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Top Gear Live In London 1967-1969
These Soft Machine recordings for John Peel's Top Gear programme took place in December 1967 and June 1969 when the band was at the peak of their psychedelic revolution and during their first transition towards an unprecedented form of Psych Rock Jazz. These historical sessions, including a great version of Wyatt's masterpiece Moon in June, show the great potential of the band's early line ups featuring Hugh Hopper - bass, Kevin Ayers - vocals, guitar, bass, Robert Wyatt - vocals, drums and Mike…
In the Land of Grey and Pink Live at the Bbc, 1971
Recorded Live at the BBC in spring 1971, the same year of In the Land of Grey and Pink release, this is the classic Caravan line-up playing music from the same iconic studio album, a true masterpiece in the '70s Rock history. A quintessential combination between Richard Sinclair's beautiful and timeless melodies and David Sinclair's fuzz-organ improvisations. A full immersion in deep Canterbury sound featuring, among others, a fifteen minutes epic version of Nine Feet Underground.
Les Trois Fou's Perdégagnent (Au Pays Des...)
Second album by Etron Fou Leloublan, the mythic avant-rock / rock-in-opposition incredible trio, that happily destroys all rock structures and performs a delirious music, full of humour and rhythm. Etron Fou Leloublan had definitely moved up a notch with this release and things would actually get even better with the next release! Still, this album, originally published in 1979 is quite a juicy steak that will take quite some time to devour with the end results exceeding beyong the initial anti…
Live At The BBC 1972
This 1972 BBC Live recording is the perfect proof of what a band like Matching Mole could do in concert during their too short existence. The quartet playing was way more free and adventurous than in studio and the tunes were often stretched out and built to dense instrumental climaxes. Dave MacRae - electric piano, Phil Miller - guitar, Bill MacCormick - bass, Robert Wyatt - drums, vocals. A great live session from a key group in the Canterbury rock scene and an essential companion to the band'…
Satan
Monster Melodies present the legendary album Satan, an absolute must-have in terms of French progressive music, recorded in 1973 and never before released. In 1968, in Le Mans (a town in the west of France in Les pays de la Loire), some young students, planning to become teachers, started a band under the name The New Rainbow. Like many young musicians at the time, they enjoyed English blues and were fans of Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and Led Zeppelin. Quickly, they changed their name to Heaven Ro…
Live In London In The Early Sixties
The early mythical Soft Machine featuring the trio line up of Kevin Ayers, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt, captured live in the full swinging London atmosphere. These were the band's psychedelic days, when their original magic potion was composed of unconventional songs and freaky organ, bass and drums improvisations. The group was literally exploding throughout the London club scene. One of the most innovative and influential sounds of that musically and culturally fertile era
Time Wasters
2011 release. Originally released in 1978, in a private pressing of 200 copies. Canterbury style UK fragile folk with psych leanings. UK album recorded by a group of students at the Ingestre Hall Residential Arts Centre. The name of the band was actually a joke based on newspaper advertisements for musicians to join bands, which would sometimes end with "No time wasters"! So Greg Holt, the band's founder, called them "Time Wasters Only" and the generic name for any of the musicians in the group …
Jet-Propelled Photographs
Soft Machine formed in August 1966, although gigs under the name of Mister Head had been underway since May of that year. The band split up in December 1968, re-formed again in February 1969 and continued to perform throughout the 70’s. The original line-up (1966) consisted of Robert Wyatt on drums and vocals, Mike Ratledge on keyboards, Daevid Allen on guitar and Kevin Ayers on bass and vocals. For a brief time, American guitarist Larry Knowlin was also a member, but left after only a handful o…
Wilde Flowers
Although the band never released an album during the years of their activity, Wilde Flowers is certainly to be counted among the foundation stones of the Canterbury scene of the mid-to-late Sixties. After their departure from the band, the members formed other two seminal groups of the Canterbury Sound: Soft Machine (Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, and Hugh Hopper) and Caravan (David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings, and Richard Coughlan)
Straight to the Krankenhaus
Straight to the Krankenhaus is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish progrock-jazz/ fusion act Secret Oyster. The album was composed and recorded simultaneously with Vidunderlige Kælling (1975) but was not released until late 1976/ early 1977. Many fans regard this album as the best work Secret Oyster ever did. And maybe they are right, because the brand of progrock jazz/ fusion on this album is very catchy and while there are plenty of soloing by sax and guitar the songs never drag or drow…
