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A-Ω (Switzerland): A Life (Oros 776 001, double, with inserts, 1977)

Rock/Progressive
Priska Weidmann (occasional vocals), Erica Laederach (occasional vocals)
This band evolved out of a gospel choir named Les Amis and recorded this ambitious concept album, telling the story of a man’s life, between 1970 and 1976. Musically it’s similar to Jethro Tull, offering song-based progressive with blues and folk edges and quite a bit of flute; despite varying sound quality and a few uneven moments, it’s mostly pretty good. The band apparently reformed in 1997 under the name Mü, though I’m uncertain whether they released any further discs. GRADE: B–.

A Certain Call (UK): A Certain Call (Ellie Jay EJSP 9595, 1981)
Folk/Rock/MOR
Patricia Capper (joint lead vocals), Joyce Cochrane (joint lead vocals), Karen Marland (joint lead vocals), E Linda Moore (joint lead vocals), Mandy L Roberts (joint lead vocals), Pauline Swain (joint lead vocals), Christine Wain (joint lead vocals), Freda E Whiteley (joint lead vocals)
With its attractive hand-drawn front cover, slightly MOR piano-led backing and (above average) solo and choral singing, this ‘new musical’ by one David R Irwin should have broad appeal to collectors of school projects LPs. According to the liner notes, it ‘is a moving account of the journey of a family who left Brighton in 1856, travelled to Liverpool and sailed to Boston, to walk the 1000 miles to Salt Lake City’: their eventual destination communicates that the LP was intended to promote Mormonism. The best cut is side one’s slightly symphonic closer, ‘Dreaming’, but this is pleasant throughout (though in no way exceptional). GRADE: C+.

A Euphonious Wail (USA): A Euphonious Wail (Kapp KS 3668, 1973)
Rock/Metal
Suzanne Rey (joint lead vocals, percussion)
The opening ‘Pony’ is rather brilliant, epitomising the way female vocal West Coast sounds had moved in the early seventies, and indicating the kind of direction Jefferson Airplane could have taken had they continued in the Volunteers vein rather than metamorphosing into Jefferson Starship. Several other cuts maintain the same anthemic feel (especially side two’s riff-driven opener ‘F#’) but others are more generic seventies rock, and there are a couple of rather limp ballads. Overall, it’s an odd album – none of it is original or distinctive, but the band has a gift for creating great hooks, meaning that without the weaker numbers this could have been a minor classic. GRADE: C+.

A Fleeting Glance (UK): A Fleeting Glance (No label AS2324, 1970)
Folk/Psychedelic/Progressive
One of the most astonishing British private pressing rarities, only two copies have resurfaced of this 1970 concept album. Telling the story of a woman’s life from her own conception to giving birth, the LP was put together by a variety of musicians and bands at a social club, and allegedly includes an uncredited appearance by Billy Fury. Linked by narration and sound effects, the music runs the gamut from heavy space-rock jamming (including a snatch of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’) to folk/rock (an acoustic cover of ‘Light My Fire’ and a stunning version of ‘Watch The Stars’), avant-garde choirs, krautrock-styled interludes and even trad jazz. The result is among the trippiest albums I have ever heard, comparable only to Jumble Lane in terms of eccentricity, although the music is infinitely better, with a strong Pink Floyd spacy edge. Indeed, had Syd Barrett remained with Pink Floyd, one could well imagine The Dark Side Of The Moon might have sounded thus. GRADE: A.

