CURIOS - Live, October 2010

I close the activity of my blog Pussynbootlegs with - exactly! - a bootleg, but an authorized one, coz I got it directly from the band. 

 This trio led by pianist Tom Cawley evokes splendid atmospheres and casts openings to new perspectives, never omitting to keep now and then an eye on the past.  Personally I love those passages with nervous riffs repeated in parallel octaves, but also those many lyrical moments worthy of so many memories of long time spent with Bill Evans on my turntable... Really a lovely concert, recorded live through a Zoom portable recorder, with a cristalline sonor rendering, a concert that I'm proud to guest on my blog, thanks to the band and to Tom Cawley specifically, hoping to receive more of these... bootlegs :-)

Get it here

 

Your COUNTESS V

MIKE GIBBS & GARY BURTON - In the public interest (Polydor, 1974)

It's a good moment for Mike Gibbs, many people keep requesting his early works.  So here's one more of them,  once again a good album that since too long time lacks in the planet of the blogs. 

In the next future you're gonna find two more of his recent works here: "Europeana" and "By the way". 

Stay tuned ;-))

Your COUNTESS

MIKE GIBBS - Directs the only Chrome Waterfall Orchestra (Island/Bronze, 1975)

Special request, for Chris, who now won't have to pay a "small fortune" to purchase the vynil LP ;-)

The bitrate is @320

Enjoy

Your COUNTESS

JUNIOR'S EYES - Battersea power station (Regal Zonophone, 1969)

A quick look around and I noticed that this album lacks in the world of blogs.

Anyway, this is a temporarly file with a very low bitrate (96 !!). 

My copy is the USA one, released on A & M records.

For the back cover, I use here a picture "stolen" from the band's official MySpace site (below)

Your  COUNTESS  V.

RED SQUARES - It's happening (EMI Columbia, 1967)

PUSSYNBOOTLEGS - THE OPENING SONGS (August/September 2010)

A message by Ottadamson:

Hello! Could you tell me please what are these songs (artist and song name) which are in the Medley series, File Factory upload section? All the songs are really really good and I would be very happy to know what songs these are :) I'm from Estonia and I love your blog! My e-mail is.... [xxxx], so maybe you could send me the names of these Medley songs :)

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A message by Groet:
me too, and wat is the name of that song in that file factory ting ? tnx - groet
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Dear visitors who asked me for titles of the songs in the sequence:

I published an exstensive entry about all the songs that you can hear on my blog when you click on my opening page.

this is the link:

http://countess-vanessas-diary.blogspot.com/2010/09/opening-songs-xtc-locanda-delle-fate.html

Your COUNTESS

KEITH TIPPETT - Blueprint (RCA Victor, 1972)

"All the music is improvised" ... splendid incipit for us free lovers ;)

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more recommendable albums by KT:

"Dedicated to you, but you weren't listening" Vertigo, 1971

About 20 years ago there used to exist a bootleg of this album, VERY WELL done, I must say, but one thing is mercilessly determining, if you want to detect whether you hold the original or a fake: look at the vinyl, the serial numbers are originally machine-typed, not hand-written, and the two dis-levels of the label, around the rims and around the center (see foto below), the only places on a vinyl record that bootleggers are not able to imitate. This is valid also for hundreds of other bootlegs: check the labels, and you will discover the truth.

CENTIPEDE - Septober energy (RCA Neon, 2 LP, 1972)

Everybody knows (by just seeing fotos, usually) the original front cover, just a writing on a white ground, but this is the second UK edition, much rarer than the first, oddly enough ;-)

"Ovary lodge" (RCA Victor, 1973)

Your COUNTESS

KEITH TIPPETT and the ELYSIAN STRING QUARTET - Live at the London Jazz Festival 2008 (Radio Broadcast)

For those who love Keith Tippett and his extremely interesting experimental musical planet...

