Led Zeppelin - 1977 - Last Performance In The USA

Led Zeppelin

1977

The Last Performance In U.S.A.

Scorpio

1977-07-23
Alameda County Coliseum
Oakland, CA

101.Intro
102.The Song Remains The Same
103.Sick Again
104.Nobody's Fault But Mine
105.Over The Hills And Far Away
106.Since I've Been Loving You
107.No Quarter

201.Ten Years Gone
202.The Battle Of Evermore
203.Going To California
204.Black Country Woman
205.Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
206.Trampled Underfoot
207.White Summer - Black Mountain Side
208.Kashmir

301.Guitar Solo
302.Achilles Last Stand
303.Stairway To Heaven
304.Whole Lotta Love
305.Rock And Roll
306.Black Dog

1977-07-24
Alameda County Coliseum
Oakland, CA

101. Intro
102. The Song Remains The Same
103. Sick Again
104. Nobody's Fault But Mine
105. Over The Hills And Far Away
106. Since I've Been Loving You
107. No Quarter

201. Ten Years Gone
202. The Battle Of Evermore
203. Going To California
204. Mistery Train
205. Black Country Woman
206. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
207. Trampled Underfoot

301. White Summer - Black Mountain Side
302. Kashmir
303. Guitar Solo
304. Achilles Last Stand
305. Stairway To Heaven
306. Whole Lotta Love

307. Rock And Roll

Led Zeppelin 1977 visit to the United States was meant to be a comeback . With Robert Plant’s healed leg and promoting a year old album Presence, the three legs of the tour were going to re-establish the band as the top live act of the seventies and shatter all sorts of attendance records.

The set list was reworked again. Only two new songs from Presence, “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” and “Achilles Last Stand” were added. They also added the long acoustic interlude for the first time in five years including the never before played live “The Battle Of Evermore” from the fourth LP.

The tour began in Chicago in April with some very impressive concerts. The first third ended with some of the best shows on the tour in Cleveland and Detroit. The second third hit a climax with six massive shows in both New York and Los Angeles. After almost a month off, the tour resumed in Seattle with a mediocre show in the Kingdome. The second date in Tempe, Arizona was a disaster and was followed by the two shows in the Oakland Coliseum.

Part of the Day On The Green series of concerts organized by Bill Graham, Zeppelin were supported by Rick Derringer and Judas Priest for both days. The two concerts sold-out 115,000 and were meant, in the words of Plant himself, as an apology for the cancellation of their Day On The Green show from 1975. The two three and a half hour marathons, in the words of the press following the event, more than made up for the absence two years before.

These two shows in northern California were meant to be followed by massive dates in New Orleans, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and ending at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, but they were all cancelled when Plant’s son mysteriously died. Events three years later would dictate that these remain Led Zeppelin’s final shows in the U.S. The Last Performance In The U.S.A. on Scorpio presents both concerts edited from the various tapes to present the best sounding and most complete versions on silver disc.

The Day On The Green, Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA – July 23rd, 1977

Two audience recordings exist for the July 23rd show. One was released on It’s Been Great (Image Quality IQ-010/11/12) and the other on Confusion (LZ-72377A/B) back in the nineties. Several years ago both tapes were pressed in the five disc set A Quiet Before The Storm: The Day On The Green Tapes Vol. 1 (The Chronicles Of Led Zeppelin 042/043/044/045/046).

Scorpio is the first label to edit the two tapes to present the complete show. Their weaving of the two sources is frequent and very smoothly handled. The difference in quality between the two sources can be a bit jarring at first, but not detrimental to the overall experience.

The first Oakland show is much improved compared to Seattle or Tempe. With Plant wearing the “Nurses Do It Better” shirt (do what though is never answered) and Page in the black dragon suit, they get off to a sluggish start (which Plant admits), but it picks up steam early and become a nice event.

“Well good afternoon. I see we finally made it” Plant tells the audience after “Sick Again” “I guess I must personally apologize for a two year delay but it’s very nice to be here and to be back. We should just waste no time at all and give you something that we should have given you a while back, yeah?”

He apologizes before “Over The Hills And Far Away,” saying, “If we seem to be just a little bit sluggish now we shall start to liven up cause we’re not even awake about forty five minutes. You know how it is, which is no excuse admittedly. We’re gonna do a song from before the flood you might say. We must have a short break while Jimmy puts a belt on his trousers. He’s losing his pants. That would be one of the worst things to happen. It’s just one of the formalities of getting dressed in the morning.” He then jokes, “So this is what they call daylight?”

Plant makes constant reference to the bright sunny afternoon. For example he calls “Since I’ve Been Loving You” a “blues for a summer’s day.” The only other outdoor afternoon gig this visit was the June 3rd show in Tampa which, because of a heavy rainstorm and a misunderstanding with the promoter resulted in a nasty riot.

The heavy blues number is dramatic and lively as is “No Quarter.” Jones get into wild west musical themes, music suggesting a gentle horse ride during the piano solo. The twenty-five minute performance of “No Quarter” is perhaps the first standout in the early part of the set. The audience’s reaction to the long improvisation suggests the piece loses none of its power without the light show and dry ice.

While getting ready for the difficult “Ten Years Gone” Plant launches into his normal spiel about how in rehearsals they “looked through all the material that we had to avoid in the past” and pointing out Jones’ new “three necked acoustic instrument which allows him to show his versatility a little more,” calling “Ten Years Gone a song “about lost love.” Unfortunately Page becomes derailed in the song’s middle and forgets his cue in the transition. The band have to figure out where they are.

The acoustic set begins with a long word of explanation with Plant saying, “A long time ago ah, I guess in the days we used to play Winterland, Bill, where is he? We used to do an acoustic set, and we decided that as it’s been so long since we’d been here, like about that long, we should do an acoustic set this afternoon. Besides the fact we’ve done it everywhere else, it brings to the front of the stage ah, a very famous percussionist. A master of peace and quiet, John Bonham.”

“Going To California” is a song which is “influenced by probably afternoons like this.” The entire four song set is inspired in front of the massive crowd and is followed by one of the best 1977 versions of “Trampled Underfoot.”

Jimmy Page his is first solo spot, the long meditation on “White Summer” and “Black Mountain Side” which segue seamlessly into “Kashmir.” The drum solo “Over The Top” aka “Moby Dick” is dropped for both Oakland shows probably because the spectacle of the light show synced with the drums would be ineffective in daylight. The proceed with Page’s noise solo leading into “Achilles Last Stand.”

The rest of the show comes off very well and they even include a rare version of “Black Dog” which is one of the very few times they ever play it without an instrumental introduction of some kind.

The Day On The Green, Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA – July 24th, 1977

Three tapes are in circulation for Led Zeppelin’s final show. The oldest tape was used for Fighting Finish (SIRA 122/123), Push! Push! (IQ-026/27) and Seventh Heaven (Immigrant IM-006~7), the second on Final Ever In the States (Missing Link ML-014/15/16) and the third on The Last Concert In America (Tarantura TCD-101-1, 2).

Scorpio is a three source mix meant to assemble the most complete version of the gig in the best available sound quality. Like the previous day’s show, the sources are edited together nicely and occur too often to try to document the edits (Bootledz will do that).

The tensions in the interim of these gigs is well documented. The backstage violence between Bonham and members of Zeppelin’s road crew and Bill Graham’s staff were intense and even lead the band to threaten to not play this gig. They would be arrested after the gig with their mugshots splattered across the evening news.

Despite the off-stage drama this is a very good show. While still not one of the best from this era, it is certainly the best on the truncated final third. Before “The Song Remains The Same” the band play a groovy little riff as a warm up. After “Sick Again” Plant apologizes for the delay and says “it’s nice to see the sun again, surprising what sun can do I suppose. It’s more than a pleasure to be back because it’s been four years? Three years? Four years? Time goes by so quickly. So we won’t beat around the bush. We’re sorry for the delay. We thank Bill Graham for putting on a most spectacular… I think he built the place especially for rock concerts, and we’ll just keep playing.”