A Formal Horse (UK): A Formal Horse (No label, CD, with minisleeve, 2014)
Progressive/Metal/Avant-Garde
Emily Tulloch (lead vocals)
The Southampton band’s five-track, 20-minute EP combines metallic riffs, jazzy time signatures and a nimble, playful mood to excellent effect. An obvious reference point would be American outfit District 97, but this is more whimsical and far less bombastic, adding up to an effective (if perhaps rather slight) debut. GRADE: B–.
A Formal Horse (UK): Morning Jigsaw (No label, CD, with minisleeve, 2015)
Progressive/Metal/Avant-Garde
Francesca Lewis (lead vocals)
This is a little more substantial than their first, at close to 26 minutes, and again features five tracks. One description of their music states that ‘their dense instrumental passages are reminiscent of King Crimson and Mahavishnu Orchestra… with influences as diverse as Bartók and Bon Iver’, but that seems to me to be gilding the lily. There are again plenty of odd time signatures, but this is only mildly weird stuff – as with their first, it sounds like a playful British twist on contemporary heavy American prog styles. GRADE: B–.
A Formal Horse (UK): Made In Chelsea (No label, CD, with minisleeve, 2016)
Progressive/Metal/Avant-Garde
Hayley McDonnell (lead vocals)
Another five-track EP (this one running for a whopping 17½ minutes, so they’re really spoiling us) with another female singer – perhaps they’re trying to emulate Wapassou? There’s very little change in their sound, however, and not much to add to my reviews of their earlier work. GRADE: B–.
A Formal Horse (UK): Here Comes A Man From The Council With A Flamethrower (No label, CD, with gatefold minisleeve and booklet, 2019)
Progressive/Metal/Avant-Garde
Hayley McDonnell (lead vocals)
Whilst building on the sound of their earlier EPs, their first album proper has more spaces between the riffs and more variety, giving the music plenty of room to breathe. Presented as a continuous suite of music, this is an impressive album that ebbs and flows, with enough textural richness to make you forget that they use no keyboards or indeed any extraneous instrumentation. Hayley McDonnell’s English rose vocals – with more than a hint of Barbara Gaskin – provide the final ingredient in a winning stew. GRADE: B–.

A Formal Horse (UK): Meat Mallet (No label, CD, with digipak and booklet, 2021)
Progressive/Metal/Avant-Garde
Hayley McDonnell (lead vocals)
The big news here is that Hayley McDonnell has come on in leaps and bounds – here she sounds like a force of nature, with an incredible range of styles and intonations. The backing music is suitably knotty but always melodic, confirming that A Formal Horse are one of the most interesting progressive bands operating today. More importantly, whilst their influences were obvious on earlier releases, this time they sound like themselves, so this is both superb and sui generis. GRADE: B–.

A Man Dies (UK): A Man Dies (Columbia 33SX 1609, 1964)
Beat
Valerie Mountain
This rather good Christian concept album – performed by Valerie Mountain, Rick Forde and the Strangers with occasional input from a children’s choir – offers lively beat with stripped-down electric arrangements. The result is a sixties pop album that’s enjoyable on its own terms, and it’s definitely one of the better Christian music ventures. GRADE: C+.

A New Idea Of Heaven (UK): A New Idea Of Heaven (New Image NI CD 1, CD, 1992)
Pop/Rock/Progressive
Lorna Cumberland (joint lead vocals), Jill Dowse (occasional vocals)
This unusual album was the result of a collaboration between Lorna Cumberland and Richard Wileman of Lives & Times and Jill Dowse and Nick Weaver of Eternal Energy. Both bands consisted of a female singer and a male multi-instrumentalist but their styles were quite different (though both took the same low-budget approach, with programmed drums and no bass). The first four cuts, penned by Cumberland and Wileman, offer an odd mix of neoprogressive, darkwave and gothic rock, before the album offers a brace of symphonic pop numbers by Weaver. Finally, the disc climaxes with four neoclassical instrumentals by Wileman, presaging the direction he would later take with Karda Estra. This latter material is excellent, but the disc as a whole is a peculiar mishmash of styles, with Weaver’s contributions being mediocre at best. GRADE: C.
See also Lives & Times

A Paradise Is Born (West Germany): A Paradise Is Born (TTS HGP 8016, 1980)
Folk/Rock/Progressive
Margit Abt (joint lead vocals)
This lovely electric folk album features wholly self-penned material and covers a range of styles, sometimes resembling the more acoustic numbers from the Carol Of Harvest album or early Emtidi with added rock elements. On the dreamy instrumental ‘Freundschaft’, they even sound like Ash Ra Tempel circa Starring Rosi, with the lead guitar a dead ringer for Manuel Göttsching, whilst side two’s opener ‘Teufelspiel’ would almost pass for an outtake from Amon Düül II’s Hijack. As a result, the album’s only real failing is its lack of consistent mood, heightened by the presence of four different lead singers, but several tracks are absolutely first-rate. GRADE: B–.

