CANTERBURY SCENE

The story begins when the pig-farming Egyptologist Mr. Tea Being is sold a "Magik Ear Ring" by the enegmatic Antique Tea Pot Street Vendor and Tea Label Collector known only as Fred the Fish. The ear ring is capable of getting messages from the planet GonG via a pirate radio station known as Radio Gnome Invisible. The two travel to the Hymalayas, where they meet (in a cave) the Great Beer Yogi, Banana Andana, a figure who tends to chant "Banana Nirvana Manana" and get drunk on Foster's a lot. Meanwhile, elsewhere on Earth, the protagonist Zero the Hero is going about his everyday business when he experiences a vision which causes him to start worshiping the Cock Pot Pixie (also known as Hashman), one of the Pot Head Pixies of Planet GonG. Zero is distracted, however, by a cat, which he offers fish and chips to. The cat is actually the Good Witch Yoni, who gives Zero a potion which knocks him out, thus concluding the album. Characters in the Mythology can easily be equated to band members: Tea Being is bassist Mike Howlett, Zero the Hero is Allen himself, Didier Malherbe (who met Allen and Smyth in a cave on Majorca) is Banana Andana, and the Good Witch Yoni Gilli Smyth.

Radio Gnome Invisible- One of the stranger tracks on the album, which has strong overtones of the band's earlier releases as well as the subtleties that the group aquires with their musical progression. Flying Teapot- Easily the highlight of the album, this twelve minute piece makes great use of saxophone, piano, spacey effects over a great bass line and solid beat. Pot Head Pixies- One of the more surreal songs on the album. While comparatively short, its idiosyncratic lyrics and catchy tune make it instantly likeable. Octave Doctors- This track is the only major annoyance on the album. Lasting barely longer than a minute, it seems to have been included solely as a link between the third and fifth tracks (and as an excuse for Blake to experiment with his synths).

Zero the Hero- In terms of the plotline, this is the most important track on the album, introducing us to the protagonist Zero. Malherbe's sax playing is excellent here, and the mirific ambiences seen here act as a preview to some of the atmospheres in Angel's Egg, the next instalment of the trillogy. An absolutely amazing song. Witch's Song- Contains good instrumental parts, but Gilli Symth's lyrical parts detract somewhat from the overall quality. However, a good track with a more schizophrenic style than its predecessors, which provides a great end note for the album.

Overall- A great album -hampered only by poor sound quality and slightly weak production- which is definately the base for the success of the later albums of the Trillogy ("Angel's Egg" and "You"). Although one must listen several time in order to get used to the eccentric psychadelia of the album (and the gong Mythology, see above), it is more than worth the effort. The use of jazz-style improv, early synthesisers and a completely unique style make this an excellent addition to any progressive music collection. 4.0 great concept album

The bulk of the record is taken up by three multi-part epics, starting with the highlight "Solar Musick Suite". This 17- minute opus developed from a song originally played with Khan and then Gong, and here it is in its fully fleshed out glory, taking up almost the entire first side of the LP. Hillage and the band move through many different moods, textures and tempos with graceful ease, playing with time in a way not many musicians can. Hillage's lyrics are idealistic new age spiritual hippy themes, which can be an aquired taste. The song moves through mellow parts, knotty parts and eases into great grooves that let Hillage rip on the Gitfish, culminating in a ferociously intense jam that brings to mind an extremely psychedelic Mahavishnu Orchestra. "Fish" and "Meditation of the Snake" serve as an interlude to the other mega compositions of the record, ending the first side or "Inglid".

The second side "Outglid" begins with the Hillage concert staple "The Salmon Song". If there was a radio single from this album, it's this 8 and a half minute aquatic rocker. With a straightforward rock riff this is the most conventional song on the record. Theres another mind-bending complex part in the middle before the main riff comes back in and Hillage once again takes it into the stratosphere with an amazing solo. The last song might be the most complex, with the 7 part "Aftaglid". This track moves through many different sections; loose jams, polyrhythmic chaos, pastoral acoustics, Middle-Eastern mantras, and glorious freak outs. The song builds to yet another intense jam and brings the album to a very satisfying conclusion.

