It'll All Work Out In Boomland (70)

Early prog, a classic. Landberk covered T2's "No More White Horses" on Lonely Land (but not Riktig Äkta).

Tabula Rasa (75), Ekkedien Tanssi (76)

Finnish prog, mostly on the mellow side, but very enjoyable melodic stuff. Symphonic, if you like; pathetique in a positive sense. Lyrics are in Finnish, but those who don't understand them aren't missing much... Jukka Gustavson from Wigwam guests on and co-produced the second album.

Ekkedien Tanssi was the second album by this Finnish five piece who created a type of mellow, melodic prog not unlike the music of Camel. Indeed, this album is comparable in both style and quality to Camel's Moonmadness or Rain Dances. The instrumentation here includes guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, and vocals; a pretty standard lineup and thats exactly how it is used. There is some nice multi-tracked acoustic guitar along with the more aggressive, bluesy electric guitar which serves as the main melodic instrument. The keyboards stay in the background for the most part, serving up organ and string-synth pads along with piano and elctric piano backing. The bass anchors the chord changes, the drummer keeps time, and the vocalist is there, singing in Finnish; nothing spectacular, yet nothing distracting either. So basically there is nothing terribly original, complex, virtuosic, or flashy to be found here, but nevertheless the music is quite good and strong enough so as not to be at all boring, save for one or two rather unengaging tunes. There are nine tracks, all pretty much in the 5-6 minute range, and the mood remains fairly mellow and laid back throughout. There is the occaisonal guitar solo, but for the most part the playing will remind one of Andy Latimer or maybe some Steve Hackett, utilizing melodic leads rather than blistering solos. Fans of mid-period Camel or other melodic prog groups would probably enjoy this very much, while those who seek highly intricate music (like me :-)) might want to take a listen to Tabula Rasa before putting down the money to get this.

I was a little worried when I found out that the only keyboard instrument on the first Tabula Rasa album was an acoustic piano (Actually, there's a taste of string-synth at the very end). Surprise! I actually like it. Nonetheless, don't plunge into this album expecting complex arrangements and wild solos, because you won't find it here. You will find, however, a pretty, melodic type of progressive with prominent piano, flute, and Andy Latimer-esque guitar. A number of the songs ("Gryf" in particular) are a touch rockier, but most are somewhat Nordic folk-orientated, overtaking you with beauty, in particular, the eight-minute "Vuorellaistuja." Vocals are all in Finnish, no great problem for me. I find them quite charming. The flute player left before Ekkedien Tanssi, the second album. Here they added a full-time keyboardist, but the style hadn't changed at all. Actually, not as good as its predecessor. Established fans will want it, though, for the song "Omantunnon Rukous." It may well be the most beautiful thing they ever recorded. The melody is unforgettable. -- Mike Ohman

Predator Score (86)

Another one-man electronic project (aka Dale Stevens) from Euclid, Ohio. The album features ten song length tracks that range from very simple spacy excursions to more complex rhythmic developments. Some hit the mark, others miss, but overall it's a fairly interesting, albeit low key album.

Tai Phong (75), Windows (76), Last Flight (79)

French symphonic rock that is quite unimpressive, actually. Neo-prog fans might like it though. Includes two Vietnamese members.

[See Alpha Ralpha]

S/T (78), U Vreci Za Spavanje (80)

A truly outstanding band, easily the best I've ever heard from Yugoslavia, possibly the best in all of Eastern Europe! Their debut contains an absolutely amazing 16-minute track called "Druga Strana Mene." The rhythm section riffs like possessed maniacs, while guitar solos spew forth like fiery magma spurting out of a volcano. String-synth is the dominant instrument, and keyboardist Dorde Ilijin wields it like a flamethrower. He also plays some incredible flute, and adds a touch of harmonica. There are some incidental vocals on a couple of tracks, but it's by and large instrumental. Their belated second album, U Vreci Za Spavanje, is totally instrumental, and is if anything even more mindblowing. Taking the cue from "Druga Strana Mene," this album includes still more tortured, blowtorch riffing on tracks like the breathtaking "Senke Proslosti" and the 10-minute epic "Price o Leni." Also important, this album adds Mellotron to the mix. Two undeniably important classics by a band by which others will be judged. -- Mike Ohman

Voices Beyond My Curtain (91)

The music of Tale Cue is hard driving and complex, twisting and undulating through frequent signature and tempo changes, yet without losing sensitivity for the listener. Out front is singer Laura Basla's haunting and seductive voice, backed with the dark and jagged lyrics of the band's two main writers keyboardist Giovanni Porpora and guitarist Silvio Masanotti. Behind it all is the top notch rhythm section of Filippo Oggioni on drums and and Davide Vicchione on bass guitar. Although the music ranges from violent to ethereal, the overall mood is definitely progressive, and some comparisons could be drawn between Basla's voice and say Bara Basikova of Stromboli or Sonja Kristina of Curved Air, although the very feel of the music could elicit similar comparisons. The voice, music and lyrics all work together to conjure up a dark dreamscape that works on the subconscious level, pulling you into Tale Cue's foreboding musical vision. All taken together, this is some very compelling music. The album opener is the 15 minute "The Knell," which sets the stage for all the tracks that follow, including "Prisoner of Cutting Light," "Flying to Fade," and the albums shortest cut, the seven minute "Choices." The topper is the dark and apocalyptic "Pale Light of the Morning." This band has definitely produced an outstanding first album, and one that I strongly reccomend. -- Peter Thelen

