Danny Bonte

RockOn! – Abacus – Abacus 1971

The German Rock band Abacus released their self-titled debut album in September 1971 on Polydor. Abacus evolved from the band Fashion, an unrecorded act from Hamm in North Rhine-Westphalia. They became Abacus with the arrival of English singer/guitarist Chris Williams, fresh off a stint with Grail. He joined keyboardist Chris Barutzky and guitarist/sitarist Hans Rolf ‘Charlie’ Schade in the group’s songwriting core. In 1971, Abacus played before an audience of 30,000 at the Germersheim Festival, appearing alongside Pink Floyd, ELP, and Santana.

Prog Archives: “or someone who had previously only heard this band’s later material, this album came as quite the surprise. The two-part “Pipedream Revisited” is the very quintessence of the album, bursts of symphonic organ/synthesizer and touches bordering on avant-garde weirdness in a sort of holdover psych/Krautrock framework.… Read more...

Jonesy – Keeping Up… (1973)

Keeping Up… is the second album by the British progressive rock band Jonesy, released in June 1973 on Dawn. Jonesy were an early 70’s band in the style of King Crimson but with the unusual element of electric trumpet from Alan Bown. Other band members were John Evan-Jones – guitar & backing vocals, Jamie Kaleth – lead vocals & keyboards (including some excellent Mellotron), Gypsy Jones – lead vocals, bass guitar & recorders and Plug Thomas – percussion and backing vocals.

PA: “Jonesy is one of the most overlooked and underrated progressive rock bands to come out of the early 70s. Eclectic is the best word to describe this band’s style. This CD features a lot of upfront Mellotron ala King Crimson, as well as clever pop passages backed by a string quartet in a Beatles style.… Read more...

Art Rock Show – Lazuli – Être Et Ne Plus Être (Week 6)

Dit keer stel ik u de Zuid-Franse band Lazuli aan u voor. De band werd eind de jaren negentig opgericht en brengt muziek die rock, progressieve rock en wereldmuziek mengt. Om eerlijk te zijn ik ben een fan. En opgelet: om 18.00u begint er eent tweede nieuwe show.

Alex Driessen van Prog Wereld : “Twaalf nieuwe nummers met een totale speelduur van een uur staan op “Être et ne plus être”. Zijn en ophouden te zijn, of To be and cease to be, een beetje in de richting van de fameuze Engelse schrijver William Shakespeare. De Guillaume Shakespeare van de groep heet Dominique ‘Domi’ Leonetti, niet alleen tekstschrijver maar ook componist, zanger, gitarist en bandleider binnen het muzikale collectief uit de regio van Nîmes.… Read more...

Radio 68 is Taking a Break…

We have been in the air for fourteen years, but the time has come to take a break and reconsider our position and relevance in today’s audio world. We have, in fact, noted a discrepancy between our efforts – workload, time and money – and the results.

True to the spirit of the 1960s and 1970s, Radio 68 was set up as a small scale, free, independent and non-commercial internet station, stressing underrated, overlooked, rare, forgotten and misjudged music & word.

Regretfully, it is increasingly difficult to keep such a project going. Apart from stricter regulations, rising tariffs and new formats, global corporations are taking over by offering cheap downloads, streaming and custom-made playlists.

To be truthful: we are also fourteen years older, which at times makes it less obvious to meet the many demands.… Read more...