Back catalogue: Progressive Rock

Review: The Advanced Cookbook Of Mr Selig And Kanzler Z was a short-lived experimental jazz act also known as Cookbook. They put out one EP and two albums, with this 12" being taken from the debut. It came in 1989 and German label the Zoo In You initially and has the vocals of Mr Selig on the A-side, and guitar by Wolfgang Bokelmann and words by Dieter Pougin on the flip. An original will cost you more than a night at the pub and even finding samples online can be hard. Rest assured it is future jazz that still sounds futuristic today.

Review: Astral Quartet was a group that changed their name and evolved into Centre El Muusa. They never played live nut managed to record just two tunes back in 2018. Now, five years later, they finally get to see the light of day. They could be 50 years old such is the quality of the musicianship - fusions of jazz and funk that brim with character. The band is made up of Monika Erdman, Rauno Vaher, Volodja Brodsky and Misha Panfilov who mix up cosmic Wurlitzer sounds, languorous synths and fresh drums, turning it into something laidback and psyched on the b-side and more funky and up-beat on the a-side.

Review: Measured Mile is a new 7" label run by regular Ace consultant and confidante Bob Stanley. The plan is to release DJ-friendly 45s that are either very rare or previously unavailable on seven-inch. On this new one come two pieces from esteemed library musicians - the well known pairing of Alan Hawkshaw and Brian Bennett, and Dave Richmond. 'Name Of The Game' is a slow instrumental blues piece with beats ready to be plundered for hip-hop beats that once soundtracked a 1970s aftershave ad, while Richmond's 'Confunktion' is a motivational builder-upper with drums and organs aplenty.

Review: We aren't sure who Inner Space Quartet are be we are sure you will like them. This is the second new music from them this month and it follows a busy 2022 in which they put out three head-turning 7"s on different labels. They seem to be settling for Funk Night as their home this year but soundwise are harder to pin down - there is Thai funk, space rock, jazz, psyched-out guitars and much more all contained with these two expansive and immersive sounds. 'Paranoia Party' is the really 60s-tinged narcotic opener then 'Delay' brings more rock guitar sounds as if from some secret and tripped-out Stones concert in the desert back in the day.

Review: 7 Up is three things; a ubiquitous energy drink brand, an infamous TV show charting the upbringing and development of various children from the ages of seven upwards, and the third studio album by Ash Ra Tempel - their only collaborative piece with notorious psychologist and psychedelic drug advocate Timothy Leary. Supposedly, the sprawling psych-Moog album was named after a bottle of 7 Up that had been spiked with LSD was given to the band's lyricist Brian Barritt. This new version contains the original manuscript of the album's concept by Leary, as well as photos from the recording session in Bern.

Review: Ash Ra Tempel are one of the undisputed totems of krautrock, and from their considerable legacy, Join Inn is one of their most important records. The line-up of the band in 1973 included Klaus Schulze and Manuel Gottsching, who went on to become legends in their own right, but it was on pieces like the extended 'Freak'n'roll' and 'Jenseits' that they cemented their reputation as instrumental trailblazers, shattering the conventions of rock music and creating a new musical mode that still carries weight today. Getting the celebration in early, Gottsching's own Mg Art label are toasting 50 years since this landmark album came out with a shiny new reissue - much needed given the scant repressing Join Inn has had up until now.

Review: Ian Carr and the Nucleus crew were real favourites of US hip hop master Madlib. He valued their dark, brooding, menacing beats and spooky soundtracks and this album is a perfect example of that adsorbing broodiness. It came on Vertigo in 1973 and was in part funded by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It started off life as a live show and then with an expanded cast become an album recording with help from vocalist Norma Winstone. Be With have remastered the whole record from original tapes and the sleeve has also been restored to its full original glory.

Review: The Tele Music catalogue follows a long tradition of library music mores; stock patterned album art and themed series included. Originally from 1973, Rhythmiques functions as one of the label's most iconic releases. Written entirely in collaboration between French composer and percussionist Pierre Dahan and synthesist Mat Camison, it features tense funk, blunted jazz and heavy breaks all the way. It is considered the rightful sequel to Continental Pop Sound, and despite the origin as library music intended for TV and film, has endured as a vital album for producers and DJs.

Review: After relocating from Colombia to Spain in the early 1970s, sibling duo Elkin & Nelson recorded a string of albums that became hits across the Latin world. 'Angeles Y Demines', a 1974 double-album that has here been given the remastered reissue treatment, is arguably the strongest of the lot. It's certainly the one that Balearic heads return yo regularly, featuring as it does the scene classic 'Jibaro (Enrolle)' alongside many more slices of Latin/Flamenco/Funk/Jazz-Funk fusion. Their sound was unique but undeniably weighty and dancefloor-ready, with the album's many highlights including 'Abran Passo-Ahoa (Enrolle)', 'Anacaona', and their dense, sunrise-ready cover of 'Ain't No Sunshine'.