Phew! What an album! Tale Cue is not just another of those new Italian progressive bands. If I didn't know better, I could swear Voices Beyond My Curtain was a lost progressive masterpiece of the '70s! This band evokes Pulsar and the German progressive bands such as Jane. Tale Cue's debut CD has six wonderfully crafted songs and they maintain complete control of their musical journey. The music is outstanding! Much thought went into these compositions. Tale Cue is a band that knows how to control the use of Laura Basla's soaring voice and Silvio Masanotti's fiery guitar to release the tension that builds during Tale Cue's quiet passages. At times Ms. Basla goes through vocal gymnastics similar to Siouxie Sioux or Lenya Lovich. And on "Choices," Basla and Masanotti have an inspiring voice and electric guitar duet. Laura Basla's wide vocal range and incredible treatment of Tale Cue's surreal lyrics greatly enhance the six songs. Voices Beyond My Curtain is an excellent suite of progressive music guaranteed to please the most discriminating music lover. -- Henry Schneider

Although I had heard several good things about Tale Cue, I was dissatisfied with Voices Beyond My Curtain, ultimately an album of neo-progressive rock, albeit rather good for the style. The album features six songs between 7-15 minutes in length. This five piece band consists of Laura Basla (vocals), Davide Vicchione (bass), Giovanni Porpora (keyboards), Filippo Oggioni (drums) and Silvio Masanotti (guitar). The album opens up with the 15 minute "The Knell." After a brief classical guitar statement, the album moves squarely into Twelfth Night/IQ territory where it remains for the entire album. The electric guitar that swirls between the speakers is not unlike the main guitar riff of Twelfth Night's "East To West" from Live at the Target, and the overall flow is similar to "Sequences," also from Live at the Target. In fact, Masanotti's style throughout the album often reminded me of Twelfth Night's guitarist, Andy Revell. To Tale Cue's credit, they create a very good atmosphere, dark and somber, that pervades Voices. The enigmatic lyrics, and Basla's mid-register voice, fit well with the mood. To Tale Cue's discredit, did little, if anything, to distinguish it from the many other neo-prog bands that have already done this bit. The musical writing is not overly complex and usually predictable. For example, at only seven minutes, "Craven Smiles" seems to go on way too long and the "climactic" guitar and keyboard solos happen right on cue. In the end, Tale Cue are basically Twelfth Night with a female vocalist. Tale Cue is very good neo-prog but only average when considered against the prog scene as a whole. No doubt, fans of Twelfth Night, IQ and so forth will find much to enjoy when listening to Tale Cue. -- Mike Taylor

This quintet form the usual group with vocals (in English), guitars, keyboards, bass and drums. The result is a melodic rock that alternates between soft and heavier parts where the rhythms and electric guitar get busy. The compositions on Voices..., fairly simple, take advantage of the singer's expressive and dramatic style. She shares the melodic role with the guitarist and keyboards provide symphonic textures. Modest but solid rhythms take on a support role. A sound that ranges from bands like Pendragon to bands with a harder rock edge. -- Paul Charbonneau

Spuren (71)

Prog.

[See Pinguin]

I would like to find out what became of Tall Dogs. I saw them live in Syracuse in 1977ish. They had a sparse sound, with bass, violin, and brass often playing melodies in unison. The melodies were sweet and distinctive, flowing through the rhythm section. It was quite a nice effect. I believe Tall Dogs had one album. Their logo looked like a wood-block cut of three or so great danes but I can't remember if I saw the album cover or concert poster.

Memoire (76)

[California rock/psych (ala Byrds, Jefferson Airplane) mixed with small influences of Canadian prog bands such as Harmonium and Beau Dommage.]

Electronic Meditation (70), Alpha Centauri (71), Zeit (72), Atem (73), Green Desert (73), Phaedra (74), Rubycon (75), Ricochet (76), Stratosfear (77), Encore (77), Sorcerer (77), Cyclone (78), Force Majeure (79), Tangram (80), Quichotte (80), Exit (81), Thief (81), White Eagle (82), Logos - Live at the Dominion (82), Hyperborea (83), Poland (84), Flashpoint (84), Le Parc (85), Underwater Sunlight (86), Pergamon (86), Tyger (87), Livemiles (88), Optical Race (88), Lily On the Beach (89), Melrose (90), Rockoon (92), 220 Volt Live (93), Tangents 1973-83 (94, box set)

German space rock pioneers, basically three synthesizers. Early albums have sidelong tracks (or close to it), and slow developing themes, can be boring if you're not in the (ahem) "mood" for it. Later ('80s) albums got more poppy and new-age sounding, overly synthetic. Here's the ones I like Best: Phaedra, Sorcerer, Stratosfear.

They have some records with acoustic instruments (violins, saxes, flutes, real drums, guitars, many with electric guitars). Here are some of these albums that may fit to the progressive rock listener's ears: Force Majeur (guitar and drums make this album a fine space/classic prog rock album), Cyclone (many wind-instruments in a kind of Bolero. Vocals in German and English), Ricochet (a good live performance with guitars, some drums and samples), Underwater Sunlight (lots of electric guitars on the strong main track, good electric drums) and The Best Of Tangerine Dream, a nice double collection.

