Ph-Pl

Phaedra (USA): Time To Arrive (No label, download, 2014, recorded 1969)

Psychedelic

Patty O’ Conner (joint lead vocals)

It’s a pity this was only released as a lossy download, compounding the already average sound quality, as Phaedra were clearly a band with potential. I can hear echoes of the Doors, Music Emporium and Jefferson Airplane here, with a mixture of relaxed ballads and lengthy jams. It’s not the most consistent set, and despite the claim that everything was recorded in 1969 sounds more like a collection of demos from over several years, but despite my numerous reservations there is some excellent music here. GRADE: B–.

Phideaux (USA): Fiendish (No label, download, 2003)
Progressive/Singer/Songwriter
Valerie Gracious (occasional vocals), Ariel Farber (occasional vocals)
The vehicle of talented singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Phideaux Xavier, Phideaux offer a procession of richly melodic, mellow symphonic songs here. This may be too straight for some prog fans’ tastes, so don’t expect incendiary instrumental performances, but Xavier has a real knack for both hooks and arrangements, so this is lovely, unassuming stuff. GRADE: C+.
Phideaux (USA): Chupacabras (Bloodfish Music zyx-1777, CD, 2005)
Valerie Gracious (occasional vocals), Ariel Farber (occasional vocals, violin), Molly Ruttan (occasional vocals, percussion), Linda Ruttan-Moldawsky (occasional vocals)
Whilst retaining the best aspects of Fiendish – Xavier’s talent for rich melodies and chord progressions is very much in evidence – Chupacabras represents a considerable step forward. This is full-blown progressive rock, complete with an atmospheric introduction (featuring plenty of sampled Mellotron) and a well-constructed 20-minute title track. There’s a fair amount of variety too, including some folky references and even a surprisingly convincing excursion into progressive metal on ‘Ruffian On The Stairs’, adding up to a generally impressive set. GRADE: B–.

Phideaux (USA): 313 (Bloodfish zyx-0313, CD, 2006)
Rock/Psychedelic/Progressive
Linda Ruttan Moldawsky (occasional vocals), Valerie Gracious (occasional vocals), Julie Hair (bass, sampler, percussion, backing vocals), Molly Ruttan (drums, backing vocals), Ariel Farber (backing vocals)
Compared to its exploratory predecessor, this is a fairly straightforward collection of mildly trippy rock songs – though very well composed, performed and produced rock songs. At its best – as on the haunting, female-sung spacy folk number ‘Body To Space’, complete with sampled Mellotron, or the lively acid-rocker ‘Watching Machine’ – it’s stunning, though for the most part this is definitely good rather than truly great. GRADE: C+.
Phideaux (USA): The Great Leap (Bloodfish zyx-665, CD, 2006)
Rock/Progressive
Ariel Farber (violin, backing vocals), Valerie Gracious (backing vocals), Molly Ruttan (backing vocals), Linda Ruttan-Moldawsky (backing vocals)
Phideaux’s second album of 2006 is also disappointingly straight, and whilst more varied than 313 is a further slight step down in quality. As a collection of vaguely symphonic rock songs, it’s actually rather good – he has a real gift for melody and atmosphere – so this is far from a dead loss, though the horribly compressed mastering may lead to some listeners bailing before the end. GRADE: C+.

Phideaux (USA): Doomsday Afternoon (Bloodfish zyx-666, CD, 2007)
Rock/Psychedelic/Progressive
Linda Ruttan Moldawsky (occasional vocals), Molly Ruttan (occasional vocals), Ariel Farber (occasional vocals, handclaps), Valerie Gracious (occasional vocals, piano)
The mastering is a damn sight better, and so is the music – this is Phideaux Xavier at his most exploratory and creative, with long instrumental passages punctuating his richly melodic, evocative songs. The end results may be too understated for some ears, but to mine this is a delightful album – carefully textured, effectively multi-layered, delicately folky and beautifully restrained. GRADE: B–.
Phideaux (USA): Number Seven (Bloodfish zyx-007, CD, 2009)
Rock/Psychedelic/Progressive
Linda Ruttan Moldawsky (occasional vocals), Molly Ruttan (occasional vocals, percussion), Ariel Farber (occasional vocals, violin), Valerie Gracious (occasional vocals)
This is possibly their best: wide-ranging (with touches of everything from jazz to funk), beautifully orchestrated and carefully paced, with plenty of long instrumental passages to counterbalance the bittersweet songs. However, the band’s greatest strength remains Xavier’s considerable gift for melody and atmosphere. GRADE: B–.