Half-an-nour of music in one track, "Linuckia"

(photo stolen from his official 'myspace' blog)

Keith Tippett – piano

The Elysian String Quartet:
JennyMay Logan – violin
Emma Smith – violin
Laura Moody – cello
Vincent Cipprell – viola

GENTLE GIANT - Playing the foole (Bootleg, rec. 1974)

For long time this remained the only existing bootleg of Gentle Giant. The first further bootlegs will appear not earlier than in the Compact Disc era, I never ever saw any other Gentle Giant bootleg on vinyl. This LP was already enough famous at the time, till the point that the band itself decided to adopt the title for the official double live "Playing the fool" (omitting the final E) that saw the light 2 years later.
This bootleg, despite what stays written on the sleeve,
1 - is not live
2 - wasn't recorded during any "American tour".
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List:
1. Proclamation - 2. Funny ways - 3. Experience - 4. So sincere - 5. The advent of Panurge - 6. Mr. Class & Quality - 7. The power & the glory.
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All the tracks were recorded in studio, but they're all alternate versions of the originals. So many of these re-constructed and variated versions served as a framework for the forthcoming  concerts, because here we have the same arrangements in the way we hear them on the live albums.  Shame for "Mr. Class and Quality" which is suddenly interrupted: it's quite rare to find this song around on bootlegs, the band stopped playing this track live, at least from 1973 on.  I don't know if this bootleg was ever reissued on CD, anyway, as it usually happens by me, this is the vinyl rip - no surprise.  At the end of the album there is "The power and the glory", the original studio track that didn't appear on the same-titled LP, but on single. I didn't take it away, so the bootleg is complete, for purists...  :-)

Enjoy

The COUNTESS

ATMO - The sea and the dark land (Mellow, 1993)

Second album by a quite interesting Italian Progressive group

Your COUNTESS

MIKE WESTBROOK CONCERT BAND - Celebration (Deram, 1967)

Mike Westbrook's first album,
one more pearl of British Jazz of the 60s...

Mike Westbrook (piano)

John Surman (baritone and soprano saxes, bass clarinet)

Mike Osborne (alto sax)

Malcolm Griffiths (trombone)

Harry Miller (bass)

Alan Jackson (drums)

Dave Holdsworth (trumpet, flugelhorn)

Tom Bennellick (French horn)

Dave Perrottet (valve trombone)

George Smith (tuba)

Dave Chambers (tenor sax, clarinet)

Bernie Living (alto sax, flute)

tracks:

1 Pastoral

2 Awakening

3 Parade

4 Echoes and heroics

5 A Greeting

6 Image

7 Dirge

8 Portrait

Your COUNTESS

SPIROGYRA - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to MARTIN COCKERHAM

Happy Birthday to the Maestro, thanks for those many musical jewels.

Your friends and admirers

Vanessa

Franz

and many more

STAND-BY and LOCANDA DELLE FATE

To all Friends and Visitors:

I am so sorry to be here writing this, but it's a period which I can rarely be online, I have a huge heap of requests for albums, they are too many and I can't keep it up with them... Those of you who don't run a blog don't know it, but sometimes it takes me an hour time to evade 4 or 5 emails, to answer exstensively, to find links, copy and paste, etc.  What is sad is that 70% of these leechers, after purring and licking for album links, which they know perfectly that they can't find them anywhere else [*see note], they never come alive anymore to say even a simple 'thankyou'...   So, now I received a new chance to make some work for the coming two months, and this means that I won't be able to be often online, therefore I will need to leave these blogs of mine (this current, Countess Vanessa, Folkoteque, Diary and the others) switched on the "standby" position.... However, I must write something for a bunch of you, to "SCOLD" you! And precisely: I can't understand why some people ask for certain albums without sending me their own email addresses, and eventually they don't go to read the answers I post SPECIFICALLY for them.  Some examples: the Wayfarers album, the Mélusine's 4th, the Hamish Imlach, the Captain Beefeheart bootleg, etc etc.... Therefore, to all these kinda renegades, I say: "consider yourselves spanked" and learn how to behave with a Lady :-)) OK OK, jokes apart, please forgive me for letting you alone for some time, I need a pause but I'll come back now and then to see what happens in the mailbox :-)

* NOTE: the only exception is Alex Campbell's "In Copenhagen":  I did the scan of the album, and another blog (cover pictures excluded) has directly downloaded and published this file of mine, without asking me nor mentioning me as the original maker and uploader.

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Say Welcome to KIKI, my new girlfriend-in-waiting and a new aficionada member of my blogs!

