PSYCHEDELIC/SPACE ROCK

It is again one of the few albums I have in both formats as my original vinyl has 'seen better days'. I would recommend the remastered version of the CD....I think they did a limited LP run too....pops and hisses aside of my original, the sound is much much better.

And click play: Yup it is in the right category. This is as psych/space rock as a very very psych/space rock thing. What reference point would you use if you didn't know the musicians? You may get to mentioning Gong, but by no means first and foremost. We can only imagine what DH thought was the best soundscape for his lyrics/voice/spoken to be enhanced or represented by but this does fit well. I would question his state of mind/drug/s of choice if anyone thought Fille de L'Ombre works . And this from a guy (me) who has a near full Acid Mothers Temple catalogue! Sometimes noise is just noise... Being a Meanderthal kind of person I am a big fan of the 21 min Cielo Drive with its wanderings and seeking of the most interesting paths to get to its destination. DH 's vocals are close to a French crossover pop/chanson guy of the day called Michel Polnareff which is a bit of a juxtaposition. It may be intentional or accidental. We will never know.

Anyhow I shall cease meandering. If I want Gong I reach for Gong, not this. But I will reach for this on its own merits.

Well over 4 stars but a 5 would be a tight fit by the PA criteria.

Sketches of Brunswick East I This one does a great job setting up not only the tone of the album in its entirety but also the melodies heard on each of the 3 self-titled songs. The melody is set up great, and I love how it develops over the course of the songs. I love the vast difference that this album has with its predecessor, especially seen in this song as it's very chill and collected. The delicate acoustic instruments on this one like the flute (and the cool effects they layer on it) as well as the piano. Overall this song is a great opening to the album!

Countdown Now I love pretty much everything about this song except for the vocals. Stu's strained vocals on this one just don't really work for me, I used to absolutely hate them, now I'm just not fond of them. When the song layers the vocals on top of each other at the end, that is pretty cool and works for the song. This song does make up for it for having some really cool time signature changes and the flow of the song harmonically works great. The vibraphone on this one is a great addition to the song and adds the acoustic vibe that they have going. Also the electric keyboard solo on this one is really good, I love how it pans between ears mimicking the dizzying nature of the solo itself moving quickly.

D-Day The counting down lyrics on this one and the bass line stand out for me the most on this track, as well as the return of some microtonal synths and guitars. They blend the instruments really well on this track and it sounds really good with just how much is going on rhythmically. The little synth solo sounds really great, and I love how cool some of the effects on these synths are to get these sounds. The ending playing Tezeta but slowed down is pretty cool, and another trend on this album of imitating a record skipping sound.

Tezeta The varied vocals on this one really make this chorus especially sound very chant-like. I also enjoy how it uses Joey, Stu, Han-Tyumi, and other people to tell the story, not just one person in typical Gizz fashion. This one is certainly one of the more catchy songs on this album and it can be a little hard to follow on the verse, but it works so well seeing how playful it feels. The chord progression moving from i-iiø compliments the vocals a lot as well, and once it finally resolves to the V it sounds great. The second verse switching up to 6/8 illustrates the amount of creativity these guys have, really wanting to play with the time signatures in these songs to assist the storytelling. Also when they bring it back to 12/8 it sounds super resolved. I'm not sure of what synth they use at the end of the solo but it sounds great. Also this song supposedly gives us more lore so points for that as well!

Cranes, Planes, Migraines Probably my favourite of the instrumental interludes on this album. The 7/8 feel on this one especially stands out, and when it bounces between 4/4 it creates a really fun song to count out in your head. The bass line is great on this one, which seems to be a trend on this album. They definitely focused on a lot more of the instrumental stuff going on, not that they don't on other albums, just that this one seemed to get a lot of love. Also the harmonised flutes sound awesome.

The Spider and Me Certainly the silliest song on this list and the most absurd lyrics wise. I mean it's literally about being in love with a spider so uh, yeah. Pretty strange. Doesn't deter me from this one, honestly it's really fun to sing this one, and the lyrics have some really pretty moments like the "Laze in the afternoon sun, gazing at each other's beauty". The mallet percussion really aids the rest of the song on this one. Also the wah pedal sounds really good, especially with the various strumming patterns throughout. I like to think that they accidentally made the section that sounds very 'bow-chicka-wow-wow' in mood and just decided to roll with it, but who knows. Definitely one of my favourite songs on this album.