Review: The ominous clangs and thuds grow louder and louder, louder and louder, atmosphere of increasing tension turning into borderline panic as timbre's brooding menace threatens to erupt into snarling aggression. Suffice to say, like a good chunk of Diabel, 'Wedding Dance Macabre' is disinterested in niceties and would likely run anyone through who is looking for background music. The fact this is one of Andrzej Korzy?ski's scores for one of Andrzej ?u?awski's movies only makes that feat more phenomenal, given the role soundtracks often play in cinema.

Of course, it's not all so foreboding and intimidating. Tracks like 'Through the Door - Theodor' are in fact downright playful, tune comprising high pitched 'boing' noises, like springs recoiling in harmony, while 'Your Father Is Dead Young Lord' is a masterclass in emotionally captivating piano. Nevertheless, the point remains - these were never meant to accompany a visual piece, but instead play leading parts in the narrative of Diabel.

Review: Les Claypool is of course best known for spearheading Primus, the twisted funk metal pioneers that put slap bass at the top of the agenda. As a virtuoso musician with the most inquisitive of minds, Claypool naturally explored many other musical avenues beyond Primus' oddly-angled jams, and this box set does a damn fine job of summarising those exploits through the lens of his Prawn Records label. Spread across seven LPs, we're treated to remastered versions of projects such as The Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Colonel Claypool's Bucket Of Bernie Brains and The Fancy Band. You're as likely to wind up in weirdo jazz hoedowns as funked-out rock music, but in between these niches there are so many other undefinable surprises in store.

Review: Larry Manteca's Zombie Mandingo album arrived back in 2013 and in the danced plus has only ever been available digitally. Now it makes its debut on wax and remains a bold listen that was devised as a soundtrack to a non-existent exploitation film. It fuses funk, jazz, and Afrobeat influences with plenty of niche cinematic references such as the zombies in Lucio Fulci's horrors and Umberto Lenzi's cannibalistic adventures. The resulting mash up is beguiling to say the least with horror-tinged exotica next to Fela Kuti rhythms and elements of Italian Library music and colourful psychedelia. A boundary pushing work to say the least.

Review: Over the course of his long and successful career, Ennio Morricone composed many dance songs in step with the fashions of the late 60s and early 70s. These were themes not necessarily directly connected with his films' synopses, but which were nonetheless played in disco clubs, on jukeboxes, turntables and on the radio. This collection contains a selection of pieces such as the brilliant main theme from Grand Slam (1967); the shake rock (opening credits) from Dario Argento's classic Four Flies On Grey Velvet (1971) the danceable from the noir film Violent City (1970); the beat version of the opening credits of 'Pioggia Sul Tuo Viso' by the Sorrows, from How I Learned to Love Women (1966); 'Per Vittorio (Bossa)', an elegant bossa nova with flute and percussions from The Success (1963); the tribal shake from I Cantori Moderni, which winks at the dies irae from Garden of Delights (1967); 'Scuola di Ballo al sole', a wild surf piece from the Hawks and the Sparrows (1966); the supreme bossa nova from One Night at Dinner (1969) with the super iconic voice of Edda Dell'orso; the shake music of "'Ostinazione al Limone from What Have you Done to Solange? (1972); and 'Donnabossa' from Full Hearts and Empty Pockets (1964), a delicate bossa nova piece with a prominent harpsichord.

Review: Don't get it confused; this isn't just a simple reissue of Neu!'s first album, but rather a tributary collection box of the krautrock pioneers' first four albums. And that's not to mention all the new reworks of the debut LP's tracks from various bands whose members double up as megafans - including Mogwai, The National, and Idles. A stonking, lead double-time EBM remix of 'Hallogallo' comes from Stephen Morris and Gabe Guernsey, and sets an impressive-progressive tone for the album to follow.

Review: The Nucleus crew laid down a superb body of work throughout the seventies. The one and only Madlib often pillages it for samples as a big fan of the group's dark and broody sound. A number of their best records are in the process of being reissued now and Under The Sun is the latest. It is packed with expressive sax sounds, dense drums and whirring synths that still sound way ahead of their time. The whole thing has been lovingly re-mastered from the original analogue tapes too, for extra audio enjoyment.

Review: Be With are busy reissuing a number of Nucleus albums and Alleycat sure is one of their best. It is packed with stone cold rhythms as well as having a red hot sleeve. The band put it out in 197 and it was their last for the Vertigo label, all meticulously produced by Jon Hiseman. It's as good as any of their work with its funk fusions of prog, jazz and rock all ageing brilliantly well. There are big riff-laden tunes, cop-funk chases and more lush and laidback pieces that will have you deep in the groove. It has all been remastered from original tapes so sounds as good as ever.

