Camel - Moonmadness [Japanese Ed. 2CD] (1976)

Year: April 1976 (CD 2009)
Label: Universal Music (Japan), UICY-94134/5
Style: Art Rock, Symphonic Rock, Canterbury Scene
Country: Guildford, Surrey, England
Time: 54:41, 73:52
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 347, 437 Mb

CD1: Moonmadness - original album + 3 bonus tracks. CD2: The London Hammersmith Odeon Concert - 14th April 1976.
Moonmadness is the fourth studio album by English progressive rock band Camel. It was released in April 1976 on Decca and Gama Records and is their last album recorded by the group's original line-up of Andrew Latimer, Peter Bardens, Doug Ferguson, and Andy Ward. After reaching success with their previous album, the all-instrumental The Snow Goose, the band started on a follow-up and incorporated vocals and lyrics to the new music. Moonmadness has a loose concept with one track based on the personality of each band member: "Air Born" for Andrew Latimer, "Chord Change" for Peter Bardens, "Another Night" for Doug Ferguson, and "Lunar Sea" for Andy Ward.
Camel's popularity grew in 1975 with their critically acclaimed instrumental album The Snow Goose, which was followed by the group being voted Britain's Brightest Hope by readers of the nationwide music publication Melody Maker. In late 1975, the band spent three weeks writing new music for a follow-up album, and recorded Moonmadness in January and February 1976. At the time of release, Latimer said he was very pleased with the album despite the need to rush to finish it.
The last track, "Lunar Sea", ends with a minute-long wind-blowing effect. On some LP pressings, the record arm would skip during the end of this part and naturally return to the beginning of the effect, playing it endlessly (the "terminal groove" effect).
In the Q & Mojo Classic Special Edition Pink Floyd & The Story of Prog Rock, the album came number 23 in its list of "40 Cosmic Rock Albums".
It was voted no. 58 in the Top 100 Prog albums of All Time by readers of 'Prog' magazine in 2014 and is ranked 16th greatest prog album on progarchives.com (as of 23-07-2025).
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonmadness)

01. Aristillus (01:57)
02. Song Within a Song (07:14)
03. Chord Change (06:43)
04. Spirit of the Water (02:07)
05. Another Night (06:54)
06. Airborn (05:02)
07. Lunar Sea (09:12)
08. Another Night (single) (03:24)
09. Spirit of the Water (demo version) (02:14)
10. Lunar Sea (live) (09:50)

01. Song Within a Song (07:38)
02. Excerpts From the Snow Goose (11:03)
03. Air Born (05:12)
04. Chord Change (06:58)
05. The White Rider (09:10)
06. Preparation / Dunkirk (10:17)
07. Another Night (07:25)
08. Lady Fantasy (16:05)

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Camel - The Snow Goose (1975)

Year: May 1975 (CD March 1983)
Label: Deram Records (Germany), 800 080-2
Style: Art Rock, Symphonic Rock, Instrumental
Country: Guildford, Surrey, England
Time: 43:29
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 230 Mb

