Frank Gambale

Frank Gambale - Live! - 1989 - Wombat

"Live!" features some long instrumental guitar tracks by super Aussie guitarist Frank Gambale, recorded live at the Baked Potato on Sunday, August 21, 1988. Frank recorded this album immediately after a long tour with Chick Corea and the Elektric Band and his chops were flying. Definitely need to strap in with a seat belt while listening to this one. It features Kei Akagi on keyboards, Steve Tavaglione on sax and electronic wing, Joe Heredia on drums, and Steve Kershisnik on bass guitar. "Live!" showcases Gambale's talent on recordings which are unabashed, unabridged total blasting with no concern for commerciality or airplay. As it should be. © 1996-2013 Guitar Nine All Rights Reserved

The great guitar maestro from Canberra, Australia, Frank Gambale (born 22 December 1958) is a master of fusion guitar. He has released many great solo albums and played with greats like Jean-Luc Ponty, Chick Corea, Allan Holdsworth, Brett Garsed and Shawn Lane. He has been a member of various bands, including Vital Information and GHS. Frank is comparable to Larry Carlton, in that they are both into the acoustic, the smooth jazz, and the rock and jazz fusion side of music, but when the occasion arises they can shred and burn like the best. This album leans more towards the rock/jazz fusion side. The tracks were recorded live at The Baked Potato, Studio City, Los Angeles on Sunday, August 21st, 1988, and the musicianship is dynamic. Paul Kohler of Allmusic.com said that "You can't live without this intense live guitar album with over 64 minutes of blazing guitar virtuosity". The album is VHR by A.O.O.F.C. Check out Frank's "Absolutely Live: in Poland" album, Gambale, Donati, Fierabracci's "Made In Australia" album and Gambale & Colonna's "Imagery Suite" album. If you want to hear Frank at his killer jazz rock/fusion best, listen to his amazing "Resident Alien Live Bootlegs" album. Buy Frank's "Coming To Your Senses" album and support great jazz fusion [All tracks @ 160 Kbps: File size = 71.8 Mb]

STEELY DAN TRIVIA: Frank Gambale played electric guitar on The Dan's "FM" track. Ann Wickstrom of vintageguitar.com has said that Frank is "a Steely Dan freak! He can sit down at the piano and sing all the lyrics to almost every Steely Dan song!"

TRACKS

1 Credit Reference Blues 13:13
2 Fe Fi Fo Funk 9:58
3 Spending Sunday With You 8:56
4 A Touch of Brazil 16:12
5 Spike's Song 6:23
6 The Natives Are Restless 10:02

All tracks composed by Frank Gambale

MUSICIANS

Frank Gambale - Electric & Acoustic Guitar
Steve Kershisnik - Bass
Kei Akagi - Keyboards
Joe Heredia - Drums
Steve Tavaglione - Saxophone, Electric Wind Instrument

FRANK GAMBALE BIO

Frank began playing guitar at age 7 in Canberra, Australia where he was born and raised. He was influenced by the blues playing of Jimi Hendrix , John Mayall / Eric Clapton, and Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and the music of the Beatles just to name a few. In his mid-teens he discovered Steely Dan, The Brecker Brothers and Chick Corea, which pointed him in a jazzy direction. When he was 15 years old in 1974, influenced and inspired by the improvisations of Chick Corea and Michael Brecker, began developing his Sweep Picking Technique which today is considered a standard technique which didn't exist, or was thought to be an impossible pursuit before Gambale proved otherwise. The Sweep Picking Technique is a landmark in the history of guitar and Frank Gambale is the undisputed Master of Sweep Picking. In 1982 at 23 he decided to leave his home to study at the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) in Hollywood. He graduated with the highest honor, Student of the Year and was offered a teaching position which he kept for 4 years. During his year as a student, he was constantly bombarded with questions and curiosities from other students marvelling at how he was playing the guitar because no-one had ever seen the guitar played this way. His Sweep Picking Technique was already developed to a very high level and as a result of the constant question by fellow students and instructors, he penned his first book called "Speed Picking" ( Hal Leonard Publ. ). Gambale wanted to call the book "Sweep Picking" but the publisher didn't know what it meant since there was no precedent, and they believed the guitar public wouldn't know what the book was about either. Everyone now knows the what Sweep Picking is thanks to Gambale and his pioneering achievement. In 1986 he signed a 3 album contract with a small label called Legato and began his recording career. The same year he was recruited by Jean-luc Ponty to tour in the summer. Shortly after that tour, he auditioned for Chick Corea and began a 6 year stint which culminated in 5 albums, a Grammy award and two Grammy Nominations. Chick helped expose Frank to the world, for which he is very grateful, "playing with Chick was like a dream come true" says Frank.The band reunited in 2002 for the album "To The Stars" and more world tours which continue to the present. Also in 1986 Ibanez guitars approached him to endorse their guitar which culminated in a 13 year relationship and spawned the Frank Gambale model guitar which was first on sale worldwide in 1987. They made 4 versions of the guitar, the FGM100, FGM200, FGM300 and FGM400. In 1987 Frank signed a 3-video deal with DCI / Warner Brothers/ now all under the Alfred Publishing banner, for instructional videos. His first video "Monster Licks and Speed Picking" cemented Gambale's claim as the Grand Master of Sweep Picking. Again, he fought and lost with the publisher to have the word "sweep" not "speed" in the title but the fact remains that the subject matter was Sweep Picking. Gambale had given to the world, in these two instructional publications, the very nuts and bolts of Sweep Picking and the majority of his work outlined the accepted method of the Sweep Picking technique. In 1988, Frank signed a major label deal with JVC. In 1990 he released "Thunder From Down Under" which sold well all over the world and at one point it was #1 on the Japanese Jazz charts along with all his three Legato releases in the top 10 at the same time.In the same year he produced a landmark album with Allan Holdsworth called Truth In Shredding featuring songs from The Brecker Brothers, Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter and one original composition.In 1992, Frank decided it was time to go out there on his own and has been touring with his group ever since. He has toured in many countries with his own band including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and the U.S. He has done countless seminars and master classes worldwide to countries as far away as South Africa and Uruguay since the late 80's demonstrating his phenomenal Sweep Picking Technique and unique brand of music. In 1996 Frank was offered a position of Head of the Guitar Department of a new musical school in the Los Angeles area called the L.A. Music Academy (LAMA). He wrote most of the core curriculum/ study program for this one year vocational school including Harmony and Theory, Improvisation, Technique and Composition courses. He has recently resigned from the school and is in talks with other schools to license his curriculum. In the late 90's Frank began his own record label called Wombat Records on which he re-released his early Legato catalog along with other releases including a double live CD called Resident Alien - Live Bootlegs, and a duet CD with Maurizio Colonna, the famous Italian Classical guitarist called Imagery Suite, a live album recorded in Poland in 1996 where Frank plays lives versions of music from the Passages and Thinking Out Loud period, an album by his long-time friend and bassist Tony Muschamp called More Bass Please. In 2000 Gambale recorded a wonderful guitar album called Coming To Your Senses, the first release on the new Steve Vai owned label, Favored Nations. In 2005 Gambale released another album called Raison D'Etre. This marked another groundbreaking invention on the guitar, his "Gambale Tuning".This tuning, really a re-stringing of the guitar enabled close-voicing chords previously only the domain of piano players. Sweep Picking and the Gambale Tuning method will go down as two major contributions in guitar history books. In 2007 Gambale released Natural High, an all acoustic album featuring reworkings of jazz standards with his own melodies. In the same year he release three compilations of his music spanning his entire recording history, Best Of Jazz and Rock Fusion, Best Of The Smoothe Side, and Best Of The Acoustic Side. Frank has also played and contributed songs to seven Vital Information albums and three trio recordings on Mike Varney's Tone Center records. The first released in 1999 called Show Me What You Can Do was well received, and the second called The Light Beyond came out in July 2000 and the third one is simply called GHS 3. Frank left Ibanez for a deal with Yamaha guitars and a new Frank Gambale model called AES-FG soon followed. A second model is being designed currently for a future release. Frank worked with Carvin to design a guitar preamp called the Tone Navigator which was released at the January 2004 NAMM in Los Angeles. This is an opportunity granted to very few people. Gambale's most recent releases for Alfred Publishing are a concert DVD called Concert With Class, 90 min. concert and 90 min. instructional material related to the performance part and an acoustic concert/ instructional called Acoustic Improvisation which is a 60 minute concert with his Natural High Trio plus 60 minutes of melodic development ideas. Late in 2002 the celebration of Chick Corea's 60th birthday reunited the Elektric Band after a 10 year hiatus with a sold-out performance to 18,000 at the Hollywood Bowl Aug 28th. The band received a GRAMMY Award and two NOMINATIONS in the late 80's and early 90s. The show kicked off a wave of reunion tours. The group recorded an album the same year called To The Stars and a live DVD at the famous Montreux Jazz Festival. Gambale keeps a busy schedule for sure either writing for an album, book or video, touring or helping design a new guitar model with Yamaha, or giving seminars in Asia, or doing a session for an Italian pop record. Frank loves his work to say the least." I can't believe I get paid to do what I do, I wouldn't trade it for the world". © HDtracks 2007 - 2012 https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=artistdetail&id=4729

