The Motherhood - Doldinger's Motherhood (1970 ger jazz prog)

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Public Foot the Roman - Public Foot the Roman (1973 prog jazz prog uk)

I probably shouldn't admit it, but the truth of the matter is I bought this album based entirely on the bizarro band name, the label (Capitol's short-lived Sovereign imprint had some interesting acts on its roster), and the interesting Hipgnosis cover (a bunch of folks standing in the middle of a Chelsea's soccer stadium looking up at what appears to be a UFO). These guys actually had an interesting background. Irish-born singer/guitarist Sean Byrne had been a member the California-based The Count Five who had a classic one-shot single with 'Psychotic Reaction'. When that band fell apart Byrne eventually returned to Ireland where in the early 1970s he ended up as a member of Public Foot the Roman along with lead guitarist Greg Knowles, drummer Jaime Lane, keyboardist Dag Small, and bassist Ward (guess he couldn't afford a last name). Produced by Derek Lawrence who handled a bunch of the Wishbone Ash catalog, 1973's oddly titled "Public Foot the Roman" was kind of an odd hybrid of AOR and progressive moves - occasionally blended together in the same song ('When You Lay It Down'). With Byrne responsible for all eight tracks on the surface that wouldn't sound particularly promising (I can see folks thinking along the lines of a second tier Genesis or Gentle Giant). The fact of the matter is that while there wasn't a great deal of originality here, the band played with considerable energy and with one of two exceptions (the country-tinged 'King for a Day'), this album was a lot of fun to hear. Byrne, Lane, and Small all handled lea vocals, though Byrne seemed to be the most prominent of the three. All of them had decent if slightly anonymous voices that managed to cover the band's entire catalog. For his part Knowles was a truly overlooked guitarist who turned in some first-rate performances on this overlooked set.. That said, the band's secret weapon (well I guess he really wasn't much of a secret) was keyboardist Small who managed to salvage virtually everything he touched. - 'Land Owner' opened the album with a fairly conventional slice of AOR. The highlight came in the form of a nice Byrne and Knowles double lead guitar solo that sounded like it had been borrowed from an early Allman Brothers track. Small kicked in some nice Supertramp-styled keyboards. rating: *** stars - In contrast to the first track, 'When You Lay It Down' found the band diving headlong into progressive rock. Mind you the results were still fairly mainstream with a recognizable and enjoyable melody and some tasty lead guitar and keyboards from Knowles and Small. The album also showcased some very nice harmony vocal work from the band. rating: **** stars - Completely unlike the rest of their catalog 'King for a Day' sounded like a cross between Commander Cody and early UK pub-rockers like Brinsley Schwartz. Once you got over the initial shock, the song kind of grew on you with Knowles turning in a simply blistering Telecaster solo. Very commercial, you could just hear progressive and rock fans scratching their heads trying to figure how someone slipped a pub-rock song on their turntables. rating: *** stars - Probably because it had the highest 'progressive' content and bowed in non-too-subtle aural homage to Yes and other English progressive bands, 'Judas Returns' (along with "Decline and Fall') was one of the two PFTR songs that folks typically acknowledge off the album. If you liked Yes at their most commercial and didn't mind some really dumb lyrics (c'mon, they were from Cambridge, so you couldn't be blamed for expecting something a bit more substantial ("men in shields control our days ..."), then you probably weren't going to have a problem with this one and to be honest, it grew on you after a couple of spins. Unfortunately, just as the Knowles - Small jam was really beginning to kick into gear the song faded out. Shame. rating: **** stars - 'Don't Bite the Hand' started side two off with some more Allman Brothers-styled twin lead guitar opening into a rollicking, fairly straightforward slice of AOR. The guitars saved the song from falling in the also-ran category. rating: *** stars - 'One (On My Mind)' was another atypical performance. With pretty melody and layered harmonies this one sounded a bit like something out of the Crosby, Stills, and Nash catalog (something Crosby might have penned). Small turned in some beautiful keyboards. rating: *** stars - The album's longest and most complex composition, 'Decline and Fall' was another Yes-influenced number that gave Small an opportunity to showcase his impressive array of keyboard talents. Twisting and turning through a series of entertaining segments, the song actually became more focused as it went along and served to showcase some really nice keyboard and guitar interplay by the members. Such jamming normally doesn;t do a great deal for me, but this was one of the exceptions. Very nice. rating: *** stars No, it isn't a lost classic, but it's far better than you would have expected judging by some of the lukewarm reviews. Shame they didn't get a second shot at it. "Public Foot the Roman" track listing: (side 1) 1.) Land Owner (Sean Byrne) - 4:38 2.) When You Lay It Down (Sean Byrne) - 5:40 3.) King for a Day (Sean Byrne) - 3:39 4.) Judas Returns (Sean Byrne) - 6:00 (side 2) 1.) Don't Bite the Hand (Sean Byrne) - 5:05 2.) One (On My Mind) (Sean Byrne) - 4:54 3.) Decline and Fall (Sean Byrne) - 8:31 From RYM (RDten1)

