Atom Heart Mother, for all its glories, was an acquired taste, and Pink Floyd wisely decided to trim back its orchestral excesses for its follow-up, Meddle. Opening with a deliberately surging "One of These Days," Meddle spends most of its time with sonic textures and elongated compositions, most notably on its epic closer, "Echoes." If there aren't pop songs in the classic sense (even on the level of the group's contributions to Ummagumma), there is a uniform tone, ranging from the pastoral "A Pillow of Winds" to "Fearless," with its insistent refrain hinting at latter-day Floyd. Pink Floyd were nothing if not masters of texture, and Meddle is one of their greatest excursions into little details, pointing the way to the measured brilliance of Dark Side of the Moon and the entire Roger Waters era.

The Rattles performed in Hamburg, and played at the same venues as The Beatles on several occasions in 1962. In 1964 the group recorded "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah", which charted in the UK. In 1968 they recorded their first version of "The Witch", with vocals by Henner Hoier. The band's records sold well in Germany during the 1960s. Their second version of "The Witch" in 1970, this time with vocals by Edna Bejarano, became their only international hit. "The Witch" appeared in the Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, the top 20 in Austria, and reached the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., the first German record to reach that chart. It eventually sold over one million copies.

By the time this third album came out, little was left of the original spirit of East Of Eden and only violinist Dave Arbus of the original line-up. They had changed from one progressive label Deram to another Harvest, but also lost their experimental edge in the process. As a matter of fact, aside from more conventional song structures, this album has a slight country music feel. This album is quite far removed from the experimental forays of their first two albums, but the album has many charms and holds some interest for progheads.

This 6-piece Australian band (not to be confused with the Slovak metal band or the Spanish neo prog outfit with the same name) released one album of mixed goodies in the early 70's: some blues-tinged psychedelic rock, late 60's hippie-style, with some West Coast vibes. They were working on a second album but somehow the master tapes were destroyed and the album never materialized. Following this, the party split up in 1972.
The band's sole legacy, a self-titled album released in 1971, is quite similar to myriads of obscure early 70's rock bands with vague progressive leanings: blues based with elements of soft or folk-rock (Jethro Tull-style for the flute), a bit of jazz and some hard rock. The folk-tinged tracks seem to work best; the others, although quite varied in style, are rather dull.

Comprised of songs cut during the final 13 months of the Nice's existence, Elegy is a must-own title for fans of Keith Emerson, offering his best live performance on piano ("Hang On to a Dream") ever to get a legal release, showcasing his organ playing on unique and beguiling arrangements of Tchaikovsky and Dylan material, and ending with a live version of the Nice's showstopper, "America."

Good underground from Munich, played by master musicians. The 18 minute song "Sub theme I" is almost unrivaled. From the masters. Originally released in a minimal edition in 1970, this is underground at its best. The album is worth much more than US$ 1000. The master tapes were perfectly recorded at the well known Munich Union studio and survived without damages 24 years. Although tracks like "Ma-mari-huana’’ are far more psychedelic, the selected "Match I" shows more of the band’s artscraft. This is one of the label’s best CDs, with five bonus tracks and an expensive 24 page coloured booklet. For many years now this release has been high on collectors wanted lists. This issue includes all the original LP and 5 bonus cuts…

First official reissue of this legendary collector's item by this underground heavy progressive power trio from Hamburg. The album contained just four songs: 'Chub Chub Cherry' (a short heavy rock song like a freaky Cream), 'Brain Brain' (16 minutes of acid nightmares, continuously shifting tempo in amphetamine-driven mayhem), 'God' (a much more melodic attempt with powerful guitar arrangement, sounding like Black Sabbath meet Hendrix with a collective paranoia) and 'Head Tear Of The Drunken Sun' (finished at all with 12 minutes of hazardous power trio pyrotechnics). This is an extreme album in many ways: the raw power, the cranky vocals, the restless arrangements, not forgetting the ugly silver gnome on the front sleeve. For the first time the history of Silberbart is told by band leader Hajo Teschner and there are many rare photos of the group.

Though short-lived, Holy Moses came up with one of the most enduring hard rock one-offs of the the early 70s, packed with strong songs and blazing guitar parts by Ted Spelios, whose playing is said to have stunned the young Bruce Springsteen. Produced by Kim King (Lothar and the Hand People) and Mike Esposito (the Blues Magoos), and recorded at Jimi Hendrix’s legendary Electric Lady studio in New York, the album soon vanished on release in 1971, but its cult reputation has grown steadily ever since.

The Danish group Days was formed in Copenhagen in the winter 1967/1968 by Peter Lindhe (drums), John Kjaergaard (vocals/rhythm guitar), Ole Fester (vocals/bass) and Lars Reinau (vocals/lead guitar). The band's repertoire was mainly rock and blues oriented with cover versions of songs from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Cream, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. During 1968/1969, Peter Lindhe and Lars Reinau started writing original material to the band and the repertoire started changing from rock/blues cover versions to self-composed, more lyrical songs with elements of The Beatles, Procol Harum and (early) Deep Purple. In 1969, Jorn Anker (Hammond organ) joined the band and he, too started contributing new original songs to the band. The Days LP was recorded in the early summer of 1970 and in 1971 the band split up…

If Genesis truly established themselves as progressive rockers on Trespass, Nursery Cryme is where their signature persona was unveiled: true English eccentrics, one part Lewis Carroll and one part Syd Barrett, creating a fanciful world that emphasized the band's instrumental prowess as much as Peter Gabriel's theatricality. Which isn't to say that all of Nursery Cryme works. There are times when the whimsy is overwhelming, just as there are periods when there's too much instrumental indulgence, yet there's a charm to this indulgence, since the group is letting itself run wild. Even if they've yet to find the furthest reaches of their imagination, part of the charm is hearing them test out its limits, something that does result in genuine masterpieces, as on "The Musical Box" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed," two epics that dominate the first side of the album and give it its foundation…