Brainticket sure kept you on your toes each time they released an album, since they kept changing their sound each time (the only time the kept the same sound, and lineup, for that matter, more than once was in the early ’80s with the heavily synth/percussion driven Adventure and Voyage in ’80 and ’82). 1973’s […] Continue reading →

If you’re American, the name José Cid might not mean much. If you’re from Portugal, you know him as one of the biggest names of Portuguese pop. But there was a short time in the 1970s where he was exploring progressive rock, relying heavily on the Mellotron and synthesizers, and that was from 1975 to […] Continue reading →

Machiavel might be Belgium’s best known and most successful progressive rock band, but they weren’t the first. Probably the earliest band from that country playing this kind of music is Mad Curry, who released a single called “Antwerp”, and then a self-entitled album, both in 1970 on the small Pirates label, meaning LP copies aren’t […] Continue reading →

In 1974 you sure didn’t have to wait long for Peter Hammill to dish us another solo album. He first gave us The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage, which is essentially a Van der Graaf Generator album because Hugh Banton, Guy Evans, and David Jackson all appeared on that album. Several months later comes […] Continue reading →

Scotland the brave with tartan warriors like Beggars Opera and Cirkus had prolifically scaled awesome musical heights during the Prog revolution. Sadly one band from Newcastle is often forgotten in the seventies shuffle namely the three- piece Ginhouse (name from St Andrews pub). Ginhouse played a mighty set at the Newcastle Polytechnic Ellison Building in […] Continue reading →

In 1969 and 1970 the Strawbs released their first two albums, Strawbs and Dragonfly with guitarist/vocalist Dave Cousins, guitarist Tony Hooper and double bassist Ron Chesterman. Dragonfly also got help from a cellist named Claire Deniz. Those albums are pretty much firmly in the folk-rock vein, and neither of those albums have been easy to […] Continue reading →

What happened to Van der Graaf Generator between the release of Pawn Hearts (1971) and Godbluff (1975)? Well, simple, Peter Hammill recorded some solo albums with help from his former bandmates, giving the other guys something to do. The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage is Hammill’s third solo album, the second after VdGG’s hiatus […] Continue reading →

Apparently the Mahavishnu Orchestra wasn’t exactly the most forgiving of bands out there and apparently John McLaughlin alienated some of his bandmates feeling he was a bit too dominating. Out of this mess comes violinist Jerry Goodman teaming up with Jan Hammer to record an album together in 1974. Here Goodman plays more than just […] Continue reading →

Canarios (often called Los Canarios) was a rock band from Spain that managed to release some albums in the late ’60s and early ’70s during the Franco years. Around 1972, leader Teddy Bautista put a brief end of the band to do military service. After military service, he resurrected the band, with such a drastic […] Continue reading →

We all know that by 1969, Traffic broke up. The album Last Exit was released by the record company basically consisting of leftovers, and non-album singles. Steve Winwood, of course teaming up with Eric Clapton (ex-Cream, John Mayall and Yardbirds, later of Derek & the Dominoes, and of course a hugely successful solo career), Ric […] Continue reading →