31 de dez. de 2015

Led Zeppelin para refletir no Ano Novo


Nada melhor que finalizar o difícil ano de 2015 ouvindo um Led Zeppelin no toco. Selecionamos este show em Berlin, Alemanha, realizado em 7 de Julho de 1980. Como dizia nosso querido Dead, ENJOY!!!!!




Um Feliz Ano Novo a todos amigos que continuam firmes no SOM MUTANTE...

28 de dez. de 2015

The Great Steve Walsh (Kansas)


Steve Walsh (born June 15, 1951) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as a member of the progressive rock band Kansas. He sings lead on Kansas' four best-known hits: "Carry On Wayward Son," "Dust in the Wind", "Point of Know Return", and "All I Wanted", the last two of which he also co-wrote. During Walsh's time with the band, Kansas recorded two enormously successful albums, 1976's Leftoverture and 1977's Point of Know Return. With Kansas, Walsh has released 12 studio albums, six live albums, and numerous singles. He has released three solo albums thus far. Walsh left Kansas after 1980's Audio-Visions due to creative differences with the band's primary song writer Kerry Livgren. Earlier in 1980, he released his first solo album, Schemer-Dreamer, which included band mates Kerry Livgren, Rich Williams and Phil Ehart, as well as guitarist Steve Morse (who in 1985 would join the revamped Kansas). It contains the popular song "Every Step of the Way". In 1982 he formed a rock band called Streets, which released the albums 1st in 1983 and Crimes in Mind in 1985 before disbanding...







Schemer-Dreamer is the first solo album by Steve Walsh, the former and original keyboardist/vocalist of the progressive rock band Kansas. It was released in 1980. Although this is his solo album, it features other members of Kansas including Kerry Livgren, Phil Ehart, and Rich Williams. In their retrospective review, Allmusic sarcastically suggested that the self-aggrandizing front cover of Schemer-Dreamer "very well could be the greatest album cover in rock history." They criticized the music itself as "a big, loud, dumb arena rock record, one that sounds completely tied to its year, if not month, of release", but also avouched that "it's kind of fun because of that".

21 de dez. de 2015

Spacecraft (France, Space Electronic, Ambient)


ProgArchives Revires:
Paradox is the first and only album by a largely unknown French guitar/synth duo called Spacecraft, and the music on this album is a psyche-tronic mess. I'd put this somewhere between the loudest krautrock and the noisiest prog electronic. The synth and electronic effects on this album are extremely bright and punchy in the mix, which makes for a slightly abrasive but very powerful kind of spacey feel when coupled with the echoing/hypnotizing psychedelic effects in the background. But, unlike most of the spacey electronic albums, this album sounds less like the atmosphere of space and more like the congested atmosphere from inside a spacecraft looking outwards toward the stars and planets. This sound is achieved from the electronics sounding very mechanical but within the context of a spacey atmosphere, whereas most prog electronic groups seem to do either one or the other. The addition of the manipulated guitar gives this album a strong krautrock flavor as well, and I'm not sure if I'm correct but the guitar playing sounds to be mostly improvised. It's all done very well, but it does sound a bit German to me. Not that sounding German is bad, but I kind of hoped for something uniquely French, considering that the guitarist of this project was also a member of Clearlight (which sounds uniquely French, in my opinion). Of course, there is no France in outer space, or a Germany for that matter. The purpose of the electronic and krautrock genres were initially to create music that sounded like it was from the depths of space. With that in mind, this album definitely succeeds, and it is a very wonderful album of noisy, congested, mechanical space music.








18 de dez. de 2015

Kalapana - Hawaiian Rock


Uma interessante banda do Havaí, com um Rock consistente e que está há muito tempo na estrada, com mais de 10 álbuns de sucesso, principalmente no Japão.





Personnel:
- Malani Bilyeu (Carl James Malani Bilyeu) - acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, percussion, vocals
- Mackey Feary (Bryant Mackey Feary) - bass, acoustic guitar, gut string guitar, percussion, vocals
- D.J. Pratt (David John Pratt) - acoustic guitar, lead guitar, percussion, congas, clavinet, backing vocals
- Kirk "Guitar" Thompson - acoustic & electric piano, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, vibraphone, vocals
+
- Alvin Fejarang - drums, percussion, timbales
- Michael Paulo - saxophones, flutes