Phideaux (USA): Snowtorch (Bloodfish 8 26677 00459 8, CD, with gatefold minisleeve and booklet, 2011)
Progressive
Linda Ruttan Moldawsky (joint lead vocals), Molly Ruttan (joint lead vocals, percussion), Ariel Farber (joint lead vocals, violin), Valerie Gracious (joint lead vocals)
This is surprisingly direct and rocking for a Phideaux album, and it’s also their first where a substantial proportion of the vocals are female. It’s a good one too, with lots of lengthy instrumental passages, and if it’s not as varied or as atmospheric as its predecessor, it almost makes up for it with its energy and drive. GRADE: B–.
Phideaux (USA): Infernal (Bloodfish 8 26677 90668 5, double CD, with gatefold minisleeve and booklet, 2018)
Progressive
Linda Ruttan Moldawsky (joint lead vocals), Molly Ruttan (joint lead vocals), Ariel Farber (joint lead vocals, violin), Valerie Gracious (joint lead vocals)
Phideaux’s first album in seven years is their most substantial set, running for some 88 minutes. In some ways, Infernal marks a return to their original Beatles-esque song-based styles, though there are still plenty of instrumental breaks and diversions to hold the interest. In fact, it never becomes boring over the space of nearly an hour and a half, indicating the depth of Phideaux Xavier’s writing and the quality of his hooks. GRADE: B–.

Phileas Fogg (France): Coma Depasse (Sonart 7083, 1986)
Jazz/Funk/Rock
Isabelle Sobkowiak (lead vocals)
Whilst not really exceptional, this is a very pleasant jazz-fusion album, evenly split between vocal and instrumental pieces. Isabelle Sobkowiak’s excellent singing lifts things up a notch, whilst there is some highly competent playing. GRADE: C+.
See also Personnel & Patrick Chemin, Ultramarine

John Phillips (USA): Many Mamas, Many Papas (Varèse Sarabande 203 067 016 2, double CD, 2010, recorded 1981-1989)

Folk/Pop

Elaine McFarlane (joint lead vocals), Mackenzie Phillips (joint lead vocals)

This interesting archive release compiles studio and live recordings made by John Phillips and Denny Doherty across various abortive reunions of the Mamas & The Papas during the eighties, with Mackenzie Phillips, Elaine McFarlane and Scott McKenzie completing the line-up. The studio disc graphically illustrates why they failed to land a record deal: their folky pop is nice enough and sometimes quite charming but would have sounded incredibly anachronistic in the eighties. Worse, Phillips’s songwriting chops had deteriorated significantly since the sixties, so none of it really sticks in the mind. The live disc mixes a few sixties hits (though not the expected ‘California Dreaming’) with material from the participants’ other careers, including a Spanky & Our Gang medley and a version of ‘San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)’. Unfortunately, these tracks have slightly inferior sound quality to the studio numbers, though they’re still of professional standard. GRADE: C+.

