Exposé Online » Reviews of releases for 1995

Various Artists - The Moon Revisited

Let me start off by saying that if I never heard Dark Side of the Moon again in my life, that would be perfectly fine by me. This totally commercial piece of flashy overproduction, posters...

Cast - Four Aces

This, the fourth album (obviously) from the Mexican neo-prog outfit Cast, is very much along the same lines as their previous three efforts, but with some obvious improvements. The line-up is a...

Cast - Endless Signs

Cast has dropped five CDs in just over two years, yet much of that material was recorded in the 80s and early 90s, and not released until now. Endless Signs, however, is their latest...

Vulgar Unicorn - Under the Umbrella

The trumpet, saxophone, and strings add a nice coloration to what is basically a guitar-oriented music, with plenty of riffs in the vein of Hawkwind and the like. Vocal themes are easy-going: this...

Mike Keneally - Boil That Dust Speck

Having made his solo debut in 1992 with the fantastic Hat, Mike Keneally returns with his second album of bizarre and unique musical entertainment. A member of Frank Zappa's '88...

Mike Keneally - Boil That Dust Speck

In a genre dominated by long tracks, fantastical lyrical content and a far too serious posture, it's nice to see someone go against the grain. Keneally has put together an album that has 30...

Mike Keneally - Boil That Dust Speck

Mike Keneally's first album (entitled hat, released in 1992) was an eclectic mix of humor, musicianship, and rock-n-roll. This former Zappa stunt guitarist can shred with the best of...

Various Artists - Progfest '95

For those of you not able to attend the festival in Los Angeles in November 1995, here is your chance to experience the highlights of Progfest ‘95. Opening the festival and this 2CD set is...

Various Artists - Progfest '95

Well, it's finally here. This 2CD package was definitely worth the wait, even that two of the featured bands (Solaris and Spock's Beard) have already released their entire Progfest...

White Willow - Ignis Fatuus

This one was worth the wait! This new band from Norway plays a rich blend of folk and symphonic rock, sprinkled with a generous helping of classical influence. Fronted by the gorgeous female voice...

If, Bwana - 33 Birds Went, Breathing & Tripping India

Sometimes something comes along that totally defies categorization and comparison, like music from some other universe — or music from this universe turned inside out. Such is the music of...

Angel'in Heavy Syrup - III

Angel’in Heavy Syrup is a four piece band from Japan. The group is composed of Mineko Itakura on bass and vocals, Mine Nakao on guitar and vocals, Fuseo Toda on guitar and chimes, and Tomoko...

Vangelis - 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Blade Runner, Voices & Oceanic

I had almost left the Greek hero for dead following 1987's Direct, but five years hence Vangelis managed to rekindle the magic spark, and 1492 was the album to do it. A...

Macromassa - Um-Yu (Las Flores Amarillas También dan Entradas Nuevas a los Perros)

Wasn't this Spanish group active back in the late 70s? It looks as if they may have broken up and subsequently reformed, because I haven't heard anything from them since their one LP...

Korai Öröm - Korai Öröm

This ten-piece ensemble from Hungary plays what could only be described as world-influenced psychedelic / space-rock, using keyboards, guitar, bass, flute, didgeridoo, drums, voices, and at least...

Stormy Six - Macchina Maccheronica, Al Volo & Un Concerto

One hears the term Rock in Opposition quite often in music today. Many current bands are labeled with an "RIO" style. The Italian group Stormy Six is the basis for this style termed...

Blast - Wire Stitched Ears

A Dutch quartet of guitar, bass, drums and woodwinds, this is Blast's second release (the first being the hopelessly obscure Puristsirup from 1993), and the first for Cuneiform. While...

Lambert - Dimensions of Dreams - Remastered

At hand is a remastered reissue of Lambert’s sixth album from 1995, whose released works date back to the late 80s. With the addition of a seven minute bonus track “Distance,”...

Organisation & Kraftwerk - Tone Float, Kraftwerk 1 & 2, Ralf & Florian

Kraftwerk, like many of the long running German outfits, was a completely different creature at its inception then after they rose to popularity. These albums, including the pre-Kraftwerk...

Organisation & Kraftwerk - Tone Float, Kraftwerk 1 & 2, Ralf & Florian

Kraftwerk, like many of the long running German outfits, was a completely different creature at its inception then after they rose to popularity. These albums, including the pre-Kraftwerk...

Organisation & Kraftwerk - Tone Float, Kraftwerk 1 & 2, Ralf & Florian

Kraftwerk, like many of the long running German outfits, was a completely different creature at its inception then after they rose to popularity. These albums, including the pre-Kraftwerk...

Organisation & Kraftwerk - Tone Float, Kraftwerk 1 & 2, Ralf & Florian

Kraftwerk, like many of the long running German outfits, was a completely different creature at its inception then after they rose to popularity. These albums, including the pre-Kraftwerk...

The Mistakes - The Mistakes

A collaboration between four diverse and experienced musicians, The Mistakes turns in as fun and challenging a listen as its lineup promises it to be. Virtuoso guitarists Mike Keneally and...

Amber Route - Snail Headed Victrolas

Amber Route was an electronic / rock duo from southern California featuring Walter Holland on guitars and synthesizers, and Richard Watson on woodwinds, piano, and synthesizers; both share vocal...

Various Artists - Unsettled Scores

How often is it that one can find a double-CD set where every song is a winner? Most various artist sets will typically have some good, and some not-so-hot stuff, but this long awaited compilation...

Various Artists - Unsettled Scores

Various artists compilations don't get much better than this. From what started as a joke four years ago, comes the long-awaited double disc release of Cuneiform artists covering other...

Various Artists - Unsettled Scores

Five good reasons to buy Unsettled Scores. 1) Doctor Zero, a combination of Univers Zero and Doctor Nerve musicians and their version of "Onde Crepseculaire." Originally penned...

Oats - Sons of the Sonic Solution

Sons of the Sonic Solution is 70 minutes of off-the-wall bizarre and eclectic alternative-styled music. There is a definite element of the low- budget grungy alternative ethos; wailing...

Doctor Nerve - Skin

Well, no one could rightfully call Dr. Nerve derivative. That's for sure. Imagine really distorted heavy metal guitar, clean vibes, frenetic drums and bass, and then throw in a horn section to...

Doctor Nerve - Skin

Are you nauseated from the seemingly endless abundance of new releases in tired old predictable styles? Do you welcome the next whiny overstylized singer fronting a band of wannabe clones like the...

Doctor Nerve - Skin

Dr. Nerve's latest album features more of composer / guitarist Nick Didkovsky's uncompromisingly dense and aggresive avant-garde rock. The music on Skin swings from a somewhat...

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Dancing on A'a

This is Birdsongs eighth release, and their third new album on Cuneiform. They continue to sport one of the most unique and unclassifiable styles, residing somewhere between rock, jazz, and...

Landberk - Riktigt Äkta

Landberk's Riktigt Akta (the Swedish vocal equivalent of Lonely Land) was in many ways the precursor of the new Swedish symphonic scene and was the first of many well received...

Jeff Greinke - Cities in Fog

Albums this peripheral and ambient are rather rare in my opinion. Roach and Rich have both done albums in this vein, the latter in his early days, and of course Brian Eno did his pioneering work in...

Alan Stivell - Zoom 70/95

Thanks a lot — trying to sum up Alan Stivell's career in a paragraph is like summing up World War II in a book — there’s too much to say and where do you start? I have all...

Iona - Journey into the Morn

While this is for the most part an unabashedly pop-styled album, it also happens to be a solid, captivating, and thoroughly enjoyable listen. Similar to Clannad at times, Iona's music is a lush...

Iona - Journey into the Morn

Released quietly at the end of last year, this seems to be the album that will earn Iona the recognition and following they have long deserved. This is clearly their strongest effort yet, touching...

Iona - Journey into the Morn

The first 15 minutes of this album (except the two-minute opener) give the listener no idea of what is to come. If you judge an album based on a cursory listen of the first few songs , this one...

Ian Crichton Band (H3O+) - Welcome to the Boom Boom Room

Long time guitarist and founding member of Saga, Ian Crichton finally steps out on his own and the results seriously rock! Take note: if you’re a long time fan, you probably already guessed...

Alquimia - Coatlicue, Goddess of the Earth & Wings of Perception

An independent artist, composer, synthesist, percussionist, and vocalist, Alquimia is known mostly in new-age and fourth-world music circles, though her work truly transcends any form of...

Dave Brock - Strange Trips and Pipe Dreams

Dave Brock has been the one steady member of Hawkwind for nearly 30 years (the band's first album was released in 1971). In a band that has witnessed over 30 personnel changes over that time,...

Bill Nelson - Deep Dream Decoder

Although this has been out about a year and a half, it’s been near-impossible to find until recently when the Voiceprint group began distributing it. Nelson is, of course, a man of many hats...

Levi Chen - Meditation of My Soul

Peace and tranquillity are yours for the asking when you spin this CD, the third by Levi Chen, an accomplished performer on electric guitar and guzheng (here called "Chinese harp")....

You and I - You and I

I would assume that this eponymously titled release is the debut effort from this Hungarian quartet. The music on these seven tracks ranges in style from symphonic to Celtic-folk, featuring female...

Industrial Soup - A Flagrant Display of Subtlety

From San Jose, California, Industrial Soup is a trio of keys+bass, drums, and vocals+sax, sporting a hard driving and quirky keyboard dominated sound that, together with the humorous lyrics...

Sonic Abandon - Sonic Abandon

This overlooked project is simply two talented guitarists playing together with engaging rhythms and somber effects units. There are four pieces loosely connected by some vague, linear continuity....

Pest - Pest

Here's a real surprise. Fans of Crimson's harder edge as well as folks like Kong and Buckethead will want to take note. This Austrian five-piece of drums, bass, cello, accordion, and guitar...

