Band of Light - Total Union (1973 A'lian blues hard rock)

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Madder Lake - Still Point (1973 A'lian prog)

I always considered Australia as a prog wasteland. It is not too much of a charge considering that the UK was the clear leader in this movement, Germany was a distant second and pretty much every other country was way way back. With Spectrum being the only well known Australian band that could be classified as prog, I had ignored the scene until recently. Spectrum have their moments (pretty much all of them on Milesago) but are barely worth mentioning in the same breath as the true prog kings of the early 70s. Fortunately I got my hands on the Madder Lake Aztec releases which, while certainly not prog worldbeaters either, opened my eyes to the burgeoning prog scene in Australia circa 1973 and in that sense Madder Lake could almost be considered as the contemporaries of the 2nd generation of British prog (approx 1972 - 1976) and should be judged accordingly.

With the introductory paragraph attempting to lay down my perspective and appreciation for this prog scene, it is almost a paradox to state that often the best moments of Still Point are when the band are at their poppiest. The band was certainly not averse to a catchy refrain: 'On My Way to Heaven', '12-lb Toothbrush' and 'Goodbye Lollipop' are all tracks that are likely to get stuck in your head even after few listens. 'On My Way to Heaven' is actually a pretty weird pop song - the phasing effect of the half-whispered vocals, sitting atop a floor of oohing harmonies is a pretty weird effect for what turns out to be a fairly catchy refrain. 'Goodbye Lollipop' is a completely unashamed pop song which was released as a single, and a pretty good one at that. The band's most famous track '12-lb Toothbrush' is a far proggier affair with an extensive instrumental midsection, but the silly "na na..." intro and coda nailed it in listener's minds and this is its enduring legacy. Trivia warning: the title of course has nothing to do with the content of the track, but was purely chosen as the band wondered what it would be like to have a ridiculous track title announced on radio. They of course got their wish. Personally I think the track is a little disjointed: the shifts between the poppy intro/outro, straight-ahead blues rock main theme and the psychedelic wandering prog instrumental break are all unnatural, but the track is still very good if you accept this minor flaw.

'Salmon Song' is probably the only track here that could be considered as genuine prog: a gently developing guitar riff, reinforced with some decent keyboards, carries it through its almost vocal free length of eight minutes. Elsewhere the remaining tracks are fairly forgettable, ranging from pseudo-prog tracks with naff refrains ('Helper', 'Listen to the Morning Sun') to pseudo-prog tracks with refrains that aren't quite so naff ('Song for Little Earnest). Okay not so much range with these three tracks, but you get the picture. Still I think the other four tracks I singled out take this album to a respectable 3.5 stars.
From RYM (Bitterman)

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Flake - How's Your Mother (71 a'lian psych)

A decent, if unexceptional, mix of orchestrated pop and fairly hard semi-commercial rock, with male and female vocals. Grades - 4 B's, 2 B-'s, 3 C+'s, a C, and a C-.
From RYM (tymeshifter)

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Lizard - Bad Companions (1973 aussie prog hard prog)

Lizard is one of the forgotten progressive rock bands from Australia from early '70's . Releasing one album at Harvest in 1973 named Bad Companions, they didn't get much attention , and because of that soon they disbanded, even in the band were great and talented musicians . It's a very rare album, hard to get in original form - vinyl, I have a CD-R with the album from a friend of mine who were kind enough to make me a copy from the original vinyl, he didn't want to sell it. The album so far, from my knowledge didn't get a re issues, maybe in the future someone will think about this band and give a proper CD release. Some members from Lizard were earlier in another good band from late '60's White Wine and the sax player Dave Connors will play with one of the most famous british psychedelic - space prog from the '70's - Jade Warrior. The music is progressive rock with some blues and jazz moments, just a fiew but they are, given a certain atmosphere of the album. In some parts the album sounds a bit to experimental side with killer guitars and absolute stunning sax playing, some times they remind me in places of King Crimson or same jazz bands from mid '70's. The voice of Mich Tulk is very ok fiting very well in the album, aswell the rest of the musicians are very talented. The killer piece is Page Missing From My Book, mindblowing guitar leads and fabulous sax interplaying with the rest, the rest are ok. Now, I'm not saying that this is a masterpiece of this genre, but is filled with good pieces and excellent musicianship. One of the rare and forgotten progressive rock bands coming from the land of canguroo.3.5 for Bad companions, good towards great but not an essential album. Good art work, specially the back cover looking like a page from a newspapper.
From RYM (b olariu)

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Sun - Sun 1972(1972 prog exp prog)

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Jackie Orszaczky - Beramiada (1976 hun-aus jazz prog)

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Cleves - Cleves(1971v.good aussie psych prog)

Buon disco di musica psych/prog proveniente dlla terra dei canguri!mi è piaciuto perchè c'è una certa dose di cattiveria unita con la bravura dei musicisti...ottime chitarre ottimo organo ottimo cantato(sia maschile che femminile)...inoltre mi sembra che la 5 o 6 traccia sia una sorta di "Stop" revisited (la famosa e stupenda "stop" di Al Kooper E M.Blomfield presente su "supersession") Consigliato!

