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Mystery Band - Prog Or Not?
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Starship Trooper View Drop Down
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    Posted: August 04 2020 at 21:06
This will be my first time posting and here's hoping I don't make a hash of it. 

Recently, I was sent a music sample from a friend.  It was apparently on a cassette tape purchased from a thrift store.  The friend asked me if I could identify it, based on my love of prog but I haven't a clue.  Might not even be a prog band, at all.  Anyone here familiar with it?  Thanks to all in advance.

Here's the link.  Hopefully, it's usable:

https://boingboing.net/2020/07/30/mystery-cassette-from-thrift-s.html?fbclid=IwAR3V08T4BsLBUlYEDeHeyOQbPVoPCnO0n_iMnU3KPugANvYDTDD0eJCNtp4 
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Points: 16141 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 04 2020 at 21:09
Is this the one with the "night bird" song? If so I've seen it posted elsewhere. As of yet no one has been able to figure out what it is. It might just be a band who did a demo that got distributed somehow but never had an official release.
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chopper View Drop Down
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Points: 19942 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chopper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 05 2020 at 11:46
https://boingboing.net/2020/07/30/mystery-cassette-from-thrift-s.html?fbclid=IwAR3V08T4BsLBUlYEDeHeyOQbPVoPCnO0n_iMnU3KPugANvYDTDD0eJCNtp4
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Starship Trooper View Drop Down
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Points: 3 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Starship Trooper Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 05 2020 at 20:00
AFlowerKingCrimson:  Thank you for your input.  Just based on your question, I checked out a bunch of “night bird” songs and night bird-themed songs.  Unfortunately, no dice.  None of them matched the melody or words.  This one is a real puzzler.  What you've said about the band possibly having released a demo without official distribution rings out as a very likely scenario.  I’m starting to think that unless someone in possession of some seriously esoteric knowledge or someone who actually worked on the album comes forth, we’re all going to be left scratching our heads over this.  
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Points: 16141 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 05 2020 at 20:04
Originally posted by Starship Trooper Starship Trooper wrote:

AFlowerKingCrimson:  Thank you for your input.  Just based on your question, I checked out a bunch of “night bird” songs and night bird-themed songs.  Unfortunately, no dice.  None of them matched the melody or words.  This one is a real puzzler.  What you've said about the band possibly having released a demo without official distribution rings out as a very likely scenario.  I’m starting to think that unless someone in possession of some seriously esoteric knowledge or someone who actually worked on the album comes forth, we’re all going to be left scratching our heads over this.  

This was posted on the progressive ears website which has a few very knowledgable music fans on there(some have collections of over 10,000 albums). No one on there has been able to figure it out yet or anywhere else either. I'm not sure if it was you who first posted it but it might be best to just chalk it up as an unsolved mystery. I have one or two of my own.
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ashtastic View Drop Down
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Points: 4 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ashtastic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2020 at 08:33
hey everyone I was just coming here to ask about this album... there's a HQ copy of the cassette now online:


It's incredibly interesting to me, band sounds pretty good, the songs sound polished... some have suggested it could be super-early Styx, but not sure about that.
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JD View Drop Down
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Points: 18367 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JD Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2020 at 12:51
I'd like to know where to original cassette was purchased/ What city?.
Most Opp Shops get their stuff locally. Barring some event like someone had acquired it while traveling, it stands to reason the band could be from the area. Now take the cassette phenomenon (era - 1975 to 1989) and at least you could narrow it down to 14 years and a handful of musicians who where making that type of music.

Columbo says "I'll tell ya, this is one area I know. You're welcome."
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ashtastic View Drop Down
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Points: 4 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ashtastic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2020 at 12:57
this is from the OP's post on reddit:

"he tape was second hand and came from Oxfam Swanage, UK"
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ashtastic View Drop Down
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Points: 4 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ashtastic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2020 at 13:17
ok this is a stretch, but apparently there's a early 90s prog band from that area called "Big Big Train".  Members of this band had been in previous early 80s bands such as "Equus" and "Arcshine" neither of which of course have any online audio that I can find.  "Arcshine" according to a review here: https://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=1751  is a synth driven band from the early 80s.

The only connection here is a similar geographical area perhaps.  Off to try and dig up more on Equus and Archshine!
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Points: 8849 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kenethlevine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2020 at 13:37
it's a mystery cassette ie - no label or label ripped off.
Could easily be something that was never released
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Points: 16141 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2020 at 15:48
Originally posted by ashtastic ashtastic wrote:

hey everyone I was just coming here to ask about this album... there's a HQ copy of the cassette now online:


It's incredibly interesting to me, band sounds pretty good, the songs sound polished... some have suggested it could be super-early Styx, but not sure about that.


Not likely imo. This sounds like it's from at least 1976 and Styx were well established by then(maybe not so much success wise but they had several albums by then). 
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AFlowerKingCrimson View Drop Down
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Points: 16141 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AFlowerKingCrimson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 06 2020 at 15:48
Originally posted by kenethlevine kenethlevine wrote:

it's a mystery cassette ie - no label or label ripped off.
Could easily be something that was never released

That's what I suggested and for now at least I stand by that.
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Points: 96 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote doctorphil Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 09 2020 at 02:34
If you're interested in Arcshine there's a video of a song by them called 'Pathways' on Big Big Train's subscription site 'The Passengers Club'. There's also quite a lot of information about the band written by the band's keyboard player Ian Cooper, who may well still be contactable through social media.
Sadly it's all behind a firewall and you would have to join the club to view it. If you had a ticket to one of this years cancelled Big Big Train shows you can have 3 month's access for free otherwise it costs money.
Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
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ashtastic View Drop Down
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Points: 4 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ashtastic Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 09 2020 at 12:13
thanks for the tip!  have you heard this song? does it sound similiar to the "mystery cassette"?
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octopus-4 View Drop Down
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Points: 13344 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote octopus-4 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 13 2020 at 01:36
Nice album. Of course I can't find anything about it on the web. The recording is quite low quality so it was likely a demo tape.  

EDIT:
There's a song that reminds me to CHIMERA. Not them for sure. At minute 22 some external noises seem to show that it was a tape dubbing using a microphone. B-side track 7 has some of early Renaissance in the intro before leading towards funky.

 
 


Edited by octopus-4 - August 13 2020 at 01:51
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Points: 521 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Politician Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2020 at 12:48
Given where the tape turned up, it's possibly something that was recorded at Tony Arnold's Arny's Shack studio. I have a few albums on that label with a similar prog/early eighties/mainstream rock sound, though I can't immediately identify this one.
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