Time 1&2 (1972+75 Youg. hard prog)

Everytime i have listened to this album ive had shivers inside me, "Pjesma no. 3" can bring me to tears "Za koji život treba da se rodim / For What Life Should I Be Born" is one of the best moments of my intire music listening ! and "Makedonija" is a very memmorable song. best get the version with that song on it! the Vrijeme remastered version is even better :) 
From RYM (rixsta)

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Hybride - Ça n'a pas d'importance (1978 fra hard prog hard rock)

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Flamengo - Kuře v hodinkách (1972 Czech hard/Jazz prog )

This album often makes me want to utter the trite, nonsensical, and idiotic cliché “Now that’s what I’m talking about.” It smokes with unbridled passion and energy, it has the great late 1960’s - early 1970’s vibe in so many ways, and the music is actually surprisingly well-composed. And it’s all sung in Czech, too (one of my favorite languages for singing).

Flamengo were a sax and organ driven heavy prog band from Prague. There are elements of beat, psych, and regular old rock in their sound, but the compositions and arrangements are more than complex enough to satisfy prog fans, and there’s enough energy in the performances that I could see them appealing to punkers in the same way that Van der Graaf Generator sometimes did. There are a couple of acoustic tracks, but the emphasis is on raw power prog. Great singing, great playing, what more could you want?
From RYM (dnieper111)

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Dick Heckstall-Smith - A Story Ended (72 hard prog jazz)

Mostly somewhat hard, and fairly diverse prog rock, with lots of sax (natch) and some pretty trippy mat'l, as well as some jazz and blues influences. Grades - 2 B+'s, 1 B, and 3 B-'s, quite consistent.
From RYM (tymeshifter)

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Fresh Start - What America Needs (75 us har prog funk)

From RYM ()

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Elmira - Lady of the Mountain (1972/74 Dan prog hard prog)

Recorded 1972-1975, but only released for the first time on vinyl in the early 2000s by Orpheus Records, this is underground Danish heavy psych rock with good organ parts.
From RYM (levgan)

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Hemlock - Hemlock (1973 uk prog)

Buon disco. Devo dire però che dopo l'ascolto della prima traccia ero convinto di divertirmi di più con un sanissimo(!) heavy prog, genere che scema pian piano fino a toni rock/hard rock - prog. Diciamo che potevano dare un po' di più ma il tutto vale l'ascolto (sempre se facciamo finta di non considerare la tremenda copertina!)!

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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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Polifemo - Polifemo II (great arg hard prog jazz)

This second and last Polifemo's album from 1977 consists of 6, mostly long tracks: hard progressive-oriented, still featuring heavy riffage by David Lebon, though with a more elaborate structure, sort of crossover between Deep Purple and Focus perhaps.
Notwithstanding the Lebon's songwriting and vocals give the band a distinct and privative idiosyncrasy, which keeps it miles away from the generic 70s' prog.
"Viene del sol", "Trópico de Cáncer" and "Dualidad" look like the standouts of "Polifemo II", though this LP is pretty less interesting than the debut; some Afro percussion and jazz fusion meanders try to give it an attractive tone, though the group was over already.
An interesting band Polifemo while did last: a good first album, and this passable though inferior epilogue.
From RYM (death metal doll)

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Edison Electric Band - Bless You, Dr. Woodward (1970 us hard prog)

