Frontieria

Previously unreleased live show from November 4, 1972. This is the post Uli Trepte lineup with his replacement Bruno Schaab on bass. The band jams out three mega-long versions of "Oxymoron", "Baby Cake Walk" and "Ooga Booga"."After Uli Trepte had left the band, Guru Guru had one of their first gigs with Bruno Schaab on bass in the assembly hall of the Germania-Heim in Wiesbaden on November 4th, 1972. They played in front of about 200 to 300 people. The whole concert was recorded expertly and in stereo, with the consent of the band and the promoter, Robert Huth, by Muck Krieger, sharing a flat with Xhol (Caravan), a band they were friends with and which had just broken up. The equipment used – an Uher tape recorder CR 124 and Revox microphones – were then state-of-the-art technology. Here you will hear three overlength versions of Guru Guru tracks in a perfect sound quality. They could thus freely display and develop their play without having to keep to the limited playing time of an LP side. The CD was drawn directly from the master tapes."

Vital live session from the original lineup. Essential psychedelic hardness.

1976's Straosfear clearly defined the band's heavily sequenced sound.  It was highly melodic - all the experimentalism of the early 70s was gone.  Dark and a bit intimidating, its one of their best.New edition remastered from the original master tapes.  Includes two bonus tracks.

After a 10 year absence Enchant are back.  The band started in 1993 making them one of the earliest prog metal band.  Actually they are sort of an interesting band in that they seem to exist in both the prog rock and prog metal realms.  Some metal fans think of them as a bit lightweight and some prog rock fans think they are too heavy!  One thing is for sure they are wildly successful.  This is definitely prog but it never loses sight of the melody.  Fronted by the great Ted Leonard (who is now doing double duty with Spock's Beard) this one is a no-brainer - whether you are metal or prog head.  "irst impressions are the similarities to Spock’s Beard. Hardly surprising since Ted Leonard has been singing with them since 2011. He’s been with Enchant longer; their first CD came out in 1993. And familiarity doesn’t breed contempt here, fortunately.Bay area progressive rockers, they steer a straight course composing guitar-structured songs that they extemporise over. Guitarist Douglas A Ott is also the band’s main producer, with The Great Divide having been recorded at his own studio, but if in the past the band’s followed his direction they’re now more involved after a ten year gap working on other projects. Also, while integral, Ott doesn’t dominate Enchant’s sound but flows in and out adding a hard rock bias to their generic musical flavouring. Drummer/percussionist Sean Flanegan and bassist Ed Platt have the solidity of early Kansas and musically there are some pretty snazzy and often too brief keyboard solos from Bill Jenkins.A rolling cyclical bass line forms the basis of opening number ‘Circles’ with Leonard pondering life going round well, like a circle – while the lyrics aren’t profound they feel right and though this isn’t a concept album, despite the band stating otherwise, there are common themes concerning the human condition in a loosely existential manner. Mainly straight verse and choruses ‘Circles’ breaks out into more complicated time signatures before an acoustic comes to the fore, vocals return, an electric guitar take over and it concludes with a nicely warm keyboard solo. ‘Within An Inch’ follows with a steady rock backbeat over which Ott’s playing echoes Camel’s Andy Latimer interrupted briefly by some John Ellis punk-styled sirening. ‘The Great Divide’ follows suit in a more epic manner, the arrangement akin to Genesis in their golden period.Enchant don’t play with the fairies, despite what their name suggests. If anything they’re two steps removed from an AOR sound leaning in towards early Asia with some latter day Beatles thrown in, and a less grandiose take on Spock’s Beard. One might refer to them as technically proficient rather than emotionally overwrought, meaning there is a heartfelt flavour to their songs, and they tend to grow on you.The subdued opening to ‘Life In A Shadow’ throws a brief curveball echoing the Canterbury sound of Hatfield & The North before a heavy chorded chorus takes this into a rocking tune with soulful harmonies. ‘Deserve To Feel’ pours on the technical drumming and dribbling triplet bass figures with some flashy pyrotechnics predominantly on guitar but with keen keyboard flourishes, moving into a more intricate musical score as Jenkins and Ott trade inspired lines towards its conclusion. Likewise, ‘Here And Now’ builds reflectively moving towards emotional drama.Finely composed, played well, Enchant’s The Great Divide might not have you falling under its spell, but you may well be surprised how you find yourself being drawn to playing it." - The Midland Rocks

Here's another one of those great German bands that fell through the cracks but thanks to Long Hair Music, their music is available for us to hear.  For Example was a large scale ensemble HEAVILY influenced by Chicago Transit Authority.  Notice I mentioned CTA as opposed to Chicago - this was not commercial music like the later incarnations.  For Example also utilized a horn section to excellent effect but also like their US counterparts there is killer guitar work all over this material.  Vocals are present but the music is predominantly instrumental.  So basically excellent jazz rock with killer guitar leads.This set consists of a session the band recorded for SWF Radio in 1973 as well as unreleased demos from 1972 while they were shopping for a record deal that never came.  Highly recommended.

Hyperdrive marks a new era for Knight Area.  The long running Dutch progressive rock band had previously released four studio albums and toured Europe and USA extensively, performing at all major prog rock festivals.  1n 2012 the band welcomed guitarist Mark Bogert as well as legendary bassist Peter Vink (Q65, Finch, Ayreon) into the fold. With these newcomers onboard, Knight Area introduced a heavier element and fuller sound to their repertoire.  All the classic symphonic rock traits of their previous albums are still clearly evident but the songs on Hyperdrive are more immediate and concise.The band invited noted prog guitarist Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One) to participate as a special guest on one track.  Joost van den Broek, who is known for his production work with Epica, Mayan, and After Forever, mixed the album.   Rounding out the package is startling artwork by Gustavo Sazes.