CMU, also known as CONTEMPORARY MUSIC UNIT were an UK band active in the early 1970's. They were fusing various aspects of art-rock, jazz-rock and folk with a nod to the psychedelic rock.A unique (at the time) characteristic of the band was a combination of female and male vocals, making an interesting blend. The male vocalist was James Gordon (who was also participating with percussion in the band),the female vocalist being Larraine Odell (later of RED EXPRESS, still active in various jazz projects nowadays). Other members were keyboardist Terry Mortimer (who also played some violin), Ian Hamlett (guitar, flute), Ed Lee (bass) and Larraine's husband Roger Odell (on drums).The band released their debut 'Open Spaces' for Transatlantic in 1971. The record is an unpretentious mixture of psychedelia and blues, with some bizarre sonic patches here and there. The opener "Henry" is one of the better tracks, based in a nice melody and with tasteful, atmospheric arrangements consisting of piano, guitar, bass, drums and some almost inaudible flute. "Voodoo Man" sounds like something Arthur Brown could have done, and the heavy chorus in the middle introduces the raspy voice of James Gordon, who together with guitarist Ian Hamlett is the main reason for the bluesy touch of this album. Hamlett really proves that point on the instrumental "Slow and Lonesome Blues" that is actually a bit faster and more energetic than what you would expect from such a title. "Chantecleer" starts slow, dark and moody with some haunting pairing of vocals from Odell and Gordon, but builds quickly up to a fast, organ-driven and almost funky tune where an influence from Arthur Brown again can be detected.The second side opens with "Japan", an attempt at traditional Japanese folk music that sounds surprisingly authentic, especially when considering that the band just used their usual instruments. "Clown" is a lightweight and whimsical tune, but catchy enough to be worthwhile, and Gordon's vocals has an unusual operatic twist here. One of the most best melodies on the record can be found in "Mystical Sounds", a ballad dominated by Hamlet's flute and Odell's voice. The title-track is a lengthy, mystical and atmospheric journey with lots of dreamy, wordless vocals from the two singers, and keyboardist Terry Mortimer also contributes with some spooky violin here. They changed their line-up drastically for the following album: instead of Mortimer, Gordon and Lee, the band hired Richard Joseph on acoustic guitar (and vocals), Steve Cook on bass and Leary Hasson on keyboards (Hasson came from MARSUPILAMI, which was also on Transatlantic label).Reinforced with new members, and a moderate shift in their sound (the presence of Mellotron and spacey synthesizers), the band released their second (and last) album titled 'Space Cabaret' in 1973. This effort was much more elaborate, complex and original. Line-up / Musicians Jim Gordon/vocals,guitar,keyboards Ian Hamlett/guitar Larraine Odell/vocals Leary Hasson/keyboards Richard Joseph/vocals,guitar Roger Odell/drums Ed Lee/bass Discography(Album) Open Spaces 1971
1.Henry 2.Voodoo Man 3.Slow & Lonesome Blues 4.Chanticleer 5.Japan 6.Clown 7.Mystical Sounds 8.Open Spaces
A fitting name for this outfit as they play cookin’ rock-n-roll, the late-‘60s San Francisco variety. Riding the trend set by SF jam bands like Quicksilver, Moby Grape and The Grateful Dead, Cookin’ Mama rocks heavily with sure-footed crankin’ bluesy electric guitar riffs through nine original tunes like ‘New Day’, ‘Dice Of Life’, ‘What Will You Do’ and ‘2 A.M. Jam’. There’s a lot of background rhythm sax that also brings to mind the funkiness of Average White Band or the classic rock edge of Chicago’s debut. Parts even remind of Wilson McKinley and Joshua. Spiritual songs such as ‘I Don’t Fear No Evil’ (inspired by Psalm 23), ‘Feelin’ Good’ and ‘Little Children’ play alongside more secular slice-of-life musings