See also Mamas & The Papas, Spanky & Our Gang

Michelle Phillips (USA): Victim Of Romance (A&M SP-4651, with inner, 1977)
Pop/MOR
Michelle Phillips (lead vocals)
Phillips’s only solo album, issued six years after the Mamas & The Papas’ final LP, is orchestrated soft pop taking in influences from country, jazz, fifties music and more. Whilst very professionally executed, it’s all desperately dull, and even in 1977, before America caught on to punk and new wave, a record like this would have stood no chance of succeeding. ‘There She Goes’ (one of two self-penned numbers) probably sounds closest to the Mamas & Papas. The CD reissue adds an album’s worth of mostly unreleased recordings from 1975 and 1976, with six of the ten cuts being self-written. This material is in the same vein, but without the orchestrations and MOR edges, so is slightly more enjoyable. GRADE: C–.
See also Mamas & The Papas

Phyllis (USA): At Peace… (SRS SRS-11572, 1968?)
Folk
Phyllis Stutzman (lead vocals, guitar, piano)
Packaged in a lovely quaint sleeve, this is a charming album of Christian folk, with some tracks featuring only Stutzman’s acoustic guitar whilst others have a rhythm section adding a spacy edge. With its haunting, naïve atmosphere, the disc somewhat recalls Search Party, though without any of that band’s psychedelic leanings. About half the material is self-penned. GRADE: C+.

Picaresque Of Bremen (Japan): Picaresque Of Bremen (Sound Jets 14447, with insert, 1983)
Metal/Progressive
Satoko Nishimura (occasional vocals, keyboards, flute, woodwind)
This oddly named Japanese trio managed an equally strange LP. For the most part, it offers rather lo-fi hard rock/metal with symphonic and avant-garde edges and quite a bit of violin and woodwind, but it also takes in progressive folk/rock, mediaeval music and even a jaunty reggae-tinged pop number with falsetto vocals. None of the songs is individually outstanding and the various elements within each piece rarely hang together brilliantly, but it is certainly interesting and listenable. GRADE: C+.

Picaresque Of Bremen (Japan): …Tales Of An Alchemist (Sound Jets DRM-1131, with booklet, 1985)
Metal/Progressive
Satoko Nishimura (joint lead vocals, flute, clarinet)
Like their first, this mixes hard rock with some sound effects and a few mediaeval touches, adding a few nicely judged acoustic moments. Also like their first, it has a rather low-budget feel (despite a much better recording) and once again offers an odd mix of influences, though it’s thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. GRADE: C+.
Picaresque Of Bremen (Japan): Out Of The Way (No label ICR-1673, with insert, 1987)
Pop/Rock
Yukari Kudo (principal vocals, guitar)
Down to a duo of multi-instrumentalist Jun Toshizawa and new singer Yukari Kodo, Picaresque Of Bremen return with a radically different third album. This mixes Art Of Noise-style choppy synthesisers and pounding drum machines with metal-influenced lead guitar, cheesy Japanese pop and a few elements of symphonic rock. A pot-pourri like this could have worked well (although I can’t immediately see how), but it certainly doesn’t here. GRADE: D.
Picaresque Of Bremen (Japan): Chronoclasm (No label ICD-1055, CD, 1990)
Pop/Rock/Metal/Progressive
Yukari Kudo (principal vocals)
Oddly, their fourth album blends the metal and progressive elements of their first two with the Art Of Noise-style techno-pop touches of Out Of The Way. Thus, whilst it’s a marked improvement over its predecessor, it’s still something of a curate’s egg. GRADE: C.
Picaresque Of Bremen (Japan): Sour Grapes (No label BRE6-832, CD, 1992)
Rock/Progressive/Pop
Yukari Kudo (principal vocals)
The band’s final album offers dense symphonic rock, with lots of synthesiser and a few (but just a few) of the techno edges that plagued their last couple of efforts. It’s all nice and unassuming enough, though I can’t imagine this figuring among anyone’s all-time favourites. GRADE: C+.