For a city renown for it's soul music scene, I'm always amazed at the number of good, but largely unknown 1960s and 1970s era bands that popped up out of Philadelphia. Add The Edison Electric Band to the list. It also happens that when I started collecting LPs back in the early 1980s, this was one of my first purchases - $1.00 at a local yard sale.
Bassist Dan Friedman and singer/drummer David Stock met in 1966 when they were attending The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Interested in forming a rock band they quickly recruited fellow students keyboardist Mark Jordan and lead guitarist Mark Ziegler. As The Thomas A. Edison Electric Band the quartet began playing local Philadelphia dances and parties, getting their first break when they were signed by Cameo-Parkway. The following the year they released their debut single:
- 1967's 'Methyl Ethyl' b/w 'The Name Of The Game' (Cameo-Parkway catalog number C-490)
While the single didn't do anything commercial, they were then hired to provide music for a quickie exploitation album on Cameo-Parkway's Wyncote budget label. Released in 1967 and credited to The Chimps, the album featured a collection of Monkees covers and throwaway garage numbers ("Monkey Business" Wyncote catalog W-9199).
Frustrated with their inability to break commercially the group followed the rest of the country, heading for San Francisco in 1968. Having shortened their name to The Edison Electric Band, in 1970 they scored a contract with Atlantic's Cotillion subsidiary, releasing their debut album; the Joel Dorn and Jack Shaw produced "Bless You Dr. Woodward". In an unfortunate turn of events during the recording sessions Ziegler broke his arm in motorcycle accident and T.J. Tindall (who'd already recorded a single as a member of the Trenton, New Jersey-based The Galaxies IV) was brought in as a replacement. Showcasing a largely original set of material, the album was quite diverse with the band taking shots at a broad array of genres including blues, country-rock, pop, and conventional rock. Showcasing Stack's likeable voice and a line up with more technical proficiency than most of the competition, virtually all of the performances were good, but the absence of a distinctive sound certainly didn't help their cause. In fact the set was so diverse at times you almost wondered whether it was the same band. It almost sounded like they were recording a marketing demo intended to showcase their ability to handle any genre.
- Opening up with a breezy pop melody, ''Ship of the Future' started the album with a surprisingly commercial orientation. Even better was Jordan's cool mid-song synthesizer solo. Not sure what he was playing, but it had a mesmerizing sound. rating: *** stars
- 'Over the Hill' began with an atmospheric church organ segment before morphing into a pretty mid-tempo ballad, and finally ending as an Allman Brothers-styled guitar workout. The track also served as a nice platform for Stack's attractive and commercial voice (which had just enough edge to be FM friendly). rating: *** stars
- Their instrumental cover of Percy Mayfield's bluesy 'Please Send Me' marked a sudden change in direction. Propelled by Jordan's piano, a nice Friedman bass, and a restrained Tindall solo, the results were attractive in a supper club kind of way. Nothing all that special. rating: ** stars
- 'Baby Leroy' found the band pursuing a nice blue-eyed soul feel. Imagine something Delaney and Bonnie might have recorded. rating: *** stars
- 'Royal Fool' started side two with a nice country-rock number. Pretty melody with a nice electric keyboard from Jordan made this one quite radio friendly. Stack turned in one of his best vocals on this one. rating: *** stars
- 'West Wind' was a standard and pedestrian blues-rocker. The first real disappointment, the best things here were Friedman's busy bass pattern and the nice call and response harmony vocals. rating: ** stars
- It's funny, I'm normally not a big R&B fan but their cover of Doc Pomus' 'Lonely Avenue' was one of the standout performances. Stack's hesitant vocals (it almost sounded like he was singing it phonetically), and Jordan's Hammond B-3 gave the song an interesting edge. Very nice ! rating: **** stars
- Another abrupt shift in musical direction, 'Island Sun' found the band turning in a Latin-flavored rocker. Sporting heavy percussion and some nice twin lead guitar, this one sounded like a Manassas outtake. rating: *** stars
- So why not take a stab at a heavy metal song? Okay, here's 'Smokehouse'. With Stacks spoken word segments this one sounded like a Black Oak Arkansas throwaway (not that wasn't a good thing). rating: ** stars
- Tacked on to the end of the album, Tindall's only contribution, the brief instrumental 'Lebanese Packhorse' was also the standout performance. It didn't even last a minute, but the track had an instantly appealing ominous feel. Wish they'd included a longer take. rating: **** stars
Cotillion also tapped the album for a single in the form of:
- 'Ship of the Future' b/w 'West Wind' (Cotillion catalog number 45-44071
Shame they weren't able to imprint more personality on the album. Largely panned by critics (bless his soul Robert Christgau was one of the few exceptions), the album didn't do much commercially and within a couple of months the band had called it quits.
From RYM (rdten1)