BIO (WIKI)

Frank Gambale (born 22 December 1958), is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released eleven studio albums over a period of more than two decades, and is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques. Gambale graduated from GIT in Hollywood, with Student of the Year honors. He also taught there from 1984 to 1986. After graduation, he played the jazz club circuit with his own band and in 1985 released his first studio album, Brave New Guitar, through Legato Records (owned by Mark Varney, brother of Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney) in what was to be a three-album contract. In that same year, he toured with Jean-Luc Ponty and shortly afterwards began a six-year stint with the Chick Corea Elektric Band in 1987. During his time with the latter, he has participated in five albums and shared a Grammy Award (with two nominations). In the 1980s, he released two studio albums and a live album. In 1988, he released Monster Licks & Speed Picking, the first of many instructional videos. An endorsement deal with Ibanez guitars resulted in the 1987 debut of the Frank Gambale Model (FGM) signature series, modeled after the Ibanez Saber. Yamaha also manufactured a signature guitar after he left Ibanez later in the 1990s. In 2011, he endorsed the Carvin FG1, a thin hollow body guitar made in the US. He signed with Victor Entertainment in 1989 as part of a five-album agreement, and released Thunder from Down Under the following year. The 1990s began for Gambale with a pair of albums—Truth in Shredding (1990) and Centrifugal Funk (1991)—as part of The Mark Varney Project. These were collaborations with fellow guitarists Allan Holdsworth, Brett Garsed and Shawn Lane, in a jazz fusion supergroup concept put together by Mark Varney. Around this time, he served as head of the guitar department of the Los Angeles Music Academy. In the 2000s, having parted ways with Victor, Gambale started his own record label named Wombat Records after purchasing his entire Legato discography with the intention of reissuing it himself. A live double album, Resident Alien – Live Bootlegs, was released in 2001, along with Imagery Suite; a duet featuring classical guitarist Maurizio Colonna. He also released a studio album, Coming to Your Senses, on guitarist Steve Vai's Favored Nations label in 2000. Gambale has also been a member of the jazz fusion band Vital Information since 1988, with the group consisting of keyboardist Tom Coster, drummer Steve Smith and bassist Baron Browne. Furthermore, in a group known as GHS, he has released three collaborative albums with Steve Smith and bassist Stu Hamm through Mike Varney's jazz-orientated label, Tone Center Records. In addition to concert recordings, he released an instructional DVD called Concert with Class in 2003. A reunion with Chick Corea came about in 2004, and Gambale subsequently toured with the Chick Corea Elektric Band. In 2006 and 2010, he released two all-jazz studio albums in the form of Natural High and Natural Selection, respectively.

Dunkelziffer (Can Related)

Dunkelziffer - Live - 1985 - G. & P. Essential Music

Damo Suzuki was the singer in the German avant-rock/progressive rock band Can between 1970 and 1973. Dunkelziffer have been described as a "German mystic group, playing percussive space reggae". This live album recorded at Maschinenhalle, Stollwerk, Cologne 28.12.1985, features Damo. Wikipedia states that "His freeform, often improvised lyrics, sung in no particular language gelled with Can's rolling, psychedelic sound". Nice description. This "Live" album is often very 80s sounding with some new wave elements. The album features long percussive jazz groove tracks, with some experimental/raw edges, very much in the style of Can. The music has not got the "urgency" of Can, or the "rolling, psychedelic sound", but it is still good music. Damo's distinctive vocals are a huge part of the music, and they continually hover across the top. Craig Johnson brilliantly described Damo's vocal style by saying "His sometimes serene, other times terrifying spontaneous vocal delivery and the drugged funk, space-age gothic repetition of the band (Can) carved a significant notch onto the draft of modern music". [from "Damo Suzuki : HollyAris : I Am Damo Suzuki".] © http://www.spikemagazine.com/0205damosuzuki.php If you are a Can fan or even a jazz fusion fan, you may like this album. If you are not familiar with Can, try and listen to at least one of the following albums, - "Tago Mago", "Ege Bamyasi", or "Monster Movie". "Live" was also released in 1997 on the Japanese Captain Trip label. The album has also been released as Dunkelziffer "Live" by the Damo Suzuki Band, and "Dunkelziffer Live im Stollwerk 1985". Try and hear the Damo Suzuki Band's "V.E.R.N.I.S.S.A.G.E.", and Dunkelziffer's "Songs For Everyone" albums, and search this blog for releases by the great Can keyboardist, and composer, Irmin Schmidt

TRACKS

1 Coffeehouse 11:20
2 After Saturday Night 5:52
3 The Messenger 6:40
4 Facing The Wind 13:01
5 Distant Drums 5:10
6 These Days 4:14
7 Up Date 5:54
8 Shamrock 4:11
9 You're My Melody 9:32

All songs composed by Dunkelziffer

MUSICIANS

Vocals - Damo Suzuki
Guitar - Dominik Von Senger
Bass - Rike Gratt
Keyboards - Matthias Keul
Drums - Stefan Krachten
Percussion - Olek Gelba , Reiner Linke



DAMO SUZUKI BIO

The longtime lead vocalist for Krautrock pioneers Can, Kenji "Damo" Suzuki was born in Japan on January 16, 1950. An expatriate street poet inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road, he spent the better part of the late 1960s wandering through Europe, and while busking outside a cafe in Munich in May of 1970 was discovered by Can members Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit; asked to replace the group's former frontman Malcolm Mooney, Suzuki joined them onstage that very night, making his recorded debut later that same year on the LP Soundtracks. With Suzuki in the lineup, Can produced its most enduring and innovative work, including classic LPs like 1971's Tago Mago, 1972's Ege Bamayasi and 1973's Future Days; however, upon completing work on the latter, he left the band to become a Jehovah's Witness. Absent from music for a decade, in 1983 Suzuki began showing up unannounced to perform at shows by the band Dunkelziffer, eventually joining the group full-time and recording a pair of LPs; in 1986, he formed the Damo Suzuki Band with fellow Can alum Liebezeit on drums, Dominik von Senger on guitar, and Matthias Keul on keyboards. Four years later the group mutated to become Damo Suzuki and Friends, its loose-knit lineup playing in and around the Cologne area on a weekly basis; in 1998, he founded the Damo's Network label, issuing a series of live recordings including V.E.R.N.I.S.S.A.G.E., Seattle and the seven-CD box set P.R.O.M.I.S.E.. © Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

ABOUT DUNKELZIFFER [ Translated from German (Google translator) ]

In the former machine shop of the closed Stollwerk chocolate factory in southern part of Cologne was the beginning of the eighties, an independent, stand-alone music scene, groups such as Dunkelziffer emerged. The hall was the ideal venue for concerts with bands such as Down and Gang Of Four, and still is the location of regional worship events. In this environment took its beginning in 1980 the project unreported. The founding members of the band were Helmut Zerlett (keyboards), Josefa Martens (vocals), Stefan's canals (drums), Wolfgang Schubert (sax), Matthias Keul, (keyboards), and Reiner Linke and Olek Gelba (percussion).The idea of founding Dunkelziffer, had Helmut Stefan Reiner and in southern France.There should be a band in which there are no rigid structures, but can be any composer, and all equally able to contribute their creativity and spontaneity when the moment is there, where they have an idea.The model for Dunkelziffer was the group CAN, which could go without vorbreitete pieces on the stage and managed to entertain people with spontaneous Direktkompositionen too. Stylistically Dunkelziffer combined with African rhythms and reggae influences, who at that time just emerged Neue Deutsche Welle. This was especially true of the first published Maxi "In the style of the new age." The band played many concerts for several hours. Over time, new members were added, as for example) Rike Gratt (bassist), Dominik von Senger (guitars), Damo Suzuki (vocals), Coco (Singer) or Raji Susanne AtorFen (vocals. Almost all members of Dunkelziffer were also involved in other projects. Thus, for example, played Zerlett Helmut and Stefan canals also Dunkelziffer and later with trance groove. Raji Susanne AtorFen sang among others for A Streetcar Named Desire and lives in Cologne, Japanese Damo Suzuki of CAN did. With Damo Suzuki's help a live recording of Dunkelziffer in Japan was published. © http://www.musik-base.de/Bands/D/Dunkelziffer/

