Morse Code Transmission - II (1972 prog canada)

Hard rock with strong prog flavor. An improvement over their debut. Grades - 3 B+'s, 1 B, and 5 B-'s, quite consistent. 
From RYM (tymeshifter)

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Five Man Electrical Band - Sweet Paradise (rock hard rock can 1973)

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Rain - Rain (1972 can hard soul)

So here's a little known, but mildly enjoyable early-1970s Canadian pop set that you can still find for a reasonable price ... what's not to like about that? Led by former Landslide Mushroom (don't you love the name), vocalist Phyllis Brown, Rain hailed from Kitchner, Ontario Featuring keyboardist Charley Hall, singer Ron Hiller, lead guitarist Bill McLaughlin, and drummer Chris Woroch the band signed to Greg Hambleton's newly formed Axe Records. Axe had a distribution agreement with London which led to the release of their 1971 debut single: - 'Out of My Mind' b/w 'You're the One' (London catalog number 17410). With the single going top-40 in Canada, Axe rushed the band into the studio to record a supporting album. Produced by Hambleton, 1972's cleverly-titled "The Rain Album" included a collection of professional, if seldom inspired pop-rock material. Brown handled most of the vocals and displayed a nice voice, though some of the appeal wore off whenever she tried to push her voice. Hiller was featured on 'I'll Write You a Letter'. Similarly, the rest of the band were quite competent, showing occasional flashes of real talent; particularly Hall's tasteful keyboards and McLaughlin's lead guitar (check out his solo on the atypical rocker 'Got To Get Away'). That said, as a band they didn't seem to have a great deal of personality, or chemistry going for them. That may have been one of the factors in Brown's subsequent decision to go solo. - Yeah, 'Out of My Mind' was a top-40 Canadian hit, but to my ears it was kind of a tuneless mess with Brown breathlessly screeching her way through the song. She clearly had a nice voice, but it wasn't very apparent on this one. rating: ** stars - Written by future Major Hoople's Boarding House front man David Lodge, 'Let the Love Begin' was a far better song. Kicked along by Hall's keyboards, this one had a breezier sound that showcased Brown's blue-eyed soul moves against a nice Stax-ish feel - kind of like a poppier, Canadian Dusty Springfield. rating: *** stars - Hall's organ opened the song with what sounded like a funeral dirge and their cover of Carole King's 'Child of Mine' never recovered ... sounding like it was being performed at half speed, this one just went on and on and on ... rating: ** stars - With 'Got To Get Away' they decided to get heavy ... and much to my surprise they actually pulled it off. Surrounded by a straightforward rock arrangement Brown's voice proved surprisingly well suited to the genre. Great Hiller bass line with McLaughlin turning in a fantastic fuzz guitar lead. Easily the album's stand out performance. rating: **** stars - Penned by Brown, the ballad 'Reason for Living' came off as something The Carpenters might have recorded. Pretty, but inconsequential. rating: ** stars - Side two simultaneously showcased the band's strengths and weaknesses; namely a nice rocker that suffered from Brown's strained and shrill vocals. rating: ** stars - Probably the worst song on the album, 'Here with You' was a hideous touchy-feely ballad that even The Carpenters would have rejected. rating: ** stars - The lone song to feature Hiller on lead vocals, ' (Hiller was featured on 'I'll Write You a Letter')' was a nice slice of power-pop. Definitely one of the album's better tracks with a catchy hook. rating: *** stars - 'Sad Colours Blues' found the band taking a so-so stab at the blues. Competent, but nothing more, the highlight came in the form of McLaughli's tasty lead guitar. This one probably sounded better in a club after you had a couple of beers. rating: ** stars - I'd rate 'I Don't Want To Leave You' their best pop song since it boasted a radio friendly melody and showcased one of Brown's best performances. On this one she sounded competent without pushing into shrill territory. Would've made a nice single. rating: *** stars So, I'd sum it up by saying pleasant pop, but non-essential for most folks. The band hit the Canadian club circuit releasing two follow-up non-LP 45s: That was followed by: - 1972's 'Stop Me From Believing' b/w 'Caught Right in the Middle of It' (AXE catalog number AXE-1) - 1972's 'Find Your Love' b/w'\ 'I Don't Want to Leave You' (Axe catalog number AXE-5) Neither did much commercially, and the band quickly underwent a string of personnel changes. As mentioned, in late 1972 Brown left for a solo career. She was quickly followed by Hiller and McLaughlin who were replaced by lead guitarist Bernie LaBarge and vocalist Brian LeBlanc. The revamped line up made it back into the studio for one final non-LP single before calling it quits: - 1972's 'Make Me' b/w 'Catwalk' (Axe catalog AXE-9) For anyone interested, looking far younger than seems fair, Brown has a small website at: http://www.charitybrown.ca/ Late inning guitarist LaBarge also has a web presence at: http://www.bernielabarge.com/ 
From RYM (rdten1)