A Tree Of Signs (Portugal): Salt (Solvtio Perfecta SPII, cassette, 2012)
Metal
V-Kaos (lead vocals, keyboards)
This cassette EP, limited to 21 copies, offers low-budget, stripped-down doom metal with a garage ambience. Occasionally it’s a little too primitive for its own good (especially some of the repetitious and sluggish drumming) but it’s certainly an enjoyable release, making one wish they had recorded a full LP. As a footnote, the set was reissued as a one-sided album (Chaosphere Recordings, with insert, Sweden, 2013). GRADE: C+.

A-Austr (UK): A-Austr (Holyground HG 113, with booklet, 1970)
Pop/Psychedelic
Denise Calvert (occasional vocals, keyboards), Yvonne Carrodus (occasional vocals, tambourine)
One of the first established private pressing rarities, AèAustr offers an odd mixture of styles, mostly comprising Beatles-derived hippie pop whimsy, and occasionally sounding like a scrappy, low budget answer to Abbey Road. Probably the best cut, however, is the doomy ‘Thumbquake And Earthscrew’, sung by one of the two female members. GRADE: C+.

A’nish (Isle of Man): Way Of The Gull (Purt Sheearan PSRCD003, CD, with digipak, 2018)
Folk
Ruth Keggin (joint lead vocals, piano, flute, whistle), Anna Camilla Goldbeck-Wood (joint lead vocals, violin), Vanessa Hutchinson (double bass)
This Manx band, including the very talented Ruth Keggin, offer a lovely collection of delicate acoustic folk that at times hints towards Pentangle (though they don’t have any of that band’s passion for experimentation). Gentle, haunting and intricate, this is another fine addition to Keggin’s discography. GRADE: C+.
See also Aon Teanga:Un Chengey, Ruth Keggin

Aalto (Finland): Aalto (Centre Of Wood CoW 007, CDR, with booklet, inner and string wrap, 2008)

Folk

Johanna Rossi (principal vocals), Hanna Uotinen (occasional vocals)

The nearest comparison for this would be their countrymen Ancient Bear Cult, who released their debut the same year. This is ethnic folk based around female vocals, throat singing and didgeridoo, with lots of other exotic acoustic instruments (doshpuluur, sitar, igli, jew’s harp and more). The result is delicate, haunting and unusual, although whilst I wouldn’t want to listen to this kind of music every day. As a footnote, the first five songs are by the band proper and the final four early demos by leader Sampo Salonen. As a second footnote, the packaging is quite unusual: a plain CDR housed in an inner sleeve sandwiched in a booklet by a string wrap. GRADE: B–.

Aalto (Finland): Tuulilabyrintit (Uulu UULU 007, CD, with digipak, 2011)

Folk/Rock

Petra Tikkanen (principal vocals, kantele)

Quite different from its predecessor, this virtually abandons the throat singing and blends the ethnic instrumentation with electric rock. It’s a good album, and far more accessible than its predecessor, but it’s also far more conventional and a good deal less distinctive. GRADE: C+.

Aalto (Finland): Ikaro (Uulu UULU 009, CD, with digipak, 2014)

Folk/Rock

Petra Tikkanen (principal vocals, kantele)

This is a bit of a step up, with a more psychedelic atmosphere and some genuinely eerie and haunting moments. Its only drawback is that it doesn’t contain any real killer cuts, though there are no obvious weak moments either. GRADE: C+.

Melinda Abbass (Canada): A New Singing Sensation (Maritime MR-10003, 1966?)
Beat
Melinda Abbass (lead vocals)
Cut by a 15-year-old nightclub singer from Nova Scotia, this is an extremely pleasant period album of soft beat and pop. She didn’t quite live up to the title, however, as no-one, to my knowledge, ever heard of her again. GRADE: C+.

Abbey (Finland): Word Of Sin (Season Of Mist SOM676CD, CD, with digipak and booklet, France, 2023)
Metal/Progressive
Natalie Koskinen (occasional vocals)
Very much the brainchild of singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Heikinen, the Abbey offer atmospheric metal that’s difficult to describe. It's rooted in doom but nothing like Black Sabbath (or indeed modern practitioners like Blood Ceremony), with all kinds of other influences woven into the mix, and never really settles anywhere. At its best – as on the majestic 13-minute title track – it can be breathtaking, but elsewhere the band sound they’re searching for a coherent direction, though the resulting diversions are frequently very interesting. As a footnote, Natalie Koskinen does very little here, writing lyrics for a couple of tracks but contributing very little in the way of vocals. GRADE: C+.
See also Shape Of Despair

Abbey Tavern Singers (Ireland): We’re Off To Dublin In The Spring (Spin Budget SBS 1008, 1968)
Folk
Margaret Monks (joint lead vocals)
The ‘Budget’ in the label name doesn’t just apply to the price of the record: this set of Irish pub folk tunes sounds like it was taped on a portable cassette recorder. The back cover proudly pronounces ‘stereo, playable mono’, but the results sound more like the reverse.

