East Of Eden - New Leaf (1971)

After the catastrophically unprog eponymous album on Harvest (of all labels), EOE needed to reconvene discuss their musical directions. Not sure they went ahead, though because after the Jig-A-Jig monstrous, but totally unrepresentative hit, after their semi-country rock third album, the probably were a little lost. With a very enticing sexy artwork, with a butterfly tattoo, but a relatively stable line-up (finally), this was their second album in 71, plus a bunch of singles throughout, so the least we can say was that the group was not about to profit from dole money. Amazingly enough singer David Jack is the only songwriter (even credited so on the JaJ monster instrumental hit) bar the opening track, which is rather strange since he gets sole credits on the two instrumental pieces in the bonus tracks..

Hearing the lead-off track Bradshaw the Bison Hunter, you'd swear that that EoE is back on saddle, because this track is easily much better than anything they'd done on the previous album. Alas, this wouldn't last as Bradshaw is rather unrepresentative (and the only track receiving credits other David Jack as songwriter as it boasts as a group effort) of the rest of the album. No Harm, Get Happy, Don't Be Afraid, Joe, Song For No-one, etc. are all way to close for comfort to country rock or a folky/country singer/songwriter or basic blues-rock. The rare tracks (other than Bradshaw) being worth another mention are the Man Said (strictly on private tastes), and the finale Home Blues (also on personal tastes), sounding like Free doing a good blues track, David Jack doing a credible Paul Rodgers. The least we can say is that an album such as this one have a few tracks that fit the "filler" category.

I am not aware of this album getting an EMI reissue, but there floats around a version of the semi-legit Progressive Line label, which boasts a whopping five bonus tracks, all from 71 and 72 singles. If the unmistakeable Jig-A-Jig is present (a good point, because in some ways it is prog), the remaining four tracks are A and B-sides of two singles. The first of which is Boogie Flu (a non-interesting boogie) and the much more Bach-like Last Dance Of The Clown, an excellent track that should've answered JaJ's success. The later Sin City Girls single is lesser interest (about dancing shoes, puhhhleaeaeaease) and best forgotten and its flipside not deserving such a poor spectacle. All Our Yesterday is pure rip-off to the fab four, but pleasant enough to .

Little wonder after such another mediocre album (although it was better than its predecessor), violinist Dave Arbus would leave the band. And while this album is a tad better, the group is still trying to find itself, but even with the three good bonus track, this album cannot be considered as essential.

Gurnemanz - No Rays Of Noise (1977)

Gurnemanz, was a German folk rock band, who have recorded and pressed privately two excellent albums during the mid 70s. Their delightful music is somewhere between first Broeselmaschine, Hoelderlin and Ougenweide. All ingredients are there, sitar, flute, lute, lyre, mandolin etc played by master musicians, but above all is this stunning female voice of Manuela Schmitz. This is their second album, originally pressed privately in 1977, all tracks are sung in English and it includes one of the best versions of the JOHN BARLEYCORN song, ever heard. Deluxe 180g vinyl, from the original analogue master tapes, exact reproduction of the original first pressing.

Gäa - Alraunes Alptraum (1975)

The first three tracks from 1975 are from an aborted second album, and the last four were recorded about a decade later with some of Gaa's members and others. The first three are classic Gaa, similar to the Uranus material, though with better fidelity, less rough around the edges. The track "Morgendammerung," an instrumental, even stretches further out from Gaa's rock trappings. It starts with a ticking noise and slowly building keyboard tones, moves to a jazzier middle section, and then getts even more funky with a rolling bass riff and odd percussion noises. The newer tracks, recorded one per year between 1984 and 1987, are far more conventional rock & roll; "Tabbert" is excruciatingly mainstream, whereas "Du" and "Warum" are a little better, as the group attempts to capture the magic of earlier Gaa, and "Inspektion" even flirts with synth pop. Needless to say, these tracks pail compared to the 1975 stuff.

Try - Just A Try (1998)

This album was meant to be -- and remained -- a one-shot studio project, "just a try" between instrumental folk guitarist Amadeus Reineck, and keyboardist Michael Lapp. Each one has provided a handful of tunes, with the opening and closing selections being joint efforts. Reineck's music is a dreamy folk strongly reminiscent of Anthony Phillips and Gordon Giltrap. In some of his tracks, Lapp joins him on guitar or mandolin, on others he adds keyboard layers, which gives the music a Gandalf feel. Lapp's own tunes fall into the German tradition of '70s electronic music with more of a new age feel (as in "Monte Christo," more than a bit trite). For "Wreck on the Wire," the duo brought in bassist Dieter Bauer and singer Caroline McCombs. By far the most satisfying piece of this set, it actually develops a strong theme and it is obvious that Lapp and Reineck took more time to write the arrangements. The "Introduction," and the soft and cute "Roswithas' Baby," are also highlights. It is worth noting that these three pieces are all found in the album's first half. The second half consists of a suite of much less developed pieces. Short, they present simple acoustic guitar or keyboard themes that have been left somewhat raw (and are consistently sickening-sweet). For example, the cheerful "Move" could have been much better if it had a proper melody instead of the doodling synth line Lapp came up with. Reissued in 1998 by Garden of Delights, this album is better kept for the collector.