Irmin Schmidt

Irmin Schmidt - Musk At Dusk - 1987 - WEA

Great album from Irmin Schmidt, a founding member of the legendary Can. It's a sophisticated recording, often similar to the sound that characterized Can, with subdued aggression and a beautiful fascination between discord and harmony. This is highly evolved progressive rock music and a very rewarding listen. There is info on Irmin's "Impossible Holidays" album @ IRMSCH/IMPHOL (Use Megaupload), and the Irmin Schmidt & Kumo's "Masters Of Confusion" album is @ IRMSCH/KUMO/MOC If you're not familiar with the great Can band, you should listen to their classic "Tago Mago," and "Ege Bamyasi" albums. Check out Irmin's website @ IRMIN SCHMIDT and read more about Can @ CAN/BIO

TRACKS

1. Cliff Into Silence (5:05)
2. Love (4:39)
3. Roll On, Euphrates (3:51)
4. The Great Escape (5:07)
5. Villa Wunderbar (5:20)
6. The Child In History (8:08)
7. Alcool (5:03)

All songs composed by Irmin Schmidt, and Duncan Fallowell (Lyrics)

MUSICIANS

Irmin Schmidt - Vocals, Keyboard & Synth
Michael Karoli - Guitars
Max Lasser - Slideguitar (on 'Love')
Frank Ema Outu - Bass
Jaki Liebezeit - Drums
Trilok Gurtu - Percussion
Gerd Dudek - Saxophone (on "Roll On, Euphrates")
Manfred Schoof - Flugelhorn (on 'Villa Wunderbar & "Alcool")
Egon Stegemцller - Violin (on "The Child In History")
Juan Jose Mosalini - Bandoneon ("Cliff Into Silence")
Steve Baker - Harmonica (on 'Love')

BIO

Irmin Schmidt born in May 1937 received a formal musical education and between 1957 and 1967 he studied under modern composers Karlheinz Stockhausen and Ligeti. Between 1962 and 1969 he conducted numerous orchestras including Wiener Sinfoniker, Bochumer Sinfoniker, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Norddeutscher Rundfunk Hannover and the Dortmunder Ensemble für Neue Musik, which he founded. Schmidt also worked as a musical director at the Stadttheater Aachen and taught Musicals and Chanson at the Bochum stage school. Schmidt also gave numerous new music recitals and was amongst the first German pianists to interpret the work of John Cage. His compositions "Hexapussy" and "Ilgom" were premiered by Radio Stuttgart in 1967 and 1968 respectively. During this period he also composed music for various film and theatre productions. His classical career was put on hold after a trip to New York in 1966 exposed him to emerging musical forms and ideas that led to him forming CAN in 1968. As the band's keyboard player, Schmidt's contribution to their groundbreaking career and the evolution of electronic music in general is formidable. When CAN was dissolved in 1978 Schmidt, relocated to the south of France where he established a studio and continued to compose and record over 100 film and television scores, a craft he had already become familiar with both before and during his work with CAN. This work is documented on CAN's "Soundtracks" LP (1970) and on his own solo soundtrack compilation, a 3 CD set entitled "Anthology:Soundtracks 1978 - 1993 "both of which are available on Spoon/Mute. His solo soundtrack features his fellow band mates Micael Karoli (guitar) and Jaki Liebezeit (drums). In 1981 he worked with Bruno Spoerri and released his first solo LP "Toy Planet" followed by "Musk at Dusk" in 1987. Schmidt rejoined his former colleagues for the reunion album, Rite Time (1989) and followed this with another solo album, "Impossible Holidays" (1991). In 1993, Schmidt was commissioned to write a fantasy opera based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. The three act opera, with a libretto by Duncan Fallowell, was premiered at Wuppertal Opera House on November 15 1998 excerpts of which were released as a CD on Spoon/Mute in 2000 Thanks to Gormenghast, he met Kumo (UK musician Jono Podmore), sound engineer, producer and specialist in rhythm programming and immediately saw the potential for improvisational collaboration. They performed as Irmin Schmidt and Kumo for the Can solo projects tour. This project also toured events as diverse as the Montreux Jazz Festival, Sonar in Barcelona and the International Jazz festival in London and all to critical acclaim from their respective audiences. In 2001 Irmin Schmidt and Kumo released "Masters of Confusion" on Spoon/Mute. Like his fellow CAN bandmates, Irmin Schmidt has been taking a keen interest in the re-mastering of CAN material for both the 2003 CAN DVD release and overseeing the re-mastering of the entire CAN back catalogue for re-release on Spoon/Mute. June 2004 saw a new production of his Gormenghast opera staged at Völklinger Hütte in Saarbrücken, Germany, a colossal steelworks that is now a UNESCO world heritage site, together with performances at the Grand Theatre Luxembourg. In 2006 - 2007 he composed ballet music for full orchestra commissioned by the Deutschen Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf. In 2008 the ballet was premiered in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. This year also saw the release of the new Irmin Schmidt & Kumo album "Axolotl Eyes" (released world wide by Spoon/Mute/Warner/P-Vine) and he wrote the soundtrack to the new Wim Wenders film "Palermo Shooting", which is part of the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival 2008. © Spoon Records, All rights reserved.

BIO (WIKI)

Irmin Schmidt (born 29 May 1937 in Berlin) is a German keyboard player and composer, probably best known as a founding member of the band Can. Schmidt studied music at the conservatorium in Dortmund, at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and he studied composition in Karlheinz Stockhausen's Cologne Courses for New Music at the Rheinische Musikschule, Cologne. He started work mainly as a conductor and performed in concerts with the Bochum Symphony, the Vienna Symphony and the Dortmund Ensemble for New Music, which he founded in 1962. During this time he received several conducting awards. Schmidt also worked as Kapellmeister at the Theater Aachen, as docent for Musical theatre and chanson at the Drama school Bochum, and as concert pianist. In 1968 Schmidt founded with Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit the experimental krautrock band Can. He has written the music to more than 40 films and television programs. Schmidt has recorded a few solo albums and written an opera based on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. His wife Hildegard Schmidt has been responsible for the group's management and record label, Spoon Records, since the 1970s.

Pierre Moerlen's Gong

Pierre Moerlen's Gong - Leave It Open - 1981 - Arista

Deviating from the "Canterbury Rock" style, Pierre Moerlen created a wonderful album of pure progressive jazz rock/fusion in " Leave It Open". This album has not received the credit it deserves. The late Pierre Moerlen was a musical genius, and created some classic progressive rock and fusion albums. His expertise in the percussive field was unequalled. His music was innovative and futuristic, and as a member of the great Franco-British progressive/psychedelic rock band, Gong, he created some of the greatest prog. rock of the last forty years. Gong has many offshoots in the Rock tree, and it would take far too much details to elaborate on some of the great progressive rock work of Pierre Moerlen, Daevid Allen, and Gong on this blog. Listen to Pierre Moerlen's Gong's "Downwind", and "Gazeuse!" albums, and read Gong's history @ ABOUT GONG and Daevid Allen's bio @ DAEVIDALLENBIO and search this blog for related releases. "Leave It Open" is VHR by A.O.O.F.C.

TRACKS

A1 Leave It Open 17:19
A2 How Much Better It Has Become 3:23

B1 I Woke Up That Morning Felt Like Playing Guitar 3:33
B2 It's About Time 6:06
B3 Stok Stok Stok Sto-gak 4:09
B4 Adrien 3:45

Music By - Hansford Rowe (tracks: B2, B3) , Pierre Moerlen (tracks: A1, A2, B1, & B4)

MUSICIANS

Guitar - Bon Lozaga (tracks: A1, B1, B3)
Guitar [Rhythm] - Brian Holloway (tracks: A2)
Bass - Hansford Rowe (tracks: A1, A2, B2, B3)
Drums, Vibraphone, Keyboards - Pierre Moerlen R.I.P
Percussion - François Causse (tracks: A1, B2)
Congas - Demelza (tracks: A1)
Saxophone - Charlie Mariano (tracks: A1, B1, B2)

PIERRE MOERLEN'S GONG BIO (WIKIPEDIA)