GRADE: D.

Absolute Grey (USA): Absolute Grey (Acid Tapes TAB 012, cassette, with insert, UK, 1984)
Rock/Garage/Psychedelic
Beth Brown
One side was recorded in the studio and the other live; the studio side is more controlled and has better sound quality whilst the live side is more lo-fi but considerably wilder, as one might expect. Both offer enjoyable but not exceptional guitar rock with some nicely trippy edges. GRADE: C+.
Absolute Grey (USA): Green House (Earring EAR 2, 1984)
Rock/Garage/Psychedelic
Beth Brown (lead vocals)
Second time round, the first three tracks on each side is a studio recording and the last a live number (including a version of the Velvets’ ‘Beginning To See The Light’, indicating one of their key influences). Once again, the live numbers are considerably more raw and energetic, and once again this is pleasant stuff that doesn’t deliver any surprises. However, in the arid musical climate of 1984 it must have felt like a minor miracle that anybody was making this kind of rock at all. The subsequent double CD reissue (DBK Workds dbk108, 1984) adds a rather good bonus live disc Bless Their Pointed Little Heads, mainly recorded at shows in 1984. GRADE: C+.
Absolute Grey (USA): Live At CBGBs (Acid Tapes TAB 026, cassette, UK, 1985)
Rock/Garage/Psychedelic
Beth Brown (lead vocals)
Whilst this is no more exploratory than their earlier releases – Absolute Grey are the definition of a likeable but unexceptional band – the music here is denser, occasionally creating a borderline Jefferson Airplane vibe. Indeed, they actually cover ‘White Rabbit’ and make a reasonable fist of it. GRADE: C+.
Absolute Grey (USA): What Remains (Midnight MIR LP 125, 1986)
Rock/Garage/Psychedelic
Beth Brown (lead vocals)
One of the reviews in the promo material accompanying my copy compares Absolute Grey to Signe Anderson-era Jefferson Airplane, but there are two big differences: the Airplane were musical pioneers whereas Absolute Grey are retro copyists and the Airplane wrote great songs whereas Absolute Grey’s are merely enjoyable. GRADE: C+.

Absolute Grey (USA): Painted Post (Midnight MIR LP 134, 1987)
Folk/Rock
Beth Brown (lead vocals)
This 27½-minute mini-album focuses on the acoustic side of Absolute Grey’s music and features some lovely instrumental textures; in fact, it may be my favourite of their releases to date. However, it also reinforces my impression that whilst they have a winsome sound they don’t necessariily have the memorable songs to match. GRADE: C+.
Absolute Grey (USA): A Journey Thru The Past (Di Di Music L.L. 121, 1988)
Rock/Garage/Psychedelic
Beth Brown (lead vocals)
I thought this sounded a little wilder than Absolute Grey’s studio output, and then I heard some audience interaction and checked the back cover. As its name suggests, this compiles live recordings from 1984 and 1985, resulting in one of the better entries in the band’s admittedly not-that-diverse canon. GRADE: C+.
Absolute Grey (USA): Sand Down The Moon (Di Di Music L.L. 151, 1988)
Rock/Garage/Psychedelic
Beth Brown (lead vocals)
The opening ‘Hammer Of The Gods’ is appropriately named, being a wild feedback-drenched instrumental that opens their final album in style and falls into the ‘I didn’t know they had it in them’ category. Things never get that wild again, but this is by some margin their best: more varied, more atmospheric and more confident than anything they’d managed before. In fact, this convinces me that had they stayed together Absolute Grey would have managed a B– album, something (much as I like them) I would previously have thought impossible. GRADE: C+.

