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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 07 2020 at 15:23
CIRKUS - One (1974)
 
Album Review #97:-5 stars CIRKUS were a quintet of Geordies from Sunderland in the north-east of England. Cirkus' opening act in their big top performance came in 1974 with their "One" album. Another two decades would pass by before Cirkus re-emerged in the arena with their second album "Two - The Global Cut" in 1994, followed by a third album "III - Pantomyme" in 1998. Cirkus weren't quite finished yet though because they had one more final performance left in their repertoire with "IV - The Blue Star", released as recently as 2017. It's the opening 1974 act we're focusing on here though, which was re-issued on CD in 2015 with two bonus tracks added to the original nine songs on the album.

Cirkus have conjured up an incredible acrobatic performance of a lifetime with the exhilarating opening number "You Are". It's a booming and bombastic explosion of powerful prog that's unashamedly pompous and anthemic. The magnificent music features a rousing female chorus, repeatedly chanting "You Are" in perfect harmony over this fully orchestrated symphonic epic. There's also the gorgeous sound of a Mellotron to be heard underlaying the music, which adds to the sense of symphonic spendour and glorious majesty. If this bravura opening performance is anything to go by, then we could be in for a rather special treat indeed in the big top arena of Cirkus. The next spectacular act is "Seasons", a marvellous Mellotron melody balancing on a delicate high-wire of lush strings which wash over the listener in a tremendous rush of permanent waves of symphonic pleasure and delight. "Seasons" is a haunting, melancholic refrain that's in the same stellar league as the Mellotron classic "Epitaph" by King Crimson, with the Cirkus singer blessed with the same rich honeyed tones as the gifted and much- missed vocalist Greg Lake. "Seasons" is a gorgeous sunburst of dazzling anthemic power and epic grandeur that's guaranteed to brighten up the dullest of days. It's back to "April '73" now for our third Cirkus act. "April '73" is a very commercially appealing song with definite smash hit potential, if only it had been given the chance to grace the airwaves by being released as a single. There are obvious parallels to be drawn with Jeff Lynne's Electric Light Orchestra in this sensational string symphony of sound. The splendid year of 1973 is generally recognised as being the ultimate high-point of Progressive Rock, and you can hear why when you listen to the superb Cirkus performance here. Our fourth act "Song for Tavish" is a wondrous story of love and romance, where the lovelorn singer goes into full heart-wrenching emotional overdrive in this powerful symphonic ballad. He's able to conjure up powerful emotions and tug at the heart-strings in the same way as Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, and this song does indeed sound somewhat reminiscent of their classic "Nights in White Satin". Just as Barclay James Harvest recorded their rousing and anthemic masterpiece "Poor Man's Moody Blues", this Cirkus song represents a less well-known but equally good resemblance to the classic Moody Blues epic. Save a prayer now, because "A Prayer" is the title of the stirring paean which brings Side One to a thrilling climax. This powerfully impassioned, devotional song opens deceptively gently as a lilting Folk Rock refrain, but then blossoms out magnificently into a majestic symphony of epic proportions with truly awesome power and magnificent grandeur. WoW!! This is a rousing and stupendous celebratory song of praise and worship, the likes of which you may never have heard before. The rather mundane "Songs of Praise" on Sunday television will never be the same again!

It's time for some "Brotherly Love" now, a storm and thunder hard rocker that's the heaviest song so far on the album. It's always a delicate balancing act in juggling the right combination of "hard" and "soft" songs for an album, but Cirkus have mastered the art to perfection in this sensational album of thrilling trapeze performance acts/songs. We're getting all nostalgic now with "Those Were The Days", and the early seventies were indeed the glorious days when prog ruled the music world. This invigorating and uplifting explosion of psychedelic Prog-Rock will take you right back to those wonderful glamour and glitz days of Afghan coats, flared jeans, platform boots and Iron Butterfly flowers and beads. This is a song that's positively bursting at the seams with flower-power love and a desperate yearning for magical times gone by. It's only when you look back, you realise what a wonderful time the seventies were for music lovers, despite what some cynical music journos might say, but then, what do they know!? Enough reminiscing, it's time to meet "Jenny", a charming Pop song to add to Cirkus' stunning repertoire of great songs. This beautifully-produced melody is given the full symphony of strings treatment, guaranteed to carry you blissfully away on a #9 Dream to Seventh Heaven. The final song is simply called "Title Track" divided into "i. Breach" and "ii. Ad Infinitum". Cirkus fully intended to make this a truly unforgettable grand symphonic epic to linger in the memory, forever and ever, amen, and they've achieved that with spectacular style and panache. This has to be one of the most marvellous symphonic epics EVER to close an album!