“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” is again followed by “Over The Hills And Far Away.” The Houses Of The Holy track had been alternating with “In My Time Of Dying” since their New York gigs, but it seems they decided to drop it for the third leg. The heavy metal guitar solo in the middle is appreciated by the audience.

“Since I’ve Been Loving You” is called “a touch of the English blues” and “No Quarter” is dedicated to Bill Graham (really a bad choice when you know the subtext). The final “No Quarter” played in America, it’s another excellent improvisation improved by a mysterious woman dancer onstage dancing along to Jones’ boogie piano. After the song, when they’re setting up for “Ten Years Gone,” Plant is at a loss what to say. “John Paul Jones piano, Jimmy Page guitar, John Bonham drums, and Bill Graham’s ah, the young lady … something to do with, we don’t know who she was sorry. Thank you very much. The invisible dancer. Sorry, Bonzo’s bird” he jokes.

"The Years Gone,” a disaster in the first show, is much better in this one. Before “The Battle Of Evermore” Plant brings Bonham to the front of the stage, introducing him as “John the Divine, John the Placid” and then dedicates the song to Dr. Larry Badgely, the tour’s physician and subject on a running gag in Cleveland back in April.

Before “Going To California,” a song written about their love for the Bay area, Plant reminisces about their first visit. “Being somewhat lost for words, this is a song that should be dedicated to when we, in nineteen sixty… I think sixty-eight. When we first came to the Fillmore, it might have been sixty-nine, there was an amazing atmosphere about the whole of San Francisco and all the surrounding areas. Something that we couldn’t really experience anywhere else, but in this town, and when you go back to England, dear England, you look back to California and you think about all the dreams that … sounds a bit mushy doesn’t it? All the dreams that you had and all the dreams that everybody else had so I guess this song relates to those days, and the extensions are still with us.”

They deliver a poignant performance of the piece and afterwards play a fast and hard “Mystery Train” as a prelude to “Black Country Woman.” Someone close to the microphone comments that Page looks stoned. “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” ends the acoustic portion of the show.

While they’re tuning for “Trampled Underfoot” Plant sings a line from the Elvis song “Surrender”: “When we kiss my heart’s on fire / burning with a strange desire / So my darling please surrender” and then comments, “I think we’re developing some kind of heavy elation from playing in the daylight. It’s so unusual to do. It’s really stimulating?” Practicing for the next song, Plant sings “push / push” before introducing it as “the careful looking after an automobile.”

The noise solo segues into “Achilles Last Stand.” The Presence epic teeters on disaster until it falls apart by the end. After an embarrassing pause they manage to figure out where they are in the song and finish. The set ends with “Stairway To Heaven” complete with the dancing girl returning to the stage. The encores are “Whole Lotta Love” and “Rock And Roll.” Bill Graham comes to the microphone afterwards and wishes everyone a good afternoon (before booking charges against the band).

These two aren’t the best Zeppelin gigs, but are enjoyable. And since they are their last two shows in the US, are historically important. Scorpio package the two in a six disc quad case with photos from the gigs on the inserts and a reproduction of the Larry Tuten concert poster on the front. Scorpio made very effort to make The Last Performance In The U.S.A. the definitive versions of these shows and have succeeded.

Sun Ra - 2018 - The Cymbals / Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973

Sun Ra

2018

The Cymbals / Symbols Sessions: New York City 1973

01. The World of the Invisible (06:52)

02. Thoughts Under a Dark Blue Light (16:32)

03. The Order of the Pharaonic Jesters (07:25)

04. The Mystery of the Two (07:35)

05. Land of the Day Star (03:57)

06. The Universe is Calling (04:10)

07. Space Landing (07:15)

08. Of Drastic Measures (04:50)

09. Of Otherness (07:31)

10. Myth Evidential (13:21)

11. Destination of the Known Unknown (09:37)

Alto Saxophone – Danny Davis

Bass – Ronnie Boykins

Bass Clarinet – Elmoe Omoe

Congas – Derek Morris

Drums – Harry Richards

Tenor Saxophone – John Gilmore

Trumpet – Akh Tal Ebah

Vibraphone, Organ, Keyboards – Sun Ra

LP1 is the first legitimate release of Cymbals on vinyl, LP2 contains some previously unreleased material. Packaged in a gatefold jacket with liner notes by Brother Cleve.

"The Universe Is Calling" was previously released as "Jazz And Romantic Sounds" on Out There A Minute

"Space Landing" was previously released as "The Eye Of Horus" on Sign Of The Myth

"Myth Evidential" was previously released as "The Truth Of Maat" on Sign Of The Myth

In early 1973, thanks to the intrepid persuasion of jazz producer Ed Michel, Sun Ra signed a licensing agreement with the prestigious jazz imprint Impulse (then part of ABC/Paramount Records) to reissue catalog titles from Ra's proprietary Saturn label, as well as some new Arkestra recordings. Michel had produced Ra's most commercially successful album, Space is the Place, in 1972 for Blue Thumb Records, and he figured Ra was finally primed for a wider Earthly audience. The Impulse deal struck with Ra and manager Alton Abraham specified a cap of 50 albums — ten annually for five years — although all masters were subject to approval by Impulse and theoretically less than 50 could be issued.

William Ruhlmann at AllMusic notes, "This was Ra's first association with something like a major record company, and though it resulted in ten actual releases, it didn't last long; another 12 planned releases were cancelled." Eight (egregiously remixed and/or remastered) existing Saturn titles were repackaged; on other planets, extraterrestrial jazz scholars refer to the Impulse period as "Ra's Quadraphonic Years."

Besides the reissues, two newly recorded albums were released—Astro Black and Pathways to Unknown Worlds. Another pair, Cymbals and Crystal Spears, recorded in 1973, were assigned catalog numbers before being shelved. They must have been rejected quickly, because that very year three Cymbals tracks were incongruously grouped with some of Ra's earliest 1940s & '50s recordings on a Saturn LP entitled Deep Purple.

The Cymbals sessions took place at one of Ra's most favored recording venues, Variety Studios, in New York. Other than the three tracks on Deep Purple, the Cymbals (a.k.a. Symbols) sessions were unissued during Sun Ra's lifetime. Five tracks from these sessions (tracks 1 thru 5 on this 11-track complete edition) were posthumously issued on a 2-CD set by Evidence in 2000 under the title The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums (which included Crystal Spears). The Evidence CDs had to rely on substandard source tapes, which at the time were the only tapes available.

This 2018 double album on Modern Harmonic used session master tapes from Michael D. Anderson's Sun Ra Music Archive, and represents the complete Cymbals/Symbols sessions.

Cymbals constitutes an intimate gathering by Arkestra standards. Although eight[or ten—see note below] musicians were involved, nothing larger than a sextet and often only a quartet plays on any one track. Ra's illustrious tenor saxophonist John Gilmore only performs on one title (“Thoughts Under A Dark Blue Light”), and Danny Davis plays alto on another ("Land of the Day Star"). Cymbals is notable for being one of the few ensemble albums in Sun Ra's vast catalog that does not feature Arkestra mainstay Marshall Allen.

As Bro. Cleve writes in the liner notes to the LP and CD editions of the Cymbals/Symbols packages, "The ABC/Impulse deal imploded, due to disappointing sales. The cut-out albums were dumped into bargain bins. Curiosity seekers heard Sun Ra, perhaps for the first time, for a dollar a disc. Sadly, the band made no money from sales of these LP’s. Ra returned to Saturn … Records, that is."

UPDATE from Bill Hunsinger (Feb 2020):

Ayé Aton told me that the one cut he recorded with Sun Ra as "the drummer" is "The World of the Invisible" from CYMBALS. Ayé claimed the track was recorded at the Ra house as a quartet, featuring Ra on keyboard, Ayé on drums, "a cat named Khusenaton who came up with [Ayé] from Chicago" on bass clarinet, and a bassist who Ayé couldn't recall or confirm. Marshall Allen confirmed to me that Khusenaton passed through the house at some point.