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About the "Welcome medley" song:

I got some requests from visitors who ask for the title of the opening song that is actual these days:

Hello! I'm french, and I went to your blog looking for 70s music. I listened to the song x - LDF player Medley filefactory, I found this piece of progressive rock super giant and I would like to know who is who plays this title. Thank you! - Francis.
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Hello dear Francis! Yes, is a great track and also a great album, the first by "Locanda Delle Fate", an Italian band; the LP is named "Forse le lucciole non si amano più" (Polydor 1977). The track is the one opening the album, "A volte un istante di quiete". The band did a big promotional tour in Italy at the time, and from those tapes a posthumous LP wsas published, "Live" (Mellow, 1993), but the group disbanded in 1978. Many years later, in 1996 the band reformed and published a second LP, "Homo homini lupus" (BTF, 1999), very different from the marvellous first work.  These are the only albums I have of them, I don't think they did a fourth record.  If you search a bit around through the blogs, you're going to find some link for direct download without problems!

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I'll be back in a few days,

*KISS*  from  your

COUNTESS

WHITESNAKE - Slide it in (Geffen, 1984 - Canadian edition) @320

It's the first time I post an album of power rock, I do it because this is the Canadian edition, with a mixage that differs from the previous UK one (on EMI /Liberty).  Since the time I first heard this version, I stopped listeining to my UK copy, this is the one I definitely prefer! At the time that this LP was released, the band had already lost his axemen Mick Moody (ex Tramline, 2 LPs on Island) and Mel Galley, and was right about to engage guitar hero John Sykes (ex Tygers of Pan Tang and Thin Lizzy), so the band re-recorded some guitar parts and overdubbed them on the ones already existing, the result of which was that practically three guitarists took part to this explosive album.  On the UK sleeve also Colin Hodgkinson (ex Back Door) is named, but on this edition the only bass player results to be Neil Murray.  In a few cases the songs have also different structure, for example "Hungry for love".  So, the whole operation can look a little bizarre, but the presence of Sykes and the new equalization  (more energy to the high and middle frequences) give a general rendition that - in my opinion - overwhelms the previous mixage. And besides, I always had a crush on Coverdsale's voice... The songs are the same, but in different order, and here they really work fantastic: "Gambler" never sounded to me as a good beginning for an album.  The UK version was also used for all the worldwide editions, the only exception was Canada.  I'm not sure whether this version was also used for the USA release, but I remember some interviews of those years where Coverdale himself calls this the "Canada edition". 

1 slide it in
2 slow'n'easy
3 love ain't no stranger
4 all or nothing
5 gambler
6 guilty for love
7 hungry for love
8 gimme more time
9 spit it out
10 standing in the shadow

LINK
(no PW this time!)


Your Countess

GREENFIELD AND COOK - Second album (Polydor, 1973)

A very good pop group from Holland at their second utterance, in my opinion much better than the first. Here, thankgod, all those  honeydripping bombastic orchestral arrangements are abandoned, curtsey to the unknown "central scrutinizer" who had to take this extremely drastic decision!  The album includes the hit that gave them 5 minutes of popularity, "Far too late", still today a lovely song to listen, reminds me somehow of the Hollies, a band I always loved.  As I said in the Mouth and Macneal post ( == >>  see), this band comes out (1972, first LP) in a period of post-beat while whole world was still hoping for a return of the Beatles (as often announced, especially around 73 and 74), or at least for someone new who'd filled the gap which the Fab 4 had mercilessly left. As for Mouth & Macneal, they come from Holland and the year is 1973.  I listed this album on this blog, because it's definitely out of discussion to post it on a folk-related blog!  ;-) 

 

All in all, a very enjoyable album!

Your COUNTESS

MOUTH AND MACNEAL - Pocketful of hits (Decca, 1973)

The blue-jeansed album by a pop group from Holland, in the period of the early 70's' post-beat, prototypes of Abba and environmental epigones while the whole world was still hoping for a return of the Beatles (as often announced, especially around 73 and 74), or at least for someone new who'd filled the gap the Fab 4 had mercilessly left.  Check also the post of Greenfield and Cook, a pop group from Holland as well, same year.

HUGH HOPPER - 1984 (CBS, 1973)

as promised after posting Elton Dean's first LP (see link)

A very experimental album, I always loved work like this, where a musician expresses geniality and openness of visuality (see people like Ron Geesin, Robert Wyatt, etc).  Might be disappointing for all those who believe to find some softmachine-sound and/or compositions. There's a CD reissue of this "1984" album, and it adds a track named "Miniluv reprise", which is actually a different version of "Miniluv" appearing on the LP "Hopper Tunity Box" (originally on Compendium, 1977). The title 'reprise' fits better because it has definitely nothing to do with the first track appearing on the CBS LP.  By the way, "Hopper Tunity Box" is also an album I recommend, you can find it in some other blog around.

titles:
Miniluv
Minipax 1
 Minipax 2
Minitrue
Miniplenty
Minitrue reprise

Players:
John Marshall, Gary Windo, Pye Hastings, Lol Coxhill, Malcolm Griffiths, Nick Evans.