Absolute Zero (USA): A Live In The Basement (No label SP01, CD, 1990)
Jazz/Rock/Progressive/Avant-Garde
Aislinn Quinn (lead vocals, keyboards)
This crazy collision of Cantebury, RIO, electronica and all kinds of other influances goes some fascinating places. It’s just a pity that the journey is so short – two tracks totalling a fraction under 19 minutes. GRADE: B–.
Absolute Zero (USA/UK): Crashing Icons (M=R M=R2, CD, with poster, USA, 2003)
Jazz/Rock/Progressive/Avant-Garde
Aislinn Quinn (lead vocals, keyboards)
With four tracks of between 12 and 21 minutes powered by ex-Gong drummer and Canterbury stalwart Pip Pyle, this much later album certainly isn’t lacking in ambition. It isn’t lacking in experimentation either, with the title accurately summing up its incredibly diverse contents. Each of the four pieces could be compared to a sea journey: sometimes tempestuous and thrilling, sometimes calm and engaging, sometimes a little dull and uneventful. As such, some moments of this work much better than others, but overall it’s a fascinatingly bold and weird project with truly incendiary musicianship. GRADE: B–.

Leila Abdul-Rauf (USA): Cold And Cloud (Saadi Saati SS-0˙1, some on blue marbled vinyl, with inner, 2013)
Avant-Garde/New Age/Psychedelic
As far removed from her work with Hammers Of Misfortune as one can imagine, this eerie, ambient LP isn’t quite avant-garde, not exactly new age and not truly psychedelic either, whilst having leanings in all those directions. Multilayered vocals, synthesisers and found sounds combine to create hypnotic soundscapes that gently unfold before drifting away, and the whole thing has an appropriately dreamlike ambience. GRADE: C+.
Leila Abdul-Rauf (USA): Insomnia (Malignant Antibody Treatment 05, CD, with digipak, 2015)
Avant-Garde/New Age/Psychedelic
Titling such a dreamlike, even soporific, album Insomnia appears perverse, but there’s certainly a dark, haunting undercurrent to the ambient music here. Other than noting that the slight modern jazz element underpinning Cold And Cloud is more evident here – this could easily have come out on ECM – there’s not really a lot to say: the hazy, impressionistic music appears, envelops and then disappears, and life goes on as normal. GRADE: C+.
Leila Abdul-Rauf (USA): Dimunition (Malignant TUMORCD109, CD, with digipak, 2018)
Avant-Garde/New Age/Psychedelic
Here’s instalment three – slightly more gothic and borderline industrial but still gauzy and haunting and arty, with its sombre ‘haunted house’ cover and the enigmatic lyrics arranged into a spiral. Whilst there isn’t any actual ‘dimunition’ here – this is easily as good as her first two – it does raise the question of how much more of this stuff any sane person really needs. It also raises a wry smile: I can’t think of any other album whose label name and catalogue number is less appropriate for its contents. GRADE: C+.

See also Amber Asylum, Cardinal Wyrm, Fyrthu, Hammers Of Misfortune, Ionophore, Saros, Valkyrie, Vastum

Abigail (Czech Republic): První (No label, CDR, 2003)
Rock
Zdeňky Tvrdíková (principal vocals)
Whilst this was marketed as progressive rock, it’s actually a collection of fairly straight melodic rock songs and ballads with something of a seventies feel. That feel spans both the symphonic rock of the early seventies and some new wave influences, including a bit of saxophone, creating a pleasant and atmospheric album that could appeal to some prog fans without actually being prog. GRADE: C+.
Abigail (Czech Republic): Dwojí (No label, CDR, 2006)
Rock/Progressive
Zdeňky Tvrdíková (principal vocals)
This is a good deal proggier than their first, with some neoclassical references and knotty riffs thrown into their early-seventies-meets-late-seventies sonic stew. At times it reminds me of the odd little filigrees and unpredictable tempo changes on Lene Lovich’s Flex, though this is dramatic – with a faint lineage to French stylists like Catherine Ribeiro and Catherine Lara – rather than cute and playful. GRADE: C+.

Abigail & Company (USA/West Germany): Live Im Studio (Flop FLOP 2, West Germany, 1983)
Folk/Jazz/MOR
Abigail (lead vocals)
As a whimsical mixture of folk and swing, with a pre-war aesthetic, acoustic full band backing and all-original material, sung in both English and German, this is certainly unusual. It’s also extremely well done, but this simply isn’t a style of music I like. GRADE: C.