Originally recorded for the Impulse! jazz label in ’73, Cymbals is paired with a 2nd disc of unheard material from the same sessions. Hear Ra’s Baroque soundscapes, electrolytic clusters and dithering Moogs catalyze images of monoliths, space stations, computers malfunctioning and galaxies imploding on two compact saucers, with liner notes by known Ra-fficianado Brother Cleve!

Making its debut here, the 2nd disc is culled from a mysterious tape recorded during the same time frame and with many of the same musicians (though no Ronnie Boykins; Ra provides keyboard bass). Could this be one of the unissued Impulse! LPs? Quite probable. The tape box only lists the song titles.

The 2nd disc opens with some “Space Age Cocktail Music” as only Sun Ra could conjure in his intergalactic lounge. Continuing the Sci-Fi film references, the first four tracks could well be post-last call cantina music from a galaxy far, far away. The final two tracks, comprising Ra’s keyboards and accompanying drums/percussion, feels like an alternate soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film still playing in theaters in 1973.

Sun Ra ‎- 1973 - Astro Black

Sun Ra

1973

Astro Black

01. 10:59
02. Discipline "99"
03. Hidden Spheres
04. The Cosmo-Fire

Keyboards, Synthesizer, Vibraphone – Sun Ra
Alto Saxophone – Danny Davis
Alto Saxophone – Marshall Allen
Baritone Saxophone – Danny Thompson
Bass – Ronnie Boykins
Bass Clarinet – Eloe Omoe
Clarinet – Pat Patrick
Congas – Atakatun
Congas – Chiea
Congas – Odun
Percussion – Tommy Hunter
Tenor Saxophone, Percussion – John Gilmore
Trombone – Charles Stephens
Trumpet – Akh Tal Ebah
Trumpet – Lamont McClamb
Violin, Viola – Alzo Wright
Vocals [Word-melody] – June Tyson
Voice [Space Ethnic] – Ruth Wright

Recorded at El Saturn Studio, Chicago, Illinois, May 7, 1972.
Mixed at Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, California.
℗1973, ABC Records, Inc. / ABC Records, Inc. © 1973

Sleeve features seven poems taken from the book titled "The Immeasurable Equation" by Sun Ra.

After years of self-releasing albums on his own Saturn label, Sun Ra signed with ABC's Impulse jazz imprint in 1972. A reissue series of earlier hard-to-find Saturn LPs was undertaken, along with a few new projects. The first premiere, Astro Black, was recorded and released in 1973 in the now-obsolete quadraphonic format (tho it was playable on stereo phonographs). The undertaking signaled a noble campaign on the part of Impulse producer Ed Michel to mainstream Sun Ra and broaden his audience, without any sacrifice of artistic integrity.

But the effort was doomed: the label suffered commercial losses on the project and lost faith in avant-garde space funk. Within two years, after corporate reshuffling (i.e., firings and hirings), ABC's Sun Ra project was abandoned. The company clipped the corners of the cardboard sleeves and dumped the lavishly illustrated gatefold LPs in record store discount bins (or as some disgruntled fans claimed, UNDER the bins). Yet the Sisyphean venture produced some worthwhile new music.

Astro Black was a return to quasi-accessibility, away (though not completely) from the anti-jazz experimentalism of the late 1960s, and toward synthesizer-driven space jams. The Arkestra's horn skronk was still prominent, but on side one of Astro Black it was largely anchored by the propulsive rhythm section of returning bassist Ronnie Boykins and drummer Tommy Hunter (along with a battalion of African percussion). With Sun Ra perched behind his Minimoog, this is very much a 1970s album. But as any listener will attest, it's also very much a Sun Ra album.

On the 11-minute title track, vocalist June Tyson croons a siren song above bassist Boykins' snaking groove. About 3-1/2 minutes in, the Arkestra achieves liftoff, after which they explore some free interplay the rest of the way.

"Discipline 99" is a loose, relaxed space walk with some fine ensemble work by the horns. The "Discipline" series, variously numbered and composed by Ra during the 1970s, were generally group-performed works which omitted solos; this recording is an exception, showcasing expressive offerings by John Gilmore (tenor sax), Akh Tal Ebah (trumpet), and the bandleader (electro-vibraphone). The percussion-heavy "Hidden Spheres" serves up some steamy African exotica, with Marshall Allen (alto sax), Kwame Hadi (trumpet), and Eloe Omoe (bass clarinet) intensifying the mood.

Side B of the LP (here track 4) consists of "The Cosmo-Fire," a sprawling 18-minute otherworldly affair of conducted Afro-futuristic improvisation unified by Boykins' inventive bass and punctuated by Sunny's synth and organ. The work provides an uncompromising contrast to the album's A-side, and proved that despite the major label upgrade, Sun Ra was intent on challenging his listeners.

There's a short chronicle of Ra's Impulse adventures in "The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse! Records," by Ashley Kahn. The book includes the following amusing anecdote by Ed Michel, in which he recalls his first Sun Ra mixing session in 1972: "I liked to mix at the pain threshold. It was really loud. We were mixing it quadraphonically in a relatively small room. Sun Ra was sleeping deep and snoring loud. For some reason, I stopped the tape in the middle of the tune. He came awake, wheeled his head like an owl does—all around the room, checking everything out. He said, 'You Earth people sleep too much.' He put his head down and started to snore again."

Original 1973 Album Cover

One of a handful of albums Sun Ra released on Impulse in the early '70s, Astro-Black provides a reasonably comprehensive picture of where the Arkestra was around the time, drawing to the end of their ultra-free period and beginning to investigate some traditional jazz forms. The opening title track explores some of Ra's spacier side, sounding a bit like a calmer alternative to his well-known "Space Is the Place" with June Tyson's ethereal vocals and the leader's ghostly synthesizer. "Discipline '99'" is a relaxed, bluesy number, although, as was often the case, one could argue that the band is a bit too relaxed and the piece does plod a little. But this is followed by a lively African-percussion-driven work, "Hidden Spheres," which, along with the propulsion provided by the great, underappreciated bassist Ronnie Boykins, is a fine example of Ra's band at their most enjoyable. "The Cosmo-Fire," the 18-minute track that closes the album, is a sprawling affair, a smorgasbord of Arkestra once again held in place by Boykins' bass, serving as a solid stem off of which Sun Ra launches abstract organ and vibraphone explorations and the rest of the band wails and sputters. Again, the performance is loose, but in a way that enhances the otherworldly effect that Ra strove for. Astro-Black isn't by any means the finest work by this musician, but is a decent introduction to his unique sound world.

Sun Ra didn't mellow with age, at least not during the time of this record, which is just as opaque as ever. Enigmatic and impenetrable, it's not quite certain what the musicians were up to (my guess is that it would have to do with outer space), but one has to admit that, whatever it is, it largely works. The only one of a planned series of new recordings for Impulse that actually materialized, it bears the trademark sound of producer Ed Michel, who managed frequently to create an avantgardish, pretty far-out sound that still wasn't totally inaccessible. It's not one of the Arkestra's most prolific records. but it's very listenable and still gives you the feeling of being an intellectual when you're listening to it.