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Spjärnsvallet - Spjärnsvallet (1975 swe jazz prog)

Interesting ethno prog. The A-side is really good, whereas the B-side is a bit mundane. All in all, warmly recommended.
From RYM (tovan)

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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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Compost - Take Off Your Body (1971 jazz usa)

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Rock Workshop - Rock Workshop (1970 hard-brass rock/jazz)

Alex Harvey before SAHB. With guitarist Ray Russell

Quite good early seventies brass-jazz/rock. Some incredible electronic sound-effects between the tracks make almost worth the album alone.

But this is really an overlocked album, good all over.
From RYM (gao)
 

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Finnforest - Finnforest (1975 great finnish jazz prog)

Well played prog fusion; a bit similar to Errobi. Not very rich in content, but nice enough. Recommended.
From RYM (tovan)

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

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Cry Freedom - Volcano (1976 germany kraut-prog jazz)

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Laser Pace - Granfalloon (usa 1973 prog - jazz exp)

Laser Pace is an american progressive rock band from early ,70,s who managed to release one album in 1973 named Granfaloon, issued by Takoma records. The music is very challenging and experimental combining progressive rock with funk, jazz and even other crossover moments giving to this album a special status in this genre . Featuring excellent musicians including the brilliant voice of Maureen O'Connor - who can sing in a wide range of sounds - definetly the cherry on the cake here. The guitar and mellotron moments are also very interesting and spacey, sometimes developing more jamming or jazzy moments, more towards the end of the album. I must admit that this album is one of the most underrated albums from that period, with simply brilliant vocal arrangements, not to be heared every day in prog music and yet they are quite unknow by wider public. The band after some popular and well recieved concerts decided to disband in 1976. In the years to come, the more recent ones Doug Decker will founded his own label the Decker productions where will be released this album on Cd in 2008. A very original album , fans of King Crimson, Zappa or at some point Samla Mammas Manna, will enjoy to the max this album, a real lost gem in vaults of time, that needs a wider recognition in progressive rock music. Recommended for sure, the cover art is simply superb and tells everyrhing what is inside the album, this Granfaloon really cooks all the way. 4 stars easy, one of the forgotten treasures from american scene.
From RYM (b_olariu)

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Flying Island - Flying Island (1975 usa- jazz-prog fusion)

This all instrumental progressive jazz/rock fusion LP is worth investigating by all fans of prog. It features It features some fine use of elec. violin, flute, clarinet, elec. piano, and some wailin' wah-wah guitar on a mix of light and heavy mat'l. They're relatively obscure, and deserve better recognition. Grades - 2 B+'s, 5 B's, 2 b-'s, and a C+. I have heard reports they were from Colorado.
From RYM (tymeshifter)

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M.O.T.U.S - Machine of the Universal Space (1972 fra prog, jazz prog)

Very good album. It's prog rock with jazz influences. In some tracks you can here strong infuences of early Caravan. Some guitar parts are in style of early Allan Holdsworth playing. On all LP we can hear great Hammond organ sounds in classic rock style. One of the tracks 'Out In The Open' has melody in style of Elton John' 'Country Comfort' track. Guitar and vocalist play before (with Mell Collins) in legendary Circus band. Highly Recommended.