10cc - King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents 10cc in Concert

The King Biscuit archives are vast commodity of lost recordings of live bands in action, as they were: warts and all. One of the many missing chronicles in live music history is the early period of...

Vidna Obmana - Twilight of Perception

Belgian composer Vidna Obmana has been on the Fourth World electronic scene for quite a few years now, using electronics, percussion, tape loops, and processing to produce music with a rich, dark,...

Alan Stivell - Brian Boru

Anyone who doesn't recognize this name is definitely sticking too hard to certain genres, as Alan Stivell is a legend — and as deserving of praise as any other individual musician I could...

Various Artists - Czeching In

Well, well, well, I was as unprepared for this omnibus CD as one could be. Apart from Iva Bittová, Dunaj, and Už Jsme Doma, little other Czech rock music of a creative nature seemed to hit...

Various Artists - Variaciones en la Cuerda Vol. 1

The Mexican Luna Negra label has released two discs as an overview of the Cuban prog scene, under the moniker Variaciones en la Cuerda, Una Vision del Rock en Cuba, Vols. 1 and 2....

Various Artists - Maborishi No Sekai Samples

Readers may recall the deluge of Japanese symphonic rock bands flourishing in the mid-80s. It would seem the last of their like has been seen. Enter the 90s, and Maboroshi No Sekai. The brainchild...

Bill Nelson - After the Satellite Sings

Solo artist extraordinaire (due in no small part to the huge volume of work generated in almost 30 years), Bill Nelson's latest collage is a splash of modern sophisticated pop, sampled amusing...

Culto sin Nombre - Hallazgos Nerviosos

Like dark? Here's dark. Anyone remember a Mexican mid-80s group called Nazca? They had a couple of very Stravinsky influenced chamber-rock albums and then disappeared nearly without trace....

Haco - Haco

After an almost seven-year hiatus since Paradise of Replica (After Dinner's last, and only second full studio release), songstress and presumptive After Dinner leader, Haco resurfaces,...

Guru Guru - Live

Guru Guru was one of the pioneering German psych rock groups, but by 1977 they had mellowed out with age leaving behind the Neumeier / Trepte / Genrich line up that procured classics such as...

Various Artists - Supper's Ready

Yet another tribute to the late, once great Genesis, this time by the crew at Magna Carta records. This single CD is an excellent production, though the choice of material often leaves something to...

Spock's Beard - The Light

Spock's Beard is a new American group that even before the release of this album has been slated to play at Progfest '95. The band is a quartet led by keys/vocalist Neal Morse and also...

Various Artists - Tales from Yesterday

With the blessing of original artwork by Roger Dean and performances included by three Yes alumni, this one contains a little bit of everything – some of the more 'faithful' covers,...

FM - Retroactive: FM Archives Volume 1

This Canadian trio is probably best known for their three late-70s LPs Black Noise, Headroom, and Surveillance (the first of which saw CD reissue a couple years ago)...

Susanna Lindeborg's Mwendo Dawa - Enter the Outloop

Swedish band Mwendo Dawa inhabit the spacey jazz realm that also serves as home to Weather Report and Earthworks. Saxophonist Ove Johansson is the primary composer, and it is his sound on the tenor...

Revival - Revival

Note: When this review was written in 1995, the information accompanying the CD included a number of inaccuracies which have since been revealed. See notes within the text for...

Hugh Hopper & Alan Gowen - Two Rainbows Daily

Another example of re-issue heaven? This album is (to my knowledge) the only bass / keyboard duet album made from a Canterbury link (Gilgamesh / Soft Machine). Originally released in the UK/USA in...

Volapük - Le Feu du Tigre (Tiger Fire)

Guigou Chenevier was the drummer and a founding member of that wild and crazy French trio Etron Fou Leloublan, who released six albums between '76 and '86. Volapük is his latest band,...

Various Artists - Progfest '94: Variety Arts Center - Los Angeles

When it finally appeared at Progfest '95, the ink was still drying on the booklet of this two-CD retrospective of the show a year before. Each of the nine featured bands (Halloween, Kalaban,...

Terpandre - Terpandre

If there is one song that exemplifies the best character of the warm, romantic and melodically colorful side of French symphonic progressive rock, it has to be "Conte en Vert," the second...

Mastermind - III - Tragic Symphony

Ever wonder what happened to progressive rock? Especially the rock part? Wonder no more. Mastermind has returned with a third album that is every bit as potent as one might expect after...

Anthony Phillips & Harry Williamson - Gypsy Suite

Little is known about Anthony Phillips' career between leaving Genesis and the appearance of The Geese and the Ghost. How ironic that a 1995 release would shed light on what he was up...

Alan Gowen / Phil Miller / Richard Sinclair / Trevor Tomkins - Before a Word Is Said

For those of you still unfamiliar with the Canterbury musical legacy, Alan Gowen, a keyboardist of some renown, died of leukemia in 1981. In his short career, he notched up quite a few noteworthy...

Xen - Xen

Xen, the debut CD, contains the best selections from their three previously released cassettes. Xen the band is the duo of David Bagsby, avant garde Okie musician extraordinaire, and Kurt...

Xen - Xen

A serious music approach to electronic-based rock that doesn't take itself so seriously is a welcome change in just about anyone's book. Besides, someone has to take over where...

Takami - Y. de Noir II & Yume no Kirigishi

Serenity... calm... stillness... These are the virtues most strongly imbued in the music of Takami's first recording Y. de Noir II, an album that is almost completely dominated by...

Takami - Y. de Noir II & Yume no Kirigishi

Serenity... calm... stillness... These are the virtues most strongly imbued in the music of Takami's first recording Y. de Noir II, an album that is almost completely dominated by...

Finisterre - Finisterre

The name Finisterre comes from the Latin finis terrae, the limits of the Earth. Romans used to believe that the Earth ended near Hercules' columns which we call now the Gibraltar...

Various Artists - Eyewitness - A Tribute to VdGG

This one made it in just under the wire, finding release in the fading days of December. The fact that (at least in the USA) Van der Graaf Generator is not the household word that, say Genesis,...

Various Artists - The River of Constant Change - A Tribute to Genesis

There’s no disputing the pervasive influence of Genesis on much of the progressive rock of today, and this two-disc set is the first of two tributes paying homage to them. This one features...

Sithonia - Confine

Sithonia have actually been around quite a while. This I believe is their fourth album since they started roughly around the same time Nuova Era did. Sithonia are moving more and more into that...

Jonathan Block - After & Ether

Imagine that you’re taking an afternoon nap and are trying to wake up after a short but deep sleep. You are semi-aware (background voices, sounds, etc.) but you can’t make your body...

Pablo "El Enterrador" - Pablo "El Enterrador"

Argentina, 1979. In the middle of the military oppression (1976-1983) there was a band that went by the name of Pablo "El Enterrador." Paul was a gravedigger in a dissident cemetery in...

Pablo "El Enterrador" - Pablo "El Enterrador"

This is a well-known symphonic-prog album from late-70s Argentina. I am personally of the opinion that its reputation is rather over-inflated: no album with a song as annoyingly commercial as the...

The Smell of Incense - Why Did I Get So High?

Here we have the second single from The Smell of Incense. While these three songs pay homage to 60s psychedelic music, it doesn’t have the magic of their debut CD

Various Artists - A Saucerful of Pink

With all of these recent tribute releases, there seem to be three types of covers: those which stay true to the original (or at least attempt to), those who take the original concept and try to...

Mellow Candle - The Virgin Prophet

As the CD liner notes state, Mellow Candle's Swaddling Songs is the holy grail of folk rock. There really is no other album that even compares in this specific genre (Fairport...

Hugh Hopper - Volumes 1 - 4

These are the first four volumes of material compiled for a career spanning ten-disc series celebrating the work of the late Hugh Hopper, best known as the bassist of Soft Machine during the...

King Crimson - Thrak

First, to answer the biggest question: What do I get if I buy this album that I don't already have on Vrooom? Not much really. You get the 'single' "Dinosaur." You...

Arena - Songs from the Lion's Cage

Mick Pointer, ex-Marillion drummer leading a comeback effort after 12 years away from the music scene? No way. Well, it's true — sort of anyway. After leaving Marillion following...

The Flower Kings - Back in the World of Adventures

Don't let the name fool you. The Flower Kings can jam! Take some soulful groove drumming, occasional Frippertronic style guitar, medieval flute-led romps in 7, and a plethora of keyboard and...

Samla Mammas Manna - Klossa Knapitatet

This album is the classic Swedish group's third album and perhaps the most impressive of the early Coste Apetrea incarnation. Samla in the early 70s were far more progressive rock/fusion...

Boud Deun - Fiction and Several Days

If it wasn't for Cuneiform you could practically count the number of truly experimental modern American progressives on one hand, which is truly disappointing. Most US groups seem to stick to...

Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways & Moonloop EP

Having defined themselves as the modern standard bearers of the Pink Floyd sound – a title rightfully deserved (save the Roger Waters psychosis), they have set about further refining that...

Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sideways & Moonloop EP

Their third full album, The Sky Moves Sideways is Porcupine Tree's strongest release yet. Featuring three long 17-18 minutes tracks, the album flows effortlessly from laid back...

Mandra Gora Lightshow Society - Ovid's Garden

The Mandra Gora Lightshow Society is a contemporary German neo-psych band and their debut release Ovid’s Garden is a limited vinyl edition of 750 copies on Swamp Room Records from...

Banco del Mutuo Soccorso - Banco del Mutuo Soccorso

Symphonic progressive rock bands are known for their flashy keyboard players, in fact some of the excesses of the genre tend to be symbolized by Rick Wakeman in his cape or on ice or whatever. But...

John Watermann - Testing the Jammer

Over his career John Waterman has released electro-acoustic music on a variety of labels. Testing the Jammer is his first release on Raum and it presents another chapter in John’s...