Tangerine Dream, held together by Edgar Froese, are the founders of the Berlin School of Celestial Studies. Much of the electronic space music of the '70s was created by artists from the Berlin area. Tangerine Dream were the pioneers who started it all. They have too many albums to cover in detail (and I don't have them all, anyway) but I'll cover several that I do have. The earliest album I have is Zeit, which is a two record set (both LP and CD versions). The music on this set is a a very nebulous blend of VCS3 synthesizer, organ, glissando guitar, moog, vibraphone and four cellos (!). The moog on the first (of four) tracks is played by Popol Vuh's Florian Fricke. Various synth tones shimmer amidst the aural layers much as the northern lights shine in the night sky. Very soothing and relaxing; also one of my favorite electronic albums. In 1974, Klaus Schulze, who was a member of Tangerine Dream for Electronic Meditation, released his landmark Timewind. Schulze's album was to have a major influence on the next several T-Dream LPs. Phaedra was the first of these and in many ways is a landmark album itself. Whereas Zeit was a dreamy, arhythmic soundscape, Phaedra was a haunting series of mutating, pulsating sequences overlayed with other VCS3 patterns, spacy mellotron, flute, guitar, eerie sound effects and more. The direction of the music is well-defined as the pulses quicken and rest, flow and ebb. "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares" is one of the spookiest pieces of electronic music ever written! Phaedra is an excellent introduction to both Tangerine Dream and the spirit of the Berlin celestial electronics. Rubycon and Ricochet develop on the sequential patterns of Phaedra. Each of these albums is a single 40 minute -- broken only by the LP side -- triple synth improvisation in real time. The usual thick tones of VCS3 and moog are supplemented with prepared piano and ARP 2600 on Rubycon. Ricochet was the first of many live recordings. (One concert of improvisation could easily lead to two or three LP releases, although it never did.) Ricochet is also a good T-Dream starter, a engaging and inventive design in musical thought and process. A year later, Tangerine Dream would release a soundtrack to "Sorcerer," the first of many such movie soundtracks. A few others have included "Thief," "Legend" and "Firestarter." Cyclone is a different direction from previous albums. In retrospect, it can be seen as the first brick in a long road toward their commercial, new-agey sound of the '80s. On Cyclone, the band includes a fourth member on drums, the first of any real percussion ever used by the band, and vocals. The five minute "Rising Runner Missed by Endless Sender" seems an attempt for a single but the 20 minute "Madrigal Meridian" is prime T-Dream, albeit with drums. The guys are armed with a large arsenal of keyboards, guitar synths and woodwinds. The clarinets add a new dimension to their sound and Cyclone is still full of the cosmic foundation around which the Tangerine Dream name is built. If it weren't for the occasional vocals and drums, this would be another classic. Still enjoyable despite a few flaws. Force Majeure, like Cyclone, has just three songs. The band is back to a trio but they lost a keyboardist and still use a drummer. The engineer contributes a little bit of cello. At the opening of the album, though, we're treated to a little bit of acoustic guitar. Combine this with some Richard Wright-like synth and you have a song reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here. This reference quickly evolves into synth sequences and guitar. With Cyclone and Force Majeure, Froese starting featuring the guitar much more, taking extended solos against the rhythmic patterns provided by the myriad synths. There are many good atmospheric moments on this album and there are no vocals, but Cyclone is the stronger of this pair. Tangram find the band back to three synthesists and the single, two-part song idea of Rubycon and Ricochet. It sound to me like the improvisational work of those two albums but with the slightly more accessible version heard on Cyclone and Force Majeure. One of the themes in "Tangram Part 1" would later be expanded on the follow-up album Quichotte. Overall, Tangram is a pretty decent album. Instead, though, I would recommend Quichotte or Pergamon. Though the latter was released in 1986, I believe it is the same as Quichotte. The song (single, two-parter) is called "Quichotte." This is a live improvisation on one of the themes first heard in Tangram. There is excellent interplay of the three sets of synths and Froese takes off on an excellent extended guitar improv. I'd recommend Pergamon as a good representative of their late '70s/early '80s sound. Finally, the last two albums of which I can speak are Exit and Melrose. Recorded the year after Quichotte, Exit marks a turn toward short, concise songs that marked (marred?) most of their '80s material. Most of the songs are in the 4-5 minute range. Only two are 8-9 minutes long and none are longer. Most of the songs sound like commercial (relatively speaking) attempts at singles. Not a very interesting album, as far as I'm concerned. Even worse is Melrose. Gone are invention and imagination. Replacing them is commercial, new-age drek that I don't find even remotely engaging. To get started both with Tangerine Dream and electronic space music in general, I'd recommend Phaedra, Ricochet or Pergamon, particularly Phaedra. -- Mike Taylor

The best-known German synth ensemble, and why not? They perhaps perfected the synth-space rock genre. Surprisingly, their first album contains NO synthesizers. I've heard Electronic Meditation described as "Pink Floyd playing the Stockhausen songbook", and that may well be nearly accurate. At this point the band consists of Edgar Froese (guitars, bass, organ), Conrad Schnitzler (flute, cello) and Klaus Schulze (drums). The sound consists of spacy guitar-driven improvisations, not unlike the sort of thing Schulze would subsequently do with Ash Ra Tempel. Only Froese remained for their sophomore outing: Alpha Centauri. Synths make it sound more sophisticated technically, but the music is group improvisation of the most diffuse kind, hard to appreciate when not under the influence of mind-altering substances. Zeit is a considerable step forward, with the band using almost nothing but synths to create dark, otherworldly colours and slowly shifting sound shapes. "Birth Of Liquid Plejades" includes a cello quartet and a guest appearance by Florian Fricke of Popol Vuh. But at an hour and fifteen minutes in length, it may be hard-to-take in all one sitting. Atem perfects their sound texturing prowess, adding mellotron to their keyboard banks. The side-long title suite is the focal point of this one. The best track probably is the ten-minute "Fauni-Gena," a hypnotic mix of artificial bird-sounds and disembodied whispers set to mellotron and organ background that is like being blindfolded and led by hand through an extraterrestrial jungle. I remember Phaedra and Rubycon as being better still, but haven't heard these in a long time. -- Mike Ohman

[See Agitation Free | Froese, Edgar | Haslinger, Paul | Schulze, Klaus | Steamhammer]

In Search Of A New Dawn (90), Eulogy (93), Entangled Scorpio Entrance (92)

Touted as Scandinavia's answer to Ozric Tentacles, I personally find as many differences as similarities. Tangle Edge, by comparison, sounds like an early seventies band, both in instrumental style and production qualities. Maybe more like early Amon Düül II, and they seem incapable of limiting even the most simple musical ideas to less than half an album side, which gets a little tiring at times, but overall they are a good band.