Sun Ra - 1983 - A Fireside Chat with Lucifer

Sun Ra

1983

A Fireside Chat with Lucifer

01. Nuclear War 7:44

02. Retrospect 5:41

03. Makeup 4:56

04. A Fireside Chat With Lucifer 20:11

Piano, Synthesizer, Organ, Vocals – Sun Ra

Alto Saxophone, Flute – Marshall Allen

Baritone Saxophone, Flute – Danny Ray Thompson

Bass – Hayes Burnett

Bass – John Ore

Bassoon, Percussion – James Jacson

Drums – Samarai Celestial

French Horn – Vincent Chancey

Percussion – Atakatune

Tenor Saxophone – John Gilmore

Trombone – Tyrone Hill

Trumpet – Walter Miller

Recorded at Variety Studios, New York, September 1982

The key track on this rare 1980s recording sees Sun Ra warning the inhabitants of planet Earth about the threat of nuclear war and its ultimately apocalyptic effect. ‘Nuclear War’ is based on a call and response gospel chorus with Ra in the role as an interstellar preacher, raging against the nuclear war machine with a repetitive chanted expletive (think MC5!) that decades later still sounds shocking. Later released as a 12” on UK label Y, ‘Nuclear War’ has since passed into Sun Ra legend, only to rise again on this re- mastered reissue of one of Ra's rarest and strangest Saturn releases. While that dominates the album, the remaining pieces are prime examples of where Ra and his Arkestra were taking their music at the time – with the dreamily hallucinogenic ‘Retrospect’ and the more upbeat (but off-kilter) nightclub jazz groove of ‘Makeup’ being the intermission before the title track hits. ‘A Fireside Chat With Lucifer’ is ushered in with heraldic horns and muted percussion before slowly unravelling into a complex composition that involves the entire group. Flickering with fine contributions from main Arkestra players Allen, Gilmore and Thompson, the piece really catches fire with Ra's smouldering keyboard interventions effectively communicating what remains his wildest musical message ever.

This is an album (recorded in '82) that Sun Ra (And His Outer Space Arkestra) fans should check out. A few years ago there was an album titled "Nuclear War", which is where I first heard the track "Nuclear War", which was then (and still is today) a mix of a typical Sun Ra arrangement with a message that can be quite harrowing if you think about the lyrics--the foul language only punctuates the message.

Original LP cover

The 20 + minute "A Fireside Chat With Lucifer" has a lot going on with the orchestra going a bit into space to good effect. The eleven piece orchestra is in good shape here in an open sounding arrangement with a number of players who stuck with Ra over the years--Marshall Allen, John Gilmore, Danny Rae Thompson--are here in fine sound. The length of this track lets the band stretch out in a seeming cacophony of sound from the band with Ra throwing in some synthesizer sounds and piano and then things get opened up a bit with an atmospheric/mysterious arrangement from the band. This track is Ra out there a bit but not as far out as he can get.

"Retrospect" is a relaxed (for Ra) arrangement reminiscent of his earlier big band arrangements--a nice juxtaposition to the "Nuclear War" track. Ra is heard on organ over a tranquil arrangement for the horns. "Makeup" is close to a swinging jazz tune with Ra's organ sounding straight out of the late '50s/mid 60s. There's some nice sax work here also reminiscent of that period plus a great rhythm section (Samarai Celestial-drums and Hayes Burnett/John Ore-bass) supporting everything.

The jump in stylistic arrangements on this album make this another great Ra album. Ra fans buy this with confidence. Newbies should take a chance on something new and different and add this to their jazz collection. The disc slips into a pocket in the wallet style cardboard package. There's liner notes on the two inside panels along with a list of band members.

An F-bomb saturated hip-hop call & response club cut…from Sun Ra?! While the most renown track in this omniversal opus is the atomic expletive-filled repartee "Nuclear War," there is so much more to this dark mysterious journey through the mind of Sun Ra. The sprawling, suite-like 20-minute title track sustains a lyrical edge in spite of an open framework and textures, which encourage sonorities to surface and emerge from the band as if there was no human intention behind them. In opposition to "Nuclear War"' Ra's organ playing here was built less on bombast and sonic terror than it is on whispers, stutters, shivers, and swells. Fireside Chat offers a wide stylistic array, as was the artist's intent, reflecting his eclectic, seemingly irreconcilable approach to compositional extremes. With Sun Ra you get everything… except predictability.

Motohiko Hino - 2023 - Flying Clouds

Motohiko Hino 

2023

Flying Clouds

01. 流氷　
02. Olive’s Step
03. Flying Clouds

Bass – Nobuyoshi Ino
Drums – Motohiko Hino
Drums – Yuji Imamura
Guitar – Kazumi Watanabe
Tenor Saxophone – Mabumi Yamaguchi
Tenor Saxophone – Yasuaki Shimizu

Recorded at "5 Days in Jazz 1976" at Yamaha Hall, Tokyo on 27th May 1976.

never-issued live performance from the legendary Japanese drummer Motohiko Hino – recorded live in concert, originally by the Three Blind Mice label – yet a date that's a lot more freewheeling than most of the more familiar studio material from TBM! All the tracks are long, soaring, and searching – very spiritual in nature, and kicked off with long solo work from Hino, as he builds up energy and then welcomes in the rest of the group – a killer lineup that features two tenors, one in each channel – Mabumi Yamaguchi and Yasuaki Shimizu – plus nicely raw guitar work from Kazumi Watanabe, very different than his tighter albums of later years – as well as bass from Nobuyoshi Ino and percussion from Yuji Imamura.

Hidefumi Toki Quartet – 1975 - Toki

Hidefumi Toki Quartet

1975 

Toki

01. Lullabye For The Girl 11:10

02. Darkness 10:03

03. Blues 8:17

04. When Sunny Gets Blue 5:39

05. Old Song Blues 5:40

Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Hidefumi Toki

Bass – Nobuyoshi Ino

Drums – Steve Jackson

Guitar – Kazumi Watanabe

Producer – Takeshi Fujii

Recorded May 17, 1975 at AOI Studio, Tokyo.

Deeply personal work from Japanese saxophonist Hidefumi Toki – a player who manages accomplish a great deal in a fairly stripped down setting – filling spare space with gentle notes on alto and soprano sax, often delivered with a nicely raspy tone! The group here is a quartet – with Kazumi Watanabe on guitar, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass, and Steve Jackson on drums – and the setting is laidback and mellow, often moving at a pace that's slow, but always flowing with a great gentle swing.

Rupa - 1982 - Disco Jazz

Rupa

1982

Disco Jazz

01. Moja Bhari Moja
02. East West Shuffle
03. Aaj Shanibar
04. Ayee Morshume Be-Reham Duniya

Guitar, Bass – Don Pope
Bass – John Johnston
Drums, Percussion – Robin Tufts
Keyboards, Synthesizer – Geoff Bell
Percussion – Franck Lockwood
Sarod – Aashish Khan
Synthesizer – Rhonda Padmos
Tabla – Pranesh Khan
Vocals – Rupa Biswas

Rupa’s Disco Jazz didn’t gain a ton of traction upon its initial release in 1982. Born as the brainchild of the now Grammy Award-winning musician Aashish Khan, the record sold very few copies in its native country and was quickly forgotten about as the weeks passed. Rupa Biswas, the record’s titular and charismatic vocalist completely put the memory of recording the album in the rearview as the years went on. It was only after her son rediscovered the album in his mother’s attic that the family would go on to find out Disco Jazz had become a grail item for record collectors across the world. While its grooves are oriented in something that could feel dated to the average listener, its instrumental and vocal idiosyncrasies make the album an enjoyable and impactful listening experience. It’s for this reason that Disco Jazz not only stands as a testament to the talent of Rupa and the collaborators that made this record possible but also to the strange relationship of the album format and time itself.

Disco aside, there seem to be both spiritual and psychedelic influences at play across the album and musician Aashish Khan is likely to thank for this. Khan’s performance on the sarod as well as his credits as both the producer and arranger of the record suggest he had strong creative influence over Disco Jazz’s four tracks, each of which makes an impression on the listener. His expertise on the sarod, which makes an appearance on every track, is the glue that holds the charm and beauty of the album together. The opening cut “Moja Bhari Moja'' borrows the core of its elements from standard late seventies and early eighties disco, but one doesn’t have to listen too long to be sucked in by the stark contrast of its transcendent breakdown, which slowly and brilliantly melds the sarod and Geoff Bell’s tremolo-drenched synthesizer in beautiful harmony. “Aaj Shanibar,” perhaps the album’s most well-known track, also dabbles in the realm of psychedelia with its sleek bassline and near jam-band guitar solo. The highlight of the track is the falsetto vocal from Rupa as she sings along note for note with Aashish Khan’s rhythmic, instrumental triplet. Aashish’s brother Pranesh Khan makes an appearance on this track as well as the album’s closer, complementing the track's lush production with his table playing.

