Raw Material - Selftitled (1970)

Super rare UK progressive from the late '60s. Leaning in a psych direction with Doors like keyboards, 'Tull like flute, long tracks, quality vocals, varied instrumentation etc.This was Raw Material's self-titled maiden voyage in the studio, they would release one more album in 1971 titled Time Is. The sound created on this album was not as intense or complex as their second outing but it is a glimpse at what they would become.

This music was progressive but will most likely be looked upon as pre-progressive (i.e. Yes, Pink Floyd) by most fans and critics. Colin Catt, the vocalist and keyboard player, set the tone for the band with his trilling vocal style and Jon Lord/Deep Purple influenced keyboard playing.

Although this album has some of the fusion and jazz elements present, it is not a prevalent as their second album. Rock seems to be the foundation that everything else stems from on their freshman outing. It remains as a fine example of early prog-rock with the use of the flute, sax and harp. Although this may not be the best album that you have heard from that period of time it is good and worth checking out.

(info by: CGR)

1. Time and Illusion-7:30
2. I'd Be Delighted-5:10
3. Fighting Cock-3:50
4. Pear On An Apple Tree-2:57
5. Future Recollections-3:55
6. Traveller Man-6:10






















Size: 81.3 Mb
Bitrate: 256 mp3
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Spriguns - Revel Weird And Wild (1976)

Reissue of the 1976 debut by Spriguns (previously known as Spriguns of Tolgus). The band adopted a Fairport-like electric folk-rock sound, capped by Mandy Morton's silky velvet vocals. Electric violin and electric guitars evoke misty ancient moorlands and create a suitable backing for Mandy's beautiful voice. Fabulous

Who would have believed what talent there would be inside Mandy Morton? It seems that no one were aware of her skills not even herself. Not even when her musical career started, was she given the homage she so rightly deserved.Her career started of as playing as a duo with her husband Mike Morton. The couple played as a Cambridge folk-duo on Friday and Saturday nights at the Anchor pub in Silver Street, Cambridge. They recieved a growing following, and the duo turned into a band: Spriguns Of Tolgus. They became a known and beloved act in the sorroundings of Cambridge, and their following soon demanted some album releases. Their 1974 privately released cassette was sold to students at live performances and less than 50 copies were produced.
The cassette format has ensured that their value has not reached the epic proportions of the vinylfollow-up Jack With A Feather from 1975, which boasted better sound quality and duplicated some material from the earlier cassette. The playing on the album was good and almost all the material was traditional.After this Spriguns Of Tolgus did break up as a band, but mr. & mrs. Morton continued working with music. They soon were ready to make new recordings. This band did however abbreviate the name to Spriguns. In 1976 they released Revel Weird And Wild which consisted of only of songs written by members of the band, although some of the songs were more or less stolen from traditional songs.
Already at this time Mandy was clearly in control of the band,written most of the material. The following year they made Time Will Pass, were Mandy now were the only songwriter in the band, the album were more aggressive than it's predecessor, and the music, all written by Mandy, seemed to go in a new direction. Mandy's lyrics were still mostly about knight and ladies from a time long ago. Both albums were recorded for the famous label Decca.Spriguns was now totally the vehicle of talented vocalist Mandy Morton. And the next step was only naturel, Spriguns did now only seem as being Mandy Morton with a backing band. And so she rebaptised Spriguns into Mandy Morton And Spriguns and made Magic Lady in 1978.It was this album that introduced me to Mandy's music: I borrowed the cd in the summer 1999, because I knew that my music hero Graeme Taylor was playing on the album. But soon I fell for Mandy's songs.Now performing only as Mandy Morton she recorded Sea Of Storms in 1980. And then three years did pass until her six and final release: Valley Of Light. This album is the only one not to feature Mandy's husband Mike Morton, and so Mandy was now the only one who had been al the way from Jack With A Feather in 1975. After the album Mandy retired from music.
The last three albums were recorded either for Polydor or Banshee.This page is in memory of her indescribably perfect efforts on these albums, which all are of sublime songwritingship, I know I've heard them all!!!