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Les Champignons - Première capsule (1972 can prog psych)

Starts off in a trite go-go 1960s way, with an energetic keyboard driven instrumental number. This is followed by a very slow, depressing and excruciatingly boring 7 minute blues song with French vocals. From track three on Side 1 to the conclusion of the record, it's all aces. The music becomes primarily instrumental while taking on a darker stance. The guitar has that ominous fuzz tone, and there's an underlying jazzy structure lead by the fine flute and sax work. For these excellent tracks I'm reminded of the Eden Rose / Sandrose family out of France, and the relative progression from one to the other. If Champignons were lead by a female vocalist, that would solidify the Sandrose comparison.
From RYM (ashratom)

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Lougarou - Lougarou (1976 can prog folk prog)

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Garfield - Strange Streets+Out There Tonight (76-77 can hard rock rock)

Strange Streets

This is an EXCELLENT Canadian folk progressive rock, made in 1976. All the tracks are excellent: they all have some catchy & addictive parts & melodies that retain the listener's attention. The VERY EMOTIVE male lead singer Garfield French has an androgynous voice, and his tone is such that he all the time sounds like he is on the verge of crying. There are very subtly floating keyboards a bit like on Pink Floyd's "Animals". The omnipresent folkier acoustic guitars are often accompanied with tender flute parts and slow rhythmic piano. There are some excellent ambient echoed harmonica & discrete electric guitars in the background. This record may slightly give you the blues, because the songs are not really joyful, except "Old time movies". "Someday if you're lucky" has a mix of dynamic Jethro Tull-like and peaceful PFM-like flute parts. "Catch you next time 'round" has lead vocals and piano sounding like Supertramp. "Old time movies" begins with a barking dog which seems to only calm down after an harmonica melody starts; this track reminds me ELP'S "Lucky man", especially the moog solos. The tracks are quite short, lasting around 2-3 minutes, except the last one which lasts around 9 minutes.

The tracks:

Side 1: "Strange streets", "Give me love to Anne", "Someday if you're lucky", "Above market street", "Old time movies"

Side 2: "Nanny's song", "Ride the waves", "Catch you next time 'round". "Eyes" 
From RYM (greenback)

 Out There Tonight

If not for White Witch, I don't know if Capricorn would have ever started signing bands like this. They're not as heavy or camp glam as WW, but they do get a bit spaced out with their synth & the songs are odd. The singer (Garfield French) sounds like a British Sal Valentino mixed with a touch of Paul Williams.


From RYM (thelatepetercook)
 

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The Gainsborough Gallery - Life Is a Song (1969 can psych)

Though I think a few tracks offered here are pretty good, overall, the album is weak, and characterized by poor song writing. Good pop music is heavily dependent on a catchy melody, and this record doesn't deliver. Grades - 4 B-'s, 4 C+'s, 2 C's, and 2 C-'s.
From RYM (tymeshifter)

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Ecology - Environment/Evolution(1970 psych rock)

Former Blue Things leader, the late Val Stecklein, teamed up with producer Ray Ruff to form this bizarre mystery band/concept lp which is stronger than Val's moody solo lp on Dot called 'Grey Life'.
It was very low key in band credits but the playing and singing is glorious. It leans more towards Val's first love: country & western music. Who even know who the steel pedal player is on these sessions? Val can't tell us. However a few tracks are sung by a different singer, possibly Ruff himself who had a small recording career of his own.
There are no photos, just a poem by Val on the back cover. Happy Tiger Records was not a company who planned things out. I'm surprised this came out at all. Blue Things fans don't know much about this release.
The tracks are as follows:

BLACK MARK ON THE SEA
WAKE UP OLD WORLD
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THE RAIN
EXISTING IN CITY STONE
WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
OUR TIMES
WE CAN'T GET THEIR FROM HERE
THE WHOLE WORLD HAS GONE OUT OF TUNE
NO ONE HEARS
A TIME

There's a lot of banjo on this lp as well. Sounding like later day McGuinn's Byrds and Dylan's country period. I'm impressed by this whole event.
Never reissued on cd. What a shame.
From RYM (Kupa99)

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3's a Crowd - Christopher's Movie Matinee(1968 psych pop can)

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Abraham's Children - Time (1973 can hard psych rock)

Having listened to this one a half dozen times, I've got to tell you these guys barely qualify as a rock band, let alone a psych act. Quality pop outfit yeah, but psych? Definitively not ...