Tangle Edge are a relatively new Norwegian psych band that like to go off on extended guitar excursions. They have made quite a stir among psych fans. I have two albums, In Search of a New Dawn and the live, 2CD set Entangled Scorpio Entrance. In Search... is a good blend of acoustic and electric guitars, flutes, bowed guitar (sounding like an electrified hybrid of violin and sitar), moog and a variety of percussion (such as bells and bongos) weaved together into a cerebromorphing series of songs. The eight minute "A Secret Inside Clopedia" is a celestial blend of bongos, acoustic guitar and the bowed electric guitar; other songs, such as "Caesar's Integrated Flaw" and the 15 minute "Solorgy" are mind-bending electric jams. Most of the songs are in the 2-5 minute range. This album is a solid doses of psychedelia! Entangled Scorpio Entrance finds the band down to a trio (they had been five members) in a live setting so their sound is parred down relative to In Search.... On this outing, you can hear the band's propensity to go off on long guitar jams. The longest track is nearly 30 minutes and four others are between 14-20 minutes. Heck, the remaining two songs are each more than nine minutes in length and the total set runs just shy of two hours. None of these songs appear on In Search of a New Dawn. The trio is just electric guitar, bass and drums. The long (relatively speaking) songs tend to run on a bit but I don't mind so much when I have a buzz on. It's not the recommended starting place though. Tangle Edge are recommended *only* to psychedelia fans. Most prog fans will find it boring, I'm sure. -- Mike Taylor

Norwegian band that was heavily influenced by Amon Düül II circa Yeti. In fact, if you didn't know otherwise, you'd swear In Search of a New Dawn was made around 1972 in Germany. Even the song titles ("Mushy Shadows "From A Lost Caravan", "Isis At The Invisible Frontispiece") are attempts at the druggy non-sequiturs of Dance of the Lemmings. All this said, there isn't much on In Search Of A New Dawn that wasn't done better before. Not bad, but I'd rather listen to Dance Of The Lemmings. -- Mike Ohman

Child of Never Ending Love (72), Saddle Soap (76)

Laid back psych w/ West Coast feel; for Dead and Jeff. Airplane fans.

Misterios e Maravilhas (77), Holocausto (78), Humanoid Flesh (81)

This is an amazing band! Their first two albums are an extraordinaire progressive experience! They have just the basic setup of keys/drums/guitar/bass/vocals, but they have some quite good compositions! They have a very melodic kind of prog, with lush keyboards (limited thou), good guitarist, and an *excellent* bass/drums section! You won't believe the drummer. He simply is amazing! I'm not sure, but I've heard this guy (name is Toze Almeida), toured with Peter Gabriel! The vocals, in Portuguese, are surprisingly good. Their Portuguese is different from Brazilian Portuguese, much better, IMHO. :) On the second album they really show all they can do. The drums/bass are furious, the new keyboardists pulls up some better sounds (mellotron, VCS, etc), making a hell of a nice record! An instant comparison to be made is to Yes, but if you think over it, you won't find any big similarities. This band is on my TOP 10, but I know some people that don't like this guys at all, so.... -- Luis Paulino

Tarántula 1 (76), Tarántula 2 (77)

Tarántula was part of the first wave of Spanish progressive band from the 70's. A five-piece of guitars, keys, drums and bass, fronted by capable lead vocalist Rafael Cabrera, who often changes from a near folksy familiarity to an operatic vengeance in a matter of moments. The sound tends to be keyboard driven, although not overly complex, and is supported well by the rhythm section and good writing. Their style is fairly original, elements of rock, classical, blues, folk and other forms in various extended arrangements, with changing tempos and rhythmic textures. Some rudimentary comparisons might be made to some of the Italian bands of the same period (the 4-piece Le Orme, for example), but an occasional hard-rock outburst lends the band a different character beyond the progressive realm, giving them a truly chameleon feel. But it's not the musicianship that stands out here (although it does stand strong), but the excellent writing coupled with Cabrera's powerful vocals. These two factors, taken together with some clever arrangements, give the music a strength far beyond what might typically be expected, yet at times the arrangements tend to become a little overbearing and thwart some excellent possibilities within the music, offering little more than simplistic melodic keyboard riffing - but somehow these episodes never seem to last long and things quickly get back into good balance. In short, the keywords here are powerful and tasty.

Tarántula had been described to me as some of the best prog to come out of Spain. I'd say that was hype. In my opinion, there were much better bands such as Iceberg, Atila, Mezquita, Crack, Gotic, Granada...well, the list goes on. Tarántula, under the leadership of Vicente Guillot, released two albums of which I'm aware, unimaginatively named Tarántula 1 and Tarántula 2. Tarántula 1 is the most progressive which is probably why I think it is the better of the two albums. The first contains strong presence of both vocals and keyboards, as well as a good dose of guitar and some flute. Only one short song is entirely instrumental. I don't know what it is about this album but I just can't get completely into it. There are some nice melodies, decent (but not outstanding) musicianship, and a fair amount of complexity but I'm never drawn in. Maybe it's the dramatic vocal style that I don't like. Maybe it's an average rhythm section. I guess I just expected more after listening to the likes of some of the bands mentioned above. Tarántula 2 has all new members except for Guillot. The album is a heavier, more rock-oriented album with both male and female vocals. It sounds like they're trying to do the Uriah Heap combination of hard rock and art-rock. The female vocalist is positively sinister sounding. I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley! As far as I'm concerned, Tarántula are not a very good representation of good Spanish progressive. -- Mike Taylor

Peru (??)

