen it is evident that Verdeaux closely involved himself with this reissue. He...

The Smell of Incense - I'm Allergic to Flowers & A Visit with Ashiya

The Smell of Incense is a Norwegian neo-psychedelic band inspired by Syd Barrett, the Kinks, Steeleye Span, Incredible String Band, and Peter Hammill, to name a few. Their debut CD, All Mimsy...

Deus Ex Machina - De Republica

Deus Ex Machina are in my opinion the pinnacle of the 90s Italian progressive scene, an outfit continually experimenting with sound and new musical ideas. Both Gladium Caeli and their...

5uu's - Hunger's Teeth

Ever wonder what some of the classic progressive bands would sound like today had they maintained their edge and not grown lazy and comfortable and become caricatures of themselves? Enter the...

5uu's - Hunger's Teeth

The twisted family tree of the American bands U Totem, Thinking Plague, 5uu's and Motor Totemist Guild is perhaps representative of the challenging, ever-changing music that these four groups...

5uu's - Hunger's Teeth

Here's a really unexpected surprise. The 5uu's used to be the epitome of overlyrical RIO mediocrity, a quirky semi-political group influenced by the Henry Cow / Art Bears sphere. While...

Various Artists - 70's West Japanese Rock Scene

Apart from the Tokyo scene in the 70s, there were many progressive bands operating in the Kansai region, outside of Tokyo and in the west of Japan, in places like Osaka, Kyoto, and elsewhere....

Gong - Continental Circus

Reissued late last year without much fanfare, this was recorded by an early version of Gong circa Camembert Electrique, and was the score to the film by Jerome Lapperrousaz by the same...

Happy the Man - Live

Although this live set would have been much more meaningful had it been released closer to when it was recorded in 1978, it stands today as evidence that this DC area quintet was as tight on-stage...

Wapassou - Messe en Ré Mineur, Salammbô & Ludwig

Wapassou was a unique classically influenced French band that existed from around 1971 through the mid-80s (their last release was in 1986). These three — their second, third and fourth...

Wapassou - Messe en Ré Mineur, Salammbô & Ludwig

Wapassou was a unique classically influenced French band that existed from around 1971 through the mid-80s (their last release was in 1986). These three — their second, third and fourth...

Wapassou - Messe en Ré Mineur, Salammbô & Ludwig

Wapassou was a unique classically influenced French band that existed from around 1971 through the mid-80s (their last release was in 1986). These three — their second, third and fourth...

However - Sudden Dusk

The reissue of However's classic Canterbury inspired first album is one this writer has been anticipating for many years. The band at this point was a four-piece, featuring Peter Prince...

Apple - An Apple a Day

Here we have the long-awaited CD release of one of the most collectible LPs of British psychedelia. Those of us who can’t shell out hundreds of dollars (or pounds) to hear the original can...

Som Nosso de Cada Dia - Live '94

When the band reformed to record "O Guarani" for use as a bonus track for the Snegs reissue, who would have thought a live tour of Brazil would have been the result? Those...

Kaizen - Gargula

This was reviewed before, in issue #7. I'll admit to being not terribly impressed with this album upon first listen. But after several plays, the music got to me, and now I can't get enough...

Romantic Warriors, Tower & Secret Cinema

These titles are all combined as these are all projects either including Beppe Crovella or being one of his projects. Crovella was Arti e Mestieri's keyboard player and is the resident producer...

Romantic Warriors, Tower & Secret Cinema

These titles are all combined as these are all projects either including Beppe Crovella or being one of his projects. Crovella was Arti e Mestieri's keyboard player and is the resident producer...

Rick Biddulph - Second Nature

If his name is a mite familiar, perhaps it should be. Biddulph is a multi-instrumentalist who had been a roadie and sound engineer for several Canterbury bands (Hatfield among them) before joining...

Xixxo - Down the World

This five-piece from Massachusetts might be familiar to some who saw them open for Gong on their recent swing through New England. At the center of their sound are the soulful vocals of Lizzette...

Time Being - Time Being

When I first saw this disc, I was a bit amused. On the cover of this independent release is a cheesy-looking picture of a ghost woman descending over lavender seating on to a stage inside a...

Geoffrey Downes - Evolution

Downes of course was a one-time member of Yes; in the absence of Wakeman and Moraz he took over the keyboard duties on their Drama album while former Buggles associate Trevor Horn did his...

Änglagård - Buried Alive

Anyone who attended ProgFest '94 in LA will find this last farewell hauntingly familiar. Buried Alive contains Änglagård's last live performance in its entirety, from...

Nurse with Wound - Rock n Roll Station

Somewhere within the seven pieces that comprise Rock ‘n’ Roll Station a sadly conformist aesthetic emerges, apparently in conformity with its own tradition of non-conformity....

Mandragora - Temple Ball Live '94

[Note: This review was written regarding the original cassette release. - ed.]

A step on from their previous release Earthdance, Temple Ball Live ’94 is a...

Cafeine - La Citadelle

Cafeine is a new band from France offering a nuanced music based mainly on keyboards and guitar. Melodic, La Citadelle offers seven compositions, three of them being in the ten to fifteen...

Cafeine - La Citadelle

I'd first heard of these guys a few months ago via their contribution to the A Propos d'Ange compilation, their song being one of the highlights of that disc. La Citadelle...

Faust - Rien

Rien is the first new Faust studio release in over twenty years and they have lost none of their humor over the decades. Rien is French for Nothing and that word sums up...

Krokodil & Düde Dürst - An Invisible World Revealed & Krokodil Solo

Krokodil is a rock band — let's make no mistake. Their strong points are the guitars and vocals. However on An Invisible World Revealed they have mixed in two tracks with a...

Carpe Diem - Cueille le Jour

A year after their first release Carpe Diem issued their second LP Cueille le Jour. Now we find the band stretching and exploring the jazz territory of Zao and Soft Machine. The CD opens...

Klaus Schulze - Revisited Reissues, Part 3

Revisited Records has taken on the mammoth task of reissuing the entire Klaus Schulze back catalog, and these eight albums are what has been reissued so far this year. In addition to using...

