Another search has ended...

Generally, there are two ways of collecting music. The first is buying everything you can lay your hands on, filling your shelves like there's no tomorrow. The second way is hunting down special albums, crate-digging, scouring the worldwide web, and adding gems to your collection at a pace of one or two per annum. Me, I do a little bit of both. And recently I acquired a new, long and eagerly awaited obscurity.

It must have been five years or so ago that I read some blog about a Spanish jazzrock/fusion outfit called Imán Califato independiente. To be honest, that sounded like a name that was marked for obscurity right from the start. It means 'the independent caliphate Imán' and it was a Commune of Iberian hippies and hipsters who met at a meditiation convention. Most of the time they were floating in space, but every now and then the got together to make some music. Two albums were made, a first one, eponimously called Califato Independiente, in 1978, and the 'always difficult' second album Camino Del Aguila in 1980.

Their music was a unique mix of fiery flamenco, virtuoso Jazzrock, spacey electronics and a large dash of arab-andalusian folk. Mostly instrumental, and very well played. From the aforementioned blog I downloaded a vinyl rip of Camino Del Aguila in a rather poor mp3 quality, but even like that it blew me away. As it turned out, it was very sought after by progheads. Every now and then a vinyl copy would appear on Ebay, and it would fetch a price of or more. Hm...definitely a 2nd category Collectors Item, a one per annum opportunity. I started saving money just in case.

Then a cd-reissue turned up on Ebay, containing both albums. Needless to say, I bought it right away, but my desire for a good vinyl copy did not disappear. I kept searching, but no affordable copies were available and I lost track of it for some time. Then one night, when me and a fellow collector were listening to another obscurity reviewed by me on these humble pages (Alpha Ralpha) I remembered Camino Del Aguila. So I fired up the old iPad and without any expectations I started Knock Knock Knockin' on Discogs' Door. Imagine my stunned surprise when almost instantly I found a freshly posted copy for only like 25 euros. Sleeve condition was (G-), but media condition was (NM). I put it in my virtual shopping cart at once, did a very silly victory dance (causing my friend to almost choke on his Single Malt from laughing) and paid for it.

After a week of almost breathless waiting the parcel was delivered. It turned out that the sleeve was a bit bent on some corners, but no creasing. Some record-outline wear, but nothing serious, and there were some ridges where the high-gloss laminate had rippled, producing what should have been a discarded misprint sleeve. Too bad, but I collect Music, not sleeves. The vinyl appeared to be in pristine condition, no spindle hole wear, no smudges or visible scratches. After giving it a nice bath on my Okki Nokki record cleaning machine it played beautifully, the music emerges from a pitch-black background with no disturbing clicks or pops whatsoever.

And then I realised that I had to come up with a new 'most wanted' obscurity to hunt down, because my long-time number one had been found, a quest had come to an end. I have not decided yet which one that's going to be, but rest assureD that it will be another nigh-impossible to find album. I'll keep you posted if I have the time, the same goes for a proper review of Camino Del Aguila. You'll just have to wait I guess, dunno when another window of spare-time will emerge...

Aphrodite's Child - 666 (The Greek Pressing)

I had been cherishing Aphrodite's Child's prog masterpiece 666 for quite a while when, in 2007, I read an article on the Vangelis Collector website about a Greek vinyl pressing of the album that contained more music than the version I had. Actually, the Greek pressing seemed to be the only version worldwide that contained longer versions of several songs. More information on this discovery can be found here.

This was the start of another quest, because I like obscurities and I like this album. The only problem was that this particular pressing was only sold in Greece, no export ever took place. Websites like Gemm, Discogs and Music Stack (all highly recommended for vinyl hunters) offered every version ever made, except the Greek one...

Fortunately, one of the benefits of the world wide web is that virtually everything gets put up for sale at a certain moment. So this albumhunt came to a conclusion last week when I finally received a copy of this elusive album after finding it on Musicstack. It cost me an arm and a leg (though not as much as the UK version of the original Vertigo pressing that fetches 200-300 dollars nowadays), but I'm not complaining.

In fact, I'm over the moon. Couldn't care less that the label really is not much too look at. It is the Vertigo spaceship label, although it's print quality is pretty mediocre, it's colours are a bit dull and it's not the sharpest I've ever seen. There is some scuffing on the outer sleeve, and the plain white inner sleeves need to be replaced. But the vinyl is in pretty good shape from the looks of it. Hardly any scratches, a nice rainbow-coloured diffraction of light when viewed under the right angle, and - very important - no shiny lines around the centre-hole (a dead give-away for rude treatment). Once I have washed it on my RCM, I'm sure it will prove to be in excellent shape.

There must be other copies out there, so I wish you good luck in hunting them down. Expect to pay 100 dollars and up, but in return you will receive a unique version of a genuine piece of prog history.

Alpha Ralpha

Another incredible obscurity that came to my attention through a Blog.


Apparently, this Canadian progrock outfit released what seems to be their only album in 1977. There is some debate whether they're from Canada or France, because there are at least two French guest musicians on this album that have a huge influence on the overall sound. Especially the soaring guitar of Jean Jacques Goldman is stunning. Goldman (like fellow guest musician and keyboardist Jean Alain Gardet) played in a band called Tai Phong, a rather successful French prog band from the mid-seventies. Hence the confusion about the heritage of Alpha Ralpha.