The album has its fair share of floor killer elements as well. “East West Shuffle,” the album’s bounciest and funkiest cut, is carried by the booming drum sound of percussionist Robin Tufts, whose polyrhythmic tendencies keep the track's repetitive and hypnotic bassline moving through its duration. The rock-inspired chorus of “Moja Bhari Moja” somehow fits just as much on the dancefloor as it would on any Yes album before 1972. “Ayee Morshume Be-Reham Duniya,” the album's sprawling, 15-minute closing cut, wraps up the listening experience perfectly, bringing together the best elements of side one into one epic mega track. Rupa's vocal melody over the Western funk of the Khan brothers’ instrumentation makes for some of the album’s most captivating moments. The hypnotic and pulsing refrain sucks you in and when you’re finally lost in the world the album has created for its listener, you feel as though the track could have gone on for another 15 minutes.

Disco Jazz could have been more appropriately titled Disco Psych, but the album gloriously lives up to the potential its moniker suggests. Rupa Biswas never made another album and never fully got to realize her musical prowess as the years went on, but the recent resurgence of her singular effort has revitalized her career and made her of a cult figure in some circles. If the story of Rupa proves anything, it’s that it’s never too late to make an impact and that genius is sometimes never recognized until decades later.

A question for Andy Edwards: Can Disco be like Progressive Rock?

Triana - 1980 - Un Encuentro

Triana 

1980 

Un Encuentro

01. Tu Frialdad (4:22)

02. A Través Del Aire (6:05)

03. Cae Fina La Lluvia (3:21)

04. Un Nido En Mi Ventana (3:30)

05. Aroma Fresco (2:34)

06. Un Extraño Más (3:03)

07. Encuentro Fugaz (4:17)

08. Caudaloso Río (2:54)

09. Fin (2:01)

- Jesús De La Rosa / lead vocals, keyboards, Spanish guitar (4)

- Eduardo Rodríguez Rodway / Spanish guitar, voice, lead vocals (2,8)

- Juan José Palacios / drums, percussion

With:

- Antonio Pérez / electric guitar

- José María Sagrista / electric guitar

- Antonio Aguilar / bass

- Yiyo Bronx / congas (1)

Triana's fourth, is very dark in places, although mostly, it is certainly the mellowest album that this trio [+ collaborators] have ever recorded. Also, it is fair to notice that the genuine passion and emotional candor of Flamenco-based prog remains untouched and pristine throughout the album, so it will be fair to say that the proghead who purchases "Un Encuentro" won't be disappointed if they intend to enjoy some more of the spiritual richness inherent to this specific symphonic rock trend. Now, having stated the album's major assets, let me say that "Un Encuentro" also finds the band going closer to the realms of mainstream rock. Now, I'm far from saying that this album is poppy or main AOR, or even simplistic and easily digestible; what I intend to make clear is that this album does not contain as much musical splendor as any of the previous three. This is why I give this album a 3-star rating (I wish I could give it an extra ½ star) instead of the 4-star of excellence. This album doesn't stand too far away from the excellence-awarding plateau, but the fact remains that it is just close, not quite. The first half is the album's best part. The amazingly beautiful ballad 'Tu Frialdad' (the band's most acknowledged A-single, by the way) opens up the album, displaying an interesting exercise on accessible, and at the same time, elegant mixture of Flamenco and "Latin-jazzy bolero". Even those who can't speak Spanish can share the lover's confusion, due to De la Rosa's compelling singing and effective melodic vision. The 6-minute long 'A Través del Aire' is the most progressively standardized song in the album, based on the sequence of two distinct sections: penned by guitarist Eduardo Rodríguez, he is the one who assumes the lead singer's role for this one. His Spanish guitar strumming and flourishes set the pace for the basic harmonies, allowing in this way the guest lead guitarist and partner De la Rosa have room for their respective leads. This is as epic as the album gets. 'Cae Fina la Lluvia' brings back the usual La Rosa's spotlight, as well as his compelling intimacy: this time the subject is not love, but departing (a new pace in life?, dying?, the subtext is open). This song sounds like a slightly Flamencoid Procol Harum, to good effect. More compelling intimacy will be found in the all-acoustic piece 'Un Nido en Mi Ventana'. The second half gets started with the energetic 'Aroma Fresco', an intense song that should have benefited from a more epic arrangement and a larger expansion: its less than 3 minutes span feels short and frustrating for this reviewer. This song had a similar potential to the best from the previous album, "Sombra y Luz", but it ends as a half-fulfilled promise. 'Un Extraño Más', while obviously emotional, is not that great: the segued following track 'Encuentro Fugaz' is a somewhat better, but nothing special, either. Eduardo Rodríguez provides yet another song with 'Caudaloso Río': he does manage to bring back some of the somber magic that made the best of the album's first half. 'Fin' (Spanish for 'end') is a 2- minute drum solo with added sound effects and synth ambiences. I'm not sure that I like this Palacios-penned piece as a closure, but it definitely allows him to show his skills more than any other track. Remember that the mellow thing is the most predominant aspect of "Un Encuentro". All in all, a very good album

Another "Triana" masterpiece. This album is their darkest and mellowest, you can hear the fantastic "Jesús de la Rosa" almost crying in some songs. It's with this album where passion surpasses emotion, most of the songs deal with sad topics. This album is also their most melodic.If you like moving ballads listen to "Un nido en mi ventana", you can feel a tear growing in your eye. The guitar solos on the album are stunning, displayed with unique passion.

Triana - 1980 - Sombra Y Luz

Triana

1980

Sombra Y Luz

01. Una Historia (5:05)
02. Quiero Contarte (5:00)
03. Sombra Y Luz (7:30)
04. Hasta Volver (10:34)
05. Tiempo Sin Saber (5:21)
06. Vuelta A La Sombra Y A La Luz (2:44)

- Jesús De La Rosa / vocals, keyboards
- Eduardo Rodríguez Rodway / Flamenco guitar, voice, vocals
- Juan José Palacios / drums, percussion, voice

With:
- Miguel Angel Iglesias / vocals (3)
- Antonio Pérez / electric guitar (1,5,6)
- Enrique Carmona / electric guitar, voice (4)
- Pepe Roca / electric guitar, voice (2)
- Manolo Rosa / bass

Triana's third album was the one that took the band to real commercial fame in their country. Persistent promotion, catchy melodies, and a ever-growing cult led this recording to big sales in a short time. This kind of success feels natural since the fine sound production really helps the material to shine in an attractive manner. But it is also true that Triana was starting to lose some of its distinct prog drive. Not that it had come down to nadir, since there's lots of impressive material here, full of complexity, genuine passion, and that special magic that only Flamenco can give to a prog sounding ensemble: yet, it is becoming clear that the writing tends to incorporate somewhat simpler ideas, and that the will to experiment is more restrained than in their excellent previous efforts. The main reason for this lies in the fact that de la Rosa seems less interested in using his synth parts as a counterpart to the guest lead guitarist, allowing this guy to steal the limelight and carry the aggressive side of Triana's music on his shoulders exclusively, most of the time. 'Una Historia' is a blues-tinged rock piece, filled with serene melancholy. On the other hand, 'Quiero Contarte' takes a happier mood sustained upon an easy listening motif: the long overdubbed guitar solo during its closing part really helps the track to build an effective climax. Two good songs, but nothing special actually. Things start to get better (much better) with the title track: starting with a brief jazz-rock sung section, there follows a psychedelic tour de force of multi-layered synth and eerie guitar effects, supported by Flamenco guitar arpeggios, hand clapping and a hypnotic 9/8 drum pattern, and seasoned by weird vocalizing courtesy of Palacios. This section is the only moment when de la Rosa lets his synths assume the leading role: by doing so, Triana recaptures some of the essence of their earlier albums. After this bizarre number comes the 10-minute epic 'Hasta Volver': the musical concept of this beautiful song is literally epic, but the emotional drive is more introspective, with occasional moments of exaltation. 'Tiempo sin Saber' is another beautiful song (penned by guitarist Rodriguez), introduced by a fiery Flamenco guitar solo, then developed within a symph prog frame. The closure is nothing but a reprise of 'Sombra y Luz', keeping the same structure (a sung part and a 9/8 psychedelic part) but 5 minutes shorter. Well, as I said before, this is a great record but only partially essential: all things considered, it is fair to add that it would make a nice addition in your prog collection