Funny liner notes, by John Esam, if one day I have some time I'll scan the cover for you.

LINK





Your COUNTESS

VERSAILLES - Don Giovanni (1992)

VERSAILLES

the French group, not the Japanese one.

This album comes after a request, I couldn't believe that it doesn't exist on any other blog, it's not one of those 60's-70's rarities after all.  This is a gorgeous work, although - technically speaking - the band has the usual problems with the drummer, who doesn't lack fantasy and spirit of invention, but unfortunately remains often backwards with the tempo.  For those who want evidence, check especially the first two tracks on the album "Blaise and Benjamin", of 1998.  Also the guitarist is not very gifted in solos, his fingers often stumble, tangling himself up with plectrum and strings. However, despite a number of citations - mainly of Genesis - here you find extremely creative compositions, large spectrum of arrangements, a perfect LP for Progressive lovers!

Don't miss it.
Enough said.

The Countess

ROGER POWELL - Cosmic furnace (Atlantic, 1973)

The first album by keyboard/synth wizard Roger Powell, precious sideman of Todd Rundgren in the Utopia band.

the tracks are:

1. Ictus: The Primordial Pulse
2. Lumia: Dance of the Nebulae
3. Fourneau Cosmique: The Alchemical Furnace of Cleopatra
4. Hermetic Enigma: The Fixed Volatile (The Answer Is But Another Riddle)
5. Queene Enfineska: Serenity of the Lion in Summer
6. Tensegrity: A Dymaxion Triptych

His solo-discography includes four more LPs.


The COUNTESS

SPIROGYRA - The return of SPIROGYRA, Live, June 2010!

THE RETURN OF

SPIROGYRA

LIVE IN CONCERT at the UNION CHAPEL,

London, 6 JUNE 2010

Love and gratitude to

MARTIN COCKERHAM

the great survivor of Progressive - Folk,

who leads the resurged group on stage for this concert

COUNTESS

VANESSA

SOFTBALL - Lamp (Cutting Edge, 2002 - Japan)

I've been 6 or 7 times in Japan and I once saw on TV an extremely powerful rock trio, filmed alive in concert, three young girls as angry as tigers, with very good mastery of the instruments, especially the drummer.  I right away searched for their CDs on sale at the time and I found this. I have few infos about this all-girl group, but more of them will come.

Not progressive at all, actually for post-punk-rock lovers, but a hard2find item, so enjoy :-)
"Unpleasant" is a great item!

Remember the Hill

Revive
Dodge
Troop
Answer
Just Try It
Unpleasant
No Control
Heavenly
0228
Vanity

Your COUNTESS 

SPIROGYRA - Swan Songs (private Label, recorded 1969-1974, CD only)

An album with some live recordings, many unissued songs which never saw the light on any officially published album. Fresh sound of those glorious years, although the sound quality is not always first class. The CD includes also a few demo version of songs recorded in 1969 and appeared later in 1971, in their definitive forms on "St. Radigunds", the first masterpiece of this incredible group.
This group, which was so ahead of its times in the early 70's, hasn't yet stopped amazing people, and unfortunately still today results somehow "cryptic" to a large slice of music aficionados... Incomprehension seems to be the destiny of a genius... And Martin Cockerham proved to be of them.

The cover of Spirogyra's marvellous live album, recorded 1974

SEE ALSO MY POST:

"The return of Spirogyra on stage 2010"

Your COUNTESS

.

The..... Blue Jeans album?

What album is this?

It's a REAL blue-jeans tissue complete outer sleeve

NO, not "After the gold rush"

NO, not "Madman across the water"

NO, not "Sticky fingers"

One help? It's a DECCA 1973

The answer in a few days

GREASY TRUCKERS - Party - by Various Artists (2 LP, United Artists, 1972)

MAN

BRINSLEY SCHWARZ

 MAGIC MICHAEL

 HAWKWIND

LINK

CHRISTMAS AT THE PATTI - by Various Artists (2 MINI-LP, United Artists, 1972)

LINK

GREASY TRUCKERS - Live at Dingwalls dance hall (2 LP, GT records, 1973)

LINK

GLASTONBURY FAYRE FESTIVAL - Various Artists (3 LP, Revelation, 1972)

This triple album, together with the film, is a milestone, unfortunately never reprinted either on vinyl LPs or on CD. There are of course many interesting recordings, but not everything is actually live.