Doris Abrahams (USA): Labor Of Love (Philo PH 1034, 1976)
Pop
Doris Abrahams (lead vocals, guitar)
This doesn’t sound like a labour of love at all: it’s identikit polished mid-seventies pop and soft rock, with big studio arrangements including strings and horns on material taking in influences from country, blues, folk, soul and jazz. It’s all very professional but also very anonymous, with the slyly funky ‘See Saw’ (one of two self-penned numbers) being the best thing on offer. GRADE: C.

Abronia (USA): Obsidian Visions/Shadowed Lands (Reverb Worship RW 366, CDR, with DVD case and insert, UK, 2017)
Psychedelic
Keelin Mayer (lead vocals, saxophone)
This jamming underground rock album draws on both Krautrock and the Velvet Underground, with the primitive drumming serving as a clear homage to the latter. Keelin Mayer’s saxophone adds a slight free-jazz edge to proceedings, and the band manages
See also Eternal Tapestry

Abstract Club Band (Indonesia): Abstract Club Band (Remaco 77503, 1972?)
Pop/Soul/Lounge
Margie Seger
Giving few hints of its Far Eastern origins, this is a slick fusion of pop/rock, soul and funk, with strong lounge edges. It’s a nice album, if a terminally obscure one, and the occasional fierce fuzz leads will probably be the highpoint for most listeners. GRADE: C+.

Abus Dangereux (France): Le Quatrième Mouvement (AJ 1001, 1980)
Jazz/Rock/Progressive
Sylvie Voise (joint lead vocals), Caitriona Walsia (joint lead vocals)
This jazz-fusion album starts out with a touch of zeuhl, but quickly settles down into more laid-back grooves (though the Magma influence returns on the closing ‘Ballade Courte’, which is a bit livelier). Mostly instrumental, with some scatting, it’s high on virtuosity but sometimes a little low on excitement and invention. The band went on to cut a further three albums with an all-male line-up. GRADE: C+.

Abyss (USA): Dare To Dream… (Sound Machine Studios, 1983)
Singer/Songwriter/MOR
Pat Fischer (joint lead vocals, bass, synthesiser), Nancy Rogers (vocals, guitar, drums, percussion), Penny Lorio (joint lead vocals, guitar, keyboards)
The band name and album title made me expect prog, but the opening ‘Just For Today’ combines propulsive congas and rich harmony vocals to suggest a mildly funky twist on sixties folk/pop. The sixties pop influence resurfaces on ‘Maybe It’s The Rest’, but most of the remainder is low-budget, rather MOR singer/songwriter fare, with the three band members playing all the instruments between them. GRADE: C.

Académia (Sweden): The Tale Of Ocean Waves (Académia Music, CD, 1993)
Progressive/Pop
Sara Löfgren (lead vocals, guitar)
An album blending naïve folky pop (with some Christian lyrics, to boot) and rather ambient instrumentals into an ambitious conceptual whole could have worked brilliantly – the Ithaca album isn’t a million miles removed in its approach. However, the pop songs here are never remotely in the same league as their countrymen Abba and the album as a whole isn’t remotely in the same league as Ithaca. As a footnote, Sara Löfgren had a parallel solo career and was a fairly successful pop star in Sweden. GRADE: C+.

Academy (France/USA/Italy/Greece): Academy (RCA 460003, with insert, France, 1971?)
Folk/Rock
Ann Calvert (lead vocals)
With each of the four members hailing from a different country, Academy was quite a multinational band, but they operated out of France, where they issued their sole album. It’s a lovely LP of relaxed folk/rock with some singer/songwriter edges, with American expatriate Ann Calvert providing both the gentle vocals and the lyrics. Some cuts have occasional psychedelic tinges, including some biting lead guitar on ‘I’m Going Fine’ and tablas on ‘Got To Get Myself Together’. GRADE: C+.