Tasavallan Presidentti (69), Tasavallan Presidentti (70), Lambert Land (72), Milky Way Moses (74)

The Tasavallan Presidentti of 1969-1971 was like a totally different group from the later outfit. The first (eponymous) album was recorded and released in 1969 by Love Records (LRLP-7S). In 1990, it was re-issued on CD (LRCD-7) by Siboney. This first album is sophisticated pop - with a hint of jazz - and more melodic (and, to my mind, far better) than the later "progressive" stuff. This LP (as well as the second one) features Frank Robson, a British expatriate, on keyboards and lead vocals. Robson is rumoured to have been a member of an early line-up of the Small Faces, but I never have been able to confirm this! However, it is certain that in 1968 he had replaced Jim Pembroke as the lead vocalist of Blues Section (another remarkable Finnish group) which split into Wigwam and Tasavallan Presidentti in late '68/early '69. After the Finnish album and a further single, the boys were taken interest in by the Swedish EMI/Columbia. This resulted in the second album also called Tasavallan Presidentti. This LP (Swedish Columbia 4E 062-34264) was recorded in August 1970 in Stockholm, Sweden, with Bob Azzam producing. The album included a couple of re-recorded songs from the Finnish album and singles, along with a bunch of brilliant new material from mainly Jukka Tolonen, Groundstroem and Robson. Somewhere in the process EMI and/or Azzam lost their interest and the album was given virtually no promotion. Too bad because I think it is their finest moment! The Columbia album has apparently never been re-issued and now easily fetches the equivalent of $250. Robson was eventually replaced by Eero Raittinen and the band went REALLY progressive (and almost conquered the world), but that's another story. -- Jari Hartikainen

This Finnish band features the good guitar work of Jukka Tolonen, as well as the sax and flute of Pekka Poyry. Showing jazzy/Canterbury (at least on Lambertland, the only album I have by this band) tendencies, Tasavallan Presidentti can be thought of as a guitar version of Soft Machine or, more accurately, Wigwam. As a matter of fact, Eero Raittinen's vocals remind me a bit of Jim Pembroke of Wigwam. Tolonen and Poyry guested on Wigwam's Fairyport (Poyry was also a guest (member?) on Being). There are no organs or other keyboards. One short song (3+ minutes) but most are in the 7-8 minute range so there is plenty of extended soloing from both Tolonen and Poyry. If you're looking for a guitar version of Wigwam or a fan of that general style, then I highly recommend this band. Canterbury/Soft Machine might also like this a good deal.

Jazzrock band featuring some of the leading lights of Finnish music: fusion guitarist Jukka Tolonen, the late jazz sax virtuoso Pekka Poyry. Milky Way Moses exudes a sort of Roxy Music feel with the raucous rock feel and heavy emphasis on sax. But Tasavallan Presidentti have a truly jazzy bent to them, centered mostly in Tolonen's fine guitar solos. Poyry blows a mean sax here and there, also adding flute and piano. Vocalist Eero Raittinen for the most part is a typically blustery rock belter, but always keeps his vocal intonations appropriate to the mood of the song. The wacky lyrics are by Wigwam mainstay Jim Pembroke. Very unconventional and lots of fun. -- Mike Ohman

[See Tolonen, Jukka | Wigwam]

Illusions of a Night (81), Works 1976-1981 (81)

Taurus's music was strongly influenced by UK prog rock bands such as Genesis, Yes, etc. Works is a collection of some of their material that was reworked, and provides a good overview of the band's style. The vocalist operates on a higher octave, like Jon Anderson, and the music is solidly in the "progressive" vein, combining influences from Genesis and Yes. There are long instrumental interludes in the classic style, with moog and guitar leads over string backgrounds accompanied by variant drums and percussion. For those who prefer their progressive rock in the melodic, symphonic style, this CD should have a good deal of appeal.

Taurus was a progressive trio, their sound was very colorful and melodic, but simple in style and not overly complex, and very accessible. Dominated by keyboards, some parallels could be made with Machiavel's Mechanical Moonbeams or Differences' The Voyage. Given that, Works is very solid and offers the listener a wide range of dynamics and mood shifts, with striking melodies driven by soaring synth leads and a generous helping of mellotron, reminding sometimes of Genesis' Selling England By The Pound. The vocalist is okay, but sings with a very strong accent and may annoy some, and the English lyrics are pretty stupid sometimes. Unfortunately, the second album is far less inspired, I can't put my finger on exactly why, but it just doesn't measure up in terms of originality, and is far more commercial.

An Asylum For The Musically Insane (69), Jo Sago (70)

Prog.

Piggy Go Getter (70), Tear Gas (71)

Scottish Prog.

Teclados Fritos (78)

Keyboard Prog.

Continente Perdido (80)

Symphonic prog ala Pulsar.

Atabal Yemal (80), Pesadilla Sin Final (??)

This band was fairly well known in their native Venezuela, but mostly for the more commercially acceptable stuff that came later in their career. Their early albums are exceptionally melodic, somewhat jazz and South American folk-influenced, with plenty of fresh and innovative ideas, bursts of synth-driven musical color, and well thought-out arrangements, bordering fusion at times, acoustic folk-pop at others. Vocals tend to be low key and fairly sparse, leaving plenty of room for instrumental stretch. The lineup includes synth/piano, drums/vibes, bass/vibes, and vocals/acoustic+electric guitar. The album Atabal Yemal from 1980 is an excellent example of this early progressive period.

Art (73)

Ex-Il Volo.

[See Volo, Il]

Tempest (73), Living In Fear (74)

After the breakup of Colosseum, Jon Hiseman (drums) tried it again, this time with a very young Allan Holdsworth on guitar. The result was a debut album of moderately interesting rock album with a somewhat heavy feel to it. Constipated may be the best description although somewhat harsh. The first few tracks kind of plod along as if they were waiting for something to happen, but it never did. About half way through the album, things got better but it never did live up to its potential. The melodies are good and emotional, but it leaves you with the desire to have them just cut loose, just once. The second album, Living in Fear, shows a renewed energy and a more straight ahead rock orientation. An energetic cover of Lennon and McCartney's "Paperback Writer" was a showcase for the powerful rhythm section of Hiseman and Mark Clark (bass, keyboards). Recently passed away Ollie Halsall replaced Holdsworth and turned in an excellent performance doing double duty on keyboards. Paul Williams does a good job on vocals and the result is a nice rock album. The CD reissue has both albums on a single CD and is a good addition to a collection if for nothing else than to chronicle the beginning of Allan Holdsworth's career.