Although there is obviously not much of their flamenco-dominated style from the beginning left on this album, I've got to say I like it and almost prefer it to their debut. I really like the guitar work of Pepe Poca and I think this guest musician is a good addition to bring some more rocking elements as a counterbalance to the flamenco in their music. Highlights are "Quiero contarte" with its great guitar solo at the end, the rather psychedelic "Sombra y luz" and the long epic ballade "Hasta volver". In contradiction to my fellow reviewer, I would rather rate this one as an interesting one for any progfan

Triana - 1977 - Hijos Del Agobio

Triana 

1977 

Hijos Del Agobio

01. Hijos Del Agobio (5:18)
02. Rumor (3:20)
03. Sentimiento De Amor (5:32)
04. Recuerdos De Triana (2:50)
05. Ya Esta Bien (3:12)
06. Necesito (4:04)
07. Sr. Troncoso (3:28)
08. Del Crepusculo Lento Nacera El Rocio (5:50)

- Jesús De La Rosa / vocals, keyboards, guitar (7)
- Eduardo Rodríguez Rodway / guitar, vocals (1,7,8)
- Juan José Palacios / percussion, Fx, Moog (4)

With:

- Miguel Angel Iglesias / vocals (4)
- Antonio Pérez / electric guitar
- Manolo Rosa / bass, Spanish guitar (8)
- Enrique Carmona / guitar (intro 8)

Suitably for its unusual cover art, Hijos del Agobio is a more mysterious and less inviting release than Triana's debut (El Patio). The intervening time had been a dramatic era for Spain, with the death of Franco in 1975 beginning a gradual transition to democracy which would lead to elections a few months after this album's release, and with more directly political songs Triana here flex their wings and see just how far they can take their newfound freedom. The progressive side of their sound remains intact thanks to the keyboard contributions of Juna José Palacios and the album's combination of serious and then-timely subject matter and continued musical development makes it a worthy successor to El Patio.

After a very personal debut album, this very good Spanish band just went on with their great symphonic music.

When you listen to the title and opening track, these words come to my mind: gigantic, wonderful, fabulous. A truly symphonic and passionate song which is full of sweetness and bombastic music at the same time. It is a highlight of course.

The flamenco feeling is much less present than in their debut. Even if Eduardo Rodriguez is still in charge, he is playing electric guitar on this album. He was responsible for all the flamenco guitar parts on "El Patio" and these are almost absent on these "Hijos.".

Still the Andalusia passion is fully felt during the great "Sentimiento De Amor (love feeling)". It is a jewel of passionate vocals, superb keyboards and some flamenco music. It is such a rare mix (actually never matched), such inventive. "Triana" is really a band that should need much more exposure on such a site. This song is the second highlight from "Hijos".

The quality of the album drops after this excellent first half. It sounds less symphonic and is closer to their debut which was much more Flamenco oriented. "Triana" reverts to some more bombastic feeling with the closing number "Del Crespúsculo Lento Nacerá El Rocío". Song writing is more complex and ranges from acoustic and tranquil guitar to the most furious electric ones; vocals are also more in the flamenco style. This is another highlight from this very good album.

Triana - 1975 - El Patio

Triana

1975

El Patio

01. Abre la Puerta (9:53)
02. Luminosa Mañana (4:05)
03. Recuerdos de una Noche (4:42)
04. Sé de un Lugar (7:10)
05. Diálogo (4:32)
06. En el Lago (6:38)
07. Todo es de Color (2:09)

Bonus tracks on 2015 remaster:

08. Recuerdos de una Noche (live 1975)
09. En el Lago (live 1975)
10. Abre la Puerta (live 1975)
11. Luminosa Mañana

- Jesús De La Rosa / vocals, keyboards
- Eduardo Rodriguez / flamenco guitar
- Juan José Palacios / drums, percussion

With:
- Antonio Perez / electric guitar
- Manolo Rosa / bass

Possibly the strongest name of the 70's Spanish Prog Rock bands, Triana was the result behind an idea of keyboardist Jesus De La Rosa.De La Rosa was a well-known musician of the local scene of Sevilla, but tired of the flat music of the time he decided to form a Progressive Rock band with heavy roots in Flamenco music.So, he formed Triana along with Juan Jose Palacios (drums/percussion) and Eduardo Rodríguez (guitars).The ''El Patio'' album was released in 1975 (Movieplay) and it was a unique combination of Progressive Rock with Flamenco atmospheres.The atmospheric keyboards (nice Mellotron), the symphonic arrangements and the majestic voice of De La Rosa are amazingly engaged with Palacios' jazzy/ethnic-oriented drumming and Rodriguez's Flamenco guitar-style.Unfortunately ''El Patio'' went widely unnoticed due to its poor promotion.However, you won't believe your ears, when you purchase this fantastic LP.A mid-70's gem of music, that can easily heal your heart and soul with its deep,atmospheric and emotional content.

TRIANA is the most legendary progressive rockband in Spain. Their stunning debut-album was a seminal blend of flamenco and progrock and paved the way to flamenco-inspired progrock in Spain, culminating in bands like AZAHAR, CAI, ALAMEDA, QUALDAQUIVIR, MEZQUITA and MEDINA AZAHARA. The story of TRIANA started in Seville, the beating heart of the flamenco. Jesus de la Rosa (keyboards/vocals) was a known musician in the local music scene and he even had international success with "Los Bravos" and their single "Black Is Black". But he wanted to form his own band to make progressive rock, so he recruited Eduardo Rodriquez Rodway (vocals/guitar) and Juan Jose Palacios 'Tele' (drums/percussion). The trio called themselves TRIANA, named after the most traditional part of the town and they moved to Madrid. With some help they were allowed to record their music in a studio with highly advanced equipment.

In '74 "Triana" first released a single titled "Bulerias 5x8" (it became a failure) and then the debut album "El Patio" ('75). Unfortunately their flamenco-progrock did little, eventually the album sold 1000 copies. But after a big presentation in Madrid in '76, things started to improve and in '77 the second album "Hijos Del Agobio" came out, followed by the single "Rumor". The emotional lyrics (about hope after the end of general Franco's dictatorship) were embraced by the Spanish youth when the radio started to play "Rumor". TRIANA's music boosted the youth's identity and it gave them a way to show their emotions. And how ironically, TRIANA's music became less progressive while the band became more and more famous. Their third LP "Sombra Y Luz" ('79) sold 300.000 copies and from the fourth album "Encuentro" ('80) TRIANA turned out to be Spain's most popular rockband. Further releases were "Triana" ('81) and "Llego El Dia" ('83) but then the story ended very sad because in '83 Jesus de la Rosa died in a tragic car incident and the other musicians decided to call it a day. Record company Fonomusic released some compilations, especially the beautifully packed 2-CD "Una Historia" ('95) is recommended.

