When you think about it, all mainstream trends in music and elsewhere must have had small beginnings – each journey starts with a single step, as they say. It’s strange to think that the ‘70s megastars of rock and prog, bands like Yes, Genesis, Deep Purple and Procol Harum, were considered ‘underground’ when they emerged...
RARE BIRD – Beautiful Scarlet: The Recordings 1969-75 (Esoteric/Cherry Red)
There have been quite a few bands over the years who have been the subject of heated debate as to whether they should have changed their name following a particularly abrupt change in style and/or personnel. Marillion being one obvious example, but the likes of Black Sabbath, Genesis and Yes have all at one time..
OPEN ROAD – Windy Daze: Expanded (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
...a pattern soon emerges of a melodic sound with great vocal harmonies and a bed of acoustic 12-string guitars, married to an often effectively prog-rock approach Another discovery unearthed by Esoteric here - but in this case, even if you haven't heard of the band in question, they didn't arrive from nowhere. On the contrary,..
DUFFY – SCRUFFY DUFFY (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
[St Johns] is pretty much the sound you would expect if Ian Anderson had elected to split Jethro Tull after Aqualung and join Uriah Heep instead. Another day, another Esoteric reissue from a band I'd never heard of! This one is baffling, however, as a good proportion of this album is right in the wheelhouse..
GLOBAL VILLAGE TRUCKING COMPANY – Smiling Revolution (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
By now anyone taking an interest in the Esoteric release schedules will be pretty well acquainted with their knack of plucking bands from the '70s which, somehow, despite your best efforts, slithered completely under your radar without you having a clue they had even been there. Hardly ever can that be better exemplified by the..
AL STEWART – Year Of The Cat (Esoteric / Cherry Red)
The Esoteric Al Stewart reissue schedule here alights upon the album which would not only prove to be his commercial peak, but also the work which cemented him in the public consciousness - largely via the ubiquitous and irresistible title track. Originally released in 1976, Year Of The Cat proved to be one of those..
Jon Anderson – Animation – Expanded & Remastered (Esoteric)
Here endeth the decades-long wait for a decent CD version of Animation... Artists often find themselves at a crossroads by their third release (there's even an unofficial syndrome named for that very quandary), and when change is afoot, the fan base can quickly become disenchanted. But Jon Anderson was on a creative ascent at the..
Jon Anderson – Olias Of Sunhillow: Remastered & Expanded Edition (Esoteric)
'Olias for me was like going to music school for three months solid without breathing.' Of the solo debuts released in fairly quick succession by Yes members following their Relayer era, it's long been Jon Anderson's otherworldly concept album Olias Of Sunhillow that gets mentioned at the top of the heap more often than not...
Rhinoceros – The Elektra Albums 1968-1970 (Esoteric)
This release is a great insight into one of those bands in the late 60s that genuinely underachieved despite producing music that was as good as most of the bigger bands around them at the time. Let’s start with a quick question: how many bands can you list with an animal as part of their..
CULPEPER’S ORCHARD – Mountain Music: The Polydor Years 1971-73 (Esoteric)
Looking back through the annals of recorded rock music, there are quite a number of things which, when put together, manage to complete the phrase 'an unlikely union of...' with some accuracy. Some with more successful results than others. Bing Crosby and David Bowie springs to mind as an example. Aerosmith and Run DMC as..