Mantaray - Numinous Island

Mantaray is the duo of Susumu Yokota and DJ Ray. Yokota is a prolific Japanese trance and ambient composer; DJ Ray hails from New Zealand and he predominantly DJs at parties in Australasia. Yokota...

Apocalypse - Perto do Amanhecer

This is the second outing for this four-piece from Brazil, their first self-titled album from the late 80s still being a vinyl-only release. Their neo-progressive sound and dramatic styling have...

Gong - Pre-Modernist Wireless: The Peel Sessions

Blah blah Gong blah Daevid Allen blah space rock blah seminal spiritual gnomepixiebanana. Ahem. OK, now the introductions are over, we now have the latest live Gong installment, three different...

Gong - The Birthday Party

Just what the world needs, another live album by Gong!?! On some terms The Birthday Party can be compared to the live albums released by their conceptually inferior contemporaries,...

Gong - Camembert Eclectique

Seminal French space prog band Gong may be best known for their pioneering work in the early to mid 70s, as evidenced by the indispensable Radio Gnome Trilogy of albums: Flying...

However - Calling

Anyone who owned the original LP of this (on Cuneiform) and got to know it well will be initially shocked by this CD reissue. Indeed, However has taken great liberties with the reissue of this,...

David Shaw-Parker - The Lemming Chronicles

If you had to summarize, you could call this book a critical appreciation of the albums and concerts of Van der Graaf Generator and Peter Hammill as seen through the eyes of a fan who calls himself...

Julian Cope - Krautrocksampler

The British publication Krautrocksampler is here in its second edition. Running to 143 pages, it sports a few photos, and comes trimmed with sundry color reproductions of record covers...

Smashpalace - Smashpalace

Smashpalace is a four-piece of guitars, bass, and drums, with a dedicated singer, hailing from Racine, Wisconsin. Their style is accessible, featuring savvy compositions, a punchy guitar driven...

Fear of Dolls - All Monsters Eat Children

This Seattle area four-piece plays in a song oriented style, somewhere along the alternative-gothic-noise axis, the vocals typically heavily treated and guitars shimmering in an almost-psychedelic...

Espíritu - Espíritu & Live en Obras '82

This Argentine band are best-known for their classic Crisálida, an album of complex guitar / synth prog in the Italian style a la Semiramis. The self-titled album was made several...

Via Lumini - What Have We Done About Us?

For their long-anticipated second album, the band took what may appear to some as a step backward, not forward, with the addition of Hammond B3 organ to the keyboard arsenal (and it gets a...

Ave Rock - Ave Rock & Espacios

Over the course of their two albums, Ave Rock displayed a heavier approach to progressive rock than their other Argentine counterparts. Organ and guitar dominate the instrumentation on the...

Trem do Futuro - Trem do Futuro

If I'd had the chance to hear it last year, this would have been among my top 10 of '95. The six men that make up Trem do Futuro have a wonderous gift for melody and arrangement that any...

Dogma - Twin Sunrise

Dogma are certainly given ample help on their sophomore release: strings, a choir, a flute player and four vocalists appear this time round. Don't let the vocalists scare you. Well, not too...

Giustio Pio - Missa Populi

Working around the familiar theme of the Roman Catholic Mass, Italian composer Giusto Pio has created a splendid and meticulously crafted work featuring a large choir, flutes and other woodwinds,...

Sophia Domancich & Simon Goubert - Treize Lunes & Couleurs de Peaux

Jazz. For some reason, this genre of music tends to send many "prog" fans screaming for cover. I've always found this strange considering a lot of jazz (especially from the 60s) was a...

Mosaic - Miniatures

What will Crovella come up with next? An album of small symphonic rock tracks all approximately two minutes or less with a plethora of titles that often seem longer than the music themselves....

Mirage - Live 14.12.94

Another reunion dinosaur roars back to life? Mirage has come out from the near Jurassic age, taken a single step forward and unfortunately appears to die on the spot! Whereas Camel and Caravan were...

Circle of Fairies - As the Years Go By

One thing this Italian band has going for it is the keyboardist's impressive array of analog instruments, which gets quite a lot of use over this, their debut album. In fact, it's the...

Joe McMahon - Shatterday

Team Metlay, that collection of Internet musicians under the direction of Mike Metlay, is now spinning off solo releases by its members.

Iluvatar - Children

This writer's first exposure to this Baltimore area five-piece was a couple years ago via a pirate tape of their performance at Progscape #1 ('94), the second was their live performance at...

Art and Illusion - Seasons

When I first broke the seal on this disc and saw the booklet photos with people playing accordions, mandolins, and balalaikas, my curiosity was piqued, hoping for some kind of folk-rock ensemble or...

New Sun - Fractured

New Sun is a heavily Crimson-influenced band with two lead effects-based guitars and a solid rhythm section. DL Erickson holds down the rhythm patterns and also takes a few solos in the vein of the...

TagYerit - Heavy Construction

With its male / female harmony vocals, short, somewhat catchy tunes, and a folky flavor at times, Heavy Construction is reminiscent perhaps of a Richard and Linda Thompson album. That is...

Ray - Somewhere in the Universe

Ray is Ray Roehner on vocals, acoustic guitars, flute, and pennywhistle, John Berg on acoustic and electric guitars, and three other musicians on keys, bass, and percussion, with guests providing...

Magnesis - Absinthéïsme

Not completely certain if this is essentially a solo project with some additional musicians helping, or if Magnesis is indeed a band. There are two albums that pre-date this one, neither of which...

Drama - Drama

No, not that one or that one or

Only a Mother - Feral Chickens

What do you get when you combine five highly original and multi-talented musicians with a veritable endless supply of musical instruments? Man, I'd hate to be a roadie for these guys, you'd...

Javier Paxarino - Temurá

New names from Spain are something to look forward to, and Javier Paxariño is one of them. What began as a work in the vein of Jorge Reyes turned out as something that would be at home on a...

Kevin Leonard - Automatrix

In 1992 Kevin Leonard, North Star's keyboardist, released a self-produced solo cassette of eight jazz influenced progressive instrumental compositions. Now he has released this same music on...

Vietgrove - Orbis Tertius

Vietgrove is the British duo of Norman Fay (synths, programming, and 12 string guitar) and Mark Bailey (electric guitar), with guest guitarist LJ Callaghan on a couple tracks. Their sound is a...

Fourth Estate - Finesse and Fury & See What I See

This writer was completely unfamiliar with Fourth Estate prior to their performance on day one of Progscape II, but apparently they've been around a while — certainly long enough to...

Yontz Sucre - Electric Jam

After a 38-second ambient intro that slowly morphs into feedback, North Carolina guitarist Yontz Sucre launches into the first of several smokin' guitar instrumentals that grace this, his debut...

Curved Air - Live at the BBC

Something I hear often regarding Curved Air is complaints about the band's lack of focus and the unevenness of many of their studio recordings. This may be due to the fact that the only...

Sianspheric - Somnium

After an initial listen did little to impress, it got tossed on the loser pile to collect dust for some three months or so. By chance, a second listen revealed that there was a lot more to it than...

Free Access - Yu Pretty But Yu Kian Come In

I was initially a bit surprised when I saw that this band was from Cuba, not a country known for its prog rock. I was immediately won over, though, once I heard what they could put down. What Free...

Living Life - Mysterious Dream

Italian rock from '79 to the mid 80s was very different from the classic 70s period ('72 to '78.) Gone for the most part were the symphonic song structures, heavy romanticism and rich...

Under the Sun - Under the Sun

According to the liner notes, this British six-piece ‘progressive’ band originally pressed only a few hundred copies of this, their only album. Aside from the two lame hard-rock numbers...

David Tudor - Microphone

In 1973 longtime John Cage associate David Tudor recorded the two pieces on this album, which could best be described as ambient sonic experimentation. Low register audio outbursts of varying tone...

Aleph - Surface Tension

What a special album this is, a forgotten rarity that truly is something of a lost classic. Aleph, a sextet based in Sydney, were one of the few Australian bands (along with Sebastian Hardie,...

Jody Grind - One Step On

This obscurity from 1969 is definitely a “close-but-not-quite” attempt at something special. The something in this case is psychedelic rock with heavy guitar and organ combined with a...

Stern-Combo Meissen - Weisses Gold & Reise zum Mittelpunkt des Menschen

Stern Meissen (originally Stern-Combo Meissen) are universally acclaimed as East Germany's greatest progressive rock band. Not wishing to wait for Amiga to reissue their albums, the band took...

Stern-Combo Meissen - Weisses Gold & Reise zum Mittelpunkt des Menschen

Stern Meissen (originally Stern-Combo Meissen) are universally acclaimed as East Germany's greatest progressive rock band. Not wishing to wait for Amiga to reissue their albums, the band took...

Solaris - Marsbéli Krónikák (The Martian Chronicles) & 1990

At long last, The Gong label has stepped forward and re-released Solaris' The Martian Chronicles and 1990. While both these titles have been previously available on CD, both...

Stelvio Cipriani (with Goblin) - Solamente Nero

Funk bass lines, analog synth lines, weird effects, and campy horror movies, no one knows how to mix them like Goblin. The soundtrack of Solamente Nero finally released (like I knew it all...

Geoffrey Downes & The New Dance Orchestra - Vox Humana

The second solo album by this veteran of Yes and Asia comes pretty much in two distinct halves: a pop song half and a more inspired set of short vignettes that hint at the simpler strains of Mike...

Various Artists - Ambience Is Where You Find It

Perhaps that is true, but I can't say I found it anywhere here; neither of the old variety nor the new. Four names appear on this compilation, none of which I know: Urban Ambience, Emile...

Pangée - Hymnemonde

There's been a buzz about this album since early this spring, indeed it was highly touted by all who had heard it, which made this writer both curious and a little suspicious — knowing...

Pangée - Hymnemonde

I thought this niche of the symphonic rock genre was long dead, but I'm very glad it isn't. Pangée of Quebec, Canada is strongly in the 70s French symphonic vein with heavy nods in...

