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Topic Closed4 little gems (8)

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Poll Question: Which one do you prefer ?
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hellogoodbye View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: 4 little gems (8)
    Posted: September 25 2013 at 03:15
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2013 at 03:53
I'm in a classical mood, these days. So I vote for Continuum. 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2013 at 08:31
Transparencias is an awesome album

haven't heard the others
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2013 at 09:04






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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 25 2013 at 21:20
From the samples I went with Continuum, I really like that one Pierre.
"The wind is slowly tearing her apart"

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2013 at 02:04
Yes John, I've discovered this one recently on P.A  and it was a very good surprise. 

More informations: 

CONTINUUM-autumn grass-1971-progressive CD-Flawed Gems-Gem 24

Continuum was conceived in Holland by Hungarian multi-instrumentalist Yoel Schwarcz in 1967. The name “Continuum” was taken from the title of exhibitions of Schwarcz’s paintings in a London gallery for whom he painted professionally.

He developed his musical ideas with a Czech guitarist called “Jan” and they performed as a duo in a club in Amsterdam the following summer. Schwarcz returned to London while Jan decided to remain in Amsterdam, and shortly afterwards Schwarcz joined forces with classical guitarist John Warren. They decided to form a group to develop their common ideas, the line up being completed with the arrival of Mike Hart on double bass and Dick Wildman on drums. Although the project was formalised in the framework of a band, Schwarcz was the de-facto leader, and it ...
Continuum was conceived in Holland by Hungarian multi-instrumentalist Yoel Schwarcz in 1967. The name “Continuum” was taken from the title of exhibitions of Schwarcz’s paintings in a London gallery for whom he painted professionally.

He developed his musical ideas with a Czech guitarist called “Jan” and they performed as a duo in a club in Amsterdam the following summer. Schwarcz returned to London while Jan decided to remain in Amsterdam, and shortly afterwards Schwarcz joined forces with classical guitarist John Warren. They decided to form a group to develop their common ideas, the line up being completed with the arrival of Mike Hart on double bass and Dick Wildman on drums. Although the project was formalised in the framework of a band, Schwarcz was the de-facto leader, and it was very much his baby. 

RCA entered into a contract with Yoel Schwarcz (not with Continuum) and Continuum released their self-titled first album in 1970. Side one of the album consisted of four improvisations on music by Bach and Handel. Side two was a side long suite in four parts composed by non-band member Richard Hartley and based on the poetical work of Lord Byron.

By 1971, only Schwarcz remained of the line up which recorded the first album. The musicians on that album were uncomfortable with improvisation, which Schwarcz wanted to explore further. He also sought to replace some of the acoustic sounds of the band with electric ones. Although Warren had decided to leave the band, he and Schwarcz remained good friends.

In came Peter Billam and Harvey Troupe to form the rhythm section, Billam also providing lead guitar. The new line up was completed by the arrival of respected keyboard player Tim Rice (no relation to the stage show writer of that name). This line up recorded the first side of the "Autumn Grass" album, released in 1971. Once again, the album consisted of one side of classical variations, plus a Rice composition, and one side long suite. The track "Autumn grass" was written by modern composer Patrie Standford specifically for the group. Interestingly, it was actually recorded by the first line up of the group before they split up, the album sleeve listing the former band members as “guest musicians”. Apart from the wonderful improvisations by Schwarcz, the piece is particularly notable for its length. At over 26 minutes, it is one of the longest (but by no means THE longest) tracks to appear on one side of an LP. This resulted in some compression of the recording being necessary, a factor which will hopefully one day be addressed by a remastering of the album for CD. (Their first album has recently been remastered and re-released in Germany).

The band continued to tour after the release of “Autumn Grass”, but the ubiquitous musical differences emerged, and founder Schwarcz decided it was time for him to move on. The remaining members kept the band going for a further few months, but when it became clear that their efforts were futile, they disbanded.

Yoel Schwarcz went on to become a session musician and sound engineer, touring with Henry Cow among others. He had spells living and working in France and the UK being involved in a diverse range of sound related projects. He retired from that work in early 2006 and bought a small farm in the Loire valley, where he is still active in the fields of music and art.

