VARIOUS ARTISTS (LABEL SAMPLERS)

Musically speaking, this boxset is no less excellent because of the artistes signed to the label were just as interesting as for the other labels that have been "anthologized" so far, but here, the period featured is much longer, stretching until 78 (as opposed to 72 or 73 for others), and for some strange reasons some artistes have been shunned as well? I'm thinking of Atacama, a Chilean group having recorded two albums in the label's glory years, or Doggerel Bank but most likely these are not the only case of voluntary omissions, since they could've easily shortened the life spectrum and take the third disc into these oft- forgotten releases. So that's a sad occasion lost to remind us of forgotten and obscure stuff in favour of better-known artistes ? thinking of VdGG and Hamill present here three or four times each. Most (over half, anyway) of the tracks chosen are coming from then- released samplers or single version of songs instead of the album versions. One of the reasons why I buy these boxsets is that it allows for variety when I have friends over, I don't have to worry about having to change discs every two or three tunes?.. however here again, this is relatively shot, because they felt obliged to include, not one but two Monthy Python sketches, which seems a real bad "faute de gout"?. Nevermind whether you enjoy Python's humour (I don't particularly, but that's only me), but placing the dumb and repetitive Spam Song is a compilationer's beginner mistake. If you really must include such a stinker, place it in last position so you can pop the disc out.

As for the rest of the tracks, there are some small surprises: the Lindisfarne tracks chosen are much proggier than the usual roll-out-the-barrel pub folk songs, or total unknown to progheads Topo Bill, Cliff T Ward or Hot Thumb O'Riley. This is why the above-mentioned Atacama and Doggerel Bank would've fitted fine in this fairly folky ensemble. Some more surprises on the first two discs: the excellent choice of Davison's Every Which Way or Capability Brown. However the third disc stretches beyond 74 including Solsburry Hill and even including some (great) Brand X tracks and diverse Hawkwind offshoots? I dare say this difference changes from comparable boxsets time span?

This now the sixth or seventh label (depending whether Philips/Polygram is out or not and) being anthologized with probably Virgin, Neon and Dawn still to come, but I'd say that this is probably the weaker boxset so far for the all the reasons I evoked above (not just the aesthetics). So it is the first of these boxset that will not get the usual four-star rating.

Harvest includes two of the highest selling-groups to come from the late-60's the Purple/pink Deep Floyd and of course they will be featured, but not abused. The first disc is out on a bad start with one of the crummiest E Broughton Band track, but the rest of the discs is more digestible, with some delightful Battered Ornaments, Piblokto (both with Pete Brown singing), Third Ear or even Bombadil, the later having recorded only one single. Of course every label has its share of misses and here Panama Limited is embarrassingly bad, other artistes are a bit out of the scope of the label, thus creating some considerable sonic diversity, sometimes a bit uncomfortable for the ears. Whenever possible, the track version chosen is a different one from the albums; and comes either from another compilation or a non-album single.

This three-disc boxset is not ant better or worse than the previous ones in terms on contents, but the package (the fatboy double JC) it comes in is certainly unworthy of the label's heritage. But then again, this is the third compilation of the label after the single disc Showdown and the full-size 5-disc boxset of 99. Your choice on this one.

This is where it all started, this album was my first official Prog purchase, at age 16 my world of live music involved visiting murky smoke-filled pubs with my mates digging many dubious and now long forgotten unsigned bands, until one week I had German Measles and missed the best one, namely Genesis, upon one of their rare visits within my little beat, my mates were ecstatic about Gabriel and Co, ...and many other music fans as history will tell !

Realising I missed a good band I consoled myself with this album, "In the Beginning" being the most exciting track here, though containing an eclectic collection of groups under an odd title, a confusing definition of Progressive Music by today's standards, but in those days anything a little bit out of the mainstream was labelled Progressive.

John Mayall I knew from a year or two before during my Blues period, an excellent track from his "Bare Wires" album, a highly recommended album by any standards, the Moody Blues "Nights..." must be the most well known track on the album, so well known it was considered mainstream, and East of Eden were well known for their folky hit "Jig a Jig", but nice to hear some of their other material on here. Other bands such as Savoy Brown are an odd selection on here as they were unashamedly Blues, and the James Cameron Quartet sounded like a Jazz group.

My copy of Wowie Zowie was never played in its entirety more than once, the track I kept playing was Genesis for many weeks until it found its way back into the used store racks, as there were other avenues to explore. I eventually tracked down a copy of "Genesis to Revelation" but was disappointed with it having sampled the delights of their next three albums by then, but looking back Wowie Zowie was the spark that got me onto the Prog trail, then a 'B' road, then a highway and onto an expressway....not an essential album but Decca's "World" series threw up some excellent music on a budget, and are a good introduction to many genres.