Pangée - Hymnemonde

Listening to this new Quebecois quintet's début album is like stepping into a time-warp and going back to 1972 Germany. Though it is certainly a new release, it is convincingly 70s...

Guru Guru - Seven Reissues

Guru Guru is one of the better known Krautrock bands from the 70s. In Spring 1973 they released their fourth album Guru Guru, engineered by the legendary Conny Plank, featuring drummer...

Ax Genrich - Wave Cut

As guitarist for the German psych / prog band Guru Guru, Ax Genrich combined crunchy power chords, woozy wah-wah effects, and groaning slide work. Fortunately for all of us, Genrich has not...

Ax Genrich - Wave Cut

Hey, anyone in the mood for a cheery toe-tapping experience courtesy of the pleasantries of MIDI sequencers, drum machines, and other groovy techno devices? False alarm! You won't find it here....

Ax Genrich - Wave Cut

Everybody should be on to this by now, one of the most impressive comebacks in psychedelic acid rock ever. Guru Guru's most cathartic and inventive guitarist released Psychedelic...

Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung! - Die Anarchistische Abendunterhaltung!

Much activity has been transpiring in Belgium as of late. First there was Univers Zero, Julverne and Present. There followed a whole slew of groups in the chamber/neo-classical/jazz-rock vein...

No-Man - Flowermix & Heaven Taste

I suppose the music on these two remix CDs by No-Man could be categorized as loosely flirting with the techno / trance / ambient realm of things, but since the exceptions far outweigh the rule, it...

No-Man - Flowermix & Heaven Taste

I suppose the music on these two remix CDs by No-Man could be categorized as loosely flirting with the techno / trance / ambient realm of things, but since the exceptions far outweigh the rule, it...

Earcandy - Sound Is Just the Way You Ear It

Quite a grab bag of psychedelia, this. We covered Earcandy's first two releases (Space Is Just a Place and Time Is Just a State of Mind), both released on LP only,

Rick Wakeman - Say Yes!

I knew Rick Wakeman had a great sense of humor, but I didn't know he was this funny! Told with a true gift for storytelling, Say Yes! should have all but the most hardened...

Steve Verity - Digital Planet

I tried to like this CD, I really did! When I first popped it in my CD player the first few seconds of music blew me away! I thought wow! Here is a new artist composing electronic music...

Team Metlay - Ballistic

In 1990 a group of musicians from across the USA, previously known to each other only through e-mail, met in a Pennsylvania studio under the leadership of one Mike Metlay. During these sessions,...

Caravan - The Battle of Hastings

A reunion of the line-up which brought you For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night (1973) , and The Album (1880), here comes another by a group which has evolved into a well-honed...

Beequeen - Sugarbush

Beequeen is the duo of Frans de Waard and Freek Kinklaar and Sugarbush is their third CD release. Frans is also the erstwhile publisher of the excellent experimental/industrial music...

Various Artists - Neu Konservatiw

I understand that God Mountain doesn't want to become known as a progressive rock label... but with non-album tracks included by bands like Tipographica and Koenji Hyakkei, as well as several...

Gift - Gift / Blue Apple

Gift is one of the second generation of German bands, which aims its sights on rock. Both albums released in the early 70s show the band's love of blistering guitar leads. "Drugs,"...

Krokodil & Düde Dürst - An Invisible World Revealed & Krokodil Solo

Krokodil is a rock band — let's make no mistake. Their strong points are the guitars and vocals. However on An Invisible World Revealed they have mixed in two tracks with a...

Edward Ka-Spel - The Textures of Illumina (EP)

The Textures of Illumina is the latest solo effort by Edward Ka-Spel, the driving force behind the Legendary Pink Dots. On this vinyl-only release, Edward indulges himself in musical...

Klaus Schulze - Revisited Reissues, Part 3

Revisited Records has taken on the mammoth task of reissuing the entire Klaus Schulze back catalog, and these eight albums are what has been reissued so far this year. In addition to using...

Kat Onoma - Far from the Pictures

Kat Onoma, a French five-piece band that plays and sings angst laden music, released Far from the Pictures in May 1995. They are arty and sexy like Roxy Music but with an edge. Their music...

Bartz - P.O.E.A.S.

From the beautiful planetary artwork on P.O.E.A.S. (aka Pictures of Earth and Space) you might expect to experience music to transport you between the planets of our solar system....

Paragong - Live '73

From GAS (Gong Appreciation Society), the same folks that brought us Camembert Eclectique, we now have a disc featuring live recordings by this legendary 1973 Gong spinoff featuring...

Landberk - Unaffected

A rendition of Van der Graaf Generator's "Afterwards" opens this concert disc recorded at the beginning of the year in Italy and Germany. This CD also constitutes the very first issue...

Saga - Generation 13

There's so many good things about this album that I don't know where to begin. It marks a giant step forward for Saga – a 25-track, 69-minute concept album that includes some of the...

Kansas - Freaks of Nature

Their first studio album in seven years, Freaks of Nature marks the return of Kansas. Well, actually they haven't been gone. Even though this marks the first studio release for the...

Various Artists - Sombient Collections: The Throne of Drones & A Swarm of Drones

Asphodel's sombient collections are amongst the finest in the field today. Compiling both distinguished synthesists and relative unknowns, it's a surprise how coherent and homogeneous the...

Various Artists - Sombient Collections: The Throne of Drones & A Swarm of Drones

Asphodel's sombient collections are amongst the finest in the field today. Compiling both distinguished synthesists and relative unknowns, it's a surprise how coherent and homogeneous the...

Michael Stearns - The Lost World

Michael Stearns is in his own right a pioneer in electronic music and sometimes overlooked. Since his first album, Ancient Leaves in 1977 he has released many albums, several such as...

Conrad Schnitzler - Blue Glow & Charred Machinery

Herr Schnitzler is probably the most prolific synthesist (we might as well say musician) on the planet. He has been around since the early days of Kluster and Tangerine Dream (he was a member of...

Günter Schickert - Somnambul

This is one of Musique Intemporelle's Rainbow series, CDs released with a track of CD ROM on each one. I haven't seen the CD ROM portion of this so I can't comment, but the rest of the...

Steve Roach / Michael Stearns / Ron Sunsinger - Kiva

Stearns and Roach have collaborated before on 1989's Desert Solitaire as have Stearns and Sunsinger more recently on Singing Stones. For all three this is the first project...

Robert Rich / B.Lustmord - Stalker

This evidently is music for or from a soundtrack to a movie. I'm of the opinion that most music in this vein would do well as soundtrack music so it doesn’t really figure into my...

Lightwave - Mundus Subterraneus

There’s no question that this electronic ensemble is one of the best exponents of original music around today. This is their third CD after several superb cassettes and is the first release...

El-Hadra - The Mystic Dance

Featuring three respected German new-electronic musicians, Ted de Jong on tabla, Klaus Wiese on zither, and Matthias Grassow on keys, one might hope that the three would use this unusual...

Electric Diamond - Electric Diamond

Electric Diamond is a trio of keyboards (piano and analog synths), lyricon, and violin. The music is all instrumental, and ranges from analog synth renditions of 13th and 14th Century dances to...

Grey Lady Down - Forces

This is the second album for this British five-piece with a dedicated lead vocalist, whose style is firmly in the neo-progressive camp of bands like IQ and others who drive their sound with brite...

Relayer - A Grander Vision

Walking a fine line between progressive and straight ahead rock, Relayer flirts with both these styles but never strays too far toward the progressive side of the spectrum. Vocalist John Sahagian...

No Name - The Secret Garden

Firmly rooted in the "neo-prog" tradition, No Name delivers an album that should have some appeal to fans of similar bands like Marillion, Saga, and IQ. In fact, "Septagone,"...

Prklz - Deuce

A unique blend of many different influences, Prklz mixes their music up with lots of drastically different styles, often within the context of one song. Perhaps due primarily to their guitar / bass...

World Trade - Euphoria

World Trade's second album was released on the new Magna Carta label during the progressive tribute album onslaught of last fall. For those of you unfamiliar with WT, this is the ongoing...

Mayfair - Die Flucht (AKA Escape)

If you're craving for more modern rock, find Mayfair's Escape. The music fits snugly in the 80s college radio camp with bands like R.E.M., U2, and the like – except not...

Rocket Scientists - Earthbound & Brutal Architecture

I wouldn't call the first CD by the Rocket Scientists progressive. It is a collection of songs, predominantly vocal. There is a lot of talent here. RS is Eric Nordlander on keyboards and...

Revelation - Addicted

Happily, this neo-progressive outfit from London avoids copying the overworked Marillion sound so many neo-prog bands favor these days. Instead, they update their sound considerably, with a big...

Lisa Gerrard - The Mirror Pool

Lisa Gerrard is the prime mover behind 4AD trailblazers Dead Can Dance. Her sometimes spooky, sometimes playful vocals have earned her a modest following in the art-rock crowd, often evoking the...

Saro Cosentino / Mino di Martino - TV Dinner

Mino di Martino was one half of Albergo Intergallatico Spaziale (reviewed

Françoise Toullec - Histoire d'Onk

Pianist Françoise Toullec leads her quintet through some mellow and mysterious avant-garde jazz on this intriguing album. Accompanied by acoustic bass, drums, saxophone, and voice, she...

Raison de Plus - Au Bout du Couloir

Although Raison De Plus has been active since the mid-80s – their first recorded work being a single contribution to the Musea compilation LP Enchantement, followed by a single...

Medina Azahara - Paseando por la Mexquita, La Esquina del Viento & Andalucía

Medina Azahara are one of the longest running Spanish symphonic rock bands. If I'm not mistaken, they may still be together. While most of their contemporaries disappeared due to the Spanish...