Steve Hillage has created a masterpiece of a record, one of the last breaths of the original progressive and psychedelic rock era. His later albums would all follow the Zen filled vibes of this album, but never quite reach the psychedelic heights of this.4.5 great debut from one of the best canterbury guitarists. FISH

Ashley Raynor on bass here was a great choice. He's upfront and quite impressive. I have to say this album was so uplifting to listen to all last week. Like being warm and cozy in my warm little house while the blizzard rages outside. Those distorted keyboards that are Canterbury 101 are all over this album, more so than the studio records. It's like Dave Stewart in his younger days, although Dave stands alone in my opinion as the greatest Canterbury keyboardist.

We get those two 14 plus minute monsters from "Dominion" to open and close this record. That would be "You" and "Toxicity" and both are amazing here but I prefer "You". We get an unreleased track in "Perspektiv", and it sure sounds similar to the previous song "Uppmarksamhet", both are all instrumental, and they blend into each other here. Some majestic mellotron and organ on this new one. The only track from the debut is "Before The Light" which Ryan introduces as "a golden oldie".

Not a perfect record by any means, and I prefer the two studio albums to this, but talk about bringing a smile to my face every time I spun this recording. I love my Canterbury. Some real moments on this one, and they are throughout this 42 minute album. Highly recommended to Canterbury fans out there.

They thank "All the lovely people in..." And they mention Jordsjo, Wobbler, The Chronicles Of Father Robin, Tusmorke, Panzerpappa, The Samuel Jackson Five among others. Some returning guests like the duo from JORDSJO and a couple of others. Unfortunately Steiner Borve is not back from PANZERPAPPA playing sax. Both albums are 40 minutes but this one has ten tracks while the debut has six songs. And while a couple of reviewers whose opinions I respect feel this second one is much better than the debut, I have to disagree. Just my musical tastes really, but I feel the debut is a 4.5 star record while this is a solid 4 stars, so a step down.

I like the debut cover art more as well, especially when you open it up to that two panel scene. Having said that if I could pick one song from either album I would pick the closer from this second one called "Thank You Kleveland". I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why, other than I love how repetitive it is, and the intensity. It turns more powerful late. Now the previous three tracks before this closer are probably my least favourites. So yes I feel this album isn't as consistent as the debut.

I do really like both of the "Dali Lamas Five-Dollar Mamas" tracks very much. They remind me of the debut with so much going on and there's plenty of energy too. Brighter sounds thanks to the keyboards. Catchy and a nod to Canterbury. That opener is a new direction and one I do like. The first section is familiar with those avalanche of sounds that fluctuate. How good is this! But then the change as it turns darker and more intense. A nice contrast as well between the opening two songs.

Track three is mellow with female vocals. Too relaxed really. A miss. But then "Planet Bygningsetaten" makes up for it. Next to the closer this is my second favourite. I love the contrast of the two sections, with one being female vocal led and the other male vocal led. Canterbury keys as well. "Cloudboy Blidbop" starts off in a relaxed way with guitar leading before keys and a more dynamic sound take over after 2 minutes.

This is a band I will be "in on" for a while. So much talent, and I want to see where they go from here. I will be riding this bus for a while. Nice picture of the band doing these challenging poses in the liner notes. Again the keyboardist makes me laugh.

I still can't get over the abundance of sounds where there is so much going on that it makes my head spin. They are a young Norwegien six piece with male and female vocals. Modern sounding singing I call it, sort of like what THE SAMUEL JACKSON FIVE were doing a dozen years earlier. And I did think of that band and that self titled record from 2012 a couple of times while spinning this record. And ACTIONFREDAG thank this band on the followup to this 2023 release. We get about a 39 minute album over six tracks.

While this is a young band, a couple of it's members have guested with JORDSJO and TUSMORKE, and as a result of this exposure they were able to recruit some fine guests to help out. Including the two JORDSJO guys who are here playing flute and glockenspiel. How about Steiner Brove playing sax from PANZERPAPPA. We also get guest violin, harp, female vocals, clarinet and melodica. And one other important fact is that they sing in Norwegien.

It has been a while since I have had an album cover that has kept me happily occupied as I listen to the music. So much detail in that drawing, like the guy taking a whiz against the wall, as he stands in his pee. The people looking out the various apartment windows etc. With my edition, I just open the gate fold that reveals a two panel picture with a second street. All one picture. So cool! And I like that their second album has a similar themed cover art. There is a bright sound at times, with the keys especially that again bring THE SAMUEL JACKSON FIVE to mind.

