House of the Rising Sun

 The Beatles disliked this song as much as I do I guess...

Blue Epitaph

The group Jumble Lane's success meant new students of the nearly college would turn to Holyground to record their own albums. Pete Howells and Jim Gordon as Blue Epitaph made the accoustic psychedelic album "Ode".

A very beautiful album highly recommend by me, too bad by searching the internet I couldn't find any more information about them.

Kate Bush (new albums 2011)

In 2005 she made her last album, but after 6 years of absence Kate came back this year with "Director's Cut" and another album "50 Words For Snow"will be released the 21st November 2011.

How her career started, back in 1978

Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush 30 July 1958 is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years. Bush was signed by EMI at the age of 16 after being recommended by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. In 1978, at age 19, she topped the U.K. Singles Chart  for four weeks with her debut single :Wuthering Heights", becoming the first woman to have a UK number-one with a self-written song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Bush

Terry R. Brooks & Strange

A must-hear is the incredible, awesam guitar-solo started at 6.02 min. in this clip

'

This biography comes from his official website http://terrybrooksandstrange.com/about_terry_brooks.php by Daniel Ghisoni:

Terry is one of those guitarists who have made the solo his life goal, just like Randy Holden, Jimi Hendrix, Wilburn Burnchette, but not out of narcissism or anything like it just because the instinct of guitar genius allows them, when the muse strikes to improvise and create incredibly personal and unrepeatable weaving of sounds. (Have you ever heard Jerry Garcia or Duane Allman live repeat the same solo voice? It just doesn't happen!)

Terry forms his own band, The Strange, in a classical trio with Bob Griffin on base and Don Hastle on the drums. But when the time comes to sign a record contract, given his success with the public and the critics, he turns down a profitable RCA contract (which would have forced him to denature his sound) and accepts the offer made to him by the local label, Outer Galaxy, where he has ownership interests.

The result was Translucent World (1973), an extraordinary piece of work, unique, with pieces written by Brooks. They were stupendous because of his fluid guitar, almost impalpable, sometimes having an acid atmosphere, sometimes dreamy and ethereal, constructed by a truly unique and personal style that no one else has ever been able to imitate. To fully understand what I've just written, it's enough to listen to cuts like Some People Play Music, Of all Existing Things, Other People Feel Music and the seminal Mental Escape Into the Translucent Frequencies.

Despite the success decreed by music critics, three years go by before we hear a new Terry Brooks album. Raw Power, is another masterpiece, comes out in 1976 in the name of Terry Brooks & Strange. The record is made up of new compositions by Brooks (you'll take note of Love Me, Raw Power and Life Jam which makes up the entire second side of the record, more than twenty minutes of music that will really make you dream). The two records I've cited up to now were reissued in the eighties under the English label Psycho, whereas they've just been reissued by the Italian label Comet Records with an excellent re-mix (available either in LP or CD digipack, with a bonus track, they should be easily available in stores, at a good price and in a numbered edition). After that, another long silence ensues. The two records are sought after by vinyl maniacs and Terry finds himself being turned into the classic cult figure, with his regular bevy of fans perennially waiting for word of him. In 1980 Terry sends me his new album (with a dedication and in colored vinyl.. .. yes, I do want to make a few of my friends crazy with envy) called To Earth With Love, released by his private label, Star People Records under the name of Terry Brooks & Strange. Recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, and produced by Brooks himself (he also wrote all the tracks) musicians like Donnie Cappetta, Brian Leary and John Kotch collaborated on the album. As always, the music is unique and stupendous and Terry even introduces some pleasant fingerboard touches in a guitar duo, the sound reaching unimaginable peaks in pieces like Woman, Mister Strange, It's a Beautiful Day and Down & Dirty Blues. High Flyer is born the following year and is a confirmation of Terry's state of grace. He's busy with concerts, producing a video, television appearances and he reaches new levels of popularity in Florida where he's already a legend. During that time, even those of us here in Italy who read the music industry magazines for years contributed to the surge in his popularity in Italy and Europe. In fact, even the new album garners a lot of praise from both the public and the critics, so much so that the album was also released in Italy by CGD. Once again, we find ourselves listening to an incredibly pure sound, indefinable, in songs like You'll Be Loved, Rock and Roll Woman, Love of The Ages and High Flyer. Once again, Terry's the one doing it all, from writing the songs, to production and everything else in-between. This time Brooks takes advantage of his success, even coming to Europe (but he doesn't come by here) and grants rights to the German label Rock City Records which will release two excellent albums: No Exit and Blastin Thru, both containing part of the excerpts recorded in the studio and one recorded live, successfully capturing the unsurpassable atmosphere of a live concert, full of that guitar playing touched with the genius of our hero. Just to give you an example, the second side of No Exit includes two terrific versions of Rock the World and Down & Dirty Blues, whereas that of the second album is completely made up on an incredible and extenuating You Will Be Loved, both recorded at a Florida concert that Brooks had recorded in Orlando and which should have been released by his own label (never happened). It's been quiet since then, except for a few letters, a couple of promotional singles, whereas the always well deserving Comet Records, in addition to the dozens of other re-prints designed to keep us busy, is about to launch a 1982 unedited concert of Terry's, Rock the World, that will be offered either as a double LP, or in CD form. A few months ago I received, after many years, a package from Terry with his new CD, Earth to Infinity, on the Strange Records label. I know you won't believe this, (I'm kidding) but it's an incredible work. I'll probably review it in one of my next columns under the title "In twenty years .... " It includes new pieces that recall the stupendous and dreamy atmospheres of always, those that only Terry's guitar knows how to give us.