Guitarist Ron Bartley, bassist Jimmy Bertucci, drummer Brian Cotterili and keyboard player Bob McPherson got their start in the late 1960s with the Toronto-based Just Us. That outfit subsequently morphed into Captain Midnight's Dirty Feet (great name), but ran into a problem with Captain Midnight's publishers. The threat of legal action was enough to see the quartet opt for another name switch - this time around Abraham's Children.

Signed to the small Toronto-based G.A.S. Records, the band enjoyed a Canadian top-40 hit with their debut 45 'Goodbye-Farewell' b/w 'Hot Love' (G.A.S. catalog number G-1004). Their 1973 follow-up 'Gypsy' b/w 'Fly Me To The Sky' (G.A.S. catalog number G-1005) went top-10, leading G.A.S. to finance an LP.

Unfortunately, by the time the group started recording the album, musical tensions had begun to flare. G.A.S. executes demanded the band continue to work in a commercial pop vein, while the band members were interested in a harder-rock sound. Guess which side won the fight? Produced by band manager Paul Gross (who contributed a couple of tracks to the LP), 1973's "Time" offered up a mix of the earlier singles and new studio material. Boasting three lead singers in Bartley, Bertucci and Contterbill, the entire set was enjoyable, with tracks such as 'Children's Song' and 'How To Be A Lady' showcasing the group's knack for writing and performing commercial pop. Imagine a Canadian version of Pilot, or The Raspberries and you'll get a feel for most of the album. The group also enjoyed a third Canadian hit with the bouncy 'Thank You' b/w 'Workin' for the Man' (G.A.S. catalog number G-1011). It's interesting that the two best songs are also the least commercial. Both 'Woman 'O Woman' and the group-penned 'Workin' for the Man' are thumping rockers, albeit with harmony vocals that make radio stations so happy.

"Time" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Gypsy (Paul Gross) - 3:04
2.) Hot Love (Paul Gross) - 3:33
3.) Goodbye Farewell (Jimmy Bertucci) - 3:08
4.) How To Be A Lady (Jimmy Bertucci - Ron Bartley) - 4:38
5.) Thank You (Jimmy Bertucci - Ron Bartley) - 2:54

(side 2)
1.) Woman 'O Woman (Jimmy Bertucci - Ron Bartley - Bob McPherson) - 3:46
2.) Children's Song (Jimmy Bertucci) - 4:42
3.) Workin' For The Man (Jimmy Bertucci - Ron Bartley - Bob McPherson - Brian Cotterili) - 6:10

Following the album's release the band underwent an ongoing series of personnel changes that saw Bertucci, Cotterili and McPherson all quit. With replacements the band struggled on for three more years, during which time they shortened their name to 'The Children''. They also released one final non-LP single - 1974's 'Goddess of Nature' b/w '' (Rampage catalog number UAWX-361-W). The group finally called it quits in 1976. Bartley, Dinardo and O'Shea subsequently formed Bang. Bertucci continued to record under the name 'Jimmy B'.
20 years after the original breakup, in 2004 Bertucci started touring again under the Abraham's Children banner.
From RYM (RDTEN1)

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FM - Direct to Disc (1978 great can prog)

This album really took me by surprise. FM was one of those Canadian progressive rock bands that often had commercial inclinations, but this second album, from 1978 was easily their least commercial album. Nash the Slash has left by this point and Ben Mink came in, playing the same instruments: electric violin and electric mandolin. Yes, the same Ben Mink who later found himself playing for k.d. lang (yikes!). Well, if you were one put off by FM's commercial inclinations, you'll be really happy with Headroom - Direct to Disc. It's basically two side length cuts, with the title track and "Border Crossing". This allowed the band to be more experimental than usual, where Cameron Hawkins includes some trippy spacy synthesizers, and Ben Mink gives it all with his violin work (something I noticed he toned down considerably on Surveillance). Even Martin Deller gives us some of his most interesting drum work. That's a great thing about letting the band just sit down and improvise here. Too bad FM couldn't continue in this direction, probably because this was the late '70s with punk and disco all the rage. Honestly I think FM made a couple of great albums, but I really thought they lost it with City of Fear, but I really think Head Room is certainly one of their finest albums!
From RYM (proghead72)

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Magik - Magik (1981 heavy rock can?)

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Et Cetera - Et Cetera 1976 (can prog)

There seems to be way too many prog rock bands who release one album and then disappear. Most likely they no longer had the finances to move on to the next album, so they had to go back to their day jobs. Or those unlucky to get started in the second half of the '70s, they had to go against punk rock and disco which were at their peak in the late '70s. Quebec's Et Cetera was one of many examples. They released their only album in 1976 and disappeared, although apparently the male keyboardist went and threw his credibility right down the toilet by playing for (yuck!) Celine Dion (much like Pollen's Claude Lemay), while some others ended up in a Genesis tribute, if I'm not mistakened, keeping the credibility of those band members.
This group's only album was released on the Apostrophe label, apparently a private label ran by the band, since one of their compositions on the album was entitled "Apostrophe".