Pidgeon (USA): Pidgeon (Decca DL 71503, 1969)
Pop/Folk/Rock
Cheri Gage (joint lead vocals, autoharp)
Despite not being particularly rare or expensive, this is one of the least-known major label albums among psychedelic collectors. It’s a rather lovely collection of baroque pop and folk/rock, with decent songwriting and excellent arrangements, plus a couple of harder-edged rock numbers. If the LP is remembered at all, it is for launching the career of Jobriath Salisbury, who composed everything, handled much of the singing and played guitars and keyboards. He went on to become America’s first openly gay rock star, but despite one of the most expensive promotional campaigns of its day, attempts to launch him as ‘America’s David Bowie’ failed and he was reduced to working as a prostitute before dying of an AIDS-related illness in 1983. GRADE: C+.

Pied Pumkin String Ensemble (Canada): The Pied Pumkin String Ensemble (Squash, 1975)
Folk
Shari Ulrich (joint lead vocals, mandolin, violin, flute)
Don’t let the title fool you: this isn’t some kind of chamber music, as the strings they’re referring to are those on acoustic guitars, mandolins, violins and dulcimers. This trio offer rootsy Americana, recorded live with an excited audience, serving as the transatlantic equivalent of British folk club fare. American folk is never going to rival its European counterpart in my affections, but Pied Pumkin are undeniably good at what they do and those with tastes more oriented towards the New World could find this an understated delight. GRADE: C+.
Pied Pumkin (Canada): Allah Mode (Squash #Y4UR2B, 1976)
Folk
Shari Ulrich (joint lead vocals, violin, flute)
This time round they’re added a rhythm section, which makes their sound slightly more mainstream, but otherwise this isn’t hugely different from their first. The band subsequently changed its name to Pied Pear and issued a couple more albums with Shari Ulrich reduced to the status of a guest musician (adding saxophone to her repertoire). GRADE: C+.
Pied Pumkin (Canada): The Lost Squash Tapes, Volume One (Squash PP1976, cassette, 1988, recorded 1976)
Folk
Shari Ulrich (mandolin, violin, flute, backing vocals)
This collection of unreleased tapes – of which there was no Volume Two, as far as I’m aware – sees Pied Pumkin returning to an acoustic trio format. It’s pleasant North American folk that’s a bit less whimsical than their albums proper, but as that description suggests I can’t imagine it (or any of their oeuvre) figuring among anyone’s all-time favourites. GRADE: C+.

Pierrot Lunaire (Italy): Gudrun (IT ZPLT 34.000, 1977)
Progressive/Avant-Garde
Jacqueline Darby (lead vocals)
Unlike most avant-prog albums, this one isn’t at all rooted in jazz and isn’t particularly dissonant. With arrangements based around keyboards, synthesisers and effects, the album offers music that’s simultaneously tranquil, hynpnotic and very weird. Jacqueline Darby’s falsetto voice and some well-judged use of fuzz guitar increase the strangeness quotient further, particularly on a bizarre and unsettling reading of ‘Plaisir D’Amour’. As the band name suggests, their music was rooted in twentieth century classical, but there are also notable mediaeval and psychedelic influences here. GRADE: A–.
See also Kay Hoffmann

Pilot Voyager (Hungary): Melted Lights (Psychedelic Source, download, 2020)
Psychedelic
Kriszti Benus (lead vocals)
More psychedelic meanderings from Kriszti Benus and her usual collaborator: this time 37 minutes of it, served up in three trippy slices. This is a pretty good instalment: the opening 18-minute ‘Disease [sic] Mind’ is merely adequate, but ‘Tremulous’ and the title track achieve lift-off in no uncertain fashion. GRADE: B–.

See also Forrás Sessions, Lemurian Folk Songs, Paranormal Family, Psychedelic Source, Red Gem Space Funk, River Flows Reverse, Satorinaut, Sessions With Hisa Shiroma, Various 'Psychedelic Source Records – Finalizing 2020 Compilation'

Susan Pillsbury (USA): Susan Pillsbury (Sweet Fortune SFS 804, 1973)
Singer/Songwriter
Susan Pillsbury (lead vocals, guitar)
This obscure singer/songwriter album has retrospectively been acclaimed as a classic, but I don’t really see why. It’s professionally done, with soft rock backing and a country tinge (more in her voice than the arrangements), but despite a few mellow, mystical moments it’s mostly generic – everyone from Joni Mitchell to Rita Coolidge was cutting songs like this in the early seventies. GRADE: C.

