Columbia, apparently attempting to cash in on Pink Floyd's explosion in popularity, released this album in 1981 under Nick Mason's name when in reality he's simply the drummer in this incarnation of Carla Bley's ensemble; Ms. Bley composed all the music and lyrics for this project. It's possibly her most overtly pop-oriented album, with all eight songs featuring vocals by Soft Machine alumnus Robert Wyatt. The music, by Bley's standards, is fairly pedestrian if occasionally catchy, though the lyrics are often wryly amusing.

A true gem of Jazz Rock.

Quatermass' only album is a must-have for prog rock enthusiasts, especially lovers of the keyboard-dominated style which flourished in the early '70s. Quatermass issued their lone LP on Harvest in 1970. Despite being regarded as a fine release by the label, it didn't do much commercially, and the group broke up by the end of the following year.

Excellent live performance from EST, one of the most substantial creative and explosive modern jazz piano trios in the world today. Skills, improvisation, melody, rythm, vitality, energy and fantastic detailed interplay holds your listenig attraction in a very high level of satisfaction from the start till the end of this recording. One of the best jazz live albums of this decade.

1999 CDEP recorded for the 'In The Fishtank' series, features the joint forces of Tortoise & The Ex creating six tracks of undeniable strangeness and charm. Standard jewel case.
Even with the knowledge that the Ex has legs in the Dutch free improvising and avant-garde jazz scene, this collaboration with Chicago's Tortoise is an odd one. The Ex are customarily on the unmistakably political, musically spastic side of the fence, while Tortoise revels in complex rhythmic mazes that explore layered rhythms. So you can easily imagine a band as seemingly cerebral and measured as Tortoise getting tugged hard into noisy sloshing when in cahoots with a band like the Ex. And they do do considerable sloshing on this EP, though they always maintain a flooring that varies the rhythms and keeps the Ex grounded. The atmospherics are all Tortoise, with Jeff Parker's guitar making floats over the rumbling, ready-to-pounce bass and creeping drums. No, this isn't typical Ex material and, without a doubt, it's not Tortoise's main fare, but it's also not a far cry from either outfit. Part manic noise, part manic depth, part manic ambiance, it's an intense, demanding session.

The history of French TV is complex, filled with lineup changes, missed opportunities, delays, and disillusions. And yet, a growing body of work testifies to one man's sagacity and stubbornness. In the middle of French TV's chamber of 32 revolving doors stands bassist/composer Mike Sary. Blending elements of prog, fusion, cartoon music, and Rock-in-Opposition, the music of his group can be simultaneously hilarious and highly challenging, making it one of the most original American prog rock outfits.

For the 2001 CD The Case Against Art, French TV consisted mostly of Sary, keyboardist Warren Dale (of TRAP), and drummer Chris Vincent, with many past and new friends sitting in.

King Crimson reborn yet again – the newly configured band makes its debut with a violin (courtesy of David Cross) sharing center stage with Robert Fripp's guitars and his Mellotron, which is pushed into the background. The music is the most experimental of Fripp's career up to this time – though some of it actually dated (in embryonic form) back to the tail end of the Boz Burrell-Ian Wallace-Mel Collins lineup. And John Wetton was the group's strongest singer/bassist since Greg Lake's departure three years earlier.

Blue Cheer's debut album, Vincebus Eruptum, was widely and accurately described as "the loudest record ever made" when it first appeared in early 1968, and the band seemingly had the good sense to realize that for sheer brutal impact, there was little chance they could top it. So for their second LP, Outsideinside (which appeared a mere seven months later), rather than aim for something bigger and more decibel intensive, Blue Cheer decided to see how much polish they could add to their formula without blunting the skull-crushing force of their live attack. While Vincebus Eruptum was cut in simple and straightforward form with minimal overdubs, Outsideinside found Blue Cheer embracing the possibilities of the recording studio; Leigh Stephens overdubbed multiple guitar parts on several tunes, while the mix sends his leads flying around the room, though aggressive use of panning and the monstrous, fuzzy growl of his tone gets cleaned up on some tunes (check out the wah-wah solos on "Gypsy Ball"), though the results are still as gentle as a chainsaw. The engineering is friendlier to Paul Whaley's drumming; his traps don't sound as much like trash cans on these sessions, though the crude, phase shifting on "Just a Little Bit" remains gloriously amateurish. And if Dickie Peterson's bass sounds just about the same, he got to spend more time on his vocals here, and his blustery howl communicates better this time. The opening cut, "Feathers from Your Tree," also added a piano to the mix (which is somehow audible through the dozens of amps), while "Babylon" is almost funky in its lead-footed approximation of an R&B groove, and "The Hunter" is a broad but playful exercise in sexual swagger that, if nothing else, provided a lyrical conceit Kiss could use to more profitable effect nine years later. But if Outsideinside is cleaner, tighter, and more ambitious than Vincebus Eruptum, it's still clearly the work of the same band, and Blue Cheer sound every bit as thunderous on their sophomore effort. If anything, this LP captures the psychedelic side of their musical personality with greater clarity than the blunt approach of the debut; Outsideinside doesn't sound trippy so much as righteously buzzed, and the speedy roar of this the music is big enough that the legend that parts of this were so loud they had to be recorded outside seems not just plausible, but perfectly reasonable.

Album Review (allmusic.com)

2010 release from the British band led by Crispin Mills. Kula Shaker burst onto the music scene in 1996 with the release of K, one of the fastest selling debut albums ever. Imploding after the follow up, they disappeared for nearly 10 years until a very low key album in 2007 signaled their semi-return. Pilgrims Progress showcases a more mature sound, drawing on Folk, '60s R&B and traditional influences as well as their signature Psychedelia. Kula Shaker have retained a very loyal and dedicated fanbase who have stayed with the band since the '90s and have been waiting for this new album for a very long time. Strange Folk.

From allmusic.com
Toronto band Do Make Say Think began as the psychedelic-influenced instrumental improvisations of bassist/trumpeter Charles Spearin, guitarist Justin Small, and drummer James Payment. The band grew to include keyboardist Jason MacKenzie and multi-instrumentalist Ohad Benchetrit, with the final addition of drummer Dave Mitchell in 1998. Do Make Say Think released their self-titled debut on Constellation Records in late 1998, followed by the early-2000 release Goodbye Enemy Airship the Landlord Is Dead. After promotions for that album subsided, they again buried themselves in the studio until March of 2002, when they unleashed & Yet & Yet on Constellation Records. The band's fourth album, Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn, came out a year and a half later.