Weidorje – "Weidorje" (Cobra – COB 37014)1978

The envious ears of a bunch of over-paid Parisian session men vibrated to the sound of Magma and they thought that they could do the same...but,as musicians are prone to think, they were better at it and could do better.

They managed to release just three tracks in their lifetime,which made up their sole album,here beefed up with a couple of live outings
They were of course very Magma styled,even nicking their Kobaian name from a Magma track,blending in elements of systemic music, and some saxophone.An element long ago dropped in early Magma giving it a distinctive sound of its own(it says here!).Yep....more Zeuhl-lite for potential chart action.The ill-advised use of Brass steers proceedings firmly towards the Fusion-end of Zeuhl,but at least those Wagnerian Brunhilde vocalists don't make an appearance.

The session men involved soon realised that there was no money in having their own Zeuhl band,and soon melted away back into playing guitar solo's for Johnny Hallyday or arranging romantic string sections for Sacha Distel.

They did however leave us one of the most listenable French Prog records,that may even attract people into the room rather than drive them away from it....dunno if that's a good thing, but sometimes its useful.Even if it's just to avoid the noise of the unenlightened majority demanding that this racket be turned off.

Tracklisting:

1.Elohims Voyage 16:33
2.Vilna 12:20
3.Booldemug 7:10

Bonus Tracks:
4.Rondeau 8:49
5.Kolinda 12:28

DOWNLOAD this wee orgy or for the benfit of Donald Trump that's kobaian for pee pee party HERE!

XAAL – "XAAL" (Xaal Self-released – Xaal 01) 1990

More lo-fi cassette culture Zeuhl in classically fuzzy chrom-dioxide quality,enhanced by a lo-bitrate to make it an even better smothering experience.

XAAL sound very 1990's......there's damming evidence of Fretless bass use,probably with seven strings and a lovingly looked after varnished wooden body.I strongly suspect that all of XAAL's instruments are shiny and well looked after. It's a phenomenon that began in the 90's,shiny chrome mike stands, tidy amplifiers,as new guitars, and tasteless natural wood bass guitar bodies.

One thing I noticed during the recent co-vid hysteria was that the number two item to be seen in the background of Zoom calls,after full bookshelves, is an brand name electric guitar sitting on a stand in the corner .All shiny and new,in barely used condition,to show that the caller is literate, but, cool.

Every fucker has an electric guitar and vast digital multi-tracking facilities these days....even those despicable Politician bastards.All that shite started with Bill Clinton and Tony Blair thinking,mistakenly, that liking Pop music would magically transform them from the awful grinning fools that we know they are, into something cool for Generation X to take seriously.Fool not Cool! Why would anyone want to know that David Cameron's favourite band is Radiohead for fucks sake? Dick'ead would be more appropriate one should suggest,especially as he is officially the second worst British prime minister of alll time,just behind his Eton educated chum/rival Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.....who to my knowledge doesn't own any musical instruments,but cringingly expresses a liking for The Clash,led.of course, by fellow posh boy,but in this case a dead one,Joe Mellor.....Boris obviously was not listening when he heard their punk socialism by numbers recordings.

Just as refusing to have a Tattoo or any piercings,was an almost subversive stance a few years back,now is the time to throw all those home studio's and guitars onto a large bonfire in the Rock'n'Roll hall of shame. Silence is the new route to self-expression through self censorship...stop repeating this mantra of terminal boredom.  Turns out that the great unwashed took this DIY thang far too seriously. There's too much fucking music now,made by people who don't know any better.STOP IT!.....I crave the return of untouchable rock stars, exclusivity and cliques .The moment the moronic majority like the same things as you ,you know that the games up and its time to give it up.An If they're 'Punk' I definitely fucking ain't!...kinda thing.

XAAL are one of those groups who not only have sparkling equipment, but have that deadly disability of just playing the notes,and forgetting the rest.Like an exercise in theoretical music.

But i'm sure there'll be plenty out there who will delight in their shifting time signatures, and accurate playing.....i know I do.

But that don't mean it's Gud bud.

 

DOWNLOAD boris johnson's new favourite band HERE!

Last Exit ‎– "First From Last Exit" (Impulse Studios, Newcastle ‎– WUD/C/101) 1975

 Ahaaaaa!....did someone mention Sting's first band? Indeed, Gordon Sumner got to use the 'Last Exit' moniker first with their depressing,geordie, version of the Average White Band. The Pub Rock shadow of the German American Noise Jazz outfit from a decade later,when the Bass Player (in fact both of the Last Exit's bass players!) was/were,and still are,enormous pricks. This says more about the origins of 'Punk' than any forgotten, "we got there first man" punk before punk groop from Boise Idaho that gets discovered every year. This represents what an awfully dull and depressing hole Great Britain used to be in 1975,and its main protagonists wern't necessarily all in search of the re-birth of rock'n'roll. 'Bandwagon' was a word oft-used by 1978, and sting was indeedy accused of this common behavioural pattern;either that or he had his eyes and ears open for something better? The early Police were a great band,full of ex-proggers ,looked good sounded good,and had eff-all to do with the London based clique that became 'punk Rock'. Sting often relayed a story about when the Police were bottom of the bill at the second Mont-de-Marsan Punk Festival in 1977,when he popped his bleached blonde head in the Damned's dressing room,and humbly asked for a Beer,the response to which was,from Rat Scabies I believe, "Fuck Off and come back when you're as famous as us!"....oh how Ironic.This brings to mind tne old showbiz addage to 'be careful who you meet on the way up for you will surely meet them again on the way down'.