Looking back the history, this album should be read as Camel music inspired by "The Snow Goose". Why? This concept album was composed with a reference to Paul Gallico’s Snow Goose. Right after the success of "Mirage" which stayed at Billboard’s Top 200 for a creditable 13 weeks peaked at 149, the band brainstormed the idea of making an acclaimed literary piece concept album. Peter Bardens voted for Steppen Wolf’s but Ferguson and Latimer proposed Paul Gallico’s. So the band created the music that revolved around The Snow Goose. Unfortunately, their record label failed to sign a deal with Gallico’s publishers in the hope of obtaining official blessing for the project, ideally having the author pen a sleeve note and possibly arrange a tie-in between album and tome. That’s why this tribute to our feathered friends had its title prefaced "Music Inspired By" and remained wholy wordless. [sleeve note].
Nevertheless, the streams of music featured in this album is a good one to enjoy and you may have a rewarding experience throughout some tracks. It starts off with an ambient "The Great Marsh" (2:02) which to me personally sounds like an opener for the whole atmosphere of the album. No one would argue that "Rhayader" (3:01) is an excellent track which has powerful melody combining flute, guitar and organ performed in classical influence music with medium tempo. This song has characterized the seventies music altogether with other common songs from Genesis or Yes or ELP or Pink Floyd. I used to associate this song with "Bouree" by Jethro Tull at that time because both of them are flute-based music. "Rhayader Goes To Town" (5:20) is a logical follow- up to Rhayader as it brings the music into faster tempo with great combination of guitar and organ solo with energetic beats. These two songs must be enjoyed in its entirety.
"Sanctuary" (1:05) and "Fritha" (1:19) are songs that I consider as bridges that connect to title track "The Snow Goose" (3:12) which contains guitar solo augmented with long sustain organ in the vein of Jan Akermann of Focus. Cool guitar-based instrumental. "Friendship" (1:44) is a bit boring exploration of keyboard / organ whicch may have more meaning if we can associate with certain part of the story - say our goose was running away or swimming quickly . things like that. Otherwise, it’s a meaningless bridge. "Migration" (2:01) brings the music into up-beat style followed nicely with a cool quiet passage "Rhayader Alone" (1:50). "Flight Of The Snow Goose" (2:40) explores Bardens’ keyboard virtuosity followed with good guitar fills that bring the melody of the music combined with a bit spacey keyboard work.
"Preparation" (3:58) is to me like a theme song that brings the introduction to the next track "Dunkirk" (5:19) with the use of Hammond organ as basic rhythm section plus some howling guitar work followed with guitar solo. The song is dominated with keyboard work even though guitar fills some parts and serves as melody in some other parts. It’s a good track. "Epitaph" (2:07) and "Fritha Alone" (1:40) are bridges to upbeat music with keyboard solo in "La Princesse Perdue" (4:44). Again, I can smell a similarity with Focus music, especially the guitar part. "The Great Marsh" (1:20) concludes the album with an exploration of nature sounds .
Overall, through this album the band has demonstrated their capability to maintain their creation on par excellent with their previous album "Mirage". The album offers good combined work between organ and guitar performed in various styles. The music is cohesive to support a concept album. I think this album should be "in" any prog collection as it was one of the icons in the seventies that anyone should not miss. Recommended.
(classicrockreview.wordpress.com/category/camel-the-snow-goose/)

01. The Great Marsh (02:02)
02. Rhayader (03:01)
03. Rhayader Goes To Town (05:20)
04. Sanctuary (01:05)
05. Fritha (01:19)
06. The Snow Goose (03:12)
07. Friendship (01:44)
08. Migration (02:01)
09. Rhayader Alone (01:50)
10. Flight Of The Snow Goose (02:40)
11. Preparation (03:58)
12. Dunkirk (05:19)
13. Epitaph (02:07)
14. Fritha Alone (01:40)
15. La Princesse Perdue (04:44)
16. The Great Marsh (01:20)

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Camel - Mirage [Japanese Ed. 4 bonus tracks + Germany Ed. AAD] (1974)

Year: 1 March 1974 (CD May 27, 2009. 1989)
Label: Universal Music / Deram Records (Japan/Germany), UICY-94131/820 613-2
Style: Art Rock, Symphonic Rock, Canterbury Scene, Progressive Rock
Country: Guildford, Surrey, England
Time: 68:08, 38:03
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 426, 267 Mb

Camel’s Mirage (1974), with its iconic, cigarette-brand-referencing cover art, was a record that seemed to materialise, fully formed, from the patchouli-scented smoke of the era.
While the previous year's self-titled debut promised much, Mirage was where the band truly found their voice: a clever mix of symphonic sweep, jazz fusion and melodic subtlety that set them apart from the prog giants of the day, even if it didn't reach the same levels of success.
Built around extended suites like Lady Fantasy and Nimrodel, the album blended pastoral English whimsy with intricate musicianship, led by Andy Latimer’s lyrical guitar and Peter Bardens’ swirling keys.
Though Mirage didn’t trouble the charts on release, its reputation has only grown, even if some still confuse the group with Peter Frampton's band of the same name.
(loudersound.com/music/albums/camel-mirage)

Germany Ed. - Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

Japanese Ed. 4 bonus tracks:

