Esoteric Recordings

Dutch band Alquin released four studio albums in the early to mid-'70s, initially playing prog rock influenced by Pink Floyd and Roxy Music. However, by 1975's Nobody Can Wait Forever (the only Alquin album released in the U.S.), the band turned to a more varied style encompassing blues and hard rock. The original group comprised guitarist/vocalist Ferdinand Bakker, vocalist Job Tarenskeen, bassist Hein Mars, drummer Paul Weststrate, and horn player Ronald Ottenhoff; Michel Van Dyke joined the band as lead vocalist in 1975. A live album appeared in 1976, and the best-of Crash! was released a year later. Bakker and Tarenskeen played in the new wave outfit the Meteors in the late '70s and early '80s.

Esoteric Recordings label is proud to announce the release of the very first 4CD collection of every album and single track recorded by the legendary Atomic Rooster between 1970-1974. Sleeping for Years is a clamshell boxed set anthologising all the recordings made by the band on the classic albums Atomic Rooster, Death Walks Behind You, In Hearing of Atomic Rooster, Made In England and Nice n’ Greasy and on such hit singles as Tomorrow Night and Devil’s Answer.
Atomic Rooster was formed by former Crazy World of Arthur Brown members Vincent Crane (Organ, Piano, Keyboards) and Carl Palmer (drums). Their self-titled first album was recorded in 1970 with Nick Graham on bass, vocals & flute, but the band soon splintered when Carl Palmer departed to join ELP…

2018 five CD clamshell box set by the legendary American band Spirit. Formed in Los Angeles in 1967 from the remnants of The Red Roosters, Spirit was one of the great bands to emerge on the US West Coast in the psychedelic era…

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to release a two CD anthology by legendary Ladbroke Grove underground act Skin Alley. Formed in 1969, Skin Alley were part of the infamous CLearwater stable that included fellow acts such as Hawkwind, High TIde and Trees. Skin alley’s infectious fusion of jazz and rock was suited to the time and the band became a regular attraction on the underground festival and concert circuit. Signing to CBS records in the autumn of 1969, the band recorded their debut album with producer Dick Taylor (former guitarist with the Pretty Things).
A wonderful set of music & songs, the album was shelved in favour of a new set of recordings that was released as the album to Pagham & Beyond…

2010 two CD anthology from underground Rock heroes Clark-Hutchinson. One of the first signings to Decca's underground imprint Nova, the duo of Andy Clark and Mick Hutchinson recorded the album A=MH2 in 1969, soon to become the biggest selling album on NOVA. Championed by John Peel, the duo's first album highlighted the extraordinary talent of guitarist Hutchinson. The 1970 follow up album Retribution saw the band augmented by Del Coverley and included the classic 'Free To Be Stoned' , earning the group numerous live spots alongside cohorts the Edgar Broughton Band and Hawkwind. Gestalt, the band s final album appeared in 1971 on the Deram label. This anthology has been remastered from the original master tapes and comprises all the recordings released by Decca Records between 1969 and 1971. It is an essential part of the story of British underground Rock at the turn of the 1970s.

Bill Nelson - Northern Dream (1971) {2011 Esoteric Recordings Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 267 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 97 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 36 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2011 Esoteric / Cocteau Discs / Cherry Red | COCD 1001
Rock / Art Rock / Experimental / Guitar

The enigmatic Bill Nelson was born December 18, 1948. Esoteric Recordings is pleased to announce the launch of a new imprint, Cocteau Discs, the home of Bill Nelson’s catalogue between 1971 and 2001. The series of ongoing releases begins with the re-release of Bill’s classic album Northern Dream, recorded on rudimentary equipment at Holyground studios in Wakefield in 1971. One of the first truly independently produced albums to be released in Britain, the album featured wonderful compositions such as Everyone’s Hero, End of the Seasons, Love’s a Way and Smiles . Championed by John Peel, the album paved the way for Bill’s future career with his bands Be Bop Deluxe and Red Noise and for his highly regarded solo career.

Bill Nelson - Trial By Intimacy (The Book Of Splendours) (2012) {4CD Box Set Esoteric Recordings COCD 4007 rec 1984}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 969 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 421 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 1.02 Gb | 5% repair rar
© 1984, 2012 Esoteric Recordings / Bill Nelson / Cocteau Discs / Cherry Red | COCD 4007
Rock / Alternative / Art Rock / Ambient

Esoteric Recordings announce a new release on their recently launched Cocteau Discs imprint, a limited edition reissue of BILL NELSON’s classic 4 disc ambient boxed set "TRIAL BY INTIMACY (The Book of Splendours)”. The set was originally released on Bill’s Cocteau Records label in October 1984 and comprised recordings made by Bill at his Echo Observatory home studio. Comprising some eighty pieces of music, the set was a fine example of Bill Nelson’s grasp of Ambient music and has subsequently been hailed as a ground-breaking work. Long deleted, the set is made available once more with this newly re-mastered Cocteau Discs edition. The new release fully restores the original elements of the "TRIAL BY INTIMACY” box and is an exact facsimile, reproducing a 32 page book and eight art postcards that featured in the original set.

Bill Nelson - Dreamy Screens: Soundtracks From The Echo Observatory (2017) {3CD Box Set Esoteric Recordings COCD 31015 rec 1981-1982}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 517 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 261 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 605 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1981-82, 2017 Cocteau Discs / Esoteric Recordings / Bill Nelson / Cherry Red Records | COCD 31015
Ambient / Electronic / Experimental / Modern Instrumental / Post Rock / Guitar

Deluxe three CD clamshell boxed collection. Dreamy Screens: Soundtracks from the Echo Observatory set features three albums, all recorded at Bill Nelson's Yorkshire home studio, the Echo Observatory, in 1981 and 1982 - Sounding the Ritual Echo (originally issued as a limited edition bonus LP with Bill's 1981 album Quit Dreaming and Get On the Beam), Das Kabinet (a soundtrack to a production of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari by The Yorkshire Actors Company issued as an LP on Bill's Cocteau label in 1981) and La Belle et La Bete (a soundtrack to a stage production of Jean Cocteau's classic 1946 film Beauty & the Beast, first issued as a limited edition bonus LP with Bill's 1982 album The Love That Whirls).