Goldman, as far as trivia should go, went on to develop an interesting and very successful solo-career, writing music for people like Johnny Haliday, Khaled and Patricia Kaas. His most infamous piece of work, however, is Celine Dion's album D'eux, which he wrote in the mid-nineties. It was a huge success, and became the best selling album in the French langauge ever (!). Fortunately (and I mean that in the most respectful way, really...), none of that can be heard on Alpha Ralpha.

So don't be misled by the cheesy cover, this is some seriously good music. Spacey, folky, heavy, mellow, all good prog-influences are here. But what makes this album really special, as far as I'm concerned, is the sheer joy of playing. The mid-seventies progrock scene that existed outside the UK (and, to a lesser extent, the USA) tends to be overlooked by progheads (and music lovers in general), which is totally unfair. Want proof? Since nobody bothered to give this album a proper re-release on CD, I feel no moral objection to giving you Exhibit A.

Field Rotation - Licht & Schatten: an electronic gourmet's feast

This is the first discovery I will publish here, and as far as I'm concerned, it's very, very Worthy.

First of all, it's rather obscure. Field Rotation hails from Germany. It's a moniker for Christoph Berg (1985) from Kiel, and this album was released late 2009 to pave the way for his full-length debut in 2010. It can be ordered as a 4-track digital EP here.

It was also released in a limited edition of 100, that contains 7 tracks. It can be ordered here (at the moment of posting this blog, it is available, but no guarantees can be given. After all, it's very limited). The physical version has a beautiful handmade cloth cover, and it contains several other goodies to underline what I would call 'the musical genius of the composer'.

I really love this album. The music can best be described as warm ambient, with glitchy percussion and some mellow, skin-deep beats. It has a very spacey atmosphere, so you can really 'fly' when you play this. It's incredibly futuristic and comforting at the same time. Do you know the feeling that everything's going to be alright? That's how this sounds...

I know that there's music out there that is more progressive, but this just pushes all the right buttons for me. Get the limited 7-track cd while you can, or download the 4-track EP in 320 mp3 or FLAC for just ₤3.50 GBP.

A Sample can be heard here.

No High Expectations Please...

...for this Blog will be updated very irregularly. I coined this Blogpot account a long time ago, but due to circumstances I never got around to filling it. This 2nd Easter-day morning I rediscovered it, and it seemed a bit of a waste not to use it, so there you go... But there's always the factor Time, or the lack thereof. Ah well, without ambition or good intentions nothing would happen, so I'll give it a try.

Disclaimers for starters...

It's a pity, but nowadays you can't carry on without a disclaiming statement, so here we go: In this blog I will tell you about the musical treasures that I dig (and dug) up during my ongoing Quest For More Music. It will be a very personal selection, that is incomplete by nature. Please be advised that (at least for now) I will not physically share music in this blog, only my feelings and thoughts.

The reason for not sharing music is a practical one: I do not own, nor do I have the intention to open a Rapidshare, Megaupload or any other large-file-distribution account. When there's an interesting piece of music that I think needs to be shared, I may link to where it's available.

In any case, it will be music that is - to the best of my knowledge - not otherwise available, so don't expect links to the latest Britney or U2, for I will not provide them. I expect you to BUY those albums if you're into them.

So what can you expect? Well, first of all there will be stories, comments and reviews of albums or songs that I really like. Musical treasures that need to be heard by fellow music-lovers. In any genre, I have an eclectic taste.

I might give you links along the way to good quality (vinyl-)rips of albums that were never released on cd or that are currently unavailable on cd. It seems that over 60% of all vinyl-releases that were produced worldwide are still waiting for a re-release on any format, be it vinyl, cd or official download. And it's probably a good estimate that the current status of over 80% of everything that has ever been released on cd is 'deleted'. That includes re-releases of pre-cd material (i.e. vinyl releases)

I do not support 'illegal' downloads, but I really hate the record companies negligence for cultural heritage. And yes, I know, a lot of those never-re-released albums were never-re-released for a very good reason: they are total cr@p, and it would be a complete waste of resources to actually re-release them (in some cases, even the effort it takes to make them available digitally is open for debate). But there are a lot of real gems that lie dormant in some vault, physically degrading and thus making it harder and harder to give them a proper 2nd or 3rd life as an official download.

Maybe, in a nearby future, all music (and I really mean ALL music) will be available as a broadband stream on the internet, so that we can enjoy it in prober cd-quality for a fixed monthly fee. That is, when record companies agree to cooperate and give up 'their' rights to 'their' music. And when hens grow teeth. Am I sceptical about the possibility that this will ever happen? You bet! But there is always hope. If I live to see the total liberation of music though the internet, I will die a happy man... In the meantime, we'll have to do with places like Blogspot.

As far as I'm concerned, Music belongs to the music-lovers of this world. Music-lovers, by the way, are people that are willing to PAY for music they like. People that recognise the effort the artists put into it. People like you and me.

Final Disclaimer

I will thoroughly check the availability of music that I might link to in this blog, but nobody's perfect. If I overlook something, please let me know so that I can remove the link or replace it with a link to the official release.

Have fun!