Getting it on with Prog

Dave Cousins ’:old school songs’ .. with brian Willoughby .. a must have for acoustic strawbs fans

Beside the rio Grande - such a great song

Cousins first lp, "2 Weeks Last Summer" has Dave writing at his height on the track ,"Blue Angel".



(I understand that at the acoustic live sets he was giving away books of his poetry)

666 by Aphrodite´s Child. An experimental prog psych etchin fusion epic. Having heard this unbelievable work it´s no wonder why Jon Anderson praised this masterpiece whereas many prog musicians and fans, like one beeing my ELP buddy, just ignored the talent and even hated the band only because of Demis Roussos´ voice that actually is unique with the high vibrato, and is one of the most beautiful male voices in rock´s history. His work is sublime, not to mention Irene Papas´ vocal acrobatics on "Infinity", she´s just another misunderstood unsung hero of the prog era, not even being considered a prog singer/artist in the first place. After departure of Rick Wakeman, Anderson did ask Vangelis to join his band but, well unfortunately or luckily depending on one´s opinion Vangelis refused.
A word of Yes, praised by many as the best prog band, well to me not greatest not even close but their work is quite versatile, from the late 1960´s period to the end of the Wakeman era. Luckily Yes had already made their ultimate work, The Oceans. As for Yes repertoire I prefer the early work Banks/Kaye era for their more psychedelic style/sound with Hammond organ and Bank´s guitar work, musically it´s more interesting and lively and at places as versatile as the Wakeman era symphonic prog, IMO. And Wakeman made triumphant return in late 1970´s culminating in another masterpiece, Tormato in the middle of the dull new wave, the band still experimenting with new sounds and still with great attitude and approach to rock´n´roll and prog rock when major prog acts maybe excepting King Crimson descended into lame pop music. And it was the last great prog and rock album from the incredibly versatile 1970´s, the most ignored and therefore unknown and again sadly hated, at least.
And luckily both Area and Banco did their (minor) masterpieces in the last years of the 1970s, but the Italian scene is a completely different story to be told...

Valentyne Suite by COLOSSEUM, 1969.
COLOSSEUM was the first to combine blues and jazz into classical themes in such convincing way and the title track is a prog epic, even without words as they are not needed at all, it´s that good.
COLOSSEUM LIVE from 1971 is heavy music, and one of the very best live albums from glory days of classic rock. Dave Clempson and Dave Greenslade shine driven by Jon Hiseman´s powerful drumming, man that´s heavy stuff. I saw them in Keitele Jazz August 2011, they were old but played like there is no tomorrow. Absolutely fantastic performance in a small venue in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks info for that Finnish POHJANTÄHTI, how on earth have I missed that ??
 Kalevala: People No Names, 1972 is worth to mention here too.

"People No Names"  is the highly-touted lp of the Kalevala trilogy, but for Sammmmmy the ignored second lp beats it.
"Abraham's Blue Refrain" is a great lp.
On reading the lp title, I suppose people think that the band were turning in a blues direction and are turned off.
Wrong. this is the band turning more HEAVY.



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Strange how many serious progheads deride YES "Tormato". Okay - sure Wakiepoo's Casio-sound keys can be irritating and the production is bad on this release, but then again you have COMPOSITION like "On The silent Wings of Freedom".
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Irene Pappas and Vangelis have the errie "Odes" lp which is an interesting listen.