Pingvinorkestern (Sweden): Push (No label, CD, with digipak, 2014)
Jazz/Rock/Progressive/Avant-Garde
Susanne Johansson (principal vocals, percussion, violin, melodica)
Song titles like ‘Madam Else’s Genuine Flea Circus’, ‘You Got A Light, Mac?’ and ‘No, But I’ve Got A Dark Brown Overcoat!’ suggest that this is going to be at the lighter end of avant-prog, and that indication is not wrong. Fringing RIO and jazz yet distinctly poppy, with prominent tuned percussion, this is a varied and interesting album that ranges from bouncy, playful pieces to dark, almost gothic, ballads. Ultimately, it never really falls into one particular genre or settles anywhere, but it’s a fascinating and consistently enjoyable musical journey. GRADE: B–.

Pipe Dream (USA): Wanderers/Lovers (RCA LSP-4221, 1969)
Pop
Pat
This is typical big-production studio pop of the period, but more ambitious than most: several cuts are originals and each side has its own title, so this appears to be some sort of concept LP. Appealing as it is, it’s still pretty lightweight stuff, and there’s absolutely nothing here for aficionados of acid-rock. GRADE: C.

PJ Murphy Quintet (USA): PJ Murphy! (Leaf L-6475, 1964)
Beat
Kathy McBroom (principal vocals)
This rare album features enjoyable mid-sixties beat, including covers of material such as ‘The Shoop-Shoop Song’, ‘My Guy’, ‘Ooh-Poo-Pah-Do’ and ‘I Want To Be With You’. In addition, there are several original songs, of which the best is probably ‘I Say No’. The album is known to exist with two different variant covers, of which the one with the single large band photograph on the front appears to be considerably scarcer. As a footnote, there was no ‘PJ Murphy’ in the band, hence its listing under P rather than M. GRADE: C+.

PKS Publishing (USA): The PKS Publishing Preview (PKS Group PKS-1, 1970?)
Rock/Rural
Some tracks on this obscure publisher’s demo LP are obnoxiously bad (the theatrical ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ and the smutty ‘I’m Never Gonna Stick It In Again’), whilst others offer reasonable country/rock, ballads and hard rock. However, despite generally competent performances, it’s pretty obvious why no hit cover versions emerged. GRADE: C.

Plainview Band & Guys N’ Dolls (USA): Plainview Band And Guys N’ Dolls (Century S12-525, 1979)
Lounge/Rock/‘Incredibly Strange Music’
Jay Lynn Otey (joint lead vocals), Darla White (occasional vocals), Janie Telford (piano, clarinet), Rhonda Clayton (drum), Staci Graham (drum), Martha Davis (tympani), Nancie Walsh (bells), , Cheryl Mayo (saxophone), Kelly Duck (saxophone), Christine White (oboe), Tracy Applewhite (clarinet), Patricia Patton (clarinet), Dawn Newell (clarinet), Susan Staggs (clarinet), Dimity Wagner (clarinet), Jo Vita Moore (clarinet), Darla Crouch (clarinet), Tracy Sullivan (clarinet), Rhonda Shuey (clarinet), Sherry Miller (clarinet), Kathy Henson (clarinet), Leslie Priest (clarinet), Tina Priest (clarinet), Marla Kelley (clarinet), Kandy Mach (clarinet), Rhoda Goff (clarinet), Cindy Marshno (clarinet), Debbie Batson (clarinet), Deborah Coffey (clarinet), Kathy Schmidt (clarinet), Belinda McClendon (French horn)
This obscure school album features Guys N’ Dolls (an amateurish loungy rock band) on the first side and the Plainview Band (a large ensemble mainly comprising clarinettists) on the second. Both play an eclectic and sometimes quite bizarre range of covers. Guys N’ Dolls’ highlight is a lively ‘Wipe Out’ with frantic drumming and screaming slide guitar; a heavy, garagy ‘I’ve Got The Music In Me’ is also pretty fine, with the rest of their numbers being bland in comparison. The Plainview Band side is far more bizarre, with its hesitant, tuneless versions of ‘Stairway To Heaven’ and an Eagles medley, among other delights. GRADE: C.

