Erpland (Ozric Tentacles, 1990)

Prog? Space? Ambient? Post-rock avant la lettre? Ozric Tentacles have a genre of their own, or maybe morer than one. Each Ozric's song is a world apart and I introduce here the title track of one of their most known albums, "Erpland", released in 1990. If this one isn't prog, it is certainly something akin. It's a beautiful rock song, with a well found recurring guitar riff and kind of a wall of sound throughout the track.

In this album cover appears for the first time Erp (right),

the character that would become one of the group's trademarks.

Moreover, rythms and the themes change and cross themselves, building up an original and rather intricate plot. But energy is the winning point. There's a mighty and joyful spirit in "Erpland", a colourful push reminding me some '70s West Coast band or an early '80s British Art-rock group. Be as it may, those English boys once again prove themself an eclectic and highly creative act, one of the last European cult bands.

Stranger in The Looking Glass (Dead Heroes Club, 2009)

When I bought the album including this song - titled "A Time of Shadow" - I was just expecting another neo-prog issue with just the extra feature of the Irish origin of the band. Well, this was a neo-prog album, but I foud more than this. Take this song, for example. It starts with a mysterious atmosphere, not so uncommon in neo-prog tracks, but when Liam Campbell's voice comes in there's an unexpected change.

Ted Nasmith's cover art for "A Time of Shadow".

 

This man has a strong and slightly hoarse voice with a r'n'b scent, leaving a special mark on the whole song, kind of Pendragon meets black music. The rest of the track is also very interesting, including sweet chords and psychedelic guitar riffs, surpriseing tempo changes, let alone a pretty melody. Neo-progressive this is, but with a temper of its own.

One Time (King Crimson, 1994)

I'm in love with this song since I first listened to. It exists in two different studio versions, the first one coming from the "Vroom" EP (1994) and the second one available in the album "Thrack" (1995). As I equally like both, I let you decide wich is your favourite one. For me, I think the "Vroom" version is warmer and I really like the sung part arrangements, while the "Thrack" one is lighter and features a more finished instrumental section. But this is just my humble opinion.

The unfolded booklet of the "Vroom" EP.

For sure, you'll find an outstanding melody in this song: both verse and chorus are so well written that I can't stand re-listening to the track two or three times in a row, something I rarely do. Adrian Belew's vocals are clean and definite as usual, let alone the rest of the band's performance (Levin, Bruford, Fripp, Gunn  and Mastellotto... kind of a wonder team!). Getting more and more experimental and metal, during the '90s the Crimson King never forgot to offer at least one or two "traditional" songs in each album. And they did very, very well. 

Depuis l'automne (Harmonium, 1975)

"Si on avait besoin d'un cinquième saison" (meaning "If We Needed A Fifth Season") is one of the best appreciated prog albums by a Non-English speaking band. And Harmonium deserve this, as the beautiful "Depuis l'automne" proves only too well. Describing the autumnal mood, this 10 minute song is a gentle ballad with long and nostalgy instrumental sections.

 

Some of the beautiful illustrations inside the gatefold cover of

"Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison".

Mellotron and acoustic instruments draw the warm atmosphere of the falling season adding a deep feeling of solitude and introspection that's another winning point of the song. As I like the whole song, it isn't easy for me to point out its best features, but I can't forbear to mention the long half-way instrumental passage, a real treat with its slow and winding architecture and the creative use of vocal harmonies. Definitely, a pivotal song.

Köhntarkösz Part 1 (Magma, 1974)

The Freng band Magma are rightly considered as the weirdest and most stimulating act of their generation and this 15 minute Köhntarkösz first installment definitely proves it. As most of their discography, this is part of a big picture about planet Kobaïa and their inhabitants' strange habits. Written by the band's drummer and leader Christian Vander, this track is sung in Kobaïan language, such as invented by Vander himself.

Mysterious, liturgical, martial, arcane... in a word: Magma!

The subtitle of the song explains this is the musical description of the ritual  access to the local hero Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré's tomb. We can roughly divide this epic into three sections: the first one is a slow and liturgical, mostly choral and arcane, the second one slightly moves towards a jazzy and rhythmic mood, while the last part combines the features of the previous ones with an extra martial accent. The whole track is ruled by Christian Vander's creative, unusual drumming, but all the band members contribute to the final effect.

Oro caldo (Osanna, 1972)

This is the first track of "Palepoli", one of the best and most original Italian prog albums throughout the '70s. Osanna start here a three-track concept about old and new citizen life, comparing modern and traditional habits and also modern and traditional music. In fact, the suite's title Palepoli means "old town", while the the name of the band's home city - Naples - comes from Neapolis or "new town". So, electric guitar solos follow flute passages, heavy riffs interwine sweet melodies and jazzy jams break acoustic plots.

A recent Lino Vairetti's photo. With Neapolitan masks, of course.

Contrast being the main subject of the song, the listener faces many changes and plunges into different worlds, all of them carefully drawed by a variety of instruments and especially by an ubiquitous Mellotron. If the latter provides many lunar atmospheres along with flute and acoustic guitar, the rythm section and the electric guitar duo are responsible for the roughest moments. In addiction to all this, a Mediterranean flavour (Neapolitan, but also Arabic) features the track and justifies its title, as "Oro caldo" meaning "Warm Gold". Last but not least, this track was gaced live by Lino Vairetti's theatrical performance including masks and fancy dresses.

Sounds of Passion (Coda, 1986)

This long suite (about 30 minutes, a Prologue and four Movements) is the title track of the Dutch band Coda's debut album. Having said that this music actually dates back to 1983, one should expect a neo-prog release, similar to Marillion, IQ and so on. Not at all. This is a purely synphonic epic rather similar to late 70s groups like Enid. It's a beautiful trip in a suspended and arcane world, often sweet, always intriguing.

Pastel colours, fairy tales... the cover art matches with the music.

Composed by keyboardist Erik de Vroomen, this suite is a delicate but never boring watercolour painting, pleasant and rich, a succession of different sketches where a choice of keyboards provides the main course and the other instruments add some very good treats. I like everything here, apart, maybe, the spoken intro, something this track didn't really need, IMHO. Anyway, no doubt fo me: this epic is one of the finest moments of a difficult and underrated era in the history of prog.