Mad Curry - Mad Curry (1971)

 

The one and only album from this band from Belgium.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion,  keyboards, saxophone and vocals.

This band was active during the first years of the 1970s when they released this album. They reformed this millennium again as a hobby band but have not released anything as far as I know. 

This album clocks in at just over half an hour.

The music is a blend of brass rock and Canterbury prog.

There are some late 1960s vibes throughout this album.

The music is driven by organ and saxophones. It is mid-tempo throughout. The music is pretty hard throughout.

The pretty good vocals are a blend of male and female vocals. Mostly female vocals.

The music is decent enough and this is not a bad album at all. Fans of the 1970s scene and sound should check out this album.

2 points 

 

 

 

Penaguin. Tom - Tom Penaguin II (2026)

 

The fourth album from this artist from France.

Tom Penaguin played bass, guitars, keyboards and drum machine here.

One guest added female vocals on one track.

I have really liked his first three albums and was looking forward to this album.

Tom Penaguin II clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is Canterbury prog.

Both National Health and Egg are good references here. 

The music is quirky and eclectic. It is still melodic and jazzy too.

This is very much a Canterbury prog album and a good example why this genre is great. This is an album i would play to those who wonder what the more eclectic end of this genre sounds like. There are no superb pieces of music here, though. This is still a great album and one of the best albums of this year... so far. 

This album has - finally - converted me into becoming a fan of Tom Penaguin.....

4 points  

Lindh. Pär & Johansson. Björn - Bilbo (1996)

 

The debut album from this duo from Sweden.

The line-up here was drums, percussion, bass, guitars, mandolin, harp, keyboards, clavinet, synths, organ and bassoon.

Two guests added oboe, flute and vocals.

This duo released two albums between 1996 and 2004 before they split up. Both of them based on Tolkien's books. Both of these albums are up for review this month.

Bilbo clocks in at one hour and five minutes.

The music is a blend of symphonic prog and folk rock.

This is also a concept album with some neo-classical music too.

The sound and music are folky with some female and male vocals and choirs. There are also some woodwinds in addition to the usual keyboards and guitars.

Some of the music is good and some of the music is decent. I am not won over by this album....

2.5 points 

 

 

 

Orquestra Mirasol - Salsa Catalana (1974)

 

The debut album from this band from Spain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, piano, synths, flute and saxophones.

This band released two albums between 1974 and 1975. Both of them are up for review this week.

Salsa Catalana clocks in at thirty-five minutes.

The music here is a blend of jazz and fusion.

The music is far more jazz than fusion, though. Add in some salsa too and you get the idea here.

The music is both rhythmic and melodic. This is to a large degree jazz-lite.

There are a lot of woodwinds here and some piano. 

The sound is really good and cannot be faulted.

The music is decent enough. It is a bit fluffy and not particular complex. That said, this is a decent enough album.

2 points 

 

 

 

Delirium - Sesta Strada Lungo il Tempo (2026)

 

The sixth album from this band from Italy.

The band was a sextet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, woodwinds and vocals.

A number of guests added viola, backing vocals, choir and narration.

This band album debuted back in 1971 and released three albums in the 1970s. The band returned in 2009 with their fourth album. Their fifth album was released eleven years ago. 

The band returned again after this eleven-year break. 

Sesta Strada Lungo il Tempo clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is classic RPI.

The music is a blend of mid-tempo and more pastoral RPI. 

There are a lot of guitars, keyboards and some flutes here. This in addition to the vocals. 

The vocals are great. 

This is indeed one of the better RPI albums of the year. Among the five best RPI albums of the year, to be precise. It is a very good album indeed and one RPI fans should have in their collection.

3.5 points  

 

Sume - Inuit Nunaat (1974)

 

The second album from this band from Greenland.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars and vocals.

A number of guests added piano, organ, moog and choir.

I reviewed their debut album fifteen years ago and I have now got their three remaining albums up for review this fall.

This album clocks in at forty minutes.

The music here is folk rock.

The music is both melodic and rocking. There are more rock than folk, to put it like this.

The vocals are in the local Inuit language although the names of the musicians are Danish. But that may be the way the people in Greenland was named back then and even today as Greenland is a Danish territory.

The music is decent enough. It is a bit dated and too much mainstream rock orientated. That aside....

2 points 

Procol Harum - Procol's Ninth (1975)

 

The eighth album from this band from Great Britain.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, piano, organ and vocals.

The band regarded their 1972 live album as a proper album. Hence they naming their eighth studio album as their ninth album. Confusing but thankfully explained well enough by the band.

Procol's Ninth clocks in at forty minutes.

The music is a blend of folk rock and psych rock.

The music is songs orientated and dominated by Gary Brooker's very good vocals.

The music is this time meandering and a bit on the workman like end of the spectrum.

The music is also mid-tempo.