Planet Gong (UK/Australia): Live Floating Anarchy 1977 (Charly CRM 2000, UK, 1978)
New Wave/Psychedelic/Progressive
Gilli Smyth (occasional vocals), Suze Allport (backing vocals), Anni Wombat (backing vocals)
This live collaboration between Daevid Allen and Gilli Smyth and the punkish space-rock band Here & Now sees the classic Gong sound updated for the punk generation. Such a clash of cultures could have been embarrassing, but this is brilliant stuff, with Allen sounding revitalised and Stephan Lewry (later a frequent collaborator with Gong alumni) filling in admirably for Steve Hillage. Whether they’re offering punky imprecations against the system (the title track and ‘Opium For The People’) or tripping out to the ether on the long jams, this is classic stuff and a first-rate addition to the Gong canon. GRADE: B.
See also Acid Mothers Gong, Androids Of Mu, Glo, Goddess Trance, Gong, Here & Now, Invisible Opera Company Of Tibet, Didier Malherbe & Yan Emeric, Mother Gong, Gilli Smyth, Various ‘1989 GAS Tape’, Various ‘An Odd Acts Event’

Plant & See (USA): Plant And See (White Whale WW 7120, 1969)
Blues/Rock/Psychedelic
Carol Fitzgerald (occasional vocals)
A solid album of bluesy, post-Jefferson Airplane West Coast rock, with some excellent guitar work but not especially memorable songwriting. Carol Fitzgerald has a vastly better voice than guitarist Willie Lowery, but she only gets to sing one number (her own composition ‘Leavin’’, which is far and away the best track) whilst he sings nine. The band then changed their name to Lumbee, under which guise they issued a slightly inferior second LP. GRADE: C+.
See also Lumbee

Plasis (Greece): Faces Of Love (Melody House MH 1102, 1982)
Rock/Progressive
Pandy (lead vocals)
This likable, unpretentious album blends elements of all kinds of music – pop, rock, folk, new wave and even a touch of hard rock – with some undemanding progressive stylings. Inevitably it’s all pretty dated, and it sounds very eighties, but they certainly knew how to craft a tune and could play very well (as the instrumental ‘Scream’ ably demonstrates). Overall, the nearest comparison might be the only slightly less obscure Yugoslav outfit Stijene or to a lesser extent Renaissance circa Camera Camera. GRADE: C+.

Plastik Mak (South Africa/Ireland): Love Connection (Flash FL 1001, 1980)
Pop
Alison O’ Donnell, Joanna Fields
The oddest addition to Alison O’ Donnell’s discography was also the most commercially successful: manufactured pop group Plastik Mak, masterminded by songwriter and producer Terry Dempsey, scored two top 20 singles in South Africa. Their music is usually described as disco, but is actually anachronistic middle-of-the-road pop with an early seventies feel and some fifties references. Alison O’ Donnell is not heavily featured on the LP, sticking solely to backing vocals. The label for their non-album single ‘Shake Your Body’ states they released a second LP (Gallo ML 4331), but as far as I am aware this never appeared. GRADE: C.

See also Éishtlinn, Flibbertiggibet, Alison O' Donnell, Owl Service, United Bible Studies

Lena Platonos (Greece): Lepidoptera (Lyra 3446, 1986)
Pop/Progressive/Avant-Garde
Quite difficult to describe, this odd album essentially offers light folkish pop with mainly electronic backing. But it also incorporates quite a few avant-garde edges and some progressive moments too, especially on the rather weird eight-minute ‘Cyaniris’. Whilst mildly interesting, this is a very incoherent record, and it’s hard to see who it could have been aimed at. GRADE: C+.