Pierre Moerlen's Gong is a jazz fusion outfit which is very different from the first incarnation of Gong, the psychedelic space-rock act led by Daevid Allen. It is notable for the prominent use of mallet percussion, such as marimba, xylophone, and vibraphone featured in a rock/jazz context, making for a very distinctive and unusual sound that could have been classified as warmer and more melodic than most typical fusion could be, and is comparable to the sort of fusion-influenced output many bands on the Canterbury scene were producing at around this time. Amid a flurry of lineup changes in the mid-1970s, including the departure of founding members Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth, Gong drummer Pierre Moerlen found himself in charge of the band and with two albums remaining on their Virgin recording contract. Moerlen formed a new Gong lineup featuring his brother Benoit on mallet percussion, US-born bassist Hansford Rowe and a rotating cast of session guitarists, notably Allan Holdsworth, Mike Oldfield, ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, and Bon Lozaga. They released two albums under the Gong moniker, Gazeuse! (called Expresso in North America) in 1977 and then Expresso II in 1978. Following the completion of the Virgin contract, Moerlen changed the name of the group to Pierre Moerlen's Gong, presumably to distance itself from its very different previous incarnation. In early 1979, the group released Downwind, which was a more rock/pop flavoured album that featured occasional lead vocals by Moerlen himself and a cameo by Steve Winwood. Later in 1979 they released another album, Time is the Key, that took the band further into pop/rock territory. The live album "PM's Gong Live" was released in 1980, followed later that year by another studio album Leave It Open. By this point, Pierre Moerlen's incarnation of Gong scaled back its activity greatly, not releasing another record until 1986's Scientology-inspired Breakthrough, featuring members of the Swedish band Tribute. The group quietly disbanded soon after. Lozaga, Rowe, and Benoit Moerlen went on to form Gongzilla in the early 1990s, releasing four albums to date which are very much an extension of the percussive fusion that the original group brought to the fold, and they perform a mix of new and old live material going back to the Gazeuse/Expresso II period. Moerlen joined them for their 2002 European tour. Pierre Moerlen died unexpectedly on May 3, 2005 of natural causes, while rehearsals for yet another line-up of PM's Gong were underway.

PIERRE MOERLEN'S BIO

Born : October 23rd, 1952 - Colmar (France). Died : May 3rd, 2005. Past Bands : Asthme Congélateur (1970-71), Gong (1973-78, 1997-99), Pierre Moerlen's Gong (1978-89), Mike Oldfield Band (1979-83), Magma (1981), Faton Bloom (1983-84), Tribute (1985-87), Biréli Lagrène Trio (1988), various musicals (1990-), Brand X (1997), Gongzilla (2002). One of the most accomplished musicians of the whole Canterbury scene, Pierre Moerlen, who died on May 3rd 2005 aged only 52, was certainly a world-class drummer, whose work with Gong and Mike Oldfield, not to mention his 'solo' albums as Pierre Moerlen's Gong, has attracted wide critical praise. Pierre Moerlen was born in Colmar into a very musical family, his father being the resident organist of the Strasbourg cathedral as well as a piano and organ teacher, and his mother a school piano teacher. His three sisters and his brother Benoît are also musicians, although not all play music professionally. Moerlen started playing piano until he turned to percussion while a teenager. In 1967, he entered the Conservatoire Régional in Strasbourg to learn classical percussion under the guidance of Jean Batigne, founder of the famed Percussions de Strasbourg. While studying strictly classical music at the Conservatoire, Moerlen also developed an interest for more contemporary musical genres, and soon found himself involved in rock and fusion groups. The most notable was called Asthme Congélateur and featured future Magma guitarist Gabriel Fédérow, and its main claim to fame was appearing on a regional television programme alongside Belfort progressive rockers Ange and an even more obscure band featuring the Lemoine brothers, Jean-Sébastien and Patrice. The latter joined Moerlen in Gong around the time of Shamal. Around that time, Moerlen began to feel the urge to write and perform his own music, based on the use of the various tuned and untuned percussion instruments at his disposal. He rehearsed his pieces with Mireille Bauer, a fellow Conservatoire student and his girlfriend at the time (and coincidentally a cousin of Jean Batigne). One interesting anecdote on this period is that sometime in 1972, Moerlen and Bauer both attended a Gong concert in Strasbourg, and neither was too enthused about the gig. Certainly not the shape of things to come! As a matter of fact, while on a visit to Paris to try and find work in classical music, an idea he was not too keen on, he met Patrice Lemoine on the station platform where he was waiting for his train back to Strasbourg. Lemoine told him that Gong were looking for a drummer after the band had broken up during the tumultuous sessions for Flying Teapot. Although reluctant at the start, one listen to the just completed record convinced him that there was potential in the band and Daevid Allen's musical concept. He joined the band in its Voisines headquarters. In the Spring of 1973, with Allen and Gilli Smyth resting in Mallorca, the rest of Gong toured under the name of Paragong in French youth centres, and when the pair came back, the new consolidated line-up went into the studio to record the second volume of Allen's Radio Gnome trilogy, Angels Egg. In the meantime, Moerlen had been recruited by Mike Oldfield to appear, alongside an impressive cast of Canterbury scene musicians like Steve Hillage, Mike Ratledge, Fred Frith, Kevin Ayers, John Greaves and David Bedford, at a live performance of Oldfield's just-released Tubular Bells at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Moerlen's time in Gong was one of constantly leaving the band, then joining in again, which led to using a lot of replacement drummers. But he was unsure whether this was the right place for him to be, and he kept returning to Strasbourg to work and tour with the Percussions de Strasbourg, as well as continuing work on his own percussion music. He came back to the Gong fold during the Summer of 1974 to work on the You album, but left again once it was completed. It was in the subsequent period that he wrote pieces like "Mandrake" and "Expresso". Then in July 1975, Moerlen received a phonecall from Virgin, asking him if he would agree to rejoin Gong and lead the band with Didier Malherbe : Allen, Smyth and Tim Blake had all left the previous Spring. This offer came as a replacement for the solo project that Virgin had accepted to release, so it was a tough decision to take, but finally Moerlen agreed and brought with him both Mireille Bauer (who in the meantime had guested on both Angels Egg and You) and Patrice Lemoine (who had sat in with Gong at a gig in Strasbourg in 1973). At first, the new Gong tried to maintain a continuity with the concepts created by Daevid Allen, with Hillage and his girlfriend Miquette Giraudy taking on Allen and Smyth's roles, but this approach proved a failure. By the time work started on Shamal in late 1975, after an extensive British tour with Clearlight opening, a new direction had been defined, and Steve Hillage was not too enthusiastic about it. Having enjoyed reasonable success with his first solo album, Fish Rising, he decided to concentrate on a solo career. Recruiting Clearlight violinist Jorge Pinchevsky as replacement, Gong finished the album and embarked on a long European tour. But the line-up didn't last long, and by the Summer of 1976 only Moerlen, Bauer and Malherbe were left. The latter recruited guitarist Allan Holdsworth, while Moerlen decided to further increase the percussive dimension of Gong, adding his brother Benoît to the line-up. Bassist Francis Moze, late of the Flying Teapot line-up, came back to the fold, alongside his friend Mino Cinélu, a promising young conga player. This new team toured Europe in the Summer of 1976, then headed to the studio, recording Gazeuse! before splitting up again soon after its completion. Following the split, Pierre Moerlen went to live in New York for a few months and met bass player Hansford Rowe, aged 22. 'Hanny' was involved in a band whose drummer had to leave to join the army, so Pierre replaced him for a few weeks and the pair forged a very special musical relationship. Back in his hometown of Strasbourg, France, in the late winter of 1976/77, Moerlen decided to form a new line-up of Gong with Rowe, and recruited former members Mireille Bauer (vibes and percussion), Jorge Pinchevsky (violin) and Benoit Moerlen (vibes), his younger brother, along with a youthful newcomer, François Causse (on percussion also). During the following months, this line-up often toured under the name Gong-Expresso, making its debut performance at the Gong family gathering of Paris, Porte de Pantin, May 1977, which witness the reformation of the 'classic' Gong line-up. Following Pinchevsky's departure (he subsequently vanished from the surface of the earth), several lead players guested on album and gigs (although at times only the basic percussion-led quintet performed), including Didier Malherbe, Darryl Way (violin player of Curved Air), Bon Lozaga, Allan Holdsworth and Mick Taylor. The latter four guested on the Expresso II album which, although recorded in the summer of 1977, only came out the following spring. This was the band's final release for Virgin and its release coincided with the name change to Pierre Moerlen's Gong. This period saw the departure of Mireille Bauer to the jazz-rock band Edition Speciale. Her relationship with Moerlen had by then become a purely musical one (she now lived with ex-Gong bass player Francis Moze while Moerlen was married with a child) and she felt she needed a bit of fresh air. She was not replaced, although a permanent guitarist, Ross Record, was recruited to fill the gap, and appeared on the subsequent album Downwind, which again was graced with superb guest appearances by Didier Lockwood (of the French bands Magma, Zao and Clearlight, not to mention his own Surya), Mike Oldfield (who co-produced the title-track), Steve Winwood and Didier Malherbe. After a few gigs with the new line-up, it became apparent that Ross Record was suffering from severe stagefright, so Moerlen summoned back Bon Lozaga, who in the meantime had gone back to live in the States. The trio of Lozaga, Rowe and Moerlen would be the mainstay of PMG until its demise in 1981. The band kept touring, but it had to be put on hold for a couple of months while the Moerlen brothers were touring Europe with Mike Oldfield. This marked the end of Benoït's involvement in the band, and for subsequent tours François Causse came back. Exhausted from incessant touring, Moerlen rented a house in Ireland with his wife and son, and wrote a complete album there, which would surface as Time Is The Key, considered by Pierre to be his best. It was recorded by Moerlen, Bon and Hanny with help from Peter Lemer on keyboards and various guests (Allan Holdsworth, Darryl Way, Nico Ramsden). This effort highlighted Moerlen's talents on a variety of tuned percussion instruments, making good use of overdubbing facilities. Of particular note was the superb introduction, "Ard Na Greine", with its intertwined vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba and tympani over layers of synthesizers. During the following months, both Moerlen and Hansford were employed by Mike Oldfield for session work and touring, so there was no new album from Pierre Moerlen's Gong until 1981's Leave It Open. This final effort carried on in a similar vein to its predecessor, albeit a more inconsistent one. Following a change in the management of the band's label, Arista, PMG were dropped and forced to split up. There followed a period of uncertainty for Moerlen. After failing auditions for a couple of French pop singers, he briefly joined Magma but didn't get on well with Christian Vander (who does?) and preferred to turn to drum teaching in his native Strasbourg. In 1982 and 1983, he also worked again with Mike Oldfield, mainly in a live setting (although he does appear in the video of "Moonlight Shadow", miming to Simon Phillips' drum parts!). Then in the spring of 1985, Moerlen received a call from Tribute, a Swedish band he'd already been in touch with three years previously. At the time, the band wanted to hire him to play drums on an album but had to give up the idea. Now Tribute was a well-established gigging band and had both a Swedish and European tour in sight. This sounded good to Moerlen who joined Tribute, ultimately staying for two years and playing on two albums : the studio effort Breaking Barriers (1986), to which he contributed the beautiful closing piece "I Felt Like It"; and the live album Live - The Melody, The Beat, The Heart (1987). While in Sweden, he also recorded an album of his own compositions (one of which, "Far East", was played live at Tribute gigs) with the help of Tribute musicians. However, he asked Hansford Rowe to add bass parts to the tapes, and thus released the album under the Pierre Moerlen's Gong name. In 1987, Tribute ground to a halt (it later reformed under Gideon Andersson's sole guidance) and Moerlen formed a new PMG line-up back in France, with Hansford Rowe, Benoît Moerlen, ex-Tribute guitarist Ake Zieden and new members Frank Fischer (keyboards) and Stefan Traub (vibraphone). That line-up would tour Germany twice between 1987-89 (as documented on a forthcoming live CD), and record yet another album, Second Wind (1989), the band's most democratic effort to date, and one of their best. Unfortunately, things weren't as great from a financial point of view, and PMG broke up for good during 1989. Both Moerlen and his brother Benoît returned to teaching, while Rowe crossed the Atlantic again to settle in Montreal. Eventually, Moerlen began to work as resident drummer in several big musicals (Evita, Les Misérables etc.) and toured in Europe and the US with them, while Rowe formed Bon with Bon Lozaga, who in the meantime had quit the music scene to run a restaurant. There was talking of reviving PMG in 1994, but eventually the project became Gongzilla, a band featuring Lozaga, Rowe and Benoit Moerlen, but not Pierre, who did however join the band on a temporary basis in 2002 for a European tour. In March 1997 it was announced that Moerlen was joining Brand X for a tour of Japan, which regular drummer Frank Katz had declined to do. This series of gigs proved successful and he stayed for a further tour of Europe in May and June. In the meantime, he had also agreed to rejoin Gong following Pip Pyle's departure, in August 1997. He stayed on for a further French tour in 1998, but left two dates into the spring 1999 European tour under controversial circumstances. After leaving Gong, Moerlen resumed teaching and worked on compositions for a new album and a new incarnation of PMG. Spring 2000 saw a couple of live appearances which proved unsatisfactory. He had just begun rehearsing a new group, when the tragic news of Pierre's sudden death was released. © http://calyx.perso.neuf.fr/mus/moerlen_pierre.html

