Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Trees - The Garden Of Jane Delawney (1970 CBS re 1987 Decall)



"The garden of Jane Delawney" may be the best English psych tinged folk rock album at least as far as i know. I like its improvisational feeling. It doesn't mean there were something wrong with the songwriting. No, not at all. One half of it is traditional songs arranged by Trees and the other half is composed by band's bassist Bias Boshell. In this case that kind of mixture works perfectly. The whole atmosphere on the album is emancipated. The musicianship is great and spiritually coequal. I imagine hearing mutual appreciating in all they do. Maybe they have not fully found themselves as a group yet so they have to hear and reflect each other to know which direction to go. I can hear them being on the road not quite knowing how the trip will end and that is why it sounds so authentic.  Don't get me wrong but somehow TGOJD reminds me of VanMorrison's Astral Weeks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOUcZGopoTU
Excellent guitar and sensitive female vocals and what i took note at the first hearing is the bass player. His role doing the ground to Trees is remarkable. It is just my humble opinion of course.

Trees - On The Shore (1971 CBS re 1987 Decall)



I'll never say never again. I had vowed myself never more to buy any English folk rock record but, when i stumbled upon these two albums from Trees i had to renegade. Now i can withdraw my words again because i'm sure i can't find better English psych tinged folk rock albums than On The Shore and The Garden of Jane Delaney. This their second album may be more considered than their debut one. Even if it is far from overproduced music which i hate, this misses something when comparing it to their debut one and it is the innocence and authenticity on being. On The Shore is better album than The Garden of J.D if you appreciate musical tightness and goal-directed production. When comparing this to TgoJD it lacks of authenticity but may be more there.    ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbtmGEQied4

Samla Mammas Manna - Klossa Knapitatet (1974 Silence)









Thank gods there still are this kind of gems unknown to me. Klossa Knapitatet är den bästä musik från Sverige jag har hört. Guitar virtuoso Coste Apetrea used to have session with our guitar hero Jukka Tolonen.

Two days and a couple of listenings later: i have to water a bit down my first reaction. I first heard some kínd of similiarity to Zappa's music and as a big Zappa enthusiast i may sometimes overreact when hearing something avant-garde style near to his that i have never before heard. Nu när jag har hört skivan några gånger måste jag sägä att mostly it is just a good technical simulation of Zappa's music but not enough assimilated. It is too much aping. Ramlösa kvällär is the best stand-alone track on the album. Among the other circus music there are though some marvelous passages but as a whole this record is a bit loose and
artificially fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-03Kv5a84DY

Monday, January 14, 2013

Älgarnas Trädgård - Framtiden Är Ett Svävande Skepp, Förankrat I Forntiden (1972 Cd 1995 Silence)



Mostly a bit tedious psychedelic folk rock. There's a lot of sound effects and impromptu in minor. I like to hear violin in rock music but this time it sounds amateurish and flat. This is a good album anyway, but i think it is not as good as they use to say on RYM and Allmusic. There's one excellent Pink Floydish track different from the most others, which show tight musicianship: "Ring Of Saturn". If the whole album just were more a stuff like it... changes in rhythm and intensity, excellent drumming... "The Future is a hovering ship..." is very intense and hypnotic too.
Ring of Saturn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft_2Gzr54nE
The future is...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfagq7lvBUg

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Omnibus - S/T (1970 Liberty)





Organ and fuzz guitar driven rock with some jazz and psych flavor in the vein of Doors and Morrison.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYk1XA86pwM

Orpheus - Joyful



Nicely orchestrated pop. Easy to listen to.

Bruce Palmer - The Cycle Is Complete (1971 Verve Forecast)



Ex Buffalo Springfield bassist's (+ Kaleidoscope) free form hippie effort.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJo3ghCkRaM

Monday, January 7, 2013

Goliath - S/T (1979 CBS re Swee Dandelion)



Quite good jazzy progrock with nice J T -like flute, tenor saxophone etc. but something is missing... i'm not sure what it is... this does not grow but remains sprouting. The best track is "I heard about a friend". The last track "Maajun" is very interesting too and sounds occasionally a bit like Jethro Tull on "Thick as A Brick". Somebody says on the net somewhere Goliath sounds like Catapilla... Maybe so.
I heard about a friend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muy1oKYdp4w
Maajun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l40645rQUoI

The Common People - Of/By/For The People From (1969 Capitol re Radioactive)



If the whole album were as brilliant as the first three tracks, it were a masterpiece. Unfortunately rest of the songs are not on same level as the first three great ones except "land of a day" which is different but beautiful.

Soon there will be thunder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I3E_zND2JU
I've been alone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqj4WuvVv7o
Those who love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BN9sfgb9l0
Land of a day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAeualgMBbA

Yankee Dollar - S/T (1968 Dot re Subway Records)



Quite simple harmony-psych-pop. Simple is not any understatement here. On the contrary their self-confidence when executing their music is on high level and on some odd way in it's simpleness it is almost ingenious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JATxkGP7hg

Eero Koivistoinen - Odysseus (1969 Ota re Sahko Recordings)




Davis & Coltrane style quality jazz from Finland.