Reissues
Biglietto Per L'Inferno
**2020 stock** Born in 1972 in Lecco, in northern Italy, from the ashes of Gee and Mako Sharks, Un Biglietto per l'Inferno are still regarded as one of the most influential Italian prog bands, despite a single LP release, their magnificent eponymous album from 1974. The band had an intense live activity, that took to a very powerful sound driven by the twin keyboards of Baffo Banfi (of Klaus Schulze fame) and Cossa and the lead guitar of Mainetti, with flute intermissions by singer Claudio Can…
Hero
This is an excellent progressive recording by the Italian Hero trio, originally released in 1974 for an obscure German label. A very pleasant music style overall, at times close to harder New Trolls, but mainly influenced by the hard-prog style of the British bands of the 70s released on the historic Vertigo label. One of the very first releases on AMS, this album is now printed on LP for its first legit reissue on this format!
Arrow Head
Osage Tribe were an Italian Prog band who released just one album in 1972, "Arrow Head", before splitting up and disappear - even if all bandmembers went on playing in other groups as Duello Madre, Capsicum Red, The Trip and Il Volo. The band was founded by Franco Battiato, who left right after the release of the single "Un falco nel cielo" to pursue a solo career that's still active nowadays. The other musicians then significantly changed their musical style, moving towards a hard rock-based pr…
Io Sono Murple
**2020 stock**Another band that deserved much more consideration than they got, Murple released a lonely beautiful album in 1974 on the German Basf label, one of very few Italian releases on this label, that didn't cared to promote the group at all and issued the record long after its recording. It's a shame, because Io sono Murple is a very regarding album, well presented in a fantasy cover and with lyric insert, and very well played by this experienced four-piece from Rome.
The album contains…
Jazz Piano
Roman pianist and film composer Armando Trovajoli scored over 300 feature films during his remarkable career. Starting out in the 1930s as a player in Orchestra Rocco Grasso and Sesto Carlini’s beloved jazz orchestra, in 1949 he represented Italy at the Festival du Jazz de Paris and he began composing films three years later. Jazz Piano, released by RCA in 1959, saw Trovajoli fronting a quartet with three of his regular orchestra members, namely drummer Sergio Conti, bassist/arranger Berto Pisan…
1972-1974
**Limited edition albums cut from the same hi-res masters used for the 40th anniversary CD/DVD-A series, pressed on 200g super-heavyweight vinyl, and presented in their original sleeves.** King Crimson 1972-1974 is a limited edition boxed set presenting the band’s celebrated trio of studio albums from that period - Larks’ Tongues In Aspic, Starless And Bible Black, Red - in their 40th anniversary edition mixes (by Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp between 2009-2012).
A fourth album containing a com…
1969-1972
**Limited edition albums cut from the same hi-res masters used for the 40th anniversary CD/DVD-A series, pressed on 200g super-heavyweight vinyl, and presented in their original sleeves.** King Crimson 1969-1972 is a limited edition boxed set presenting the band’s celebrated quartet of studio albums from that period - In The Court Of The Crimson King, In The Wake Of Poseidon, Lizard, Islands - in their 40th anniversary edition mixes (created by Steven Wilson and Robert Fripp between 2009-2010).A…
Marching Songs Vol. 2
It's hardly surprising that Mike Westbrook reigned supreme in the latter quarter of the 1960s and early 70s. His big band was voted top of that category in the late-lamented Melody Maker British jazz polls for 1970 (and the two years either side of that). In the same year, his third album, Marching Song, recorded a year earlier came third in the category "LP Of The Year" (the number one album that year was John McLaughlin's seminal Extrapolation so there was exceptionally strong competition). Th…
Marching Songs Vol. 1
It's hardly surprising that Mike Westbrook reigned supreme in the latter quarter of the 1960s and early 70s. His big band was voted top of that category in the late-lamented Melody Maker British jazz polls for 1970 (and the two years either side of that). In the same year, his third album, Marching Song, recorded a year earlier came third in the category "LP Of The Year" (the number one album that year was John McLaughlin's seminal Extrapolation so there was exceptionally strong competition). Th…
Trio
Mike Taylor died, probably by his own hand, at age 31 in 1969, having realised a fraction of his potential as a composer and player, and written for the New Jazz Orchestra, singer Norma Winstone and the rock band Cream. Cream's singer and bassist Jack Bruce and Ron Rubin (occasionally) are on acoustic bass here, with Jon Hiseman on drums, a line-up that highlights the close links between 1960s Britain's creative rock and R&B scenes and the jazz of the time.