I actually enjoy listening to this tape believe it or not? This Jazz rock bland-out transports one instantly back to a time which is often accused of being the worst year ever in Rock Music....which is crap.For a start every year ,virtually since ,i'd like to say 1988,but its probably since about 1999 is the worst year in pop and rock music. Sting's Last Exit is a fine example of the kids doing it for themselves in the height of the 'Pub Rock' phenomenon, which had far more influence on those original spikey tops than Iggy Poop.

Don't worry, i'm not gonna post a load of Police rareties,I feel a duty to amuse as well as bemuse.

Tracklist:

A1 We Got Something 4:05
A2 Truth Kills 4:41
A3 Whispering Voices 2:56
A4 Carrion Prince 2:48
A5 Savage Beast 4:49
B1 I Got It Made 3:46
B2 I'm On This Train 3:45
B3 Oh My God 4:43
B4 A Bit Of Peace 3:03

DOWNLOAD the first exit of gordon HERE!

Last Exit ‎– "Cassette Recordings 87" (Enemy Records ‎– EMY 105) 1987

Oh Jesus! How shit is this new Blogger thing wot they've paid some 'expert' to re-jig!? Fucking Hell!

Remember MySpace? This is going the same way. I start a new post with a childlike excitement, then quickly give up in a childlike strop after trying to select labels for my new post.....click and wait technology......But, I won't let the 'Man' get to me with his power games...oooooh no! So here's a transitional Peter Brotzmann work, recorded on the humble cassetten,yet never released on a humble cassetten. Yup, it's Jazz Metal soopergroop , 'Last Exit' innit?

Do I hear a Groan?....unfortunately,yes, Bill Laswell does makes a traditional appearence with anything to do with downtown jazzy types.He's the Thurston Moore of Jazz,although I think Thruston Moore reckons that his-self is in fact the Thurston Moore of Jazz too? What is it with these serial collaborators? They crop up like a bad smell in a toilet,and usually contribute nothing......the jury's out on Eno however,'cus i'm a bit of a fan of our Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno.....but.....with a name like that he is obviously rather Posh,which gave him full Progressive rock qualifications above and beyond the call of duty. Never trust anyone with more than two christian names. A case in point is the beyond awful posh bloke whose childhood ambition was to become Prime Minister of Britain,and worse still, actually did!?......Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson......which is code for 'Bastard'.

Who the fuck has a realistic childhood fantasy of being a country's leader other than that priviliged line of human aliens with the reptilian DNA? Little undernourished Tommy Atkins from the council estate with the abusive parents' greatest ambition was to learn to read, not study Greek History with a bunch of Oxbridge cronies,and future leaders,and, do it all with a smirk on his face!? Why didn't someone slap those smug jowels at kindergarten and nip this horror in the bud? It might not be too late?

Yes, anyone can become a leader, except the Kings won't let it happen.

So, here we have a group, proudly displaying moustaches and beards when it was patently 'Unhip' to do so, wearing clothes that would impress only Michael Bolton's wardrobe assistant. Their debut sooper pooper groop eponymous debut was rather good in its musical napalm tendancies. This outing is less so,with rather too much of Sonny Sharrocks metally guitar work,and his even worse singing, but it has its moments.Brotzmann's sax is, for once, well mixed,and not stage front.Peter's other main contibution is likely to have been the very Brotzamannesque song titles of "Sore Titties" and the terribly rude, but laughable, "My Balls/Your Chin"!!!?

Recorded at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Copenhagen to cassette,so it has that nice saturated cassette sound that's so hard to reproduce in any other medium.We like cassettes here......sorry about the Laswell though.

Tracklist

1. Line Of Fire
2. Big Boss Man
3. Sore Titties
4. Ulli Bulli Fooli
5. Ma Rainey
6. My Balls / Your Chin

DOWNLOAD the last exit to copenhagen HERE!