Cirkus have given the big top performance of a lifetime with this "One" outstanding album!



Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 07 2020 at 16:21
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dr wu23 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote dr wu23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2020 at 07:24
Cirkus....Another 5 star review....   LOL,,,,well that is a decent lp,,,,,
I was looking at Discogs before work this am and looked up Czar...on original vinyl on Fontana label...in vg+
there are 3 for sale..Italy $1300, Japan $2000 and German copy for about $1500...get out your creditcard.

Cirkus   about $400-500...    Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2020 at 08:21
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Cirkus....Another 5 star review....   LOL,,,,well that is a decent lp,,,,,
I was looking at Discogs before work this am and looked up Czar...on original vinyl on Fontana label...in vg+
there are 3 for sale..Italy $1300, Japan $2000 and German copy for about $1500...get out your creditcard.

Cirkus   about $400-500...    Wink
Yes, I'm currently on a roll with a hat trick of three five-star album reviews in a row. If I'd given any of those three awesome albums any less than five star ratings it would have been a travesty, but that's just my opinion. Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote dr wu23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2020 at 09:26
Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Cirkus....Another 5 star review....   LOL,,,,well that is a decent lp,,,,,
I was looking at Discogs before work this am and looked up Czar...on original vinyl on Fontana label...in vg+
there are 3 for sale..Italy $1300, Japan $2000 and German copy for about $1500...get out your creditcard.

Cirkus   about $400-500...    Wink
Yes, I'm currently on a roll with a hat trick of three five-star album reviews in a row. If I'd given any of those three awesome albums any less than five star ratings it would have been a travesty, but that's just my opinion. Smile

Well..I enjoy your reviews of those old proto prog fossils ...I see them as entertaining parodies of real reviews....
Wink
One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2020 at 10:02
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Cirkus....Another 5 star review....   LOL,,,,well that is a decent lp,,,,,
I was looking at Discogs before work this am and looked up Czar...on original vinyl on Fontana label...in vg+
there are 3 for sale..Italy $1300, Japan $2000 and German copy for about $1500...get out your creditcard.

Cirkus   about $400-500...    Wink
Yes, I'm currently on a roll with a hat trick of three five-star album reviews in a row. If I'd given any of those three awesome albums any less than five star ratings it would have been a travesty, but that's just my opinion. Smile

Well..I enjoy your reviews of those old proto prog fossils ...I see them as entertaining parodies of real reviews....
Wink
It's good to know you enjoy reading my album review "parodies" and that you don't take them too seriously. I hope they're as much fun for you to read as they are for me to write. I'll have another Proto-Prog fossil on the way soon. Smile


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 08 2020 at 10:31
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2020 at 13:01
BAKERLOO - Bakerloo (1969)
 
The album highlight and longest track: "Son of Moonshine"
 
 
Album Review #98:- 4 stars BAKERLOO (previously known as The Bakerloo Blues Line) were a Proto-Prog fossil first discovered in Staffordshire, England in 1968. The band were a short-lived power trio of Blues-Rock musicians in similar style to the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Clapton/Baker/Bruce trio of Cream. Bakerloo's one and only self-titled album emerged like a progosaurus rex from the sleepy town of Tamworth in the heart of England in 1969. It's time now to head on down to the Bakerloo Line station and get onboard the tube-train, ready to begin our musical journey together.