like ‘Just To Pass The Day’ and ‘Out The Door’ (the latter with the lyric “stay away from the bitch outside, she’s gonna change our loving mind”). Real long-haired hippie-looking bunch as was often the case with these Way International folks (although it’s not stated anywhere on the cover, I’m assuming there’s a connection since the group played on the Way’s Rock Of Ages ’71 album). Original press bears the title New Day and shows a photo of the band on the front. There’s also a 1980 self-titled re-issue on Picc-A-Dilly with an illustration of a waitress serving a steaming record. Line-up / Musicians Sherry Fox/Vocals Paul Hann/Tenor Saxophone,Percussion,Vocals Jesse Harms/Organ,Piano,Congas,Vocals Vince Palazzotto/Drums,Percussion Lou Sarrica/Bass Kevin Smith/Vocals,Percussion Tom Thompson/Guitar,Organ,Bass,Percussion,Vocals Pat Thrall/Guitar,Percussion,Vocals Preston Thrall/Percussion Paul Trousdale/Tenor Saxophone,Flute Pat Thrall/Vocals Steve Nelson/Trumpet Miles McCleary/Tenor Saxophone Nancy Paris/Vocals Discography(Album) New Day 1972
1.New Day 2.Just To Pass The Day 3.Dice Of Life 4.Out The Door 5.I Don't Fear No Evil 6.Feelin' Good 7.What Will You Do? 8.Little Children
The name of the band alone tells you what you're in for with this one. In Greek Mythology, a cornucopia was the horn of the goat that suckled Zeus and when it broke off it became filled with fruit and in subsequent folklore it became full of whatever its owner desired. In this case we get an overflowing abundance of the culmination of really everything musically psychedelic and this album is in a way the pinnacle of the Krautrock scene in the early 70s.CORNUCOPIA released this one album in 1973 that, despite being one of the better albums in the genre, has fallen off the radar of most progressive music listeners into obscurity. The band is quite ambitious with this release with seven musicians and every idea under the sun peeking in and out of the musical flow never really going anywhere in particular but always delivering a pleasant sonic route on the way to wherever they wish to steer us, but always remaining true to the Krautrock experience.The album has an epic feel with two longer tracks and two shorter tracks. The album begins with "Day Of A Daydream Believer." No Monkees influences here, this track begins with a demented organ that slowly fades in and then takes us on a psychedelic roller coaster ride that lasts almost 20 minutes. After the first track we get a little breather from the heaviness of the opener with a throwback to a simpler 60s psychedelic pop song "Morning Sun." It's a mere bump in the road as the next epic track "Spots On You Kids" picks up the frantic and unpredictable pace of the first track. Line-up / Musicians Wolfgang Bartl/bass,vocals Wolfgang Gaudes/drums,percussion,guitar Christoph Hardwig/keyboards,guitar,vocals Rudy Holzhauer/percussion Wolfgang Kause/vocals Harry Koch/percussion,vocals Kai Henrik Moller/guitar,vocals Jochen Petersen/saxophones,flute,guitar Discography(Album)
Full Horn 1973
1.Day of a Day-Dream Believer 2.Morning sun 3.Spots on you, kids 4.And the madness
CAI was a harmonic Spanish quintet with Diego Fopiani Macias (drums/vocals), Jose A. Fernandez Mariscall (guitar), Francisco Delgado Gonzalez (guitar), Sebastian Dominguez Lozano (keyboards and piano) and Jose Velez Gomez (bass/vocals). They released three albums entitled "Mas Alla Mentes Diminutas" ('78), "Noche Abierta" ('80) and "Cancion De La Primavera" ('81). The album "Noche abierta" (1980) is one of the gems of Spanish progressive Rock. The seven tracks sound pleasant with warm Spanish vocals, tasteful keyboards (piano, strings, synthesizers and organ) and sensitive electric guitar. The integration of "the art of the flamenco" guitar gives this progrock an extra dimension. The multi-part ''La Roca del Diablo'' is the album's centrepiece, an 8-minute instrumental that features some brief but