Of course, it wasn’t planned as a posthumous offering to John Mayall‘s many fans, yet after July 22nd, when the legendary artist passed away, aged 90, sadness will accompany watching of and listening to his BLUESBREAKERS’ performances that are collected on a DVD and CD set “Up Close And Personal: Live In Texas” which is to see the light of day on September 6th.
It may come as a surprise to many yet medieval folk-proggers GRYPHON have never released a full-length concert recording. Yes, there were a couple discs with their halcyon-days sessions issued more than two decades ago, with videos of the veterans’ 1974 performance and a stunning 2016 show at The Union Chapel appeared on YouTube, but a proper stage album has been an aficionado’s dream for a long time. Fortunately, the ensemble wanted the same, so August 30th will be the date when a double-CD set “Live: A Sonic Tonic” is to see the light of day.
One of the most extraordinary singing guitarists, Adrian Gurvitz has always had much more going for him than riding the heavy metal glory of “Race With The Devil” recorded by GUN, a group the young Londoner formed with his older brother, Paul. The sibling may have proceeded to explore sonic possibilities with BAKER-GURVITZ ARMY and THREE MAN ARMY, whose respective platters "Elysian Encounter" and "A Third Of A Lifetime" were prog masterpieces, as were "Kick Off Your Muddy Boots" and "Paradise Ballroom" – the two albums the Gurvitzes laid down as part of THE GRAEME EDGE BAND where Adrian was a main vocalist and primary composer, the albums that added the ensemble’s leader to the list of legendary drummers they had worked with, which included Ginger Baker, Buddy Miles, Mike Kellie and Tony Newman. Yet the younger sibling found proper fame in 1982, when his ballad “Classic” became, well, a classic, a hit single and a gateway to an amazing solo career.
Never ones to avoid surprises, THE KORGIS had seemed to not release any new music after 2021’s "Kartoon World" amazed their fans with its sheer brilliance – "Kool Hits, Kuriosities & Kollaborations" and "Orchestrations" from the following years tapped into familiar tunes, after all – but the quietness with which the veteran’s fresh album emerges wouldn’t fail to astonish the aficionado. Titled “UN-United Nations” and issued in two parts wrapped in a distinct blue and red artwork, this is a fascinating opus whose first half arrived in January and the second set to see the light of day in July.
So brief-lived as to never release a proper studio platter, UNHOLY MODAL ROUNDERS came to exist in 1975, when fiddler and banjoist Peter Stampfel and bassist Dave Reisch had left THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS, and disappeared two years later, when the former returned to his original ensemble, so they could be but a footnote in acid-folk chronicles. However, the two complemented the line-up of Michael Hurley and Jeffrey Frederick’s THE CLAMSTONES in 1976 to lay down the “Have Moicy!” album which earned a lot of accolades through the years and saw the collective embark on a short trek to promote this endeavor.