The first stop on our musical tour is the curiously-titled "Big Bear Ffolly", a fairly typical heavy Blues-Rock excursion into the realms of Cream and other heavy British blues bands of the late-1960's era, so there are no real surprises in store here. The same goes for "Bring It On Home", a dirty-low-down, plodding bluesy harmonica number, that sounds a long way off the beaten track from the London Bakerloo Line. This bluesy Louisiana Swamp Rock sounds like it could have emerged straight out of the Missippippi Delta. We're not going anywhere with our next stop on the journey because we're "Drivin' Bachwards". That's no spelling mistake or typo error in the song title, because this is a Jazzy instrumental inspired by Mr. J.S. Bach no less, so you can expect to hear some very familiar-sounding classical motifs in this free-style jazzy jam session, demonstrating that Bakerloo have more diverse musical strings to their bow than just back-to-basics British blues. The fourth stop on our tour is "Last Blues", so it'll come as no surprise that this seven-minute-long piece is another (lower case) moody blues number. The music begins as a slow lament, but the band really crank up into high gear at the midway point for a full-blown psychedelic acid trip in true Jimi Hendrix style. Even more surprising is when the song returns to a sedate leisurely pace for the conclusion, so it's really a three-piece suite. Bakerloo are proving to be far more versatile than first appeared. The next song "Gang Bang" sounds rather rude, but it's really all about percussion, because the fired-up drummer bangs away manically on his kit here as if his pants are on fire, featuring an almost obligatory very long and very impressive drum solo in the style of legendary Cream drummer Ginger Baker.

There are just two tracks on Side Two and the first seven minute song "This Worried Feeling" is very reminiscent of the early blues of Eric Clapton and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. It's a real raw and earthy, S--L--O--W plodding blues number, but don't let that put you off, because there's a truly awesome virtuoso performance to enjoy from the talented blue guitar player. If you don't know the song, If you can't put the words to the tune, Tell the rhyme from the reason, What should it matter, To the fool or the dreamer? ..... but that's another moody blue guitar song altogether. And so, we've arrived at the final terminus on the Bakerloo Line with the 15-minute-long "Son of Moonshine", a spirited wild ride along the illegal U.S. moonshine trail, featuring a manic outburst of heavy guitar riffing in an all-out psychedelic freak-out to take you to flower-power hippy heaven and back again.

If you're in the mood for some heavy British Blues-Rock, then get onboard the Bakerloo Line. It's going to be a wild ride, so fasten your seat belts and hold on tight to your dreams.



Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 08 2020 at 13:01
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 08 2020 at 14:47
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

Cirkus....Another 5 star review....   LOL,,,,well that is a decent lp,,,,,
I was looking at Discogs before work this am and looked up Czar...on original vinyl on Fontana label...in vg+
there are 3 for sale..Italy $1300, Japan $2000 and German copy for about $1500...get out your creditcard.

Cirkus   about $400-500...    Wink
Yes, I'm currently on a roll with a hat trick of three five-star album reviews in a row. If I'd given any of those three awesome albums any less than five star ratings it would have been a travesty, but that's just my opinion. Smile

Well..I enjoy your reviews of those old proto prog fossils ...I see them as entertaining parodies of real reviews....
Wink
I've learnt almost everything I know about writing entertaining album reviews from the prog-meisters:- Exit the Lemming; Silly Puppy and Logan. Smile
 
By the way, I used the term "Proto-Prog fossils" in my latest review for Bakerloo. Smile


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 08 2020 at 14:48
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 09 2020 at 07:35
PESKY GEE - Exclamation Mark! (1969)
The full YouTube album isn't currently available, so here's the stunning highlight of the album instead as a temporary substitute: "Season of the Witch"
 
 
Album Review #99:- 4 stars PESKY GEE were a seven-piece Jazz-Rock band who first emerged from Leicester, England in the late 1960's. Their one and only self-titled 1969 album added an exclamation mark to the band-name. Pesky Gee didn't disappear from the music scene altogether after 1969 though, because they re-invented themselves as the scary Black Widow with their stunning and controversial debut "Sacrifice" in 1970, but that's another story for another album review.

