Back catalogue: Progressive Rock

Review: This is a very special gold vinyl version of the soundtrack for the tokusatsu science fiction superhero television series Spectreman. It ran in the early 70s and had three seasons in all with a cult following who will go nuts to finally have these sounds on wax all these many decades later. It has one Japanese side and one American side and is the work of Ricardo Cruz and Kunio Miyauchi. Instrumentals and the theme song all feature to make this a real retro classic.

Review: "Of all the many noble attempts of the prog rockers to create a grand compositional style which blended elements from classical music with rock, none, in my view, ever reached the intensity, complexity and raw savage excitement of the great Magma masterworks." When you make music that feels like the love child of a rock & roll musical, gospel choir, Frank Zappa and Ziggy Stardust, why should anyone expect you to be even remotely humble when describing your own back catalogue. Magma's 1974 epic is nothing short of batshit crazy in the true sense - bordering, perhaps sprinting well beyond, the point of genius and capable of rendering any room speechless. A stunning example of how wild, exploratory and experimental the music industry was once so proud to be.

Review: We're just gonna put it out there - everyone is jealous of Quentin Thirionet. He once worked as a rope access worker (AKA an industrial climber), which sounds interesting and exhilarating. Now he grows organic veg. Which sounds delightful. He's also refused to stylistically confine himself at any sound, hence you might know him from Dhavali Giri or Pairi Daeza, gypsy jazz, Auvergne folk song, experimental electronics or something else entirely. Despite that experience, Sumer Is Icumen is Thirionet's debut LP, and takes us further into those strange, otherworldly noises that are only possible when human and machine work together perfectly. Much of this feels as organic as the artist's farm, but really it's about the natural and mechanical, manmade and synthesised, painting evocative audio pictures that invoke images of evolution, growth, hidden systems at play and equilibrium.

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: Has any band undergone such a radical musical evolution as Martin Circus? The French band, formed in 1969, initially explored psychedelia, heavy rhythm and blues and formative progressive rock, before pivoting to Cerrone style disco, new wave and eventually, synth-pop. Evolution Francaise 1969-85 does a great job in charting this sonic journey on one action-packed compilation, chronologically serving up such heady musical highs as 'Annie, Christine ou Partricia' (a heavy rock-meets-The Rolling Stones workout), 'Les Indiens De Demier Matin' (psychedelic disco-rock), 'Mon Premier Hold Up' (their most Cerrone-esque number), 'Disco Circus' (their most famous cut, here re-edited by Francous Kevorkian) and 'J'Tai Vu Dans Le Canoe?' (quirky synth-pop).

Review: Known as much for their outlandish costumes as their constant musical evolution, Martin Circus were one of France's most intriguing bands of the 1970s and 80s. Originally formed in 1969 as a psychedelics-inspired progressive rock combo, they later successfully turned their hand to wonderfully camp, over-the-top disco and synth-sporting new wave. Evolution Francaise 1969-1985 does a brilliant job of charting that remarkable musical evolution, dashing between tail end of the 60s prog sounds ('Tout Tremblant De Fievre', 'Facon de Parler'), early Black Sabbath-esque heavy rock ('Annie, Christine ou Partricia'), gritty, Rolling Stones style rhythm and blues ('A Bas Tous Le Privileges'), psychedelic disco-rock ('Les Indiens Du Demier Matin'), Cerrone-ish throb-jobs ('Mon Premier Hold Up', Francois K re-editing 'Disco Circus') and synth-pop ('J'tai Vu Dans Le Canoe?').

Review: .Originally released in 2009, Crack The Skye would serve as the fourth full-length and creative rebirth of sludge-indebted alternative metal behemoths Mastodon. Inspired by the suicide of drummer Brann Dailor's sister in their youth, the album takes cues from prog classics such as Pink Floyd's Animals and King Crimson's In The Court Of The Crimson King to craft a monolithic sonic journey spread across seven tracks. With their later material taking on a more instantaneous approach to composition, whilst coming off the back of the harsh dynamics of 2004's Leviathan and 2006's Blood Mountain, the mercurial middle point the band found themselves on this LP emboldened them to add Dailor as a third lead vocalist, providing a melodious fulcrum between the snarl of bassist Troy Sanders and nasal croon of guitarist Brent Hinds. A hallucinogenic, astral projecting prog epic in the search for peace accumulated through unprocessed grief, the project has been held near and dear to the hearts of the band and their fanbase in the fifteen years since initial release and now celebrates such a milestone with this definitive boxset. Spread across gold vinyl 2xLP with a bonus blu-ray, poster, magnet sheet and 12-page booklet.

Review: Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg returns to Altin Village & Mine with Cosmic-Astral, his second album as Memory Pearl. Inspired by a 1970s psychotherapeutic music program used alongside LSD, he reimagines its classical compositions through electronic manipulation and using MIDI transformations of works by Strauss and Scriabi. He crafts new landscapes enriched by improvisations from Sam Prekop, Joseph Shabason and others and, as a psychotherapist and musician, he blends that expertise with musical creativity to shape a delicate trip across nine tracks that form a pathway to sonic healing.

Review: Five tracks of madness and mayhem from one of Norway's most critically acclaimed and domestic-Grammy (Spellemannprisen) award-nominated bands, with several wins too. Which should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. Motorpsycho have always defied expectations, not least by offering up sounds that are contrary their name - less metal, more progressive and psyche rock with shades of jazz, post-rock, country and pop.

Ancient Astronauts represents their latest sonic incarnation, which is destined to keep the devout satisfied. Opening with a combination of grit and opera descending into a cool cat, wavy day-tripper of a swagger tune, 'The Ladder', 'The Flower of Awareness' then offers contrast by introducing huge power riffs, solos and crescendos, with even more intense guitar-made atmospheres offered on the closing two tracks.