Masque - Ten Ways

After every fifth or sixth release Musea issues a CD by a contemporary band. Ten Ways by Masque is one of Musea’s recent new music offerings. Masque is a Swedish band that plays...

Carpe Diem - En Regardant Passer le Temps

Here we have Carpe Diem’s long awaited excellent debut album from 1975, studio enhanced and reissued on CD. Despite the Camel and Genesis influences, Carpe Diem created a complex, lyrical,...

Heavenly Music Corporation - Consciousness III

Those of you long in the tooth might well think that the Heavenly Music Corporation is Robert Fripp and Brian Eno together again. How wrong you would be! The Heavenly Music Corporation is the solo...

Corporation - Breed

If you enjoy British electronic music firmly in the vein of Mark Shreeve then you will surely love this debut release by the duo of Adam Britton and Iain Lowe. Corporation attempts nothing new or...

Wapassou - Messe en Ré Mineur

Originally recorded in July 1976 Messe en ré mineur is one of the best psychedelic / progressive releases of all time. This unsurpassed musical tour de force consists of one long...

Conrad Schnitzler - Blue Glow & Charred Machinery

Herr Schnitzler is probably the most prolific synthesist (we might as well say musician) on the planet. He has been around since the early days of Kluster and Tangerine Dream (he was a member of...

Dead Can Dance - Toward the Within

Toward the Within is a live disk that documents DCD's 1993 tour, ostensibly in support of their latest studio release, Into the Labyrinth. However, Brendan Perry and Lisa...

Pierre Vervloesen - Home Made

Vervloesem is a Belgian guitarist whose music is unique and attention grabbing. You have probably never heard anything quite like it, but it fits somewhere in the realm of progressive, fusion,...

Débile Menthol - Emile à la Campagne

This two-disc set collects both of Swiss band Debile Menthol's early-80s studio LPs (1981's Emile au Jardin Patrologique and Battre Campagne from '84) into a single...

Poor Richard - Knees, Reins & Feet

As the debate over the meaning of the word "progressive" (as it applies to rock music) continues, the loosest interpretations generally define it as anything that eschews the mainstream...

Alfredo Tisocco - Kátharsis, Ritagli d'Anima & Ballet Collection

Alfredo Tisocco's solo career apart from Opus Avantra, began in 1975 with the release of...

Versus X - Versus X (Remastered)

Some may have checked out Apogee's The Border of Awareness that we reviewed in the Musea overview a few issues back, which is essentially the solo project of Versus X bassist /...

Standarte - Standarte

This new Italian band has a sound that hails unmistakably from the early 70s heavy progressive scene. Though no guitar is credited in the notes, this is classic guitar and keyboard driven, mostly...

Medina Azahara - Paseando por la Mexquita, La Esquina del Viento & Andalucía

Medina Azahara are one of the longest running Spanish symphonic rock bands. If I'm not mistaken, they may still be together. While most of their contemporaries disappeared due to the Spanish...

Sagittarian - Sagittarian

Sagittarian were a Japanese primarily-instrumental six-piece that put out one obscure album in the early 80s (in a limited edition of 100). The dominant sound is a Camel-influenced progressive...

Mujician - Poem about the Hero

Despite a feel more reminiscent of the free-jazz of the mid-60s than of the 90s, Mujician's second all-instrumental release is a refreshing addition to the archives of improvised music....

Cast - Landing in a Serious Mind, Sounds of Imagination & Third Call

Cast is a Mexican neo-progressive band who have been together for well over a decade, performing and recording. I'm assuming that up to this point in time they have released only cassette tapes...

Cast - Landing in a Serious Mind, Sounds of Imagination & Third Call

Cast is a Mexican neo-progressive band who have been together for well over a decade, performing and recording. I'm assuming that up to this point in time they have released only cassette tapes...

Cast - Landing in a Serious Mind, Sounds of Imagination & Third Call

Cast is a Mexican neo-progressive band who have been together for well over a decade, performing and recording. I'm assuming that up to this point in time they have released only cassette tapes...

Gwendal - Les Plus Belles Chansons de Gwendal

Gwendal are an amazing group and one of my favorites of the severely underrated French / Breton folk-rock scene. Unfortunately the distribution of any of their albums is uncommonly poor and it...

Il Balletto di Bronzo - Ys (Original & English)

Ys is certainly one of the more controversial progressive rock albums. Many people will tell you not only that it is a classic, but it's often quoted as being the very best of...

Hecenia - La Couleur du Feu

If you've ever heard Hecenia's first album, Légendes from a few years ago, with vocals, drum machines, and all, you might want to push all that out of your mind now. This...

Quaser - Out from Quaser

The original lineup of Quaser, a trio led by (then bassist) T. Morita played throughout the late 70s, yet left behind no recorded evidence. With the help of Ain Soph guitarist Yozox, the album...

Bonfire - Bonfire Goes Bananas

This Dutch four-piece produced a spirited instrumental rock during the mid 70s, leaving one album behind as the only recorded evidence. Their sound is very progressive, constantly changing tempo...

Shingetsu / Serenade - Shingetsu, Night Collector & Akai Me No Kagami

Shingetsu was one of the classic Japanese symphonic bands, and their self titled Shingetsu album from 1979 is highly regarded, and often compared to classic period Genesis, if only for the...

Lacrymosa - Joy of the Wrecked Ship

It’s been quite a long time since S. Chihiro (flip through an issue of Marquee, he's the one with the bass and the weird helmets) and company have released a full album –...

Lacrymosa - Bugbear

Lacrymosa is a collective of musicians loosely organized around bassist Chihiro S. (see also Golden...

Golden Avant-Garde - Golden Avant-Garde

Existing from around 1986 through the early 90s, Golden Avant-Garde was formed around mainstays Chihiro Saito (bass) and Takeshi Naganuma (drums), the former having played with Katra Turana and his...

Dada - Dada & Castle Wall

From the ashes of Charisma, the duo of Mutsuhiko Izumi and Kenji Konishi – both on guitars and synthesizers – released two albums during its existence. Their 1978 debut, entitled...

