Rose´s Pawn Shop-"Dancing On The Gallows" (2010)

Rose's Pawn Shop are a band that gave a breath of fresh air to the American sound in 2005, when they were founded (this does not mean that there are not many others that have also contributed to keeping the legacy alive). They make everything from classical music ("classical" if you were born in the southern United States), from bluegrass to country to folk, rock and blues.
"Dancing On The Gallows" was the second album by this magnificent band released in 2010. By then the band consisted of Paul Givant, vocalist, guitar and banjo, Tim Weed, Mandolin, fiddle and vocals, John Kraus, banjo, mandolin and guitar, Stphen Andrews, bass and drums, Christian Hogan, Debtors of the sounds that The Byrds or The Band created in the sixties, Rose's Pawn Shop manifest their style in superb songs like "Strangers", "Debt Collector" or "Pine Box", themes that if they had been published in the 70s, we would speak of a jewel of the genre.

Cargo-Cargo (1972)

Cargo were a fleeting Dutch heavy prog band, who only recorded one album published in 1972, which is full of overwhelming and dynamic sounds that, by way of guitar jams, is another of those amazing lost and dark albums from the 70's.
This band arose from the ashes of another Dutch band called September, which had released several unsuccessful singles in the early 70's and would later change their name to Cargo. Their lineup consisted of brothers Ad and Jan de Hont, both guitarists, bassist Willem DeVires, and drummer Denis Whitbread.
This unique work contains four extensive cuts where the guitar lines are intermingled with frenetic guitar duos in unison in the purest style of the British Wishbone Ash.
Due to the long duration of the four tracks, there is enough room for improvisation with powerful riffs, acid sounds, solos of all kinds and a mind-blowing electric jam style, all infused with melodic vocals.
The initial "Cross Talking" as its title implies, is a formidable theme of incredibly executed dual guitars and a powerful rhythm section that perfectly supports the feeling that it is played live. "Summerfair" is a fifteen minute tour de force with relaxing sounds, lots of improvisation and sweeping psychedelic sounds. While "Sail Inside", it begins with a powerful hard rock that ends in another instrumental jam.
However, and despite the fact that they had a good impact on the part of the critics, the album would go unnoticed due to the scarce promotional support from their record company, being relegated to the most absolute ostracism, which is why the band would disappear at the end of 1972, but leaving For posterity, another essential album in the history of European progressive rock of the 1970s.

Aerosmith-Aerosmith (1973)

"Dream on" is one of the songs that is part of the first album of the Boston band, Aerosmith, published in 1973, but it would be after its relaunch at the end of 1975, and thanks to countless American radio stations, when it was would place at the top of the American charts.
However, within that simple cover above the clouds of his first album, apart from the aforementioned “Dream On”, other songs float like “Walkin' the Dog”, a tribute to Rufus Thomas Jr, a relevant Bluesman, the classic “ Toys in the Attic”, a round song in every sense, the fusion of rap and rock connected in 'Walk This Way' or the first written contribution of guitarist Brad Whitford, “Round a Round”, a wonderful song flavored with psychedelic touches.
However, "Dream On" was first performed live at the Shaboo Inn in Willimantic, Connecticut in 1969 with Steven's old band (who wrote it as a young man in the mid-'60s), Chain Reaction. It was undoubtedly one of the band's most successful songs, and their most popular single during the group's formative years in the 1970s, and an immediate passport that would catapult this album to success.

Robert Berry-3.2 Third Impression (2021)