When preparing this biography, information on Continuum was hard to track down. I am therefore extremely grateful to Yoel’s wife Brenda who contacted Progarchives offering to help fill in the details, and to Yoel himself for validating the information in this biography. 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2013 at 12:14
Warm Dust is a pretty obscure prog band from England. They only lasted from 1970-1972, so they weren't around long enough to make enough of an indelible mark on the progressive genre, though they were around the heyday of prog. I really have no info on this band, other than that they had 3 albums before breaking up. (Any additional info would be great) Their 2nd album, Peace For Our Time is a concept album about the history of war, told through the eyes of different nations. Each important section begins with a spoken introductory piece.

1. Blood Of My Fathers - This begins with a monologue about the history of war, which also correlates with the history of the man, powering over the gentle and peace loving coloured people. There is then a quote from Neville Chamberlin, which is where the album gets it name from. It talks about the beginning of the 2nd World War, after Hitler promised there would be no worldwide conflict. After the piece, the song comes in proper. It's a jazzy, bluesy piece with heavy bass and great brass accompaniment. There is also a very good, short organ solo. The vocals come in at the 3 minute and they're put through a Leslie speaker, to a great effect. This is used in a lot of late 60's/early 70's songs and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It works well here.

2. Winds of Change - The monologue here is about the U.S.A finally entering World War II in 1944 after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and their subsequent attack to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This caused a new horror, radiation. The horns here remind me of pieces that Frank Zappa write. They have the same coloured textures as Zappa's music circa this time period (Burnt Weeny Sandwich/Weasels Ripped My Flesh) Like the last song, after an instrumental section, the vocals eventually come in. The vocalist has that voice you hear in a lot of these kinds bands, almost like he's trying to sound American.

3. Justify Things Your Hands Have Done - The monologue now has moved to the Cold War, circa 1950. I like the line in there "The Cold War blew up into a hot war in Korea". This song is the longest on the album, clocking in at almost 9 minutes. It has an almost Latin feel, with percussion and a funky organ/bass combo. I like the dual vocals. They're off-kilter, off-key, but there's an honesty to it that is nice. The organ keeps the vocal line while a saxophone floats over it in a cool touch. After about 3 minutes, it breaks down into a free form section with weird synthy sounds. At the 5 and a half minute mark, there's is a drum solo, which was customary in the early 70's. It's nothing special, but as a drummer, I always like a solo. After the solo it moves into a nice slow piece.

4. Rejection - We are now closer to the time of the recording, in 1968, where Russia has invaded Czechoslovakia. It mentions the young student Jan Palach, who burned himself to death in protest of the demoralization of the Czechoslovakian citizens caused by the invasion. Instead of the heavy jazz rock of the first three songs, here we get a soft acoustic piece that soon turns into a slow bluesy crawl. I really like the combination of organ with piano, which is not something you hear put together in this type of music. Of course, being a jazz influenced band, they soon go into jazz territory but it's not really that bad. There's this weird instrument that sounds like an organ being put through a synthesizer which is really cool.

5. Very Small Child - It took me a while of researching, but I found out that the monologue here is about C. Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was a Nigerian General responsible for breaking away to a sovereign state called Bafaria, after his pleas for peace went unnoticed. This sparked the Nigerian Civil War. The band chanting "Uhuru! Uhuru!" over an African style rhythm is either racist or goofy, I can't tell which. The song itself is completely different, with a British pub like piano part and mellotron. The chorus is a very rousing section, with those great early 70's drum fills and the mellotron giving it an epic feel.

6. Song For A Star - We are now in Israel, where the monologue talks about the fighting between Israel and Palenstine, which is still going on today. The song opens with a heavy, dirty bass line, put through a fuzz box. The chorus is a bit weak, and the song is the strongest when it rides on that nasty bass riff. There is an organ solo which has the same effect on it that Canterbury bands like Caravan used.

7. Peace of Mind - Instead of an historical account for it's monologue like the rest of the album, this one is looking into the future, with the fictional planet of Terra. The monologue is a constitution for peace with something called The United Tribes of Earth. This kind of usual piano ballad is where the vocals don't really work. They work in the heavier numbers, but the vocalist's range is limited here. The organ that comes in around 2 minutes is extremely awesome though, with a heavy gospel tinge. The band was wise as only having the vocals in a bit and letting the organ take over for the rest of the song and end the album.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 26 2013 at 17:56
Thanks for the info on those bands Pierre. I liked Easy Livin's(Bob) review on Continuum, talking about listening to it while doing homework etc.
"The wind is slowly tearing her apart"

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 27 2013 at 01:35
Yes. Me too, John. Here is Bob's review of the Continuum's first album. 



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