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Síntesis - Síntesis (1976 - rare arg superb jazz rock)

Formed in Rosario (city 300Km North of Buenos Aires), this unknown group recorded an album in March 1976 -only in two days!
The LP features six instrumental tracks raging from progressive to symphonic, but mainly jazz-rock. The trio is joined by Sergio Polizzi (next Soluna and Bubu) on violin, Oscar Tissera on flute, Mariano Zarich and Chachi Ferreyra on saxes and Santiago Aldana on clarinet.
This monotonous album was released through a private pressing with an aptly drawn fold out cover. It was never reissued and is hard to get.

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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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Bedjabetch - Subrepticement(1979 superb jazz prog)

Spettacolare disco!!!superbo!ottimo esempio di come si posso mescolare jazz e prog finendo per fare un album meraviglioso (e se lo dico io che non impazzisco per i generi "puri"...fidatevi!)ottimo lavoro di "drumming" che sostiene tutte le canzoni e permette agli altri musicisti di sbizzarrirsi...altamente consigliato!!
Link: http://vkwsnk.link-protector.com

Bosse "Blomman" Blombergh - Små knepiga låtar

(1977swe-hard blues soft prog)

Buon disco anche se un filo distante dai miei gusti...penso che questo tizio sia una sorta di cantautore blues rock (ma mi pare riduttivo definirlo così...dal mio punto di vista mi sembra abbastanza eclettico...)Buon disco ma non sono saltato sulla sedia nell'ascoltarlo!
Link:http://lix.in/da436a

Autumn Breeze - Höstbris (1979 swe-prog)

This album was posted first at the great blog "mysteryposter" but is no longer avaiable...so please surf on this great blog and leave a comment to thanks M.P.!

Link:http://lix.in/f2250f
Link2:http://lix.in/86d97c

Back Door - Back Door (superb fusion-jaz-prog1972)

Very innovative, sort of like Ornette Coleman meets Delta Blues with some incredibly creative bass playing by one Colin Hodgkinson (who plays full chords and melodies in addition to grooving). Some of his playing pre-figures Victor Wooten by a couple decades almost.
Released by the band on the Blakey label in 1972 and then re-released by Warner
in 1973, this instrumental album is impressive from start to finish, and a veritable catalog of bass guitar technique. Asbery's funky sax and flute work leaves the bottom end completely open to the bass guitar, and Hodgkinson's use of strummed chords is ably backed by his bandmates on the squalling opener "Vienna Breakdown." The mel-low fon-kay bass solo, "Lieutenant Loose," makes effective use of ringing open strings, while "Slivadiv" is a fret-hammering delight. If you're a bassist, be forewarned: listening to this album is a deeply humbling experience.
AMG Review: Review by Paul Collins

Link:http://lix.in/47b5d6

Back Door - 8th Street Nites(1974)

Just brilliant, almost as good as the first lp (Back Door) and in some ways better. Colin Hodgkinson's very occasional vocals are a bit white-boy-blues, but you can tell he means well; in any event it is really an instrumental set, and both the playing and compositions are topnotch. Some of themes have been playing on my head-radio for over twenty years now - this is no flash in the pan here today gone tomorrow rubbish.
Get it, do. And get their much later sets ASKIN' THE WAY and HUMAN BED while you're about it. BACK DOOR were just great - one of my favorite bands of any genre.
Link:http://lix.in/d60d61

The Flock!!!(superb jazz prog)

The Flock - Dinosaur Swamps(1970)

This wonderful fusion of jazz-rock, americana and progressive simply "rocks" even if you don't particularly go for any of the genres.

Link: http://lix.in/-597205
The Flock - Inside Out(1975)

This band from Chicago mix rather complex (and at times chaotic) progressive rock sound with funk and jazz influences for a mostly pretty good affair. The opening piece on each side is also the worst song, but tunes like "Back To You" and the stoner anthem "My OK Today"
Link:http://lix.in/34b2f8