Il Berlione - In 453 Minutes Infernal Cooking

There is little I can add to the other reviews regarding Il Berlione's follow-up album, In 453 Minutes Infernal Cooking. Il Berlione"s second comes across as more jazzy and zany...

Ain Soph - Special Live 1 - 3 (Ride on a Camel, Mysterious Triangle & Quicksand)

Together in one form or another since the mid-70s, Ain Soph is one of Japan's premier instrumental progressive bands, drawing their influence more from the Canterbury scene than the usual...

Magical Power Mako - Music from Heaven, Trance Resonance & Lo Pop Diamonds

Mako seems to delight in perpetrating an image of mystery and enigma. With a history going back to 1975, and a load of albums, he never seems to settle into a singular style. However, along the way...

Magical Power Mako - Music from Heaven, Trance Resonance & Lo Pop Diamonds

Mako seems to delight in perpetrating an image of mystery and enigma. With a history going back to 1975, and a load of albums, he never seems to settle into a singular style. However, along the way...

Various Artists - Tokyo Symphonic Syndrome

The Japanese symphonic rock scene didn't really pick up steam until the mid-80s, at least as far as record releases were concerned. Numerous bands existed prior to that time but were generally...

Izukaitz - Izukaitz

In our last Lost Vinyl Update we covered Izukaitz' second album, Otzoa Dantzan. This is their first. Again, this was originally released on the Elkar label, which seemed to specialize...

Gamelan Pacifica - Trance Gong

Based in the Seattle area, Gamelan Pacifica is a group of musicians in residence at Cornish College of the Arts. Their music – while not strictly traditional in itself – uses the...

Heldon - Agneta Nilsson & Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale

With these two reissues over the last few months, Cuneiform have faithfully completed their exhaustive Pinhas/Heldon reissue series. While both of these albums are rightly considered transitional...

Jean-Philippe Goude - Drones

Jean Philippe Goude played keyboards in Bernard Paganotti’s band Weidorje until 1979. At that time he recorded Drones and involved the various musicians he had worked with: Klaus...

Jean-Philippe Goude - Drones

Here's a welcome reissue indeed! My old cassette of this has done a full tour of duty, I don't think it could've lasted another six months... which is to say, this is one you'll...

Patrick Gauthier - Bébé Godzilla

I've wished for a CD reissue of this — Patrick Gauthier's all instrumental post-Weidorje album — for many long years. Finally on December 24th I found it in a record store by...

P.L.J. Band - Armageddon

This is the second reissue for this Greek prog-psych classic, the first being a horribly scratchy vinyl transcription on the Second Battle label about six years ago. This latest is from the master...

Amarok - Els Nostres Petits Amics

Hailing from the Basque country in northern Spain, Amarok is essentially keyboardist Robert Santamana and a rotating cast of other musicians on Spanish guitars, violin, oboe, and percussion,...

Cheika Rimitti - Sidi Mansour

Cheika ("crazy") Rimitti began her musical career in about 1936. The horrors of war and the epidemics that ravaged her native region of Oran in Algeria gave the inspiration for her first...

Tisaris - Once Humanity...

Tisaris' debut, What's Beyond? from 1992, showed them to be a very capable band, but for the most part playing an embarrassingly commercial type of sound, hardly worthy of being...

Presence & Alembic Virtual - The Sleeper Awakes & Müsikaall

For those who enjoy a dark and sinister progressive rock fronted by female vocals – in the vein of Tale Cue, Stromboli, and the like – these two releases are essential listening. Both...

Christian Vander - A Tous les Enfants...

Vander's most recent release, and perhaps the most surprising. This is music dedicated to children, and written with the child in mind. The whole package is basically a children's book,...

Christian Vander - A Tous les Enfants...

Packaged in a 40 page hardbound CD size book, A Tous les Enfants... is essentially a Christian Vander children's album. Playing keyboards and contributing vocals, Vander is joined by...

Christian Vander - A Tous les Enfants...

A children's album from Magma founder and leader Christian Vander? Precisely. I was more than a little skeptical when I first heard about this, and was even more hesitant to buy it when I heard...

Klimperei - Blumenfabrik

How many songs can you get on one CD? Well, the Residents did fifty on their Commercial Album, and Doctor Nerve came close to sixty on Beta 14 OK, so Klimperei with thirty-five is...

El Reloj - Santos y Verdugos

Argentinian group El Reloj was one of progressive rock's best kept secrets, releasing two albums in the mid 70s, one in 1983, and now their first new album in quite some time. Their second self...

Tiles - Tiles

That just has to be Max Bacon on vocals! It must be – you know that singer guy from GTR, the most progressive rock band that Steve Howe and Steve Hackett were ever in? If I had to pick out...

High Tide - High Tide

McLatchey's Second Tier

When I first heard about this band, the rage seemed to be all around their debut album Sea Shanties and by the descriptions I read, I badly...

Marathon - Sublime Dreams

Why do they do that? I hate that! On Sublime Dreams, Marathon commits the cardinal sin of having vocals in a language that they don't quite have in their grasp. The lyrics appear to...

Richard Bone - X Considers Y, Ambiento & Vox Orbita

Although Richard Bone may be best known for his forays into the alternative techno-pop realms in the mid 80s, his work of late, while still being very electronic based and often poppy, has been far...

2112 - Intro

For those who like the hard metal edge of progressive rock (Dream Theater, Asgard, Vienna and such) and those who like that style with Spanish lyrics, the debut album by this Argentine four-piece...

Fantasy - Vivariatum

Fantasy are probably best known for their 1973 debut, Paint a Picture, a song-orientated but strikingly beautiful and melodic classic of British progressive. More recently, Audio Archives...

Musicalia - Magicorò

Once in a while comes a disc that is surprising by its nature. Magicorò is issued on the Italian Kaliphonia progressive label, but it is a gripping work of chamber music and...

Tibet - Tibet

Tibet is another one of Musea’s reissues of obscure 70s bands. Unfortunately for Musea, the master tapes were lost over the past 15 years. They had to remaster the CD from a vinyl copy using...

Lunar Chateau - Lunar Chateau

Lunar Chateau is a new band from the United States formed by the Sekulovich brothers, Novak (keyboards and vocals), Paul (bass guitar and lead vocals), and Milo (drums). Based on this information...

Dialog, Crystal Maze & Mad Puppet - Cry of the Hawk, Forever & King Laurin

Three recent albums by three different unrelated bands on Music Is Intelligence. All three released very promising debut albums in the early/mid-80s, these being somewhat belated follow-ups (to be...

Dialog, Crystal Maze & Mad Puppet - Cry of the Hawk, Forever & King Laurin

Three recent albums by three different unrelated bands on Music Is Intelligence. All three released very promising debut albums in the early/mid-80s, these being somewhat belated follow-ups (to be...

Pholas Dactylus - Concerto delle Menti

Originally on the Magma label, Pholas Dactylus recorded one album with two side-long suites called Concerto delle Menti. Obviously a concept of some sort, my Italian is much too shabby to...

Empire - Back to Knowledge

Empire are another of Vinyl Magic's high tech neo groups with a strange concoction of bombastic progressive and ultra-mainstream keyboard pop. A three piece, led by keyboard maestro Edo Rogani,...

Next - The Virtual Cage

Next is Ricky Mazza who controls all of the keys, drums, programming and any combination of those three. He is joined by guests on sax and guitar on this, his debut album. Next is in the vein of...

David Bedford - The Odyssey

Bedford reached a new high with The Odyssey from 1976. It's based upon the Odyssey which Odysseus undertook in the eponymous book from Homer. When you look at the back of the CD, among...

Alluminogeni - Geni Mutante & Green Grapes

On the Fonit-Cetra label, Vinyl Magic reissued Scolopendra, an album from 1972 led by Patrizio Alluminio in the well-known keyboard-trio format. Gli Alluminogeni's music on that album...

Il Castello di Atlante - Passo Dopo Passo

Although Il Castello only released their first proper album in 1993 (Sono il Signore delle Torre a Nord, see review in issue #3), they have actually been together continuously since the...

Stormy Six - L'Idee di Oggi per la Musica Domani & L'Unità

Stormy Six are perhaps better known for their involvement with Rock In Opposition in the late 70s and early 80s. Their later output such as Al Volo were interesting pop rock albums with an...

Corte dei Miracoli - Corte dei Miracoli

Another album sure to please the keyboard fanatic is this, another great one-shot from the mid 70s. Corte dei Miracoli's one album is similar in many ways to Italy's other big two-keyboard...

Celeste - Celeste (AKA Principe di un Giorno)

Celeste's first album, also known as Principe di un Giorno, is an absolute gem, an overlooked classic that deserves a place among the best Italian releases of the classic period....

Richard Pinhas - Rhizosphere / Live, Paris 1982

At last, a reissue of Pinhas' first and certainly most purely electronic album recorded under his own name. It also marks a time when this was the distinction between Pinhas' solo material...

Mastermind - III - Tragic Symphony

Mastermind's third album is the first to see release on a major label. Mastermind are Bill and Rich Berends (brothers from New Jersey) who continue on in Volume III much as they did...

Mastermind - III - Tragic Symphony

Upon first hearing "Tiger! Tiger!" (a neo-prog/hard-rock adaptation of the famous William Blake poem and the first song on the album), I didn't have high hopes for the rest of the...

Ars Nova - Transi

If this trio of all female musicians were a pop group, I doubt if anyone would think twice, but in the testosterone driven underground of Prog, the idea is practically a novelty (at least for...

Ars Nova - Transi

This, the second album from the Japanese keyboard-led trio Ars Nova, comes as perhaps the biggest surprise of the year. It would be all too easy to rest that statement on the fact that this is a...

Ars Nova - Transi

Transi is the second release from this Japanese trio, fronted by talented keyboardist Keiko Kumagai. Writing all the music and commanding an arsenal of analog and digital keys, she leads...

Ars Nova - Transi

This latest offering from this Japanese power keyboard trio is a bold step forward from their 1992 debut Fear and Anxiety. For starters this one is a full length disc; more to the point,...

In Spe - Typewriter Concerto

This is the second album by this outstanding Estonian ensemble, probably better known as The Girl on the Beach (based on the photo on the front cover, all information on the original LP...

Material - Hallucination Engine

Bill Laswell has been the driving force of Material for about ten years now. Heavily involved in the NYC scene, Laswell has become a highly respected producer; on Hallucination Engine,...

Various Artists - Space Daze

This is the compilation/companion to the Cleopatra book of the same name. In my opinion, this (and the music herein) speaks for Space Rock a lot more effectively than the book, as when it comes to...

Morgan Fisher - Hybrid Kids 1 & 2 + Miniatures

In the middle of his work as a keyboard player (with Queen, Mott the Hoople, and others) and as a producer (Allan Holdsworth), Morgan Fisher came up with two albums worth of oddities called...

Bondage Fruit - Bondage Fruit

Bondage Fruit were formed in 1989, and have finally released their first CD. Leader Natsuki Kido is also a member of P.O.N. (and other groups unknown outside Japan). Like other bandleaders he...

Bondage Fruit - Bondage Fruit

Having first heard about this band in the fading weeks of 1994 via a bootleg tape of one of their live shows, I was, needless to say, duly impressed, and spent most of '95 looking for a copy of...

Fred Thelonious Baker - Missing Link

For those of you wondering who in the world is Fred Baker with the familiar middle name, please allow me to provide background on the educated virtuoso. He’s a Birmingham College of Music...

Thee Majesty - A Hollow Cost & Thee Fractured Garden

The incarnations of Genesis P-Orridge continue to manifest in many different and sometimes compelling ways. Two of the composer’s spoken word series are reissued here by Voiceprint in part to...

Jon Hassell & Bluescreen - Dressing for Pleasure

At least ten years before music journalists coined the term "world music," Jon Hassell was developing his fourth world music concepts. Most prog fans are familiar with Jon Hassell from...

Dunwich - Sul Monte e il Tuono & Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte

Sometimes one gets totally caught off guard. I'd hadn't even heard of this excellent band before I received a promo of their latest Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte. Further...

Cafewien - Terrae Motus

Cafewien, a four-piece of guitar, drums, keys and bass, with a guest player on saxes, and any way one looks at it, Terrae Motus is an impressive album of sparkling jazz-rock fusion, the...

Courtyard Moth - Alive 'n' Gigging

Not too many groups these days play in the late 60s early 70s classic blues rock style, and fewer yet do it with an inventive outlook. Courtyard Moth are from Leicester, England and play somewhere...

Jean-Luc Chevalier - Km 5 à Bangui

After a fairly long stint with Magma (from Attahk thru the Merci period), Jean-Luc Chevalier has also chosen to pursue the pure jazz avenue recently, much like many other Magma...

Fukkeduk - Ornithozozy

Well the name may cost this group some listeners, but I guess it could be said that anything in the Art Zoyd / Univers Zero axis may do the same anyway! Fukkeduk sure aren't shooting to be...

Prometheus - Prometheus

Prometheus is led by the dual guitars of Steve Ball and Sanford Ponder. Although Ponder was one of the original "Private Music" gang, don't let that fool you into thinking that this...

Epilogue - Hide

Epilogue sounds like a combination of more accessible current neo-prog bands and mid-80s synth-rock bands. I can easily envision many of their tunes having videos on MTV back during the Adam Curry...

Quest - Opposite Sides of the Picket Fence

Quest is a new five-piece from Cleveland, Ohio, whose sound will immediately remind one of Rush. Lead vocalist Allen McKenzie sounds amazingly like Geddy Lee, and the music bears many similarities...

John Wetton - Battle Lines

Comes a time when folks have to decide if they want to keep following an artist after they stop making music in a particular style – in this case progressive rock. Wetton and many like him...

Camel - On the Road 1982

Andy Latimer's Camel Productions have already put out two high quality live shows, one recent and one from the very early years of the band, but this is the first from the mid-period in the...

Headless Household - Inside / Outside USA

A quartet from Santa Barbara, CA, Headless Household have been together for over a decade, and released their first, self titled, album in 1987. Inside / Outside USA finds them teeming up...

Phish - A Live One

Ask any Phish fan and they'll tell you that the band's natural habitat is most definitely on stage, in front of a live audience. So after five studio albums, Phish finally present a...

Wilde Flowers - Tales of Canterbury: The Wilde Flowers Story - Brian's Tale

For those of you still uninitiated, Canterbury was a place in the UK where a music scene originated in the 60s (complementary to that of San Francisco Haight-Ashbury). Several known European groups...

Wilde Flowers - Tales of Canterbury: The Wilde Flowers Story - Brian's Tale

For those of you still uninitiated, Canterbury was a place in the UK where a music scene originated in the 60s (complementary to that of San Francisco Haight-Ashbury). Several known European groups...

Darxtar - Daybreak

This sonically rich recording strongly evokes mid-70s era Hawkwind, with an updated sound that takes advantage of 90s recording techniques. They're not nearly as strange as Hawkwind, but the...

Squonk Opera - Howandever

Ready for something different and very original? First off, forget the Squonk, it's not a reference – these guys sound nothing like Genesis! In fact they are a totally new six-piece from...

Nekropolis & Peter Frohmader - Live & Stringed Works

For those of you disillusioned with the lack of early Frohmader / Nekropolis reissues on CD (whatever happened to the plans on the Sensorium label?), here's the reissues of Nekropolis' live...

Frank Zappa - Civilization Phaze III

This long awaited post-mortem artifact of Zappa's work is indeed a fine addition to his catalog. The music is almost entirely realized on a Synclavier, yet this is not the sterile robot-music...

Iconoclasta - De Todos Uno

Iconoclasta's latest release carries on in this Mexican band's readily identifiable symphonic fusion style. A mostly instrumental album, De Todos Uno focuses strongly on the...

Iconoclasta - De Todos Uno

In the time since their first albums in the early 80s, Iconoclasta has been gradually assimilating a greater diversity of ideas into their musical pallette. Long Mexico's premier progressive...

Iconoclasta - De Todos Uno

Iconoclasta's 1985 debut was one of the crowning achievements of Mexican progressive rock, heavily influenced by Genesis (or rather, solo Steve Hackett) and possibly some of the less angular...

Deus Ex Machina - De Republica

With their first two albums, Deus Ex Machina quickly established themselves as the darlings of the Italian prog scene, blending heavy rock and complex music in a most original way. Those two...

Deus Ex Machina - De Republica

An old book, dating from as far as 1800 BC, was found recently in good condition by an archeological search. A treatise superficially presented as ways to acquire power and glory over people. Some...

Deus Ex Machina - De Republica

Deus Ex Machina has hit the bulls-eye with their third album. De Republica is an absolutely brilliant masterpiece of Italian progressive rock, exquisitely manifesting all the elements of...

Mike Oldfield - The Songs of Distant Earth & Hibernaculum

Here is the latest release from Mike Oldfield and what an innovation it is! The Songs of Distant Earth is the first CD I've encountered that marries CD-ROM with audio CD. In addition...

Ten Ton Tide - Ten Ton Tide

Their logo looks like the Gentle Giant guy got a hair transplant and was so happy that he shaved his beard. Pretty cool! At any rate, Ten Ton Tide's album is an interesting combination of...

Mathematicians - Irrational Numbers

Appropriately named, this all-instrumental outfit from Indianapolis plays a driving rock-fusion that is at once complex, energized, and accessible. The lineup varies from track to track, but...

Corte dei Miracoli - Dimensione Onirica & Live at Lux

Corte dei Miracoli only released one album on the short lived Grog label in 1976 (reissued on Vinyl Magic) and like Museo Rosenbach, left a series of poorly recorded demos, of which Dimensione...

Canzoniere del Lazio - Miradas

Part of what makes certain 'progressive' music interesting, especially that which hails from areas outside the US and UK, is the amount of the local culture that is applied to the music...

Eiliff - Eiliff & Girlrls

It's amazing how many great albums are still being reissued from Germany from the early 70s. It seems at times that there is no end to the wealth from that period. Eiliff was another gem of a...

Eiliff - Eiliff & Girlrls

It's amazing how many great albums are still being reissued from Germany from the early 70s. It seems at times that there is no end to the wealth from that period. Eiliff was another gem of a...

The Third and the Mortal - Tears Laid in Earth

This new Norwegian band are already eliciting comparisons to White Willow, but that is actually a somewhat superficial comparison used for lack of a better one. The Third and the Mortal bridge the...

High Wheel - 1910 & Remember the Colours

High Wheel is a relatively new German outfit with two albums solidly in the neo-progressive vein. While both are private releases, the band would fit very comfortably on the SI label as the music...

Black September - Black September

Black September is a four piece from Trenton led by keyboardist Michael West (of "God Sex Money" fame), the instrumentation consisting of violin, sax, and drums, with bass duties shared...

Izukaitz - Otsoa Dantzan

This Basque folk group offers multi-guitars, violin, flute, tin-whistles, some keyboards, percussion and two singers (male and female), with occasional saxes and pipes. Their musical concept...

Haizea - Hontz Gaua

Another obscurity originally released on the Elkar label, Haizea were a five-piece from the Basque area of Spain. Sporting a sound that could best be described as psychedelic electric folk, the...

Atila - The Beginning of the End

Atila dates back to 1973, when guitarist Eduardo Alvarez Niebla formed the band as a trio with two of his friends, Paco Ortega (keys) and Juan Punet (drums). This, their first album – so rare...

The Storm - The Storm

Good old hard rock with Hammond! The Storm was a Spanish four-piece from the early 70s, playing in a style similar to many of their British counterparts of a few years earlier – singing their...

Enbor - Enbor & Katebegiak

Lost Vinyl has a knack for unearthing rare Basque rock groups. The only catch is that you have to be careful to check out what axis they fall in. For all intent and purpose, Enbor is a straight...

Enbor - Enbor & Katebegiak

Lost Vinyl has a knack for unearthing rare Basque rock groups. The only catch is that you have to be careful to check out what axis they fall in. For all intent and purpose, Enbor is a straight...

Itoiz - Alkolea

As you may recall, the first self-titled Itoiz album was more of a progressive rocker, while the second Ezekiel could best be described as a rich blend of electric folk. On their third...

Ataraxia - Adolescence of an Ancient Warrior

Ataraxia were one of the more obscure of the original Made in Japan labelmates, back when they were still affiliated with the now-defunct Edison label. The band made one album in the mid-80s and...

Gerard - Save Knight by the Night

Keyboardist Toshio Egawa is one of the prime movers in Japan's progressive rock scene since the late 70s – originally with the band Novela, then splitting in the early 70s to form his own...

Various Artists - 70 Minutes de Rock Progressif Français pour 30 Balles

OK, here's the deal: Musea has collected thirteen tracks of symphonic progressive rock sung in French, and put it on this low price (70 Francs) sampler CD. If you've been hesitating to take...

Cyan - Pictures from the Other Side

Take two moderately decent, although thoroughly modern sounding 10+ minute rock opuses, and sandwich a bunch of mediocre-at-best pop tracks between them, and you come up with something like this...

Gualberto - A la Vida, al Dolor

Gualberto is Gualberto Garcia, a young guitarist and songwriter who recorded two albums in the late 70s. The first album was A la Vida, al Dolor ("To the Life - To the Pain), and...

Biglietto per l'Inferno - Biglietto per l'Inferno

Like Banco and Corte dei Miracoli, Italian's Biglietto were a dual-keyboard led group although their music was a much heavier affair than either of those two bands, with a style influenced by...

Panna Freda - Uno

Vinyl Magic's first CD was a great pick – the very obscure and dreadfully underrated Panna Fredda. One of the most refined bands in Italian progressive, Panna Fredda are certainly a hard...

Zaragon - No Return

At some point in the past I had heard this obscure Danish five-piece compared with IQ. In fact, after finally hearing it, that assessment seems to be quite inaccurate. Yes, there are some...

Walter Wegmüller - Tarot

From 1968 to 1974 the Swiss Gypsy Walter Wegmüller and Austrian writer and story-teller Sergius Golowin traveled Europe in search of gypsy legends. In 1973 they collaborated on a series of...

Dragon - Scented Gardens for the Blind

This reissue is probably shaky in the legitimacy area, getting hard to find, and has a "Japanese" price tag on it. It is also transcribed from vinyl but it's a good job and chances...

Marco Antônio Araújo - Four Reissues

Marco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...

Marco Antônio Araújo - Four Reissues

Marco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...

Marco Antônio Araújo - Four Reissues

Marco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...

Marco Antônio Araújo - Four Reissues

Marco Antônio Araújo was an accomplished Brazilian cellist/acoustic guitarist, much inspired by classical music. What strikes me in Araújo's work is the seemingly intemporal...

Fifty Foot Hose - Cauldron

Here's another one of those "I never thought they'd release that on CD" reissues. San Francisco's late 60s legacy left behind a volume of obscure bands, many with...

The Coenobite - My Habit

The Coenobite, besides being a clever variant on the hideous demon from Clive Barker's novella "The Hellbound Heart," is the one-man project of Dutchman Coen Vrouwenvelder. Primarily...

Kaizen - Gargula

Kleber Vogel, ex-Quaterna Requiem violin player, is all over with his expressive violin playing, be it acoustic, electric or MIDIfied. He wrote all compositions, except one he co-wrote with bass...

S/T - Catatonic Airkraut

The spirit of the original German space rock "untirirdisch" lives on in the musik of S/T. This 10" mini-klassik of neo-psychedelic, space rock flashes back to the early days of Amon...

Celeste - Celeste

McLatchey's Second Tier

At the most pastoral, Arcadian side of Italian progressive rock we have perhaps as the archetype the great second album by Premiata Forneria Marconi...

Eiliff - Eiliff

McLatchey's Second Tier

One of the impressions I came away with after the Deutscherock nights aired hours of prime 70s German video material was that even though the...