tasteful vocoder effects. The album's second instrumental ''Alegrias de Cai'' is another highlight, based around a cheerful groove that's reminiscent of Return To Forever with its fine guitar and synthesizer interplay. The title-track is a beautiful piece Rock Andaluz, complete with flamenco guitar and genial vocals. The second half of the album maybe doesn't quite match the first, although it finishes strongly enough with the above mentioned ''La Roca del Diablo''. Overall it's not as good as Gotic's ''Escenes'' although it is even harder to find, but anyone that does manage to get their hands on a copy of ''Noche Abierta'' is in for a real treat. Line-up / Musicians Diego Fopiani/drums,percussion,vocals Jose Fernandez Mariscal/guitar Francisco Delgado Gonzalez/guitar Sebastian Dominguez Lozano/keyboards,piano Jose Velez Gomez/bass,vocals Discography(Album) Noche Abierta 1980
1.Soñe Contigo 2.Despertar 3.Alegrias de Cai 4.Noche Abierta 5.Extraña Seducción 6.La Fabula 7.La Roca del Diablo
Carpe Diem was a rather short-living French band with (unfortunately) not more than two albums and though they are considered in general by Prog fans of minor significance compared to i.e. Ange, Clearlight or Pulsar. Actually they’re quite difficult to categorize because they revealed elements of symphonic Prog, jazz-rock fusion and space rock. Their debut opens with the short “Voyage du Non-Retour” in a rather quirky and up-tempo vein and here in fact the jazz-rock classification still fits quite well. But “Reincarnation” reveals already very obviously a sound typical for this band starting with slow e-piano which reminds of harpsichord, gentle flute play and spheric synths. The composition continuously gains momentum and develops into an excellent and wonderful symphonic Prog piece with both a jazzy touch (due to the saxophone) and a slightly spacey one (due to tone modulated vocals). “Jeux du Siecle” reminds much more of classical music than of jazz and offers a very warm, gentle and harmonic sound dominated by saxophone, tasteful keyboards and Camel-esque guitar play (actually the only element this band comes to mind) with nice contributions by flute. Most of the track is kept instrumental, only in the final minute there are some vocals. The closing all instrumental one “Publiophobie” is like the introduction again more lively and represents a highly appealing hybrid between symphonic and jazz rock. Especially in its second half there are nice sections where the guitar’s coming more to the foreground for the first time. Carpe Diem presented on their debut a felicitous mix of traditional Prog and jazz fusion in a very dense and highly intriguing sound that fascinates the prone listener in a mesmerizing way. Line-up / Musicians Christian Truchi/keyboards,vocals Gilbert Abbenanti/guitar Alain Berge/bass Alain Faraut/drums Claude-Marius David/flute,sax,percussion Discography(Album) En regardant passer le temps 1975
1.Voyage du Non-Retour 2.Reincarnation 3.Jeux du Siecle 4.Publiophobie
The history of Contraluz started in 1969 in Buenos Aires, initially playing Beat Music with brothers Carlos (guitars) and Nestor Barrios (drums) along with bassist Diego Prochnik.After abandoning the names ''Lemon'' and ''Celofan'', they chose the Contraluz moniker and played in a Jethro Tull style by the beginning of the 70's.The unstoppable presence at several concerts, festivals and competitions earned them a wider recognition and in 1973 the band recorded the debut ''Americanos'' for EMI Records with Alvaro Canada on vocals and early member Alejandro Barzi on flutes.Contraluz'es music mixed the raw power of Rock music with the delicacy of Spanish vocals and the flute-based drives to come up with an album very close to the sound of early JETHRO TULL or even better JUMBO and OSANNA.Most of the tracks combined the psych-tinged flavor of Latin-American Rock bands with warm vocals and sensitive guitar work with