Academy (UK): Pop-Lore According To The Academy (Morgan Blue Town BT 5001, 1969)
Jazz/Folk
Polly Perkins (joint lead vocals)
Usually referred to as ‘psychedelic pop’ or even ‘acid-folk’, Pop-Lore According To The Academy must be one of the most misdescribed albums in this volume. In reality, the LP is basically an acoustic jazz work, with some folky tendencies and a definite underground hippie vibe, but no real psychedelic elements. Although Polly Perkins’s vocals are excellent, the music is of a pretty variable standard, with only the closing ‘Yellow Star’ really standing out. Unsurprisingly, the album was not a hit (and nor was the extracted single, the totally uncommercial ‘Rachel’s Dream’), and Academy quickly broke up. GRADE: C.
See also Polly Perkins

Ace Of Cups (USA): It’s Bad For You But Buy It! (Big Beat CDWIKD 236, CD, 2003, recorded 1966?-1969?)
Pop/Psychedelic
Denise Kaufman (joint lead vocals, guitar, harmonica), Marila Hunt (joint lead vocals, keyboards), Mary Ellen Simpson (occasional vocals, guitar), Mary Gannon (occasional vocals, bass), Diane Vitalich (drums, backing vocals)

The all-female Ace Of Cups (which evolved out of the garage band Denise & Co, which issued one of the most collectable singles of all time) existed throughout the late sixties, supported a number of big-name acts and sang on Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers, but never got to cut an album of their own. This compilation reveals them to have been a likeable band with a slightly soulful sound though no distinctive style of their own; had they released an LP at the time, it would almost certainly have been more cohesive and more polished than this. GRADE: C+.
Ace Of Cups (USA): Ace Of Cups (High Moon HMRCD-10, double CD, 2018)
Pop/Psychedelic
Denise Kaufman (joint lead vocals, bass, handclaps, harmonica), Mary Ellen Simpson (joint lead vocals, guitar, handclaps), Diane Vitalich (joint lead vocals, percussion), Mary Gannon (occasional vocals), Buffy Sainte-Marie (occasional vocals)
Four decades after they first operated, the Ace Of Cups reunited to cut a studio album – and it’s a double, too. With high-profile guests like Jack Casady, Bob Weir, Barry Melton, Pete Sears, Taj Mahal, Jorma Kaukonen and David Grisman, this trawls through a variety of West Coast styles and manages the unusual feat of sounding simultaneously modern and vintage. However, its rootsy sound, drawing on blues, soul and country, and mellow mood put me in mind of Joy Of Cooking, and whilst this is all fairly inconsequential it’s also charming and delightful. GRADE: C+.

Achor (UK): A Door Of Hope (Dovetail DOVE 16, 1975)
Folk/Rock
Claire White (joint lead vocals, guitar), Sue Martin (joint lead vocals), Mavis Ford (joint lead vocals), Jackie (joint lead vocals), Cilla Atfield (flute, melodica)
The beautiful but twee cover illustration of a smiling child amid a tranquil, magical landscape sums up the contents perfectly. This is jolly Christian folk/rock, containing some lovely moments but also embodying many of the worst traits of the genre, including some tinny string synthesiser and tentative cabaret-style drumming. The numbers written by band leader Claire White are considerably better than the remainder, indicating that she was the group’s real talent. As a footnote, the band was calling itself ‘Valley Of Achor’ at this point, but since all subsequent releases were as plain ‘Achor’ I have listed it thus. GRADE: C.

Achor (UK): The Wine Of Lebanon (Dovetail DOVE 46, with insert, 1976)
Folk/Rock
Claire White (joint lead vocals, guitar), Mavis Ford (joint lead vocals), Irene Wilkie (joint lead vocals), Sue Martin (joint lead vocals), Ann Smith (joint lead vocals)
This is a world away from their patchy and underwhelming first, partly because Claire White is writing almost everything and partly because they’re backed by the cream of the Christian underground (including Mo Witham and John Pantry). It’s still unfailingly sweet and mellow, though that comes with the territory, but these beautifully crafted songs should appeal to anyone uplifting, mildly symphonic folk/rock. GRADE: C+.

Achor & Friends (UK): Hosanna To The Son Of David (Dove DOVE 54, 1978)
Folk/Rock
Mavis Ford (joint lead vocals, keyboards), Claire White (joint lead vocals), Sue Martin (joint lead vocals), Irene WIlkie (joint lead vocals),

Ann Woodroffe (joint lead vocals)
White is far less prominent this time around, with Mavis Ford stepping up to contribute some keyboards and share the arrangements with band leader Chris Head. Musically, this is a pleasant enough collection of folk and folk/rock songs, but with almost nothing over three minutes, it’s pretty slight – especially as their songs have little structure and such basic lyrics that they have to repeat everything to fill up the space. GRADE: C+.

