The Running Man from 1972 [FLAC]

 

Only album from this outfit that featured the great guitarist Ray Russell, here in FLAC format.  I overlooked this one or didn't listen to it closely at the time, overshadowed by the masterpiece that is Ready or Not, one of the greatest guitar-based fusion LPs of the period, in my opinion.  And surely there were a lot of those.

Description:

Early 70s UK project band led by guitarist Ray Russell, and successor of Rock Workshop.

The Running Man were a trio with the known guitarist/bassist Ray Russell, vocalist/organist Alan Greed (Harsh Reality, Rock Workshop) and vocalist/drummer Alan Rushton (Ray Russell Quartet, Rock Workshop). They released only an album in 1972 on Neon, which recording was supplemented by Harry Beckett on trumpet and flügelhorn and Gary Windo on tenor sax. Their music is an interesting mix of hard rock, progressive and jazz similar to Patto. A classic example of the creativity of 70s british underground scene.

 

Nicholas

Another

Cybernation - The Dark Plane (Canada, 1987)

 

From the 'Museum of Canadian Music':

Space themed prog with a heavy Pink Floyd influence (despite the year of release), and some deeper electronic tracks.

It's a good but simple description, definitely not with much 1980s influence at all, perhaps at most dipping a toe in the year 1980.  You can see the mastermind / composer / player, who hailed from Winnipeg, Manitoba, is James Rewucki, with nothing else documented under his name.  What about the music? It's pretty impressive dark electronic, with the 'Wish You Were Here' type of sound (which is what they mean by PF, not earlier PF and definitely not The Wall-era).  I love that it's not boring and drony in the usual Tangerine Dream manner, and always maintains acute interest.

From the composer:

"Cybernation was my first album, I was 21 when I made it, it was just an experiment to see if I could produce something that sounded halfway decent out of my home studio at the time. This was 1987 and we were just at the beginnings of the ‘home studio’ trend and so the gear was nowhere near what is available now, but I had an Akai MG1214 recording console which was pretty much the Cadillac of home ‘all in one’ studios at that time, it was 12 tracks, analog half inch tape in a cassette based format that was made exclusively for that machine. I also had an Akai sampler, some out board effects, guitars, a bass, a Korg DW8000 synthesizer and a sequencer.

I recorded the album playing all the instruments myself in a period of about a month and then it was mixed and mastered to 2 track analog tape at Century 21 studios here in Winnipeg in one 4 hour mixing session. I was just teaching myself to write songs, as well as, how to sing at the time. It sounds pretty dated, but that is part of it’s charm, I was really into Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and Brian Eno at the time and I think that influence definitely shows. All in all, 30 years later, I’m glad I made it and I do ponder the idea of revisiting the old multitracks and reworking the album to make it sound like what I had in my head but was unable to achieve at the time with my limited resources and experience."

- James Rewucki

An interesting lost treasure though for those who love electronic music with a healthy dose of composition and variety.  It's surprising he is so adept at piano, synths, and all guitars too.  The deeply reverbed vocals are a bit hard to take, but don't cause excess interference in listening pleasure.  Obviously, those typical sci-fi themes of aliens, space travel, etc. permeate throughout.

The first track called Silence clearly introduces the whole work:

Then the Finale, with Reentry and Homecoming, ending in a forest with stream and bird songs:

Many thanks to all those who assisted with this endeavour including the original requester, finder, uploader, downloader, assembler of the package, etc. and all the way down.

Sergio Otanazetra with Patrice Gelsi in Afro-Brasilian music, 1983

 

I'll post this one too, since Patrice Gelsi's piano is so similar here to the previous one. Here, it's more like the library music we'd expect from the above Canopo cover.  Very similar to the other album, Ailleurs, is a track called Gislaine:

Info here. Otanazetra is the drummer, obviously.

Patrice Gelsi's Ailleurs... 1983

Great cover photo again.  Thank god this was requested because I would otherwise have never known about it, and it's for sure a lost treasure.  The mix here is distinctly the French fusion style with influences from Magma, and perhaps the solo albums of Patrick Gauthier (eg Bebe Godzilla).

Here's an online review which in my opinion slightly overstates the case and also makes up for the music itself by overraving it:

French latin jazz fusion best kept secret ! Ultra rare single album by pianist Patrice Gelsi featuring some great musicians : Réjane Perrimond, one of the leading voices of Starmania, the brazilian percussionist Sergio Otanazetra, bassist Christophe Levan from Jazz à Marseille beyond others. The whole album is a brilliant mix of modal jazz, jazz-funk, latin grooves sprinkled by a bit of fusion. "On Chant d'Ailleurs" the superb female vocal solo is just amazing, this tune is instantly reminds Cortex Troupeau Bleu ! The Brazilian influenced jazz-funk "Utopie" & "Duchesses (+)" are my favorites on this masterpiece but actually I can't decide which track is the best as the play of Gelsi has something magic on every track he composed. "Quelque part ... Autre part" is also one of my favorite.

Sadly his only album, and evidently completely forgotten and lost, since there are so few copies available, ever, for sale. Information here. Don't ask how I managed to get this usually several hundred dollar and/or unavailable album, it was a long and complicated process and thanks to everyone who assisted.

First track which introduces the sound perfectly, note the influence of French impressionist piano eg Debussy, Ravel, which really permeates the whole album:

Then the aforementioned song Duchesses, which really hammers home the zeuhl / fusion influence:

Enjoy it! And thanks for the requests!

RMS complete, By Request

 

Posted in connection with Ray Russell's stuff, back here.

Description:

RMS is a jazz fusion band formed in 1982. It consists of three well known and acclaimed British session musicians. Guitarist, Ray Russell, bass player, Mo Foster and drummer Simon Phillips.

Destroyer pointed out that Henry Lowther played trumpet with them too.

The live album replicates the same tracks as on Centennial Park even in the same order as the studio version which came later, unfortunately.  However there's a CD release of it with bonus stuff.  Sadly the album with Gil Evans is just cover versions.  As a former Jimi Hendrix fan, it's difficult to come to terms with alternate versions of his immortal Little Wing, and Stone Free.  Then on the second side are a Gershwin standard called Gone and Mingus' tired old Goodbye Porkpie, played for the trillionth time in history here.  It's difficult for me to detect the Gil Evans influence, unfortunately, because usually he does some brilliant arrangements but everything seems really meandering here and somewhat aimless, and incredibly long too. A bit like Bitches Brew maybe?

The first track (Broadway Rundown) from the live at the Venue 1982 CD gives you a clear idea of the contents, luckily the sound is quite good here: