Martin Carthy ‎– Landfall (1971) [reissue 1996]

Long overdue reissue of this stunning hard-rock-blues album from 1971. Jodo were a British band whose sole album was only released in the US at the time. Killer heavy rock sound with ultra loud fuzzed out guitars and melodic vocals. Engineered by Martin Birch (Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, B.O.C.) and produced by Derek Lawrence (Deep Purple, Green Bullfrog).

Esoteric Recordings announce the first ever official UK remastered CD release of First Meeting by Trifle. Formed in late 1969 the band comprised George Bean (vocals, guitar), Patrick Speedy King (bass), Barry Martin (saxophones), John Pritchard (trumpet) and Rod Coombes (drums). Trifle signed to Pye's Dawn imprint in 1970 and their only album was recorded for later that year, by which time the band were joined by trumpet player Dick Cuthell for the recording sessions. In the vein of similar acts such as Manfred Mann Chapter Three and Colosseum, Trifle sought to fuse jazz and rock, also touching on folk styles (as evidenced by the fact that Trifle covered The Dubliners' "Dirty Old Town" (as the B-side to their' Old fashioned Prayer Meeting 'single). Remastered from the original master tapes with two bonus tracks. Includes booklet with restored artwork, photos & liner notes.

Marsupilami were an English proto-prog outfit who relocated to the Netherlands. The complexity of their music is quite unusual for the times - we're talking 1970 here, when the big guns such as Yes, Genesis and Crimson were barely coming out of the woodwork. A mixture of blues, experimental jazz and hints of folk, their music is often dark and foreboding, favouring perilously complex structures. Try to imagine a mixture of King Crimson, Jethro Tull, the Strawbs and East of Eden. Their two albums feature weird/oblique melodies and harmonies, lots of heavy keyboards, electric guitar and flute (at times purposely off key), with the drummer pounding on his skins as if his life depended on it. This is very early prog and you particularly feel this in the organ work, which has a typical early 70's psych feel. Their second album, which features an additional member on flute and sax as well as the appearance of the Mellotron, is an ambitious concept album about the brutal culture of ancien Rome - quite a sordid affair, really, but well done.

With the 1971 release Gonna Take a Miracle, pop composer and vocalist Laura Nyro completed her four-album/four-year deal for Columbia. Nyro's passion for R&B can be traced back to some of her earliest compositions, such as "Wedding Bell Blues" and "Stoned Soul Picnic" - both of which were covered by the R&B vocal quintet the Fifth Dimension. More recently, her version of "Up on the Roof" was one of the highlights of Christmas and the Beads of Sweat. So, enthusiasts who had paid any attention at all to the course of Nyro's career would not have been surprised by her direction on this project. As much as Gonna Take a Miracle is indeed a Laura Nyro album, it could likewise, and perhaps more accurately, be described as a collaborative effort between Nyro and the female soul trio LaBelle - featuring Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash - as well as producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff…

Marsupilami were an English proto-prog outfit who relocated to the Netherlands. The complexity of their music is quite unusual for the times - we're talking 1970 here, when the big guns such as Yes, Genesis and Crimson were barely coming out of the woodwork. A mixture of blues, experimental jazz and hints of folk, their music is often dark and foreboding, favouring perilously complex structures. Try to imagine a mixture of King Crimson, Jethro Tull, the Strawbs and East of Eden. Their two albums feature weird/oblique melodies and harmonies, lots of heavy keyboards, electric guitar and flute (at times purposely off key), with the drummer pounding on his skins as if his life depended on it. This is very early prog and you particularly feel this in the organ work, which has a typical early 70's psych feel. Their second album, which features an additional member on flute and sax as well as the appearance of the Mellotron, is an ambitious concept album about the brutal culture of ancien Rome - quite a sordid affair, really, but well done.

Reign Ghost (1969). Reign Ghost was a late '60s rock group from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The member lineup was a changeable one, consisting at one time or another of singer Lynda Squires, guitarists Bob Bryden and Jim Stright, keyboardist Dave Hair, bassists Jerry Dufek, Russ Erman, and Joe Gallant, and drummers Helge "Rich" Richter and Bob Stright. In 1968, the band signed with the Allied Records label. The result was a self-titled album released in January of the next year.
Even though they were still children (Bob and Lynda were both 17 when the sessions happened), they managed to tap into the universal psych font. And while there is some occasional clunkiness, it really sorta adds to the record's charm…

The minor San Francisco group Lamb tend to be remembered only for their appearance on the Fillmore: The Last Days concert album, where they were one of several non-star artists on a set dominated by bigger names like the Grateful Dead, Santana, and Boz Scaggs. The band did actually put out three albums in the early '70s, however, and were quite an interesting group. Not only were they not readily comparable to other acts on the San Francisco rock circuit, but it's debatable whether they could be fairly categorized as a rock band at all. Their music blended jazz, folk, singer/songwriter pop, gospel, and even some classical and avant-garde influences…

The Blackbirds were originally formed in south-west Germany and they released their first album "No Destination" on UK-Label Saga in 1968. The Blackbirds consists of psychedelic beat/pop music with a touch of the Mothers of Invention type satire (Something Different) and some progressive touches. Strong vocals by singer and guitar player Werner Breinig and some interesting Hammond organ work by Hubert Koop are characteristic of the group's music which proves a great talent of specific song writing. The German label OPP released 5 tracks of this first album on the "Snake in the Grass" album later on. 2nd album "A Touch Of Music", originally released in 1971 on German label OPP with a complete new line-up - with the exception of singer and guitar player Werner Breinig who now played violin and flute as well- and a complete new style of music…

The formation of Kluster can be referred to the activities of Conrad Schnitzler, one of Joseph Beuy's students at the Düsseldorf's Fine Arts Academy. Schnitzler was a key figure in the underground art scene in Berlin in the late 60's. He participated in the formation of the Zodiak Free Arts in 1968, with amongst others Hans Joachim Roedelius. Schnitzler soon met Dieter Moebius, an other student of Beuy's and asked him to become the third member of the ensemble Kluster in 1969. The trio's music directly reflected the free form aesthetic of the Art Lab in lengthy improvisational performances. The two first Kluster albums "Klopfzeichen" and "Zwei Osterei" came about when Schnitzler noticed a newspaper item regarding a church organist interested in their music…