Lanomali Totem

In 1997, it came as a quite a surprise when Fantasy reissued Opa's albums Golden Wings (1976) and Magic Time (1977) on a single 74-minute CD – surprising because the fusion trio had only a very small following; its albums were far from big sellers, and the original LP versions were in print for only a few years. If one notices some similarity between the melodic blend of jazz, rock, funk, pop, and Brazilian music heard on this disc and Airto Moreira's CTI dates of the 1970s, it's no coincidence – Moreira produced both Golden Wings and Magic Time and plays percussion on both of them. Opa members Hugh Fattoruso (keyboards, vocals), George Fattoruso (drums, vocals, percussion), and Ringo Thielmann (bass, vocals) often worked with the percussionist and his wife, Flora Purim, in the 1970s, and his influence clearly rubbed off. It's regrettable that Opa were never as commercially successful as either Moreira or Purim, although this CD points to the fact that it wasn't due to a lack of rewarding material.

Opa was a band formed in United States by uruguayan musicians: Hugo and George (Osvaldo) Fattoruso and Ringo Thielmann. Hugo and Osvaldo were playing since their childhood, formerly in the "Trio Fattoruso", together with their father, and later in the Hot Blowers in Uruguay (a Jazz Band), were also played Ringo. In the 60's, the Fattoruso brothers formed the successfull band "The Shakers", an Beatles-influenced band. It was after the split of The Shakers when the Fattoruso brothers moved to the United States, where they met again with Ringo Thielman, and started playing music in night clubs. They were "discovered" by Airto Moreira and invited to play with him, they were the band in Airto's Fingers LP from 1973, and played in the live show at Madison Square Garden with Airto in a show together with Eumir Deodato (later released as Deodato/Airto in Concert). One of the highlights of that show was Hugo Fattoruso's "Parana".

Sacred Spirit is a musical project by Claus Zundel, Ralf Hamm, and Markus Staab. This album was nominated for a Best New Age Album Grammy and spawned the international smash hit "Yeha-noha (Wishes of Happiness & Prosperity)," which topped the singles charts in numerous countries, including Germany and France.
"Chants and Dances of the Native Americans" (sometimes labeled as "Indians") is an 11-song journey bridging the gap between ancient and contemporary history, tradition and modern instrumentation. While it is impossible to fully realize such scope on a single disc, Sacred Spirit makes the choice to represent all indigenous Americans rather than become mired in the potentially divisive bog of politics and tribal allegiance. All but two melodies are entirely traditional, bringing together flute, drums, and vocals with a cello and keyboard wash…

Since their emergence a decade ago, the Manchester-based trio GoGo Penguin have been internationally hailed as electrifying live performers, innovative soundtrack composers, and as a collective who channel electronic and club culture atmospheres as much as minimalist influences or jazz legacy. GGP/RMX is a concept that the group have fostered for years; it comes to brilliant fruition as a vividly reimagination of their fifth album, and self-defining masterwork, GoGo Penguin. Each track from the album is reimagined as well as a mesmerising new version of the previously rare gem “Petit_a.” The group have personally enlisted an array of the world’s sharpest artist-producers and remixers.

Very obscure and unknown, strictly short-lived and super rare to spot, but worth mentioning in the end, Plat du Jour mark a dot on the French eclectic Prog map, somewhere near Rouen apparently, during the year 1977. Their self-titled LP was released under the label Speedball, five compositions (or six, depending on how the first two-part epic is regarded) lasting around 35 minutes. The music can be placed either in jazz-rock, either in avant-prog, but with those two essences clustering and a bit of extra fuzzy psychedelism, cold bass Zeuhl and straight progressive rock being heard, it's wiser to take in account all the nuances.

Jimmy Bryant - Frettin' Fingers: The Lightning Guitar Of Jimmy Bryant (2003) {3CD Set Sundazed SC11134 rec 1950-1967}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 700 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 353 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1950-67, 2003 Sundazed Music / EMI Music | SC 11134
Country / Jazz / Americana / Western Swing / Guitar

Here's the kind of gargantuan production that only Bear Family in Germany has usually undertaken for vintage American country artists: a three-CD set, encompassing 75 songs and nearly three hours of music recorded by guitar great Jimmy Bryant from 1950-1967. This is on Sundazed, however, and it's good to see an American label taking a chance on a major archival collection on a not-too-famous performer that by its nature is going to rule out casual buyers. Many listeners will be sated with a single-disc compilation of Bryant's work (particularly the tracks on which he collaborated with pedal steel guitar master Speedy West), and the wholly instrumental format might make this hard to listen to in one sitting even for committed fans.

Stephen Parsick is a devoted user of vintage synthesizers and refuses to employ modern computer technologies in his music. For example the track “Traces Of The Past” was recorded live using an analog Revox A77 without noise reduction, instruments used were, among others, Mellotron violins, VP-330 choir, and sounds from ARP and Moog synthesizers. Stephen got into electronic music already during his early childhood days, in 1983 he started taking musical lessons which he endured for seven years. In 1989 his first CD release was a track named “Celestial Voyage” that appeared on “Musenalp Wunderwelt Musik” by German Erdenklang label…