01. Freefall (05:53)
02. Supertwister (03:19)
03. Nimrodel / The Procession / The White Rider (09:17)
04. Earthrise (06:42)
05. Lady Fantasy: Encounter / Smiles for You / Lady Fantasy (12:45)
06. Supertwister (live) (03:15)
07. Mystic Queen (live) (06:07)
08. Arubaluba (live) (07:47)
09. Lady Fantasy: Encounter / Smiles for You / Lady Fantasy (original Basing Street Studios mix) (12:59)

Germany Ed. AAD:

01. Freefall (05:54)
02. Supertwister (03:23)
03. Nimrodel - The Procession - The White Rider (09:18)
04. Earthrise (06:41)
05. Lady Fantasy (12:45)

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Daevid Allen (Gong, Soft Machine) - Banana Moon (1971)

Year: July 1971 (CD 1995)
Label: Spalax Music (France), 14945
Style: Progressive Rock, Garage Rock
Country: Melbourne, Australia (13 January 1938 - 13 March 2015)
Time: 38:32
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 258 Mb

When he's eventually popped his clogs (for the man turns 76 in a few days from now), Daevid Allen may only ever be remembered for his long-running input into arguably one of the most influential bands of the psychedelic rock genre, Gong. However, long before such a band existed the man was running around the world, meeting up with musical poets, disgruntling government authorities due to his visa running out and generally cooking up some of the most otherworldly stories known to man (and it's not just the pot-head pixies I'm referring to either). After having had the time of his life producing the strangest music of the late 60s under the Soft Machine and Gong banners, Allen decided to go on a more personal venture into the world of music, thus creating his first solo album, Bananamoon.
Bananamoon is a completely different kettle of fish to Allen's work with Gong and Soft Machine, though still very much drug-addled and otherworldly all the same. For his debut solo album, Allen still used numerous musicians as he did with his previous two bands on various songs. Therefore, what we have in Bananamoon is not just one musician's input, but a rather large handful of musicians all contributing their respective talents to each and every song. As a result, every song here is different in its own way, though there are times when a song can lose itself amidst psychedelic music.
(full version: sputnikmusic.com/review/60482/Daevid-Allen-Bananamoon/) Review by Robert Davis. January 10th, 2014

01. Time Of Your Life (03:27)
02. Memories (03:37)
03. All I Want Is Out Of Here (04:51)
04. Fred The Fish (02:31)
05. White Neck Blooze (05:50)
06. Stones Innocent Frankenstein (03:22)
07. & His Adventures In The Land Of Flip (12:03)
08. I Am A Bowl (02:47)

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Camel - Camel (1973)

Year: February 1973 (CD 1992)
Label: Camel Productions (US), CP-002CD
Style: Symphonic Rock, Canterbury Scene, Progressive Rock
Country: Guildford, Surrey, England
Time: 39:23
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 260 Mb

Elsewhere, Andy shows that, apart from Blackmore, he has been attentively listening to Robert Fripp - some of the passages in 'Six Ate' are based on the fast, mathematically precise riffage of '21st Century Schizoid Man' - and maybe even Santana (the album opener, 'Going Down Slow', with its calm, steady Latin groove that suddenly turns into a wall-rattling temperamental solo midway through); pure jazz guitar chops are heard on the proto-National Health 'Curiosity'. Without a doubt, the guitar solos throughout are the best parts of the songs, and one major thing they have over subsequent instrumental passages on later records is dynamics; there's much more youthful aggressiveness in the playing than there would be on those records where the songwriting was to finally catch up with the playing and then eventually overshadow it. By contrast, Bardens lets his organ mostly stay in the background, being an essential part of the sound.
Oh yes, there's also the singing question - at least three band members take turns providing lead vocal parts, but not one of them is able to make any impression, and apparently they know it, so the vocals are kept to a minimum (and two out of seven songs have none at all). Incidentally, it's pretty damn hard to tell one guy from another; they all sound like slightly dusty clones of Pye Hastings. In fact, if there is one thing that's more or less common for all of "Canterbury rock", it's the vocals - quiet, high-pitched, and very weak voices, suggesting that Canterbury singers obviously do not drink, smoke, swear, date, eat non-kosher, or watch anime.
(full version: starlingdb.org/music/camel.htm)