There are no good songs here. This is a decent enough album but nothing more than that. This is the weakest of their eight albums.

2 points 

  

Altare Thotemico - Selfie Ergo Sum (2020)

 

The third album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, piano, synths and vocals.

Two guests added trumpet and saxophones.

The band returned again after a seven years long break. Their last album was a good album. Ditto for their debut album, which is a semi-classic album in this genre. Both of them have been reviewed in this series of blogs.

Selfie Ergo Sum clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music is RPI.

The music is both dark and theatrical. It is also pretty complex with some intricate twists and turns. Some of the music is also pastoral.

The vocals are both male and female. The vocals are in Italian.

The music is good throughout. This is not standard RPI. It is still an album which will give RPI fans a lot of joy.

3 points 

 

Aelementi - Una Questione Di Principio (2017)

 

The debut album from this band from Italy.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars and vocals.

Three guests added keyboards and vocals.

This is so far the only album released by this band but I hope we will hear a lot more from them in the future.

The album clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music here is RPI.

The music is at the lighter, melodic poppy side of the RPI spectrum.  

The music is also pretty commercial and a bit of a bridge between traditional RPI and commercial pop/rock. The female vocals is one of the reasons for their light and poppy take on RPI.

The vocals are good and the band does a good job.

The quality is somewhere between decent and good. I am not won over but this is an album the band should follow up with some more albums.

2.5 points 

  

 

Flor De Loto - Beyond The Cosmos (2026)

 

The 11th album from this band from Peru.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards, flute, Andean wind instruments and vocals.

A number of guests added guitars and vocals.

The band returned again, one year after their last album. An album I have reviewed together with their first nine albums too.

This album clocks in at just over fifty minutes.

The music is a blend of folk rock and heavy metal.

There are a lot of South-American folk music influences here too with the Andean wind instruments and flutes adding a lot of colours to the music.

The music is still hard throughout.

I have some strong reservations against the blend of metal and folk rock/music. The music here lives up to my reservations as it is pretty dull despite of the colourful South American influences. There are some good music here and some dull music here. Hence....

2.5 points 

 

  

Lazuli - Lazuli 11 (2023)

 

 The 11th album from this band from France.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, marimba, leode, guitars, mandolin, keyboards, French horn and vocals.

The band returned again after a two years long album break. The band regard their collection of acoustic and cover versions album Denude (2021) as their tenth album, while most of us do not. Hence, a bit of confusion here...

Lazuli 11 clocks in at fifty-five minutes.

The music is art-rock.

There are the usual French symphonic prog influences in their music. Ange and Mona Lisa spring to mind.

The music is both complex and melodic. Lazuli has their own style, their own niche in the market.

The female French vocals here are good. The sound is big and bold.

This is another good album from this band. A band worth checking out. The band released their twelfth album earlier this year. See the review somewhere else in this blog.

3 points  

 

Jupiter VI - Moveable Walls (2014)

 

The second and final album from this band from USA.

The band was a duo with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

Their 2006 debut album Back From Mars was a decent enough glam rock album. You can find my review from earlier this month.

Moveable Walls clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music here is melodic psych/art rock.

Pink Floyd and David Bowie are two good references here.

Mostly Pink Floyd, that is. Both from The Wall and the Momentary Lapse Of Reason era. There are still some glam rock influences retained from the debut album.

The music is melodic and pretty epic. There are a lot of long guitar solos here in the Gilmour mould. 

The overall quality is good and Pink Floyd fans should check out this album.

3 points 

  

 

Kabasse - About Sitting on Fences (2026)

 

The debut album from this band from Germany.

The band was a sextet with a line-up of drums, percussion, glockenspiel, bass, vibraphone, piano, accordion, clavinet, organ and woodwinds.

This band is a new band to me as they have just album debuted.

This album clocks in at forty minutes.

The music here is jazz.

The music is pretty melodic jazz with a few avant-garde pieces in between the mid-tempo jazz.

Most of the music is performed by the woodwinds. Trombone, trumpet and horns. 

The music is pretty complex too. 

The jazz is a bit too middle-of-the-road to really enthuse me. Nevertheless, this is a pretty good debut album and something to build on. Something I hope the band will do.

2.5 points   

Stubbs - The New Proper Life Style (1983)

 

The debut album from this band from Japan.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, pianet, organ, synths and vocals.

This very obscure band released three albums between 1983 - 1985 and then disappeared again. The band was added to ProgArchives earlier this year. Based on them being added to the Canterbury scene genre, aI got their three albums, and they are all up for reviews in the coming week.

The New Proper Life Style clocks in at fifty-five minutes.

The music is indeed Canterbury scene. 

That means a blend of eclectic prog and jazz. Hatfield & The North is a reference here... but that is not entirely correct. 

There is some avant-garde jazz here too. But most of the music is a blend of eclectic Canterbury prog and jazz. A bit more jazzy and eclectic than Hatfield & The North, but still groovy. 

