Back catalogue: Progressive Rock

Review: Estonian rock band Centre El Muusa hail from Tallinn and in vitally started out as experimental electronic duo Centre Electronique Muusa before evolving into the current set up in 2018. They have dropped a couple of tasty albums since 2020 and now contain with their explorations and fusions of the worlds of jazz, rock, folk, world and country with hints of kraut on the new 7" for Funk Night. 'Moonlight Horses' is a psyched out world of campfire guitars and star gazing riffs that leaves you feeling fully hippie-d up. 'Catching Stars' then heightens the trip with more angular guitars and a big wall of garage-rock sound.

Review: Live in Cuxhaven 1976 is the third release in Can's special series of live album reissues. It follows Can Live in Brighton 1975, which came out in December 2021. As with a good chunk of Can's latest releases documenting the bulk of their live appearances (which were inarguably their best performances, often outmatching their recorded material), the album consists of four instrumental pieces Eins, Zwei, Drei and Vier.

Review: Caravan are notable pushers of the early 70s Canterbury scene, a unique subgenre of prog rock that found its start in the 1960s but which continued to be fleshed out well into the following decade; and in this case, in London, away from the scene's original inception. In The Land Of Grey & Pink now hears a reissue via Deram, once again recalling Caravan's whimsical sensibility and their overarching fit into the Canterbury sound at large. Whether nailed by its the frank and boxed-in vocals by Richard Sinclair, or the channel-surrounded guitar licks of Pye Hastings - as well as a whopping 22-minute epic track, 'Nine Feet Underground' - this is a bowler-overer of pastoral, humorous and fantastical sounds.

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: Some tempos are pivotal to certain genres and 140 is one of those when it comes to dubstep. For that reason it is the title of this fine on going All Stars series from DUPLOC. Volume four is another masterful one with all niches explored starting with the low-end wobble of Mob Killa's 'Hattori' which is a brilliantly moody and late night saunter through a desolate urban landscape. Oudjat's 'Losing Control' is just as menacing and dark, and Ego Death pairs to back further to lush echoing hits and warped synths that hang in the air on 'Run It.' The flip side offers three more sparse but impactful cuts of hefty 140 bass brilliance.

Review: When is an album not an album? How about when it's the second outing from Catapilla, a band that promised plenty in the formative years of English progressive rock (circa 1971), but wound up delivering just two record before seemingly disappearing into the ether from which their music was born. Comprising just four tracks, even with two songs running upwards of 12 minutes this collection falls short of the standard 80-minute LP we're used to. But then there's nothing standard about the band in general. Otherworldly, epic, unbound by rules or expectations and always keen to see what happens with just that little bit extra on the break, refrain or weaving harmony, this is exactly the sort of thing we've been taught not to expect in 2020, but exactly the sort of thing you should have been looking for.

Review: Coheed and Cambria are often heralded to be some of the best rock music storytellers in the world. This much hyped new album Vaxis II: A Window of the Waking Mind goes some way to backing that up and was produced by the band's own Claudio Sanchez and Zakk Cervini. Early singles got a great reception from fans and critics and showcased what to expect from the full album - thrashing heavy metal-infused riffs with vast in scale melodic vocals that are this band's signature style.

Review: Few could have predicted the impact Phil Collins would have when he decided to go solo following his first stint in Genesis, but then few were prepared for the iconic gated drums which would come to define the 80s. Opening with the ubiquitous air-drum anthem 'In The Air Tonight', it was an unintentional landmark like all the best ones are, written as a personal therapy after his first divorce and subsequently turned into one of the biggest sellers of 1981. With a huge sound that deserves only the finest treatment, Face Value now gets remastered and repressed as an audiophile double vinyl courtesy of those exacting folk at Analogue Productions.

Review: On his first solo album, 1981's Face Value, Genesis drummer-singer Phil Collins showed that he wasn't about to be left behind in the mire of classical-rock sludge. That LP boasted shorter songs and demonstrated that Collins had a true pop sensibility. Hello, I Must Be Going! continues that trend, with albeit some familiar patterns emerging, wrote Rolling Stone's John Milward; indulging a trend-bucking golden-oldie route, iridescing a rich luster of the classic rock old-school. This Analogue Productions (Atlantic Series) reissue of Hello, I Must Be Going! has the essential elements that make it a standout for your collection. First, the label turned to Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering to cut lacquers from a 1/4" EQ'd Dolby tape copy of the original master. Pressing on 180-gram vinyl is by Quality Record Pressings and RTI, the album comes housed in tip-on old style gatefold double pocket jackets with film lamination.

Review: Music on Vinyl has been one of the leading reissue labels dedicated to lesser-known music from the past for the past 15 years. Here, they have gotten the opportunity to press one of the most crucial releases in Folk and Progressing rock during the early 70s. English vocalist, guitarist and composer Roger Wootton first album as Comus is revered for many reasons within the Prog community musically. This version is pressed on clear 180-gram vinyl matching the overall clean look and packaging on this record that comes complete with insert that features some background on the project, plus a beautifully designed gatefold jacket. Expect copies to fly out fast on this highly revered piece of history.

Review: Japanese jazz drummer Akira Ishikawa's blistering 'Uganda (Dawn Of Rock)' makes a piognant claim as to the origins of rock n' roll, blending traditional African drumming workouts with the futuristic tropes belonging to psychedelic rock and fourth world music. Consisting of just four movements ranging from formless to the watery and rhythmic, its recording lies in the basis of just one legendary drummer, but in all its sonics sounds as though an enormous ensemble were behind it. A well-sought J-psych rarity.