Psycheground Group

Easy Listening to The Psycheground Group on a late friday night.

A sweet psychedelic set, but one with very mysterious origins — originally recorded as a sound library session, by a group that was really the better-known Nuova Idea! The album’s definitely got a vibe that fits its sound library roots — all instrumental, with a bit less bravado than most psyche albums of this type — almost more of a focus on the rhythms, which stretch out strongly amidst the Hammond and guitar solos on the set. The whole thing’s still pretty rockish, but also has a deeper sensitivity to the overall sound too — a quality that’s partly due to production efforts of Giampiero Reverberi.


source: http://www.last.fm/music/The+Psycheground+Group

PATD

Melomaan, een melomaan is een hartstochtelijk muziekliefhebber, een muziekfanaat, Dat klopt wel. Vanuit mijn vroege jeugd ben ik altijd veel met muziek bezig geweest, al speel ik zelf geen enkele noot. Wel pogngen gedaan tot gitaarspelen maar dat liet ik uiteindelijk maar liever aan anderen over.

Toch... de eerste 4 jaren na de geboorte van mijn jongste dochter luisterde ik vrijwel geen muziek. Is bijna niet voor te stellen maar toch is het zo. Ze raakte helemaal van slag wanneer ik muziek op had staan, driftbuien en huilen en en geloof me dat was inclusief allerhande kinderliedjes dus was het vaak stil in huis.
Alleen... bij de klanken van de klassieke muziek van haar vader werd ze rustig maar ook traantjes erna en dan maar weer af die muziek (tot grote opluchting van mij).

Omslag kwam toen ze naar de basisschool ging en nu, 13 jaar oud, is ze muziek echt leren leuk te vinden. Haar lievelingsband is Panic At The Disco, gehoord bij mijn oudste dochter die naast deze groep tegenwoordig ook Porcupine Tree, Muse en het gros van de emorock opzet.

PATD klinkt hier dus geregeld nog in huis.

5 decades of Alice Cooper's school's out

1972/1981/1991/2005 and 2011 and he still rocks, o yeah!!

 

okay one more 

2012 at the BBC, Later With Jools Holland

Supersister

Supersister (band from The Hague)

Supersister was a Dutch band from The Hague, Netherlands, playing progressive rock ranging from jazz to pop. The most predominant band members were Robert Jan Stips (keyboards, vocals), Sacha van Geest (flute), Marco Vrolijk (drums) and Ron van Eck (bass).
The band started as Sweet OK Sister in 1968 as a school band with singer and songwriter Rob Douw, who soon thereafter left. The remaining members continued as a more serious musical quartet under the name Supersister. Their style was progressive rock (in Canterbury Scene style) in which Stips' keyboard play played a dominant role.

Interview with some live footage:

Australian bands 5 - Tamam Shud

Tamam Shud were an Australian psychedelic and progressive rock band, formed in Sydney in 1967, which released two albums, Evolution (1969) and Goolutionites and the Real People (1970) before disbanding in 1972. They reformed in 1993 to release a third album, Permanent Culture in 1994 but disbanded again in 1995.

more info: http://www.theoriginaltamamshud.com/ and http://www.milesago.com/artists/tamam.htm

Australian bands 4 - Fraternity

Fraternity were an Australian rock band which formed in Sydney in 1970 and relocated to Adelaide in 1971. Former members include successive lead vocalists Bon Scott (who later joined AC/DC), John Swan (who also played drums and later had a solo career), and his brother Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel). Their biggest local hit was a cover version of "Seasons of Change" which peaked at No. 1 in Adelaide, but nationally it was over-run by the original Blackfeather version. The group won the 1971 Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds with the prize being a free trip to London. Fraternity went through various line-ups and was renamed as Fang, Fraternity (again), Some Dream and finished as Micky Finn in 1981.