Wolfgang Dauner's Et Cetera Feat. Jon Hiseman, Larry Coryell ‎– "Knirsch" (MPS Records ‎– 21 21432-2) 1972

One thing I likey not within the 'Jazz' idiom is 'Jazz Guitar' (Derek Bailey exempted), which Larry Coryell extols the virtues of excessively in his guest spot on this Wolfgang Dauner Rock-fusion album. Nowhere near as 'Out-there' as "Output", this could potentially reel in countless Colloseum fans just by the presence of Jon Hiseman, never mind the attempt to recreate 'The Kettle' from 'The Valentyne Suite' as album opener.This could be as far-out as 'Rock' fans could dare to get to achieve the next rung up the ladder of Intellectuality yet still enjoy the simple Joys of Thin Lizzy and Status Quo.
This and Colloseum would be ,thee, 'Jazz' records in a dysfunctional rockers' record collection,which although he doesn't like them much, he will whip out whenever he want to display his 'interesting' side.
Krautrock Fusion with a bit of bite, "Knirsch"..... ("Crunch" in English)


Tracklist:

A1 The Really Great Escape 4:20
A2 Sun 5:00
A3 Yan 12:50
B1 Tuning Spread 11:05
B2 Yin 9:50

DOWNLOAD the false teeth of progressive Jazz Rock HERE!

Don Harper ‎– "Homo Electronicus" (Columbia ‎– SCX 6559,) 1974

Don Harper....if ever there was a more Australian name I'd like to know.....luckily,escaped the Australia of the 1970's for the hip recording studio's of the UK. He found ample work for his musical talents within British TV, for both the BBC and ITV, where he was the man who made Dickie Davis groovy with his musical arrangments for those tiresome sporting collages on ITV's World of Sport programme, where he stayed for 15 years!...poor fucker!
He regularly appeared in the Radiophonic workshop, and did a Library electronic album with Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson..."Electrosonic" for KPM.
Don was either making a statement with the title of this solo album, which would explain why he escaped the land of Dennis Lillie,Rod Marsh, and Merv Hughes (celebrated purveyours of the noble art/arse of Cricket) or he was actually referring to the marriage of man, as in mankind, with the blossoming technology of the age.
Releasing an album called anything with 'Homo' in the title could have got you killed in seventies Australia. I suspect that Dennis Lillie,Rod Marsh, and Merv Hughes were probably gay anyway....just look at those moustaches for fucks sake! Freddie Mercury's wet dream.

Some obviously GAY Australian Cricket legends.

Well as a proud...er... member....coff...I could do this all day!....of the Homo Erectus species(Tee-Hee) of modern man, I can proudly announce to the world that I am,unfortunately, Straight....I would love to be Gay but I think Blokes are a bunch of twats without twats, so i prefer the less competitive world of Ladies......no I don't mean I want to be a lady....look,lets not go there, this attempt at humour is complicated enough!?
I dunno if Don was or was not gay, with glee,I just saw the prefix 'Homo' , and went off on one....sorry Don(RIP).
He was ,however,the Stephane Grappelli of the antipodes, and scrapes those violin strings with the spunkiness of a recently de-closeted 'puffda', as Merv Hughes would say, lubing up Brad Pitts bare arse. You'll never hear a funkier version of the Dr Who theme anywhere outside the James Last Orchestra,and the rest of the tracks are classic Library Music standards that wouldn't be out of place in an elevator, which is NO criticism.And, of course, Don whips out his Syntheziser much to the disgust of his former college Ms Derbyshire,whose influence can be heard on every track.
I wasn't labelled a 'Homophobic Fuck' in the pages of Discogs for nothing you know; but there isn't a statue of me to decapitate as of yet, so I don't give a fuck.......here's my chance to unleash the classic Homophobe's non-argument....."Some of my closest Friends are Gay"....you could sub the word 'Gay' for 'Black' too if you're that way inclined.....i've been called a'Racist Fuck' too y'know.
I have to say I do like the new look of the Churchill Statue,its a Brutal post-modernist statement,and could also be the prediction come true of the Space Odyssey Obilisk?.....definitely a case of 'Don't mention the War'.....I let it slip once but I think I got away with it!"....but, of course Fawlty Towers was banned from UKTV as of yesterday.....then apparently reinstated after a lot of moaning.It all depends on who moans loudest it seems!?

            After............and.............before.......Good innit?

Tracklist:

A1 Dr. Who Theme
A2 Cold Worlds
A3 Fiddle Chop
B1 The Blue Book
B2 Nightmare
B3 World Of Sport

DOWNLOAD from down under up HERE!

Bohemia ‎– "Zrnko Písku" (Panton ‎– 11 0699) 1978

Oh Alright then!
Here's the sole album of progressive Jazz Rock Fusion.from Czech-Prog super group, Bohemia.
Made up of Jan Kubík (ex-Flamengo), Lešek Semelka (ex-Blue Effect), Michal Pavlíček (ex-Expanze), Vladimír Guma Kulhánek (ex-Flamengo), Jan Hála and Pavel Trnavský (ex-Expanze)......so i'm told.

The music is standard Jazz Rock in the tradition of, dunno?...Return To Forever? Etc.

The tracks get rather funky at some point, but the singer.....the singer!

Thats the trouble with these eastern european records, their language doesn't suit rock and soul music whatsoever.

I've said this before, to some amusement I may add, that the Lingua Franca of 20th century popular music is, undeniably, English.As for Opera its Italian. 

