Roon radio has taken me from Henry Cow to these. Some of the names are familiar (Gong), but it's all new to me. I like it. I wonder what the neighbors think?
NP: Jan Akkerman - Tabernakel (1974) Renaissance-era lute pieces, solo or with orchestration, along with a couple of rock tracks. One of those is a 14-minute suite called "Lammy", with Tim Bogert & Carmine Appice on bass and drums, and a little electric sitar to spice things up. The other one is an orchestrated version of Focus' "House of the King", also with Bogert & Appice, unfortunately pretty overblown. But Appice partially redeems it by beating the living s**t out of his gong!
Great album and one that lighted up my interest for the lute. I am seriously thinking about ordering his Complete boxset even if there are a few discs that I might not like.
Anders Miolin is a good start point in regards of classical lute player. The rest comes naturally as you dig in the rabbit hole!
Listening to Thieves' Kitchen. One of those bands that rarely get mentioned. They have a subtle National Health influence and I love Amy's vocals.
NP: Amon Düül – Paradieswärts Düül (1971) If you've tried any of the other Amon Düül albums and found them unbearable (and to be clear, this is the original commune band, not their more musical offshoot Amon Düül II) you may care to give this one a try. Instead of shambolic freewheeling percussive noisefests, here we get a psychedelic, mostly acoustic folk album, complete with melodies and actual singing! There's still a good amount of musical wandering, but it's all mellow and controlled. This came from a different recording session than the huge one that all their other albums did, though I don't know how or why this came to be.
Alphataurus - Alphataurus Top shelf Rock Progressivo Italiano here from yet another of those short-lived groups from the golden age. Alphataurus excels particularly in the areas of composition and orchestration. There are strong classical and theatrical elements that make this more than a mere piece of music, but almost a sort of mixed media arts sort of expression. Excellent vocals to boot. This is a soundtrack to great RPI. I dig. Big time.
Their debut album full blown vinyl cover is quite something. I also like their 2012 releases AttosecondO and Live At Bloom.
For me tonight it’s Tony Banks - A Curious Feeling. Just the type of album I’d expect him to make in 1979 and it’s a solid effort for a solo release. Full of wistful chords and nice melodic progressions. I know there are some varying opinions of Kim Beacon as the vocalist, but I like him. I give the whole thing a solid B+.
NP: Klaus Schulze - Trancefer (1981) I'm teetering on the edge of retiring this album from the collection. I like a fair amount of Schulze, but this one just sounds like two side-long intros to me. The music doesn't go anywhere, AND the two tracks don't even sound distinct from each other. Sound-wise, these pieces have a lot in common to my ears with Audentity and Dig It, but it all feels less substantial. Every now and then, its atmosphere carries it for me, but more frequently it feels like nothing. It just never gets off the ground. If you're a Schulze fan, what's your opinion about this album? What would you consider its strong points? Is there something I'm missing?
I could teeter on the edge of the whole shebang, and I've got a fair amount of his stuff. I seldom play any of it and your description is apt for how I feel about much of his music. I do have a soft spot for this though - Ludwig II von Bayern especially the orchestral parts.
Michael Sterns Planetary Unfolding is my favourite space rock/Berlin school/electronic music album by a great measure. Superbly composed, emotive and deft synthesis on a Serge modular. I recently found a pristine LP in Rochester, it's one of my more cherished records.
Latest Mojo has a great article about Tangerine Dream, much of it taken from a very interesting new book called Neu Klang The Definitive History of Krautrock.
