An obscure footnote of early-'70s British art rock, Khan featured guitarist Steve Hillage, keyboardist Dave Stewart, and ex-Crazy World of Arthur Brown bassist Nick Greenwood. Their sole album from 1972 was dominated by Hillage's lengthy, ambitious compositions and Stewart's organ, which owed much to the Canterbury Scene of British prog rock. The group didn't offer much to distinguish themselves from the many other British outfits exploring similar territory, and disbanded after one LP. Hillage went on to join Kevin Ayers and Gong before establishing a solo career; Stewart played with Hatfield & the North and National Health.

British prog rock act Skin Alley were a farsighted collaboration between Thomas Crimble (keyboards/bass/vocals), Alvin Pope (drums), Krzysztof Henryk Justkiewicz (keyboards), and Bob James (sax/guitar). Formed in the late '60s, they made inroads quickly and found themselves signed to CBS for their self-titled debut in 1969. That album, and its 1970 follow-up, To Pagham & Beyond, saw the band in top prog form – a pastiche of folk, jazz, and rock that, although well traveled by this time, managed to delight more than a few critics with its freshness and vitality. Crimble and Pope moved on later that year and were replaced by Nick Graham (formerly of Atomic Rooster) and Tony Knight (ex-Bronx Cheer), respectively. With new members in place, Skin Alley's sound took on a more polished, mainstream approach and began prominently featuring the complex string, woodwind, and brass arrangements of Graham. Their jazz-rock fusion sound was still there, but with decidedly more polish and sophistication.

This is the album that solidified Uriah Heep's reputation as a master of gothic-inflected heavy metal. From short, sharp rock songs to lengthy, musically dense epics, Demons and Wizards finds Uriah Heep covering all the bases with style and power. The album's approach is set with its lead-off track, "The Wizard": it starts as a simple acoustic tune but soon builds into a stately rocker that surges forth on a Wall of Sound built from thick guitar riffs, churchy organ, and operatic vocal harmonies. Other highlights include "Traveller in Time," a fantasy-themed rocker built on thick wah-wah guitar riffs, and "Circle of Hands," a stately power ballad with a gospel-meets-heavy metal feel to it.

Smile A While is a spectacularly complex, historically monumental, and masterfully irreverent progressive jazz-rock masterpiece by the legendary Baden-Baden-based ensemble Brainstorm, originally released in 1972 on Spiegelei and beautifully reissued in 1996 with vital bonus material by the premier French historical archival imprint Musea Records. Spanning nearly 63 minutes across 11 definitive tracks, this high-fidelity document serves as an essential monument to the highly specialized Canterbury-inflected sector of German Krautrock. While many of their national peers focused on cosmic electronic drones or heavy blues jamming, Brainstorm carved out a fiercely intelligent, completely distinct sub-genre niche, combining the complex, shifting time signatures of Soft Machine and Caravan with sharp avant-garde humor, complex harmonic counterpoint, and relentless woodwind-driven jazz-fusion.

Before the hits really starting coming, Slade showed why they were one of England's best live acts with this fevered concert recording from 1972. Set alight by plenty of stomping beats, lumbering bass, fat guitars, and Noddy Holder's hoarse vocal scream, Slade Alive! finds the lads from Wolverhampton goading on their rabid fans at every juncture ("Wan ya ta really let loose on iss one"). In return, the crowd's handclap choruses and drunken exhortations fire up the band, inspiring them to take pub rock to glam proportions ("In Like a Shot From My Gun"), make a fine mess out of a Steppenwolf classic ("Born to Be Wild"), and add a bit of feedback to John Sebastian's folk-pop ("Darling Be Home Soon"). Plus, hits like the MC5-esque "Know Who You Are" and retro-rocker "Get Down Get With It" are given proper live workouts.