Sketches of Brunswick East II Another really good interlude, and listening all the way through, it's nice to get an album with more instrumental moments. The old timey intro is a fun change of pace for the songs, and transitions pretty well with another record switch kind of moment. It helps that this song is also in a different key, aiding with some of the change that's needed between the 3 songs. The flute melody sounds great once again, bringing back the familiar theme. The chordal electric keyboard solo is such a cool addition especially with how it moves out of key. I'm pretty sure the tonal centre is like an F phrygian, and the piano moves between Bb, B♮, Eb, Db, to resolve to Fmaj7/C, which can certainly be given credit to Alex from Mild High Club and his input. Along with those keyboard additions, the electric flourishes in the background are a really great detail on this track especially. All the instruments on this track blend really well, and create a great atmosphere.

Dusk to Dawn on Lygon Street I enjoy the beginning and the end of this song a lot, they set up an entirely different riff and it's a lot of fun. Also the intro/outro are really interesting chordally. The bass line is really front and centre in portions of this song which is really cool to listen to, especially with how melodic it is. The lyrics are so cute, and have some of the prettiest imagery on the album. The extra vocals that Cookie does are a great addition, and add to the silly nature of the song. When the bass does the minor modulation with the added sound effects, it really puts you in the location that they set up, and actually feels like the sun is setting and rising. Honestly this song is probably my favourite that Cookie has made.

The Book This is my favourite song that King Gizz has ever made. Easily it takes first place and I would honestly rate this song 11/10 just for how good it is. The microtones in this one and the riff that plays at the beginning with the synth sounds amazing, it adds to the eeriness of the story, and hearing it return throughout the song is so effective. I love how the story reflects the fact that every city has its problems and dangers. In this case the theme about religious insanity is so cool and really creepy. Hearing this song for the first time gave me chills for how well it worked for me. Especially when the instrumentation thins out and he says 'God, gave me a knife' is SO good. The sirens in the background as well, still reflecting the street sounds we hear in the album but a lot more ominous. Stu's vocals on this song are some of his best in my opinion, mainly because his voice is gravely enough and in the style that he does his metal songs in, but also because it fits the character he's singing as. Also the vocals in the background of this one work really well especially in the 'So I set up my sign, and told the passers by' section. The instrumentation is perfect on this one, utilising the microtonal synths alongside the bass, wah pedal, and excess synths with the latin style drumming. Every instrument gets its own highlight on occasion, especially the Latin percussion. The solos on this one work incredibly well, the back and forth between the toms and the keyboard is just so perfect. Chordally the song mostly just moves from E- to E diminished and it works so well, especially with the microtones thrown in. Also the chromatic bass when heading back into the chorus is amazing, and a fun switch up in the progression. The form of the song and especially with how it breaks down after the solo's and strips down to just drums and melody works really well to set up going back into the final chorus. Genuinely my favourite bits of composition from them ever, merging simple and complex ideas when needed and it flows so well. I will never forget the first time I heard this song and immediately adding it to my playlist.

A Journey to (S)hell Not a super amazing song, and it's especially overshadowed by the much better songs on this one. Also in terms of transition songs, this one is definitely the weakest one to me. It's got a really good bass line, some different synths (some work better than others, but they get a bit pitchy on this one). The funny little sound effects on this one are good, as well as the ending that teases You Can Be Your Silhouette using the distorted record skip style cuts.

Rolling Stoned Now in contrast, this one is probably the best transition song on the album. The melody is fantastic on this one, really catchy and really fun to count with the added time signature stuff. The instruments on this one are really well balanced and offer a lot in the way of rhythmic and harmonic interest. The use of the synths is much better on this one, featuring more interesting solos and just a really great vibe all in all. The acoustic piano on this one adds just an extra bit of instrument diversity, plus the kind of lo-fi jazz vibe works really well, and everything blends incredibly nice. The ending as well is great with how it cuts off before starting another A section.

You Can Be Your Silhouette This song especially is incredibly reminiscent of Paper Mâché Dream Balloon it is. It really pulls back the mood to an even more calming tone and melody throughout, even with the various riffs. The use of harmonica amplifies this, it's just very well formed overall. The boss drums really stand out and make this one unique, plus the really great chord progression in the first section. The transitions to the phrygian section near the end works great seeing as how different the riffs are, they just make it work so well. I like the super ambiguous ending, but I think I would've preferred a return to the A section, that's just me though.