We're off to foreign parts with the album opener "Another Country", which is apparently a cover version of a song by Demon Fuzz, another equally obscure English band. It's a stirring saxophonic Jazz-Rock refrain, very similar in style to some of the other British Jazz-infused rock bands of that era, such as Affinity, Audience, Mogul Thrash, Skin Alley, Tonton Macoute and many other obscure English bands of that ilk too numerous to mention. "Another Country" is a lively up-tempo opening number to set the optimistic mood, in what promises to be a solid Rock album of Jazzy tunes, some of which may be worthy of an exclamation mark! Who knows how Pesky Gee came up with the title of our next lively instrumental Jazzy number "Pigs Foots" (also known as "trotters"), but one presumes it's because it's groovy music you can *trot* along to and jump and jive along with. Anyway, you're unlikely to sit this one out because it's a real lively foot stomper, or a toe-tapper if you're reclining on the sofa and not in the mood to get up and dance. There are spooky goings-on for our third song "Season of the Witch", a moody and hauntingly-atmospheric, bedknobs and broomsticks witches brew that's just as scary as a hollowed-out candle-lit pumpkin on the night of Halloween. "Season of the Witch" represents an eight-minute-long eerie ghost train ride that's a "phantasmic" stunning highlight of the album. It's a nightmarish cover version of the well-known 1967 song by Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & the Trinity and it was also covered in magnificent style by the U.S. band Vanilla Fudge, who recorded their own inimitable and unforgettable version of the song in 1968. The splendid female vocalist Kay Garrett deserves a mention here too on this spooky Halloween song because this is her bright shining moment of glory in the spotlight. It's a devil of a great song too, worthy of at least two exclamation marks!! It's time to take a trip back in time to the Heartbreak Hotel now for "A Place of Heartbreak". It's a storm and thunder, all-out stratospheric rocker barrelling along at lightning speed, featuring some simply sublime harmonising from the whole septet of singers in glorious unison. This is fantastic!!!

Side Two opens with another stunning album highlight, "Where is My Mind", another great cover version of a Vanilla Fudge song. The song title sounds like a bad LSD trip, but the music is a tremendously rousing excursion which takes the listener on a soaring magic carpet ride back in time to the psychedelic sixties. In an album that's choc-a-bloc full to the rafters with great cover versions, the next "Poptastic!" classic is "Piece of My Heart", a fabulous cover of the well-known Janis Joplin and Dusty Springfield number. There's another lively Jazzy instrumental on the way with "Dharma for One", a sensational saxophonic blast from the past with the Hammond organist and pounding percussionist going hell for leather in an all-out sonic assault on the eardrums. It's Jazz, given a heavy infusion of Rock, in similar fashion to those other British Jazz-Rock greats, the Graham Bond Organisation and Ginger Baker's Air Force. There's no peace for the wicked, so they say, and there's no way you'll sleep through the next stormy breeze, "Peace of Mind". It's another sonic outburst of no-nonsense Jazz-Rock with attitude! EVERYONE will be familiar with the rip-roaring Easy Rider song to close the album, because it's one of the most famous Hard Rock songs of all time - Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild!" ..... so if you're in the mood for some "Smoke and lightning, Heavy metal thunder, then "Get your motor runnin', Head out on the highway", and if you're "Lookin' for adventure, Take whatever comes your way!"

This relentless non-stop artillery barrage of great cover versions of well-known songs is a real blast from the past worthy of four exclamation marks!!!! - or four stars ****

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 09 2020 at 13:33
THE GHOST - When You're Dead - One Second (1970)
 
 
Album Review #100:- 5 stars THE GHOST briefly appeared like a spectral vision in Birmingham, England in the late-1960's. Their hauntingly-titled one and only album "When You're Dead - One Second" rose from the grave in 1970 before the band just as quickly disappeared in a wisp of hazy smoke like a phantom apparition. The spooky album cover showed a ghostly translucent image of the five-piece band gathered around a large tombstone, headed by a Celtic Cross.

Right from the first few opening bars of "When You're Dead", you can tell we're going to be in for a weird and wonderful wild psychedelic ride here. This acid-drenched music is very reminiscent of the American band H.P. Lovecraft. In fact, The Ghost have such a strong resemblance to the American West Coast sixties sound that it's hard to believe they could be from the gloomy backstreets of Birmingham in England. This "phantasmic" bunch of Brummies really know how to Rock! The Ghost are listed as Prog Folk on ProgArchives, but make no mistake, this opening number sounds like a wild Psychedelic Rock trip back in time to the flower-power freeway of love in San Francisco in the swinging sixties. In complete contrast, the second song "Hearts and Flowers" is a gorgeous Folk Pop refrain that could quite easily have been recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary or The Seekers. It's a truly beautiful melody floating along on a gentle wave of gorgeous guitar strings and uplifting harmonies. This stunning song - featuring Shirley Kent on lead vocals - is a real gem that shines like a sparkling diamond and would have had tremendous hit potential if it had ever been released as a single. We're back on the magic bus again for "In Heaven", and if you love the sound of H.P. Lovecraft, then you'll be "In Heaven" too when you hear this absolutely fabulous psychedelic sixties song. It's groovy, baby! There's a return to gentler Folk Rock territory for "Time is My Enemy", a poignant song about the passing of the years which conjures up fond memories of the classic years of Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention, although this is more of an unconventional slice of Psych-Folk. Shirley Kent sounds in magnificent voice on this hauntingly- beautiful song. It's a compelling blend of Sandy Denny's "Fotheringay" and "Who Knows Where the Time Goes", given a liberal psychedelic sprinkling of glowing rainbow colours. This is turning out to be a very good album indeed! Continuing with the intoxicating blend of storming Hard Rock songs and gentle Folk Rock refrains comes "Too Late To Cry", a rousing rip-roaring rocker, featuring an extended psychedelic wah-wah guitar trip back to the Streets of San Francisco in the hippy sixties, or the wild and untamed streets of Chicago in the case of H.P. Lovecraft.