01. Slow Yourself Down (04:47)
02. Mystic Queen (05:40)
03. Six Ate (06:06)
04. Separation (03:57)
05. Never Let Go (06:26)
06. Curiosity (05:55)
07. Arubaluba (06:29)

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Gong - Expresso II (1978)

Year: March 1978 (CD Dec 16, 1989)
Label: Virgin Records (Japan), VJD-5019
Style: Canterbury Scene, Progressive Rock, Jazz Rock, Blues Rock
Country: Paris, France
Time: 37:32
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 252 Mb

Key to the new album’s rich aesthetic was an increased emphasis on percussion. While rhythms had always been given a prominent role under the drummer’s stewardship, never before had they come in such variety or enjoyed such precedence. With Pierre Moerlen and brother Benoit playing a variety of mallet instruments, Mireille Bauer added further marimba and vibraphone textures to Francois Causse’s tribal conga drum patterns to create a whirlwind of high and low pitched polyrhythms.
Something of an anomaly in the context of the album, opener “Heavy Tune” finds former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor’s steely guitar work adding a hard rock edge to a strident jazz-funk jam. More representative, the following “Golden Dilemma” features a furious-paced percussive barrage offset by Hansford Rowes’s funky rhythm guitar licks, while the gentle “Sleepy” features the band at their most dreamlike, with multiple layers of vibes and marimba creating a magic box effect that’s abetted by similarly mystical violin courtesy of former Curved Air man Darryl Way. Elsewhere, the sprightly “Soli,” driven by Hansford Rowe’s roaming bass runs, and Francois Causse’s Latin conga rhythms, heads yet further into jazz fusion territory, a path continued with the erroneously titled, gamelan-influenced “Boring” and the conga-heavy Latin experiments of “Three Blind Mice.”
Expresso II’s release saw out the band’s contract with Virgin and was to be the final studio album under the Gong moniker until 1992. Rechristened Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, the outfit would continue to mine their rhythm-heavy brand of jazz fusion into the 80s.
(udiscovermusic.com/stories/rediscover-gongs-expresso-ii/)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Heavy Tune (06:25)
02. Golden Dilemma (04:53)
03. Sleepy (07:18)
04. Soli (07:39)
05. Boring (06:26)
06. Three Blind Mice (04:49)

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Gong - Gazeuse! [Japanese Ed.] (1976)

Year: Late 1976 (CD Dec 16, 1989)
Label: Virgin Records (Japan), VJD-5018
Style: Canterbury Scene, Progressive Rock, Jazz Rock
Country: Paris, France
Time: 39:46
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 229 Mb

The group first came together under the leadership of Australian-born Daevid Allen, an early member of Soft Machine who, after being denied reentry into the UK due to visa problems in 1967, remained in France and formed Gong largely around a group of French musicians including saxophonist/flautist Didier Malherbe, the only original member left by the time Gazeuse! was released in 1976.
While not titled as such, Gazeuse! was really the first release by a Gong offspring, Pierre Moerlen's Gong, which largely abandoned the psychedelic space rock of such early Gong releases as the classic Radio Gnome Trilogy (also featuring guitarist Steve Hillage) for a more jazz-rock fusion sound. Its immediate predecessor, Shamal (Virgin)—released earlier the same year and the first to feature the trifecta of Moerlen, vibraphonist Benoit Moerlen and vibraphonist/percussionist Mireille Bauer—hinted at the future direction of this Gong offshoot (the departed Allen later reuniting his vision of Gong, one that was more in-line with its early, hippy-aesthetic days). Shamal, however, featured vocals and was more progressive-leaning, thanks to Malherbe and bassist Mike Howlett's writing, and Hillage's echo-drenched guitar (he would leave the band, along with life partner Miquette Giraudy, before the album's February 1976 release).
Gazeuse! also features Francis Moze. A tremendous fretless bassist with a positively massive tone compared to American fretless innovator Jaco Pastorius, Moze demonstrated a similarly lithe dexterity as his American cousin that allowed him to lay down an unshakable groove while, at the same time, engaging in a more interactive way with the rest of his band mates. The album also includes an early appearance by Mino Cinelu, who would go on to greater fame with American fusion super group Weather Report and, in the last decade of his life, Miles Davis.
(full version: allaboutjazz.com/gong-gazeuse-gong-virgin-records-review-by-john-kelman)

