Gnidrolog - In Spite of Harry’s Toenail
Gnidrolog - Lady Lake
Gnidrolog are an early British rock group with a lot of sharp edges, in that way they could be compared in some way to Van Der Graaf Generator or some of the other minor groups with what might kindly be referred to as a distinctive vocalist. Over the years this vocalist has started to gnaw at me a little, such as on the track “Soldier” and a few others, at times the lack of range betrays itself. Anyway this is a recent remaster of the two albums together without any bonus tracks, which for those who have had earlier reissues you probably won’t miss. For me, these keep dropping back just a little and I’ve gone 11>10 and 10>9 for the two albums respectively.
Tierra - comp of s/t, Stranded and City Nights albums
Seguida - Love is…
One casualty of moving Outer Music was not being able to catch up on posts in time, and these two Santana/Malo soundalikes immediately became one. I mention Malo in particular, because after listening to a few of these groups, I’d say they tend to follow their model, more than Santana’s, with the horn section. As with Sapo, Toro and lots of these others groups, there’s some pay off usually in a jam/instrumental, but there’s a few stinkers to cause you to move for an average sort of grade. The pattern says these are 9s, so we’ll see.
Caldera - Sky Islands
I’m separating this one out from the previous two, even though the item came in a similar batch of Santana-likes. Caldera seem more a fusion group, and although the Santana influences are here, it seems like it’s through the filter of Return to Forever or maybe Mingo Lewis and Al DiMeola as well. Or in other words, Santana 1974 vs 1968.
Den Za Den s/t
Lotta prog types approach albums like this through the euro-rock angle, as did I upon hearing this fusion album years ago. Coming from that angle, there’s lots of pyrotechnics, flashy playing, and meditteranean-ish melodies to be found here. However, in revisiting it after a steady diet of Return to Forever shows, Den Za Den come off more like an amateur group reaching for their heroes. Which means had I just heard this, I might be giving it a 9 and in fact demoted it to a 10 from an 11. They’re just so hesitant in comparison to their fusion forefathers. As a contrast, my previous review can be found here.
Tempest - BBC London 1973
Tempest shows seem to fall squarely around the B-/C+ mark quality wise and this one is probably among the higher end, it’s definitely possible to hear everything, but it’s not a tremendously immersive experience. As can be expected once Holdsworth moved on, this is the Ollie Halsall show, and that’s the window through which I can enjoy what was generally a very poor attempt to move on from Colosseum. And he shreds all freaking over this.
Blodwyn Pig - “See My Way” BBC Top Gear
One of two Blodwyn Pig discs I have that collects the Top Gear material, although I assume this is the more completist of the two. When I think of groups I’d probably like a lot more given the time, Pig come to mind pretty fast, they’re generally another forward moving rock-with-a-little-blues sort of group. Great songs. I’ve got 10s on the albums but those have to be very conservative looks.
Dificil Equilibrio - Simétricanarquia
Apparently I’ve long forgotten this listen, it stick in the brain as a hazy “CD changer” experience, in between things that were more instantly memorable. I do like what I remember though, it seemed rather ornate and complicated music, which probably means it’s probably a little more formal than fits.
Decko - Mythe Xero
A fairly unusual French electronic album in the experimental mode. Any time I tend to hear electronics that aren’t building something consonantly melodic, I tend to think of Conrad Schnitzler, but I’m also reminded of an even more obscure title, the Ping Pong Musik albums of Klaus Bloch. I remember reading about a ton of avant-garde experimental electronic albums from the 80s in Audio magazine and this is also along those lines. In fact this one might be remembered while so many of the others aren’t because of it’s presence in Musea’s French discography. But really, this is way too many words for a 9.
Ezra Winston - Myth of the Chrysavides
Instrumentally, the two middle, long tracks on this are probably as good as anything the band wrote, on both albums, but it bears the hallmark typical of many late 80s and early 90s Italian albums getting back into the prog thing, where the vocalist’s main inspiration is obviously Peter Gabriel. I don’t even think singing in Italian would have helped here too much. It’s becoming something of a casualty of my decreasing interest in symphonic rock, so I moved it to a 10. And mostly because I really dig the way the band marries spaciness to the symph vibe. Looks like I have another contrast to make here.
Another Roadside Attraction s/t
Canadian one-shot in a slightly AORish mode in spots, this is a record that had quite a lot of buzz when I was first looking for these items in the early 90s. I remember a picture of it in Marquee. I’d have thought I’d have long worn through it, but there’s some rather sophisticated instrumental parts later in the album that remind me a little of Pablo el Enterrador or even Banco. Which help to balance out the parts when they sound like Kayak or even Klaatu.
Dionne-Bregent - Et La Troisieme Jour
Another solid 10, an album that had me checking quickly to see if I’d written a review. I’m not even sure I could describe this except to say it’s a fairly original take on electronic, minimalist, serious musics and progressive rock, especially as I’m forgetting most of the listen. It’s got some really nice drones that pull me in.
Grateful Dead - Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle, England 4/11/72
(set list can be found at www.deadlists.com)
This is one of the Europe ‘72 shows that the Steppin’ Out With The Grateful Dead release culls from and that’s quite simply one of my favorite Grateful Dead items ever, as intelligently put together a comp as they’ve ever done. So I had high hopes for this show and they weren’t disappointed at all. That gigantic Other One makes the whole show. The entire tour is tribute to just how tight they could be when everything was clicking.