Network (Conglomerate) - Precisely the Opposite of What We Now Know to Be True

This heavily Miles Davis influenced band effort is like a an extended jam between Terje Rypdal (adding in some ethereal, Bill Frisell-ish overtones) and Group 87. Or more likely a direct comparison...

Network (Groon) - Refusal to Comply

Guitar, bass, and drums. Groon is a three-piece instrumental outfit from the UK with a grungy free-wheeling style that owes as much allegiance to jazz and fusion as it does to rock. You might...

Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale - Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale

Now that nearly all of the classic Italian albums have been reissued, all that remains now is the most obscure material. Case in point... Albergo Intergalattico Spaziale was the duo of Mino di...

Wlud - Carrycroch'

After finally hearing this album it became clear why there was so much fuss and commotion about its reissue. Carrycroch' is the self-produced debut album by this instrumental quartet...

Nirgal Vallis - Y Murio la Tarde

This Mexican quintet dates to the early 80s, to Mexico City's blossoming underground progressive scene. In 1985, they recorded one side of an album, In Principio / Y Murio la Tarde,...

Cast - Endless Signs

Cast has carved a niche for themselves in the neo-prog scene for good reasons. Their sound is very melodic and flowing. As with almost all bands lumped into the "neo-prog" classification,...

Cast - Endless Signs

The perpetually industrious Cast have done it again, with yet another release, Endless Signs. One of the big surprises of Progfest '95, Cast delighted with their strikingly...

Airborne - Walk on Water

Lead vocalist Baggi Buchmann was a prominent contributor to German keyboardist Ines' Hunting the Fox album a couple years ago. Here he is featured with his regular band, a five piece...

Ivanhoe - Symbols of Time

Ivanhoe represent the harder side of neo-prog. That is to say, they incorporate keyboards, a big guitar sound, and dramatic lyrics. On first listen to this album, I whooped with delight as...

Tristan Park - A Place Inside

Simple song structures, basic harmonic progressions, and weak lyrical content place this release squarely in the dangerously-close-to-cheesy neo-prog category. The music can't seem to decide if...

Non Credo - Happy Wretched Family

Though this is only Non Credo's second outing, one listen should erase any question about why it's been so long since their debut, Reluctant Hosts. The Los Angeles duo consists of...

Jean-Paul Prat - Masal

A most welcome reissue. Drummer and bandleader Prat had worked with his band Masal from the early 70s, yet their first and only release was this two-sided 42 minute instrumental opus from nearly a...

Jumbo - Jumbo, DNA, 1983 & Live

The list above is the entire discography of Jumbo except for two rare singles, one from 1970 and one from 1975, and Vietato Ai Minori Di 18 Anni? which is

Ayuo Takahashi's Rok Grouppa - Blue Eyes, Black Hair

This is a very unusual release, at least in the context of the other material Belle Antique has to offer, and another archival one as well (most of the recordings here are from the 1989 timeframe)....

Banzai - Hora Nata

This Flemish quintet have only one album to their name, the 1974 LP Hora Nata, which has become legendary among symphonic progressive collectors. The band is led by the organ playing of...

Bellaphon - Delphi

Probably best known for their 1987 album, Firefly, this instrumental four-piece existed from around 1982, and co-existed with the mid-80s Ain Soph, keyboardist Mitsutaka Kaki and drummer...

Trembling Strain - Anthem to Raise the Dead

Hiroyuki Shimada, a.k.a. Pneuma, now reappears in the 90s in completely different guise. He now fronts Trembling Strain,...

Shingetsu / Serenade - Shingetsu, Night Collector & Akai Me No Kagami

Shingetsu was one of the classic Japanese symphonic bands, and their self titled Shingetsu album from 1979 is highly regarded, and often compared to classic period Genesis, if only for the...

Pneuma - Psychabuse

The release of Pneuma's CD represents a much-needed effort at filling the gaps in the huge hole that has opened up in Japan with this genre: that of the solo electronic / synth. artist. For...

Collage - Changes

This Polish five piece is no doubt best known for their CD Moonshine from 1994 released on the SI label, or the LP Basnie that preceded it in 1990. Their sound is firmly in the...

Cinema - The Seven Stories

Cinema are a new project that Belle Antique are promoting. The band consists of former members of Fromage, and includes two keyboardists, an operatic female vocalist, and string players performing...

Bi Kyo Ran - Go-Un

Bi Kyo Ran were the Japanese equivalent of mid period King Crimson from the obvious "Larks Tongues in Aspic" copy at the beginning of their self-titled debut to one of their recently...

Magical Power Mako - Music from Heaven, Trance Resonance & Lo Pop Diamonds

Mako seems to delight in perpetrating an image of mystery and enigma. With a history going back to 1975, and a load of albums, he never seems to settle into a singular style. However, along the way...

Various Artists - Lost Years in Labyrinth II

Unlike volume one, there is no theme governing this one other than the fact that all the groups record for Belle Antique. They have intended it as a sort of beginner's guide. All the songs are...

Various Artists - Lost Years in Labyrinth II

Remember Lost Years in Labyrinth? It featured material by four Japanese Canterbury-ish/Chamber Rock bands — Lacrymosa, Il Berlione, Zypressen, and Soft Weed Factor. OK, now forget...

The Band from Utopia - A Tribute to the Music of Frank Zappa

What we have here is basically a romp down memory lane by the members (mostly) of Frank Zappa's 1988 touring band ("Make a Jazz Noise Here", "The Best Band You've Never Seen...

Goma - 14 Abril

Goma was a five piece in the grand Spanish tradition, mixing a hard rock sound with elements of folk, in many ways similar to bands like Triana and Bloque, but Goma came several years earlier, and...

Errobi - Ametsaren Bidea

Another among a number of great bands from the Basque region in northern Spain, Errobi produced four albums between 1978 and 1982: Errobi, Gure Lekukotasuna, Ametsaren...

Lisker - Lisker

Featuring a no-keyboard lineup and two guitars, Lisker don't immediately seem likely to be a source of good olde prog. But this offbeat Basque group are not to be written off so easily. The...

Philippe Lenfant de Dagobert - Suite Mégalique Apocalyptico Foulfuitique

Well, what can I say? His name sounds pompous, as does the hyperextended title of the album (and 20 minute opening track), and three guesses what the music sounds like? Imagine early Vangelis on...

Michel Ettori - Higher Life

Some may remember Ettori's name from the lineup of the late 70s Magma spinoff Weidorje, he was the band's guitarist. He also appeared on follow-up albums by Jean-Philippe Goude and Patrick...

Heldon - Agneta Nilsson & Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale

With these two reissues over the last few months, Cuneiform have faithfully completed their exhaustive Pinhas/Heldon reissue series. While both of these albums are rightly considered transitional...

Sixty Nine - Circle of the Crayfish & Live!

Sixty Nine were an unusual "group" being only a duo of keyboards and drums. For these limitations, Sixty Nine made a pretty big sound, a combination of influences that on the more mundane...

Sixty Nine - Circle of the Crayfish & Live!

Sixty Nine were an unusual "group" being only a duo of keyboards and drums. For these limitations, Sixty Nine made a pretty big sound, a combination of influences that on the more mundane...

Spacecraft - Paradoxe

John Livengood may be better known for his recent collaborations with Richard Pinhas, but this was his electronic duo back in the late 70s, joined by Ivan Coaquette on guitars and bass. Their...

Séguin - Récolte de Rêves

Quebec, 1975. Like many other places in the world, a popular trend was to get back to the earth, to get back listening to the heart in a simple way, far from the concerns of cities and the humdrum...

Limbus 3 - Cosmic Music Experience (AKA New Atlantis)

Germany is a virtual goldmine of experimental music, and it still awes me how cutting edge some of the music was from the late 60s / early 70s. Limbus 3 were a very unusual outfit, bridging...

Zou - Bouzillator

Zou, not to be confused with Zao, nor with an earlier Zou, is another excellent French jazz-rock band on Musea Parallele, Musea's side label for bands stylistically different from their...

Claude Lamothe - Nu

Flight after the escape. Derailment. Unconfined wildlife. Frenetic cello, rhythmic cello, unbridled cello soloing. Claude Lamothe, cellist with a classical formation, who played with the chamber...

Cinema Show - Dança dos Ventos

Nothing original about their name, but I was surprised by the plethora of creative compositional ideas put forth by this young Brazilian five-piece from Porto Alegre. As one might suspect, their...

Trem do Futuro - Trem do Futuro

Trem do Futuro ("Future Train") is a young six-piece from Brazil that shows a lot of promise on this, their debut album. A standard four-piece of guitar / keyboards / bass / drums is...

Via Lumini - What Have We Done About Us?

Singer and producer João Kurk is listed in the credits simply as a 'Special Guest,' while the five instrumentalists (B3+piano+synth, guitars, drums, bass, and flute) comprise the...

Jeremy - Pilgrim's Journey

So who is this guy without a last name? Actually, Jeremy Morris (a.k.a. Jeremy) has a number of records out as a Christian folk-rock singer. This time out he's set out to convey a similar...

Everon, Wings of Steel, Dilemma & Summer Indoors - 1995 Releases

These four releases represent the more commercial side of the SI sound, and while I'm happy to report on them, they do seem at a bit of a letdown compared to other more challenging and...

Everon, Wings of Steel, Dilemma & Summer Indoors - 1995 Releases

These four releases represent the more commercial side of the SI sound, and while I'm happy to report on them, they do seem at a bit of a letdown compared to other more challenging and...

Everon, Wings of Steel, Dilemma & Summer Indoors - 1995 Releases

These four releases represent the more commercial side of the SI sound, and while I'm happy to report on them, they do seem at a bit of a letdown compared to other more challenging and...

Everon, Wings of Steel, Dilemma & Summer Indoors - 1995 Releases

These four releases represent the more commercial side of the SI sound, and while I'm happy to report on them, they do seem at a bit of a letdown compared to other more challenging and...