Atomic Rooster

Atomic Rooster - Atomic Rooster (AKA Atomic Rooster 2) - 1980 - EMI

Mention the name Atomic Rooster to anyone and you immediately get visions of heavy organ grinding progressive rock, and strong hit singles such as 'Devil's Answer' and 'Tomorrow Night'. Throughout their illustrious career the band centered around the late Vincent Crane and John Du Cann, but they also had musicians sitting in including Carl Palmer (ELP), John Mccoy and Bernie Torme (Gillian) and Dave Gilmore (Pink Floyd). Released by EMI in 1980 entitled Atomic Rooster, this was the sixth album by the progressive rock band. Confusingly, the album bears the same title of the band's debut s/t album released on B&C Records in 1970. The two albums are completely different, and many Rooster fans have unofficially christened this album Atomic Rooster 2. The AR 2 album received mixed reviews on it's release. The album was never going to live up to the quality of AR's earlier albums, but for 1980 this was a great effort at emulating their seventies heavy"progressive rock" style. There is no "'Devil's Answer' or 'Tomorrow Night' here but it is a quality, and very much overlooked 1980 album from then-reformed heavy organ rockers, featuring a power trio lineup of original guitarist/ vocalist John DuCann, much-missed organist Vincent Crane (also supplying bass with footpedals) and drummer Preston Heyman. The album finds them in a confident mood as, like so many of their contemporaries (Hawkwind, Tull, Heep, Humble Pie) who had suffered at the hands of punk, they had been given a new lease of life by the NWOBHM. For a heavier progressive version of Atomic Rooster, listen to their "Made in England" and the great "Death Walks Behind You" albums. N.B: Atomic Rooster 2 has been reissued on CD with bonus tracks.

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 They Took Control of You - Du Cann
2 She's My Woman - Du Cann
3 He Did It Again - Crane
4 Where's the Show - DuCann
5 In the Shadows - Du Cann
6 Do You Know Who's Looking for You? - Crane, DuCann
7 Don't Lose Your Mind - Cann
8 Watch Out - Crane
9 I Can't Stand It - Du Cann
10 Lost in Space - Crane, DuCann

BAND

John Cann - Guitar
Vincent Crane R.I.P - Keyboards
Preston Heyman - Drums

SHORT BIO

Atomic Rooster was a British progressive-rock group formed in 1969 with an original lineup of Vincent Crane (organ), Nick Graham (bass), and Carl Palmer (drums). Their debut album, Atomic Rooster, hit number 49 in the U.K. in June 1970, after which Graham and Palmer left the group. Crane maintained the name and recruited guitarist/singer John Cann and drummer Paul Hammond for the second album, Death Walks Behind You, which hit number 12 in the U.K., where it featured the number 11 single "Tomorrow Night," and number 90 in the U.S. Pete French of Cactus assisted on the third album, In Hearing Of, which featured the number-four U.K. single "The Devil's Answer" and reached number 18 in England and number 167 in America. Then the group split up again, and again Crane assembled a new Atomic Rooster, this time featuring singer Chris Farlowe, guitarist Steve Bolton, bassist Bill Smith, and drummer Rick Parnell. Made in England reached number 149 in the U.S. in 1972, but the group had split again by 1974. Crane fronted lineups of Atomic Rooster into the '80s, before taking up with Dexys Midnight Runners in 1983. In 1989, he committed suicide. © William Ruhlmann, allmusic.com

Kerry Livgren

Kerry Livgren - One of Several Possible Musiks - 1989 - Sparrow

Kerry Livgren is probably best known for his work with Kansas, the American prog rock band who sold several million albums. When he left Kansas, (The band), he formed a group, with Kansas' Dave Hope called AD, which released a few great albums which many rock music fans were unaware of, as they were classified in some quarters as "religious music," and never reached the "rock" audience through the normal channels. "One of Several Possible Musiks" is a very good album from the ex-Kansas multi-instrumentalist, Kerry Livgren. It's a wonderful blend of Jazz-Fusion, Prog-Metal, and classic symphonic Art-Rock, with an underlying medieval touch. It is this "symphonic medieval" influence which gave rise to AD's music being mistakenlycategorized as "religious" music. Kerry did all the creative work on this album. All the tracks were composed, arranged, performed, & produced by Kerry. He used electric, and acoustic bass guitars, mandolin, keyboards, and real piano. He also arranged the drum-programming. In the liner notes for "One of Several Possible Musiks," the track "Tenth of Nisan" has a footnote reading: "(The obvious debt to M.R. is acknowledged.)" M.R is Maurice Ravel who was a classical composer of the late 19th or early 20th century, and best known for his "Bolero", (remember "10" with Bo Derek/Dudley Moore ? ), which influenced "Tenth of Nisan". In fact the whole album has classical influences throughout. As well as Ravel, there are shades of Gustav Holst. If you like the early ELP, and Rick Wakeman/Yes albums, you should enjoy this album. It is worth buying Kerry's excellent "Time Line" album, and AD's "Art of the State" album is one of those great overlooked albums of "religious music" which is worth tracking down.