(info by: CGR)

01. Trysting Tree 4:01
02. Outlandish Knight 4:33
03. Sir Colvin 5:56
04. Piscie Song 4:03
05. Nothing Else To Do 2:58
06. Hasberry Howard 2:54
07. Lord Lovell 4:48
08. Laily Worm 3:18
09. When Spring Comes In 3:09






















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McDonald & Sherby - Catharsis (1969)

"Latest offering in our series of Christian titles, this time from those noted style gurus, McDonald & Sherby, whose sole contribution to the canon of 20th century music was Catharsis, an album which originally appeared on the appropriately-named Omniscient label (Omniscient Records 1426S) Some have speculated that given the band's prog/psych leanings, Catharsis was probably recorded in the '70s,
although the accepted wisdom is that the album was made at Minneapolis's Sound 80 Studios on 1969. The album consists of six long tracks with a decidedly heavy guitar-based vibe, all well- recorded and delivered with considerable aplomb. A guitar-based progressive album recorded at Sound 80 in Minneapolis. Though undated, the record sounds of a mid-seventies vintage, not dissimilar to fellow Great Lakes prog rockers Kopperfield."

(info by: CGR)

01 - Addoranne - 10.06
02 - Sharks Around Blood - 5.27
03 - Run And Hide - 4.17
04 - Space Beam - 4.35
05 - Swim Free - 15.01
06 - Drivin´ Me Crazy - 5.18

















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Flood - The Rise of (1970)

Long-lost seventies psych-rock from an act based in New York. Some bluesy workouts with a funky feel on occasion and rock'n'riffy numbers with great moments of intense fuzz guitar soloing, but really rather a disappointment. Inexplicably considered (Impossible to find) by a couple of record dealers recently, but (Extremely rare) value has been consistent for 10 years elsewhere.

(ingo by: CGR)

01 - Vacumn - 4.12
02 - Idle Time - 4.25
03 - Blessed The Young Children - 4.31
04 - Pain - 3.58
05 - Songbird Of Time - 3.30
06 - Mr. Wickett - 6.18
07 - Don´t Take Me - 3.27
08 - Hurting Time - 4.02



















Size: 65.6 Mb
Bitrate: 256 mp3
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Beefeaters – Beefeaters & Meet You There (1967-69)

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Size: 166 Mb
Bitrate: 320 mp3
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Sorcery - Sinister Soldiers (1978)

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Ramatam - Selftitled (1971)

Review by Joe Viglione:
Tom Dowd produced 1972's self-titled debut from Ramatam, a poor-man's Blind Faith featuring co-author of The Blues Image hit "Ride Captain Ride Mike Pinera on guitar and vocals, and Mitch Mitchell on drums. The "star" of this group was alleged to be April Lawton, a chick who had the Hendrix riffs down, to be sure, but not as creative as Robin Trower and all those other gents who carried Jimi's sound and stylings into the seventies.
An appearance by the group in Boston at the old Music Hall was pure white noise and not very memorable outside of that. The album is a bit more refined, but ultimately fails to deliver the goods.
"Whiskey Place" opens the record sounding like a brazen blend of Ten Wheel Drive meets The Jimi Hendrix Experience without a Genya Ravan or a Jimi to save the day. The horns actually clash with the guitar while the bass has a mind of its own. The production work by Dowd on the first track is totally uninspired and it certainly feels like the act was left to its own devices.
Mike Pinera and Les Sampson's "Heart Song" works much better, a jazzy vision of Traffic's brand of Brit rock meeting that of the West Coast's /Quicksilver Messenger Service.
But it's not enough - Rare Earth type macho vocals do much to implode the disc's potential totally sinking Pinera's "Ask Brother Ask".
Mitchell's great drum work is wasted on the monotony of the hook, and the musicianship gets so fragmented it sounds like Eno's Portsmouth Sinfonia without the humor. The Tommy Sullivan / April Lawton composition "What I Dream I Am", on the other hand, almost gets it done - it's pretty tune with flutes, acoustic guitar work and simple percussion from Mitch.
It fails because of vocals which just can't cut it, painful singing obliterating the disc's best chance for recognition. Was Tom Dowd out having coffee or just not interested in this whatsoever?
America could've used an answer to Steve Winwood's poppy jazz, and a Genya Ravan would have brought this experiment out of the quagmire it finds itself in with her voice and production intuition.
The blues here undefined and the tape mix far from cohesive on the other band collaboration,"Wayso". Ramatam, diffused and confused, is a tragic statement of record labels trying to make a talent rather than finding one. "Changing Days" is another decent Sullivan / Lawton easy feeling co-write with horrible vocals eradicating the core goodness of the songwriting. Mike Pinera's "Strange Place" takes the Kiss riff, from "Shout It Out Loud" and puts it in a jazz setting with vocals that sound like they are auditioning for Savoy Brown...and failing to get the gig.
If that sounds awful just be thankful you're reading about it without having to hear this mess. By 1973 the group would be pared down to a power trio of Lawton, Sullivan and Jimmy Walker on drums.
Perhaps bassist Russ Smith, ex-Iron Butterfly Pinera and Mitch Mitchell saw the writing on the wall, but how they couldn't come up with something much, much better than this is the mystery.
There's enough combined talent here to have delivered a real gem. With this album Ramatam have re-written Euclid's axiom and turned it on its head: here the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The final track, "Can't Sit Still", sounds like producer Dowd looped his old Ornette Coleman and Allman Brothers tapes with his Black Oak Arkansas projects. And if Ramatam hadn't toured, people might've thought that's exactly what this was.