Sketches of Brunswick East III This one is just another wraparound to the beginning theme, and sort of acts as the sun setting on the town as the album finishes. The theme feels finalised and complete, repeating the same progression and melody that we've heard, except maybe a little more calming. I enjoy how it's shorter and doesn't dwell super long, but once again this final instrumental doesn't really top any of the other ones on the album either. However it serves its purpose as the final song on the album.

Issues: The album has so many instrumentals that some get overshadowed compared to others, and some of the synth choices I consider to be a bit questionable. Really minimal complaints honestly.

Strengths: It's well formatted, interesting, unique, and brings a lot to the table seeing as how they worked with an outside person to help make this album. It has some really great melodies and lines, and keeps its ideas fresh and consistent. A really amazing entry in their catalogue.

This album after sitting on it for a while grew on me so much. I hold King Gizzards calm and collected albums in high regard, mainly with the level of balance and interest that they produce. This one's probably around the 4.7 stars for me, with it being one my favourite albums they've ever released.

Despite the most unlikely of settings, the tiny Namtsy produced one of the strangest space rock / shamanic tribe freakery of the modern era in the form of CHOLBON which got its start in 1986 and named after the morning star / planet Venus in the Yakut language. While completely isolated for the early years of its existence, the band was discovered by the Moscow based experimental art punk band Zvuki Mu in the late 1980s who was touring in the Sakhan region and invited the band to play outside the isolated regions of Siberia therefore CHOLBON gained a much wider appreciation throughout the former Soviet Union for exhibiting a very strange hybrid of music sounds that mixed the world of progressive space rock with traditional shamanic Sakha music.

The band of which has gone through many lineup changes over the decades started out with brothers Namoly Ilyin (bass guitar) and Grigory Ilyin (guitar, vocals) and emerged as a collective with a rotating cast of participants. The band's debut album Уhуктуу came out in 1989 and featured the bizarre mix of Pink Floyd inspired progressive rock along with the traditional local flavors that encompassed the traditional musical folk styles of the Sakha culture. The band used both rock / jazz instruments which included electric guitars, synthesizers and the saxophone as well as the traditional instrumentation that accompanied Sakha ceremonial music and shamanic excursions into the world beyond.

To say this album is bizarrely weird is an understatement for sure. While in many ways it seems aimless and really drifts through various styles of progressive space rock and shamanic indigenous chanting sessions, it would be more accurate to simply call it alienating as all lyrics are in the Yakut language and the musical motifs on board are just as distant since they gestated in isolation away from pretty much every other musical style in the world however it is interesting that Pink Floyd's music percolated into every tiny village across the globe thus triumphantly showcasing the ultimate success for a rock band! The album and band's music in general has been described as what would happen if Pink Floyd was dropped down into a Siberian indigenous culture to participate in a shamanic journey where all members participated in the musical creativity.

The album features five musicians: Yuri Vasiliev (Dyuur Bakhlai) - Jew's harp, vocals, Grigoriy Iliyn - guitar, vocals, Namoliy Iliyn - bass Aleksandr Ilyin (Aleksandr Mondo) - keyboards, sax and Aleksandr Ivanov - drums and appears to feature only two tracks titled "Уhуктуу ("Пробуждение")" and "Улыбка детства моего" which add up to about 44 minutes. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how the band delivers the shamanic ceremonial type traditional sounds and the totally Western space rock. At times they fuse together in a bizarre cross-culture mishmash but more often drift from one style to the other. Overall this is a fascinating album from a group that emerged from seemingly the middle of nowhere. While the tripped out value is quite high on this one, the entertainment value isn't the kind of rewarding musical expressions that beckons return visits, at least very often but when the right mood hits then you really couldn't ask for a more "out there" type of musical expression than CHOLBON's 1989 debut. Definitely one for the lovers of totally outsider weirdo music.

3.5 rounded down

For a band with a constantly recycled line up...the two mainstays were Mickey Jones (guitar/vox) and Terry Williams (drums) who went on to fame and fortune in Dire Straits (what a come down Tel!)...they managed to produce consistent albums and this one is most Man fans favourite. Their freewheeling jam aesthetic...and no, they were not the UK/Wales Grateful Dead, they were better than that.... is best found in the 4 long tracks that make up this album.