We're onto Side Two now "For One Second", which opens as a gently laid-back country-tinged melody, but wait one second because there's a surprise in store when the song metamorphosises from a caterpillar into a bright and beautiful psychedelic butterfly for the storming crescendo of acid-soaked guitar reverb in the fabulous finale. And now we come to The Ghost's magnificent magnum opus, "Night of the Warlock", a spirited Demons and Wizards song that barrels along at pell-mell speed, taking the listener on a crazy helter-skelter ride in a headlong rush towards psychedelic nirvana. This is like a maniacal harum scarum version of "Season of the Witch", wound up to 99 and given an energetic burst of adrenalin and raw power. We're off to meet the "Indian Maid" next, so you can expect to hear some exotic far-eastern vibes from the Indian sub-continent, although the song is still firmly rooted in western psychedelia. Either way, it's another great song wherever you are in the world. It's time now to mount the battlements for "My Castle Has Fallen", a storming medieval ballista firing a relentless percussive artillery barrage of pummelling Psychedelic Rock! There's no let-up in the incredible pace either because "The Storm" is on the way, a thunder and lightning display of sonic energy to rattle the windows and light up the sky. It's not all Crash! Bang! Wallop! though, because there's a return to gentler climes for "Me and My Loved Ones", a bright rainbow sunburst of groovy psychedelic colours to close the album in magnificent style. Wait a minute though, we're not quite through yet, because there's the groovy sixties number "I've Got To Get To Know You" added as a bonus track.

The Ghost has risen from the grave of the psychedelic sixties era and reappeared as an awesome apparition fifty years later on ProgArchives. "When You're Dead - One Second" is an album full of haunting Folk refrains and spirited psychedelic acid trips. All in all, it's a heavenly album full of devilishly good songs.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 10 2020 at 13:57
I'm just dropping by to let everyone know I'll be taking a break from album reviewing for awhile now that I've reached the landmark figure of one hundred album reviews.  I'll have some more "entertaining parodies of real reviews" (to quote Dr. Wu23 Smile) coming up in the not too distant future though when I've finished listening to and handing out "ratings only" to all of the Alan Parsons Project albums. Here's a preview of obscure long-lost album treasures that I've unearthed from the archives which'll be coming up for review soon by these nineteen gone-but-not-forgotten British (and one Irish) artists:-
 
101. Nirvana
102. Darryl Way's Wolf
103. High Tide
104. May Blitz
105. Peggy's Leg (Irish)
106. Gilgamesh
107. Steel Mill
108. Budgie
109. Refugee
110. Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll
111. The Sallyangie
112. Demon Fuzz
113. Velvet Fogg
114. Tudor Lodge
115. Turning Point
116. Zzebra
117. String Driven Thing
118. Patto
119. Marsupilami
120. Writing on the Wall


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 26 2020 at 01:17
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote dr wu23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 10 2020 at 14:13
^Interesting list...there are 3 up there I never heard of...Peggy's Leg, Steel Mill, Turning Point...and I look for obscure stuff.
btw, you might want to review the 'Curved Air' albums...Darryl Ways first band....some good music...especially Phantasmagoria


Edited by dr wu23 - February 10 2020 at 14:13
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 10 2020 at 14:35
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

^Interesting list...there are 3 up there I never heard of...Peggy's Leg, Steel Mill, Turning Point...and I look for obscure stuff.
btw, you might want to review the 'Curved Air' albums...Darryl Ways first band....some good music...especially Phantasmagoria
The one and only Peggy's Leg album Grinilla was added to ProgArchives very recently, so I'm looking forward to hearing that one.
 