I have been putting off this review simply because I still feel it's too soon. There's just a lot to digest with this record. I don't feel like I know it enough yet, but that's also part of the appeal of the music here. The opening sounds of electric piano instantly bring to mind much of what I have been saying. Follow that intro with a high energy soundscape with so much going on and you're going to get a quick sense of what this band brings to the table. All in the first minute(lol). A good rocking instrumental to warm us up.

The second song with the very long title opens with a solo bass before turning fuller, and with vocals for the first time. This is the song that first brought THE SAMUEL JACKSON FIVE to mind, the male vocals especially. Makes me smile. Violin cries out to open "Gadgetry Cum Dystopia" and we get clarinet around 1 1/2 minutes in. Vocals after 2 minutes. An interesting piece where it turns a little darker before 3 minutes. I like this. It's building. So good! Violin is back to end it.

"Peaches En Ulven" sure has lots going on just before a minute. Active percussion to say the least. This track has female vocals that bring NATIONAL HEALTH to mind be it ever so briefly before 2 1/2 minutes. Come on! Harp later on. "Jesus I Min Bod" is so intricate and punchy with high pitched sounds before it settles to bass and electric piano, then it builds. Vocals a minute in. Man, from here to about 4 1/2 minutes there is so much to focus on. Then a calm with electric piano and bass again. Love this!

The closer is almost 9 1/2 minutes long. It's the emotion on this one that draws me in. The drumming is crisp as male vocals join in. I really like his singing. His vocals have character. After a calm around 3 minutes in, it turns surprisingly powerful with guitar and drums. Another calm after 4 minutes. Atmosphere and relaxed sounds here. Suddenly lighter guitar notes appear around 5 1/2 minutes. Some depth after 6 1/2 minutes. It seems to climax after 7 minutes but then settles again before building. Vocals 8 minutes in.

Well, like the music from THE SAMUEL JACKSON FIVE, it took some time for me to find their physical music, but man was it ever worth the wait. I regret the crossover of listening to their 2024 release just as I was still finishing up on this one, because I really wasn't finished with this debut yet. Reminds me of ZOPP just how it took many spins and some patience to finally get this amazing music to click with this old brain. This band has me wondering if there is a "sound" from Norway now.

As we await another release from this great band, Ryan Stevenson the genius behind Zopp keeps us on our toes by offering different versions or visions of his 2022 masterpiece, Dominion. This time, it's a collection of demos and unreleased takes that sometimes makes you feel like you're listening to a brand new record from Zopp.

The demos sound great, leaning toward a more experimental approach than the final album. It's fascinating to hear how some songs evolve into others, while certain ideas remain fully formed from the start.

Andrea Moneta's drumming stands out he maintains rhythm and timing with a distinct, dynamic touch, he definitely is the best counterpart on Zopp his way to understand the music that he played really surprised me Moneta is a great drummer.

The sound is excellent, carrying a worn-in quality that adds a unique character to the listening experience.

Everything I mentioned in my previous Zopp reviews still holds true. Although this is an unfinished work, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the creative process of these two musicians. I eagerly anticipate their next release hopefully sooner rather than later.

So, coordinating those sessions meant long nights, excellent brew, and cross-collaboration with both Roxy Music's alumni as well as reconvening the old band to reinvent song arrangements and create something fresh. "Mainstream" shows the quartet as anything but a conventional rock act, struggling to establish a unique identity but in the best possible fashion. This album is clearly the other side of the musical coin with distinct variations on "Diamond Head".

Bearing sonic similarities with "Diamond Head", how could it not if using many of the same musicians, engineers and studio, "Mainstream" is a far more unusual affair. Informed by the progressive jazz predilections of its band's members, yet rooted in the distinctive textural playing of Manzanera, the album sounds like little else of its era. The songs and understated nature of the project made the recording almost a tribute to the previous incarnation of the band with hints of the "801 Live" to be. Largely dispensing both with vocals and prog song convention, the songs on "Mainstream" aim for the challenging end of the pool, and nearly always hit their mark. At times the songs feel improvised and in others move in multiple directions at once. They're carefully thought out pieces. Manzanera's guitar shrieks and screams while the band engages in some tricky, jazzy playing underneath. Like modern jazz, each player's part is inventive and worth individual attention. Like prog, there's power and fury in much of the playing. Yet, like rock, it well rocks, undoubtedly.