Tea in the Sahara - Behind the Door

On the superior German counterpart to SI, WMMS, comes this debut album of six long cuts by the German four-piece known as Tea in the Sahara. It is immediately apparent that this is not your...

Earcandy, Mynd Muzic & T-H-C Roller - Space, Time, Imagination & a Joint

Poor Person Productions is an admittedly amateur label dedicated to psychedelic music heavily influenced by the contemporary British scene (Ozrics, Mandragora, Magic Mushroom Band, Freakbeat/...

Earcandy, Mynd Muzic & T-H-C Roller - Space, Time, Imagination & a Joint

Poor Person Productions is an admittedly amateur label dedicated to psychedelic music heavily influenced by the contemporary British scene (Ozrics, Mandragora, Magic Mushroom Band, Freakbeat/...

Earcandy, Mynd Muzic & T-H-C Roller - Space, Time, Imagination & a Joint

Poor Person Productions is an admittedly amateur label dedicated to psychedelic music heavily influenced by the contemporary British scene (Ozrics, Mandragora, Magic Mushroom Band, Freakbeat/...

Fruitcake - How to Make It

A good first effort from this Norwegian five-piece featuring two guitarists, as well as bass, keys and drums. Vocals are handled by both keyboardist Siri Seland and drummer Pål Søvik,...

Glenn Branca - The World Upside Down

While not of a nature traditionally covered by this publication, Branca's seven-movement symphony "The World Upside Down" is of some relevance simply because of his history and...

Barrock - Oxian

Two things should immediately give this one away: (1) it's on the SI (Sans Identity) label; and (2) the cover art featuring a mighty sea serpent, a large and fantastic castle, and a wizard king...

Il Berlione - In 453 Minutes Infernal Cooking

This new release by Il Berlione is a mosaic feast to the ears. The soundscape is quite colorful, ranging from piano and drum solos to electric and acoustic guitar duets, the works. Not all of it...

When - Prefab Wreckage & Gynt

When is essentially a solo vehicle for Lars Pedersen (half of The Last James duo) in which he explores dark ambient realms. It's pretty hard to believe that this is the same guy who worked on...

French TV - Virtue in Futility

Four years in the making, and no less than seven years after the second album, this latest offering by Louisville's French TV is certainly worth the wait. One unanswered question is why it took...

Kaipa - Kaipa, Inget Nytt Under Solen, & Stockholm Symphonie

In their early years, the Swedish band Kaipa were a quartet playing music in the symphonic rock vein as typified by Yes or Genesis. Vocalist/Keyboardist Hans Ludin is nearly a dead ringer for a...

Ezra - Shapes

Iva Bittová - Ne Nehledej

Gualberto - Vericuetos

Carpe Diem - Cueille le Jour

Lands End - Pacific Coast Highway

The Cosmic Jokers - The Cosmic Jokers & Galactic Supermarket

The Cosmic Jokers - The Cosmic Jokers & Galactic Supermarket

Robert Rich - Propagation

The Other Side - In the Shadows

Fonya - In Flux

Sverre Knut Johansen - Distant Shore

Egil Fylling - Blomar i ei Natt

Afterglow - Yggdrasil

Lives & Times - The Great Sad Happy Ending

Syzygy - Cosmos & Chaos - 20th Anniversary Edition

Scaramouche - Scaramouche

Catharsis - Le Bolero du Veau des Dames & Et S'Aimer

Catharsis - Le Bolero du Veau des Dames & Et S'Aimer

Midas - Beyond the Clear Air

Sigmund Snopek III - Virginia Woolf

José Cid - 10,000 Anos Depois entre Vénus e Marte

Kebnekajse - Electric Mountain

Twenty Sixty Six and Then - Reflections!

Tibet - Tibet

Halloween - Part One & Laz

Just in time for their recent performance at Progfest, Musea has finally reissued the Halloween back catalog. Their second Laz, originally released on vinyl in 1990, probably should have...

Halloween - Part One & Laz

Just in time for their recent performance at Progfest, Musea has finally reissued the Halloween back catalog. Their second Laz, originally released on vinyl in 1990, probably should have...

Robert Rich - Geometry

Pekka Pohjola - Five Reissues

For anyone not yet familiar with the name of Pekka Pohjola, he is a Finnish composer, bandleader, and bassist among bassists primarily, but also fluent on piano, synthesizer, and trumpet as well....

Pekka Pohjola - Five Reissues

For anyone not yet familiar with the name of Pekka Pohjola, he is a Finnish composer, bandleader, and bassist among bassists primarily, but also fluent on piano, synthesizer, and trumpet as well....

Il Trono dei Ricordi - Il Trono dei Ricordi

Chance - Dunes

Ie Rai Shan - Ie Rai Shan

November - The First of November

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Live & Papagayo Club 1972

Unlike the recently released PFM shows (Read more
(Posted by Mike McLatchey 1995-03-01)

Various Artists - Mannerisms - A Celebration of the Music of Geoff Mann

[Untitled] - Bad Hat Situational

Sailor Free - The Fifth Door

Masque - Ten Ways

Lunar Chateau - Lunar Chateau

Landberk - Jag Är Tiden

Citizen Cain - Somewhere But Yesterday

Quantum II - Quantum II

Collage - Moonshine

Verdaguer - Humahuaca

It - Order through Chaos

Clepsydra - More Grains of Sand

Pär Lindh Project - Gothic Impressions

Pär Lindh Project - Gothic Impressions

David Cross - Testing to Destruction

David Cross - Testing to Destruction

David Cross - Testing to Destruction

Van Otterdyke - The Syrens

Pollen - Pollen

Anthony Moore - Reed, Whistle and Sticks, Out & Flying Doesn't Help

Before hooking up with Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause to form Slapp Happy, Anthony Moore was experimenting with some very innovative musical techniques. Reed, Whistle and Sticks is one of...

Crucis - Kronologia

Here's the summary — this is easily one of the best 10 CDs claiming the progressive rock title to be released, well, since they invented the medium! How could any music live up to such lavish...

