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Psychedelic Paul View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 05 2022 at 06:59
Prog Britannia Twelve: A-Z Album Links

Phil Manzanera is an English guitarist (of Colombian descent) who's best-known as a long-time member of Roxy Music (from 1972 to 1982). The Spanish influences can clearly be heard on many of Phil Manzanera's albums, especially in his collaborations with 801, Corroncho, Tania Libertad & Sergio Dias. He's also worked with his fellow Roxy Music bandmate Andy Mackay, and their albums are coming up here next.

3 stars 1976: Phil Manzanera & 801 - Live - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOG7SfERU0k
3 stars 1987: Phil Manzanera & John Wetton - Wetton/Manzanera - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTCHZJbJm7G2bsSHAVrEYOGHuFqr3z9nN
3 stars 1988: Phil Manzanera & Nowomowa - The Wasted Lands - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LyzFbAIwqY
4 stars 1990: Phil Manzanera & Sergio Dias - Mato Grosso - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mSuGJAW9CeGre1rsUledMAvUXkqlpsKJY
3 stars 1991: Phil Manzanera & Tania Libertad - Boleros Hoy - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lbQI_OZ0SlqFJsps4zAS1NwFgUgaBqmLI
4 stars 2016: Phil Manzanera - Live at the Curious Arts Festival - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k-R6_XPdLY_JLaeNh1nWnl4FQOpgfo1Eg
3 stars 2021: Phil Manzanera & Tim Finn - Caught by the Heart - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kZcASrsqWxGdQy0n3jG4fYNRuqypHEx5w
3 stars 2022: Phil Manzanera & Tim Finn - The Ghost of Santiago - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_leq33fiOQ-XUwmeQvkzLTFJSet8Y1UMIA


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - November 08 2022 at 18:32
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 06 2022 at 05:06
Prog Britannia Twelve: A-Z Album Links

Guitarist Phil Manzanera and saxophonist Andy Mackay of Roxy Music fame. I'd recommend skipping the first four albums and listening to the sublime Roxymphony - the symphonic Roxy Music! Thumbs Up

3 stars 1985: Manzanera & Mackay - The Explorers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh7ocPDw688
3 stars 2001: Manzanera & Mackay - The Complete Explorers - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mlW3fCnQhbULKI-rJN6hpVowLwdsTKeX4


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - June 28 2024 at 23:42
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 07 2022 at 04:13
Prog Britannia Twelve: A-Z Album Links

Baby, it's cold outside, so why not stay warm inside by chilling out at home with some cool, smooth jazz, courtesy of Neil Ardley. Geek

4 stars 1976: Neil Ardley - Kaleidoscope of Rainbows - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgdfA4YJWP0
4 stars 1979: Neil Ardley - Harmony of the Spheres - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxDzhRp4I8o
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 02:37
Coming up next.....

OMD - Messages (or how to make a great music video in a crappy old disused warehouse) Tongue

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hugh Manatee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 15:33

Just hopping back to the Manzanera list, I agree with your rankings of the "Vozero", "6.00PM", "50 Minutes Later" trilogy of albums. They are a solid set of albums and well worth a listen.

I would however give both "K-Scope" and "Now Listen" an extra star each. I have enjoyed these albums for some time and think they deserve more attention.

BTW, I'm looking forward to the OMD rankings. I have listened to them since their debut and am well interested in how you rank their output, especially considering the changes in style they went through.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 16:13
Originally posted by Hugh Manatee Hugh Manatee wrote:


Just hopping back to the Manzanera list, I agree with your rankings of the "Vozero", "6.00PM", "50 Minutes Later" trilogy of albums. They are a solid set of albums and well worth a listen.

I would however give both "K-Scope" and "Now Listen" an extra star each. I have enjoyed these albums for some time and think they deserve more attention.

BTW, I'm looking forward to the OMD rankings. I have listened to them since their debut and am well interested in how you rank their output, especially considering the changes in style they went through.

That's the first time I've ever listened to Phil Manzanera and two albums that really stands out for me is The Sound of Blue and Roxymphony by Manzanera and Mackay. Thumbs Up



OMD have been a favourite band of mine ever since I first heard "Messages" on Top of the Pops and the albums are sounding good so far too. Even the potential career-ending Dazzle Ships album has its good moments - an experimental album that gave OMD's record company a fit of apoplexy at the time of its release.  Geek

 Ultravox are coming up here later too. Wink


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - November 08 2022 at 16:24
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hugh Manatee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 17:23
Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:


OMD have been a favourite band of mine ever since I first heard "Messages" on Top of the Pops and the albums are sounding good so far too. Even the potential career-ending Dazzle Ships album has its good moments - an experimental album that gave OMD's record company a fit of apoplexy at the time of its release.  Geek

 Ultravox are coming up here later too. Wink

"Dazzle Ships" is certainly a challenging listen but they absolutely hit the mark with the previously released "Architecture and Morality". I had that album on high rotation for a long time and still go back to it quite often. It's one of those albums I can listen to from start to finish. They went on to become very poppy and I have a feeling you will like those more "commercial" sounding later albums.