Taylor is a highly rhythmic pianist wh…
An Elizabethan Songbook
In compiling a modern album of Elizabethan music, London Jazz Four were faced with both technical and interpretive problems. Musically they had to decide how far we could alter the original notation in order to allow ourselves a more modern basis for improvisation, and at the same time preserve the original character of the music. To achieve this, they concentrated on melodies that were strong enough to withstand at times rather violent re-harmonisation, without losing their Elizabethan flavour.…
A Love Supreme
One of the most important records ever made, John Coltrane's A Love Supreme was his pinnacle studio outing, that at once compiled all of the innovations from his past, spoke to the current of deep spirituality that liberated him from addictions to drugs and alcohol, and glimpsed at the future innovations of his final two and a half years. Recorded over two days in December 1964, Trane's classic quartet-- Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison -- stepped into the studio and created one of t…
De Overkant
**Edition of 50 copies in original recycled, silk screened sleeve, signed and numbered.** A suite of spellbinding ambient folk meditations from Timo Van Luijk, the boss of Belgium's exquisite Metaphon label. A regular collaborator with the likes of Andrew Chalk, Raymond Dijkstra, and Christoph Heeman, among others, Timo operates at the core of Belgium's current avant-garde and experimental circles. Produced and released under his Af Ursin alias on the La Scrie Dorée label set up for such purpose…
Metti Una Sera A Cena
Quite possibly the greatest Morricone score ever – and one whose dreamy bossa-inflected title theme has been covered a number of times over the years (most recently by the group Balanco!) From the first minutes of the album, you'll instantly recognize the main theme – as it's swells of voices and lilting keyboards are among one of Morricone's best signatures from the time. Don't worry about getting bored because you may already know it, though – as the album has loads of other beautiful …
Rains In The Tropics
Gene Rains is a hot tip within the tiki scene. His works are not as known as those of Martin Denny or Les Baxters, but musically they play in the same league. Rains colourful compositions write their own story. Once the record starts playing, you'll be taken on a orchestral journey through polynesian isles, treasures in the jungle, old stone gods and also take a short side trip with songs like "Chines Nights" or "Bangkok Cock Fight".
Sondi
First time reissued on CD outside of Asia! Sondi Sodsai represented Thailand in the Miss Universe 1959 beauty pageant. She went by the alias "Sondi Sodsai" in her acting career because her last name "was too difficult for foreigners to pronounce“. The same year her sole album "Sondi" was released on Liberty Records in the USA. The fact that it was produced by the star of the Exotica scene; Martin Denny, led (and still leads) to a huge interest in this record. Lot's of new songs where written for…
Katanga! Ahbe Casabe: Exotic Blues & Rhythm Vol. 1 & 2
This CD combines the first two volumes from the “Exotic Blues & Rhythm” compilation series named “Katanga!” and “Ahbe Casabe!” with two additional bonus tracks. This album is a colorful garden of delights consisting of R’n’B and rock’n’roll based songs from the 1940s to the early 1960s that all have this slightly exotic, dark and mystical feeling from the melody structures and instrumentation. Most of the tunes at hand sound astonishingly fresh and timeless. Eddie Cole & Three Peppers with their…
Paradise Found Vol. 1: Rare Exotic Sounds
Born from the unfulfilled desires of a whole generation for a peaceful, yet adventurous life in a mystifying environment, a new pop art style emerged in the 1950s combining elements of different cultures from the Pacific area. Part of this movement became a smooth, yet exciting music with a strongly picturesque approach labeled as “exotica”. The compilation at hand “Paradise Found - Rare Exotic Sounds Vol. 1” captures the entire spectrum of moods and directions this music took at the pinnacle ph…
Disillusioned!
1980s music from former Yugoslavia has always been a special affair. Even pop was not the same as pop, if you understand. Rex Ilusivii is the brainchild of composer Mitar Subotic and will go well with fans of dark synthie pop and atmospheric gothic stuff. There are four shorter tunes to be found on the A side of this record and this is as pop as pop could go if you wish to play it in a gloomy and more experimental style. Bowie would have been proud of this music if it was his. It is dark and min…
Brez Naslova
**Reissued for the first time. Limited to 500.** When it comes to a fusion of jazz and rock music, most of us connoisseurs look over to England. Canterbury is not only a place, it is a term to define a whole scene and sound in the field of jazzrock. And this scene spawned some magical names, bands and musicians, being carved into the soul of every woman and man who were engaged in jazz and progressive rock music in the 70s. Now we can only wonder how the call of Canterbury reached Yugoslavia, a …