About the tracks, probably the best piece on the album is still "Mummy Was An Asteroid, Daddy Was A Small Non- Stick Kitchen Utensil" due to the work of both, keyboardist Dave Jarrett and Manzanera's playing. It's nowhere near as wacky as its title might suggest. Instead it's a guitar shrunk feast with glittering Caravan's styled keyboard runs. All delivered in an aggressive "Starless And Bible Black" era King Crimson's style. Demos of the band's early works which were sent to various record labels of the day are included, as well as the rejection slips, which further reveal Jarrett as the Mike Ratledge acolyte he truly was. Pieces such as "Years Of The Quiet Sun", an original demo, and "R.F.D." show the organist and the entire band in fact playing in the wonderfully twisted Soft Machine improve style as signposts for them to finding their feet. Also it's especially quite cool to hear Manzanera's soaring leads on those tracks. The highlight of "Trot" is a lovely piano solo from Jarrett. "RongWrong" has always been an oddity among oddities. It bears almost no similarity to a same named track from "801 Live" album. That latter version has straightforward vocals, courtesy of Brian Eno, but the one on "Mainstream" is, like everything else on this difficult but yet wonderful prog rock album, primarily instrumental. Here, when the vocals do appear, they're quite different, both in content and delivery. They're every bit as off-kilter as the rest of the sounds that coming out of "Mainstream". Anyway, all tracks sound nice to me.

Albums like "Mainstream" and many other British jazz-rock groups provided a stepping stone into jazz proper. They also got me listening to many American prog jazz/rock artists like Return to Forever, Weather Report, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny. "Mainstream" is thankfully no longer "a lost gem", as many others, as many still refer to it, and Quiet Sun was a missed opportunity for the music industry at the time, and by 1972 they were no more. Thanks to Phil Manzanera's fame with Roxy Music, we have this fitting tribute to a highly talented bunch of musicians, and I for one will keep on going back to play it many times as I want. "Mainstream" is more than 40 years old, but "Mainstream" is still an enjoyable album to listen to. So, I recommend this album at all prog rock fans. "Mainstream" is a great album.

2. Fish with the aqueous intro, obvious; flute and rock-jazzy approach with the sax of KING CRIMSON expressive, shrill, avant-garde, used today for the cinematic interlude before its time 3. Meditation of the Snake starts with the reverberant side, psychedelic much more than Canterburyen; the guitar talks and will get lost on a cozy shore.

4. The Salmon Song in 4 parts too, a tenacious rock atmosphere from the start; it calms down quite quickly by starting on a rock drift to LOU REED, stamped with the guitars that talk to each other; Pierre's drums become frenetic, GONG, Mike OLDFIELD will be his future groups. Miquette comes to give voice to the finale which gets carried away, going into possession mode.

5. Aftaglid and the last piece with a soaring atmosphere that goes to HAWKWIND for the air, the rest is done with Steve who bellows, shears, slices with his guitar; the soaring psyche is doubled by a trans air before its time; the drawers do not see themselves passed, except for the one with the acoustic arpeggio hitting our ears for the softness suffered; a psyche-oriental break for the smoking guitar in the distance which like the Pytie comes to preach to the depths of the Heavens. Halfway through and the tone becomes solemn, flirting precisely with the atmospheres of the great PINK FLOYD in their psychedelic period; this is too much for Steve who takes the course again by letting his notes decline along the bass held by Mike while Didier switches to the sax rather than the oriental flute on this mantranic passage. The guitar spurts, a stronger rhythm and we would move on to hard, like what everything is a question of vibration, creation and listening. The finale with the repetitive chorus to continue to dance blissfully on this languorous air; a small finale that amplifies, Steve adds a small solo, one more to bewitch. Minimalist outro reverberating once again, piece that moves away radically from Canterbury to approach space rock.

The ace up the band's sleeve was, of course, Allan Holdsworth who would become one of Frank Zappa's biggest inspirations . The band had never featured a guitarist before, but who would they have been to turn down an opportunity to play with one of the greatest jazz fusion guitarists to have ever lived? As transient here as he was with U.K. and Bruford, he only stuck around for this one album; you can't tie a musician like that down, and his presence on Bundles is what makes it such a special album indeed.