Ultravox had their (very good) moments but I always had a niggling feeling of wasted potential with them. Billie Currie went on to make a couple of albums with Steve Howe.


Edited by Hugh Manatee - November 08 2022 at 17:31
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 17:35
^ The ultimate Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark album is "Messages: OMD Greatest Hits"  including a free DVD of all 31 of OMD's music videos, which makes for a nice Souvenir of the Synth Pop 1980's era. Thumbs Up






Edited by Psychedelic Paul - November 08 2022 at 17:36
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hugh Manatee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 17:39
Oh, btw, getting back to Phil Manzanera, I reckon if you like "The Sound of Blue" so much you might also appreciate  "The Wasted Lands" released by him under the name Nowomowa:







Edited by Hugh Manatee - November 08 2022 at 17:40
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 18:08
^ You're right. I do like it and I already included the Nowomowa album amongst Phil Manzanera's albums in the list above. Thumbs Up

3 stars 1988: Phil Manzanera & Nowomowa - The Wasted Lands - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LyzFbAIwqY
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hugh Manatee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 18:20
Oops, sorry. Didn't spot it listed there.Embarrassed
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 18:34
Originally posted by Hugh Manatee Hugh Manatee wrote:

Oops, sorry. Didn't spot it listed there.Embarrassed

That's okay. I remember the Nowomowa album mainly for the difficulty I had in spelling it correctly. Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hugh Manatee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 18:39
Nowomowa, Nowomowa, in the jungle, the mighty jungle this album hid from view.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 08 2022 at 18:44
Originally posted by Hugh Manatee Hugh Manatee wrote:

Nowomowa, Nowomowa, in the jungle, the mighty jungle this album hid from view.

At least it's nowhere near as hard to spell as "Taumatawhakatangihangakoayauo-Tamateaturipukakapikimaungahoro-Nukypokaiwhenuakitanatahu" from the opening to "The Lone Ranger" by Quantum Jump. Smile



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 10 2022 at 03:44
Prog Britannia Twelve: A-Z Album Links
 
Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: better-known as Synth-Pop duo Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or OMD) although they were a foursome to begin with. Smile
 
4 stars 2009: OMD - Electricity: Live in Liverpool - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wuSgegC8SU
  
 
 


Edited by Psychedelic Paul - November 10 2022 at 03:59
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Hugh Manatee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 10 2022 at 15:57
Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

 Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: better-known as Synth-Pop duo Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or OMD) although they were a foursome to begin with. Smile 

Also interesting to note that three albums ("Sugar Tax", "Liberator" and "Universal") were recorded by McCluskey without Humphreys being involved, sort of like what Roland Orzabal did with Tears for Fears for a couple of albums.

I agree with pretty much all your ratings for the OMD albums although I would bump "Architecture and Morality" up to five stars, and I am not as enamored with the singles collection as you clearly are.

If you're going to include compilation albums you might have also considered including "Navigation: the OMD B Sides".




Edited by Hugh Manatee - November 10 2022 at 16:01
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2022 at 01:33
Originally posted by Hugh Manatee Hugh Manatee wrote:

Originally posted by Psychedelic Paul Psychedelic Paul wrote:

 Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: better-known as Synth-Pop duo Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or OMD) although they were a foursome to begin with. Smile 

Also interesting to note that three albums ("Sugar Tax", "Liberator" and "Universal") were recorded by McCluskey without Humphreys being involved, sort of like what Roland Orzabal did with Tears for Fears for a couple of albums.

I agree with pretty much all your ratings for the OMD albums although I would bump "Architecture and Morality" up to five stars, and I am not as enamored with the singles collection as you clearly are.

If you're going to include compilation albums you might have also considered including "Navigation: the OMD B Sides".
 
Thanks Hugh. I somehow missed that B-Sides album when I was navigating my way through OMD's discography. Embarrassed
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2022 at 10:56
Prog Britannia Twelve: A-Z Album Links

London-born Brendan Perry is a singer and multi-instrumentalist in the Neo-Classical Dark Wave genre who's best-known as one half of the Dead Can Dance duo. He moved with his family to New Zealand in 1973 and then to Melbourne in 1981 where he met his romantic and musical life-time partner Lisa Gerrard. The most recent Brendan Perry album, released in 2020, is the most Greek-influenced album you've heard since Demis Roussos first warbled his way through Forever and Ever back in the 1970's, so break out the ouzo and mousssaka  and get ready to smash a few plates in the fireplace. Smile

3 stars 2020: Brendan Perry - Songs of Disenchantment: Music from the Greek Underground - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLG-nMWHN5SkdKREmzNadM8q1n_Agm4obl
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 12 2022 at 00:51
Prog Britannia Twelve: A-Z Album Links