Achor (UK): End Of My Day (Cedar 1, 1978)
Folk/Rock
Claire White (joint lead vocals, guitar), Mavis Ford (joint lead vocals), Sue Martin (joint lead vocals), Irene Wilkie (joint lead vocals), Ann Woodroffe (joint lead vocals)
Claire White is back in the driving seat, writing everything, but this isn’t a particularly memorable crop of songs. It’s pleasant enough throughout, but only the closing cut – which is both the simplest and the shortest – ranks among her better compositions. GRADE: C.

Acid Frog (Italy): Acid On The Beach 2018 – Live At Barakan (No label, download, 2018)
Garage/Psychedelic
Michela Zamataro (lead vocals, tambourine), Shall Intonti (organ)
This nine-minute, three-track EP – including covers of Shocking Blue’s ‘Love Buzz’ and the old warhorse ‘Tobacco Road’ – isn’t the most substantial debut release. However, its winning combination of assertive female vocals, acid guitar and trebly organ should win it more than a few fans. GRADE: C+.

Active Heed (Italy/Norway): Visions From Realities (No label, CD, with digipak, Italy, 2013)
Rock
Marit Børresen (occasional vocals)
Although this was marketed as progressive, it’s not really anything of the kind, consisting of folky singer/songwriter rock. Oddly, the album was penned by Umberto Pagnini, who does not play on it; instead, most of the instrumentation is provided by one Lorenzo Poli. Pleasant, melodic and occasionally rather amateurish, it’s a solid collection of well-crafted short songs, but never makes any great impression.

GRADE: C+.

Acid Mothers Gong (Japan/UK/Australia): Live In Nagoya (Vivo vivo2006020CD, CD, Poland, 2003)
Psychedelic/Avant-Garde
Gilli Smyth
The first half of this collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple and Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth is simply stunning, with a mantric wildness never heard in Gong’s own music. The second half is more ponderous – a brief moment when Allen and Makoto Kawabata (I assume) attempt stand-up comedy doesn’t work at all, and some of the musical pieces become a touch more ponderous, but at its best this is stunning stuff. GRADE: B–.
Acid Mothers Gong (Japan/UK/Australia): Live Tokyo (Voiceprint BP382CD, CD, with digipak, UK, 2006)
Psychedelic/Avant-Garde
Gilli Smyth (occasional vocals)
Like their first, this features some wild, amazing, awesome jams. Also like their first, it has the odd moment of borderline musical comedy that doesn’t work so well, though there are fewer of them this time around. That said, this isn’t quite as startling or experimental as its predecessor, so it’s moot which album is better. GRADE: B–.

Acoustic Sounds Skill (Japan): Sorairo No Sora, Mizuira No Mizu (No label OT-3140, with booklet and insert, 1984)
Folk
Yumiko Kune (ocasional vocals), Harumi Ishikawa (ocasional vocals), Harumi Ishikawa (ocasional vocals), Hiroko Hayashi (ocasional vocals), Fumiko Mizogami (occasional vocals)
Belying its 1984 release date, this rare private pressing offers late sixties or early seventies-style acoustic folk, with a dreamy, late-night vibe. The band was actually a duo of a male singer and a multi-instrumentalist, with several guest female singers who perform about half the lead vocals between them. GRADE: C+.

Ad Vitam (France): Ad Vitam (No label JA04AV, CD, 1999)
Progressive/Jazz
Virginie Coutin (lead vocals)
The brainchild of composer and multi-instrumentalist Jad Ayache, Ad Vitam offered unplugged zeuhl that took its influences from the quietest moments of Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh. An unusual and distinctive variant on the genre, it’s perfect late night listening. GRADE: C+.
Ad Vitam (France): Là Où Va Le Vent (Le Triton TR1-02505, CD, with digipak and booklet, 2002)
Folk/Avant-Garde
Isabelle Feuillebois (joint lead vocals), Julie Vander (joint lead vocals)
For their second and final album, Ad Vitam replaced their original female singer Virginie Coutin with two actual members of Magma (including Christian and Stella Vander’s daughter Julie). That said, this is further removed from zeuhl, being folkier and more avant-garde, and it sounds as though its main inspiration may have been Stella Vander’s solo album D’Épreuves D’Amour. Whilst not as adventurous or as edgy as that set, this is a lovely LP and the better of their two releases. GRADE: C+.
See also Magma, Offering, Christian Vander