In 2015 Keith Emerson and Robert Berry considered giving continuity to the project in which both participated in 1988 and resulted in the album "To The Power of Three" in which the drummer Carl Palmer would also participate. For some time both musicians worked on this project but unfortunately a year later Keith Emerson died just when he was almost everything ready in order to start preparations for a new album.
Two years later Robert Berry published “The Rules Have Changed”, a tribute album to the legacy of Keith Emerson and in 2021 the long-awaited project left halfway five years before finally comes to light.
For this continuation entitled “Third Impression”, Robert Berry relied on recordings that Keith Emerson himself had left on cassette tapes, on keyboard parts recorded on his own mobile phone, as well as the ideas that both had started working on in those days. moments.
This work continues to keep intact the melodic tone of the debut from years ago, with an album full of progressive and epic rock, without neglecting the characteristic AOR sound and the great keyboard work, a clear musical heritage of Keith Emerson. So from the initial "Top Of The World" where the acoustic guitars and the epic voices together with the great keyboards, capture the listener with a dramatic and grandiloquent theme. The forceful “What Side You're On”, with a clear progressive cut, gives way to the more passionate “Killer Of Hope” and “Missing Piece”. The AOR “The Devil of Liverpool”, the jazzy “Emotional Trigger”, the epic “A Fond Farewell” and the progressive and extensive “Never” end an album with a great legacy to the most genuine sound of ELP but with a more accessible than that of the legendary British band.

10cc-...Meanwhile (1992)

One of the most refined progressive pop bands of the 1970s was the British formation 10CC. The ability of this band was to fuse addictive and catchy songs with an extraordinary sound universe of eclectic origin, great arrangements and productions of enormous class, turning them into the most snobbish and carefree of art rock.
His line-up was made up of four great musicians, all of them great composers and experienced instrumentalists, such as Lol Creme, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley and Eric Stewart. They separately, before forming 10 CC, had dedicated themselves to composing hits for artists in the sixties such as The Hollies, The Yardbirds, Herman's Hermits or Jeff Beck among others.
Already in 1970 Eric Stewart built the Strawberry Studios and hired Creme and Godley and from their first collaborations came the song “Neanderthal Man”, which achieved immediate success under the name of Hotlegs. This success leads them to open for The Moody Blues on the tour they gave during that year for which Gouldman would join him. The good feelings that the quartet offered resulted in the creation of 10CC, also motivated by the success of several songs such as the boogie rock "Rubber Bullets", which managed to reach the top of the British charts in 1973. At the end of that The same year their first album “10 CC” would arrive, where they demonstrated the group's songwriting skills with very original songs of great class. From here the group's career would skyrocket with a series of high-quality albums such as "Sheet Music" (1974), "The Original Soundtrack" (1975) and "How Dare You" (1976), all of them impeccable works studio with very sophisticated arrangements, enveloping and effective melodies, and certain qualities of romanticism, thus creating a unique and unmistakable style.
But after three years in which they had achieved international fame, they still had to conquer the North American market, which resisted their sophisticated mix of pop and rock, which was not conceived for tours and the great North American stadiums. All this was reason for the critics to begin to accuse them of cold technicality and part of the public would also begin to turn their backs on them, something that would lead the group to its first great crisis that would lead to the abandonment of Godley and Creme, who decided to continue. on their own, forming the duo Godley and Creme.
However, this abandonment would not limit the trajectory of the other 10CC, and thus Stewart and Gouldman resumed the group's career by publishing the album "Deceptive Bends" (1977) which was followed by the direct "Live And Let Live" (1977), and the interesting “Bloody Tourists” (1978).
The eighties were marked by works with disparate results such as “Ten Out of 10” (1981) and “Windows In The Jungle” (1983), after which the band disintegrated until new years later.
In 1993, the original line-up returned, thereby creating great expectations in the world of pop and rock, which were endorsed with the publication of the excellent album "...Meanwhile", a work in which they returned to their unmistakable style, with a series of songs refined rock and pop songs starting with the hit "Woman in Love" an addictive rock song that recovers the best 10CC, to which are added other outstanding cuts such as the melodic and catchy "Wonderland", the rock "Fill Her Up" , the reggae “Welcome To Paradise”, or the neo-progressive “Don´t Break The Promises”, while the rest keep intact the enormous songwriting quality of the group with sophisticated songs of refined quality.