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Kvartetten Som Sprängde - Kattvals(1970 swe superb jazz prog)

Instrumental hard rock reminiscent of the Doors minus Jim Morrison. The band does not try to reinvent the wheel, and the music benefits from this. These guys are excellent instrumentalists, but they are never showy or flashy. They only play fast enough to get the job done.
The only thing I could say to detract from this would be that sometimes it maybe could use a singer. But we are probably lucky not to have a wack-ass 1973 Swedish classic rock singer here, mucking up these splendid arrangements.
from Rym

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Tentacle - The Angel of Death (70/71 scotland - hard prog)

Excelent and obscure band of Heavy Psych.from Scothland. Similar to Morly Grey, Dark, T2. The album was recorded in 1970/71. Really Cool !!!!!!!

Wonderfully morose scottish rock with some flowery, folk-derived electric guitar work and heavy bits that don't get too loutish.  Wholeheartedly recommended to fans of T2's first album, Dark, Parameter, Janus...

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request!
Again French prog!!!

Ancora un po di progressive francese!per quanto riguarda questi dischi vi consiglio i Memoriance (Et Après) che fanno un genere di prog molto simile a quello che apprezzo con un buon uso delle tastiere con ritmi abbastanza avvolgenti e coinvolgenti...a voi!

Memoriance - Et après 1976

Link: http://lix.in/eb09d8


Zoo - I Shall Be Free(fra 1971 great prog-hard rock)

album molto buono dalla terra di Francia!purtroppo ogni tanto ci sono dei salti nel rippaggio ma non disturbano!stiamo a cavallo su un hard rock con espliciti richiami alla musica progressive (sopratutto nell'uso dei fiati) ...a voi!

Very good album from france...the audio quality is not the best you can have but is absolutly listenable! highlight "City breakdown"

Link: http://lix.in/-5356f5

ARMAGEDDON- s/t (1975 Masterpiece heavy rock)

Gen: HARD ROCK

Questo post vi regala un album a mia vista spettacolare con un sound che porge il tributo ai classici sound '70 anche se emerge un forte tendenza ad indurire i suoni (anche se ancora non si può parlare di heavy rock!) Tutto il disco sono 5 tracce per un 40 min. di musica.

Le canzoni sono tutte bellissime eccezion fatta per la seconda traccia: Si inizia con la chitarra e wah di "buzzard", si passa alla pur bella ma a mio aviso un po troppo prolissa "silver tightrope" ma si ritorna ad elevati livelli con "Paths and Planes and Furture Gains ". interessante l'ultima traccia che racchiude più parti (a mo' dei Captain Beyond)...un gran bel disco da ascoltare con piacere anche se purtroppo l'unico in quanto il cantante Relf (ex Yardbirds) morì fulminato nel suo bagno nel 1976...

alla prossima!

Rewiev by M. Prindle

The album is excellently good! The electric guitars are EXTREMELY loud in the mix, playing hard rock that's about as hard as, say, Aerosmith but seems harder because, again, the guitars are REALLY darned loud in the mix. The songs are all very long (only 5 tunes on the whole album!), but delightfully diverse, from the punk speed apocalyptic "Buzzard" to the "Love Hurts"-style shimmer balladry of "Silver Tightrope" to the proto-thrash "Paths And Planes And Future Gains" to the Funkmaster Jenkins "Last Stand Before" before closing with the crackly blues hoedown hybrid "Basking In The White Of The Midnight Sun." The songs are certainly repetitious, but not dull. The riffs are just too cool to seem repetitive! Very neat vocals from Mr. Relf too - his voice has gotten huskier since his dorky Yardbirds days and, mixed slightly below the screaming guitars on most of the album, he sounds like just another instrument.

