27. Chris Squire – Fish Out Of Water (1975)
My favorite bassist released his one and only solo album back in ’75, showing the world that he didn’t need Anderson or Howe to craft kickass songs or sing when he could do both in spades himself. As a result, what we have here is a top class work with a lot of symphonic tendencies, but one that doesn’t sound anything like Squire’s parent band Yes. Lounge jazz excursions such as ‘Lucky Seven’ and the high rolling “Silently Falling” let Squire test waters he normally wouldn’t get to otherwise, and the result is wonderful to behold.
Track Highlights:
Lucky Seven, Safe (Cannon Song)
26. Pharaoh Sanders – Karma (1969)
Coltrane’s protégé steps out quite well on this ridiculously amazing release, the last great free-jazz album of the decade and among my favorites of all time. Although it only consists of two tracks (The Creator Has A Master Plan and Colors), Sander’s beautiful yet sometimes quite chaotic tenor work does much in turning Karma from mere noise into a timeless masterstroke that aptly conveys his spirituality and a sense of wonder of the unknown. Real choice jazz for interested individuals!
Track Highlights:
Colors
25. Yesterdays – Holdfenykert (2008)
I don’t own a lot of stuff from Hungary, but I really love this album. Sunlit female vocals set against a sonic backdrop that’s somewhere between early 1970’s Camel and Cocteau Twins at their dream-pop best, with oodles of gorgeous acoustic guitar work and some stellar flute to boot. Such a combination of vintage elements is quite entrancing and a nice antidote to seemingly endless procession of albums that recycle the same trip-hop elements again and again to make their songs seemingly more hypnotic than they actually are.
Simply put, this is a damn nice slice of Mellotron-pop, bleeding the beauty from every note and word within, and I’m quite fond of it. Plus it has the welcome side-effect of having a 100% chance of converting prog-haters with but a single spin through your player.
Track Highlights:
If Ever, Somewhere In Space, It’s So Divine