Playboys (UK): The Playboys (Electrecord EDD 1115, 10”, Romania, 1965?)
Beat
Carol Kay (joint lead vocals)
Issued only in Romania, this obscure UK beat band’s 10" album is now an expensive collectible. All eight tracks consist of cover versions of familiar material by the likes of the Beatles, James Brown, Chuck Berry and Sonny & Cher, and though enjoyable, the record sounds rather quaint and parochial even for its era. GRADE: C.

Pleasure Fair (USA): The Pleasure Fair (Uni 73009, 1967)
Pop
Michele Cochrane
Flower-pop albums rarely came more complex than this: the arrangements show heavy influences from baroque classical, and there’s some studio trickery and electronics. It was produced and arranged by David Gates, who purloined keyboardist Robb Royer to create the first line-up of Bread. GRADE: C.

Plugg (Sweden): Monstrous Life (Skatten NR 1001, 1980)
Pop/Rock/‘Incredibly Strange Music’
Åsa Hultman (joint lead vocals), Åsa Mattsson (joint lead vocals), Pia Lundstedt (joint lead vocals, guitar), Anina Wale (joint lead vocals, bass)
This school project album was the brainchild of music teacher and songwriter Björn Wester, with all the remaining band members being aged 13 or 14. A few songs reflect current musical trends, with slight new wave and rock edges, though mostly this is seventies-style pop with the weird, lost-in-time feel typical of such ventures. Avoiding Shaggs-like amateurishness, it has a few hints of Mystic Zephyrs 4 and of a low-budget Abba, and has enough atmosphere to be an interesting score for ‘real people’ collectors. GRADE: C+.

Plurima Mundi (Italy): Atto 1º (No label cd vrs-055, CD, 2009)
Progressive
Grazia Maremonti (principal vocals)
Quintessentially Italian, this short album (four tracks in just over 26 minutes) features plenty of violin, strong classical influences, a few jazz edges and lots of complexity. They sound influenced by their own country’s seventies scene in general and by Saint Just in particular, with Grazia Maremonti’s vocals often recalling Jenni Sorrenti’s. There’s also a hint of Opus Avantra and Curved Air here and there, with the music pulling in a variety of different directions while remaining consistently polished and elegant. GRADE: B–.

Plurima Mundi (Italy): Percorsi (No label, CD, 2017)
Progressive
Grazia Maremonti (lead vocals)
No-one could accuse Plurima Mundi of being excessively prolific: eight years after their excellent debut mini-LP, they return with another four-track collection – this one running for a whopping 38 minutes (or more than 41 if you include the bonus ‘single version’ of ‘L… Tu Per Sempre’ that bulks it out). Then again, I’ll always take quality over quantity, and I’m only quibbling because the quality of their music is so high. Once again, they remind me of Curved Air, setting elegant and soaring violin against a dynamic rock framework, though I can also hear echoes of early Renaissance and numerous Italian sixties and seventies acts. I just hope we get to hear from them again before 2025. GRADE: B–.

Pluto & The Planets (Norway): 360 Degrees Of Wonder (No label, CDR, 2009)
Rock/Progressive
Sandra MG (lead vocals, percussion)

I initially underestimated this due to its lack of ambition, but at its best – as on ‘Ascension’ – it can build up quite a head of steam. That said, it’s still fairly mainstream (albeit very well-creafted) sympho-prog and soft rock, giving no hint of its Norwegian origins and sounding more Dutch (in the instrumental textures) or French (in the harmony vocals, which occasionally recall the straightest end of Magma) than anything. The album was reissued the following year under the slightly variant title of 360º Of Wonder (Muséa Parallèle MP 3067, CD, France, 2010) with the material remastered and the tracklisting completely reordered. GRADE: C+.