Continuing from the previous “Worst” prog album, more obscurities but with a few more familiar names this time around.
1. Amon Düül II – Wolf City (3:13)
2. Collusion – Song of Pity (4:59)
3. Le Orme – Era Inverno (5:00)
4. Dr. Z – Summer for the Rose (4:21)
5. G.F. Fitz-Gerald – Under and Over the Waterfall (2:36)
6. Dancer – Mind the Houses (4:38)
7. O Terço – Ponto Final (4:35)
8. Gong – You Can’t Kill Me (6:14)
9. Nyl – Ibha (3:51)
10. Matching Mole – Nan True’s Hole (3:36)
11. Brainticket – Egyptian Kings (5:50)
12. Pazop – What Is the Further Purpose (3:10)
13. Catapilla – Charing Cross (6:27)
14. Premiata Forneria Marconi – Grazie Davvero (5:47)
15. Diabolus – Lady of the Moon (3:49)
16. Magma – Weïdorje (4:28)
17. Marsupilami – And the Eagle Chased the Dove to It’s Ruin (6:35)
Amon Düül II
They can be seen as having two distinct periods in their glory days, the improvisational period and the compositional period. The improvisational period consisted of albums such as Phallus Dei and Yeti, and, to a lesser extent, Tanz Der Lemminge. These albums all featured long, improvisational tracks (Phallus Dei was entirely improvised, and disc two of Yeti was as well, but Tanz Der Lemminge only featured one improvisation). Their compositional period starts with Carnival in Babylon and is highlighted by Wolf City.
Collusion
Collusion was a Dagenham-based six piece with twin guitars and interwoven male/female vocals as the main ingredients. Expect hard-edged prog-rock with tasty folk and jazz elements. Their one album is a genuine prog rock obscurity from 1971, originally released in a tiny run on the custom SRT label.
Le Orme
Le Orme is one of the longest lasting and best known Italian progressive rock bands. The band was formed in Venice in 1966 by Aldo Tagliapietra (voice, guitars), Nino Smeraldi (guitars), Claudio Galietti (guitar and bass) and Marino Rebeschini (drums). Their first album, Ad Gloriam, was released in 1968. From their psychedelic and beat roots, they moved into increasingly sophisticated musical structures. Their 1973 album Felona e Sorona is widely regarded as one of the top albums in Italian progressive rock.
Dr. Z
One of the great, lost prog rock albums, Dr. Z’s Three Parts to My Soul ended up being one of the rarest albums on the “swirl” Vertigo label, with only 80 copies said to exist. Dr. Z was lead by North Wales university professor Keith Keyes, who handles keyboards (harpsichord, piano, organ), as well as vocals, with Bob Watkins on drums, and Rob Watson on bass. This is another album, like Black Widow’s Sacrifice, that featured lyrics that flirted with the occult in a prog rock setting.
G.F. Fitz-Gerald
Scottish guitarist / singer / songwriter G.F. Fitz-Gerald recorded his only album ‘Mouseproof’ in 1970 with excellent musicians, including singer Judy Dyble (Fairport Convention), tabla virtuoso Sam Gopal, sax and flute player Geoff Leigh. The album is a mixture of Psychedelics, Jazz, Improvised Music and Folk. As usual with such mixtures, it is beyond a specific genre and placing it under “Progressive Rock” is maybe the best match.
Dancer
Dancer were a little-known progressive band hailing from the Isle of Wight. Although they released nothing in their lifetime, luckily they had the resources to record an album’s-worth of material in 1972, finally released by those nice people at Kissing Spell in 2001 as Tales of the Riverbank.
O Terço
One of the first progressive bands from Brazil, O Terço (meaning rosary beads) first formed in 1968, but didn’t hit its stride until the mid ’70s. There are obvious influences of the Moody Blues, and Pink Floyd, 1975’s “Criaturas Da Noite” became a monumental success. It was a big hit, gave Brazil its first classic prog album, and solidified O Terço’s place in music history.
