Dotoar

Been a while now. Oh well. One should be out and about in the spring sun instead of mining for one-album-wonders anyway.


England - Garden shed (1977)

Probably the best Yes-ripoff there ever was. And I'm cheating a bit here, since there's also a demo album around recorded as a follow-up to this masterpiece, that's been released posthumously.


Yezda Urfa - Sacred baboon (1976/1989)

Probably the best Yes-on-speed-ripoff there ever was. I'm cheating a bit here as well, once again since there's a demo album around. And the complications don't stop there (or with the music, which just blows your mind); it was recorded in 1976 but not released until 13 years later in the age of grunge and sleaze when, if possible, prog was about as fit for the general opinion as East Germany was for automotive manufacturing. How great is that!


Jakob Hellman - Och stora havet (1989)

Ok, this probably won't make any sense to the non-native swede, but it ranks up there as well. Anyway, it's the sole album by Jakob Hellman and it's one of the most critically acclaimed swedish pop albums ever, and even if I personally think it's dragged down a bit by the slick production standards of the time as well as reminders of the doldrums of my childhood, I still think it's damn fine pop for the bucks. Look it up if you like well-crafted powerpop.


Yellow Balloon - s/t (1967)

I don't really know that much about the band nor the record, except that it's a bloody good one. Falls into the same category as "Pet sounds", "Odessey and oracle", i.e. lush, sunny pop.


Giles, Giles & Fripp - The cheerful insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp (1968)

And this puppy doesn't fit in anywhere in particular, definitely not in the Court of the Crimson King. The closest analogy I can think of is contemporary Kinks, albeit spiced with Robert Fripp's already dexterious jazz runs. Very english, very different from what they (or two of them at least) would go on doing, and very good.

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