Burning For You is a much better album than its reception at the time indicated ... while Heartbreak Hill is simply essential Strawbs. The very end of the original Strawbs career is covered here with these two Esoteric reissues, covering what was intended to be the last album they recorded in the 1970s, and the..
Anthony Phillips – The Living Room Concert: Remastered & Expanded (Esoteric)
Alternating sections of gentle, fluttering notes and commanding strumming... With thirty-one studio albums, a host of compilations, boxed sets, and a massive amount of library music to his credit, Anthony Phillips is not the type of musician whose catalogue is easy to trim down to an hour's worth of favourites. But 'Ant' was tasked with..
JIM CAPALDI – OPEN YOUR HEART: THE ISLAND RECORDINGS ’72-’76 (Esoteric)
This set is a timely reminder that [Steve] Winwood's bandmates were substantial talents in their own right, and the unheralded drummer perhaps most of all. Another interesting feature of the rock scene in the halcyon days of the 1970s was that, whenever someone left a successful band (or even before they did so), they would..
FISH ON FRIDAY – BLACK RAIN (Cherry Red / Esoteric)
...if you are after a well-crafted, well-produced, melodic rock album which isn't afraid to go for the grandiose jugular when the opportunity arises, you can safely order a helping of this particular seafood Fish. They seem to exert a curious fascination with prog rock, as the piscine influence has intertwined itself with the music for..
JEFFERSON AIRPLANE REISSUES (ESOTERIC)
Long John Silver / Thirty Seconds Over Winterland (Jefferson Airplane)Baron Von Tollbooth And The Chrome Nun (Kantner - Slick- Freiberg) If anyone is unfamiliar with the work the Airplane did in that historical 'no-man's land' between the end of the '60s and the arrival of the Starship they will find this pair of releases enlightening..
ARS NOVA – Fields Of People: The Elektra And Atlantic Recordings 1968-69 (Esoteric)
The first thing to get straightened out before diving into this particular artefact is not the question ‘who are Ars Nova?’, but rather ‘which Ars Nova is this?’ as, strange though it may seem, there have been two bands both laying claim to this fairly unlikely title. The ‘other’ Ars Nova are a Japanese progressive..
Renaissance – Turn Of The Cards (Expanded 2020 edition – Esoteric Antenna)
This isn't the first (and won't be the last) time I've rattled on about the Esoteric label and their powerhouse reissues of classic progressive rock titles, such as their new four-disc expanded edition of the triumphant Renaissance album Turn Of The Cards. Released in 1974 - squarely in the middle of their legendary run of..
BE BOP DELUXE – Modern Music 2CD Set (Esoteric)
Like Sunburst Finish before it, it's a meticulously arranged album, with not a note out of place and everything in the service of the song Be Bop Deluxe, led by the closest thing the '70s had to a second Bryan Ferry in the shape of the dapper and stylish Bill Nelson, were always a square..
SPIRIT – Two Sides Of A Rainbow (Esoteric)
When the Rainbow encores finally come to the last song, California proceeds to invite the entire audience along to a party afterward in the lobby of their hotel! Remember Spirit? You should. Emerging in the 1960s playing an eclectic mix of acid-flavoured rock, the band were led by Randy California, a young and mercurial guitar..
GREENSLADE – Sundance: A Collection 73-75 (Esoteric)
If you’re a casual listener – this is probably all you’ll need. If you’re a fan, that Reading track you’ve been after is finally here... Greenslade are one of those peculiarly ‘1970s’ prog bands who had a fairly high profile in that decade yet dropped of the proverbial cliff as the ‘80s dawned (much of..