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Reviews -
Prog
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Written by Mr. Wonderful
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Saturday, 01 August 2009 02:59 |
SWEET SMOKE - JUST A POKE (1970) EMI engineered by CONRAD (KONNY) PLANCK For some strange reason I thought I had about 3 copies of this record and was going to give it out one of them in our first competition - Unfortunately I don't so something else will have to do. Anyway while we're at it here's a little a bit about a band which some have hailed as one of the pioneers of fusion and had something of a cult following during the 60's and 70's and maybe in the 80's. Sweet Smoke were an American progressive jazz group. The Brooklynites moved over to Germany in the 60's and formed a commune of about 15 - 20 people who apparently always came on stage when the five piece band played live. Shortly after their arrival in Germany they recorded their debut album Just a Poke which featured just two tracks both a mammoth 16 minutes or so long. - Baby Night being the stand out (Hear it below).
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Reviews -
Prog
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Written by Raging Tool
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Friday, 24 July 2009 00:45 |
HENSLEY'S ELECTRIC JAZZ BAND & SYNTHETIC SYMPHONETTE - THE MASTERS OF DECEIT (1969 VANGUARD) Another progressive rock gem, that was actually passed down to me. The band was a short lived progressive rock / jazz outfit led by keyboardist Tom Hensley - who will later fetaure with some of most recognised musicians in the 70's - and whose sounds were in tune with the scene with added humour. Reminiscent of Hatfield and the North and Nucleus. Another one that's too good not to share. Read more for track listing
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Reviews -
Prog
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Written by Guido Fawkes
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Friday, 15 May 2009 00:54 |
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Arches of Canterbury
Way before you had to wait forever for one of their trains or when you received the worst customer service experience travelling cattle class on one of their planes, Virgin used to be on point. The image above is of the band Hatfield and the North who released two albums under Richard Branson’s first business venture. They were part of the Canterbury sound scene, and like most other bands in the scene they had the whole incestuous band member swapping thing going on which I have never really been able to get my head around – eminent members of the band included Pip Pyle from Gong, Dave Sinclair from Matching mole and Caravan and Dave Stewart from Egg.
Anyway, I won’t bore you with a history of the band or my obsession with the Canterbuy scene. I do however want to highlight the second album from the group (The Rotters Club) dropped 1975 on Virgin – the better one of the two in my humble opinion. The album is typical of the prog sound of the era with plenty of heavy synth action and Pip Pyle tearing it up on the drums, Jimmy Hastings also flipping it on the sax plus you can’t ignore nor forget the Northettes - the backing singers in the band.  (listen to clip below)
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