Heaven-Brass Rock 1 (1971)

Heaven was a British band that created a visceral mix of styles ranging from blues to progressive rock, with doses of R&B, rock, and more pastoral sounds. They had a strong tendency towards improvisation and enjoyed their five minutes of fame when they performed at the legendary Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, on the very last day, alongside Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen, Free, Donovan, Jethro Tull, and The Moody Blues. Formed in late 1968, this band can be considered an initial project that didn't continue beyond a single album. Due in part to its large size, the group had great difficulty touring and primarily focused on studio recordings. As the name of their debut album, “Brass Rock 1”, suggests, their music is what you'd expect from a five-piece band playing various wind instruments (saxophones, trumpets, trombones, clarinets, flutes, etc.), along with piano, drums, guitars, and bass, not to mention vocals. With a rather diverse style, Heaven played energetic rock where guitars and drums were the dominant instruments, backed by a furious horn section. “Brass Rock 1” was released as an ambitious double album with a lavish gatefold sleeve by CBS Records, who envisioned them as a next big thing in the vein of Chicago Transit Authority or Blood, Sweat & Tears, both of whom were on the same label. Despite positive critical acclaim, the album had little commercial impact, selling only a few thousand copies, and the band subsequently disbanded.

Tempest-Tempest (1973)

Once the first version of Colosseum disbanded, two of its members, drummer John Hiseman and bassist Mark Clarke, joined Allan Holdsworth and Paul Williams (guitar and keyboards) to found the heavy prog band Tempest, releasing the magnificent albums "Tempest" (1973) and "Living Fear" (1974). Released by the Bronze label, the band's debut was astonishing, showcasing the virtuosity and skill of its members in an overwhelming way. The rhythms, composition, and melodies, along with impeccable production, made this first album one of the best considered progressive rock releases of 1973. Highlights on this debut album included the progressive "Upon Tomorrow", the hard rock "Strangeher", the heavy prog "Gorgon", and the hypnotic "Dark House". A year later, "Living In Fear" was released, by which time the band had been reduced to a trio, with Holdsworth and Williams having left and guitarist and keyboardist Ollie Halsall completing the lineup. This second album, while not reaching the heights of its predecessor, maintained a consistently high level of quality, featuring standout tracks such as "Stargazer", "Dance To My Tune", "Waiting For a Miracle", and "Time Around", all powerful examples of progressive rock.

High Tide-She Shanties (1969)

Towards the end of the sixties, proto-metal found a niche amidst the pop brilliance of The Beatles, the acoustic sounds of folk, psychedelic rock, and the standards of a musical philosophy that was beginning its sudden dissolution of the established rules. Suddenly, some music became darker, sharper, denser, breaking the mold, and at the same time, music became a dangerous weapon for those who established those rules. Taking the psychedelia of The Doors, but replacing the dominant organ in their sound with the violin, searing guitars, and a schizophrenic voice in the purest Jim Morrison style, High Tides were ahead of their time with a rock sound as heavy as it was powerful on their first and legendary album, "She Shanties" (1969), an absolute classic of psychedelia and dark proto-metal, laden with progressive sounds. With this album, High Tide unleashed a brutal cacophony, beginning with the dense metaphor of "Futilist Lament". The furious guitars become devastatingly heavy in a maelstrom where the violin sounds so sharp it almost cuts off your breath. "Death Warmed Up" follows the same path, while time seems to stand still in "Pushed, But Not Forgotten", offering a respite from this sonic chaos. "Walking Down Their Outlook" evokes the psychedelic sounds of Jim Morrison and his band, leading into the epic "Missing Out", with its distorted melody of bass, guitar, and violin, and "Dilemma", which closes the album with accelerated violin sounds, raw guitars, and a visceral rhythm that leads into more progressive sounds. "She Shanties" is not an album for everyone, only for those who are fans of the hardest psychedelic, mixed with powerful, dark, dense and distorted guitar and violin riffs with blues and progressive metal.