I'll add Curved Air's Phantasmagoria to my long list of albums to review, and by pure coincidence,  I used a word similar to that in my last review for The Ghost. Smile


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 10 2020 at 14:40
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 10:12
THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT - Album Ratings Only:-
 
5 stars1. Tales of Mystery and Imagination (1976)
4 stars2. I Robot (1977)
4 stars3. Pyramid (1978)
3 stars4. Eve (1979)
4 stars5. The Turn of a Friendly Card (1980)
4 stars6. Eye in the Sky (1982)
4 stars7. Ammonia Avenue (1984)
4 stars8. Vulture Culture (1984)
3 stars9. Stereotomy (1985)
4 stars10. Gaudi (1987)


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 12 2020 at 11:36
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 10:16
NIRVANA - The Story of Simon Simopath (1967)
 
Album Review #101:- 4 stars NIRVANA (U.K) were around long before the Seattle grunge rockers of the same name first emerged onto the music scene in the late 1980's. A dispute over the use of the name "Nirvana", led to the American band settling out of court in the early 1990's. The British Nirvana were formed in swinging London back in 1965. Their first album of Proto-Prog "The Story of Simon Simopath" was released in 1967, and their second album - released in 1968 - deserves a place in the annals of rock history for having probably the longest album title of all time. Here it is in its entirety:- "The Existence of Chance Is Everything and Nothing Whilst the Greatest Achievement Is the Living of Life and So Say ALL OF US". Wow! That's quite a mouthful! The long- winded album title is not easy to remember at the best of times, so for the sake of brevity, the title is usually shortened to "All of Us". The album contained Nirvana's best-known song: "Rainbow Chaser". Three further albums followed:- "To Markus III (Aka: Black Flower)" (1969), "Local Anaesthetic" (1971) and "Songs of Love and Praise" (1972). Nirvana were led by Patrick Campbell-Lyons's, who released his first solo album "Me and My Friend" in 1973. Nirvana had one more album up their sleeve with the release of "Orange and Blue" in 1996, a collection of unreleased material from their earlier years. It's time now to delve into the mysterious world of Simon Simopath and find out what's the story, morning glory.

We're taking off and flying on the "Wings of Love" for our opening number. This delightful and unashamedly twee-sounding Pop tune could only have come from England in the late-1960's. The story concerns our hero schoolboy, Simon Simopath, who dreams of sprouting wings so he can fly away - just like Peter Pan - and escape being bullied at school. He later suffers a mental breakdown in adulthood and ends up in a lunatic asylum, but escapes after getting aboard a rocket and meeting a centaur and a goddess who take care of him in a place called Pentecost Hotel, where they presumably live happily ever after in a state of heavenly bliss and spiritual Nirvana. Yes, the Story of Simon Simopath really IS that wacky, and yes, you've guessed it, it's a proggy concept album before prog-rock or concept albums had even been invented. Simon Simopath is just a lonely boy at heart, and "Lonely Boy" is the title of the second song where all he wants to do is cry. The mournful lyrics might tell a sad tale, but the music is bright and uplifting as it romps merrily along on a wave of joyous hope and exuberance. There's a rousing chorus too in this lively Pop song, so it's not all doom and gloom, despite the lyrics. There's a healthy burst of optimism on the way with "We Can Help You", a bright and sparkling burst of golden Sunshine Pop which sounds as quaint and quintessentially English as a thatched cottage in the Cotswolds, or a game of croquet served with tea and crumpets on an English summer lawn. We have lift-off, because next up is the bizarrely-titled "Satellite Jockey", the most commercially appealing song on the album, which could potentially have gone into orbit and risen up into the Top 10 of the Hit Parade, back in the days when the chart placings still mattered to Pop pickers. Space: the final frontier. We're "In the Courtyard of the Stars" now for this out-of-this-world 1960's sci-fi Pop hokum. It's Proto-Prog, Jim, but not as we know it. This is a lovely jazzy Pop tune that's light years away from classic 1970's Prog-Rock.