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Expresso (05:58)
02. Night Illusion (03:42)
03. Percolations Part 1 (03:52)
04. Percolations Part 2 (06:09)
05. Shadows Of (07:48)
06. Esnuria (08:01)
07. Mireille (04:12)

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Robert Wyatt (Soft Machine) - Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (1975)

Year: May 1975 (CD 1998)
Label: Hannibal Records (France), HNCD 1427
Style: Jazz Rock, Avant-garde, Progressive Rock
Country: Lydden, Kent, England (28 January 1945)
Time: 39:11
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 220 Mb

The follow-up to Rock Bottom, for which Wyatt had written all of the music and lyrics, Ruth... consisted of Wyatt's adaptations and arrangements of other people's music (either friends – Phil Manzanera, Fred Frith, Mongezi Feza, former Wilde Flowers bandmate Brian Hopper – or influences – Charlie Haden) with Wyatt adding his own lyrics in much the same way as he had done on Matching Mole's Little Red Record. Apart from "Sonia", recorded for the shelved "Yesterday Man" single in October 1974 (again with Nick Mason as producer), the entire album was recorded and mixed at Virgin's The Manor Studio with Wyatt himself handling production duties. Much of the album features Wyatt (on lead vocals and keyboards) backed by a "band" consisting of bassist Bill MacCormick, drummer Laurie Allan and saxophonists George Khan and Gary Windo, with Brian Eno adding his own idiosyncratic "anti-jazz" touch.
Two years earlier Wyatt had provided the hypnotic soundtrack to the experimental film Solar Flares by Arthur Johns. The nine-minute film, "a personal essay on colour effects", had been produced by Nick Mason and recorded at his home studio. Wyatt had been involved at an early stage and his music was central to the project. The music itself would reappear on his 1975 album "in a more 'digestible' form".
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Is_Stranger_Than_Richard)

01. Muddy Mouse (a) (00:49)
02. Solar Flares (05:36)
03. Muddy Mouse (b) (00:50)
04. 5 Black Notes and 1 White Note (05:00)
05. Muddy Mouse (c) (06:15)
06. Soup Song (04:03)
07. Sonia (04:18)
08. Team Spirit (08:33)
09. Song for Che (03:42)

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Soft Machine - Seven (1973)

Year: October 1973 (CD 2007)
Label: Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Europe), 82876872922
Style: Jazz Rock, Progressive Rock, Canterbury Scene
Country: Canterbury, England
Time: 43:15
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 263 Mb

This was the first Soft Machine album I bought and nearly the last. Not that it isn’t soothing in a sleepy sort of way, but it wasn’t at all the madcap sonic adventure I was expecting. With time, of course, I understood that the original quest changed after the departures of Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt, with Mike Ratledge leading the band into jazzier terrain much as Gong did under the stewardship of Pierre Moerlen. From the perspective of Six, little had changed—or needed to, really. The mesmerizing keyboard patterns, mutated saxophone/oboe solos, superlative drumming and steady bass shift every few minutes like an audio kaleidoscope, which is pleasant enough. It’s generally a calmer and more peaceful record than most jazz fusion albums from the period, and there’s little difference between the songs written by Ratledge and Karl Jenkins, giving Seven a consistent feel from beginning to end. Is it the first Soft Machine album you need to own? In my experience, obviously not (they did number these for a reason). If you’re going to buy seven Soft Machine albums, however, here you are. Highlights (to my ears) include Tarabos, Down the Road and the combination of Snodland and Penny Hitch (the songs tend to merge into one another). Carol Ann is also very pretty. That said, the album doesn’t really have standout sections; it’s conceived as an organic whole that flows from the shared musical sensibilities of its four members. It’s not their best album, but it might be their softest so far.
(progrography.com/soft-machine/review-soft-machine-seven-1973/)