The keyboard riff that sets off, if not at a gallop then at least a damned good canter, C'mon is simple but instantly memorable with that warm now vintage sound that we associate with the best prog and related stuff from this era and the guitars add fills and complimentary rhythm as the song moves on. If prog is ever allowed to be 'a toe tapper'...I guess the jury are still out and stroking their beards on that one....then this is exhibit one m'lud. I sometimes struggle with the nasal vocals of Jones but he never goes in for hand wringing (well you can't if you are playing the guitar at the same time but run with it...) and strained emotions. The song then slides into a trippy slower section and the band use cleverly stacked vocals to create a choir type sound which pushes us back to the 'alleged' toe tapping riff/solos/rpt and end. Keep on Crinting is just a feel good well constructed instrumental with a slight flavour of country/rock (Bronco anyone?). Bananas is their celebration of all substances illegal, well, one in particular, and they do sound like a band fueled by it if we are honest. Then...Life on the Road eh! Who would have thought a 4/4 shuffle would fit perfectly on a 'prog' album, but it does you know! Will Youatt sings this one and his slight slur works well and this is real good time stoned vibe stuff...and exhibit 2 in the 'toe tapper' trial. You know, I'm going to flip it back over and play the album again. That says plenty. After that I might go and talk to some trees....

And if you ever come across Clive Johns You Always Know Where You Stand With A Buzzard album (1975) give it a try.

A fine album that blends influences into a coherent whole and better than the early average rating it has (currently 3.18) but I can't quite give it a 4...it is more a 3.5 ish.

Altered Beast: This section has some really great bits however the focus is all over the place. Considering there's sometimes melodies, counter-melodies, 2 different drums, synths, narration/vocals sometimes all at the same time, it can be a tricky task to balance. I think it does well in some cases like Altered Beast I, II, and IV, but in III especially when yet another melody is added onto the pile it gets difficult to follow what's happening melodically. Because of how this section is chopped up in various sections, there's just a lot happening plus the addition of the bouncing between the narration and the vocals, the section can't pinpoint exactly what it wants. Also because the section continuously jumps back to the Alter Me theme, you kind of just have to go along with its peculiar formatting. This is further pushed by the fact that the songs aren't very individual and have to be listened to all-in-one to even understand what's happening in the lyrics. I enjoy concept albums a lot, however this one just has too much going on. Now where I think this section shines is the blending of the instruments. If you approach each individual section and riff, they are genuinely really cool. The section at 1:29 in Altered Beast I is awesome with how it uses the really aggressive synths to play that melody. The mix of using distorted guitars and clean guitars (sometimes palm muting or using various pedals/effects) is a really cool effect I haven't really seen done simultaneously before in metal, though that might just be me. I also really enjoyed the use of synths in this entire album, even just the intro "A New World" uses the 'I think I see an altered beast by the tree' melody but using only synth, which works great as a setup. As well as that song introducing the aggressive nature of the rest of the album. The double panned drum kit will always be a favourite of mine, especially in these complex time signatures. Finally, the harmonica trading in Altered Beast II at 1:46 is a great highlight and I think adds onto what Nonagon Infinity did really well, incorporating the instrument in a more aggressive setting (also the ending of that song kicks so much ass). Rhythmically speaking this section definitely has the most interest, with it flipping between various time signatures and themes. They definitely challenged themselves with this album to work with more difficult rhythms and time in a hard rock context, using a lot of 7, 9, 11 based time signatures across the album. Altered Beast II is based in 9/8 and 9/4 generally and has a really fun continuous rhythm that plays nearly throughout. The riffs in the entire album don't give a lot of breaks, and are always doing something, which keeps the intense feeling for a while but can get pretty draining especially near the end of the album. Sometimes we get tempo changes like in Altered Beast III, but I'm not a fan of those particularly. The stop and start again in Altered Beast IV however sounds great using the guitars to build back up. I think that this is an issue that only partially crops up during this section, but the Alter Me theme gets tedious to me especially when getting to Alter Me III. What saves it partially is the dynamic change near the end of II and into III, which digs into Stu's falsetto, which I hold very dear to my heart. The story and narration are certainly front and centre in this album, and has something very similar to I'm in Your Mind Fuzz with the idea of mind control and corruption. I think the narration works to some extent during this section, with the voice done by Leah Senior, it can be very amusing to see her talk about such gruesome ideas happening in the story. It can be very distracting however from the melodic ideas happening in the background and vice versa. I'm pretty torn on whether I like or dislike it because of how it's placed in the context of the songs. The outro 'Life/Death' is one of my favourite bits because it hones in a lot more on the narration, and uses some cool effects to accompany it, like the sound of the altered beast dying which sounds awesome.