The opener on the first album "El Patio Is Abre La Puerta" (almost 10 minutes), it starts with choir-Mellotron, piano and flamenco guitar (tremolo-technique). Then the typical sensitive and skillful flamenco guitar blends with piano and soft synthesizer chords. A fluent and tight rhythm-section carries the music to a powerful acceleration with the typical flamenco vocals, expressive and a bit wailing. The rest of this song contains lots of shifting moods that range from mellow with flamenco guitar and choir-Mellotron to propulsive with powerful drums and howling electric guitar, very moving. Most of the other six compositions are in the vein of "Abre La Puerta": beautiful shifting climates with typical flamenco elements like palmas (handclapping), rasgueado (quick downward strikes across all strings) and picados (quick runs on the guitar with two fingers), along with tasteful keyboards (organ, synthesizers, Mellotron and piano) and fine electric guitarplay. The final two tracks are splendid compositions: beautiful interplay between the flamenco - and electric guitar and a bombastic finale with rasgueado, organ and electric guitar in "En El Lago" and powerful drums and a howling and biting electric guitar in "Recuerdos De Una Noche". The second album "Hijos Del Agobio" is in the vein of "El Patio" but fails to generate the same excitement and the third "Sombra Y Luz" only sparks at some moments like the compelling titletrack. Later albums are tasteful but too polished poprock.

Triana were at the forefront of the nascent Rock Andaluz of the mid-1970s with their particular blend of flamenco and progressive rock, characterised by multi-layered analogue keyboards, elaborate flamenco guitar and intense, at times tortured, vocals. Flamenco is of course a musical genus from Andalusia; the neighbourhood in Seville that gave this Spanish trio its name is generally considered to be the birthplace of flamenco. Triana, 'the gitano barrio', was home to a large population of Romani people who usually lived in communal homes, called corrales, which were organised around a patio. Many corrales have now disappeared due to housing pressure thus the patio is an important symbol of gitano culture and of the struggle between tradition and modernity. While Triana's 'El Patio' has similar cultural significance it differs in that it features the harmonious synthesis of tradition and modernity, represented respectively by flamenco and progressive rock.

During Francisco Franco's dictatorship flamenco was redefined as generically Spanish in order to prevent local allegiance within the ostensibly unified nation. The gitano experience of oppression was erased and, with the rise of tourism, flamenco was used as nationalist propaganda. While Franco's declining regime relaxed some of its regulations during the 1960s and early-1970s it was really the influx of foreign tourists and the return of Spanish workers from abroad that introduced democratic values to Spain: 'The trees had stories of other worlds' ('Luminosa Mañana ).

'El Patio' (1975) was released in the same year that Franco died but before democracy was established in Spain therefore political themes are not as obvious as on the follow-up album 'Hijos de Agobio' of two years later. Flamenco lyrics tend to have several different interpretations that rely on myth and metaphor and are able to speak to the marginalized without being overtly political in tone: 'I know a place where flowers bloom for you, where the river and the mountain love, where the child is born happy' ('Sé de un Lugar'). The child here may be a metaphor for the gitano's rights and status in society, and for the broader changing social values of the new Spanish nation.

The lyrics on 'Abre la Puerta' concern dreams and 'life and illusion' and these notions relate to metaphor and myth and the magical status of gitanos. Running water is symbolic of life itself and patios usually had a central fountain: 'There is a fountain, girl, they call it love'. This traditional view of gitano culture contrasts with the acid trip of 'En el Lago': 'Yesterday afternoon I went to the lake with the intention of meeting something new / We met there and everything started to emerge like a dream'. The use of recreational drugs was one of the transgressions that accompanied freedom of expression after Franco's death, but Triana's lyrics are typically couched in allegory.

The combination of poetic lyrics with plaintive melodies makes for bittersweet listening but there is a considerable history of collaboration between flamenco singers and poets such as Federico García Lorca. Although not a gitano himself, Lorca was killed along with many gitanos during the persecutions of the Franco regime. Lorca's 'Romancero Gitano' (Gypsy Ballads) features the familiar contrast of tradition and modernity, as well as repetition and typically gitano related themes such as water, the moon, love, etc. The same repetition and allusive imagery are prominent in Triana's lyrics: 'I asked the moon if it is love that shines in your smile' ('Diálogo'). This song exemplifies the personification of nature, with the protagonist asking the moon for motherly reassurance like a pagan calling to a female deity for guidance. The moon can be a symbol of death but here it represents the Cosmic Mother who will protect the protagonist. Nature is seen as active rather than passive throughout the album; mountains love, stars dance, and 'the moon bathes in the river' ('Recuerdos de una Noche').

'El Patio ' is a wonderful musical evocation of southern Spain but in my opinion the words are as important as the sounds, which is the reason the review focuses on the lyrics. This was one of my earliest 'discoveries' when I began visiting this site several years ago and it was this kind of eureka moment that drew me in. My one word of warning is that the ethnic and symphonic elements are on an equal footing so symphonic fans might want to tread carefully. However for me this is the yardstick against which all other Spanish progressive albums are measured.

Secta Sonica - 1976 - Fred Pedralbes

Secta Sonica 

1976 

Fred Pedralbes

01. Violentos Los Correas 5:51
02. I Left My Heart In El Aaiun 4:50
03. Renato Sabrosone 4:17
04. Wad-Ras 2:00
05. La Palmeria 4:17
06. Acoyte 4:04
07. Puré De Rissos 1:35
08. La Terra És Plana 3:17
09. Aquàries 3:46

Bass – Xavier Pérez
Guitar – Jordi Bonell
Guitar – Rafael Zaragoza
Guitar – Victor Cortina
Drums – Toni Aracil
Keyboards – Mauro Vilavecchia

Congas – Noel Mújica
Electric Piano – Dave Pybus
Guitar – Jordi Sabates (tracks: A3, B2, B3),
Percussion – Krupa Quinteros
Piano [Steinway] – Lucky Guri (tracks: B1)
Bouzouki – Xavier Batllés (tracks: B2, B4)

Spanish 70's band. They made a tight fusion adding mediterranean flavour the trendier jazzrock fusing also some West Coast grooves.

The group was created in 1975 by the hand of "Gato" Pérez, years later it would become very popular for the Catalan rumba. At first their name was somewhat mystical, "Sect of Stellar Wisdom", but they soon changed it to Sonic Sect. In 1976 they recorded their first album, "Fred Pedralbes", containing no less than three guitarists in their formation. A year later his second and last album would arrive, "Astroferia", a somewhat more experimental album than the previous one.

The album was recorded by the Edigsa company, a record company that brought together a large part of the Catalan groups of the time. The nine songs it contains are instrumentals with a sound mastery of the guitar, how could it be otherwise. The sounds that we find are a mixture of rock, jazz, some progressive and some drops of Folklore ("La terra es flat"). Some illustrious Catalan musicians participated in the recording, Jordi Sabatés, Lucky Guri, Xavier Batalles, etc. The songs that would stand out without a doubt would be "Violentos los correas" and "Acoyte".

Orquestra Mirasol - 1974 - Salsa Catalana

Orquestra Mirasol

1974

Salsa Catalana

A Sobre
01. To De "Re" Per A Mandolina I Clarinet
02. (Reprise)
03. Molt Trist
04. Canco De No Entendre
A Sota
05. Circ De L'Esprai (Part1)
06. Hancock
07. No Juguis Amb Set Miralls

Berimbau, Cuica – César Vieira
Percussion – Miquel Lizandra
Percussion – Pedrito Díaz
Clarinet, Sax – Ricard Roda
Mandolin – Xavier Batllés
Piano – Víctor Ammann
Baritone Saxophone – Ricard Roda
Bass, Pito – Xavier Batllés

Bassoon – Ramon Isbert
Oboe – Domènec Segu
Cello – Ernest Xancó
Viola – Josep Casasús
Violin – Jaume Francesch

Short-lived yet very interesting Jazz/Fusion band from Barcelona, Orquestra Mirasol were among the groups blending US Jazz/Fusion with Spanish music during the 70's.The line-up of their first album included Xavier Batlés on bass, Victor Ammann on piano, Ricard Roda on synthesizers, Pedrito Diaz on percussion and Miquel Lizandra on drums.This was entitled ''Salsa Catalana'', released in 1974 on the Catalan label Zeleste.