D.I.M. - Natural Needs

Normally I don't go for prog-metal, but this Norwegian four piece is so far above average that I can't help get excited about their debut Natural Needs. D.I.M. (which stands for...

The Ancient Veil - The Ancient Veil

Imagine the following sonic configurations: voice, acoustic guitar, alto recorder, fretless bass, and tabla; accoustic guitar, soprano sax, tenor recorder, oboe, double bass, and cymbals; a full...

Aufklärung - De' la Tempesta... l'Oscuro Piacere

An Italian band with a German name that sings in English? Okay. Aufklärung is a five piece of bass, keys, drums and two guitars, with guest vocals handled by Chicco Grosso – if that name...

Calliope - Il Madrigale del Vento

Some are no doubt familiar with Calliope's two earlier albums La Terra dei Grandi Occhi and Città di Frontiera from '92 and '93 respectively. Those first two...

Epica, Arpia & Hyaena - Confini, Liberazione & Scene

Pick Up Records is a relatively new Italian label, their first release (Midian's Soulinside) came at the end of 1994, and they have since released a number of releases by relatively...

Epica, Arpia & Hyaena - Confini, Liberazione & Scene

Pick Up Records is a relatively new Italian label, their first release (Midian's Soulinside) came at the end of 1994, and they have since released a number of releases by relatively...

Epica, Arpia & Hyaena - Confini, Liberazione & Scene

Pick Up Records is a relatively new Italian label, their first release (Midian's Soulinside) came at the end of 1994, and they have since released a number of releases by relatively...

Presence & Alembic Virtual - The Sleeper Awakes & Müsikaall

For those who enjoy a dark and sinister progressive rock fronted by female vocals – in the vein of Tale Cue, Stromboli, and the like – these two releases are essential listening. Both...

Skozey Fetisch - Momma: Key

Skozey Fetisch AKA Mark C. Jackman is both an experimental composer and a visual artist working with oils and canvas. Momma:Key, Jackman's debut release, contains 31 songs, most under...

Magma - Concert - Bobino 1981

The latest release on Vander's AKT label is a two CD set featuring live material from 1981. The band at this point was fairly versatile, with multi-keyboards and horns joining the multi-vocal,...

Die Engel des Herrn - Live! As Hippie Punks

Some people may be familiar with the name Klaus Dinger. For the uninitiated, he was an early member of Kraftwerk, the founder of Neu! and La Düsseldorf, and current godfather of Die (b)Engel...

Mind Gallery - Guilty until Proven Rich

This second offering by Mind Gallery dwells mostly in straightforward material. That is not to say it's a bad thing, or that prog amateurs' heaven is in 13/7 land exclusively. No. But when...

Robert Berry - Pilgrimage to a Point

Robert Berry has been making music around the San Francisco Bay Area for about 20 years now – maybe longer. Probably his only national attention came during the late 80s when he teamed up...

Cutler/DiMuzio/Vrtacek, Church of Betty & The Code - Ponk 1995 Releases

These are three of the latest releases from the Ponk label, formerly FOT, probably best known for their series of "Passed Normal" compilations. Besides sharing a label, the only other...

Cutler/DiMuzio/Vrtacek, Church of Betty & The Code - Ponk 1995 Releases

These are three of the latest releases from the Ponk label, formerly FOT, probably best known for their series of "Passed Normal" compilations. Besides sharing a label, the only other...

Cutler/DiMuzio/Vrtacek, Church of Betty & The Code - Ponk 1995 Releases

These are three of the latest releases from the Ponk label, formerly FOT, probably best known for their series of "Passed Normal" compilations. Besides sharing a label, the only other...

Ynos - Chill out Sector

Creating floating formless sound sculptures that aggregate and dissolve, referentially in the early Tangerine Dream style, albeit on more modern digital style equipment, Ynos is apparently two...

Tim Story - In Another Country

Story, probably better known for his more recent work on Windham Hill and Hearts of Space, released his first two albums on cassette in the early 80s. This, his second, finally received an LP...

Richard Bone - X Considers Y, Ambiento & Vox Orbita

Although Richard Bone may be best known for his forays into the alternative techno-pop realms in the mid 80s, his work of late, while still being very electronic based and often poppy, has been far...

Marge Litch - The Ring of Truth & Crystal Heart in the Fountain

A Japanese symphonic band that has been active since the mid-80s, Marge Litch released their first CD, Fantasien, in 1991 after a long string of cassette-only releases. The Ring of...

Abacus - Everything You Need

In the early seventies in Germany, there seemed to be three subsections of progressive rock: 1) the "Berlin school" of electronic space rock forming the basis for the Ohr label; 2) heavy,...

Atlas - Blå Vardag

This is one of those gems, a rare item on vinyl that is indeed a lost classic. All the elements of progressive rock greatness are here in abundance: superb musicianship, brilliant compositions,...

Blind Owl - Debut at Dusk

The story behind this is that in 1987, the cassette, LP, and CD were all supposed to receive a simultaneous release. Apparently somebody dropped the ball – the LP was released, but the CD...

Surprise - Assault on Merryland

Surprise was an American symphonic rock band with influences ranging from Yes to Kansas to Deep Purple. As with many US progressives, Surprise were fairly commercially oriented at times –...

Stormy Six - L'Idee di Oggi per la Musica Domani & L'Unità

Stormy Six are perhaps better known for their involvement with Rock In Opposition in the late 70s and early 80s. Their later output such as Al Volo were interesting pop rock albums with an...

Glass Hammer - Perelandra

It's terribly sad to me that many people's impression of "progressive rock" goes no farther than Yes, Genesis, or their countless soundalikes. I don't want to be too hard on...

Glass Hammer - Perelandra

If you're looking for a good keyboard album, then look no further. Glass Hammer has lots to offer in that department. There are some great keyboard parts on Perelandra and the...

Glass Hammer - Perelandra

My first impressions of the album were that the music is a trite retread of the same standard progressive ideas, just performed by a different set of enthusiastic fans using weakly written...

Biota - Object Holder

If you're looking for some music that's "out there," then Biota may be just the album for you. With a large line up that includes Chris Cutler of Henry Cow fame, Biota encompasses...

Biota - Object Holder

A project over two years in the making, this effort includes a huge number of musicians on 24 tracks, the most notable names being RIO staple Chris Cutler (percussion, electronics) and Susanne...

Biota - Object Holder

I must admit up front that Biota has been around a lot longer than I have been tuned in to their music. My introduction, less than two years ago, was an early LP titled Horde by the...

Gongzilla - Suffer

First of all, Gongzilla's Suffer isn't the non-stop smokin' and jammin' album some people think it is. Rather, it's well balanced, with both excellent guitar work (by...

Dragonfly - Dragonfly

Not to be confused with the American early-70s band of the same name, this is the long awaited reissue of the Swiss keyboard masterpiece, with a full 23 minutes of superb bonus material added....

The Gathering - Mandylion

I've heard this group mentioned in the same breath as The Third and the Mortal, so I decided to check out one of their releases. Hailing from the Netherlands, The Gathering is Rene Rutten...

Mastermind - III - Tragic Symphony

Mastermind's third album is the first to see release on a major label. Mastermind are Bill and Rich Berends (brothers from New Jersey) who continue on in Volume III much as they did...

Mastermind - III - Tragic Symphony

Upon first hearing "Tiger! Tiger!" (a neo-prog/hard-rock adaptation of the famous William Blake poem and the first song on the album), I didn't have high hopes for the rest of the...

Alo Mattiisen - Read

After some none-too-fulfilling encounters with the likes of Eloy Fritsch and Artemiy Artemiev, I was becoming weary of what my next task with reviewing synthesizer-based music would hold. Alas,...

England - The Last of the Jubblies

Best known for their classic Garden Shed, England will forever be remembered as one of the few "new" bands of the late 70s United Kingdom brave enough to make unadulterated,...

Jon Jenkins & Paul Lackey - Continuum

Of all the Spotted Peccary releases to date, Continuum is by far the most dense, lush, and intensely symphonic. The material seems to focus on the essence of life, self-realization, and...

Tiemko - Clone

Tiemko are a French trio (here with guests) who have been around since the late 80s. The present offering is their fourth album, and it's been at least several years since their last release...

Tiemko - Clone

Sadly no longer together, Tiemko were perhaps the most consistently inventive and musicianly of the new wave of French prog on Musea. After two uneven but promising albums, the promise was at last...

Bi Kyo Ran - Go-Un

Known for years as the group that sounds more like King Crimson than King Crimson themselves, Bi Kyo Ran have reformed after many years away, in the process growing from a trio to an eight-piece of...

Happy Family - Happy Family

Happy Family recently created a stir in the prog world without ever releasing an album. They are one of those rare few who received a great deal of hype, not by record dealers, but rather by fans....

Happy Family - Happy Family

Here it is at last, the musical equivalent of a 1001 Centigrade enema, the debut of the legendary Happy Family. This one is not for the saccharine-fluffy prog types, this is like Slayer...

Happy Family - Happy Family

The long awaited debut CD by this Japanese four-piece is finally here, and indeed it was well worth the wait. It delivers on all the promises that might be expected after hearing the various live...

Various Artists - Riddle of Lumen

From the dark abrasive regions of cement and steel, where rock meets noise in an industrial apocalyptic nightmare, comes the first CD from the Japanese FMN Tape label... I suppose this means that...

B.J. Cole - The Heart of the Moment

Veteran pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole became visible on the UK music horizon within several contexts by this release from his Transparent Music Ensemble in 1995. Since 1989’s Transparent...

Project Lo - Dabblings in Darkness

An acoustic guitar, a soprano saxophone on a backdrop where a fretless bass harmonizes and slides smoothly over percussion while synthesizer chords wash away is an appropriate description for this...

Dunwich - Sul Monte e il Tuono & Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte

Sometimes one gets totally caught off guard. I'd hadn't even heard of this excellent band before I received a promo of their latest Il Chiarore Sorge Due Volte. Further...