Lord of Lightning/Balrog: I think that all in all this section has some similar issues with focus, but it's not as bad as the first section by any means. The themes are more solidified with specific songs generally, and the songs are longer so there's a lot less intense back and forth juggling of themes. It's just the narration once again infiltrating the song a little bit too much for my liking. This section sets up in a similar way with the song The Reticent Raconteur using synths to do the theme before actually singing it, in this case it's the Lord of Lightning theme. There's some fake throat singing happening in this section, which I do like how it bookends the first and last songs of this part. The lyrics in this part are some of my favourites like the 'You made the atom split, it caused a massive rift!' line in Balrog that I love. Floating Fire as well has some cool descriptors like the 'Sky is bleeding hair' line. The lyrics are certainly very well thought out, and are very detailed in their descriptions, which I do enjoy just reading them like a poem-story more than anything. The effects on this part in particular are used really well with the synths and guitars doing a more show don't tell approach. For example the guitar feedback plus the spam tapping makes for a really cool lightning sound effect throughout the songs. That distorted effect is just so neat to listen to honestly, it adds to the intensity in a clever way while aiding the actual story. There's an organ used in Balrog that adds some new colour to the songs interlude as well, giving a very unholy vibe to what's happening. Also the end of Balrog with the callback to Trapdoor using a really strange sound effect I can't even name, but it sounds sick! Speaking of, there's a ton of references to other albums in this album. I didn't mention it, but the Evil Death Roll bass happens in the first part. This part features references to Nonagon Infinity in some really subtle and very obvious ways. The first song of this part 'Some Context' is literally just People Vultures, Lord of Lightning also just straight up has the lyrics 'Nonagon, Nonagon, Nonagon Infinity!'. However, as I mentioned in the Nonagon Infinity review, that line in particular actually uses the same melody as a small section of Big Fig Wasp, just slowed down. That was mind blowing to discover initially, and will still be one of my favourite callbacks they've done. Lord of Lightning also has a bass line from I'm in Your Mind Fuzz at the end. And of course the Trapdoor reference at the end of Balrog. Side Tangent: I'm really curious why the Trapdoor theme was placed there of all places because in this section they talk about the beginning of the battle and not the Balrog itself. I would presume that they kind of shoehorned Trapdoor into the storyline seeing as how ambiguous the lyrics are and how the video isn't particularly relevant as far as I can tell. I think having a returning theme like this was really cool to listen to as a fan, but to me it seems a bit weird to place it on this part of the song specifically. I can brush it off because it actually is a really sick reference. The reason I mention all of these references is to dictate how carefully they will approach these albums. Callbacks are some of my favourite things to hear in music, especially cross-album stuff, so props to these guys for just going at it and adding a bunch in this section for story reasons. Another reason is that they very rarely use the themes head-on (besides Some Context) and will usually change them slightly to be a little bit more difficult to see on a first listen, if you know their other music well.

Han-Tyumi and the Murder of the Universe: Another synth heavy intro, which seems to continue the formula they've set up here in the three parts. It's strange how something so chaotic could be considered predictable under these circumstances. I enjoy it, but hearing a very similar setup 3 times in a row feels like it's pushing it a bit. This part definitely feels a lot better organised, with some songs dedicated to Han-Tyumi, and some to Stu's vocals. The riffs are a lot more consistent, and granted they're not my favourite, the songs tend to hold their own pretty well. The highlight of this section is certainly the bionic voice using the text-to-speech 'UK, Charles'. Han-Tyumi (anagram for Humanity) closes off the 3 parts with a story about vomiting and accidentally killing the entire universe. Honestly, I was kinda disappointed with this ending a little bit. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly an interesting concept, especially with how it delves into the bizarre mentions of sex, pleasure, and galaxies from a self induced munting session. I just think personally it goes on too much of a tangent, and after about the 5th time they mentioned various descriptions of vomiting, I got the point. This section had some really strong moments especially in the beginning of the title track 'Murder of the Universe' and songs like 'Digital Black'. It's just that in comparison to the other sections, it feels somewhat lacking in something new. The voice is great, but it's not enough for me personally. It reuses a lot of the sound effects and synths already heard, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but that's another thing that's holding me back from liking this section as much. Okay I will admit though that the Soy Protein Munt Machine is absolutely hilarious, and especially when the voice kicks in.