The Yardbirds - For Your Love (1965)

Back in 1965, this album seemed like a real mess, which was understandable, because For Your Love wasn't a "real" album, in the sense that the Yardbirds ever assembled an LP of that name or content. Rather, it was the response of their American label, Epic, to the band's achieving a number six single with the title track, with manager Giorgio Gomelsky selecting the cuts. The quasi-progressive "For Your Love," dominated by guest artist Brian Auger's harpsichord, is juxtaposed with hard-rocking blues-based numbers, almost all of which featured departed lead guitarist Eric Clapton (who is mentioned nowhere on the LP), with current lead guitarist Jeff Beck on just three tracks. The Clapton cuts, although primitive next to the material he was soon to cut with John Mayall, have an intensity that's still riveting to hear four decades later, and was some of the best blues-based rock & roll of its era. The three Beck sides show where the band was really heading, beyond the immediate success of "For Your Love" -- "I'm Not Talking" and "I Ain't Done Wrong" were hard, loud, blazing showcases for Beck's concise blues playing, while "My Girl Sloopy" was the first extended jam to emerge on record from a band on the British blues scene; the source material isn't ideal, but Beck and company make their point in an era where bands were seldom allowed to go more than four minutes on even an album track -- these boys could play and make it count.

Supersister - Present From Nancy-To the Highest Bidder (1970-1971)

Supersister was a Dutch band from The Hague, Netherlands, active during 1970–1974, 2000–2001 and 2010–2011. They played progressive rock ranging from jazz to pop, and although Dutch, they are generally considered to be part of the Canterbury scene due to their playfulness and complicated sound.The most predominant band members were Robert Jan Stips (keyboards, vocals), Sacha van Geest (flute), Ron van Eck (bass) and Marco Vrolijk (drums).

The band started in 1967 as Sweet OK Supersister as a school band with singer and songwriter Rob Douw, who soon thereafter left. The remaining members continued as a more serious musical quartet under the name Supersister. Their style was progressive rock in which Stips' keyboards played a dominant role.

Their debut was the 1970 album, Present from Nancy, with charting singles such as "She Was Naked", "A Girl Named You", and "Radio". In that year they also played on the main stage of the famous Kralingen Music Festival, "the Dutch Woodstock". After the three albums Present from Nancy (1970), To the Highest Bidder (1971), and Pudding en Gisteren (1972), Van Geest and Vrolijk quit. The remaining crew, together with new members Charlie Mariano (wind instruments) and Herman van Boeyen (drums) released the album Iskander in 1973, which is a jazz-rock oriented concept album based upon the life of Alexander the Great.

In 1974, Stips and van Geest released a final studio album, Spiral Staircase [nl], using the band name Sweet Okay Supersister. This marked the end of the band.

The band reunited in 2000, after a request by the Progfest festival for a performance in Los Angeles. The four 1970–1973 period band members decided to accept and the result was the requested performance, as well as a short tour through the Netherlands in late 2000 and early 2001. To mark the occasion a rarities album was released, called Memories Are New - M.A.N. (2000) featuring live and studio recordings from 1969–1973. The reunion abruptly came to an end when van Geest unexpectedly died of heart failure in the summer of 2001. The reunion concert at the Paradiso in Amsterdam was recorded and later released on CD (Supersisterious, 2001) and DVD (Sweet OK Supersister, 2006), which also featured several old and new documentaries, photographs and unreleased audio tracks.

The band reunited once more, as a three piece, in 2010 for two songs in a televised celebration concert for 50 years of Dutch pop music. After this the band was scheduled to play at NEARfest 2011. Rehearsals were started, but the appearance at the festival had to be cancelled when Ron van Eck became seriously ill (he was already battling leukemia for a while) and eventually died in July 2011.

The Byrds - (Untitled) (Unissued) (2000)

This double album was nearly titled Phoenix to symbolize The Byrds' rebirth after they settled into a solid post–Gram Parsons lineup. It was 1970, and bandleader Roger McGuinn was as intuitive as ever while longtime Byrds producer Terry Melcher was healing from Charlie Manson panic (The Manson family had allegedly targeted Melcher for murder). This album beautifully captures the failing hippie promise and the seemingly unending Vietnam War. With one LP recorded at two New York City shows (featuring heavier renditions of earlier hits, including “Mr. Tambourine Man” and a 16-minute “Eight Miles High”) and a studio LP with some songs cowritten by theater great Jacques Levy (for an ill-fated country-rock musical), Untitled contains some of the finest Byrds work on record. (The gorgeous 12-stringer “Chestnut Mare” might be McGuinn’s finest five minutes.) The set includes a few other left-fielders too, including a pair of winning Kim Fowley cowrites (“You All Look Alike,” “Hungry Planet”), a Little Feat cover (the inescapably sad “Truck Stop Girl”), and a classic Lomax Bros. ditty detailing the buttonholed evils of cocaine (“Take a Whiff on Me”).

The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)