Outer Music Diary

Psiglo – Ideacion. 1973. D: 9. At some point in the 1980s, when this bad habit of collecting music started, I realized I’d gone over the edge when I started looking for groups from URUGUAY. Not sure when Psiglo first hit my radar, but guessing it’s been just under 20 years ago. They’ve been on CD for a long time, but I just hadn’t gotten around to picking them up. This one starts out in a typical 1960s rock bag (typical except the Spanish vocals). But after awhile, the drugs must’ve kicked in, as the band experiments with wild sounds on the organ and guitar. Not to mention the phasing and other studio effects. Reminds me some of the very early Italian post psych bands like Il Balletto di Bronzo on “Sirrio 2222” or maybe Gigi Pascal e La Pop Compagnia Meccanica. Short but fun album. Could go a 10 on it.

Psiglo – II. 1974. D: 11. Like some Italian prog bands, this one starts in singer songwriter mode before launching into an all out progressive rock assault. This one has it all – dizzying tempos, inventive structures, dozens of ideas. This is more Italian sounding than the Los Barrocos album I spoke of recently. Depending on how the opening couple of songs age, this one could easily go to the next level. Impressive and better than I expected.

Solstice – Circles. 1996. 10-9. Solstice were one of my favorite bands to emerge from the 1980s UK neo progressive scene. One reason is they really had nothing to do with the others musically speaking, just more their involvement with the bands playing in clubs, etc… Rather than the usual Genesis blueprint, Solstice embraced the hippy aesthetic of the blossoming New Age movement, combined with a (simplified) Yes like progressive sound. This coupled with an extraordinary guitarist in Andy Glass. Violin and an angelic female vocalist round out the recipe. Their sophomore effort “A New Life” is a triumph of the style and the high water benchmark for the sound. “Circles” was their third release in a 12 year time span and a continuation of the crisp, pure sound. The first 2 tracks are on the money, but they run out of steam there and the rest of the album is a bit TOO smooth. Despite some great guitar playing, the rough edges have been sanded down all the way. This album draws them closer to Adult Contemporary (which is exactly what Andy Glass plays now). Other than a live document, they called it quits here. Probably for the better.

Epitaph – Stop, Look and Listen. 1972. D: 10.  Recently I reported on the first Epitaph album and here’s their second. Surprisingly, this is one I’ve never heard before, having given up on the group over 15 years ago. But a revisit of the debut had me much impressed, so I immediately went after this title as well. Epitaph are unusually melodic for a classic Krautrock band. There’s some of the “West coast rural rock” that followup “Outside the Law” would exploit, but not so much to ruin this one. Keyboards are taken away, so guitar becomes the feature. For the four bonus tracks, wah wah funk rocker on ‘Are You Ready’ is super. Dopey good time rock n roller ‘We Love You Alice’ foretells the future. Overall, a good one for the hard rock flavor of Krautrock.

Nu - Cuentos de Ayer y de Hoy. 1978. 10+11. Must be obscure Spanish prog week! I picked up this band’s debut (translates to “Stories of Yesterday and Today”) on CD about 14 years ago, listened to it intently at the time, and doubt I’ve heard again since – or not that I remember anyway. So a nice random pick from the collection. Jose Carlos Molinas, the charismatic leader of the group, has a unique dramatic vocal style and also plays flute. Heavy guitar (bordering the early metal style) and violin round out the major components of their sound. Generally compared to Jethro Tull, I don’t hear it myself. But anytime aggressive rock is mixed with flute, you’ll get that reference. He sings like someone from one of the Italian bands, and darn if I can think of it. Ah, because I’m thinking of the 70s. Alberto Piras of Deus Ex Machina, minus the Stratos-isms! Never put that together before. In fact, there’s more than just a vocal similarity here. Would be interesting to get feedback on if others hear a proto DeM sound here? Last two tracks more extended prog numbers with extensive flute and violin. This one has aged quite well.