TRACKS

1. Ancient Wing
2. And I Saw, As It Were...Konelrad
3. Colonnade Gardens
4. In The Sides Of The North
5. Alenna In The Sun
6. Tannin Danse
7. Far Country, The
8. Diaspora
9. Fistful Of Drachmas, A
10. Tenth Of Nisan
11. Eerie Cove - (bonus track on later CD editions)
All tracks composed, arranged, performed, & produced by Kerry Livgren. He used electric, acoustic, & bass guitars, mandolin; keyboards; real piano; real electric, and bass guitars. He also arranged the drum-programming. The album was recorded & mixed by KL at "The Peach" studio, Covington, GA., and mastered by Glen Meadows at "Masterfonics, Inc.", Nashville, TN.

REVIEWS

Kerry Livgren, veteran of Kansas and AD takes us on a fascinating instrumental musical journey on this set. Before any Kansas or AD affectionados rush out and buy this on the strength of being a Livgren album, I would warn them not to expect polished AOR. A better description would be a contemporary "Pictures At An Exhibition". Don't mis-understand - not a musical meditation on a seascape, contractual-obligation-album. Definitely not! This album has the stamp of a deeply considered labour of love. Each track creates a vivid image in the listener's mind (unfortunately, the only clues the listener gets as to each piece's inspiration are the composition's titles - more sleeve notes please). 'One Of Several Possible Musiks' bears the distinctive Livgren musical stamp, that pot pouri of styles that has permeated much of his previous works. Stylistically, it's rock with hints of baroque, progressive rock, Asian, etc, each style used to strengthen the emotive imagery created by each track. Some tracks are easier to relate to than others. In particular, "Colonnade Gardens" is immensely powerful, for me its imagery knock the socks off 20% of the movies I've seen in the last year. The big question; should you put out your hard-earned cash to acquire a copy? No, if you're looking for CCM product, but yes if you want to take time on a thoughtful musical statement, and are prepared to put the maximum (many listens) in to get the maximum out. © Tim Cockram, © Cross Rhythms 1983 - 2008

Say this first: The electric drum sounds are dinosaurs technologically and come dangerously close to ruining the whole record -- but most specifically on an otherwise dynamic track "And I Saw, as It Were....Konelrad." Beyond that, this is a spectacular collection of songs that highlight Livgren's prowess as a composer better than any of his previous releases and his ability as a performer free to explore musically with little restraint. Livgren himself plays all the instruments on this album. Though most of the sounds are electronically generated, it is clear (beyond the drum sounds) that he went to great lengths to imitate the sounds of acoustic instruments -- it would be difficult to distinguish his sampled flute sounds, for example. Great guitar work abounds, and it is mystical, almost dreamy in places. The more subtle tunes really make the record ("Colonnade Gardens," "The Far Country"). His flair for spooky writing can be heard on "A Fistful of Drachma." Album-closer "Tenth of Nisan" is reminiscent of Ravel's Bolero in feel -- and Livgren specifically acknowledges his influence. © Mark W. B. Allender, All Music Guide



ABOUT KERRY LIVGREN

Kerry Livgren was one of the founding members and primary writers for the '70s supergroup Kansas. Having grown up listening to the works of classical composers (notably the Romantics such as Liszt and Wagner), Livgren's songwriting technique has always tended toward orchestration -- with an ear for the majestic or the symphonic. Playing with numerous bands throughout the late '60s and early '70s -- including early incarnations of Kansas that included Dave Hope and Phil Ehart -- Livgren joined White Clover in 1974, a band featuring vocalist Steve Walsh and violinist Robbie Steinhardt. Shortly after Livgren joined, the group changed their name to Kansas. As a member of Kansas, Livgren shared songwriting duties with Walsh and as the group progressed, it became evident that Livgren contributed much of what made their music so unique -- specifically, its complexity and lyrics that spoke of a restless search for truth. In 1976, while Walsh was suffering from a bout with writer's block, Livgren penned nearly all the songs on their Leftoverture album, including their smash hit "Carry on Wayward Son." The following year saw an even greater commercial success on the strength of their Point of Know Return album, which featured the existential Livgren-penned "Dust in the Wind." After many years of flirting with various religious teachings, Livgren became immersed in Urantia, a then-trendy spiritualist, pantheistic faith. Many of the songs of Kansas' Monolith album resonate with Urantian teachings. While on tour supporting Monolith, Livgren converted to Christianity (as later did fellow bandmate Dave Hope). Many of the songs on the albums to follow, particularly 1982's Vinyl Confessions and Livgren's first solo album Seeds of Change have a distinct (if not overbearing) Christian message. During the recording of Vinyl Confessions, many other notable Christian artists began to gravitate toward Kansas, specifically John Elefante, Warren Ham (formerly with Bloodrock), and Michael Gleason. Dissatisfied with Kansas' Drastic Measures album and the musical direction the group was taking, and also afire with his newfound faith, Livgren, Hope, Ham, Gleason, and drummer Dennis Holt formed a new band, AD, taking on many of Livgren's complex musical stylings, giving them an '80s spin, and injecting the freedom to sing about religious subjects. Three albums were released with AD: Time Line, Art of the State, and Reconstructions (released after Warren Ham's departure). Bound by contractual obligation, Livgren was unable to release music by any vehicle other than Kansas. As a result, the latter two AD albums were released only in the Christian market and that, combined with tours consisting primarily of small clubs and churches, allowed the public virtually no exposure to AD's music. The band ran themselves into the ground fairly quickly, acquiring some significant debts. In an attempt to pay these off, Livgren and Ham quickly recorded Prime Mover, a collection of previously unrecorded AD tracks. Livgren has since become a full-time farmer, releasing the odd album here and there. He has continued to write music and has appeared with the re-formed Kansas from time to time. The 2000 Kansas album Somewhere to Elsewhere was recorded at Livgren's studio in Kansas, featuring all the original members (and bassist Billy Greer). Each track on Somewhere to Elsewhere was written by Livgren himself. © Mark W.B. Allender, All Music Guide

Barclay James Harvest

Barclay James Harvest - Glasnost - 1988 - Polydor

In 1988, BJH were invited by the East German authorities to play a concert in East Berlin as part of Berlin’s 750th birthday celebrations. The original venue was to have been the Island Of Youth, a small island in the middle of a river which flows through the city, but, faced with over 50,000 ticket applications in the first two weeks, the authorities decided to relocate the concert to Treptower Park. The ticket price was a nominal 4,05 East Marks (equivalent to about 50p), but on the day the ticket collecting arrangements were so haphazard that thousands of people got in for free, making it almost impossible to give an accurate figure for the attendance - estimates varied from 130,000 to 170,000. Unlike the first Berlin album, the recording went well, and, despite comments about re-recordings, virtually none was done: the clean sound is down to good mixing and, most importantly, an almost flawless live performance by the band.

"Glasnost" is a good and very underrated live album from the great Barclay James Harvest. Like so many great British progressive rock bands, BJH have never achieved the status they deserve, and are still more popular outside the British Isles. On Glasnost, the band cover many of their best songs, including "Poor Man's Moody Blues,""Love on the Line", "Medicine Man", and "Hymn". On the historic day involved, ( being the first Western rock band to play an open-air concert in pre-Glasnost East Germany), BJH gave the huge rapturous crowd their money's worth. Listen to two of their great albums, "Everyone Is Everybody Else", and "Time Honoured Ghosts." There is info on BJH's good compilation album, "Early Morning Onwards" @ BJH/EMO

TRACKS

Poor Man’s Moody Blues (John Lees)
Alone In The Night (John Lees)
Hold On (Les Holroyd)
African (John Lees)
On The Wings Of Love (Les Holroyd)
Love On The Line (Les Holroyd)
Berlin (Les Holroyd)
Medicine Man (John Lees)
Kiev (Les Holroyd)
Hymn (John Lees)
Turn the Key (Les Holroyd) [on CD and MC only]
He Said Love (John Lees) [on CD and MC only]

BAND

Les Holroyd / vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
John Lees / vocals, guitars
Mel Pritchard / drums, percussion [ R.I.P ]
Bias Boshell / keyboards (Guest musician)
Colin Browne / keyboards (Guest musician)
Kevin McAlea / keyboards (Guest musician)
Recorded on July 14th, 1987 at Treptower Park, East Berlin, using Derks Mobile.