As I said above, the multi-label possibilities are not fully exploited, but for understandable royalty/author's rights reasons, some managers and record companies not always being philanthropic (to say the least ;-), anyway who needs Zep, Beatles and Purple tracks on such a box-set if it is going to raise the price by over 50%. Among the interest of this compilation are a few tracks that are borderline progressive inclusions, including B Auger & The Trinity, Humble Pie and Kinks and a few more. The object I believe followed by this to give us a good explanation on how mid-60's rock evolved into full-blown prog by the early 70's and that goal is fully achieved in these track selection, even if no-one will ever fully agree with the actual choices that were operated.

Among the notable tracks worthy of note to the collectors is a Sam Gopal track (Lemmy's very first group), Heavy Jelly, Marsipulami just to name a few. But the pure progressive content of this compilation is certainly a more diluted one than a ll of the single label ones, but the enjoyment is the same: You can put those on when you have a party and no-one will be annoyed by the bombardment of a full album from say a rather guests not liking your RIO tastes.

What one must realize is that all of these box-sets are only for the progheads being able to afford these rather non-essential (this is debatable, though) compilations or make the investment (this was the cheapest I paid for those box-sets) just for a few rare and not-easy- to-find tracks, however beautiful may they be.

Prog purists won't be disappointed by excellent tracks from Cressida, Gentle Giant, Gracious!, Jade Warrior (worth purchasing simply for the "oriental" brilliance of "Borne on the Solar Wind" - one of those rare tracks that will get any serious music fan loving prog) and Greece's Aphrodite's Child. The other side of the spectrum finds classic bands as varied as early Black Sabbath and Rod Stewart's defnitive version of "Handbags and Gladrags", which some will recognize as the basis of the theme to the UK's "The Office."

Some of the stuff here is not what I would call prog rock. The Kinks, Small Faces and Humble Pie is as much progressive rock as I am a cat. But some of the tracks fits the bill well. Soft Machine and ELP is well represented. So is The Nice. Of the three CDs, they should had scrapped some songs and released it as a double CD just to call it a prog rock sampler. The inclusion of Fruupp, Gryphon, Comus and Marsupilami gets both thumbs up from me.

This title has been and will probably still be sold very cheap on both Amazon and Ebay in the future. Some may fall for it and they get good value for that price. But for hardcore prog rock fans like most of us, this sampler is as interesting as a wet towel. In other words; if you have a relative who you want to give a nice present which is cheap and looks impressive; give them either the BEST PROG ROCK ALBUM IN THE WORLD... EVER sampler or this one. it is a good Christmas present idea. They may even like the music. For prog rockers with good taste; this is one sampler best avoided.

2 stars

"Rock Scene" is the unfortunately unimaginative title given to this rarity from the late 1970s. What we have here is an album shared by two different Italian symphonic bands, one called La Statale 17 (Side one) and the other called Emphasis (Side two). The extremely rare item (the vinyl fetches huge cake among collectors) was released in 1978 on a small label called Contrapunkt Records. Mellow Records reissued the title on CD in 1994.

La Statale 17 played an instrumental blend of symphonic with a jazzy snap to the electric lead guitar, comparable to bands like Camel and Gotic, though nowhere near the quality level of either group. The guitarist Carlo Girardello was accomplished and laid out some pretty furious runs over a decent rhythm section and soft layers of string synthesizer, giving the tracks a contrast of soft and aggressive. The leadoff "La piramide del potere" offers a gorgeous piano introduction and a lush string synth bed of clouds. "La Sfinge" is an odd number with both jazzy guitar leads and some spacey layered guitar parts early on, the keys also following this exchange to nice effect. "Miracolo" features some equally intense and lovely guitar leads, the sound being fairly clean and smooth. There are some great bass lines here as well jousting with the guitar. These kinds of jams are pretty much the selling point of La Statale 17, there isn't a lot else in terms of variety over the 4 tracks, but what's there is surely worthwhile.

Emphasis drops the jazzy lead guitar for a more Genesis clone style symphonic, also reminiscent of the German band Rousseau and the Italian band Mellonta Tauta. There are some English language vocals on these tracks although they are not exactly Gabriel level. The four songs are not bad but not particularly exciting either. Lots of billowy keyboard atmospheres with another pretty decent rhythm section, as with Statale I do enjoy the bass guitar here. Guitarist Peter Bozzetta reminds me a bit of Nick Barrett with his tempered, tasteful melodies. The mood is very dreamy and serene for the most part, with occasional fiery leads. The lovely and short "Voice of Nature" is a memorable instrumental closer with classical guitar and sensitive bass over the synths.

While absolutely not essential this sampler may prove enjoyable to fans of Camel and Genesis style groups, looking for interpretations of these prog giants by other groups who never made it big, but certainly had passion for the prog they enjoyed. The Mellow cd booklet offers no band information or lyrics, just a single page insert. 5/10

LA STATALE 17 plays instrumental music that recalls Camel as well as jazz rock (see particularly "La Sfinge"), rather than partaking from the RPI spirit that unfortunately in 1978 was waning. There is even a Genesis influence (see the opening piano in "La Piramide del Potere"), although not nearly as obvious as their flip side, EMPHASIS. The keyboards are typical of late 1970s, atmospheric and somewhat thin, with some great guitar work. The rhythm section is pretty good too, though not very adventurous.

