Going round in circles

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scotty38
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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by scotty38 »

Fretless wrote: Sun Oct 27, 2019 3:06 pm Schizoid man?
21st Century?

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by Fretless »

The virus lockdown will, hopefully, give me time to plough through a stack of albums and my focus is shifting - as it regularly does.

The last month or two has seen an in-depth trip into the complex universe of Gentle Giant with a side-step through the catalogue of Canadian proggers FM. Now I am back in familiar territory with a band who I was enormously fond of in the 80's: The Enid.

Image

Handsome bunch, aren't they? The music of The Enid can be best described as a cross between Stravinsky and Debussy played on electric guitars and synthesizers. Symphonic Rock to the max! :violin:

They had a rough ride with record companies, went indie along with punk, turned into a techno-dance act and could hardly keep a stable lineup for two albums in a row. But all the time they produced glorious and/or interesting music.

The LP that made me an Enid fan was their third, 'Touch Me' which is simply amazing.

The Enid - Touch Me (full album)

Even better is their debut 'In The Region of the Summer Stars' which will have you believing that a 6-piece rock group can sound like a full symphony orchestra.

The Enid - In The Region of the Summer Stars (1976)

Image

I have made a start on revisiting the albums I know and am tracking down a selection of those that I have missed. Quality is a bit iffy on some as a small record company started releasing material without the band's permission ('Sundialer' and 'Liverpool' for example).
There were a series of limited-release and fan-club only items that I may or may not still have (my LP's are in storage and difficult to get to these days).

Astonishingly enough, The Enid are still active - although now in a totally renewed incarnation. A band that have stuck to their principles and soldiered on through thick and thin. Worthy of your time and attention.

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by slinger »

I'm a big fan of The Enid, too. They do a great Dambusters March / Land of Hope & Glory, and to prove they're not always quite so serious... :lol:

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by Fretless »

Getting hold of that 'Live Kraut' compilation a while back, featuring a whole parade of 70's Krautrock groups in full, raw power has sparked off my latest round of manic collection fury. German rock bands.

Running through the Eloy catalogue again got me seeing their music with a fresh view and took me back to another old favourite, Nektar. They were (are) a bunch of English musicians who operated from Germany - many thought they were a German band - and who had a brief shot at fame in America.

I heard some of their LP's back in the 80's and two of those stuck with me; the psychedelic 'A Tab in the Ocean' and the circus-based joyride 'Down to Earth'. Both of which still regularly get played. But there is more, much more, the album that almost broke them through to the big-time in the US was a conceptual epic called 'Remember the Future'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3YcB28lq1E

Image

With 2 side-long tracks this LP sounds like Supertramp jamming with the Grateful Dead. Catchy songs interspersed with soaring guitar workouts in one euphoric whole. I've had this on CD for a while but never really got around to listening to it properly before - now I can't stop playing it. Stunning.

Nektar took a slightly more commercial turn later on but still made fine-crafted and enjoyable albums, although not the 'prog' they were associated with. In the 2000's they have reformed with much of the original line-up and returned to their roots with albums like 'Evolution' proving they can still make great music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY7GmwXjzOo

Check out above the hugely energetic 'Sunday Night Live at the London Roundhouse', It'll blow your socks off!
:banana-guitar: :banana-guitar: :banana-guitar: :banana-guitar: :banana-guitar:



Next on the list: Grobschnitt.

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by Hannes-Gregor »

'Solar Music live' was fine, 'Rockpommel's Land', too. 'Volle Molle' I returned to the record store because I found it awful. Looking forward your experiences. Have a lot of fun!

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by Fretless »

The Grobschnitt discs are starting to come in.

Also got 'Piktor's Verwandlungen' by Anyone's Daughter which is very interesting.

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by Hannes-Gregor »

Hi Fretless, are you through with 'Piktor's Verwandlungen'? I agree with interesting is the right description. It's Hermann Hesse's lyrics accompanied with prog. I don't have the best memories about that. You had to listen to it drinking tea and smelling incense sticks just to try to please a girl and the result was that she took some elder half educated guy instead of yourself (so you could have fun with your friends instead).

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by Fretless »

Bad memories there, Hannes. :snooty:

You fancy a pretty girl and what do you get? :violin:


As for Anyone's Daughter, I do think that they are seriously good musically and the instrumental passages are very impressive. For some reason I keep being reminded of Novalis.

Also the fact that this album is a single-take live performance says a lot about their abilities.

My German isn't good enough to follow the spoken text sections but I have ordered their second LP 'Anyone's Daughter' from Amazon and look forward to hearing it soon.

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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by Fretless »

I do hope some others out there in HFS-land get around to giving Nektar a listen. They are yet another example of a talented bunch of ace musicians who knew how to write and play, but never quite made it to household name status.

Should have been huge.

You can either take the tortuous route I have recently followed of scouring eBay, Amazon and various online stores for affordable CD's OR you can get over to Bandcamp where most of their catalogue is available for instant download in HQ formats like FLAC & WAV, sonically-superior recent-ish remastered form for only 9 USD per album. There is vinyl there too.

https://nektarmusic.bandcamp.com/

Upstairs:
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NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
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Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
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Re: Going round in circles

Unread post by slinger »

Fretless wrote: Sun May 03, 2020 10:58 pm I do hope some others out there in HFS-land get around to giving Nektar a listen. They are yet another example of a talented bunch of ace musicians who knew how to write and play, but never quite made it to household name status.

Should have been huge.

You can either take the tortuous route I have recently followed of scouring eBay, Amazon and various online stores for affordable CD's OR you can get over to Bandcamp where most of their catalogue is available for instant download in HQ formats like FLAC & WAV, sonically-superior recent-ish remastered form for only 9 USD per album. There is vinyl there too.

https://nektarmusic.bandcamp.com/
I've got "A Tab In The Ocean" and "Remember The Future."
Amps - NVA P50, AP30, A40, Stanislav Palo Tube Headphone Amp BB 85
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Cables - NVA LS1+LS3, SSC, Gotham S/PDIF, IBRA Optical
Digital - NAD C516BEE, SONY ST-SDB900 DAB TUNER, TEAC UD-H01 DAC
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