the sharp edge of powerful flute solos, Hard Rockin' guitars and a strong rhythm section and the result is an album dangerously balancing between the softness of a singer/songwriter album with the extreme forces of in-your-face Hard Rock.The great energetic grooves with plenty of edgy guitar solos and dynamic flute work will leave you wanting for more. The more mellow vocal parts appearing in between are also nice with Cavada having a lovely style of singing, while the flute passages have a welcome and very attractive folky flavor. Line-up / Musicians Carlos Barrio/guitars Nestor Barrio/drums Alvaro Canada/vocals Alejandro Barzi/flute,keyboards Freddy Prochnik/bass Discography(Album) Americanos 1973
1.Indios Sin Prisión 2.Sin Trabajo 3.No Sea que Caigas Mendigando 4.Clave de Sol 5.La Sarna del Viento 6.El Charco 7.Abrir el Día 8.Seamos
Checkpoint Charlie (named after the notorious checkpoint in the Berlin Wall) have often been acclaimed as the first truly German rock band. They originated from Karlsruhe, and, as early as 1967, they were performing their own uniquely groundbreaking “Terror Rock” music in German! An extremely radical political rock band, especially so in their early days, Checkpoint Charlie were also innovators along with Floh De Cologne and Ton Steine Scherben of a unique German form of rock, blending all sorts of music into a complex and often aggressive rock music.Their debut (roughly translating as “Good God - It’s A Hell Of A Noise”) was very extreme, and rather difficult to come to grips with, notorious for its bizarre theatrics and scathing lyrics, but with numerous brilliant musical vignettes contained within.Many years on, and with only two members in common, and Wilfried Sahm (from Poseidon) adding his bluesy psychedelic guitar, the later albums saw more refinement instrumentally, with complex progressive rock styles (akin to Oktober, Lokomotive Kreuzberg, et al.) making headway against the theatrics, especially so on FRÜHLING DER KRÜPPEL, which featured keyboards strongly, and lengthy instrumental sections venturing on to Grobschnitt realms even. The eponymous live album (known as “Die Durchsichtige” aka “the transparent one” in English, because of the Faust like clear package) showcased them vividly blending angst-punk and complex prog with a brash polit focus.Throughout, even into the 1980’s, Checkpoint Charlie have proven to be amongst the most uncompromising of Krautrock bands, notably on KRAWALL IN SCHWEINESTALL (“Uproar in the Pig Sty”) a very Floh De Cologne-esque album that is especially worth investigation. However FEUER & FLAMME (which comes with a match-book on the front cover, and a burnt insert) is arguably a bit too angry for its own good! After this the band folded, with Sahm going on to the remarkable Schäggi Bädsch. Line-up / Musicians Werner Walten/guitar Malte Bremer/guitar Uwe von Trotha/vocals Joachim Krebssalat/keyboards Harald Lindner/vocals,bass Werner Heß/drums Discography(Album) Grüß Gott mit hellem Klang 1970
1.Nancartan 2.Jesus 3.Geschichte Von Herrn Müller I 4.Geschichte Von Herrn Müller II 5.Das Arme Waisenkind
Creative Rock are a loud, brassy, bluesy rock group found on the early Brain label who are obviously influenced by early Chicago (Transit Authority). There are eight tracks on Gorilla, the band's debut album from 1972. Throughout, we are given a taste of American-styled brass rock in all its bluesy guises, from full-title boogie to more, tasteful, progressive movements such as on the set's longest track "Blind People" and its follow-up "The Word Between 6 and 8 a.m." Due to the wealth of great music to be found on the original Green Brain series, Creative Rock are often overlooked, after all their music is much less inventive and engaging than at least half the catalog. But it's pretty fun rock in its own right, and there is an occasional twist here and there to keep it interesting. Line-up / Musicians Heiko Steinsiek/drums Klaus Weber/guitar,percussion Rainer Erbel/vocals Günter Schmeide/guitar,bass Michael Maas/bass,guitar Benny Stremmel/saxophone,flute Hubertus Kreutner/trumpet,flugelhorn Apostolos Papanikolaou/guitar Discography(Album) Gorilla 1972