EMPHASIS is more in the vein of symphonic rock, heavily influenced by Genesis (song title: "Flower"), even down to their particular usage of the flute. The vocals and song titles are in English. The music is not as complex as LA STATALE 17, but is quite melodic and very good. Bands such as KYRIE ELEISON are brought to mind for this listener.

Although both bands are from Italy, neither fits well the particular characteristics of Rock Progressivo Italiano, LA STATALE 17 with their tendency toward Jazz Rock, and EMPHASIS leaning toward Genesis-influenced symphonic prog. Both are excellent, and the CD reissue is well worth seeking. The musical diversity emerging from Italy during this time is astounding, as evidenced by this overlooked gem. "Rock Scene" is especially recommended for the RPI fan who wants to dig even more deeply into the wonderful music coming from Italy in the 1970s.

(Thanks to Augusto Croce's site www.italianprog.com for some of the information)

CD 1 was the least favourite of mine: as I already knew, bands like COLOSSEUM, JUICY LUCY, CLEAR BLUE SKY and MAY BLITZ are not really up to my taste, while the couple of brand new rarer names didn't impress me, and the best tracks were already in my music collections (by CRESSIDA, GRACIOUS, NUCLEUS and GENTLE GIANT - all pretty good choices). The disc includes also Rod Stewart's version of 'Handbags and Gladrags', one of the clearest non-prog tracks.

CD 2 offered me more delights than the first disc. BEGGARS OPERA's 'Time Machine' and MAGNA CARTA's 'Lord of The Ages' were long, great tracks I hadn't heard before. Jazzy rock of PATTO had a nice instrumentation but uninteresting vocals. WARHORSE: nearly 9 minutes of boring heavy rock. The hit 'Lady in Black' from URIAH HEEP, what else... TUDOR LODGE's folk rock was a nice introduction to me. COLOSSEUM's second track on this box is better (as well as BLACK SABBATH's 'Spiral Architect' on CD 3), but I think too many of the groups are given two tracks on this box set.

CD 3 is my favourite. New names I enjoyed were GRAVY TRAIN, RAMASES and IAN MATTHEWS. APHRODITE's CHILD's apocalyptic opus 666 is represented, but also a surprisingly ordinary vocal track 'Let It Happen' from VANGELIS's early album Earth! BEGGARS OPERA's second offering is their powerful version of the lovely 'McArthur Park' originally sung by Richard Harris. (Also both tracks by JADE WARRIOR were welcome to me.) The disc, as all of them, of course contains also few of the rarer assignments of Vertigo.

The package is very user-friendly: no huge, clumsy box but a normal-size box just enough space for three discs in simple containers and a booklet with clear track informations and well written, brief band infos. There are enough pictures (all album covers?); they all may be small but the design is fine. All in all this compilation is recommendable at least if you don't already have the classics mentioned above. How well it works in introducing new names is completely dependant on your taste and your music collections.

If you want to get into Québec's finest Prog bands from the 70's, this 2 CD pack is THE place to start. It will introduce you to some sadly forgotten bands!

I am 19 and been listening to Prog for only 5 years now, but what intensive years! I'm rather a beginner in Prog compared to the average here, but I think I've listened enough to dare comment some of these works. I began with Dream Theater and been quite close-minded for about 1 year listening to almost only their work (that was a huge revelation as I was not much into any music before, scarcely listening mainstream). I've done 5 years of classical guitar on private courses from 2001-2005. My teacher lends me Close To The Edge on my last year. Again, a revelation! Since then, my thirst for Prog began to grow. I now posses over 80 albums and 10 DVDs (I know, it's not much, but I got to pay my studies and lately some music equipment...). I now consider myself quite open-minded as I have at least one album of each category but Indo-Prog/Raga Rock here on Progarchives and hold them dear! My favourites would be Symphonic, Prog-Métal, Jazz Rock/Fusion, Tech/Extreme, Eclectic and RIO. I love from 1967-2009 and is interested in early works with Theremin and all the like in the 30's and the proto- prog also intrigues me.

Well, all that to say that I was not born when these fine bands appeared... But what is more exciting than to dig for old forgotten masterpieces twice (and more) your age?!

This compilation is not a masterpiece by itself, but clearly the best introduction to Québec's Prog scene in these years. You cannot be deceived by this as it greatly represents the bands listed. Too bad the CD versions are often inexistent or extremely rare, but thanks to ProgQuébec, they are reappearing again! Every band in this compilation deserves to be recognised as part of this whole ProgUniverse and I am very proud of our Scène Québécoise.

It seems ProgQuébec understood the meaning of our devise "Je me souviens" (I remember) as to preserve these gems from falling into complete nothingness and makes me proud to know that Québec was and is still in the progressive rock community.

May it be a light to help your search of beautiful Prog-Québécois and enjoy our contribution!