Utopia-Ra (1977)

“Ra” was the second album by Utopia, the band led by Todd Rundgren. Released in 1977, it is a truly impressive work, where space rock, progressive rock, and pop sensibilities come together seamlessly. By then, the band had been reduced to four members: in addition to Rundgren on guitars, there was Roger Powell on keyboards, Kasim Sulton on bass, and John Wilcox on drums, all four of whom also sang vocals as needed for each song. While their debut album had already explored sounds close to high-level progressive jazz with 30-minute suites, demonstrating Rundgren's great skill as a recording engineer, here the sound is more eclectic and varied, with rich sonic nuances. With a crushing opening like the pretentious instrumental “Overture: Mountaintop And Sunrise”, which segues into the rhythmic “Communion With The Sun”, where vocal melodies, keyboards, and Rundgren's arabesque solos stand out, “Magic Dragon Theatre” showcases the band's penchant for pompous pop with glam-tinged undertones of the era. This is followed by the powerful pop-rock track “Jealousy”, while “Eternal Love” is a song that approaches symphonic pop. “Sunburst Finish” and “Hiroshima” are the most powerful and visceral tracks on the album, culminating in the suite “Singring And The Glass Guitar (An Electrified)”, where every member of the band shines, with beautiful vocal harmonies and devilishly complex rhythm changes, demonstrating the virtuosity of all the musicians. In the following months the band presented this album live in a display of sophistication with a huge pyramid on the stage 7 meters high and a large golden sphinx that required 18 months of preparation and cost about 250 thousand dollars.

Coven-Witchcraft (Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls) (1969)

Pioneers in using witches' sabbath imagery in rock music, Coven employed satanic imagery before bands like Black Sabbath or Black Widow. But while for the latter it was merely theatrical, for Coven it was their philosophy and way of life; they even used their own blood to sign their first contract with Mercury Records. And although it might seem like the typical foolishness of three young guys, the truth is that this group's satanic and occult imagery went far beyond what initially appears. They were already being associated with the image of hands with horns (the one Ronnie James Dio made famous a decade later), as well as the satanic symbol of the inverted cross. A band that, before releasing their first album, had already performed at various concerts opening for Alice Cooper and The Yardbirds. Their first album, "Witchcraft (Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls)", was released in 1969, almost at the same time as the murder of Roman Polanski's wife and several other people at the hands of Charles Manson's cult. This led to the album's rejection by many sectors of American society. The album contains tracks like the opening "Black Sabbath", with its dark sounds and atmosphere, and hints of psychedelic folk. "White Witch of Rose Hall" is a macabre true story about a mansion where voodoo rituals took place, while the occult atmosphere continues in "Coven in Charing Cross". But it is undoubtedly the strange "Satanic Mass", with its demonic references and its chants and prayers presented as dialogue, that most captures the attention of this album. "Witchcraft (Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls)" is undoubtedly one of the most interesting works of the late 60s, perhaps more for its themes than for its music itself, but with an unrepeatable creativity and experimentation.

Arthur Lee-Vindicator (1972)

After six albums with his band Love, in 1972, frontman Arthur Lee, completely frustrated, disbanded the group and embarked on a solo career that would prove short-lived and largely unnoticed. However, his only solo album, "Vindicator", released that same year by A&M Records, surprised everyone by radically departing from the fragile and melodic style of his band. On this album, Lee leans towards a raw, hard-hitting rock sound with hints of psychedelic rock in the style of Jimi Hendrix, as demonstrated in tracks like "Sad Song", "Love Jumped Through My Window", and "Everytime I Look Up I'm Down Or White Dog". He also delivers the magnificent blues-rock number "You Want Change For You Re-Run", the melodic "Everybody's Gotta Live", one of his most memorable compositions and the brilliant "Busted Feet", where he channels his skills into a Hendrix-esque style, both vocally and instrumentally, with outstanding and flawless blues riffs. Unfortunately, this album went completely unnoticed, fading into obscurity. Some time later, Lee resurrected Love with a new work ironically titled "False Start" (1974).

Greenslade-Greenslade (1973)

Once the first Colosseum project was dissolved, two of its members, keyboardist Dave Greenslade and bassist Tony Reeves founded Greenslade, for which they recruited former King Crimson drummer Andrew McCulloch and keyboardist Dave Lawson, which turned this band into an unusual case as it had two keyboardists and no guitarist (at least in England, since the Italian group Banco already had a similar formation).
The debut album "Greenslade" was released in 1973 and is considered a classic of progressive rock, both for the music and for the cover art by the legendary Roger Dean.
The use of two keyboardists allowed them to create a texture and a very dense sound atmosphere rich in details, which at no time saturated the sound, partly reminiscent of the Yes for their constant changes of time signature but without the complexity of the latter.