REFUGEE were a short-lived Symphonic Prog threesome from London. You could be forgiven for thinking Phil Collins was a member of Refugee, because the man in the middle on their one and only self-titled album cover from 1974 bears a striking resemblance to the Genesis drummer. There's no mistaking Swiss keyboard player Patrick Moraz on the right of the album cover though. He was brought in as a last-minute replacement for Keith Emerson, who was otherwise engaged with the Prog- Rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer at the time. The other two members of Refugee besides Patrick Moraz were both ex-members of The Nice:- Lee Jackson on bass, electric cello, electric guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar and lead vocals, and Brian Davison on drums and percussion, where "percussion" meant virtually anything the versatile drummer could lay his hands on, including tympani, various gongs, Tibetan temple bells, African drums, kabassa (whatever that is!?) and broken glass! Patrick Moraz wasn't exactly slacking in the keyboards department either with this very impressive array of keyboard instruments at his disposal:- Mini- moog, AKS synthesiser, piano, electric piano, clavinet, organ, pipe organ, marimbaphone, alpine horn, electronic slinky, mellotron, and occasional vocals too! Patrick Moraz would of course go on to be a member of YES and a "days of future passed" member of The Moody Blues. Who could forget the famous music trial of the century!? The sole Refugee album was recorded in 1974 at ART Studios in Geneva in Patrick Moraz' native Switzerland, so he would have felt right at home there, whereas the two English members of the band, Lee Jackson and Brian Davison were temporary "refugees".

The title of the imperious 5-minute-long opening number "Papillon" can have several meanings:- Either a black butterfly; a symbolic breaking free of societal restraints and restrictions; or even a toy breed of dog with large butterfly-like ears! One thing's for sure though, the "Papillon" on this album is no delicate butterfly. No, this is an aggressive and impressive Pictures at an Exhibition-style display of powerful keyboard prog in the best tradition of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. There's no shortage of classically-inspired, lightning-speed keyboard runs to be heard from Patrick Moraz in this tremendous instrumental album opener, which also features a storming salvo of machine-gun-like drumming from Brian Davison. Yes, it looks like we could be in for quite a treat here with this gloriously pompous one-off album of unashamedly exhibitionistic Symphonic Prog. On the second song "Someday", We get to hear the emotionally-wrought (and some might say "over-blown") vocals of Lee Jackson for the first time, which also features another incredible keyboard performance from Patrick Moraz before he went on to join YES for their "Relayer" album in late 1974. "Someday" is one of those grand magisterial prog epics that gathers in pace and intensity as it progresses, so it could be described as the true definition of Progressive Rock. If "Papillon" represented a symbolic breaking-free, then "Someday" continues the theme of liberation with the powerful message contained within these lyrics:- "Someday, I'll go away, Pack my bag, Get on a plane, I'll fly up through my cloud, I'll smash right through, Right into the sun." ..... This is the kind of powerfully uplifting feel-good prog that'll leave you flying high on a wave of joyous and exhilarating emotion. If you haven't quite reached seventh prog heaven yet, then the third piece of music might help get you there, because next up is the awesome 17-minute-long, "Grand Canyon" suite, the first of two epic suites on the album. This magnificent five-part magnum opus is every bit as grandiose and spectacular as the song title implies. Be prepared to be stunned by this brilliant landscape of dazzling musical colours. The outstanding "Grand Canyon" suite represents the musical equivalent of the real Grand Canyon bathed in rich golden colours at sunset.

The title of the Side Two opener "Ritt Mickley" is a humorous reference to the strong Swiss accent of Patrick Moraz when he pronounces "rhythmically". It's another 6-minute-long demonstration of ELP-style keyboard prog at it's absolute best, so you can expect another dazzling display of keyboard histrionics from Mr Moraz & Co. The final piece of music on the album is the second of the two epic suites. It's a thunderous 18-minute-long masterpiece titled "Credo". The majestic music is divided into eight movements of stunning symphonic splendour and delight, which just HAS to be heard to be believed. This is incredible!

You can't fail to be over-awed by this stunning display of ELP-style keyboard prog. This outstanding one-off album has a treasured place in the hallowed halls of ProgArchives. Refugee might not be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but they truly deserve to be included with full honours and flags flying with this very impressive powerhouse debut!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Psychedelic Paul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 12 2022 at 09:24
Prog Britannia Twelve: A-Z Album Links

Peter Sinfield (born 1943) is one of the unsung prog rock heroes of the music industry, having composed lyrics for such prog rock luminaries as King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He also found the time to record his one and only solo album in 1973, which Still sounds good after all these years. Notable players on the album include fellow King Crimson bandmates, Greg Lake, John Wetton & Mel Collins. Peter Sinfield's long-forgotten album may not be held in quite the same high regard as some of King Crimson's legendary albums, but Still.....





Edited by Psychedelic Paul - November 12 2022 at 09:31
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