BIO

Barclay James Harvest was, for many years, one of the most hard-luck outfits in progressive rock. A quartet of solid rock musicians -- John Lees, guitar, vocals; Les Holroyd, bass, vocals; Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme, keyboards, vocals; and Mel Pritchard, drums -- with a knack for writing hook-laden songs built on pretty melodies, they harmonized like the Beatles and wrote extended songs with more of a beat than the Moody Blues. They were signed to EMI at the same time as Pink Floyd, and both bands moved over to the company's progressive rock-oriented Harvest imprint at the same time, yet somehow, they never managed to connect with the public for a major hit in England, much less America. The group was formed in September of 1966 in Oldham, Lancashire. Lees and Wolstenholme were classmates who played together in a band called the Blues Keepers; that group soon merged with a band called the Wickeds, which included Holroyd and Pritchard. They became Barclay James Harvest in June of 1967 and began rehearsing at an 18th century farmhouse in Lancashire. The psychedelic era was in full swing, and the era of progressive rock about to begin -- the Moody Blues, in particular, were beginning to cut an international swathe across the music world. BJH cut a series of demos late in the year, and by the spring of 1968 they were signed to EMI's Parlophone label; in April they issued their first single, a folky, faux-classical song called "Early Morning." The group got caught up a year later in a corporate change at EMI, and it was decided to move the more progressive sounding groups on the label onto a new label -- Harvest, taken from BJH's name. Their first release on the new label was the single "Brother Thrush." In 1970, they released their first album, Barclay James Harvest, which included several of the early songs and displayed the group's strengths: filled with strong harmony singing, aggressive electric guitar, and swelling Mellotron parts, it set the pattern for their subsequent releases, with Lees and Holroyd handling most of the songwriting. The album failed to chart, and a subsequent tour was a financial disaster. Their second album, Once Again (1971), was an artistic letdown, made up of rather lethargic songs, although it did contain the superb, "Mockingbird," The band recorded two more albums for Harvest, Short Stories (1971) and Baby James Harvest (1972), and spent much of 1972 on the road, including an unsuccessful tour of the U.S. They also released a pair of singles, "When The City Sleeps" and "Breathless," under the pseudonym "Bombadil" (a name taken from a J.R.R. Tolkien short story), all to no avail. 1973 saw them part company with EMI after one last single, "Rock and Roll Woman." Later in 1973, the band signed with Polydor, and their fortunes began turning around, though only very gradually. Their first album for the new label, Everyone Is Everybody Else, seemed promising: it was a more powerful and coherent work than the group had ever released for EMI, with Lees' guitar dominating on songs like "Paper Wings" and "For No One." The album also presented the first example of the group consciously paying tribute to (and satirizing) another group's hit song -- "Great 1974 Mining Disaster" was a very heavy sounding tribute/satire of the Bee Gees' "New York Mining Disaster 1941." (They would later do work in this vein involving the Moody Blues.) The album failed to chart, however, as did the single "Poor Boy Blues," with its gorgeous harmonies. It seemed at first as though BJH was locked once again into a cycle of failure. Finally, in late 1974, their double album Barclay James Harvest Live broke through to the public -- the group was rewarded with a Top 40 placement in England and more sales activity on the European continent than they'd previously seen. Their next album, Time Honoured Ghosts, recorded in San Francisco, continued this gradual breakthrough when it was released in 1975, reaching number 32 in England. A year later, Octoberon reached the Top 20. An EP containing live versions of "Rock 'N Roll Star" and "Medicine Man" became another chart entry in the spring of 1977. By this time, EMI had begun to take advantage of the success of the group's Polydor work, and released A Major Fancy, a John Lees' solo album that had sat on the shelf for five years. In 1977, they released Gone to Earth, their most accomplished album to date, and by the end of the year the group found themselves playing to arena-sized audiences. The release of XII in 1978 -- which managed to just miss the British Top 30 -- was followed by the group's first (and only) personnel shake-up. In June of 1979, Wolstenholme announced his exit from the band in favor of a solo career; the group's final tour with Wolstenholme was recorded and later released by Polydor under the title The Live Tapes. He was replaced by two new members, singer-keyboardman-saxophonist Kevin McAlea and singer-guitarist-keyboardman Colin Browne; Wolstenholme released one solo album, 1979's Maestro, to little success and then retired for a time from the music business. Their 1979 album Eyes of the Universe was a modest hit in England, but its release marked a flashpoint in Barclay James Harvest's career in continental Europe, especially Germany; on August 30, 1980, the band performed a free concert in front of nearly 200,000 people at the Reichstag in Berlin, which was filmed and recorded. A subsequent live album, Concert for the People, became the group's biggest selling album in England, rising to number 15 in 1982. Turn of the Tide (1981) and Ring of Changes (1983) were less successful, although the latter did spawn their last charting single, "Just a Day Away." Their subsequent Polydor albums, Victims of Circumstance, Face to Face, and Welcome to the Show, charted ever lower in England, even as the group's popularity grew in Europe. In 1988, they released a new live album, Glasnost, cut at a concert in East Berlin.The group marked the 25th anniversary with a concert in Liverpool, and toured to support a British Polydor compilation, The Best of Barclay James Harvest. © Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

BIO (Wikipedia)

Barclay James Harvest is a British rock band specialising in Symphonic/Melodic Rock with folk/progressive/classical influences. The band was founded in Saddleworth, a civil parish now in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in 1966 by John Lees, Les Holroyd, Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme and Mel Pritchard (1948-2004). After early success in the UK with their second album Once Again, the band broke into the mainstream European market with their 1977 set Gone to Earth. Woolly Wolstenholme – whose mellotron playing was a trademark of the band's sound in the 70s – left in 1979. Woolly pursued a short solo career fronting Maestoso before retiring from the music business to pursue farming. The remaining three members continued. At the height of their success they played a free concert in front of the Reichstag in Berlin (Germany), with an estimated attendance of 250,000 people (30 August 1980). They were also the first Western rock band to play an open-air concert in pre-Glasnost East Germany, playing in Treptower Park, East Berlin on 14 July 1987 to a 170,000+ audience. The band continued as a threesome, with regular guest musicians supporting, until 1998. Some 1990s albums were released under the abbreviated name BJH. In 1998, musical differences in the band saw the three members agree to take a sabbatical. John Lees subsequently released an album mixing new songs and BJH classics, entitled "Nexus", under the band name "Barclay James Harvest through the eyes of John Lees". Woolly Wolstenholme played in (and composed for) this band, subsequently resurrecting Maestoso to record and tour with new material, as well as back-catalogue favourites. Les Holroyd and Mel Pritchard teamed up to record under the name "Barclay James Harvest featuring Les Holroyd". Lees and Wolstenholme recently (2006/7) toured under the slightly modified band title "John Lees' Barclay James Harvest" Mel Pritchard died suddenly of a heart attack in early 2004. All three "derivatives" of the original Barclay James Harvest lineup continue to record and tour, and enjoy ongoing popularity, particularly in Germany, France and Switzerland.

Scaramouche

Scaramouche - Scaramouche - 1981 - Musea

Good album from this obscure German seventies progressive rock band. The band played progressive rock reminiscent of early Yes, and Genesis, but also threw some fusion and blues into the mix. There are some great melodic pieces on the album, and some really striking instrumental solos. A very enjoyable album from a talented band. A.O.O.F.C would welcome any info on this band. This album is a 128 bit version, but sound is ok.

TRACKS

1. A cloud in the sky (6:05)
2. Only tail the bait (4:18)
3. Clown leaves Berlin (4:59)
4. Of rooms and open doors (3:32)
5. Find me (5:11)
6. Crentcantoe (5:51)
7. Isn't it real (9:18)

BAND

Holger Funk / lead vocals
Johannes Hofmann / keyboards
Martin Hofmann / bass
Robby Stein / drums, percussion
Tommy Weber / guitars & Space Invaders
Julia Wollny / backing vocals (2)

Horizont

Horizont - Summer In Town - 1985 - Melodiya

A great debut album. The music is reminiscent of the analog synth music of Yes. It sometimes borders on the avant-garde, but is always enjoyable, and never boring. Great thick keyboards(Yes-like Church organ, Moog synths, and bass pedals), and occasional choir. Try and listen to their "The Portrait Of A Boy" album.

TRACKS

1. Snowballs (8:34)
2. Chaconne (10:37)
3. Summer In Town (18:46) - March / Minuet / Toccata
All compositions written by S. Kornilov and arranged by Horizont. Recorded in Moscow, 1985, by A.Vetr & G.Lazarev.