Gong
Gong are a progressive rock band formed by Australian musician Daevid Allen. Their music has also been described as space rock. By 1971, a regular line-up had established itself, and Gong released their Camembert Electrique album. The UK release, put out by Virgin Records subsidiary Caroline Records in 1974, was priced at 49p, ensuring that sufficient numbers were sold for the album to chart (had it not been barred from the charts for being so cheap).
Nyl
A French band that released one album in 1976 on Urus records, the label founded by Richard Pinhas of Heldon. The band can be described as psychedelic rock with a blend of jazzy progressive rock and a touch of Zeuhl, though it’s really not very Magma influenced despite the presence of Jannick Top on bass on some tracks.
Matching Mole
Matching Mole was an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Robert Wyatt formed the band in October 1971 after he left Soft Machine. He continued his role on vocals and drums and was joined by David Sinclair, of Caravan, on organ and piano, Phil Miller on guitar, and Bill MacCormick, formerly of Quiet Sun, on bass. The band name is a pun on Machine Molle, the French translation of the name of Wyatt’s previous group Soft Machine.
Brainticket
Brainticket is an experimental rock band, with strong psychedelic leanings. Brainticket was founded in 1968 in Switzerland by Belgian multi-instrumentalist Joel Vandroogenbroeck. Although members came and went during their tenure together, their most popular lineup consisted of Joel Vandroogenbroeck (organ, flute), Ron Bryer (guitar), Werni Frohlich (bass), Coismo Lampis (drums), Wolfgang Paap (tabla), Dawn Muir (vocals), and Hellmuth Kolbe (potentiometers, generators, and sound effects).
Pazop
Pazop were an early-’70s progressive rock group with some jazz-fusion tendencies from Belgium. Though their music was beyond the ordinary, they were never able to release an album during their short lifetime. Though their music was beyond the ordinary, they were never able to release an album during their short lifetime. Pazop was formed at the end of 1971 by vocalist and flautist Dirk Bogaert, keyboardist Frank Wuyts, violinist Kuba Szczepansky, bassist Patrick Cogneaux, and drummer Jacky Mauer.
Catapilla
With vocalist Anna Meek and saxophonist Robert Calvert leading the way, British progressive rock band Catapilla created some of England’s most innovative music of the early ’70s. Although they disbanded shortly after the release of their second album, Changes, the group’s influence continues to be felt. Their second album, Changesis regarded as the group’s main achievement, and had a great influence on other musicians of that time, although without mainstream success. Soon after the release of this album Catapilla disbanded.
Premiata Forneria Marconi
Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: Award-winning Marconi Bakery) is an Italian progressive rock band. They were the first Italian group to have success abroad, entering both the British and American charts. Between 1973 and 1977 they released five albums with English lyrics. They also had several successful European and American tours, playing at the popular Reading Festival in England and on a very popular national television programme in the U.S.A.
Diabolus
Diabolus were a symphonic rock-band from Oxford, formed in the early 70’s. Their only LP, “High Tones”, was recorded in 1971, in London, produced by Hugh Murphy and Shel Talmy (The Who); but never released because of ‘commercial’ reasons. Their music runs from folk tunes to excessive instrumentation, including flute, sax and chorus sang by three of the members of the band, passing through jazz-fusion and complex time composing.
Magma
Magma is the brain-child of drummer/composer Christian Vander formed in Paris, France in 1969. Starting with a base of experimental rock heavily influenced by jazz and 20th century classical music, the band developed such a unique style of progressive rock that it became a new genre called Zeuhl. Characterized by insistent and repetitive rhythms, dramatic vocals, virtuosic solos, heavy bass playing, and jazzy drums, Zeuhl has been emulated by numerous followers from all over the world.
Marsupilami
Marsupilami were an English proto-prog outfit who relocated to the Netherlands. The complexity of their music is quite unusual for the times – we’re talking 1970 here, when the big guns such as Yes, Genesis and Crimson were barely coming out of the woodwork. A mixture of blues, experimental jazz and hints of folk, their music is often dark and foreboding, favouring perilously complex structures. Try to imagine a mixture of King Crimson, Jethro Tull, the Strawbs and East of Eden.