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternity_%28band%29

Australian bands 3 - Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs

Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were an Australian band from the mid-sixtees.
The Aztecs were formed from the combination of the Vibratones, an instrumental band from Sydney, and vocalist Billy Thorpe. This band didn't remain together for very long, but the entrepreneurial Thorpe quickly formed a new band under the same name.
The second incarnation of Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs comprised some of the best session musicians of the time, and played mainly middle-of-the-road rock and ballads.
After the break up of the second band, Thorpe spent some time mastering guitar, and thinking about the musical approach for his next band. In 1968, the Aztecs rose again, this time comprising well known musicians and with a blues/R&B sound. This band endured through numerous line-up changes until finally breaking up when Thorpe left to travel to the USA.

http://www.blues.org.au/bands/b/billythorpeaztecs.php

Australian bands 2 - The Masters Apprentices

The Masters Apprentices (or The Masters to fans) were an Australian rockband, which formed in 1965 in Adelaide, South-Australia, relocated to Melbourne in February 1967 and attempted to break into the United Kingdom market from 1970, before disbanding in 1972.

 

more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masters_Apprentices

Australian bands 1 - Pirana

Upcoming bands in are very unknown in The Netherlands. They're all from Australian I think these songs are excellent and need a little more attention.

Starting with

 Pirana. an early seventees band

Australian band Pirana was formed in 1970, founded by Stan White (keyboards), Jim Duke-Yonge (drums), Tony Hamilton (vocals, guitar) and Graeme Thompson (bass) as a new musical venture for the latter three following their tenure in pop band Gus & The Nomads. Their first recording were as a backing band for a solo album by Greg Quill, but in 1971 they were signed by legendary record label Harvest and soon got busy making their debut album. The band disband in late 1974.

more info: http://www.avmedia.com.au/Pirana/index.html

Yes with Benoît David

Sounds great as long as Benoît David tries not to imitate Jon Anderson...

Roger Rodier

One of my favourite albums. Such a pity he only made one album in 1972 which later was reissued with bonus-tracks he recorded as a duo with Germaine Gauthier as 'Rodier-Gauthier'. Little is known of this excellent Canadian artist, who began as a member of the Mockers and the Mike Jones Group.

Upon Velveatur - 1972

Biography: Roger Rodier put out an obscure album on Columbia in 1972, Upon Velveatur , that was very much in line with the folk-rock-oriented singer/songwriter trends of the era. It was at least as much indebted to British sounds from that genre as North American ones, however, with its gentle breathy vocals, subdued melancholy, and combination of predominantly acoustic guitars with subtle strings and some female backup vocals. Prior to the LP, Rodier had issued a couple of singles on the local Montreal label Pax, the first of them sung in French. Despite getting praised in Rolling Stone by Lester Bangs for its "timeless grace," Upon Velveatur got little exposure when it was issued in autumn 1972. Although he did start work on a second album for Columbia in early 1973, it wasn't finished, and Rodier left music a few years later without having released anything else.
- source: www.allmusic.com (by Richie Unterberger)

Roger Rodier is a Québecois composer, singer and guitarist. He was born in Montréal and released only one album, in 1972, called Upon Velveatur. Rodier is really an unknown/forgotten artist, an obscure character, he didn?t make public appearances often. When his album came out, he only made a couple of gigs, some alone, some in support of Procol Harum and Genesis.
After a moment he started to compose a new album, but nothing came out of his recent compositions. Since then, he slowly stopped playing music. He now lives in exile.
- source:  http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4855

“We haven’t been this excited about a rediscovered psych-folk classic since Red Hash by Gary Higgins. Nobody knew what to expect from the cover photo of Rodier, (looking a lot like Geddy Lee) staring out at us from a hazy meadow with the strange enigmatic title: Upon Velveatur. It is a dreamy French-Canadian psych-folk pop suite that varies from hushed mystical songs lushly orchestrated with strings and theremin to more rock-oriented numbers featuring stinging electric guitar. Lazy comparisons to Nick Drake are inevitable,and if we must go there, Upon Velveatur is closest to Bryter Later in terms of feel and production value. But Rodier can also sound like John Lennon with Cream as the band, Fleetwood Mac on backing vocals,and produced by Roger Nichols and his Small Circle of Friends all on one song! We get the feeling that maybe some folks like Neil Halstead were onto the sounds of Rodier as we were listening to
some Mojave 3 and could totally hear Rodier’s voice and stylings being transmitted by Mr. Halstead. Featuring bonus singles from an earlier psych folk project, Rodier-Gauthier, and liner notes from the man himself. Totally Recommended!”
- Aquarius Records.

Sensations' Fix - music is ainting in the air

Music is a state of mind 

A true quote about music

I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights and you have yours.  But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, in all times and in all places.  Music is the only means whereby we feel these emotions in their universality. 

~H.A. Overstreet

Wonderous Stories by Yes

Picture this the year 1977:

Some older friends of mine were very much into Yes, Genesis and other symphonic rockgroups back then and I was a fan of the old glamrockers like Bowie, Sweet, Slade and Kiss.
In those days I always listened to the radio and one morning - it was on a saturday -
I heard a song, so serene, so beautiful.. I was blown away by this.
And the man on the radio said: Yes - Wonderous Stories,
That must be the band the guys were talking about! and I knew I had to hear more
of Yes and the other bands as well. Eversince Wonderous Stories is my one time favorite song, I still love hearing it.