Round & Round: Progressive Sounds Of 1974 / Various

....."Revolution: Underground Sounds of 1968" which led to the series exploring "Progressive Sounds" in subsequent releases, and while there's some tasty "Progressive" related material presented here, it's decidedly the weakest of the lot to this point. A lot of the omissions on this and the previous sets are likely due to licensing issues but the most glaring problem for me with "Round & Round" are the inclusion of songs by bands that never made the transition appealing to an audience beyond the confines of the socio-centric and often quirky tastes of the UK listening audience. Kevin Ayers, Peter Hammill, Keith Christmas and Arthur Brown for instance. Using Manticore/English versions by PFM does that band a severe injustice as well and how Hawkwind managed to retain an audience past their first 3 recordings is a mystery for the ages (disclaimer: I feel the same way about the Grateful Dead). I'll keep an eye out for subsequent releases in this series but will likely approach them with a more discerning ear/eye. All things considered though Esoteric, led by Mark Powell, is a treasure trove of a period of music that we'll never see the likes of again.

nice cd

Back in 1974, I was a 17 year old musical zealot. I worshiped the album format and lived week to week for the Old Grey Whistle Test on late night BBC2, Alan Freeman's Rock Show on Radio One and the music paper 'Sounds'. I would always set aside a couple of pounds of my meager earnings to purchase the latest progressive rock offerings.This four CD set is a great reflection of a particular musical period. So many bands were pushing musical boundaries at the time and were not afraid to sound challenging. The had an audience who wanted to be challenged in their listening. There is over five hours music contained here and includes all the usual suspects of the period in Barclay James Harvest, Be Bop Deluxe, Camel, Caravan, Greenslade, Gong, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, Man, Strawbs, Traffic etc. It also includes a slew of much less famous artists who deserved wider recognition but it was at the time a crowded field. Please take note of the incredible Italian band PFM.This is a nicely presented set in a sturdy clam shell box with cardboard sleeves for the CDs. There is a 47 page booklet which has well written biographies of all the bands and artists concerned. This is a great place to start if you are curious about this particular period in music but for us older types it brings back many memories of when we had that sense of discovering something special.

I started to collecting this series of compilations after buying Blowin’ Free: Progressive Sounds From 1972. Starting with 1968, I now have the collections from 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73 & 74.One of things that these collections have made me realise, is that there were a lot of great music that I missed, either through limited funds, or prior the return of Radio Caroline in the 70’s, the simple fact that the radio stations of the time were concentrating on pure pop music, with a limited output of underground/progressive rock, so I missed a lot.The weekly music papers did try and cover this gap and we did have those great compilations LPs like Gutbucket, El Pea, Bumpers, etc. but not enough.If you were a rock fan in the late sixties and early seventies, I believe you will find theses compilations interesting. Here’s hoping for more.

What a great compliation, every track is awinner. Thanks for putting them all together