P.O.N. - P.O.N.

Led by drummer Masahiro Uemura, P.O.N. is a sax-drums-guitar trio that adds guests on vibes, bass, and occasional violin. Guitar duties are handled by Natsuki Kido of Bondage Fruit, for this, their...

The Load - Load Have Mercy

The story of The Load is a familiar one. A talented and uncompromising young band records an album's worth of material, takes it to a number of different record companies, they all say they...

Simon Says - Ceinwen

The rumors are true. It has now been mathematically proven that every person in Sweden does, in fact, own a Mellotron. They all bought them about ten to fifteen years ago from Americans who...

The Duringer Expeditions - Volume One

Every now and then something comes along that's so unusual or revolutionary that one has to stand up and take note. What's revolutionary about this album is not so much the music, but how...

Aragon - Mouse

Every time the subject of this Australian neo-progressive three-piece comes up, someone almost immediately says something negative about singer Les Dougan, along with something mildly complementary...

Kevin Ferguson - Strad to Strat

An impressive effort, bringing the compositions of Paganini, Wieniawski, Vivaldi, Bach, Sarasate, and Rimsky-Korsakov from the realm of violins, string quartets, and orchestras to the world of the...

Annie Haslam's Renaissance - Blessing in Disguise

Annie Haslam's third solo outing is about the best set of songs she's recorded since her last work with the band whose name is referenced in the title (though I'm not really certain...

Michael P. Dawson - Brandnewbug Concertos

An interesting album indeed. Dawson is a Bay Area composer who originally released an earlier version of this (subtitled "Papa's Got a Brand New Bug") on cassette at the end of 1994....

Cliffhanger - Cold Steel

It's been a while since we've heard from SI Music, the Dutch label whose main thrust seems to range from decent neo-progressive bands on one end, to a very mainstream sounding rock on the...

Athena - Inside, the Moon

I remember the first time I heard Dream Theater. I thought, "I bet a lot of bands will go for this type of sound in the future." Just when I was beginning to think I was wrong, Athena has...

Saddar Bazaar - The Conference of the Birds

An instrumental four-piece from the UK, Saddar Bazaar sports a strong ethnic flavor, featuring a variety of non-western instruments such as sitar, kubing, dholak, agoual, and tablas, as well as the...

Moonloonies - Detonator

The Moonloonies are the latest from Mystic Stones' arsenal of neo-psych electronic bands. Essentially the duo of Crum and Cozmo, the creators of the neo-psych band Shockhead, they deliver...

Nick Riff - Cloak of Immortality

Cleveland's Nick Riff should be a familiar name to followers of the neo- psychedelic scene, from his original band The Attitude's 1986 five-song EP, to his earlier releases (Heart of...

Chris Savourey - Chris Savourey

Looks are deceiving. Sure, this leather clad biker dude on the cover, clutching a flashy black Ibanez and covered with tattoos might lead one to believe this is just some average screaming hard...

Kava Kava - You Can Live Here

Blasting off with "Headset," a big bluesy rock song with brass trimmings, one might be reminded of Colosseum or other great British bands of the early 70s. Each track that follows...

Moom - Toot

Moom is a new four-piece (but who's that fifth guy in the picture?) from the UK that many might enjoy. Vital and energetic, they combine some strong elements of the Canterbury sound with the...

Dogma - Twin Sunrise

This brand new album by Brazilian band Dogma showcases a wider instrumentation in which Fernando Campos' acoustic guitar brings on many delicate moments, alongside compositions that are making...

Phish - A Live One

Ask any Phish fan and they'll tell you that the band's natural habitat is most definitely on stage, in front of a live audience. So after five studio albums, Phish finally present a...

Siamese Stepbrothers - Siamese Stepbrothers

An unlikely amalgam of musicians, The Siamese Stepbrothers carry forward a spirit of improvisation that seems to cross all time and musical boundaries. Bits of rock, jazz, psych, and other forms...

Zero Gravity - Space Does Not Care

Zero Gravity is the vehicle of one Len del Rio, a recent associate from the Nik Turner camp. Del Rio programs a variety of synths, sequencers, drum machines, samples, and other electronics, while...

Melting Euphoria - Upon the Solar Winds

In the beginning there was LSD; San Francisco responded with music. The psychedelic music of mid-late 60s San Francisco reached across the ocean to the UK, and touched bands like Pink Floyd and...

Spiral Realms - Trip to G9

Simon House is an esteemed musician in my opinion, continually inventive and quite diverse, being the violin / keys player for the classic '69-'70 period High Tide, a short stint with Third...

Anubian Lights - The Eternal Sky

Cleopatra has been surprising of late with their output; the Space Daze compilation and Spiral Realms releases were both pleasant surprises. Anubian Lights is another solid release. The...

Tangle Edge - In Search of a New Dawn

It's great to finally see this album on CD, the vinyl debut of the underappreciated Tangle Edge. While the band's sound has changed considerably since it came out in 1989, adding sax and...

Niagara - S.U.B.

Niagara were an early 70s German jazz rock outfit that released three albums of heavily percussion-oriented music. In fact, on this, their second album there are often four percussionists playing...

Ragnarök - Ragnarök

Unlike a lot of prog-rock groups who try to impress the listener with lots of flashy solos, using overdubs and multiple keyboards like so much musical spackle, the Swedish group Ragnarök...

Nekropolis & Peter Frohmader - Live & Stringed Works

For those of you disillusioned with the lack of early Frohmader / Nekropolis reissues on CD (whatever happened to the plans on the Sensorium label?), here's the reissues of Nekropolis' live...

A Piedi Nudi - Creazione

Ah yes, echoes of the great ones! This, A Piedi Nudi's second album (unless there are others the writer doesn't know about) is a giant step in the right direction. Having been only...

Amon Düül II - Nada Moonshine #

If there was one German band that embodied the true spirit of German "space rock," it was A.D.2. They took the early vibes of Pink Floyd and carried them into a whole new dimension of...

Ruins - Hyderomastgroningem

With this album, this Japanese duo provides a pithy follow-up to their 1993 album Graviyaunausch. Ruins comes back in full force with 20 new compositions clocking in at nearly 70 minutes....

Finisterre - Finisterre

Finisterre is another debut from the country with more bands than fans. While many of Italy's newer outfits fall squarely in mediocrity, Finisterre looks like one of the brighter spots. The...

Finisterre - Finisterre

How good it is to hear a new Italian band with such a solid footing in the 70s. Sure they tinker around with some neo-progressivisms (and they do that quite well also), but it's clear that this...

Carl Weingarten - The Acoustic Shadow

The Acoustic Shadow is presented by Carl Weingarten as a sort of soundtrack to a lost story. Giving enigmatic and ambiguous track titles and utilizing everything from non-western folk...

Carl Weingarten - The Acoustic Shadow

What a treat this is. Weingarten is perhaps best known for his skills on the dobro (acoustic slide guitar played on the lap), he has a startling depth to his musical vision as well. The entire...

Carl Weingarten - The Acoustic Shadow

For fifteen years or so, guitarist Carl Weingarten has been active, releasing several albums under his own name, and collaborating on several more with the likes of Joe Venegoni, Kit Watkins,...

Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight

After six years, Steve Hogarth's output with Marillion has reached this, their fourth album since the departure (and some would say demise) of Fish. The most immediate thing about Afraid of...

Marillion - Afraid of Sunlight

With all of the bad things I had heard about this album before even listening to it, I was wondering if Afraid of Marillion might be a more appropriate title. I ultimately overcame my fear...

King Crimson - Thrak

While the earlier release Vrooom was essentially a rehearsal of material destined for this album, it was also a far more condensed unit of what would be the most important tracks on the...

Mike Oldfield - The Songs of Distant Earth & Hibernaculum

Here is the latest release from Mike Oldfield and what an innovation it is! The Songs of Distant Earth is the first CD I've encountered that marries CD-ROM with audio CD. In addition...

Opus Avantra - Lyrics

The latest from Opus Avantra finds pianist Alfredo Tisocco conducting his ensemble of strings and woodwinds through a variety of modern and avant-garde tinged compositions. Influences range from...

Opus Avantra - Lyrics

Only their fourth release in 22 years, yet it is surprising to see how this band has stuck to their guns, combining classical, folk, and avant-garde elements, and not given into the temptation to...

Opus Avantra - Lyrics

Opus Avantra (see overview in issue #7) were quite a unique combo. Led by Alfredo Tisocco and vocalist Donella del Monaco, Opus Avantra have been around since the mid 70s when they released two...

The Light - On a New Horizon

Firmly rooted in the more commercial prog-rock of the late seventies, this quintet from Los Angeles have captured that nice fat sound of bands like Saga, Styx, Boston and Kansas in their heyday, a...

Light - Light

It's rejuvenating to hear a modern-sounding progressive rock band that is driven by a solid guitar player. With Light, Mario Driessen not only supplies the guitar, he also writes all the music...

Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante

Mr Bungle? In Exposé? Aren't they the group the lead singer from Faith No More is in? Yes this is Mr. Bungle, a group radically changed from their debut several years ago and a...

Steve Tibbetts - Steve Tibbetts

At long last! Finally the eponymous first album by Minnesota guitarist Steve Tibbetts has been reissued. Folks familiar only with his work of late may be a little surprised by the flowing acoustic...

Peter Frohmader - Homunculus 1-4 / Ritual

Multimood, already surprising us with the well packaged Stringed Works, has done it again with this three albums on 2CD package. Comprised of three of Frohmader's best albums, this is...

Osiris - Myths & Legends

Bahrain is a small group of islands in the Persian Gulf. Of all the places one wouldn't expect as a source of progressive music, it has got to be near the top of the list. But think about it,...

Sithonia - Confine

Sithonia certainly stand apart from their neo-prog contemporaries. Their influence draws mainly not on Genesis, but on classic 70s bands from their native Italy like Metamorfosi and Biglietto per...