01. Nettle Bed (04:51)
02. Carol Ann (03:45)
03. Day's Eye (05:03)
04. Bone Fire (00:35)
05. Tarabos (04:27)
06. D.I.S. (03:04)
07. Snodland (01:51)
08. Penny Hitch (06:38)
09. Block (04:18)
10. Down The Road (05:44)
11. The German Lesson (01:51)
12. The French Lesson (01:03)

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Gong - Shamal [Japanese Ed.] (1976)

Year: 13 February 1976 (CD Dec 16, 1989)
Label: Virgin Records (Japan), VJD-5017
Style: Canterbury Scene, Progressive Rock, Jazz Rock
Country: Paris, France
Time: 40:44
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 257 Mb

The album, produced by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, was recorded in December 1975 by a unique line-up referred to later as "Shamal-Gong". It is usually regarded as a transitional album between Daevid Allen's incarnation of the band and the Pierre Moerlen-led fusion line-up of the late 1970s.
The greatest thing about Shamal is that it's so versatile. There are only six tracks here, but each one seems to explore a different tone and aspect of musical experimentation. The softer tracks such as opener "Wingful of Eyes" and beautiful, elegant flute-led "Bambooji" are complementary to the album's quirkier tracks, such as the almost Frank Zappa-inspired "Cat in Clark's Shoes" and eccentric closing title track. Yet what really glues all these songs together is the absence of self-indulgent musicianship and a definite knowledge of perfect instrumental placements.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamal_(album))

Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog. D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).

01. Wingful Of Eyes (06:20)
02. Chandra (07:18)
03. Bambooji (05:13)
04. Cat In Clark's Shoes (07:43)
05. Mandrake (05:04)
06. Shamal (09:03)

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Robert Wyatt (ex Soft Machine) - The End Of An Ear (1970)

Year: 4 December 1970 (CD 1999)
Label: Columbia Records (Austria), 493342 2
Style: Free Jazz, Avant-garde
Country: Lydden, Kent, England (28 January 1945)
Time: 47:01
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 258 Mb

In the glorious machine-powered future, we can look forward to AI-created music conceived “in the style of Robert Wyatt” and nod approvingly as a jumble of drums, horns and piano come tumbling from our computer speakers. In the drug-fueled past, of course, we had to make due with the electrical connections contained in our own craniums. Metal or soft machine is splitting hairs, you may say, and I (with none of my own to split) might argue otherwise, but we are the true author of neither. Music like this exists because it must, because the rules of chaos dictate that even clouds will occasionally take the perfect form of a cat, and that even whacked-out moles like Robert Wyatt will discover genius in chaos (or that chaos will discover the genius in Robert Wyatt).
The End of an Ear begins and ends with Wyatt’s bizarre interpretation of Gil Evans’ Las Vegas Tango. Wyatt largely replaces the horns with gibberish, creating a strange tapestry of sound that comes surprisingly close to the original while at the same time seeming nothing like it. The remaining “songs” feature the same instrumentation—drums, horns, keyboards, bass, voice—that take Wyatt’s dadaism to new heights (depths?). Frank Zappa made music like this, only he made it on purpose. Wyatt is less rigid, though perhaps no less intentional. Sometimes, The End of an Ear sounds like music. To Saintly Bridget is alien space jazz. To Carla Marsha and Caroline is simultaneously melodic and oddly disquieting. To Caravan and Brother Jim starts out relatively normal before becoming enveloped in cryptic cacophony. I’m not sure what Columbia thought they had signed on for with this album, but that they didn’t sign up for a sequel probably says a lot. Wyatt’s first solo album has all the earmarks of a contract breaker. More likely, he was letting off steam as Soft Machine devolved into a “normal” jazz fusion band (the quotes implying normal relative to the strange world of Soft Machine). If you’re into Zappa’s stranger experiments or just enjoy listening to a Dadaist drummer thumb his nose at the world for forty minutes, The End of an Ear could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. It’s not for everyone, and possibly not for anyone (despite its dedications), but in a world where art can now be condensed into a set of algorithms, it’s refreshing to hear someone making music while breaking so many rules.
(progrography.com/robert-wyatt/review-robert-wyatt-the-end-of-an-ear-1971/)