Areknames – Love Hate Round Trip. 2006. D: 11. I was impressed enough with their debut to snap this one up no questions asked. Black Widow has a nice stable of heavy rock Italian bands, and Areknames have established themselves as maybe their most progressive act, at least in the traditional sense of the word. Their “special thanks” section reminds me of the UK doom metal group Cathedral. Name drop city (2066 and Then, Catapilla, Comus, Indian Summer, Agitation Free, about 50 more – except for classic 1970s Italian groups!). Pretty funny, since they don’t sound at all like most of these bands. But they do have great taste in music! Though they do cover ‘Snails’, a great Gnidrolog song (and a darn good version too). I was a bit disheartened at first, as it appeared the band were going to a pseudo-metal sound ala latter day Anekdoten, but that’s only apparent on the first track and used sparingly on later songs. The rest is heavy progressive rock with organ, mellotron, “woody bass”, loud guitar leads, old school drumming. Of course, with a modern production value. Trumpet put to good use on a couple of pieces. They don’t remind me of anyone in particular, though they sound like everyone if that makes sense. Well, like the first album, VDGG do seem to have more sway than the others. No qualms here and Areknames remains an “A List” group.

Strangefish - Fortune Telling

I doubt I would have heard this were it not for a friend’s interest in my opinion, it’s not usually a style I seek out. I was intrigued by an earlier EP, the band does have some melodic strengths, in fact if there’s anything to be said about this genre, the dreaded “neo,” it’s that the best of them do very consonant melodies quite well, particularly with keyboard leads. Strangefish are a bit more creative than most within the style, although it’s difficult for me not to see them strongly in the vein of modern IQ, who often sound to me like they will work with any song idea no matter how poor. (For the record, I’m in favor of good editing, using your best 10 songs out of 15 rather than recording everything you come up with.) As I’ve been told, Fortune Telling is something of a concept album, it even comes with a little plastic divining fish, which is pretty hilarious and fun. The idea was to weave a combination of instrumental and vocal sections so that both compliment each other, unfortunately how successful such a blend depends almost entirely into how much work you put into the album, and in that way Strangefish are pretty fascinating, I didn’t hop to many of the songs right away, but on this second listen things opened up a little more. If US has the jazz and blues, Europe the classical tradition, then the style Strangefish work in is decidely British with a tradition now well over 20 years old. In many ways it seems that it’s the progressive rock tradition through an early 80s lense, a tradition far more informed by punk and what came before than the originals. Fortunately, credit where credit is due, Strangefish don’t tend to succumb to the worst of their style’s traits. Although I wouldn’t call the drumming brilliant, it’s certainly better (or at least more interesting) than what I’ve heard from Galahad, Pallas, Arena and the like. And Strangefish do keep a lot of the AOR tendencies firmly locked away, quite amazing when bands like Spocks Beard are quoted as influences. Is this all damning with faint praise? Possibly, although my appreciation did take a bigger leap after the second listen, but then again I’ve got a friend who has much more insight to what’s happening here than I do, giving me an earlier appreciation than I might not have had under different circumstances. Anyway, will have to return to this one and see where it goes with #3.

Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue

Oh, I really wanted to like this one, I did. I had it in my out pile ready to be dumped, but after listening to the Toby Driver solo album again, which I think I like marginally better, I figured I’d see if I can get this into the 9s and thus keep. The first song on this album is just one of the ugliest pieces of music I’ve ever heard. I remember in contact with the band that Esoteric came up as a strong influence, here you see that influence a lot more obviously than you might with Maudlin of the Well, the glacially slow riffs, the rough screams, the bleak emotions. I remember hearing what I’d call the MotW swansong with their track Secret Song, and then the first Kayo Dot, thinking they were really onto something cosmic, but all that potential was apparently not the direction things were going.

Subject Esq - Subject Esq

I think this was the precursor band to Sahara, although the sax playing on SE reminds me just a little of some of the jazzier bands like Kraan or Brainstorm. A lot of the music here seems to be built up on riffs, sometimes long ones with twists, but generally it’s the early German style, although perhaps not done with as much flair as many of their contemporaries. I quite enjoyed it overall and decided to give it the 10 even if another listen might show it more as a 9. Kind of borderline, but nice enough.