Lard Free - Gilbert Artman's Lard Free, I'm Around About Midnight & Third

Artman's Lard Free project has received considerable amount of documentation in progressive periodicals, so I won't bore you with the details. Here's a quick overview; all are essential listens —...

Carpe Diem - En Regardant Passer le Temps

Kit Watkins - Azure, Sunstruck & In Time

Everyone should at least be aware of who Kit Watkins is. His first gig was keyboardist with the acclaimed Happy the Man, who released two outstanding albums in the late 70s, for which Kit penned...

Renaissance & Illusion - Scheherezade, Turn of the Cards & Madonna Blue

[Note: This review from 1994 refers to reissues on the TRC label. The albums involved have since been legitimately issued, and those releases are listed at the end of this...

Renaissance & Illusion - Scheherezade, Turn of the Cards & Madonna Blue

[Note: This review from 1994 refers to reissues on the TRC label. The albums involved have since been legitimately issued, and those releases are listed at the end of this...

Suspended Memories - Earth Island

Chris Karrer - Dervish Kiss

Tin Drum - The Edge of Insanity

Lives & Times - Waiting for the Parade

Steve Roach - Artifacts

Baku - Sequences of My Bequest

Enterphase - Phase One

The New St. George - High Tea

Sally French - The Other Side

Tim Song Jones - The Plural of Hear

Marco - Marconceptos

Garden Wall - Path of Dreams

Ivanhoe - Visions and Reality

Earthstone - Seed

MK II - Burning Daylight

Torn Curtain - Torn Curtain

Various Artists - Tokyo Symphonic Syndrome

Visible Wind - Emergence

The Guitar Orchestra - Interpretations

Ines - Hunting the Fox

Mad Crayon - Ultimo Miraggio

Hans Christian - Phantoms

Tim Hodgkinson - Each in Our Own Thoughts

Rick Wakeman - Wakeman with Wakeman: The Official Bootleg

Kenso - Sora Ni Hikaru - Early Live Vol.1

Trilogy - Here It Is

Imán, Califato Independiente - Camino del Águila

PTS - Tides

Versailles - Le Trésor de Valliesres

Versailles - Le Trésor de Valliesres

Landberk - One Man Tell's Another

Landberk - One Man Tell's Another

Landberk - One Man Tell's Another

Halloween - Merlin

Halloween - Merlin

Halloween - Merlin

Jean-Pascal Boffo - Nomades

Jean-Pascal Boffo - Nomades

Jean-Pascal Boffo - Nomades

Rousseau - Square the Circle

Finch - Beyond Expression & Galleons of Passion

The second and third albums from Dutch band Finch have recently been digitally remastered and reissued on CD, closely following the reissue of their debut album Glory of the Inner Force....

Kaipa - Solo

Kaos Moon - After the Storm

Jean-Philippe Goude - Ainsi de Nous

Richard Pinhas & John Livengood - Cyborg Sally

Isildurs Bane - Lost Eggs

Peter Frohmader - Cycle of Eternity

Peter Frohmader - Cycle of Eternity

Peter Frohmader - Cycle of Eternity

Musicante (Guillermo Diego Ensamble) - Sonoridades Mexicanas

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Impressioni Vent'Anni Dopo & Bobo Club 2000

Poor Richard - Knees, Reins & Feet

Kerrs Pink - A Journey on the Inside

Mooch - Postvorta

Christian Décamps et Fils - Nu

David Bedford - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Smell of Incense - All Mimsy Were the Borogoves

Smell of Incense - All Mimsy Were the Borogoves

Eloy - The Tides Return Forever

Fish - Fellini Days & Nights, Sashimi & Suits

U Totem - Strange Attractors

U Totem - Strange Attractors

U Totem - Strange Attractors

Red Jasper - The Winter's Tale

Red Jasper - The Winter's Tale

Red Jasper - The Winter's Tale

Quasar Lux Symphoniæ - Abraham - One Act Rock Opera

Quasar Lux Symphoniæ - Abraham - One Act Rock Opera

French TV - Virtue in Futility

French TV - Virtue in Futility

Tipographica - Tipographica

Tipographica - Tipographica

Tipographica - Tipographica

Christian Décamps et Fils - Nu

Décamps is, of course, the longtime lead vocalist and rock-poet emeritus of Ange, returning here to solo-career status (technically, Ange is still together - sort of - I have an album titled...

Various Artists - A Propos d'Ange

In the history of French rock, two names stand out among all others in terms of leadership, originality of style, and influence over all that would follow. Magma's contribution is well known,...

Zao - Akhenaton

Zao - Akhenaton

After a decade and a half, the zeuhl-fusion ensemble Zao are back with a release that is a real treat. While the lineup has changed from the classic formation which included Didier Lockwood on...

Zao - Akhenaton

King Crimson - Vrooom

King Crimson - Vrooom

King Crimson - Vrooom

Änglagård - Epilog

Änglagård - Epilog

Änglagård - Epilog

David Torn / Mick Karn / Terry Bozzio - Polytown

David Torn / Mick Karn / Terry Bozzio - Polytown

David Torn / Mick Karn / Terry Bozzio - Polytown

Djam Karet - Collaborator

Jeff Greinke - Big Weather

Cartoon - Sortie

Moving Gelatine Plates - The World of Genius Hans

Ozric Tentacles - Arborescence

Ozric Tentacles - Arborescence

Ozric Tentacles - Arborescence

Ken Watson - Assembly

Finch - Glory of the Inner Force

Campo di Marte - Campo di Marte

Manticore - Time to Fly

Virgil Moorefield - Distractions on the Way to the King's Party

Kerrs Pink - A Journey on the Inside

Schwartzarbeit - James Gordon's Story

Änglagård - Gånglåt från Knapptibble

Happy Family - "Flying Spirit Dance" Live

Steve Tibbetts - The Fall of Us All

Ozric Tentacles - Vitamin Enhanced

Altered States feat. Otomo Yoshihide - Lithuania and Estonia Live

Jadis - Across the Water

If this band sounds familiar to you, it's probably because Jadis are usually touted as the alter-ego of IQ. With half of Jadis also members of IQ concurrently (Martin Orford, keys;...