01. Las Vegas Tango Part One (Repeat) (08:13)
02. To Mark Everywhere (02:26)
03. To Saintly Bridget (02:21)
04. To oz Alien Daevyd And Gilly (02:09)
05. To Nick Everyone (09:12)
06. To Caravan And Brother Jim (05:20)
07. To The Old World (Thank You For The Use of Your Body, Goodbye) (03:17)
08. To Carla, Marsha And Caroline (For Making Everything Beautifuller) (02:47)
09. Las Vegas Tango Part 1 (11:13)

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Gong - Shapeshifter (1992)

Year: 1992 (CD Oct 1992)
Label: Celluloid (France), 66914-2
Style: Canterbury Scene, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Country: Paris, France
Time: 65:42
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 379 Mb

Shapeshifter is the ninth studio album released under the name Gong and the sixth album by the Daevid Allen version of the group. It was released in 1992. It is the first proper album from Daevid Allen's Gong since You from 1974. It is the first album from the original group without founding member Gilli Smyth. Didier Malherbe and Allen are the only two returning performers from the previous album. Pip Pyle, who performed on Continental Circus and Camembert Electrique also returns.
With main character Zero the hero, the album continues the Gong mythology, the central part of which was formed with the Radio Gnome Trilogy of albums, comprising Flying Teapot in 1973, followed by Angel's Egg, 1973, and You in 1974.
In episode four in the album Shapeshifter (1992), Zero meets an urban shaman who agrees to take Zero to the next level of awareness on the proviso that Zero spends nine months on an airplane, travelling where he wants but not using money or eating anything other than airline food. Zero eventually dies in Australia under mysterious circumstances.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapeshifter_(Gong_album))

01. Gnomerique (00:07)
02. Shapeshifter (04:53)
03. Hymnalayas (07:38)
04. Dog-O-Matic (03:00)
05. Spirit With Me (02:27)
06. Mr Albert Parkin (00:17)
07. Raindrop Tablas (00:21)
08. Give My Mother A Soul Call (04:03)
09. Heaven's Gate (04:49)
10. Snake Tablas (00:34)
11. Loli (05:09)
12. La Bas La Bas (04:06)
13. I Gotta Donkey (02:12)
14. Can You : You Can (09:09)
15. Confiture De Rhubarbier (01:18)
16. Parkin Triumphant (00:06)
17. Longhaired Tablas (00:14)
18. Elephant La Tete (04:41)
19. Mother's Gone (01:12)
20. Elephant La Cuisse (03:26)
21. White Doves (05:24)
22. Gnomoutro (00:27)

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Soft Machine - Fourth & Fifth (1971 & 1972)

Year: 1971 / 1972 (CD 1999)
Label: Columbia Records (Europe), 493341 2
Style: Jazz Rock, Progressive Rock, Canterbury Scene
Country: Canterbury, England
Time: 75:50
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 510 Mb

The subtle electro-acoustic blend of Fourth has an understated coolness in which their augmented horn section is harnessed to a thoughtful score. Deployed to incisive effect on the angular “Teeth” (written by keyboardist Mike Ratledge), it’s equal to anything from Third. The four-part “Virtually” introduces muted sinuous layers of cascading lines over Hugh Hopper’s sepulchral fuzz bass; proto-ambient jazz-rock, anyone?
Bleak and ambiguous, Fifth is a game of two halves thanks largely to the use of two diametrically-opposed drummers - evidence of the creative crisis of these now post-Wyatt times. The shifting squalls of Phil Howard’s cymbals says free jazz as favoured by sax player Elton Dean, whilst John Marshall’s crisp precision pulls it nearer Hopper and Ratledge’s camp.
(bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/dw8c/)

Fourth (1971):
01. Teeth (09:13)
02. Kings and Queens (05:01)
03. Fletcher's Blemish (04:36)
04. Virtuality Part 1 (05:15)
05. Virtuality Part 2 (07:05)
06. Virtuality Part 3 (04:37)
07. Virtuality Part 4 (03:23)
Fifth (1972):
08. All White (06:07)
09. Drop (07:42)
10. M C (04:55)
11. As If (08:23)
12. LBO (01:31)
13. Pigling Bland (04:21)
14. Bone (03:35)

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