more info at http://www.progressiveworld.net/armageddon.html

DOWNLOAD LINK:http://lix.in/a31762

Artwork:http://lix.in/70d9aa

SALAMANDER - THE 10 COMANDAMENTS (1971 hard prog gem)

Disco particolarissimo ed oltremodo raro!l'ho scovato per caso!il tema proposto è quello di un hard rock...no forse meglio un soft prog-rock con notevoli inserti sinfonici (a mo' dei purple ma maggiormenti centrati sulla banda e non sulla orchestra...)ascoltate, vi farà passare piacevoli momenti!

A fine example of early UK symphonic progressive, this is a concept album based on the Bible's Ten Commandments. Each track presents one of the Commandments. Nice organ, guitar, and vocals. Although not credited on the album's liner notes as far as I can tell, there is also some excellent supporting horn and woodwind. Very orchestral and pastoral at times. On some tracks the narrative style reminds me of Rick Wakeman's concept albums from the 70's. On other tracks, this is very reminiscent to me of late 60's/early 70's pastoral UK folk/psych. On still yet other tracks, the organ evokes an early Deep Purple feeling. However, the Moody Blues comparisons I've read here and elsewhere are not really all that valid to my ears. For me, this is a masterpiece that I highly recommend.

Link: http://lix.in/5c95fb

Chase!!!(great jazz-hard prog)
Chase - Chase(1971)

http://link-protector.com/365440/

Chase - Ennea(1972)

http://link-protector.com/x-85889

Grupo Agua - Transparencia (1978 guatemala psych prog)

There has always been a faint and difficult-to-describe difference between the musical projects that become well-known and the ones which doesn't, and it isn't just about quality. Sometimes, the band has an already famous spreader (see the example of The Velvet Underground), a good marketing campaign (as it happens so often nowadays) or even a little bit of luck (as is the case of The Sonics, Nick Drake and another infinty of artists that achieved a good number of fans decades after their disband). The popularization of internet has shown to be the best friend of the members of this third group, because it made much easier the search for obscure bands from all around the world. Since than, the term "world music" is used with regularity when people are talking about musical genres that cannot be search anywere but in a particular region of the globe.

And, more than any other kind of bands, there are those which have been forgotten by the world. If not for some old vinyls, it is impossible to find any trace of their existance. Usually, it happens with mediocre, not-creative groups. But there are some rare cases when relative good, unlucky bands, suffer from this same disease. Those bands never had any kind of re-issue, and the remaining copys of their records are sold from a collector to another. Grupo Agua is surely one of them.

First of all, it's important to declare that they are not the best band ever. It's common to rare records owners to think about their copies as being as great as their unavailability, but it's all bullshit. The musicians, all of them Chileans, are not incredible, and the compositions are regular. The only amazing thing about them is the fact that they used to play only to achieve money and keep traveling around South America. It has surely influenced their musical development (the track Baioncito, for example, is a mix of samba and chorinho, two musical genres original from Brazil). All the tracks are played with Andean instruments, unknown on the non-Latino countries, as the Charango and the Pã Flute (the translation of their names to English doesn't even exist).

The main problem about this record is that the musicians are multi-instrumentists and, sometimes, they can't play some of the instruments as well as an exigent listener would expect. Some of the tracks doesn't have a totally satisfactory recording, too. But the album isn't unpleasent, just kind of weak.