Issues: This album tried to do too much in too little time. It can be incoherent and distracting at times with just how much stuff it's trying to accomplish. It somehow also manages to be tedious with its themes on top of everything. To me, especially nearing the end, it just doesn't manage to stick the landing with its final act. This album is great in concept, but they certainly did the best they could under the circumstances.

Strengths: There were some pretty strong melodies on this one, maybe like a 60/40 good to meh ratio. The lyricism could be really interesting and unique at times with how expressive they were. There was really great use of synths and mixing as well. From a purely storytelling point of view, it's really cool! Just maybe needed more fine tuning.

Overall this album has some good and some bad, but it's certainly an accomplishment of the band nonetheless. It was a difficult thing to pull off, and if anyone could even come close to doing something as intensely creative and experimental as this in a hard rock setting, it's these guys. I'm giving it 3 stars, though for me it's somewhere in the 3.4 stars range.

Tako was a Yugoslavian progressive rock band formed in 1974, in the days when Yugoslavia was a Communist country. Despite the clear differences between Yugoslavia and the other European Eastern Countries, Yugoslavia was a Communist country that always pretended to be more open and democratic to promote and encourage West World to expand its economy via a growing tourist industry. There was a side effect that leaded to a proliferation in music and in the arts in general. But, naturally, with such a state as Yugoslavia, it was essentially bands that we can call "safe" that made it and got albums made. However, there are few exceptions such as the prog bands Tako and Igra Staklenih Perli.

Tako's history began when the first line up of the band Opus broken up. Bassist Dusan Cucuz and multi- instrumentalist Djordje Ilijin invited guitarist Sava Bojic and drummer Milan Lolic. This becomes the first line up of Tako. In 1975, they had the opportunity to share the stage with a lot of famous bands of Belgrade. In 1976 the guitarist and the drummer left the band. So, a new guitarist Miroslav Dukic and a new drummer Slobodan Felekatovic joined the band. After a very good performance at the Belgrade Summer Festival, Tako played in front of an audience of 100,000 people at an open-air concert with other local bands. This brought them to record their eponymous debut studio album "Tako" in 1978. In 1980, Tako decided to record a second studio album, "U Vreci Za Spavanje". But, those were times of punk and new wave and both albums went unnoticed. After a proposal of reissue both albums, the band got the first master tapes, they already had the second, and Rock Symphony, a Brazilian record prog label, decided to reissue the albums in 1997.

Tako's second and final album is, in my humble opinion, a step up from their debut. They've changed their music to a much more spacey style with Pink Floyd and Eloy coming to my mind quite often. But, unlike their debut that has some vocals in their native language, "U Vreci Za Spavanje" is an instrumental album. It's almost a perfect example of one of my personal favourite styles of prog rock. That of what we can call symphonic fusion. It's quite simply instrumental progressive rock, but heavy on melody and tricky compositions. Each individual track can be appreciated entirely on its own, without having to worry about its sequence within the album. The guitarist plays in a decidedly rough manner, a type of psychedelic hard rock sound. The keyboards are vintage, a sound that one expects to hear for the style. The fact that Tako keeps the album interesting throughout each minute is a testament to how strong they were as a true unit.

Their overall sound is centered on a synthesizer played by a character named Djordje Ilijin. Miroslav Dukic's electric guitars play behind him and play quite symphonic music, sometimes with a hard rock, perhaps because of the solos of roaring synths and electric guitars, and sometimes with the smell of a certain pomp rock. But, like the so called second class symphonic prog bands, they never sound like a consistent hum or keyboard. The performance of these four members is very stable overall, and the performance of each member can be also considered to be quite good, really.

