Saundra Hewitt Saundra (1976) [reissue 2012]

A rare treat from vocalist Saundra Hewitt - a singer with an incredible range right from the start - and a righteous power that matches some of her bigger-name 70s contemporaries! The grooves here are jazzy, but with a definite soulful undercurrent - especially on the rhythms, which often get a nice crackle from Bernard Purdie's drums! Paul Griffin plays electric piano on the set, and Bob Mintzer serves up some nice tenor solos too - but the whole righteous vibe hangs heavily on Saundra's great lyrics - on tunes that inlcude "Won't Be Water Next Time", "Got A New Pair Of Shoes", "Heart Of Stone", "Up On Cripple Creek", "Just To Be With You", and "I Loved You Too Much".

Langsyne from Barmen played some sophisticated English-language psych-folk with a large variety of partly exotic instruments like the psaltery, koto, glockenspiel, banjo, flute, slide guitar, or the Jew's harp. Their only LP was released in 1976, as an edition of only 200 copies, and is today sold at a price of about € 1000 to € 2000 in mint condition. It is thus probably the most expensive Krautrock LP except the first edition of "Monster movie" by Can. It contains only self-written tracks. Especially remarkable is that the musical interaction of the three musicians is of somnabulistic perfection. There have been several new editions of "Langsyne", both as LP and as CD, some of them with a bonus track. The Garden of Delights CD has been drawn from the master tapes and contains fifteen bonus tracks, each of them of a perfect sound quality.

Ache - De Homine Urbano (1970). Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce a newly re-mastered edition of the classic debut album by Danish Progressive Rock group Ache. Formed in 1968, with a line-up of Torsten Olafsson (bass, vocals), Finn Olafsson (guitar, vocals), Peter Mellin (organ, piano) and Glenn Fischer (drums and percussion), Ache first came to attention in Denmark with their work De Homine Urbano ("About Urban Man”) which was the first ever Rock ballet, performed by the Royal Danish Ballet Company in Copenhagen in 1969. Influenced by groups such as The Nice, Iron Butterfly and more, Ache’s music was a powerful Psychedelic Progressive Rock driven by Peter Mellin’s powerful Hammond Organ and the fluid guitar playing of Finn Olafsson. The album "De Homine Urbano” was released in Europe by Philips Records in February 1970 and featured two tracks that dominated either side of the record…

Secret Oyster became somewhat of a super group when members of Burnin Red Ivanhoe, Coronarias Dans and Hurdy Gurdy formed this unit. All four original albums have received a thorough and outstanding remastering with added bonus tracks on the great label Laser's Edge. Secret Oyster got back together (Bohling, Vogel and Knudsen plus a new bassist and drummer) during the re-issues of their albums, touring the states and Denmark.

The second recording and first studio set by the L.A. Four matched together Bud Shank on alto and flute, guitarist Laurindo Almeida, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Shelly Manne for a diverse yet consistently enjoyable program. The selections range from "Dindi" and "Manteca" to "St. Thomas" and a 13-minute exploration of "Concierto de Aranjuez." As usual, the band mixes together bossa nova and Brazilian jazz, some touches of classical music, and cool-toned bop. Recommended as a strong example of the group's appealing sound.

Secret Oyster became somewhat of a super group when members of Burnin Red Ivanhoe, Coronarias Dans and Hurdy Gurdy formed this unit. All four original albums have received a thorough and outstanding remastering with added bonus tracks on the great label Laser's Edge. Secret Oyster got back together (Bohling, Vogel and Knudsen plus a new bassist and drummer) during the re-issues of their albums, touring the states and Denmark.

Olli Ahvenlahti - Bandstand (1975). Sweet keys from 70s Finland - a great little set that's filled with jazzy work on electric piano and clavinet! Keyboardist Olli Ahvenlahti has a touch that's as warm and soulful as some of his counterparts on the American fusion scene - an approach that's not nearly as jamming or rock-influenced as some of the other European keyboardists of the 70s, and which is carried off here with a gliding, soaring approach to the groove! Olli's group on the set features trumpet and sax in the frontline - shading in the tunes with qualities similar to some of the most righteous work done on keyboard sets for Muse or Strata East in the 70s - funky one minute, cosmic the next, with tight head arrangements that state the colors of the tunes, then break into freer solos…

Chango was a Puerto-Rican-American band from New York that played Latin Rock similar to the sound of an early Santana (well at least on their first album). This one however has nearly an entirely different band line up and as a result this band's instrumentation is more tightly structured than the jam feel of the first album yet it lacks the fluidity of their debut. There are definitely more standout tracks on this LP than on their debut. The album starts off with the track, "Life Is A Rainbow" an uplifting, cruising tune that sounds like it would be heard blaring out of Cheech's Love Machine. In addition, it includes well-composed, mellow tracks like "The Last Ride" and "Thumbing A Ride". "Meeting of the Gods" is an interesting, amplified build up on "The Last Ride"…