1.Natron 2.A Horseman's Morningsong 3.Tapeworm 4.Hear What I'm Talking 5.Blind People 6.This World Between 6 And 8 A.M. 7.Wunderbar 8.Preussens Gorilla
Taking their name from a French commune in Haute-Garonne, this Swiss five-piece, heavy progressive band comprised of Rinaldo Häusier (guitars), Denis Angelini (vocals), J-C. Balsinger (bass), Andrö Locher (organ/keyboards) and Gaston Balmer (drums).Their brief early 70's existence resulted in only one studio album; their poorly produced 1971 eponymous debut, which clearly demonstrated a combined influence of heavy UK proto-prog bands such as Deep Purple with the typically Teutonic 70's hard rock sound, with progressive, and occasionally bluesy touches. Locher's abilities in bringing the keyboards to the fore, will please fans of ELP, while the chunkier, heavy guitar will bring bands such as The Nice and even Uriah Heep to mind. Ultimately however, their music is considered to have produced little in the way of originality, and nothing is known of the musician's careers after the break up of the band. Line-up / Musicians Rinaldo Häusier/guitars Denis Angelini/vocals J-C. Balsinger/bass Andrö Locher/organ Gaston Balmer/drums Discography Cardeilhac 1972
1.Pick Up Your Gun 2.Everybody 3.Pushers Dwell 4.Sadness 5.She Don't Care 6.Neutral 7.Nightmare 8.Loch Ness
This Spanish band came from Gijon, the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The members were Alex Cakrul (bass), Alberto Fontaneda (guitar, flute and vocals), Mento Heria (keybaords and vocals), Manda Jimenez (drums) and Rafael Rodriguez (guitar).Their only album "Si Todo Hiciera Crack" ('80) from CRACK is one of the jewels of the Spanish progressive Rock. It contains seven tracks, all with a beautiful harmony between keyboards, guitar and flute. There are hints of early GENESIS (sensitive piano chords and moving Mellotron waves) and JETHRO TULL (flute) but the typical Spanish climate and the elaborate compositions makes this album to an enthralling and emotional experience. Line-up / Musicians Alex Cabral/bass Alberto Fontaneda/guitar,flute,vocals Mento Hevia/keyboards,vocals Manolo Jiménez/drums Rafael Rodríguez/guitar Discography Si Todo Hiciera Crack 1979
1.Descenso en el Mahellstrong 2.Amantes de le Irrealidad 3.Cobarde O Desertor 4.Buenos Deseos 5.Marchanda Una del Cid (Pt. 1, 2) 6.Si Todo Hiciera Crack 7.Epillogo
Argentinian band CANTURBE was formed towards the end of the 1970's, with Jorge Garacotche (guitars, vocals) as the main and founding member. The first stable line-up of the band saw him joined by Luis Blanco (bass), Alejandro Fiori (guitars) and Gabriel Pelizzari (drums), and the foursoume issued their debut album El Vuelo de los Olvidados towards the end of 1980. For the next few years the band would build themselves a steady following in their home town of Bueons Aires, both due to extensive live activity but also due to their lyrics, most of which were centered around persons and events placed in that city. A second album, Bonpland, followed in 1983, while Clandestine was released in 1986. Fernando Bellini replaced Blanco on 1989's Del Magico Munde, while Litto Nebbia and Maria Jose Cantilo joined their ranks for the following years En Venta.Canturbe broke up in 1992, but just over a decade after the band had called it quits they reformed again. This has so far resulted in an additional chapter in their discography, issued in 2008 as Sociedad Secreta de Melancólicos. Line-up / Musicians Jorge Garacotche/vocals,guitars,percussion,harmonica Alejandro Fiori/guitars Gerardo Antonel/drums Luis Blanco/bass Discography(Album) El Vuelo de los Olvidados 1980