Our silly but charming story continues with "You Are Just the One", another pleasant Psych-Pop diversion in an album full of sparkling good Pop tunes, and there's a gorgeous Baroque Pop song on the way with "Pentecost Hotel", a magnificently ornate grand hotel featuring a lush string symphony. We're getting all romantic now with "I Never Had a Dream Like This Before", a lilting piano ballad with rich orchestration, where Simon Simopath dreams of being carried away to distant parts of the universe, or failing that, watching the latest episode of Star Trek. Beam me up another great Pop song, Scotty! There's the sound of wedding bells in the air for "Take This Hand", as Simon Simopath prepares for his betrothal to his loved one, so it looks like we're headed for a happy ending to our story with this gentle Folk Pop refrain. There's a complete change of musical style for the final uplifting song "Nirvana", which sounds like a good old-fashioned knees-up in a pub. It's a Dixie-land-jazz-style number, featuring a honky-tonk piano and with the singer sounding in a merry and jubilant mood, which indeed he would be if he just got hitched to his romantic love interest. All's well that ends well in the weird and wonderful world of wacky 1960's concept albums.

This cheerfully zany slice of sixties sci-fi hokum is a Psych-Pop album that's in another universe altogether from Prog-Rock, and it's barely even Proto-Prog, but if you're in the mood for some jolly good English Pop tunes from the Beatles' era, then "The Story of Simon Simopath" might just be the album for you. The twee music is joyful and exhuberant with a bright message of hope for the future, but if you hope to attain a state of spiritual Nirvana from listening to this album, then it's best to look elsewhere - back to the future of the proggy 1970's perhaps.



Edited by Psychedelic Paul - February 12 2020 at 10:18
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote dr wu23 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 11:49
I currently don't have any Nirvana in my collection....but I have heard the first 3,,,thanks to a friend who had them years ago. I liked the second the best...though it's rated lower than the other 2.




Edited by dr wu23 - February 12 2020 at 11:50
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 12:01
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

I currently don't have any Nirvana in my collection....but I have heard the first 3,,,thanks to a friend who had them years ago. I liked the second the best...though it's rated lower than the other 2.

 
Nirvana's second album with the VERY long title is the only Nirvana CD I have in my collection and I bought it mainly for the song "Rainbow Chaser". I prefer the second album to the first album too. Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Cosmiclawnmower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 13:46
Having been away for so long ive missed this thread completely! ive probably got 90% of the lps mentioned on vinyl, many originals and some re-issues.. mostly really great stuff with the odd duffer (mostly down to midnight shift cheap rate studio time production values) but brimming with 'of the time' character.. I just noticed that at the end in your next list of 'to review' you mention Marsupilami.. I was going to drop there name in to you as I grew up in a village in the West Country near to the 'Commune' where Marsupilami lived and practiced in the very early 70's and you could hear them! I met Lawrence 'Leary' Hasson many years later in a totally non-music related capacity (we were both involved with the UK Soil Association) and we talked about how they were the first band on stage on the first Glastonbury festival (1971) and how an impromptu version of the band opened (not on the main stage sadly) for the 40th anniversary in 2011.. Leary said that he still gets occasional small royalty cheques for re-issues of the 2 lps they made on Transatlantic!
Image result for marsupilami band
Another band I would suggest are 'Quicksand' who came out of South Wales along with Man, Help Yourself and recorded 1 lp on the 'Dawn' label called 'Home is where I belong'
Image result for quicksand band wales

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Cosmiclawnmower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 13:57
Mr Fox; a Folk rock outfit from Yorkshire formed around Husband and wife duo of Bob & Carole Pegg plus a backing band of excellent musicians.. not quite as dark as Comus but dirtier and grittier than Fairport or Steeleye and subsequently shunned by the folk and rock world for being too much of both and not enough of either (if that makes sense). Bob Pegg's lps 'Shipbuilder' and 'Ancient Maps' are worth a listen..

The title track from the S/T 'Mr Fox' lp tells a very unpleasant story.. give it a listen!
FrontCover1.jpg

Their 2nd lp 'The Gypsy' (folk) rocks too..
Image result for Mr Fox band the gypsy 


Edited by Cosmiclawnmower - February 12 2020 at 13:58

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 13:59
^^ Wow! That's cosmic! Are you really saying you have around 90% of the 101 albums I've reviewed so far on LP?
I only have around 10%, and they're all on CD. Smile
 
You may be interested to know I already reviewed Help Yourself's album and here's the link:-
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Cosmiclawnmower Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 12 2020 at 14:06
Probably one of the most obscure and rarest of the Spiral Vertigo releases..
Image result for dr z three parts to my soul
Three Parts to my Soul (1971)

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