15 de dez. de 2015

Symphonic Slam - Prog Rock from Canada


Symphonic Slam biography (Prog Archives)
Symphonic Slam was mainly about Timo Laine (born in Finland, and moved to America as a child), and his polyphonic guitar synthesizer. The rest of the band was filled out by drummer John Lowery, and keyboardist David Stone. Timo had been playing the club circuit for a while, but it wasn't until he relocated to Canada that things began to happen. It was there that Symphonic Slam was discovered by A&M Records. What set them apart was the $10,000 360 systems guitar synthesizer prototype. This led to the release of their 1976 self-titled album. They toured, and played gigs with some of the big names of the time (Rush, The Rolling Stones, and the Village People). Soon they were asked to go to L.A. to work on a new album. Not being interested in this tack, Stone took the opportunity to defect to Rainbow. After the album was completed, A&M wasn't pleased (they wanted disco). Timo took it to Canada, and created his own label on which to release it. It had some modest success, but Laine wasn't interested in going back to L.A. to fight disco once again. Musea's 2001 re-release of the first album inspired Timo to get back on the horse. Apparently he had been working on another album for many years. "Her Fire" is supposed to be released some time in the future. He is also working on an instrumental solo project. You can hear some influences of Styx, Kansas, Wakeman, Emerson, a bit of E.L.O., and even some funk. However, this is not like most of what we consider to be the classic '70s progressive sound. Some of those qualities are woven in, and there are some lovely moments. But make no mistake, this is mid 70's rock and roll at the core.  The main point of interest here is really the fact that Laine basically pioneered the synth guitar. It was a very new thing at the time. 

H.T. Riekels (bhikkhu)







12 de dez. de 2015

it's All Meat!!! - Garage,Psych,Punk


It’s All Meat were a late 60s/early 70s band that hailed from Toronto and released this excellent album in 1970 (Columbia).  Prior to that, It’s All Meat had been known as The Underworld.  The Underworld released a superb, crude garage single (“Go Away”/”Bound” – the label is Regency) in 1968 and also recorded some fine unreleased material captured on acetate.  As mentioned before, some of the members of The Underworld would form It’s All Meat.  In 1969 this new group would release their debut 45, “Feel It” coupled with “I Need Some Kind of Definitive Commitment.”  The A-side combined MC5 energy with New York Dolls-style swagger and features plenty of feedback and great guitar breaks.  It’s one of the great proto-punkers. 


Their album was released the following year and feartured 8 fresh original numbers written by drummer Rick McKIM and keyboard player/lead vocalist Jed MacKAY.  There are a bunch of good, solid stonesy garage rockers that form the axis of this lp: “Make Some Use Of Your Friends,” “Roll My Own,” “You Brought Me Back To My Senses,” and “You Don’t Know The Time You Waste.”  The latter track would be released as the group’s second and final single but “Roll My Own” and “Make Some Use Of Your Friends” were just as good, featuring fine psychedelic guitar work and raw vocals.  Other note worthy tracks flirted with blues (“Self-Confessed Lover”) and folk-rock (“If Only”) but the lp’s brightest moments were its two 9-minute marathon compositions.  “Crying Into A Deep Lake” was full-blown Doors psychedelia with spacey keyboards and spooky Jim Morrison influenced vocals.  The other lengthy track, “Sunday Love,” sounds like a strange Lou Reed/John Cale concoction with lots a great psychedelic guitar noise and soft folk-like passages sprinkled with light garage keyboards.   So while these last two tracks are very long, they never wear out their welcome and are required listening for both garage and psych fans.  The album’s production teeters between a primitive recording sound and the typical major label gloss, making it just right.

It’s All Meat is a fine, consistent trip all the way thru.  It’s one of the best late period (really late) garage rock albums I know of.  The album’s hard rock and proto-punk sounds give it a nice,  visceral edge.  It’s All Meat was reissued in 2000 by Hallucinations though originals are not hard to come by either. (http://therisingstorm.net/its-all-meat-its-all-meat/)






9 de dez. de 2015

Isolation - Psychedelic Folk


“Isolation remains today as one of the most unknown folk-psych groups of the UK.” it says. "Released in micro-quantity back in 1973" and “Reminiscent of folk-psych legends Ithaca. This is an album you’d better own!!” Hoho not too quickly ! Let me hear it first. I can’t recognise any Ithaca, except for the use of the same instruments, and some improvisation. The (not so fantastic) singing reminds me partly more of American CSNY-influenced bands. And the recording itself has so much noise reduction, the remaining music sound like it's being sandwiched. The improvisations of acoustic guitars with piano and flute are good, sometimes a bit jazzy psych-folk styled. The whole idea reminds me more of the first reissue of Oberon. The music is fine, but not fantastic. But the “remastering” could have been better.