1.Leccion de Sangre 2.Amurado en tu Puerta 3.Suenos de Ayer 4.En Virtuo del Obsecado 5.De Toros los Inventos 6.Medidas de Sol 7.Los Perros de Villa Gesell 8.Linyera de Alcoba 9.El Vuelo de los Olvidados
This 1970 album by Charlies is one of the most rare and valuable vinyl records from Finland. The album is full of hard rocking material with magnificent lead guitarwork. There are clear progressive elements thrown all over the place on this record and their sound includes lots of blues rock influences as well. When it comes to the value of the original first press vinyl of Buttocks this one gets pretty close to Elonkorjuu's Harvest Time. Harvest Time is often called as the most valuable Finnish vinyl record but Buttocks isn't far behind. Very good hard rock album from the early 1970's Finland. Line-up / Musicians Eero Ravi/guitars Kari Lehtinen/bass Igor Sidorow/flute,saxophone,piano Ari Ahlgren/drums Vellu Lehtinen/vocals,harmonica Discography(Album) Buttocks 1970
1.Tuesday Song 2.Like The Purpose Told Me 3.Smoggy Story 4.Try,Try Or You Will Never Die 5.Feeling That Feeling 6.Living For Myself (I'm A King Dreamer) 7.Madness And Other Kind Of Influences 8.For You Catherine And Before You
The starting line-up of this unique Japanese progrock band is: Tsutomu Izumi (keyboards, Moog synthesizer, vocals), Hisashi Mizutani (guitar, vocals), Toshkazu Taki (bass, vocals), Kazuo Okamoto (drums & percussion) and Misao on violin. They made a series of albums in the Seventies with every time another sound: the debut album "An Old Castle of Transylvania" ('73) sounds like early FLOYD/VANILLA FUDGE, the third album "Black Hole" (75) is more in the vein of complex KING CRIMSON (nerve-racking FRIPPERIAN play), the second LP "The journey.." sound rather weird and freaky and their fourth entitled "Metal Reflection" is, as the title suggests, pure hardrock/metal.The long title track of their debut album "An old Castle of Transylvania" (around 20 minutes) is a mindblowing blend of psychedelia and progrock with great build ups and eruptions, very moving! It contains sumptuous keyboardplay (Hammond and Mellotron) and biting guitar. The interplay between guitar and organ is like "Set the controls for the heart of the sun" from PINK FLOYD. The other songs are also loaded with Hammond and Mellotron, a real 'keyboard nirvana'. Line-up / Musicians Tsutomu Izumi/keyboards,Mellotron,synthesizers,vocals Hirashi Mizutani/guitars,vocals Kazuo Okamoto/drums,percussion Toshikazu Taki/bass,vocals Misao/violin Discography(Album) An Old Castle of Transylvania 1973
1.Soundtrack 1984 2.Maybe 3.Soft focus 4.Fantastic mirror 5.Poltergeist 6.An old castle of Transylvania: a.) Forest of the death b.) The cursed c.) Darkness of the world d.) An old castle of Transylvania
LOS CANARIOS was a Spanish band that started playing back in the late 60's. At the beginning, they played Soul and R&B influenced music, singing mostly in English. Recorded in the Seventies, "Circlos" shows an adaptation of VIVALDI's "Four Seasons" with a rock and Hispanic flavour. This is a concept album with an interesting story line that goes from the creation of the Earth to the Apocalypse in 2700 A.C. The music reminds of this era, with a predominant Hammond organ, a blend of rock and classical music in the style of THE NICE and other EKSEPTION. This album is a heavy and dynamic work in its own right with plenty of synth and organ work as well as guitar. Vocals (in English) are heard throughout but the album is dominated by instrumental sections. "Ciclos" is a classic of the Spanish progressive scene. Line-up / Musicians Alain Richard/drums,percussion Antonio Garcia de Diego/guitar,vibraphone,vocals Mathias Sanvellian/Hammond,piano,violin Christian Mellies/bass,synthesizer Alfredo Carrion/choral arrangement and conducting Teddy Bautista/keyboards,synthesizers,vocals Rudmini Sukmawati/vocals Discography(Album) Ciclos 1974
