Emanuelle 1974

Jazz -funk fans must have been taken aback when multi-instrumentalist and composer Bennie Maupin's Jewel in the Lotus was released by Manfred Eicher's ECM imprint in 1974. For starters, it sounded nothing like Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters recording, which had been released the year before to massive sales and of which Maupin had been such an integral part. Head Hunters has remained one of the most reliable sales entries in Columbia's jazz catalog into the 21st century. By contrast, Jewel in the Lotus sounded like an avant-garde jazz record, but it stood outside that hard-line camp, too, because of its open and purposeful melodies that favored composition and structured improvising over free blowing. Jazz after 1970 began to move in so many directions simultaneously it must have felt like it was tearing itself apart rather than giving birth to so many new and exciting musics…

Preservation Act 1 (1973). Preservation is Ray Davies' most ambitious project - a musical that used the quaint, small-town nostalgia of Village Green as a template to draw the entirety of society and how it works. Or, at least that's what the concept seems to be, since the storyline was so convoluted, it necessitated three separate LPs, spread over two albums, and it still didn't really make sense because the first album, Preservation, Act 1, acted more like an introduction to the characters, and all the story was condensed into the second album. Davies intended all of Preservation to stand as one double-album set, but he scrapped the first sessions for the album, which led to record company pressure to deliver an album before the end of 1973 - hence, the appearance of Preservation, Act 1 in mid-November…

Things To Come (1974). Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a new re-mastered and expanded edition of the album Things To Come by Seventh Wave. Released in 1974 by Gull Records, Things To Come was the brainchild of musicians Ken Elliott and Kieran O'Connor (previously with the pioneering group Second Hand).
The conceptual album was recorded at Chalk Farm Studios in London and was the result of many hours of meticulous overdubbing, with Ken Elliott playing an arsenal of keyboards and utilising the latest synthesiser technology of the day (in addition to providing vocals), whilst Kieran O’Connor played a multitude of percussion.
The finished work was truly ground-breaking and in hindsight was very much ahead of its time, proving inspirational to a new generation of musicians…

After a string of hits, Unborn Child was a mistake coming from the Seals & Crofts camp when it did. Blatantly anti-abortion, it did little to help their careers and nothing in the way of chart success. But one must consider that it does hold good music in its grooves, and with today's attitudes changing, perhaps this isn't as harsh as it first appeared to be.
It's possible to hear the progression of soft rock through the music of Seals & Crofts, the duo who recorded some of the genre's perennials. Over the course of the 1970s, Seals & Crofts evolved from a gentle folk-rock duo to purveyors of slick, polished pop, two sounds that became inextricably associated with the Me Decade. Practitioners of the Baha'i Faith - at the height of their fame in the mid-'70s, they'd extol its virtues to fans - the duo were drawn to the quieter aspects of rock music, developing a signature sound distinguished by their easy melodicism and mellow vibe…

Emerging from the Canterbury, England musical community that also launched Gong and Kevin Ayers' the Whole World, the whimsical progressive rock unit Hatfield and the North formed in 1972. Named in honor of a motorway sign outside of London, the group's founding membership brought together a who's who of the Canterbury art rock scene - vocalist/bassist Richard Sinclair was a former member of Caravan, guitarist Phil Miller had tenured with Robert Wyatt in Matching Mole, and drummer Pip Pyle had served with both Gong and Delivery. After a series of lineup shuffles, keyboardist Dave Stewart (an alumnus of Egg) was brought in to complete the roster, and in tandem with the Northettes - a trio of backing vocalists consisting of Barbara Gaskin, Amanda Parsons, and Ann Rosenthal - the group began gigging regularly…

The predecessor band of Scope was called Strange Power and was founded around 1969 in Zwolle/Holland. Rik Elings, Henk Zomer (drums) and bassist Erik Raayman had founded the fusion project and had already released a 7"-single that was added to the first Scope CD as a bonus. With the entry of guitarist Rens Nieuwland in 1972, Strange Power became Scope. Subsequently, the Dutch jazz rock foursome made a name for itself in both Holland and Germany. A talent scout from WEA/Atlantic became aware of the band and hired them for his label. In 1973 the band entered the Hamburg studio Maschen to record their debut album Scope under the direction of Jochen Petersen. The result was an exciting, varied fusion/jazz rock album, which contained a lot of improvisations and perfectly reflected the craftsmanship of the four musicians…

Recorded for Polydor, six years after her landmark Joy album, this set features Norwegian jazz iconoclast Karin Krog in the electric company of keyboardist Steve Kuhn, drummer percussionist Jon Christensen, and Steve Swallow on one of his early electric bass dates. More song-oriented than her other vanguard dates, We Could Be Flying still showcases the singer in a restless, searching frame of creativity. Obviously influenced by the work Flora Purim had done with Return to Forever and the heyday of jazz-rock fusion, Krog nonetheless puts her indelible stylistic stamp on all the material here. The best tunes here were written by Kuhn, who seems to understand the subtlest nuances in Krog's performing style, as evidenced by "Meaning of Love," with its driven, wispy Latin rhythms and melodic lines that seem to bleed into one another, capturing the softness of Krog's enunciation…

The only, eponymous album of this Fantastic Swedish quartet was released by Sonet Records in 1974 and is often considered as one of the very best Swedish records of mid-70’s era. Saga were formed by Christer Stålbrandt (the leader of great, heavy progressive band November) and represented a further development of the style prevalent on 2nd and 3rd November albums. The new band had an expanded range of instruments (including cello, piano and soprano sax) and more accomplished compositions (with great results), although it was still guitar-based, raw and very intense heavy progressive music (sung in Swedish). This CD edition has been carefully remastered from original, analogue source and sounds better than ever!