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Living Force - Living Force (1975 prog New Zealand)

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Cleves - Cleves (1971 nw zea. hard psych)

1:Cleves-_st_197x_hard_psych_aussie
2:cleves-_st_197x_hard_psych_aussie

Come mi succede da un po' di giorni...ho poco tempo per fare una analisi dettagliata degli album....unica nota sono tutti album molto belli con una matrice psych con riconoscibili influssi prog!(anche pre prog!) la palma dei migliori va ai Mendoza (ma non tutto è bello) e agli jungle (ottimi nelle ultime tracce!) voi!

Jungle - s/t (v.good psych prog)

Link: http://lix.in/bcccc8

Melissa Midnight trampoline (aus 1971 psych prog)

Link1: http://lix.in/ad2648
Link2: http://lix.in/625a1d
Mendoza - Mendoza (1971 psych prog)
Link1: http://lix.in/bc2f49
Link2:http://lix.in/8ff38d

Albatross - A Breath of Fresh Air (australia blues rock1973)

One of my friends send me this link...i've found only this info

Wonderful album of acoustic blues/surf music dominated by the guitar and voice of Lindsay Bjerre (formerly of Taman Shud). Nice use of flute, mandolin & bazoukie.

Link1:http://lix.in/cefd0f
Link2:http://lix.in/f271e3
Link3 cover:http://lix.in/575965

MC PHEE - MC PHEE (197x-heavy psych monster)

Vi sparo subito questa recensione che ho trovato qua e la sulla rete...

Questa oscura band Australiana (Sydney), ci offre un album di grande heavy progressive dominato da passaggi di tastiera, assoli di chitarra, e voce femminile. La band alterna brani originali a cover di famose stars quali Neil Young, Ritchie Havens, (Indian Rope Man, già riarrangiata da J.Driscoll & Brian Auger), Spooky Tooth, Beatles (I'm The Walrus) Fra gli originali, vale la pena segnalare i dieci minuti imperdibili di Out To Lunch, strumentale di impostazione Jazz.

Jefferson Airplane meets Nosferatu (the organ-drenched German one, not the goth band) just about sums up this Sydney outfit. Tonna-brick Hammond heaviosity, stunningly Slick female vocals, guitar heroics that impress rather than irritate - McPhee is the total package. Some wild covers here, including Richie Haven's "Indian Rope Man," Neil Young's "Southern Man," and an "I Am the Walrus" so seriously messed-up that it might give The Egg Man shivers.

link:http://lix.in/1ea515

BAKERY - MOMENTO-(1972 masterpiece heavy prog-jazz)

Vi sto postando roba buona eh???questo è un disco australiano molto bello! sentite "The Gift"!!!!ahhhh!!!da orgasmo!il disco si muove su un prog abbastanza heavy ma soft in certi tratti...la mia personale opinione è che la canzone the gift sia effettivamente nata per sbaglio perchè molto diversa dal resto dell'album!probabilmente un riff che successivamente è stato "esagerato"!basta parole,mo musica! ciao!

Originally released in 1971 this Australian underground act recorded this moody progressive album which contained European influenced hard rock full of sprawling,progressive rock cuts like "Faith to Sing a Song",the jazzy "Living With A Memory" & "Holocaust" through to an eight minute barrage of bombastic riffs on the "Gift" which features great solo's and swirling Hammond organ in the vein of Deep Purple and Leafhound

Link:http://link-protector.com/x-61652

FANNY ADAMS - SAME (71-aussie hard rock)

vi posto questo disco anche se purtroppo non ho molte info se non che è uscito recentemente in digipack e che vengono dall'australia!!buon gruppo con un hard rock direi classico e senza fronzoli...i nostri 4 sono il classico 4tetto rock alla "zeppelin" e proprio a loro il sound si avvicina anche se i led sono ancora lontani!dovrebbe essere del 71 il disco ma se toppo perdonatemi!ciao

Link:http://link-protector.com/x-61653

Crossfire - Crossfire (1975 aussie jazz prog)

The debut album from Crossfire is a more daring excursion into jazz/rock than their later material, which was generally soft fusion. There's a strong progressive undertone that's apparent throughout this entire album.
"Funky Funkbump" is a great track and "Inside Out" has a cool intro. Aside from that, there's lost of interesting moments and stuff here for sample fiends. Progressive/jazz.


1:http://link-protector.com/703592/
2:http://link-protector.com/703593/

Greg Sneddon - Mind Stroll (1975 superb prog)

1:http://link-protector.com/703594/
2:http://link-protector.com/703595/