THE CORPORATION - THE CORPORATION

the Corporation were formed in Milwaukee in 1968 at Cudhay's Galaxy Club by John and Nicholas Kondos, who joined up with members of an outfit called Eastern Mean Time. this is the Corporation's first album, recorded for Capitol one year later and noteable for their sidelong psychedelic rendition of John Coltrane's 'India'. music freaks with a leftfield, progressive approach to Funk Music will love this extraordinary mystical groove with great depth: fuzzed out electric guitar, freaky hammond organ and flutes acidly wailing over psychy drumbeats, even an extended bass solo can be found here. Pop Garage meets Free Jazz! absolutely essential stuff! (Capitol 1969/LP)

 

 

PANTA RHEI – SAME & DIE FRÜHEN JAHRE

not to be confused with the sametitled Prog band from Hungary, Panta Rhei were a Progressive Rock outfit from former East Germany consisting of 11 music students, among them a young Veronika Fischer as lead singer. formed in the early 70s by leader Herbert Dreilich, the group only ever recorded one album and several 45's for Amiga, before they disbanded in 1975 with some members starting solo efforts and some changing to better known Krautrock formation Karat. musically speaking, Panta Rhei played an unmistakeable sound blending Jazz Rock, Soul and Beat with strong political lyrics sung in German. dissonant brass arrangements, distorted fuzz guitar, lots of rhythmic changes and hard, aggressive backbeats are significant for their progressive musical attitude, often sounding superfunky in the improvisional, non vocal parts. 'Der Losverkäufer' kicks off with a fantastic drum and bass driven break and then turns into a hardedged vocal shouter backed by a very funky rhythm section and only interrupted by some insane saxophone madness in the middle. 'Zwischen Gestern Und Morgen' shows up with great psychedelic hammond play and begs to be sampled because of its mad wah-wah / flute intro. also remarkable is the last track 'Finis', a shuffle-beaty piano groove with high level dancefloor potential. 9 years after their highly praised selftitled debut LP Amiga released ‚Die frühen Jahre', a compilation of their early material, which has only been available in 45 format. two highly recommended albums, along with Uve Schikora's ‚Das Gewitter' offering some of the hardest funky beats that have emerged from East German Underground. (Amiga 1971 & 1980/LP)

 

 

MICHEL BERNHOLC - PARALLELE

Originally released as some sort of crossover concept album between Symphonic and Progressive music with variations on classical themes, two excellent Psych Funk Instrumentals can be found here: 'Caprice No.24' and 'Parallele' are full of heavy piano & guitar riffs overlaid with dramatic strings and have that distinctive French Library Sound. music is performed by respected studio musicians like Pierre-Alain Dahan, Tonio Rubio, Sylvano Santorio and Claude Engel under musical supervision by Michel Bernholc. Rare Record released on Barclay France in 1972. for Lovers of strange Euro Funky Music. (Barclay 1972/LP)

 

 

ROLAND KOVAC NEW SET - THE MASTER SAID & LOVE THAT

consisting of drummer Charlie Antolini, guitarist Siegfried Schwab (from Et Cetera and Embryo), Franz Löffler (bass) and established musical director and soundtrack composer Roland Kovac on keyboards, the New Set were a studio band from Munich and recorded several Librarys for german's Selected Sound label. 'The Master Said' only can be described as a disturbing symphonic Underground Funk opus. the 17 minute, twoparted titletrack is a wild crossover between Krautrock and Psychedelic Beat with obvious jazzy undertones. Kovac' progressive arrangements combine mighty workouts on electric piano and fuzzy guitar with meditative space outs full of weird electronic organ effects. on the follow-up LP 'Love That' Brian Auger on organ and Peter Trunk on bass join in the studio session continuing the heavy psychedelic trip where 'The Master Said' has left off. 'Guru', and 'Love That' were used in Jess Franco's 'The Perverse Countess' as background music to the hardcore sequences, just like 'Silvertime' stoned excursions into deep grooved jazzy territory: dark, moody and above all, very funky. highly recommended to all old school prog freaks out there! (Selected Sound 1971 & 72/LP)

 

 

WILLIAM SHELLER - LUX AETERNA

in 1970 french singer, arranger and soundtrack composer William Sheller wrote a psychedelic mass for orchestra, rock and choir for a friend's wedding. after two years of conceptional studio work the epic result 'Lux Aeterna' was officially released on CBS France, representing a remarkably unique project and one of the few successful examples of fusing dramatic Progressive Music with fullblown symphonic orchestration. the sound is really hard to compare with anything heard before: very pathetic and full of disturbing melodies, the compositions feature occasional narration, space age-like synthisizer sound effects, Gregorian styled mass choruses, moody strings and only a minimal rock presence of guitar, organ, bass & drums. the introductional main theme of ‚Introit' is repeated throughout the entire album in excellent variations such as 'Opus Magnum' and 'Hare Krishna'. a trailblazing concept album loaded with moody moments of Psychedelic Funk musically standing next to French masterpieces like Jason Havelock's ‚Pop Symphony' and JC Vannier's groundbreaking ‚L'Enfant Assasin Des Mouches'! a very rare album coming along with a cosmic alien/2001 front motif. definetly something for openminded ears! (CBS 1972/LP)

 

 

TITANIC - TITANIC

norwegian Progressive Rock group Titanic were the first scandinavian band climbing up the international charts. founded 1969 in Oslo, they quickly gained reputation with extended tours throughout Europe, especially in Germany, Spain and France. their convincing stage performance impressed some filmmakers, who engaged Titanic to help promoting the Woodstock movie along the french Riviera which resulted in some fantastic concerts in Cannes and on various film festivals. whether you like the the groups' vocal arrangements or not (sometimes reminding on Vanilla Fudge's early 70s style) there are undeniably some incredible breakbeat moments on their debut album from 1970, which was recorded in Paris and produced by no one less than William Sheller. 'Searchin' has top notch sample potential including mighty hammond organ licks over clear drum beats. more of the same progressive Funk Rock can be heard on 'Something On My Mind' highlighting the group's razorsharp fuzz guitar riffs. also noteworthy is their 45 release of 'Sultana' featuring again some great organ play backed by Santana-esque, latinamerican percussive beats. (CBS 1970/ LP)(CBS 1971/45)