Well, if you're a Gentle Giant fan, give this album a try. This is very much the French-Canadian answer to that band: lots of similar complex instrumental arrangements and ingenious vocal harmonies that are undeniably Gentle Giant influences. But there's also some big differences, for one thing, they featured a female vocalist named Marie Bernard Pagé, who handles some keyboard work. She even handled an Ondes Martenot, an early synthesizer prototype from the 1920. Et Cetera is the only prog band I know to use one, it's more associated with avant garde classical and sci fi (including the female chorus you hear on the original 1960s Star Trek TV theme song). The rest of the band consists of what you often expect in prog: Minimoog, string synths, piano, electric piano, Hohner clavinet, guitars (both electric and acoustic), bass, drums, flute, and sax. While I'm not familiar with the music of Maneige, that was one band Et Cetera is often compared with. There is the occasional acoustic passage that reminds me of Pollen during their more acoustic moments or perhaps Harmonium, while the more jazzy moments remind me a bit of Sloche when the Gentle Giant influences show up in that band (perhaps because Sloche used a similar setup of keyboards and they too had two keyboardists).

Clone bands might get a few running away, especially those who had a bad experience with Starcastle or Triumvirat (I realize as excellent as those bands are, many don't take to kindly to those bands, not just certain prog rock fans, but less surprisingly, the rock critics), but Et Cetera really did a great job with the Gentle Giant sound with their own touches. Great stuff and highly recommended. 
From RYM (Proghead72)

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Next... - Dusty Shoes (1971 can hard rock prog)

Pretty decent obscure Canadian band playing music in a similar style to American bands such as Blues Image but maybe more (Slightly) proggy in places like the intro to the excellent title track which then goes off in a country/rural direction. Lots of good acoustic guitar work in places.
"Be Free" is a nice shorter commercial track with an attractive acoustic guitar riff. 
From RYM (PROGROCKASAURUS)

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Brahman - Brahman (1971 can psych rock prog)

Though fairly commercial overall, side 1 of this is quite good hard rock, while side 2 is comparatively dull, semi-commercial rock, with mild prog influences. This band supposedly includes 2 former members of the Vancouver psych outfit Papa Bear's Medicine Show. Grades - 1 B+, 1 B, 1 B-, 2 C+'s, 1 C, and a C-.

From rym (tymeshifter)

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Guillotine - Guillotine (1971 rare can psych prog)

This obscure '70s band mixes all kinds of influences like prog, jazz rock, psych, hard rock etc. Most of the time though it falls nicely into a kind of hyped up Janis Joplin style blues rock, and vocalist Carol Breval is a fine and interesting vocalist. Well worth checking out if you happen to stumble upon a copy.
from rym

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Steel River - Weighin' Heavy'"(1970 can hard rock)

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Steel River - A Better Road(1971)

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Trooper - Trooper (1975 can hard rock)

There's an undeniable suds 'n' thuds enthusiasm to Trooper that elevates the material beyond its basic hard boogie origins. Gotta give some credit to Randy Bachman, seated in the (hopefully reinforced) producer's chair, as there's a sunny but overriding heavy factor to the sound of album highlights like the easy-rollin' "General Hand Grenade," engine-revving drone of "I'm in Trouble Again" and cowbell workout "Don't Stop Me Now." In a jaw-dropping juxtaposition, Trooper's most sublime moment comes on "Roller Rink's" unlikely pairing of hard as nails proto-metal and roller skating. A focused, feel-good time from the boys.

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Man Made - Man Made (1971 rare can prog)

Montreal-based Canadian progressive gem...side 1 includes only one long(19'54")track entitled "Mann Made" , which is very interesting,mixing progressive,classical and elctronic music with spooky and dreamy organ passages,acidy guitarleads,flute solos,harsh vocals...side 2 except "Keep On Moving" ,which utilises fast rhythms with horns and synthesizers contains more slow and melodic moments like "Country Company" and "Reflections" with a hypnotic mood... "Carnival" is a strong mid-tempo ballad,sounding like a combination of Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin, but with also harsh vocals...the cut called "Evolution" ,which is the album's highlight,features good rhythm and stunning lead guitar work with several similarities to Pink Floyd's music...
It's housed in great and funny sleeve artwork...

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Le 25e Régiment - Ecology (1970 rare can soft psych)

Un disco che mi ha lasciato un po' di amaro...melodie troppo soft per i miei gusti, tuttavia ho l'impressione che possano coinvolgere molti di voi!

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