Omega-The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky (1975)

Omega, are the most successful Hungarian rock band in the history of their country, which even had a great acceptance internationally. Such was their enormous success that as they released albums in other countries it became necessary to break the language barrier, leaving behind their mother tongue to sing in English. His style is a combination of the avant-garde sounds of Eastern Europe with symphonic and progressive influences, but with hints of 70's British hard rock. The result is a dark, orchestrated sound combined with extensive and well-developed improvisation. Their discography had begun in the late 1960s and the group has been around until 2020 when they released their latest album with more modern and up-to-date sounds. From 1968 to 1975: Omega released a series of albums that were basically oriented to brilliant pop rock with approaches to psychedelic sounds and some attractive ballads.
From 1976 to 1981, they released four albums oriented to space rock and progressive rock with great arrangements and a wide influence of bands with echoes of the more atmospheric Pink Floyd and the progressive hard rock of the Eloy Germans.
From this period are his albums "Time Robber" / "Idõrabló", one of his best works with space and electronic sounds, although "Skrover" / "Csillagok Útján" is the most musically diverse. In the same vein, the albums "Gammapolis" / "Gammapolisz" and "Working" / "Az Arc" followed.
One of the highlights of this band is that since 1971 they have incredibly maintained the same line-up until 2020, when they released their latest work "Testamentum" and is made up of vocalist János Kóborl, guitarist György Molnár, László Benkő, keyboardist and vocals, Tamás Mihály bass and drummer Ferenc Debreceni.
With their ninth album published in 1975, and entitled 'The Hall Of Floaters In The Sky' the band clearly begins its progressive orientation, a wonderful example of the symphonic style of this band made in the European style, largely influenced by bands leading British brands such as Yes, Genesis or PF. An album packed with synth sounds, backed by metallic guitars, polished with gritty English vocals, and packed with enough instrumental creativity not to envy most mid-seventies rock bands. This is a truly remarkable album, with hard and energetic instrumentation, full of catchy melodies and some devilishly engaging solos. Despite being recorded in 1975, its sound leans towards the typical electronic productions that would be common in the 1980s, albeit with the sensibility of the 1970s. The highlight of this album is 'Magician', which begins with muscular, chatty guitar playing courtesy of Gyorgy Molnar, or the eight-minute '20th Century Town Dweller', which balances shimmering synth lines with throbbing bass and drums. The rest follows a similar line with the powerful and melodic “Movin´World”, full of mellotrons and atmospheric sounds, or the space rock “One Mand Land” and “Never Feel Shame” both with vertiginous rhythms of great guitar riffs and huge layers of keyboards
All of their subsequent releases were packed with hard, creative prog rock of the highest class. However from 1981 the band moved towards a sophisticated electronic pop rock genre with progressive elements. However, from then on the band began to show clear signs of creative stagnation. Shortly after their twentieth album was released in 1986, Omega disbanded for good. After seven years of long silence, the band met again and recorded a new album in 1995, "Transcendent" / "Trans and Dance", a work with large keyboards and attractive progressive atmospheres that after almost 30 years, demonstrated with it that this hungarian band was still a legend in world progressive rock.

Crow-Crow Music (1969)

Crow were an interesting American heavy blues band that are recognized for their song "Evil Woman", which was later covered by Black Sabbath and included on their first album, having some relevance in the British charts.
Founded in Minneapolis, Crow barely had three years of history, from 1969 to 1972, until they returned in 1980 with some line-up changes and were active until around 2010, performing frequently in different North American states.
Its initial lineup consisted of vocalist Dave Wagner, guitarist Dick Wiegand, drummer Harry Nehls, bassist Larry Wiegand, and keyboardist Dave Middlemist.
Already in 1968 and under the name of South 40, this same formation had published an album of little impact.
In 1969 already as Crow and with the drummer Denny Craswell, replacement of Nehls, they signed a contract with the independent label Amaret, a subsidiary of Columbia Records and published their first album “Crow Music”. From here, in the following two years, they reach their peak placing half a dozen songs in the North American top 100. In this first album, Crow shows a powerful exercise of heavy blues rock with brushstrokes of funk as it is demonstrated in cuts like the aforementioned ""Evil Woman", a crude heavy rock that is practically identical to the version that Black Sabbath would later make, the aggressive and heavy hard rock “White Eyes”, the hypnotic “Thoughts”, the funk “Da da Song” and “Time To Make A Turn”, the lysergic “Busy Day” or the psychedelic jam blues “Sleepy Woman”.