Odin (1972). CD-Reissue of German/English/Dutch outfit Odin. Their one and only album on famous German label Vertigo, originally released in 1972, is a truly gem of the golden age of Progressive Rock. Four excellent musicians show their great talent, especially organ player Jeff Beer and guitarist Rob Terstall, driven by great rhythm section Ray Brown on bass and drummer Stuart Fordham. The album's highlight is opening track 'Life is only'. This is an absolutely great 12-minutes number with raging, dissonant Hammond B-3 work, refined song constructions and very good guitar and vocal work. Another highlight is a 8-minutes version of Quartermass classic 'Gemini' with features also a long and impressive B-3 organ solo. 'Clown' closes the original album out with some heavy instrumental firepower from Jeff Beer keyboards and strong vocals…

Released in 1972, What A Bloody Long Day It's Been is the third and final studio album by the British rock trio Ashton, Gardner & Dyke, supplemented by a wider ensemble of guest musicians. It delivers a unique, sometimes sprawling blend of early-70s R&B, progressive rock, and blues.
The album generally holds a positive, though mixed, reception among classic rock and prog enthusiasts, averaging around a 4 out of 5 rating across collector communities.
The first half of the album is highly praised for its originality and engaging keyboard-heavy arrangements. Tony Ashton’s soulful, powerful vocals and keyboard work shine, while listeners frequently highlight the band's top-tier musicianship and fun, humorous, period-piece charm…

While side two of I Sing the Body Electric gives us heavily edited glimpses of Weather Report as heard live in Tokyo, this two-disc Japanese import contains entire group ensembles from that concert - and as such, it is a revelation. Now we can follow the wild, stream-of-consciousness evolution of early Weather Report workouts, taking the listener into all kinds of stylistic territory - from Joe Zawinul's lone acoustic piano to dissonant free form and electronic explosions - with lots of adjustments of tempo and texture. The pulse of jazz is more evident in their work here than on their American albums, and the example of Miles Davis circa the Fillmore concerts directs the fierce interplay. In his subsequent recordings with Weather Report, and as a leader, Wayne Shorter would rarely equal the manic intensity he displayed in Tokyo…

Formed at the end of the 60's, Gomorrha raised from the German progressive rock scene thanks to the help of the producer and sound engineer Conny Plank. The band original line up includes Helmut Pohl (drums) and Eberhard Krietsch (ogan, bass) with Ad Oschel and Ali Claudi at the guitars. They released their first album in 1971. They distinguish with a dense heavy psych rock experience punctuated by organ dominated sequences. In 1972 they release what will be considered as their summit "I Turned To See Whose Voice It Was"; An adventurous album featuring catchy instrumental jams, krautrock's original psych / spacey mood, pastoral flute parts and heavy guitar riffs. The concept of this release is focused on the apocalypse theme and the book of revelation. They suddenly split up in 1973 after the publication of two memorable documents of German independent rock.

Here's what is known about Ornette Coleman's first recorded orchestral symphonic work (he had written others previously and had them performed but never put on tape): After hiring conductor David Measham and the London Symphony Orchestra, British musicians' union rules prohibited Coleman from using his own quartet to play on the record. As a result, he had to re-examine the work without the concerto grosso form and, to fit the work on a single LP, he had to cut many of the recurrent themes of the work. It is also known that the recording quality isn't the greatest. So what? The bottom line is this: In the 21st century, Skies of America, which was Ornette's first attempt at employing his newly developed harmolodic theory (whereby using modulation many players could solo at once using different keys), still sounds ahead of its time…

A Space in Time (1971). A Space in Time was Ten Years After's best-selling album. This was due primarily to the strength of "I'd Love to Change the World," the band's only hit single, and one of the most ubiquitous AM and FM radio cuts of the summer of 1971. TYA's first album for Columbia, A Space in Time has more of a pop-oriented feel than any of their previous releases had. The individual cuts are shorter, and Alvin Lee displays a broader instrumental palette than before. In fact, six of the disc's ten songs are built around acoustic guitar riffs. However, there are still a couple of barn-burning jams. The leadoff track, "One of These Days," is a particularly scorching workout, featuring extended harmonica and guitar solos. After the opener, however, the album settles back into a more relaxed mood than one would have expected from Ten Years After…