The style of Orquestra Mirasol was heavily influenced by the approach of RETURN TO FOREVER and WEATHER REPORT, mixing energetic pleasant grooves with jazzy jams and interplays in a very succesful way.Their arrangements, both short and long, featured impressive piano lines, extremely nice bass workouts and some really beautiful clarinet solos.Orquestra Mirasol change their smooth passages into more bombastic material, full of intensity and interplays, and throughout the release there is evident some admiration for Classical Music, at moments they sound a lot like a Chamber Rock band.Another reason for this approach is the addition of string instruments in a couple of tracks and some symphonic-inclined instrumental sections with a very dramatic edge.Still Fusion remains the starting point of the band and the more powerful moments can be easily compared with WEATHER REPORT's music, driven by the piano, bass and percussion work.

Give this forgotten band a chance, especially if you love intricate Jazz/Fusion.Well-played adventurous, challenging, partly original and strongly recommended material.

Musica Urbana - 1978 - Iberia

Musica Urbana

1978

Iberia

01. Agost (6:54)
02. Violeta (8:20)
03. Vacas, Toros Y Toreros (4:41)
04. Font (4:47)
05. Caramels De Mel (5:24)
06. El Vesubio Azul (8:24)

Lluis Cabanach / electric & Spanish guitars
Joan Albert Amargós / Steinway grand piano, Fender e-piano, Hohner clavinet, Moog & Logan String synths, keyboards, soprano sax, clarinet, flute, trombone, composer & arranger (excl. 4)
Carles Benavent / bass, contrabass, acoustic guitar, percussion, percussive vocal effects
Salvador Font / drums, marimba, gong, percussion, vocal effects

With:
- Aurora Amargós / castanets
- Lucky Guri / Steinway grand piano, Fender e-piano, Moog

Super-Classical-Fusion by this short-lived but highly influential spanish band.

Band leader Joan Albert Amargós was a classically trained musician and after the Musica Urbana prog adventure in the mid 70's his career has been dedicated to contemporary classical music, mainly as composer and as arranger for many artists. His "Northern Concerto for Recorder and Orchestra" was nominated for the 2007 Grammy in the category of Best Composer of Contemporary Music.

But in 1975 he was 25 years old and the music world around his generation was Prog and he wanted to have his own take at it, so he set to assemble a supergroup (within the limited scope of the local spanish scene, that is) to play the ultimate Fusion, a real blend of Jazz, Rock and Classical music. He recruited 5 ex-members of Maquina!, one of the most acclaimed Catalan bands in the early 70's, but keyboardist Enric Herrera and guitarist Emili Baleriola quitted after a few rehearsals, while bassist Carles Benavent (who would later play with Chick Corea and extensively with Paco De Lucia), guitarist Lluis "Luigi" Cabanach and drummer Salvador Font stayed for the project. Amargós was a multi-instrumentalist and a very fine keyboardist himself but in order to get everything right he also recruited the great pianist Lucky Guri from Barcelona Traction as guest for their debut album and live tours.

Musica Urbana fused Jazz-Rock with traditional Spanish music and Classical music and quickly became regarded as the most serious and professional catalan band of the time. The album cover already gave some hints with excerpts from the scores of several operas and zarzuelas, but there is also a lot of genuine electric Jazz-Rock in here as well. The instrumentation is dense, with assorted keyboards, winds, strings, clavinet and the distinctive castanets, the hand percussion instrument played by flamenco female dancers, played here by Amargós sister Aurora which enhance the spanish feel. The result is a highly eclectic type of Jazz-Rock with strong Classical music influences, played with outstanding skill. Their virtuosism is not shown via ultra-fast scales or solos but by the precision and deep musicality they constantly display and the thoroughness of the arrangements.

All the compositions are by Amargós except one track "Font" by bassist Carles Benavent, and all of them are amazing, with similar spirit although each one has its personality, full of tempo changes, fills and breaks, shifting from energetic electric Jazz-Rock to gentle Classical atmospheres to mediterranean popular music.

Their 2nd and last album Iberia is even more eclectic with an even stronger contemporary Classical music component, some big-band music and what we could call film-music, another masterpiece in my opinion even if still more detached from conventional prog-rock.

Spanish prog group Musica Urbana released their debut album during the gap between the gap between the death of Franco in 1975 and the adoption of free elections and a modern constitution in 1977/1978 - a time when Spain was not yet a free society, but when the old restrictions were unravelling bit by bit. With the old censorship loosened, daring artists were able to push the boat and attempt to offer something more challenging and with a more diverse range of influences than would have been officially approved of at the height of Francoist suppression.

It would be incorrect to call Musica Urbana the Soft Machine or Hatfield & the North of the Spanish prog boom - they're very much their own entity - but it would be wrong to say there's no Canterbury influence here; there's the more whimsical approach to jazz fusion, there's the use of the human voice as an instrument rather than a vehicle for words, and there's absolutely excellent musicianship. A bit more keen on classical music influences than many jazz fusion or Canterbury groups, Musica Urbana literally wear their influences on their sleeve, with the album cover including compositional snippets from a range of classic works.

Musica Urbana - 1976 - Musica Urbana

Musica Urbana 

1976 -

Musica Urbana

01. Agost (6:54)
02. Violeta (8:20)
03. Vacas, Toros Y Toreros (4:41)
04. Font (4:47)
05. Caramels De Mel (5:24)
06. El Vesubio Azul (8:24)

- Lluis Cabanach / electric & Spanish guitars
- Joan Albert Amargós / Steinway grand piano, Fender e-piano, Hohner clavinet, Moog & Logan String synths, keyboards, soprano sax, clarinet, flute, trombone
- Carles Benavent / bass, contrabass, acoustic guitar, percussion, percussive vocal effects
- Salvador Font / drums, marimba, gong, percussion, vocal effects

With:
- Aurora Amargós / cascastanets
- Lucky Guri / Steinway grand piano, Fender e-piano, Moog

Band leader Joan Albert Amargós was a classically trained musician and after the Musica Urbana prog adventure in the mid 70's his career has been dedicated to contemporary classical music, mainly as composer and as arranger for many artists. His "Northern Concerto for Recorder and Orchestra" was nominated for the 2007 Grammy in the category of Best Composer of Contemporary Music.

But in 1975 he was 25 years old and the music world around his generation was Prog and he wanted to have his own take at it, so he set to assemble a supergroup (within the limited scope of the local spanish scene, that is) to play the ultimate Fusion, a real blend of Jazz, Rock and Classical music. He recruited 5 ex-members of Maquina!, one of the most acclaimed Catalan bands in the early 70's, but keyboardist Enric Herrera and guitarist Emili Baleriola quitted after a few rehearsals, while bassist Carles Benavent (who would later play with Chick Corea and extensively with Paco De Lucia), guitarist Lluis "Luigi" Cabanach and drummer Salvador Font stayed for the project. Amargós was a multi-instrumentalist and a very fine keyboardist himself but in order to get everything right he also recruited the great pianist Lucky Guri from Barcelona Traction as guest for their debut album and live tours.

Musica Urbana fused Jazz-Rock with traditional Spanish music and Classical music and quickly became regarded as the most serious and professional catalan band of the time. The album cover already gave some hints with excerpts from the scores of several operas and zarzuelas, but there is also a lot of genuine electric Jazz-Rock in here as well. The instrumentation is dense, with assorted keyboards, winds, strings, clavinet and the distinctive castanets, the hand percussion instrument played by flamenco female dancers, played here by Amargós sister Aurora which enhance the spanish feel. The result is a highly eclectic type of Jazz-Rock with strong Classical music influences, played with outstanding skill. Their virtuosism is not shown via ultra-fast scales or solos but by the precision and deep musicality they constantly display and the thoroughness of the arrangements.

All the compositions are by Amargós except one track "Font" by bassist Carles Benavent, and all of them are amazing, with similar spirit although each one has its personality, full of tempo changes, fills and breaks, shifting from energetic electric Jazz-Rock to gentle Classical atmospheres to mediterranean popular music.

This is a Fusion masterpiece and I have no doubts in giving it the top rating.

Their 2nd and last album Iberia is even more eclectic with an even stronger contemporary Classical music component, some big-band music and what we could call film-music, another masterpiece in my opinion even if still more.