The title track opens with elegiac synth pads in the tradition of Pink Floyd, with the brilliant harmony of the synth sound and the flute. "Senke Proslosti" has a heavy bass performance. I really dig the heavy guitar riff with the spacey synth in the backdrop. "Na Putu Ka Sebi" also starts similar as the previous track. It's another fusion-style composition with nice solo parts of guitar, piano and synths. In the balladesque "Horde Mira", slightly pearling piano sounds enhance the wide-walled symphonic rock practiced here. With the following lengthy "Price O Leni" the mix of majestic keyboards and razor-sharp guitar riffs is taken to extremes. Unleashed power riffs and elegantly transfigured key aesthetics leave a lasting impression here and can set every bombastic friend in ecstasy. "Dolina Leptira" is a beautiful track with a nice guitar melody, majestic riffs, synth jamming and a piano solo in odd time signature. "Izgubljeno Nista" is a bonus track. That is led by guitar from the get go. It alternates between the fast heavy passages and the spacey parts. "Igra Devojcice", is a short track in the usual change of powerful pomp and dreamy romance. It closes the album pleasantly.

Conclusion: With their second and last album, Tako was able to perfect their style of spherical prog rock and offered purely instrumental compositions, which graze in an elaborate sound. I have listened before some works of several Eastern European bloc groups, but I haven't heard anything comparable to their works, really. It's obvious that this is a very good work, compared to any Western European works. The album has a perfection feel and its space is more spacey than their debut album, released in 1978. It's a dramatic dismal symphonic rock that at some times, despite the differences, reminds me the French symphonic prog band Angel. The song is filled with a variety of colors. It's highly recommended for those who are looking for more things from the psychedelic prog with an interesting twist coming from a rather exotic corner of the globe. Unluckily, this is another album unnoticed in the West behind the iron curtain.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Three long tracks including the side long opener "Garden Of Forking Paths" at close to 24 minutes. I'm such a fan of this track, it's quite adventerous even if understated at times. The guitar is impressive in it's various styles but this is a ride that I thoroughly enjoy. "Gelassenheit" is a ray of light on this record with NEU! coming to mind with this feel good groove. It's got that space jamming thing going on and when it turns heavier late look out! Like the OZRICS but better. "Brassica Blues" is the 11 minute closer and the hardest for me to get into but I have grown to appreciate it. I wish it was more engaging but it also has that dark, slowish sound that I like. It's very late before I'm really engaged but it's worth the wait so... there's that. And it's better cranked up I found. Still it keeps me from going 5 stars on this record.

A must and my favourite album by them so far.

As to the songwriting they missed the clue completely though. The albums is made up of an endless sequence of short tracks strung together in 4 larger movements. Most of it sounds like an ode to 'Shine On', almost as if it's a premature studio outtake right from 1974. The melodies are not quite there, the guitar is searching for that brilliant sequence of notes that would stick in the world's collective memory for decades to come, but no. Finding them it doesn't. Kudos to the keyboard player though whom I'd swear is the real and unmatched mr. Wright in person. It actually made me check out 'Wish You Were Here' for the first time in ages.

THE ENDLESS RIVER. It's kind of a cool name for a band, but naming their debut album 'Pink Floyd' is maybe a bit of a risk, not that they make any attempt to hide their main influence, but actually using that name, I'm not sure this won't end in some kind of lawsuit from mr. Waters.

The "Escondido Sessions" involve three drummers with one I'm not familiar with but we also get Hurley from ASTRA and Marrone from BIRTH as well as Mast playing bass from BIRTH and the wild card Shiroishi from CORIMA on sax. I was interested to see what Ellis would come up with here and he's gone down that rabbit hole called Free Jazz and I make no bones over the fact I just am not into this style. To over simplify it, it's Jazz music with a horn player wailing over top in a relentless and often dissonant manner right Pharoah Sanders? So the CORIMA guy does that throughout here but this guy is sure talented offering up some really cool sounds that had me shaking my head. It just gets annoying after a while when there's little in the way of melody.

My favourite part of listening to this 35 plus minute album is the drumming. Flat out so good, the purposed style and with Miles coming to mind right away on the opener with the electric piano with reverb and sparse bass and sax not trumpet here but yeah "Bitches Brew" with the atmosphere as it takes it's sweet time. So much of the time the music sounds distant but if not for the sax domination I'm going 5 stars for the musicianship alone. Just my tastes of course but this is a 4 star album and one of the very few in this style that I appreciate like this.

Brian Ellis has done it again and he's on the El Paraiso label here so mastered by Jonas Munk and art work by Jakob Skott but produced and recorded by Brian Ellis. Another very impressive work by Mr. Ellis.