This band's one claim to fame is that guitarist Allan Holdsworth was a member. Otherwise there's not much to recommend this. The debut album is hard-rock solidly in the Deep Purple mode with ever-so-slight prog touches. The singer resembles (vocally) Peter Foeller from Birth Control. Fanatics of Holdsworth or hard rock may enjoy, otherwise not worth much. -- Mike Ohman

[See Colosseum | Holdsworth, Allan | Patto]

Bootleg (91), Serrated Edge (92), Sunken Treasures (93), Surfing to Mecca (94), Turn of the Wheel (96)

Not to be confused with the UK group of the same name, this band from the San Francisco Bay area is a contemporary Celtic-rock group comprising Norwegian-born singer/mandolinist Lief Sorbye (formerly of the traditional folk-music band Golden Bough) guitarist Rob Wullenjohn, fiddler (and occasional accordianist) Jon Berger, drummer Adolfo Lazlo, and bassist Ian Butler. They play some rocked-up versions of traditional tunes, but interpret them in very non-traditional ways, such as a version of "House Carpenter" performed in 3/4 with great solo exchanges on guitar and violin and a version of "Cats in the Corner" done with a reggae-funk beat and psychedelic guitar. They also have a number of original tunes that are written in the spirit of Fairport Convention or Jethro Tull. They have also explored Norwegian, American, and (most recently) Middle-eastern traditional music as well. As its name might suggest, the title track of Surfing to Mecca combines Middle Eastern-inspired flute and percussion lines with the sounds and rhythms of surf guitar in a way that is reminsicent of certain Ozric Tentacles songs, such as "Bizarre Bazaar." Their extant albums are in a vaguely similar style, although Serrated Edge is probably the one most likely to appeal to prog fans. It contains the aforementioned song "House Carpenter" as well as a rather proggish tune called "Tam Lin," in addition to a number of excellent rocked up ballads, reels, and other traditional tunes that demonstrate some smart and precise playing. Bootleg and Sunken Treasures contain earlier material that sounds a little bit less refined and involves less instrumental virtuosity. It's still quite good, but not as appealing, perhaps, to prog fans as Serrated Edge or Surfing to Mecca. -- James Chokey

NOT Allan Holdsworth's Tempest, but rather a folk/rock band from San Francisco hailed by some as the new Jethro Tull. Points of comparison would be Tull's folkier output and Fairport Convention's Liege and Lief and Full House. Even Dave Pegg loves 'em! Great arrangements of folk tunes and self-penned songs, and a killer version of "Tam Lin" that will make you forget about Fairport for at least a few weeks.... :-) They also do "Matty Groves" at their gigs. Not really prog, but if you dig Steeleye Span, Fairport or Tull, these guys are the best current band playing that style, hands down. The best one I've heard anyways.

Tempest plays a rock music with strong folk influences. In fact, traditional Celtic (reels) and Scandinavian themes inspire most of the tracks on Turn of the Wheel. Text-based, the tracks show the usual rock arrangements (guitar, keyboards, bass and drums) but it's the melodic work of the vocals, mandolins, flutes, violin and harmonica that insure a distinct flavour. An excellent production with a sound that evokes Jethro Tull or Garolou with their rock interpretation of traditional music. -- Paul Charbonneau

10cc (73), Sheet Music (74), The Original Soundtrack (75), How Dare You (76), Deceptive Bends (77), Live And Let Live (77), Bloody Tourists (78), In Concert (78), Look Hear (80), Ten Out of 10 (82), Windows In The Jungle (83), Meanwhile (??), Greatest Hits (??), The Worst Band In The World (??), Mirror Mirror (95)

Debate may rage as to whether groups like 10cc (and Supertramp, Queen, Split Enz and others for that matter) are indeed progressive bands. 10cc are ostensibly a pop band, but enough of their material was eccentric and non-mainstream to qualify them for consideration as a forward thinking, oft-times experimental progressive pop band, and one that many prog listeners should have no trouble enjoying. Their first album sounds pretty much like what it is: a collection of good songs written by four multi-instrumentalist studio musicians at a time when they were otherwise unemployed. It produced an accidental hit ("Rubber Bullets"), and contained a few great tunes, but was severely mainstream. Their second Sheet Music is probably their most brilliant, both lyrically and musically, with a keen sense of humor permeating every track. Original Soundtrack was more of the same, a little more low key/tongue in cheek, but a good move forward nonetheless. How Dare You is a mixed bag, showing some positive dynamics within the band which was about to split in two, its diversity is its strength, much like Spirit's 12 Dreams of Dr.Sardonicus. In the end, Godley and Creme split to work on their Gizmo (a musical instrument they designed), leaving 10cc as a duo. Deceptive Bends seemed like an attempt by the two remaining (Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart) to prove they could still go forward without the others...but the result was a good, yet remarkably uninteresting album, packed with hits. A full group was then recruited and the band hit the road, from that tour came Live and Let Live, which gave new life to some of the old tunes and meaning to the new material. Bloody Tourists was an outstanding effort, featuring a lot of new-found Carribean influence, excellent tunes, and probably ranks second among their albums overall, but stylistically it basically works the pop side, not the area that one would consider progressive. After that the band put out two back-to-back stinkers in Look Hear and Ten out of 10, nearly void of humor, fresh ideas or even any memorable tunes for the most part. Surprisingly, the final album Windows In The Jungle was very good, maybe their best since How Dare You, not only loaded with musical wit and lyrical sarcasm, but with a lot of new ground covered...and like How Dare You, it preceeded the big breakup; Gouldman went off to form "Wax" (real boring stuff) and Stewart went to god knows where. In '91 the band reformed, I'm not sure if it's the original four-piece or the later Gouldman/Stewart led band. One album was released, but I haven't heard it yet.