1. Whiskey Place
2. Heart Song
3. Ask Brother Ask
4. What I Dream I Am
5. Wayso
6. Changing Days
7. Strange Place
8. Wild Like Wine
9. Can't Sit Still

















Size: 75.7 Mb
Bitrate: 256 mp3
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Mariani - Perpetuum Mobile (1970)

Ultra-rare album originally released as acetate only in 1970 by Austin based psychedelic rock-blues combo featuring a 16 year old Eric Johnson, Vince Mariani and Jay Podolnick...contains two bonus tracks from a rare single 'Re-Birth Day' and 'Memories'.

This Mariani album comes in either a plain white cover with MARIANI written at the upper right or a cover with stamped info MARIANI at upper right, PERPETUUM MOBILE at upper right, SONOBEAT STEREO at lower right and ADVANCE COPYwith a handwritten number at lower left. That´s all.

Labels have the numbers HEC 411 / HEC 412.
The record sold for $10.000 mentioned above had the cover with stamped info

Reviewed by: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck: A trio called Mariani originally recorded Perpetuum Mobile in 1970. In 2001 Akarma Records resurrected this sought after collectable. A young 16-year-old guitarist was making some noise then, his name was Eric Johnson.
Many music lovers found out about Johnson through his breakthrough album Ah Via Musicom in 1990. After The Ventures had initiated me and opened my ears to instrumental rock, I heard Johnson's song "Trademark," which was enjoying a steady rotation on FM radio. Enamored by the new sound, I consequently started my search for all the instrumental guitar music that I could get my hands on.

This reissued classic rock-blues album comes packaged in gatefold sleeve with the original stunning artwork and lengthy and informative liner notes that fill up both sides of the inner sleeves.

I really did not know what to expect when I put this platter on my turntable. I thought it might have been one of those castaway recordings that you hear 30 years after the fact. This however was not the case. Johnson, Vince Mariani (drums, vocals), and Jay Podolick (bass, vocals) were a powerful trio. Johnson was only a 16-year-old kid but he sounded years beyond capabilities as a lead guitar player.

The cuts recorded for this album were not for the faint of heart or meant for top-forty airplay, some are complex jams that run for over five minutes. The beginning of side two starts things off with a Vanilla Fudge/Cactus like blues-rock session. That song was the decisive factor for me. It solidified in my mind that Johnson was indeed big league material long before he received that recognition.

It is time to blow the dust off your turntable and start your LP collection again. This album will inspire you ... I guarantee it.
Even if you are not interested in the music, the cover alone is a real eye catcher for science fiction buffs or album art collectors.
I loved the entire package myself, and was enlightened once again about an artist I have always enjoyed.

