Ozric Tentacles - unique or what?

I went to my favourite CD shop last Friday and amazingly found exactly what I was looking for:

Gong - You

Amon Duul - Die Loesung

Steve Hillage - Live Herald

I can definitely hear the influence that Steve Hillage's guitar playing had on the Ozrics. As TrouserPress said, Gong have changed a lot throughout their time. In the beginning, they were wacky and later on become Jazz fusion. It was just this time of the Radio Gnome trilogy with Steve Hillage that they had the psychedelic sound that influenced Ozric Tentacles.

The track "Master Builder" from the You album was played by the Ozrics on Live Ethereal Cereal with the title Aumriff. It's nice to hear the original Master Builder which uses a sax whereas the Ozrics don't use a sax.

James Hill wrote: I always thought OT would have been great with a good vocalist.

Ozric Tentacles are special because they don't sing. If you want bands with vocalists then there are loads to choose from. Thankfully, there is at least one band that doesn't feel the need to spoil their music by singing.

James Hill wrote: prog is born of mind altering drugs.

They took the drugs so you don't have to.

Paulieg wrote: Try Djam Karet's album "The Devouring."  Another good one is their last release called " A Night For Baku."  Happy listening!

I did look for Djam Karet in the shop but they didn't have it. I've seen them on www.amazon.co.uk though.

James Hill wrote: If you love Ozric Tentacles you will be impressed by Djam Karet on Cuniform records.

Absolutely wrong assumption. I am a HUGE Ozric Tentacles fan and at the same time I literally can't stand Djam Karet... Yes they are also a jam band, but their timing is sloppy, playing - uninspired (at least to my ears that is!) and compositions - quite boring and aimless. Don't waste your money on this "band", that is my suggestion. Though one more or less good DK album is "Devouring", so if you feel VERY curious start with this one.

I second Hidria Spacefolk, they are great, though almost like a copy of OT...

If you don't mind the absence of psychedelic jam-guitars in your space-ethno-trans, check out Bluetech, Shulman, Entheogenic and Shpongle. They are electronic projects that sound very spacey & transey and actually quite close to OT as well, albeit without (electric) guitars.

Also if you are not a prog-snob then try Afrocelts (formerly Afro Celts Sound System) and Deep Forest (Music Detected is a recommended album, it has awesome sound design!). These bands do it with vocals (and can be quite poppy at times and "new-agey") but they have their share of "ozricness" in the arrangements and always provide a great listen, especially in headphones.

Hope this helps.