Vidunderlige Kælling
Vidunderlige Kælling is the third full-length studio album by Danish progrock jazz/ fusion act Secret Oyster. The album was made specifically and on request for a ballet of the same name starring one of the greatest Danish female ballet dancers at the time Vivi Flindt (it's Vivi posing naked on the cover of the album). The music on this album was composed simultaneously with the tracks that would make up the 4th full-length studio album by Secret Oyster called 'Straight To The Krankenhaus', whic…
Sea Son
This is Secret Oysters second step to stardom. When Secret Oysters first album (LHC 216) was a monumental debut, 'Sea Son' is a monster of an album type slightly psychedelic progjazz rock with clever use of electric piano and moog synthesisers along with a strong dose of melodic sax lines while Bohlings impressive guitar work really shines through and rules (listen to 9:16 long mind movie). A lot of furious solos and just a few soft ones mostly by guitar and sax, remarkable interplays between ke…
Secret Oyster
This is the first official re-release of Danish act Secret Oyster`s debut album and the first of a series of 4 reissues of Secret Oyster legacy of 4 fantastic albums from 1973-1976. Originally it was released through CBS Records in November 1973. Secret Oyster was founded by former members of Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe, Coronarias Dans and Hurdy Gurdy, all well professional and prolific Danish musicians. On their first album, internationally also sold under the name Furtive Pearl, the band play a jammi…
Little Red Record
**Edition of 500 copies, pressed on color vinyl LP with a bonus track** From the 70's Canterbury scene, one of the greatest pieces of work in the genre. Matching Mole was the first band formed by Robert Wyatt after the seminal Soft Machine experience. An incredibly tight unit featuring Phil Miller (Hatfield and the North) on guitar, Dave McRae (Nucleus) on keyboards, Bill McCormick (Quiet Sun, 801) on bass and Wyatt himself on drums and vocals. Released in 1971 Little Red Record was Mole's secon…
Xalph
The story begins in the city of Bordeaux in 1964. Captivated by Hank Marvin's guitar-playing, Jean Pierre Daran teaches himself to play Shadows tunes, working out their intricacies by the unusual method of slowing 45RPM singles down to 33RPM. Jean Pierre joins forces with Yvan Blanl?il, Jean Jacques Pouget, and Serge Blachère to form the band Les Franglais. In 1971, a new musical project takes shape when Jean Pierre and Yvan form Lucie Dans le Ciel with three other students: Francis Ferrer, Chri…
Megapolis
Previously unreleased recordings from the French band Temple Sun recorded in 1976-78. This band has existed in the 70s in the southern region of France, a
unique single was released on the Kiosque DOrphée Label in 1979,
concerts with Magma, Ange, Wapassou…. Here is
the LP with songs and improvisations (Sun Ra & Alice Coltrane style, Soft
Machine, Santana & more…) recorded in 1976 to 1979, edition of
500 copies.
Principe di un Giorno
LP version. "Principe di un giorno" is the first and only album by Celeste, a Ligurian group born from the ashes of Il Sistema, a band with a considerable potential that, however, never managed to release a proper LP. Recorded between 1974 and the following year, "Principe di un giorno" was only published in '76, kept in the drawer by a label that kept saying they were waiting for the right time to release it, just to put it in the stores at the wrong moment!The almost non-existent consideration…
Concerto delle menti
There isn't probably a single fan of Italian Progressive Rock in the world that has never heard of Pholas Dactylus and their only opus (not just a simple 'record', in fact) "Concerto delle menti" (Concert of the minds), originally published in 1973. Pholas Dactylus have left, with Concerto delle Menti, a unique example of avantgarde prog containing only spoken lyrics that can be appealing to the most adventurous listeners even because the musical background is intense and mesmerising; the album …
Calcium
Monster Mélodies present the never before released album by Calcium. A legendary French psychedelic rock album, recorded in 1969, of which only two tracks were released at the time. Percussionist Stéphane Vilar played with pianist Jef Gilson and recorded on his 1964 album Oeil Vision (OI 012LP). Musician Graeme Allwright introduced Vilar to Marc'O, then director of the theater school of the American Center Boulevard Raspail. The director, looking for musicians to play rock n' roll in his project…
Contrepoint
At the end of the sixties, Jean Pierre Weiller, a young Parisian and amateur bassist, was an assistant at a Soft Machine concert, and befriended Hugh Hopper who introduced him to Robert Wyatt. He was invited to the Abbey Road studios to attend the recording of Kevin Ayers's 1969 album Joy Of A Toy (MRSSS 513LP). Back in Paris, in October 1970, he decided to add a saxophonist to the band Brave New World, a band he set up at the age of seventeen with two other high school students of Paris's thirt…