Winderland 1977 Dead

The '70s were a fertile period for Manuel Göttsching. Having pioneered the kosmische guitar freakout with Ash Ra Tempel, he had embarked on a new phase by mid-decade. Inspired by minimalist composers Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, Göttsching traded musical visions of outer space for trance-inducing meditations on inner space. Between 1974 and 1977, Göttsching pursued this new aesthetic on Inventions for Electric Guitar, Le Berceau de Cristal, New Age of Earth, and Blackouts, immersing himself in an electronic environment that often fused his signature guitar work with sequencers and synths. Although not released until 1991, Dream & Desire was recorded in 1977. Its ambient and proto-techno explorations hold up reasonably well alongside Göttsching's previously released recordings from the mid-'70s, and also resonate favorably with the work of like-minded contemporaries such as Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze, and Tangerine Dream…

The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack is a five-CD live album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded on October 16–20, 1974, and was released on March 15, 2005. The album was remixed from the original 16-track concert soundboard tapes.

Heldon's real excellence as a band is dramatically demonstrated with this fine recording. A dashing young left-wing intellectual, Richard Pinhas was something of a cult figure in his native France, or at least had the potential to be one, but he wisely rejected the role of rock & roll guitar hero with backing band, in favor of something much more interesting and radical. Patrick Gauthier on moog and Francois Auger on percussion had played with Pinhas on and off for the previous several years, and at this point they had developed into a solid sympathetic unit with a strongly rhythmic orientation. The intricate interlocking rhythms, created by percussion and several synthesizers, have a proto-techno quality at times, and suggest both the German group Can and, on at least one piece, early Ash Ra Tempel…

Ernestine Anderson's first official Concord recording (which was predated by part of Live From Concord to London) launched her "comeback" after years of neglect (and a decade off of records). Accompanied by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jimmie Smith, Anderson mixes together veteran standards (such as "Yes Sir That's My Baby," "It Don't Mean a Thing" and "Tain't Nobody's Bizness") with more recent songs from Johnny Mandel, Stevie Wonder ("Bird of Beauty"), Ray Brown ("Soft Shoe") and even "Send In the Clowns" on this CD reissue. The singer's enthusiasm comes across throughout this fine studio set.

Steely Dan hadn't been a real working band since Pretzel Logic, but with Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights. A coolly textured and immaculately produced collection of sophisticated jazz-rock, Aja has none of the overt cynicism or self-consciously challenging music that distinguished previous Steely Dan records. Instead, it's a measured and textured album, filled with subtle melodies and accomplished, jazzy solos that blend easily into the lush instrumental backdrops.

Pell Mell was a symphonic prog band from Marburg, Germany. The band was formed in 1971 by keyboard player Otto Pusch, bass player Jorg Gotzfried, Rudolf Schon on vocals, recorder, and guitar, drummer Mitch Kniesmeijer, and Thomas Schmitt on violin, guitar, and vocals.
"Only A Star" (1977) was the last of Pell Mell's trilogy of disks that, shall we say, "borrowed" heavily from the classics: "From the New World", "Rhapsody", and "Only A Star". Some mistakes were made in "From the New World" that were rectified in "Rhapsody" and further refined here, chiefly in the approach, which is very light and airy here while still possessing plenty of complexity and cleverness in arrangements to keep any German symphonic progger very happy.

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the first ever official UK release of the album on CD "Time Will Pass” by the legendary Progressive Folk Rock group Spriguns. Formed in 1972, the band was originally known as Spriguns of Tolgus and were formed by Mike and Mandy Morton. The band’s debut album was produced by Tim Hart of Steeleye Span and brought them to the attention of Decca Records for whom the album "Revel Weird and Wild” was recorded in 1976. By this time the band were known as Spriguns and had become more rock influenced. The album "Time Will Pass” followed in 1977 and was perhaps the band’s finest hour, featuring a line-up of Mandy Morton (Vocals, Acoustic Guitar), Wayne Morrison (Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitars, Mandolin, Vocals), Dick Powell (Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals), Mike Morton (bass, vocals) and Dennis Dunstan (Drums)…