(info by: CGR)

1. Searching For A New Dimension
2. Re-Birth Day
3. Things Are Changing
4. Lord I Just Cant Help Myself
5. The Unknown Path
6. Euphoria
7. Message
8. Windy Planet
9. Re-Birth Day (45 Version)
10. Memories






















Size: 96.9 Mb
Bitrate: 256 mp3
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The Five Day Week Straw People - same (1968)

Five Day Week Straw People was an LP that captured a day in the life of sixties London. Released in September 1968, Five Day Week Straw People were not a band, but rather the work of London-based songwriters David Montague and Guy Mascalo, who composed a song cycle that they once described as being about "people who work monotonously during the week and then try to enjoy themselves at weekends."
The song writing pair hired in guitar, bass, drums, vocals and set up in a makeshift studio recording space(actually a school!). Taking just four hours, most of the tracks being recorded in one or two takes, the results were exceptional. Tracks like the title song, I'm Going Out Tonight and the dreamy, shimmering Sunday Morning being particularly strong. Packaged in a colourful psychedelic sleeve, the LP is now quite rightly regarded as one of the classic LPs of the era and copies regularly sell for more than £100.
The LP sold quite well at the time and the label wanted a follow-up album, but David Montague remembers that given how he and his partner had made no money from the LP (the modest fee was all given to the session players) they declined the offer and elected to focus their efforts on placing their songs with established music publishers.
This is the first reissue of the album, by Montague and Mascalo, mastered from original tapes stored in the Library for nearly 40 years, and enhanced with the addition of two bonus tracks recorded the same year by the pair, not previously reissued .

(info from: internet)

















Size: 122 Mb
Bitrate: 256 mp3
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Steel Mill - Green Eyed God (UK Progressive 1972)

The mystery that surrounds the band adds to the appeal of this album, I must admit. But even without the mystique, the music still manages to stand alone, and quite well I might add. I've never liked having art (rock) as a sub genre of music, as I've stated before. music is a sub caterogry of art! So I view this as more of a hardrock/fusion album. The fusion influences are not to heavy, there are some focus/tullesque flute and subtle sax here and there. If you can find this album and want to pay lotf of money and/or an arm or leg, by all means, its a good album. But it is insanely rare so I would suggest you d/l it.

(info by: CGR)

01. Blood Runs Deep
02. Smmer Child
03. Mijo And The Laying Of The Wich
04. Treadmill
05. Green Eyed God
06. Turn The Page Over
07. Black Jewel Of The Forest
08. Har Fleur
09. Get On The Line Single A-Side
10. Zang Will Single B-Side






















Size: 92.5 Mb
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Jody Grind - One Step On (1969)

Great UK progressive rock band with powerful and driving sound. The band was the brainchild of Keyboard player Tim Hinkley. Jody Grind was a band formed by Tim Hinkley around 1969.Robert Fripp (cerebrum in King Crimson) almost joined the group. They released an album, Blue whale, in a progressive style, with long jamming songs. But Aynsley dissolved the band, when he got a call from Frank Zappa to join forces. Coincidentally, the album contains a long version of Zappa's 'Willie the pimp'.

And, sadly, I've never heard of Ivan Zagni again, except for an Elton Dean released in 1997. Can someone help here, please? I've heard he retired back to Norwich, but some years ago, he went to live to New Zealand.

(info by: CGR)

01 - One Step On - 18.43
02 - Paint It Black (single version) - 4.40
03 - Little Message - 5.03
04 - Night Today - 6.40
05 - U.S.A - 4.31
06 - Rock'n Roll Man - 5.06






















Size: 87.9 Mb
Bitrate: 256 mp3
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Goldenrod - Goldenrod (1969)

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Size: 144 Mb
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Paternoster - Selftitled (1972)

Amongst the most legendary of Austrian underground bands, but with a virtually undocumented history, Paternoster originated from Vienna, and existed for only two years in the early-70's, disbanding after the release of just one album.

Paternoster were heavy, but their complex progressive blend was atypically of the Krautrock ilk. Fronted by a most unusual vocalist, with an equally bizarre use of song, their music drew on that trippy Pink Floyd style. Akin to Gila, Virus, and Jane on occasions, the Paternoster style blended heavy classical motifs, psychedelic flights into the cosmos, and much more. The result is, that every track amounts to a lively potpourri of surprises.

(info by: CGR)

1. PATERNOSTER
2. REALIZATION
3. STOP THESE LINES
4. BLIND CHILDREN
5. OLD DANUBE
6. THE POPE IS WRONG
7. MAMMOTH OPUS O



















Size: 74.7 Mb
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