The music is still pretty melodic.

There is a lot of electric guitar solos here and some electronics. There are not many vocals here as most of the music is instrumental.

The result is a good album and one to check out. I have reasons to believe that Stubbs is one of the best finds in the Canterbury scene in the last decade, although the band split up forty years ago. Check them out.

3 points 

 

Parsons Project. The Alan - The Turn Of A Friendly Card (1980)

 

The fifth album from this project from Great Britain.

Alan Parsons did the organs, synths, electronics and vocoder here.

Numerous guests added drums, percussion, bass, mandolin, guitars, harpsichord, piano, harps, organ, keyboards, synths, woodwinds and vocals.

This project returned again after a one-year-long album break.

The Turn Of A Friendly Card clocks in at forty minutes.

The music here is a blend of pomp rock and symphonic prog.

This is actually a concept album with the title track being a suite. It is said that this is the most progressive The Alan Parsons Project album of all time. Listening to this album, I can understand that.

There are a lot of vocals here. There are still some instrumental parts here.

The music is really elegant throughout. The music is still rock instead of the pomp pop music that dominated the previous two albums.

The music is, to my big surprise... and I had given up on this band after the two previous albums... very good. It is by far their best album and one I want to revisit in the coming years.  

3.5 points 

 

 

 

 

Neverness - The Measure Of The Time (2009)

 

The fourth album from this band from Spain.

The band was a quartet with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

The band returned after a two years long album break. 

I was not really impressed by their 2007 album. Nevertheless, I had some hopes for this album.

The Measure Of The Time clocks in at just over one hour.

The music is a blend of heavy prog, symphonic prog and psych rock.

The music is mid-tempo, pretty eclectic, complex and melodic. 

There are some good guitars and keyboards here. 

The vocals are good.

There is a lot to be enjoyed here and this album is a step up from the previous album. This is indeed a good album and one to check out.

3 points 

 

Nurk Twins - Nurk Twins (1978)

 

The debut album from this band from Norway.

The band was a sextet here with a line-up of drums, percussion, bass, guitars, keyboards and vocals.

This is the only real studio album from this band. The second album Legenden Levande from 1998, is an archive collection album.

Nurk Twins is clocking in at thirty-six minutes.

The music here is country-rock.

There is also a lot of soul and americana in the music here too.

Country-rock was very popular in Norway back in the 1970s. This small country was one of this genre's most popular markets and the genre spawned some notable Norwegian bands. The Flying Norwegians was one of them.

Nurk Twins was one of their understudies who released this album but did not do much else. 

The music is mid-tempo and rocking. The vocals is a blend of English and Norwegian. There is a lot of guitars here. The vocals is pretty good.

The music is decent enough and cannot be faulted. I am not a fan of this genre. I therefore have my reservations. Fans of country and country-rock should check out this album.

2 points 

 

  

Neal. Ian - This Gemlike Flame (2026)

 

The sixth album from this artist from Great Britain.

Ian Neal did the guitars, piano, organ, keyboards and synths here.

Two guests added drums and backing vocals.

I have reviewed his previous albums and have liked them a lot. Hence I was looking forward to this album.

The Gemlike Flame clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music here is symphonic prog.

The music is majestic, bold, epic, melodic and slightly complex.  

The most obvious reference here is Genesis. There are also some Pink Floyd references here too. There are also some neo-classical music influences here.

There are some long soaring pieces here which feel both sad and uplifting at the same time. Pieces of music that are great.

The quality of the music here is indeed great and this is his best album so far. It is an album to really enjoy.  

4 points 

 

 

Lazuli - Saison 8 (2018)

 

The eighth album from this band from France.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, marimba, leode, guitars, mandolin, keyboards, French horn and vocals.

The band returned again after a two years long album break.

This album clocks in at three quarters of an hour.

The music is a blend of heavy prog and art-rock.

There are also the usual French symphonic prog influences here too. 

The music is bold, epic, theatrical and complex.

The music is also very melodic too.

The vocals are in French and they are great.

This album is their best album up to this point and a very good album indeed. Check it out.

3.5 points 

 

 

Jupiter VI - Back From Mars (2006)

 

The debut album from this band from USA.

The band was a quintet with a line-up of drums, bass, guitars, piano, keyboards and vocals.

The band released two albums between 2006 and 2014. I will post a review of the second album sometime at the end of this month/early next month.

This is two albums sold to me as progressive rock albums....  

Back from Mars clocks in at fifty minutes.

The music here is glam rock with a lot of punk rock influences.

The music is pretty fast and punky. The band rocks out throughout this album... with one exception.. the obligatory ballad. The ballad Lucidia is a good song.

The vocals are good and the band does a good job.

The music is fairly decent, with Lucidia being the only real good song. This is not progressive rock, but still well worth checking out.

2 points