Review: Headed up by the revered trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr, Nucleus have penned many a seminal album and Elastic Rock certainly is one of them. It was a real milestone for the jazz-rock fusion scene and marked a stunning debut in 1970 that has been hard to find ever since. Saxophonist Brian Smith, guitarist Chris Spedding - who wouold later go on to produce the Sex Pistols' first recordings - drummer John Marshall, bassist Jeff Clyne and sax, oboe and pianist Karl Jenkins all brought energy and invention in equal measure on this one with cuts like the title track offer lovely electric blues, '1916' featuring heavy drums and melancholic horns and 'Striation' being more serene. Be With have remastered this reissue from the original tapes.

Review: Not to be confused with the US electro outfit of the same name, Nucleus was - as many readers will know - a pioneering British jazz-rock outfit helmed by Ian Carr, whose releases frequently drew on a wide palette of influences (think funk, soul, pyschedelic and progressive rock). They made a lot of great albums during the 1970s, though few are quite as inspired as 'We'll Talk About It Later', a wonderfully laidback and atmospheric 1971 set that has now been given the reissue treatment by the consistently impressive Be With Records. The many highlights include - but are in no way limited to - the bluesy, slow-motion shuffle of 'We'll Talk About It Later', the wah-wah guitar sporting summer bliss of 'Sun Child', the gently unfurling brilliance of 'Oasis' and the pleasingly heavy jazz-rock pulse of 'Ballad of Joe Pimp'.

Review: First released on Vertigo in 1975, the growling basslines and irresistible rolling grooves of Nucleus emerge in full force for Snakehips Etcetera - an infectiously energetic record that sounds as though it has barely aged a day. Opening onto the unctuous grooves of 'Rat's Bag', where a jubilant trumpet solo takes centre stage, this track instantly takes us into the heart of Nucleus' entirely distinctive terrain. On the B-side, the title track emerges at a slower pace and with synthesised elements moving to the fore - this is a release that perfectly demonstrates how electronics and instrumentation can be combined to reach new heights. With original copies of this release proving virtually impossible to score, we're thankful Be With have gifted the world with a much-needed re-release.

Review: Osibisa's magnificent The Lost 70s Live Shows resurrects the pulsating energy of the Afrobeat and highlife fusion that defined the band's vibrant sound. Released as a testament to their dynamic live performances in the 1970s, the album captures the group's fierce genre-defying spirit with infectious rhythms, hypnotic percussion, and spirited horns. It is with these that the group create an immersive experience that transcends time with multicultural influences abounding throughout. Osibisa's lost live shows showcase their ability to ignite stages with an infectious blend of African, Caribbean, and jazz elements so do not sleep on this reissue.

Review: .You don't need to hear much on The YumYum Tree to understand how apt the story behind Ozric Tentacles is. A troupe which formed from an impromptu six-hour jam session which took place around a campfire during the 1983 Stonehenge free festival, the band name itself came about when an audience member asked guitarist and keyboardist Ed Wynne what the group - which included his brother Roly, Nick 'Tig' Van Gelder (later of Jamiroquai note) and Joie Hinton - were called. Originally dropping from the cosmos in 2009, The YumYum Tree is archetypal stuff from the outfit in question. Complex guitar solos taking us into the stratosphere, uptempo, highly commanding, cacophonic arrangements, star-gazing, mood-setting, deeply textured space rock, and moments of pure new age bliss. A journey to musical unknowns, captained by progressive rock visionaries.

Review: Prolific Pink Floyd record producer and engineer James Guthrie once again has his 2018 remix album for the band's 'Animals' reissued, this time on limited LP wax. A five-piece meditation on Floyd's penchant for animalism, Guthrie's reinterpretation yanks the Orwellian structure and themes of the original album and hurls them back into an electronic prog rock prayer, with many of the new versions impressively breaching 10 minutes. In true Floyd fashion, this is window-closed, record-sleeves-on-the-floor, bong-hitting stuff, but with an extra Guthriean darkness lended to it. Clock the pig oinks littering the mix too.

Review: Arriving some twenty years after the last Pink Floyd album proper, 1994's The Division Bell, this new offering - which stands to be their last ever - apparently functions as both a swansong for their enormously influential outfit and a tribute to late keyboard player Rick Wright. Constructed partly from demos for the aforementioned album, as well as recordings from as far back as 1968, it somehow manages to showcase the closest the band has come to the classic Floydian sound in decades. Indeed, replete with Gilmour's soaring leads and ambient dreamscapes, it frequently recalls the heralded days of 'Wish You Were Here' amidst an atmosphere of beatific melancholy. If this is the moment that the rock giants choose to bow out, their legions of fans can rest assured they're doing so with both grace and style.

Review: Acclaimed Japanese artist Yuji Toriyama's self titled album has long been hard to find. It now gets its first ever official issue outside of Japan and what a joy it is. The man was known for his work on TV, film and game sound design but also dropped this one in 1993 and it is a sublime fusion of Japanese jazz-rock with smooth melodies and catchy grooves. A perfectly retro-future record full of 80s nostalgia and ripe for sun drenched beaches and lounge bars alike. Whether you're a die-hard fan or this is the first time you have been enchanted by the sounds of Toriyama's music, you will keep on coming back for more this summer and beyond.