The artists on this 3 LP box are:

Marc Bolan, David Bowie, Brinsley Schwarz, Edgar Broughton Band, Gong, Grateful Dead, Hawkwind, Mighty Baby, Pink Fairies,  Skin Alley, Peter Townshend

On the film you find:

Arthur Brown, Fairport Convention, Family, Melanie, Quintessence, Traffic

The 3 LPs box shows musicians whom you don't find on the film and viceversa, they're practically complementary. The album selection leaves me a bit disappointed for the exclusion of some great performances. Shame that bands like Fairport (great live version of "Dirty linen", at turbo speed with pirotechnical work of Swarb, and Pegg on bass!), Traffic (devilish version of "Gimme some lovin'", much better than the one on "Welcome to the canteen") and Quintessence are only present on the film (the whole Island group is not on vinyl!).  Where is the film of the Dead performance? It is rumoured that their "Dark star" was actually recorded at Wembley, not here!  And why the useless reprints of already published studio recordings?  Moreover, such a good LP came out in a moment that for some of these artists we could define crisis: some of them, in 1972, were about to end their career.

For what regards the film, it would be interesting, but apart from sporadic appearances of great bands and soloists (the glorious Family on top, in my opinion), it all gets lost in wasting kilometers of celluloid for freaks in rags, junkos, ratsos, Hamelin pipers and streets-of-mud guitarists who can't play a note, a huge army of colourful (???) village market jugglers, it's practically a documentary like "The making of", till the point that you suddenly discover that music is just a secondary accessory... what else, otherwise?  There's even the reportage of a mass.  So much the worse during certain performances where by right you would FINALLY  love to watch the artist on stage rather than a crowd of skizos howling and playing the fools in the mud and/or on the backstage (IE see Traffic at the end) for the 80% of the song.

The very first original cover of the treble album, with a plastic outer sleeve.

The same album cover without the outer plastic sleeve

After a number of requests from friends and visitors, I decided to defeat my proverbial lazyness and to scan it.  My copy is almost immaculate, you're assured to get a fabulous-quality scan.  So, the Glastonbury pyramid is on its way.

If you also wanna see the film, I can upload it, but if no one comes to request it, I won't bother.
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I took one week to scan and prepare all the albums, now they're finally ready! - 9 Mar '10

[(above) the complete six-square outer sleeve - the pyramid verb was about to be spread, see also Pink Floyd, Yoko Ono, Spooky Tooth, Utopia, etc. ]

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As I said, some artist's songs are NOT live in concert. For example: Bowie,  Bolan, Townshend, etc.  Also Pink Fairies` "Uncle Harry" makes me suspicious because after 2;50 mins the sound and the equalization change completely... 

However, as far as I know, all live recordings remained unissued on other publications, that's why they're important and/or interesting to be heard and owned.

I have - lazily - took some pictures today of some of the numberless gadgets and booklets and leaflets and posters and the outer drawn plastic envelope bag which the original edition  included...

The Grateful Dead, for their track named "Dark star....bury" didn't want to renounce to have their logo printed on the label ;-))

So did also Gong, Pink Fairies, etc.

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Further infos for collectors:

MARC BOLAN - Sunken rags - I couldn't find this acoustic version on any of the expanded editions of the re-issued T. Rex LPs. An "electric" version with T.Rex appeared the same year on the EP "Children of the revolution", with... "fluorescent" contributions by Flo & Eddie.

above: the EP "Children of the revolution" / "Jitter bug love" / "Sunken rags", EMI 1972

If you compare the EP with the worldwide success single "Telegram Sam", EMI 1972, you can see that the covers are exactly the same, probably in order to get advantage of the band's big popularity.

BRINSLEY SCHWARZ - Love song - same version as on the LP "Despite it all"

DAVID BOWIE - The supermen - not the version on the LP "The man who sold the world"

EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND - Out demons out - not the version on LP "A bunch of 45's"

HAWKWIND - Silver machine - it's the studio version appeared on single, but with a different vocal track overdubbed.

SKIN ALLEY - Sun music - same version as on the LP "Two quid deal"

PETER TOWNSHEND - Classified - appeared years later on a single "Let my love open the door"/"Classified" (Atco, 1980) and on some bootleg, prior to be officially reissued on "The genius of PT", in the '90s.

Your Countess