British pop quartet who evolved from Hotlegs. Their consistently fascinating experiments with recording-studio technology makes them interesting to prog fans. With the exception of the haunting "Speed Kills" and the goofy "Rubber Bullets," the first album isn't as innovative as they would later become. Most of this album is dedicated to silly '50s doo-wop parodies, songs about Charles Atlas and other such nonsense. Sheet Music on the other hand is brilliant from beginning to end! Not only using mellotron and synths, but also a guitar-bowing device they invented called the Gizmo, this one is sure to be seized by prog-heads. "Hotel" is a funny little ditty with a Caribbean flavour with lots of percussion, weird synth effects and eerie use of mellotron. "Somewhere In Hollywood" is a very pretty, heartfelt ballad that goes through several different phases. Even the hit singles "Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love" are very good. Layered overdubs give them a sound no other commercially successful band of the time even came close to approaching. Which explains their commercial success, they were the only pop band of the time that even approached the multi-dimensional richness of the Beatles. Fans seized this album, as well as future ones. Original Soundtrack produced the worldwide hit single "I'm Not In Love". With its weird looped choral vocals, it certainly sounded like nothing else on the radio ever before, or ever since for that matter (How they did those effects is still a mystery). The album is another good one, including an ersatz Broadway production number ("One Night In Paris"), a great hard-rocker with anti-religious lyrics ("Second Sitting For The Last Supper") and another loony toon with punny lyrics ("Life Is A Minestrone"). One must behold the intricate layers of sound included in each little song: "Brand New Day" incorporates strings, the Gizmo, marimba, tympani as well as piano, synth and guitars. "Flying Junk" includes weird reversed autoharp strums as well as heavy sheets of guitars and both 4 and 6 string bass. How Dare You! is a rather schizophrenic album which still manages moments of brilliance, if not cohesiveness. The highly percussive instrumental title song leads directly into the beautiful, lush "Lazy Ways." "Don't Hang Up" is a pretty, orchestrated semi-ballad with some witty yet poignant lyrics. This one includes another smash hit: "I'm Mandy Fly Me." The lyrics were based on the popular airline commercial, the music features more backwards "Flying Junk" autoharps and a wonderful middle section with multiple guitars. Godley and Creme left afterwards, and Deceptive Bends was recorded as a duo. A noble attempt to maintain the quality Godley and Creme always insisted on, but it's only partially successful. The infinitely catchy "The Things We Do For Love" was another major hit for them. "Modern Man Blues" is a pretty good hard rocker incorporating oboe (!), while "Marriage Bureau Rendezvous" is apparently an attempt by Gouldman and Stewart to rewrite "I'm Mandy Fly Me" their way, i.e., without the quirkiness. Note the rather blatant rip-off of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence" at the beginning of the otherwise good 11-minute track "Feel The Benefit." Their last good album, at least that I heard. The live album Live And Let Live was recorded with a seven-piece line-up. I haven't heard it, but am always wary of live albums by primarily studio-oriented bands. Bloody Tourists was recorded with this new, extended lineup. The music is for the most part bland, sub-McCartney pop with the odd disco or reggae flourish to keep up with the times. It's boring as hell. Ditto for Look Hear and Ten Out Of Ten, which are just the boring pop alone. Windows In The Jungle is reportedly a return to form. I only saw it once, and never heard it. They recently did a reformation effort with all four members entitled Meanwhile. I don't know anything about this one (re: the quality, anyway). -- Mike Ohman

[See Mandalaband | Godley and Creme | Ramases]

'70s Japanese band that later became Ain Soph.

[See Ain Soph]

I Teoremi (72)

The song "Tutte Le Cose" from the 7" is the Italian version of the song "With You There To Help Me" from Jethro Tull. The album has a Led Zeppelin sound. When the band dissolved, Aldo Bellanova went to play with Samadhi.

[See Samadhi]

O Terco (73), Criaturas Da Noite (75), Casa Encantada (76), Mudanca de Tempo (78), Time Travellers (92)

This is one of the first progressive bands in Brazil. Their first album is a mix of rock'n'roll songs (as on most Brazilians albums of that time), and progressive rock. There's a very nice side-long suite, with good vocals and elaborate arrangement, and the usual folky touches. But their real mark was set with the follow up, Criaturas da Noite. This album is quite good, so good that it deserved a special version with English vocals that, IMHO, is better than the original, due to the "hippie" lyrics of the time. Apart from the usual rock'n'roll songs (this time limited to two!), we've got some good folky numbers, and also two *excellent* symphonic pieces, the wonderful "1974", and "Ponto Final". These songs are full of classic mellotron and Hammond organ, nice vocals sung like a choir (no lyrics), and very good musicianship. This is by far their best album, and I recommend it to anyone into '70s symphonic rock! After this album, they started touring heavily, and somehow their follow up wasn't the success that it should've been. Casa Encantada has more of those horrible rock'n'roll songs, but still has some great truly prog moments, comparable to the ones in Criaturas. Overall, a good album, specially if you like folky numbers (there are plenty of them). By the time Mudanca de Tempo was released, the band was quite changed, and it's clear that they're not the same. Only two (very short) good pieces, the rest being more of the horrible rock'n'roll stuff that abounds on many records from that time. After this record, they kept on releasing *horrendous* music, including some solo records by guitarist Sergio Hinds. Some members formed a poppy/folky group called 14 BIS, and also other groups appeared with old members, also in the folky vein. In 1992, Sergio Hinds brought the group back alive. That was certainly a bad idea, as their comeback album Time Travellers is comparable to the worst neo-prog stuff you can think of, and please notice that I have nothing against neo-prog bands, it's just that their album is *weak*! The vocals are horrible, sung by Hinds (he was never the singer on the old albums), with some "plastic" keyboards, and mechanical rhythm section. After you hear the album, it's clear that it was made just for the bucks, to cash in the group's early fame. I don't recommend this last album to anyone, unless you're seriously into masochism.... :) Something worth noticing is that both CDs reissued by Vinyl Magic (Casa Encantada and Criaturas) contained the English version of their albums. The original, sung in Portuguese, is yet unreleased on CD (as of 1995), and tracks from those albums (and some others) can be found on a Brazilian compilation of their early material, that is long OOP, and hard to find. -- Luis Paulino

[See 14 BIS]

Terpandre (81), Terpandre Réédition (88)

Excellent one shot symphonic band, with excellent violinist. Nice mellotron and keys, and very good melodies.