Sithonia - Confine

This fourth album by Sithonia, a modern Italian band, brings an up-front approach to their style, underlined by lots of chordal guitar work supported by keyboard pads, contrasting a bit from their...

The Third and the Mortal - Nightswan & Painting on Glass

Not long ago, you may recall, this Norwegian band gave us their debut releases: the mini-CD Sorrow and its full-length companion Tears Laid In Earth. These were promising but...

The Third and the Mortal - Nightswan & Painting on Glass

Somewhere between Hawkwind at half speed and Ozric Tentacles at quarter impulse lies The 3rd and ghe Mortal – floating out into space at a pace that'll make you swear you're moving in...

The Third and the Mortal - Nightswan & Painting on Glass

Scandinavian symphonic rock groups are discernibly gaining their own sound now. Following in the footsteps of groups like Anekdoten, Landberk, and especially White Willow (who could be their...

Babe Ruth - Greatest Hits

First, a bit of a history lesson. British band Babe Ruth debuted in 1972, sporting an incendiary hard rock sound ignited by the forceful voice of Janita "Jennie" Haan and jamming...

Älgarnas Trädgård - Framtiden Är Ett Svävande Skepp, Förankrat I Forntiden

Swedish ensemble Älgarnas Trädgård in many ways were the Scandinavian equivalent of Pierrot Lunaire and were an incredibly unique and inventive group of musicians. Their sole album...

Various Artists - Pick & Mix

Whether it's Delerium, Musea, Cuneiform, SI, Kinesis, or whatever label, a sampler CD is probably the best way to get familiar with a lot of new artists in short order. Typically, these CDs are...

Jester's Crown - Above the Storm

Forget about the jester, it's not neo-prog or any other sort of music one would normally associate jesters with. JC is a very promising four-piece from the Ann Arbor, Michigan area, playing...

Ziff - Stories

This is the first release I've heard on Musea's new side-label Angular Records, so it's too soon to predict what the 'sound' of the label will be, but for this release at least,...

Various Artists - Patch Work Music

A collective of French electronic musicians, Patch Work Music offers a sampling of the music of five of France's finest. Three tracks by Christian Gérard, two each by Olivier...

Tideline - Siren Song

Where is the audience for an album of commercial pop variety songs with unusual arrangements, and an occasional mildly avant-garde pop surprise thrown into the stew? I cringed when I first heard...

Deyss - Vision in the Dark

Just the mere mention of the Swiss band Deyss is enough to send many progressive fans – even hard core neo-progressive loyalists – into cringe-fits or outbursts of hysterical laughter,...

Xaal - Seconde Ere

Finally, the long overdue second Xaal disc that almost never materialized, and were it not for the persistence of Bernard Gueffier and others at Musea, it could have remained in the vaults forever....

Apogee - The Border of Awareness

Arne Schäfer, aka Apogee, is a German multi-instrumentalist/composer and also-member of the group Versus X, who recorded the material on this, his debut album, over a six year period beginning...

Fancyfluid - The Sheltering Sea

Not having heard Fancyfluid's second album, this – their third – is a vast improvement over their debut Weak Waving. Musically the band has come a long way, they are...

Isopoda - Acrostichon

Here is another release from the post-prog period, a good band who either didn't get their album ready early enough to catch the 70s prog-wave, or refused to prostitute their ideals in favor of...

Kadwaladyr - The Last Hero

Kadwaladyr, one of Musea's latest discoveries, is a band from Brittany playing a distinctive blend of Celtic and French progressive music reminiscent of Malicorne without the vocals. This is a...

Pentacle - Le Clef des Songes

This reissue is a long time coming for Musea, as this nifty piece of French history has only seen one Japanese LP reissue since its Arcane release in 1975 (that is barring a French reissue). This...

Trace - Trace

Frankly, it's amazing that this album (and the two Trace albums that followed) has eluded reissue so long! A super-group of sorts, their albums sold quite well and the first two were even...

Laraaji / Roger Eno - Islands

First of all, this album is not a collaboration between Laraaji and Roger Eno. It is a split live album with separate performances from the two, recorded at the Lanzarote Music Festival in 1989....

Pneuma - Psychabuse

A repetitive pattern recalling the spirit of "Tubular Bells" introduces the listener, continuing long after its worn out it's welcome, creating a nervous tension – nothing could...

Cairo - Cairo

Having heard the Frog Pest sampler tape, I was expecting quite a bit, as Cairo's long 20 minute cut (that appears here as well) was very promising. The track was a cross between...

Hugh Hopper Band - Carousel

Former Soft Machine bassist Hopper has pretty much kept a low profile throughout most of the 80s, so it's good to see him active again. His latest project is a band bearing his name, recorded...

Hugh Hopper Band - Carousel

For the past decade bassist Hugh Hopper has played bandleader to a number of different lineups, all of which have been oriented primarily towards live gigs. Carousel finds him back in the...

Peter Hammill - The Peel Sessions

At last the quintessential cult artist has received the cherished BBC Peel sessions treatment! Peter Hammill' 25th official release (excluding recent compilations and bootlegs of note)...

Asia - Asia / Armed to the Teeth

Bloque - El Hijo del Alba

Anekdoten - Nucleus

Tipographica - The Man Who Does Not Nod

Tipographica - The Man Who Does Not Nod

A Triggering Myth - Between Cages

A Triggering Myth - Between Cages

A Triggering Myth - Between Cages

Anekdoten - Nucleus

Anekdoten - Nucleus

Kenso - Kenso I

Už Jsme Doma - Pohádky Ze Zapotrebí

Už Jsme Doma - Pohádky Ze Zapotrebí

Už Jsme Doma - Pohádky Ze Zapotrebí

Garden Wall - The Seduction of Madness

Garden Wall - The Seduction of Madness

Garden Wall - The Seduction of Madness

Garden Wall - The Seduction of Madness

Soft Heap - A Veritable Centaur

Steve Roach & Vidna Obmana - Well of Souls

Hoenig / Göttsching - Early Water

Carl Weingarten - Redwood Melodies

Urban Sax - Urban Sax à Jakarta

Jean-Pascal Boffo - Offrande

Anthony Phillips - Anthology

Adiemus - Songs of Sanctuary

Soft Machine - Live at the Paradiso 1969

Lana Lane - Love Is An Illusion

Abiogenesi - Abiogenesi

Christian Vander - Baba Yaga la Sorcière

Roedelius - Selbsportrait 6: Diary of the Unforgotten

Ozric Tentacles - Become the Other

Ritual - Ritual

Altered States - Mosaic

Landberk - Dream Dance

Simon Steensland - The Zombie Hunter

Braindance - Fear Itself

Kultivator - Barndomens Stigar

Kit Watkins - Holographic Tapestries

Kit Watkins - Holographic Tapestries

Kit Watkins - Holographic Tapestries

Forrest Fang - Folklore

Forrest Fang - Folklore

Echolyn - As the World

Echolyn - As the World

Echolyn - As the World

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Dancing on A'a

Birdsongs of the Mesozoic - Dancing on A'a

Timothy Pure - The Fabric of Betrayal

Patrick Broguière - Brocéliande

Klaus Schulze - Historic Edition

It's getting expensive to be a Klaus Schulze fan these days, especially having this released so soon after the monumental Silver Edition. This new 10 CD set is a retrospective of his more...

David Borden - Places, Times & People

Frank Zappa / Ensemble Modern - The Yellow Shark

Galahad - Sleepers

Comus - First Utterance

McLatchey's Top Tier #7

One of my personal favorites of my own reviews was the one I did a few years ago for this album, but of course I managed to misplace it somewhere and am...

Kit Watkins - Azure, Sunstruck & In Time

Everyone should at least be aware of who Kit Watkins is. His first gig was keyboardist with the acclaimed Happy the Man, who released two outstanding albums in the late 70s, for which Kit penned...

Enchant - A Blueprint of the World

Bill Nelson - Buddha Head & Weird Critters

Leger de Main - The Concept of Our Reality (10th Anniversary Edition)

[Note: This review was written of the original release.]

Here is an album worth getting excited about. Leger de Main, based in Ohio is simply a trio, brothers Brett and Chris Rodler...

Ange - 1995 Musea Reissues

These seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...

Ange - 1995 Musea Reissues

These seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...

Ange - 1995 Musea Reissues

These seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...

Ange - 1995 Musea Reissues

These seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...

Ange - 1995 Musea Reissues

These seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...

Ange - 1995 Musea Reissues

These seven titles by the legendary Ange represent part of Musea's big score from absorbing the Baillemont label late last year. Although most of these have been released on CD before — not once,...

Yochk'o Seffer / Neffesh Music - Ghilgoul

Christian Décamps & Fils - Vesoul

Tetragon - Nature

Zao - Osiris

Death Organ - 9 to 5

Lars Stroschen / Jörg Thomasius / André Ruschkowski - Tonart Vier

Robert Rich & Lisa Moskow - Yearning

Jean-Paul Prat - Masal

Masal is another lost classic of French progressive music resurrected by Musea. This is strong gutsy music with a statement to make much in the style of Magma, Heldon, and King Crimson....

Metlay - Band of Fire

Lands End - Terra Serranum

Horslips - Collection

Finally a representative collection of the work of this excellent Irish folk-rock band that doesn't focus exclusively on their hits. This 2CD collection - both discs full length, traces the band's...

Meira Asher - Dissected

Kilgore Trout - KGT

Cyrille Verdeaux - Messenger of the Son

Jade Warrior - Elements: The Island Anthology

Amon Düül II - Eternal Flashback

(Tom Newman) - Variations on a Rhythm of Mike Oldfield - David Bedford

This is a four track EP, and is basically a Tom Newman album. It's confusing, I know. This is some of that stuff you know Oldfield and Co. did for laughs (when perhaps beer and worse entered the...

King Crimson - B'Boom - Live in Argentina

Azalia Snail - Escape Maker