Even so, It's a record that every fan of different cultures should listen to, for some simple reasons:

* Some psychedelic bands from the 60's introduced Indian music for people on Europe and America, but nobody did the same thing for the music from the Andes (and for a lot of other genres that I'm anxious to dicover). Probably, if you're reading it, it's 99% sure that you know what a scitar is and, if you're not from South America, the same 99% sure that you have no idea of what is a charango or a Pã flute, which I've metioned before).
* This record is a good way to discover Andean music , because it is not extremely folk. So it is that it contains a famous traditional music, that has been recorded by the Argentinian great (and popular) singer Mercedes Sosa, Volver a Los 17 (which, by the way, is possibly the most beautiful lyric in Spanish I've ever heard).
* If you are an exhibitionist, I can secure you that none of your friend who are musical freaks have ever heard about Grupo Agua. They don't even know the instruments, believe me.
* Finally, if you buy it, you may not like it, but at least it will be the most beautiful album cover on your vinyl collection. And, if you buy it from a Brazilian, it's not even that expensive! Mine was just the equivalent of 16 dollars. In case you're an acid listener and have heard almost everything, it's time to start looking for new things. And your list, why not, can start here.

So, you might fight against you're laziness and go look for it right now! Or, at least, search some bands that represent your country and your culture, and let me know their names. I will do all I can to hear it. On the end of counts, nothing is better to music than being exotic. If it wasn't so, you could buy only one record and be happy with it until the day you die. You would never get tired of it and you wouldn't be curious to listen to other ones. And, in my case, it's fucking impossible to choose even my 100 island records. On the end of counts, albums that are "just nice" are fundamental, too. What really matters is to learn about other cultures.

My favorite tracks: La Luna Lenna, Baioncito and Volver a Los 17.

http://link-protector.com/x-50329



Alux Nahual - Alux Nahual(1981 smph. prog hard rock mexico?)

http://link-protector.com/x-50330

SMAK!!!!

Smak - Crna dama (Yug.1977 Prog)

SMAK was formed 1971 in Kragujevac, the present Serbia and Montenegro, by a guitar virtuoso Radomir Mihajlovic nicknamed "Tocak" (the Wheel). The first stable line-up was assembled in late 1974 including Slobodan Stojanovic (drums), Zoran Milanovic (bass), Boris Arandjelovic (vocals) and Lazar Ristovski (keyboards). During 1977-78 Ristovski was replaced by first Miki Petkovski and then by Tibor Levay on keyboards, while in the period 1979-81 Dado Topic (ex TIME, KORNI GRUPA) collaborated with SMAK as producer and occasional guest vocalist before the band broke-up in late 1981. The original line-up gathered again in 1986 with a new keyboardist Milan Djurdjevic, but after the release of one LP they split again. The third comeback of SMAK happened in 1992 with Ristovski again as a member, when they mostly played concerts in Serbia and issued a live album. Finally, in 1994 SMAK re-appeared again, this time along with Tocak and Stojanovic they added younger musicians: Dejan Stojanovic (second drum kit), Dejan Najdanovic (vocals), Vlado Samardzic (bass) and Milan Milosavljevic (guitar).
SMAK was celebrated for Tocak's virtuosity in guitar playing, modelled on J. Hendrix and J. Page style, and for interesting, if not always successful, fusion of hard rock, prog rock, jazz rock with strong blues backing, with Arandjelovic's falsetto vocal often used as an instrument rather than singing. "Ulazak u harem", a folk-inspired instrumental issued as hit-single in 1975, showcased Tocak as one of the guitar-heros of ex-Yugoslavian music scene of the 1970s, while albums "Crna dama" ("Black Lady") and "Stranice naseg vremena" ("The Pages of Our Time") were highly celebrated among prog fans and were even released in English versions for the Western market. Their reunion, from the second half of 1980s onward, turned the musical direction of the band into less-inspired mainstream hard rock, abandoning any prog elements. As a comparison, one can mention similarities in style with artists such as DEEP PURPLE, TASTE, TRAFFIC, DOOBIE BROTHERS, SANTANA, LEB I SOL.