Holdsworth's solos dominate on the first part of the epic opening track Hazard Profile, an incredible reworking of Jenkins's Song for the Bearded Lady from his Nucleus days. Even in a nine-minute song, one never gets tired of hearing his blistering fingerwork, transcendental as it is. The band take a breather with the quiet Toccatina before returning in full force for Parts Three through Five, delivering a lengthy jam in ⅞ before finishing with four repetitions of the kind of obnoxiously complicated phrase that prog fans seem to love. While Hazard Profile isn't the most cohesive of suites, it still makes for an utterly exhilarating nineteen minutes that always seems to fly by.

Over on Side Two, we get another suite of continuous music, though this time the names are kept separate. The title track is another time signature work out, segueing into Land of the Bag Snake, heavily punctuated by John Marshall's china cymbal. Next are two compositions by the only remaining founding member Mike Ratledge, the serene The Man Who Waved at Trains and the more pyrotechnic Peff. Four Gongs Two Drums might be the low point of the album, a mercifully brief assortment of randomly banged percussion. The proceedings are topped off with an oddity; The Floating World is a soothing, minimalistic track that suggests The Soft Weed Factor from Six. While pleasant, it feels more like a relic from the past that has mistakenly found its way onto a jazz-rock album.

Esoteric's reissue includes an unearthed recording from the band's subsequent tour that was made for broadcast. Curiously enough, the recording was made at Nottingham University, where Renaissance also did a set a few months later, included on Esoteric's expanded edition of Scheherazade and Other Stories; was Nottingham University the place to go to make these sorts of recordings, or is this just a pure coincidence? At 79-minutes, the length of this recording is about as much as you can fit on a single CD, and features a brilliant set that includes all the highlights from Bundles as well as a couple of numbers from the band's subsequent album, Softs. This recording features John Etheridge on guitar as Holdsworth had already left the group by that time, breaking the commitment he had made to join them for one tour. His style is certainly nowhere near as distinct and Hazard Profile in particular suffers for this, but the band still give a rousing performance, nonetheless. For my money, they do seem to rush through Hazard Profile a bit quickly though, managing it a full four minutes faster than on the album. These live documents are a fascinating insight into the band's onstage energy back in the day, and the audio quality is extremely good considering its age. 5 stars very great guitar performance by Alan Holdsworth.

But after Mariano left, the band enlisted the help of Elton Dean, who obliged and joined their ranks. More than a dozen years ago I mentioned when reviewing "Spiral Staircase" that I would have loved to have heard music from Elton Dean's stint with the band. So you can imagine when I saw this cd pop up on the Wayside music site, I just about fell over myself to order it. And that cover! My favourite of 2024. And taken by a young Anton Corbijn. And if you don't know who he is, google his name you will be surprised. He also took the band photos which are all in black and white. Just a great package overall. Again, with Anton here, this is SUPERSISTER drawing some very talented people into their circle.

What I didn't know was that Elton Dean played a lot of concerts with this band, and they found one of these rare recordings. The sound quality is very, very good by the way. We have original members Robert Jan Stips on keyboards, Ron Van Eck on bass, along with Herman Van Boeyen on drums. Herman was also on that Iskander" album. My biggest surprise was that the music is better than expected. It's not like their early stuff, in the sense that there is no humour here. And it's not as serious as "Iskander' in that jazz style. This is truly a SOFT MACHINE/ SUPERSISTER cross. It's just a little different, a different flavour if you will. So we get song titles like "Soft Sister" and "Super Machine" playing on this fact.

The distorted organ and keys at times are so good. A lot of organ and electric piano. Elton is almost perfect here. He's not dominating all of the time, like some of his free jazz stuff, in fact often when he solos, so does the keyboardist. The other cool thing with this live release is that like SOFT MACHINE this band put their heads down and played from start to finish with the tracks all blending into one another, although there is that second half of "Judy Goes On Holiday" where there are the band member introductions. Of the eleven tracks, worth under 42 minutes by the way, six are improvs. The liner notes mention that the concerts that this lineup performed in consisted mainly of dazzling improvisations on themes derived from songs from their well-known albums.

I just love how this album sounds. Makes me wish they had done a studio album with Elton in this style. But I have this! Archival from 1974 by the way. And while I prefer the improvs on here overall, you have to hear the over 13 1/2 minute "Babylon", almost double it's length when compared to the studio version on "Iskander". And the opener titled "Fenderfarfissima" is just that, electric piano and organ.

I may bump this up to 5 stars down the road. And it certainly is joining my best of Canterbury list, joining "Presents From Nancy" and "To The Highest Bidder" in the process. My favourite purchase of 2024.