Tha Alan Parson

This 2-CD set presents the most remarkable Swedish underground band, known in a later incarnation & continuation as International Harvester & Trad, Gras Och Stenar (Trees, Grass & Stones), & features both intricate studio recordings & orgiastic live performances. Parson Sound never released any records in their time & that is why a very few have heard about them at all. The recordings date from 1967/68 while the band explored unknown musical territory as well as inner- & outer space. In 1968 they were invited by Andy Warhol to play at the opening of his exhibition Screens, Films, Boxes, Clouds & a Book, at the museum of Modern Art in Stockholm & also opened for the Doors.

Pioneering the use of stereo recording in the field, Alan Lomax made his “Southern Journey” in 1959–60, returning to the rural South (after 10 years abroad) and rediscovering its still-vital traditions. He traveled from the Appalachians to the Georgia Sea Islands, from the Ozarks to the Mississippi Delta, recording blues, ballads, breakdowns, hymns, shouts, chanteys, and work songs.

Essential: a masterpiece of Prog Rock music
This review is based on the LP version of this album (the CD version if you can find it, apparently has additional songs)

Alan Stivell (born Alan Cochevelou on 6 January 1944) is a Breton and Celtic musician and singer, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic (specifically Breton) harp and Celtic music as part of world music.[1] As a bagpiper and bombard player, he modernized traditional Breton music and singing in the Breton language. He was the precursor of Celtic rock. He is inspired by the union of the Celtic cultures and is a staunch defender of the Breton culture.

I'd categorize this LP as an art rock/pop/dance(!)/prog album….