CASA DAS MÁQUINAS (meaning 'house of wonders') are a mid-70's Brazilian band from São Paulo borne out of the disenchantment of two musicians from glam/dance pop band OS INCRÍVEIS, namely drummer/percussionnist Netinho and guitarist/vocalist Aroldo who wanted to take a less commercial route. Recruiting three other musicians, they recorded 3 albums between 1974 and 1977; a compilation disk was also released in 2000. Their material is mostly heavy, bluesy hard rock with complex arrangements and thick guitar leads. The vocals are in Portuguese. Their debut and self-titled album, released in 1974, is plain old hard rock. Their second, "Lar de Maravilhas" (1975), however, is considered a national prog classic. Donning a slick production, it incorporates the intensity of the first album with more sophisticated elements such as stronger melodies, better arrangements and an emphasis on spacious, multi-layered symphonic keyboards (particularly the synths). It is a strange collection of tunes in that it ranges from superb symphonic flights to some very banal pieces. Their third album, "Casa de Rock" (1976), reverts to their more primitive hard rock style, featuring two drummers and no more spacey keyboards. The compilation CD "Pérolas" is made up of 16 tracks taken from the second and third albums (tapes of the first are lost forever). Line-up / Musicians José Aroldo Binda/guitar,vocals Carlos Geraldo Carge/bass,vocals Luiz Franco Thomaz/drums,percussion Mário Testoni Jr./organ,keyboards,piano Mário Franco Thomaz/drums,vocals Carlos Roberto Piazzoli/guitar,organ,bass, Discography(Album) Lar de Maravilhas 1975
1.Vou Morar No Ar 2.Lar De Maravilhas 3.Liberdade Espacial 4.Astralização 5.Cilindro Cônico 6.Vale Verde 7.Raios De Lua 8.Epidemia De Rock 9.O Sol/Reflexo Ativo
In 1969 a couple of musicians from Viareggio band GLI EREMITI (Luciano Casa and Jimmy Santerini) joined a band from Livorno (I Rangers), and the resulting five-piece was called CAPITOLO 6. Two drummers were included in this line-up, though Luciano Casa mostly played 12-string acoustic guitar and sang backing vocals. The group obtained a record deal with RCA subsidiary It (thanks to RCA producer Roberto Tessandori, who was also from Viareggio), a label that was much interested in singer-songwriters than in rock groups, and a second single on the new label appeared in 1971, the group being by now based in Rome. They had a promising live activity, playing at Viareggio festival in 1971, and even supported Led Zeppelin in Rome, but 1972 saw a line-up change, with original members Casa and Santerini leaving. New keyboardist Antonio Favilla and sax/flute player Loriano "Fischio" Berti were taken in; Berti left after not long (he's credited on the LP among the composers), and the remaining quartet released their first and only album in the same year."Frutti Per Kagua" is a mixed album with two very different sides, the first one containing the 22 minutes long title track, with flute in evidence and a good sound. Guitarist Bartolotti was responsible for the heavier sound of the group. Side two contains three shorter tracks with good lyrics (by Italian songwriter Francesco De Gregori) but less inspired in their musical content. A single with "Il Grande Spirito" (with an unreleased track on B-side) was also taken from the album, but the band decided to split due to the lack of success. They had also been featured, singing other artists' songs, in some RCA compilations released throughout the world for the Sanremo 1972 festival (see details below).Keyboardist Antonio Favilla was involved in the short-lived second line-up of CAMPO DI MARTE, he had drug problems and sadly died in the early 90's. Even original keyboardist Santerini died from leukaemia in 1977. Line-up / Musicians Riccardo Bartolotti/vocals,guitar,flute Antonio Favilla/keyboards Maurizio Romani/bass Lorenzo Donati/drums,vocals Discography Frutti Per Kagua 1972
1.Frutti per Kagua 2.Grande spirito 3.Il tramonto di un popolo 4.L'ultima notte