BAND

- Sergey Kornilov / keyboards
- Vladimir Lutoshkin / guitar, flute
- Alexey Eremenko / bass guitar
- Valentin Sinitsin / drums
- Andrey Krivilev / vocal, keyboards
- Igor Pokrovsky, Yuri Beliakov, Sergey Alekseev / vocal

REVIEW

This disc just made my day. That the seeds of Western dissent could travel into Russia, take root and produce such a faithful facsimile of our own revolutionary rumblings proves that progressive rock knows no boundaries. Horizont would have themselves billed as a “chamber instrumental ensemble,” and not as a point of pretension. The side-long “Summer In Town” is avant-garde classical music built around the core of a rock band, something that Frank Zappa fans will already be familiar with. Not that it isn’t harrowing stuff, but you see I’ve got this real tiny brain, and after so many notes it sort of gets filled up. (I know, that’s two sentences ending in a preposition, but after reading the reckless English translation of the reissue’s liner notes I’m a little disoriented.) If you thought that Frank’s fustian arrangements were a little slice of Heaven, more Heaven awaits you here and especially on Portrait of a Boy. What won me over to Summer In Town was the first side of music, however. When the liner notes trumped out the old heroes (Yes, Genesis, ELP), I kind of yawned and thought “yeah, everyone says that.” I’ve seen people use those bands to describe Supertramp, Kansas, Kayak and anyone else who’s ever rented a mellotron. But Horizont sounds exactly like Genesis (or more specifically, Steve Hackett) with bits of Yes and ELP tossed in for good effect. “Snowballs” and “Chaconne” are musical objects that might have been constructed entirely from bits of those band’s works. Vladimir Lutoshkin is a careful student of Steve Hackett’s style, and the first side of music comes as close to replicating the sound and spirit of Voyage of the Acolyte as anything I’ve ever heard. (Since I’ve never encountered a suitable followup to that masterwork from the Genesis guitarmeister himself, interested parties may want to skip straight to Horizont instead.) Sadly, Horizont has only released two discs to my knowledge, and as I said earlier the second eschews prog rock for dissonant, brain-draining music. But for twenty minutes anyway, Horizont raises the standard of the old gods, and prog’s salving benediction once more settles on the misty earth. © 2005 Connolly & Company. All rights reserved

ABOUT HORIZONT / ALBUM INFO.

Prologue. While there have been plenty of excellent Progressive Rock groups in the USSR, Horizont (Horizon) was, in my view, the best among them. The band was formed in the mid '1970s in the city of Gorky (now Nizhni Novgorod, i.e. Lower Newtown, named so after another, Great Newtown, in Russia) by a few schoolmates. Along with Arsenal Horizont was one of the most active 'live' bands, playing concerts usually with an invited string ensemble. The band gave hundreds performances on tour, including its native town and, apart from the titles included in both Horizont's LPs, there were lots of new compositions, including the whole "Fahrenheit 451 Ballet", recorded during shows, but it's hard to say where those unique recordings have ended up now. After the fall of the USSR Horizont, similar to many other USSR progressive artists, dissolved in the chaos of events together with their works. Now, thanks only to a truly progressive activity of the people at "Boheme Music" in search for the 'Soviet' musical legacy we now can enjoy (and will continue to do so as long as "Boheme" carries on this way) a wonderful possibility to familiarize ourselves with this creative output. As for the Horizont musicians, it is sad that nothing is known even about their further fate.
The album. Horizont was a group of experienced, mature, profound proggers long before the recording of their debut album. "Summer In Town" was composed and recorded at a time when the musicians were already going to stop being "a Classic Symphonic Art Rock super-group with highest compositional skill and musicianship" (a quote from the well known, one of the most 'progressively thinking' composers in the USSR/C.I.S., Yuri Saulsky) and started to search for new, (even!) more complex musical structures. Unlike many other Soviet progressive bands, including such quite famous an act as Autograph, Horizont was dubbed as a "Chamber Instrumental Ensemble", and not a rock-group, already on the cover of their debut LP. But it becomes clear why actually a rock band was named differently just after a couple listens to "Summer In Town". Both compositions from the album's "Side A" (LP talk) stand for clear-water Classic Symphonic Art Rock. Snowballs and Chacconne, striking their unique balance (a union!) between high complexity and a melodic beauty as if taken from the first half of the 1970s, are wholly comparable to the best works of the genre in the heyday times. However, thanks to their overall futuristic sound a better point of comparisons would probably draw from "unvocal" Yes in 1972-1974. A 'side-long' titletrack sounds distinctly unusual and unexpected in comparison with the first half of the album. That's what the band had been searching for by the mid "dark decade" of the '80s - newer musical forms. The "Summer in Town" is nothing less than another manifestation of RIO - alongside with Neo-Classical music one of the most complex and intriguing genres created in the 20th century. And unlike Snowballs and Chaconne, here there's no place for comparisons regarding the album's centerpiece.
Summary. Well, RIO. Such a 'fulminating', avant-garde, complex, probably really revolutionary mixture of Progressive Rock (often of all the three main progressive genres together - like in case of Happy Family, for example) with, mostly, Neo-Classical music. It's a kind of Neo-Classical music itself. I would call RIO eternally young music for its plasticity and, thus, 'ability' to create new fresh musical forms in itself with ease, whereas all the other progressive genres are much more 'conservative'. Actually, I would go as far as to name RIO another one 'independent' Progressive Rock genre together with the 'Holy Three' of Art Rock, Prog Metal and Jazz Fusion. If I should search for the fifth element* like the heroes of Luke Besson's movie of the same name* I would probably find it right away. Since all the Marillion etc poor imitators like Grey Lady Down, Galahad, etc play all in all somewhat related to (wretched) Progressive, I feel the need to form a Pseudo Prog section on ProgressoR quite often. Back to the Horizont debut album's third composition, I only want to add that it's a good example of RIO plasticity. From the first to the last note "Summer in Town" has that typical yet extremely unique RIO sound, the most 'electronic' and innovative I (perhaps you, too) ever heard within the genre. Dark, complex and highly magnificent, this piece creates a mind-blowing impression. And that was just a beginning... Are you ready for more incredible music from "another branch of the RIO-tree"? Then wait just a bit. © VM. January 2, 2001, www.progressor.net/review/horizont_overall.html

Barclay James Harvest

Barclay James Harvest - A Concert For The People (Berlin) - 1982 - Polydor

Cut live at the Reichstag in the German city, Berlin is very different from The Live Tapes, with a rather leaner, harder-rocking sound, and more of a dance-rock feel as well, and is also miked much closer for a more intimate sound. "Mockingbird," "Child of the Universe," and "Hymn" are all performed rather more tightly than earlier live renditions, and with more... More flamboyant electronic effects. "Sip of Wine" represents the group's harder, post-progressive era sound, while "Nova Lepidoptera" is a pretty piece of space-rock, and "Life Is for Living" is so upbeat with its disco-dance sound that it could almost pass for an Abba cut. Except on the latter, where the keyboards rule, John Lees' and Colin Browne's guitars are the most prominent component of the group's sound, and it's easy to see why this album, covering so many bases so well, took British audiences by storm -- the Moody Blues in their post-psychedelic era have wanted to make a live record this tight and bracing for ages. And the CD is even better than the LP. © Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

RECORDING DETAILS

Recorded on August 30th, 1980 at a massive free open-air concert on the steps of the Reichstag, next to the Berlin Wall, using “Mobile One”. Re-recorded and mixed at Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Producer: Barclay James Harvest, Martin Lawrence and Ian Southerington. Live Engineer: Andy Rose. This concert was probably the single most important gig that BJH have ever done, so it was natural to want a live record to be made. Unfortunately, whilst the concert itself was a triumph, just about everything that could go wrong with the recording, did - there were loud buzzes and hums on the recording, John’s main guitar was damaged during the afternoon and was almost inaudible in the mix. The band reluctantly decided to record a lot of new overdubs at Strawberry, which is one reason that the LP didn’t appear until 1982. The album was first released in Germany in February 1982 as a limited edition 11-track version on the Polystar label, with “Love On The Line” and “Rock ‘N’ Roll Lady” as the extra tracks, and went straight to No.1. Subsequent releases in all formats have only the nine tracks listed above until the 2006 Eclectic remastered CD, which has the German 11-track version (a different mix all the way through) in the original running order.

TRACKS

Side 1

Berlin (Les Holroyd)
Loving Is Easy (John Lees)
Mockingbird (John Lees)
Sip Of Wine (Les Holroyd)

Side 2

Nova Lepidoptera (John Lees)
In Memory Of The Martyrs (John Lees)
Life Is For Living (Les Holroyd)
Child Of The Universe (John Lees)
Hymn (John Lees)

BAND

- Les Holroyd / vocals, bass, guitars
- John Lees / vocals, guitars
- Mel Pritchard / drums, percussion
- Colin Browne / keyboards
- Kevin McAlea / keyboards