An excellent French instrumental band, now defunct. The band featured dual keyboards (synth, acoustic and electric piano, mellotron) and violin by Patrick Tillman (ex-of Zao). The music is very romantic and lyrical, full of color and warmth. At times quiet and delicate, at others pyrotechnic and powerful, its only problem is that the production was rather low-budget, but the spirit of the writing and performance more than make up for any technical shortcomings.

[Terpandre Réédition is a Musea LP reissue of the original 1981 album.]

Melody and Menace (82), Braille (84), Within (88)

Released three albums of keyboard-dominant music influenced to some extent by Gentle Giant and Yes.

I never thought that anyone would succeed making progressive music with the short song format, but Carl Tafel's Terraced Garden comes very close. With a variety of styles that reminds me of too many prog bands to list here, the music is very interesting, and often shines big time.

Canadian song-oriented progressive with lots of vocals, excellent harmonies. The sound is like a cross between late sixties SF folk-rock (the vocal harmonies), early It's a Beautiful Day (the violin) and King Crimson (the Frippoid guitar and occasional dissonance). Of the three albums, the first (Melody and Menace) and third (Within) are the most powerful overall, Braille is every bit as good as the others, but more moody and low key. All are very nice, grow on you.

Terreno Baldio (74), Beyond the Brazilian Legends? (76), Terreno Baldio (92, re-recorded version of first album.)

Terreno Baldio was an old Brazilian band who started in about 1973 or thereabouts; they were made up of Robert Lazzarini (keyboards), Mozart Mello (guitars) and Joao "Fusa" Kurk (vocals), with various people in the rhythm section. They put out their first album, Terreno Baldio, in '74, and according to the liner notes on my CD it became something of a collector's item. After several more years and another album called something like Beyond the Brazilian Legends (1976, if the liner notes are accurate; I can't remember the Portuguese title) they broke up. When the time came to release Terreno Baldio on CD, the master tapes had disappeared, so Lazzarini, Mozart and Fusa were brought together again in 1992 to re-record the songs with up-to-the-minute technology, and that's what's on the CD. (They also added two songs which had been written about the same time as the record but weren't included.) I haven't heard the original album, but I like the sound of this better than most of what I've heard using similar technology--perhaps this is because the music wasn't written for the instruments being used and they went to some pains to reproduce the original sound as closely as possible. They sound a little like Gentle Giant, but this is mostly because of the long, twisty melodic lines. Don't go getting this hoping for multi-part vocal harmonies and recorders, because you won't get them. In general, it's quite accessible-sounding, with very short songs (well, very short for progressive; the longest is seven minutes, while most of the rest are between three and five), but there's enough intricacy and twists that most of it sounds a little difficult for FM radio. The lyrics are in English, and those of you with strong prejudices against foreign accents and bad grammar should probably avoid this. The songs are split between two different concepts: the first, "Empty Lot" (which is "Terreno Baldio" translated into English), tells of the "empty lot" within us all on which we dump our bad feelings of the day, which are then cleaned up by a mysterious being named Aqueloo; the second, "Blue Bird," appears (as far as I can make out) to be the story of a young bird and its first attempts at flight. Neither of these concepts are adhered to particularly strictly, and there are several songs which don't seem to fit into either of these schemes. For some reason, my personal favorites are the "new" tracks, "Elder Mirror" and "Aqueloo," which are longer than most of the other tunes and, IMO, a bit better musically. Warning: none of the above applies to "The Sea and the Love," which has none of the characteristics described above (other than being played by the same musicians) and sounds like a soft-rock tune. You may wish to program your CD player to skip this one. -- Michael Walpole

The 1992 CD is a re-recording of the 1974 album with English lyrics and some track differences. It's rather complex, yet accessible. The new version sounds a lot like "neo-prog", so one can only wonder what the original sounds like. -- Mike Ohman

El Profeto (??)

Egg The Universe (88), Human Race Party (89), The Fable On The Seven Pillows (91)

Super super lush neo-prog outfit from Japan, who make very synthy music in the vein of Marillion and all of those. While not quite as derivative as their English cousins, the Symphonia will definitely appeal to fans of those bands. The best one is Terutsugu Hirayama's 1983 Castle Of Noi, which while not classic, is quite good. I like vocals in almost all languages, but this band's female vocals in Japanese really gets on my nerves after a while.

This band, led by guitarist Terutsugu Hirayama (who was originally with the band Novela) has an extremely powerful symphonic sound somewhat reminiscent of mid-period Renaissance, but more extreme in every way. Their sound is positively stunning. Yes, there are vocals all over their albums and I don't understand a word of them but I don't care. Vocalist Megumi Tokuhisa is a chameleon of sorts, within the same song she can switch from sounding like an innocent child to a very dynamic and powerful singer. Of the three albums, the first (Egg) is probably the easiest to sink your teeth into, but the third (Fable) may be the most musically sophisticated, moving away from the neo-prog sound and more into the area of bands like The Enid. Hirayama also has a solo disc Castle of Noi that is similar in style and pre-dates the other three (i think). Rumor has it that in concert they are every bit as powerful as one might be led to believe by their recorded output.

[See Novela | Pale Acute Moon | Pazzo Fanfano di Musica]

Teska Industrija (76), Ho-Ruk (76)

Prog.

The History of Secret Life (??)

Helmut Teubner is a German synthesist whose third release shows him building on his reputation as a Teutonic Mark Shreeve. The music is electronic power rock, delivered in very much the same fashion as Shreeve did on his recent works, Legion and Crash Head. Anchored by powerful drum and bass patterns, with twittering sequences in the background, and melodic and strong lead passages on keyboard and guitars, Teubner can be regarded as a more "electronic" version of Yanni.