Instrumentally this album is rather good, but rather spoiled by those harsh sounding words and those harsher, rasping vocals.


Tracklist:

1.Chór Minulých Nohou V Průchodu „Pasáž” 7:16
2.Zátiší Peronních Lístků 6:32
3.Sen O Snu 5:56
4.Horké Letní Stmívání 9:14
5.Milenci Před Pollockovým Obrazem 7:24

DOWNLOAD some bohemian jazz rock fusion HERE!

SBB ‎– "SBB (or The Amiga Album)" (AMIGA ‎– 8 55 631) 1978

For SBB's East German sojourn, they got to release an album on VEB Deutsche Schallplatten's classic "Amiga" label, and record at 'Rundfunk der DDR' studios.Maybe they misunderstoof the 'Rundfunk' part, because they made a Herbie Hancock album instead of the usual SBB prog exploration.The poles have got funky for this one,the 'Third' eponymous album by SBB....referred to as the 'Amiga Album'.
The East German government were rather more officious than the Poles or the Czech's,a hangover from the Nazi period.So, i guess some high ranking state official insisted that they made something 'To Dance To Ja!?"....."Unt you vill DANCE!", was standard DJ talk at the state Discothéque;open every Friday from 7pm 'til curfew.
It may be mid-seventies funky Jazz Fusion, rather than Symphonic Progressive Rock, but it make me wanna tap my twinkle toes to its funkeh riddyms somewhat.Yowzaaaaah!

Tracklist:

A1 Tanzbär 3:05
A2 Magische Blaue Stunde 3:05
A3 Hektik 3:05
A4 2.10 2:10
A5 Ouzo 5:00
A6 Unterbrochene Erotik 2:52
B1 Kala 3:30
B2 Tumba 3:45
B3 Mutraczka 4:20
B4 Nr. 7 5:00
B5 I Wonder Why 4:35

DOWNLOAD the closest Herbie Hancock ever got to the DDR HERE!

Czesław Niemen ‎– "Idée Fixe I + "Idée Fixe II" ( Polskie Nagrania Muza ‎– SX 1570-1571, Polskie Nagrania Muza ‎– SN 0770) 1978

You gotta love the Polish haven't you?
On the day that the sad nation of Little England Brexiteers learned that the three men, armed with a Narwhal's tusk (don't ask where he got that from!?) and a Fire Extinguisher, wrestled a knife weilding Terrorist* to the floor during the London Bridge attack last friday(during which two persons were killed! RIP), were....POLISH!.....yep the very same 'immigrants' that are stealing those jobs nobody wants,working all hours, and paying taxes so that Brexit Party supporters can receive their disability benefits.

Our Polish Heroes in action

"Why don't they go back to where they came from?"...will still be muttered when they find out that these heroes were dirty scrounging Foreign types.
As some unashamed and anonymous xenophobe required me to stick to the music in the comments section of Holy Toy's otherwise excellent "Panzer and Rabbits" post,I shall now post a classic Polish Prog masterpiece in tribute to these fine EU citizens who acted, while passing Brits filmed it on their mobile phones.

*Incidently, the 'terrorist' was a British citizen,from Stoke-on-Trent (which is no excuse!), who was let out from prison, early by Boris Johnson's despicable, lying, Tory Government,where he was serving a minimum of 8 years for ....er...Terrorist offenses!?...so much for mr Law and Order then?

"Idée Fixe", which is also the french name of Asterix the Gaul's Dog,Dogmatix as we know him; is generally accepted as Czeslaw Niemen's best album,personally I find it a bit self-indulgent. The title translates as 'Fixed Idea's' or, 'Dogmatism', which fitted the English translaters of 'Asterix' perfectly?
I dunno whether Czeslaw was being Ironic, or if this album follows an obscure musical dogma,as it does seem to stick to a lot of keyboard noodling,and lots of two handed prog-synth work-outs.
If Rick Wakeman-offs are your kind of musical dogma, then this expanded version of the original double album is most certainly for you.Personally I prefer it when he has his regular band SBB backing him up......and even more so, when he refrains from inflicting his terrible singing upon us.

Tracklists:

 "Idée Fixe I" :

1 Sieroctwo 8:46
2 QSS I (Pytanie o nasza skromnosc) 3:02
3 Larwa (1) (Wszechcywilizacji spoleczny blues) 7:23
4 Moja Piosnka 6:47
5 W Poszukiwaniu Źródła 2:36
Chłodna Ironia Przemijających Pejzaży (13:02)
6a Marmur Biały
6b Egejski Błękit
7 Straceńcy (Z wypraw nie tylko krzyzowych) 1:24
8 Laur Dojrzały 5:25

"Idée Fixe II" : 

1 Larwa (2) 7:20
2 Idącej Kupić Talerz Pani M. 5:13
3 Białe Góry 9:33
4 Legenda Scytyjska 3:25
5 QSS II (Nawolywanie) 2:43
6 Twarzą Do Słońca 7:07
Credo (8:20)
7a Pochwala Pracy (Promethidion - fragment)
7b Burza I Kolory Teczy

Sen Srebrny Salomei EP:

8 Proroctwo Wernyhory 0:28
9 Spotkanie Leona I Salomei 0:45
10 W Obozie Ukraińskim 1:30
11 Zazdrość Semenki 0:32
12 Przybycie Regimentu 0:53
13 Defilada 0:50
14 Mazurek Weselny 1:07
15 Pieśń Wernyhory 5:43

DOWNLOAD "Idée Fixe I" dogmatically HERE!

&

DOWNLOAD "Idée Fixe II" with expanded dogmatism HERE!

Фирюза/Firyuza ‎– Фирюза/Firyuza (Мелодия ‎– C60-13215-16) 1979

More from Funk capital of the USSR ,Ashkhabad,Turkmenistan. From the time before Life-President Saparmurat Niyazov took over and banned everything,but not before he renamed 'Bread' after his mother.I dunno if he tried to rename the David Gates soft rock combo 'Bread' also after his mummy,or tried to get his sister in on the act?
However,Firyuza was a Turkmenian ethnic/prog/jazz/fusion instrumental band, founded in 1979.They won the coverted first prize at The Sixth All-Union Entertainers Competition in Leningrad, thus gaining the privilege of an album release on distinctly ungroovy state label Melodiya.And its as good as their wild image on the front cover.Heavy on the use of the fiddle,it sounds not unlike a mixture of The Dirty Three,the Dirty Harry soundtrack, and the less dirty, Mahavishnu Orchestra.

I notice that Melodiya didn't release a second album,or maybe it was that they were imprisoned by Turkmenistan's de facto dictator and were never seen again?

Great Image, Great music.

Tracklisting:

A1. Ashkhabad
A2. "Kray Rodnoy" Native Land
B1. Chapycsuar
B2. "Dialog V Aule" Dialogue In The Village

DOWNLOAD the new name for david gates' bread HERE!

Гунеш = "Gunesh" Ensemble* ‎– Вижу Землю (I See Earth)" (Мелодия ‎– C60 21197 007) 1984

In a country in which Opera,Ballet and Circus's were banned for 'not being Turkmen enough',I doubt the sophisticated Jazz Fusion of the Gunesh Ensemble would have been too popular with Turkmenistan's dictator and self-declared president for life Saparmurat Niyazov. Released ,on Soviet state label Melodija, just before Niyazov took absolute power in 1985,I don't think the great man would have been tapping his feet to the syncopated rhythms of this funky combo.Which would explain why they 'disappeared' shortly after Niyazov ascended to the throne of supreme ruler.

A regime rivaling North Korea in its madness, the life President even had all the months and days of the week renamed with the Turkmen national symbols, as described in his autobiography the 'Ruhnama',which was compulsory reading for all citizens,who were regularly tested on its contents.He also had the word for Bread changed to his mothers name,and banned dogs!This album should have been called "I Rename Earth after myself".They don't make 'em like this anymore!?As one of the world's most totalitarian, despotic and repressive dictators. He promoted a cult of personality around himself which left little room for such groovy pop ensembles as Ganesh.So I dread to think what happened to the upwards of sixty various members of this ensemble over the years? Hopefully they escaped to Russia which looked like a democratic utopia in comparison to the land of the Turkmen.

Dig thosz 'fro's.....I don't phink da president like you very much boyz!?

Tracklist:

A1 Байконур = Baikonur 5:02
A2 Бу Дерды = Bu Derdy 7:44
A3 Восточный Экспресс = Oriental Express 3:32
B1 Ритмы Кавказа = Rhythms Of The Caucasus 8:25
B2 Ветер С Берегов Ганга = Wind From The Gang 4:32
B3 Вьетнамские Фрески = Vietnamese Frescoes 4:20

DOWNLOAD from the home of funk in Turkmenistan HERE!

VSP Projekt ‎– "VSP Projekt" (Мелодия ‎– C60 28195 004) 1989

Another proggy projekt featuring Sven Grunberg was Estonian prog rock super group VSP Projekt,which also featured members of other proggy bands from the Soviet Baltic states, such as In Spe, Radar,Ultima Thule,and Ruja.
I hear the unfortunate sound of a fretless bass on here, so you know that they are serious in their objective of making a smoothly conceptualised Jazz Rock Fusion masterpiece.One that Erkki Sven Tüür of 'In Spe' describes as 'Rock music with a sense of distance and even alienation'......thanks for that Sven. I like a bit of alienation,and the six string fretless bass certainly alienated me.
It does have that bleakness that only scandinavian bands,including the Baltic States, can really understand,and it looms large in most of the music that emanates from this suicide rich region.
So join us as '...that lonely spectator of an empty metropolis ,in an endless field of snow',.....I paraphrase mr Tüür once more....he's good isn't he?

Tracklist:

Mees Sarvega 4:58
Oktoober, Oktoober 5:17
Tuulepealne 7:03
Mälumäng 5:03
Hilineja 8:41
Kuulaps 2:25

DOWNLOAD for your next projekt HERE!

Arsenal / Арсенал ‎– "Джаз-Рок Ансамбль Арсенал / Jazz Rock Ensemble" (Мелодия ‎– С 60—12209-10) 1979

Indeed, Arsenal, the Soviet Jazz Fusion combo NOT the fucking Footy team.....christ....how many times????
...well...Arsenal weren't always a electronic synth pop trio like on "Pulse 3", since 1973 they were an experimental Jazz Rock collective,releasing an album of such stuff on state label Melodija six years after their inception.It took time to be accepted as proper musicians in the USSR,as only 'Professionals' were allowed to release proper records. Once that rubber stamp was applied to your papers the first place of call was Melodija HQ, and you were away.
One thing Melodija records really liked was if musicians from any of the republics did a 'Superior' version of the decadant rubbish that was being turned out in the west. Just the idea of a Russian Jazz Rock combo had the KGB instantly moist....."Da, vee have ser Jazz Rock Kombo,unt sey are better zan your Jazz Rock Kombo's too!!!"...apologies for the terrible Russian accent,not easy to transcribe into gibberish, but i do try.
Its actually rather fucking good,and reminds one of those Blaxsploitation (Redsploitation?) soundtracks,like Roy Ayers"Coffy" (Vodka?),but with extra kerosene and played by some Siberian alcoholics with 'wet Brain' high on Vodka and aviation fuel.
I'm sure Arsenal were very sober, but I had to get an imbiber of high octane clear fluids reference in hadn't I?
As the bloke in Boney M said at the end of world wide mega hit "Rasputin",...."Ooooooooh! Those Russsssiaaaans!"...i'll now finish as I started.....Indeeeed. 

Tracklist:

1. Опасная игра (A Dangerous Game)
2. Дерево (A Tree)
3. Сюита ля бемоль мажор (Suite in A Flat Major)
4. Башня из слоновой кости (An Ivory Tower)
5. Генезис (Genesis)
6. Рэгтайм (Ragtime)

DOWNLOAD an arse full HERE!

Area ‎– "Arbeit Macht Frei (Il Lavoro Rende Liberi)" (Cramps Records ‎– CRS LP5101) 1973

There are times when one should be humbled by musicianship, and this is definitely one of those rare ocassions.
Comfortably in the top three of Italian Prog, this debut album by prog-fusion commies, Area, blows most similar,jazzy Canterbury style bands out of the water.Just like the Royal Air Force did to the Italian Navy using outmoded bi-planes loaded with torpedo's in the early days of WW2.A tactic copied very sucessfully by the Japanese at Pearl Harbour.
There's a nifty extermination camp vibe as well,which apart from some ear shredding yodelling,makes this ferocious record nearly perfect;but, perfection is a quality that should be avoided at all costs,which Area do, so that means this is perfecton by default.Try and explain that to an alien computer in Star Trek and you'll end up with an explosion on your guilty hands.

Tracklist:

A1 Luglio, Agosto, Settembre (Nero) 4:27
A2 Arbeit Macht Frei 7:56
A3 Consapevolezza 6:06
B1 Le Labbra Del Tempo 6:00
B2 240 Chilometri Da Smirne 5:10
B3 L'Abbattimento Dello Zeppelin 6:45

DOWNLOADing this sets you free HERE!

Ash Ra Tempel ‎– "The Private Tapes Vol. 4" (Manikin Records ‎– MRCD 7014) 1996

They all do it at some point don't they?
Get ideas beyond their station and Go Jazz Fusion!?.......but not the good Jazz Fusion like Miles Davis etc,this is awful Pat Methany style Jazz Rock fusion.Krautrock Legends, Guru Guru also befell this same fate on their 1974 "Dance Of The Flames" album,terrible stuff.Even Zoot Horn Rollo went 'Jazz' on his sole solo album a few years ago, but he's a better guitarist than Göttsching,so he got away with it.Basically, Jazz and electric guitar shouldn't be said in the same sentence.....ever!
I suppose there are some Pat Methany fans who will take offence at my use of their hero as the comparison point for 'awful' on the Jazz Fusion barometer of shite; but thats how it is on these pages.Heaven knows the pain just a few notes of any Methany tunes have caused the boredom sector of my delicate frontal lobe,so he deserves it.
As terrible the first three tracks are, its more than made up for by  repetitive sequencer driven proto-trance number "Niemand Lacht Rückwärts".
Finishing off this episode we have a rather below par Ash Ra Tempel freak out.....sounding...dare I say....a bit Jazzy(!?)in places....not good.

Tracklist:

1 –Ashra - Club Cannibal (1979) 14:48
2 –Ashra - Sausalito (1979) 3:40
3 –Ashra - Ain't No Time For Tears (1979) 7:12
4 –Manuel Göttsching - Niemand Lacht Rückwärts (1979) 11:56
5 –Ash Ra Tempel - Dédié à Hartmut (1973) 39:59

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Tom Scott with the california dreamers ‎– "The Honeysuckle Breeze" (Impulse! ‎– AS-9163) 1967

This psychsloitation-jazz-pop album is really rather good, despite the sunshine pop harmonies from the California Dreamers,who, as noted before on the Gabor Szabo album "Wind,sky and Diamonds", were ex-Ray Conniff singers who dropped some shrooms and got 'hip'.

They sang on the Ray Conniff christmas album that Brady and Hindley played as they tortured Leslie Anne Downey.So they have a truckload of bad vibes to unload, and they tried their hardest to do so here.

This record would have benefited greatly from a total lack of California Dreamers. Tom 'starsky and Hutch' Scotts faultless Sax work is impressive for a 19 year old multi-instrumentalist.Whats more incredible is that this was released on Avant-Jazz label Impulse.They must have been desperate for some chart action?

Its even got some twangtastic sitar nonsense from the near-legendary Billy Plummer too!?

Tracklist:

The Honeysuckle Breeze 4:13
Never My Love 3:20
She's Leaving Home 2:14
Naima 2:40
Mellow Yellow 4:13
Baby I Love You 3:21
Today 3:22
North 4:30
Blues For Hari 3:55
Deliver Me 2:50

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Emil Richards & The Microtonal Blues Band ‎– "Journey To Bliss" (Impulse! ‎– AS-9166) 1968

Hey, dig those crazy vibes man.This kat is so hot he's smokin'!!!......smokin' a joint laced with LSD more like. 
Even journeymen Jazzers pushing forty 'Turned on' in 1968.
Another of Bill Plummers mates, and collector of percussion instruments, Emil Richards, Harry Partch style, explored the microtonal spaces between the notes,and had a pletora of modified and home made percussion tools.
Side two of this album has a 'meditation suite' in six parts, to help the hippies find bliss amongst the josticks,or more likely help some Batchelor Pad music enthusiast,who is now married and working in a bank achieve nirvana,then file this away next to his Martin Denny collection.....never to be played again.
Emil narrates us through the more difficult parts, rather like one of those self-hypnosis records we've all sampled for our dark ambient projects.
As Psychsploitation goes, this is actually one of the better attempts,even though it verges on the Exotica blended with popular psychiatry.

Tracklist:

A1 Maharimba 2:52
A2 Bliss 4:57
A3 Mantra 4:29
A4 Enjoy, Enjoy 5:51
B1 Journey To Bliss - Part I 3:08
B2 Journey To Bliss - Part II 4:10
B3 Journey To Bliss - Part III 2:52
B4 Journey To Bliss - Part IV 3:10
B5 Journey To Bliss - Parts V & VI 5:18

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Gabor Szabo And The California Dreamers ‎– "Wind, Sky And Diamonds" (Impulse! ‎– AS-9151) 1967

If there was anything funnier than seeing butch professional working class Geordie Eric Burdon 'turning on and tuning in' with his hilarious 'New' Animals project (Whose four albums are a consistent laugh a minute), its hearing Erics biggest psychedelic era 'hit' 'San Franciscan Nights' being covered by Gabor Szabo backed up by ex-Ray Coniff singers, The California Dreamers;who had also seemingly 'Turned on and Tuned In', and told Ray to shove his easy listening miesterwerks where the sun don't shine.
They rebeled by making soft psychedelic sunshine pop (aka Easy Listening with paisley neckerchiefs) backing vocals for jazz also ran bandwagon jumpers in suits and ties.
That should show Ray Coniff a thing or two.
My earliest musical memory was hearing 'A Day In The Life'(Beatles version I may add!) on the Jimmy Young Show on BBC Radio 1 when one was about three. It frightened the living bejeeesus out of me,and had nightmares about the Beatles coming to get me.The Beatles in my dream were all dressed in Leather,like in the Hamburg years.I Couldn't believe it when I first saw the pictures of the Fab Five in Hamburg....exactly as I had imagined them!? Horrifying!
 The version by Gabor and the California Nightmares manges to squeeze every ounce of drama,psychedelia, and danger out of the Sergeant Pepper classic,and leave just a dry lifeless husk behind.....it takes some special kind of insipid anti- talent to be able to turn out some flavourless product thats akin to a platter of beige unseasoned cous cous.
The punks hated The Beatles,but never did anything to flesh these emotions out,whereas Szabo and the gang manage to make the fab four irrelevent in the very same year they released their concept album that launched a thousand dreary clones.
Erstwhile Sitar mate Bill Plummer, makes an appearance on the neutralising of Jefferson Airplanes "White Rabbit";but nothing neuitralised the psych legend of the Airplane more than the fact that they eventually morphed into Starship,who were unforgiveably responsible for giving the world "We Built This City"(on Rock'n'Roll)...for which they should be put on trial for, declared incredibly GUILTY,then sentenced to a lifetime of listening to non-stop world music and French Reggae.
This dazzling display of Lysergic anti-venom, is astonishing in its power to neutralise anything meaningful and makes pointlessness seem like a desirable career path.
But why then do I love it?....I'm kind of jealous of its bland power and ability to dispel the myth of the Narcisistic fools who made the original tunes,and paint over the colours of the Psychedelic bandwagon with two coats of magnolia matt emulsion......Dare to be Bland.

Tracklist:

A1 San Franciscan Nights 3:18
A2 A Day In The Life 3:20
A3 Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon) 3:00
A4 To Sir With Love 2:28
A5 White Rabbit 2:30
A6 Guantanamera 3:09
B1 Saigon Bride 2:10
B2 The End Of Life 2:55
B3 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 3:44
B4 Are You There? 3:31
B5 W.C. Fields 3:40

DOWNLOAD some WSD the opposite of LSD HERE!

Gabor Szabo ‎– "Jazz Raga" (Impulse! ‎– AS-9128) 1966

Gabor Szabo, either escaped the Soviet invasion of 1956, or the communists threw him out for crimes against music?
Somehow he found his way to California,found Bob Thiele who signed him to Impulse records, and released around half a dozen Szabo albums in a couple of years......someone must have bought them,but I dunno who? He did in fact beat the other besuited Sitar exponent on the block,Mr Bill Plummer, to the punch by a year or so.Being a political refugee does tend to focus the mind somewhat,spotting potential new ways to integrate and avoid being sent back.Although this album should have been reason enough to reject his application for US Citizenship alone.
Only in 1966 could an balding asylum seeker from behind the Iron Curtain be seen whizzing around LA on a Vespa with a sitar strapped to the back of his tweed blazer, with an adoring,heavily made up Modette in tow. On top of this, someone was cool,or fool, enough to have him banging out albums.
Just slapping any image portraying Indian Instrumentation was enough to shift enough units to finance another record in 1966-68, so fittingly there is a capitalist motive at work here.
The Sitar, is most definitely NOT an instrument one can just pick up and play at a whim.In the hands of Gabor it sounds like a badly tuned guitar with buzzing frets,and regularly snapping strings.
When he overdubs his semi-acoustic guitar part with the Sitar, it really does just sound like he's snapping the strings.
The cover versions are shameless Psychsploitation at its worst and naffest.Despite being abley backed up by the legendary Bernard Purdie on the skins,just Gabors heavily Hungarian accented vocals are enough to cause ones jaw to drop in disbelief.I suppose the Jazz labels had to do this shit to survive the Rock'n'Roll fad,and thank goodness they did.They really are quite hilarious indeed.

Tracklist:

A1 Walking On Nails 2:46
A2 Mizrab 3:32
A3 Search For Nirvana 2:07
A4 Krishna 3:11
A5 Raga Doll 3:42
A6 Comin' Back 1:55
B1 Paint It Black 4:40
B2 Sophisticated Wheels 3:52
B3 Ravi 2:59
B4 Caravan 2:58
B5 Summertime 2:58

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Bob Thiele And His New Happy Times Orchestra / Gabor Szabo With The California Dreamers And Tom Scott & Bill Plummer ‎– "Light My Fire" (Impulse! ‎– AS-9159) 1967

As previously described in the Bill Plummer post, I discovered several impulse Jazz Psychsploitation albums in a crate at Camden market in the nineties. I wisely purchased the classic Bill Plummer and the Cosmic Brotherhood album,and returned the next week to buy the rest. One of which had Bill Plummer twanging his Sitar again as part of Bob Thiele's marvellously monikered 'New happy Times Orchestra', along with Hungarian refugee guitarist Gabor Szabo,and Tom 'Starsky and Hutch' Scott on lead sax.
Thiele had produced some of the legendary jazz greats on the Impulse label including both Coltranes, among many others.
Somehow, here he lost his mojo, and produced some kind of James Last album for aging Beatniks who still wanted to get down with the kids but forgot how.
It has its funny moments,however unintensional, like the flaccid version of 'Light My Fire' which manages to extinguish any flame the original may have had.
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" is transformed into something akin to Ray Conniff or the Mike Sammes singers;the kind of stuff one would hear on the UK Testcard transmissions of the seventies. 
Everytime I hear Bill Plummers inappropriate Sitar twanging, duelling with Szabo's appalling Jazz Guitar,while demolishing several sixties Psychedelic classics, never fails to raise a snigger from my larynx.I'll give it that....it certainly does make one Happy,but not in the way Bob and the boys intended.

Tracklist:

A1 Forest Flower 5:14
A2 Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35 2:30
A3 Krishna
Written-By – Gabor Szabo 3:35
A4 Light My Fire 6:16
B1 Fakin' It 5:50
B2 Eight Miles High 7:02
B3 Sophisticated Wheels
Written-By – Gabor Szabo 5:31

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