Link1: http://link-protector.com/x-50276
Link2: http://link-protector.com/x-50277

Smak - Stranice našeg vremena (1978)

link: http://link-protector.com/x-50278

Tako(prog)!!!!
Tako - Tako (1978 prog)

As it turns out Yugoslavia had their share of prog acts. Smak, Korni Grupa, Leb i Sol, and this particular band, Tako are some examples. Tako managed only two albums, in which this self-entitled album was their debut. The band consisted of bassist/vocalist Dušan Æuæuz, keyboardist/flautist/harmonical player Ðorde Illijan, guitarist/vocalist Miroslav Dukiæ, and drummer Slobodan Felekatoviæ. Ðorde Illijan tends to use a lot of Elka Rhapsody string synth, as well as electric piano. Some of the music tends to have a bit of a fusion influence. A couple of songs have vocals, including the opening cut "Probudi Se". It's in Serbo-Croation, so it's nice to hear the language in a prog setting. This song tends to be dominated by Illijan's Elka. "Sinteza" shows the more fusion-end of the band, especially when Illijan uses the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Perhaps my favorite is "Utapanje Sunèeve Sveltlosi U Pešèanu Memoriju", where the band goes through several changes. Again the vocals appear here. I especially like the guitar work of Miroslav Dukiæ found here. "Lena" is a short, flute-dominated piece that bears more than a passing resemblance to Hungary's Solaris (making me believe Solaris was influenced by Tako, since Solaris' debut did not appear until the 1980s). "Minijatura" is another flute-dominated piece, that brings to mind Jethro Tull. Then the album closes with the 16 minute epic "Druga Strana Mene". The CD reissue comes with a bonus cut, "Put Na Jug", which is a nice addition, this one also has vocals. I don't exactly call this album essential. For one thing, the production isn't all that great (but then I expect that, coming from a communist country), and now I got to hear their second and final album U Vreci Za Spavanje, I have to say that second album is quite a bit better and I guess that's what all the hype of this band is all about. I really suggest you go for that album before you come here.

Link: http://link-protector.com/x-50279

Tako - U vreći za spavanje(1980 prog)

OK, so I had to say that Tako's debut wasn't an album that blew me away. It was decent enough, but then I also have to remember this was an Eastern European band (this band being from what was then Yugoslavia), having to play by communist rules to get their music released. I really thought the biggest weakness of their first album was the vocals, which, although used on only two cuts (and one more on the bonus cut on the Brazilian CD reissue). Really I am really surprised with their second album, U Vreci Za Spavanje (translates as "In the Sleeping Bag", which the original LP shows the band members in sleeping bags). One thing the album was released in 1980 so I expected it to be not as good as their 1978 debut, instead it's even better. I was expecting some nasty early '80s sounds to be found, not at all! The fusion elements of their debut has gone, and so are the vocals, which is a wise decision! Dorde Ilijan seems to use the same keyboards as before, he tends to use the Elka Rhapsody the most (I seen photos of him with Mellotron, but I sure don't notice any on either of their albums, although I might notice some tron flute buried with real flute at the end of this particular album).
Basically all the good things of their debut made even better here. Anyway, notice something familiar with the opening title track? The droning synths, the Moog leads? Sounds like them copying Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", something Eloy did a year before on their "Astral Entrance" (from their album Silent Cries and Mighty Echoes). But then the flute kicks in and they get off of the Floyd kick. "Senke Proslosti" is the second cut, and I really dig those heavy guitar riff with that spacy synth backdrop.
Nice to see in 1980 a band creating great prog rock, that is simply the exception not the rule by that time. Even in communist Yugoslavia, the progressive rock scene there got cut short by the punk rock explosion of the late '70s, and of course, Tako fell victim.

Link:http://link-protector.com/x-50280

Lotus - Lotus(1974 hard prog)

Brilliant instrumental progressive and jazzy yet melodic album.
So rich in melody and originality, it just blows you away!

http://link-protector.com/703546/

Lotus - Vera O'Flera(1975 swe prog jazz prog)

http://link-protector.com/703547/