Space rock has emerged as one of the most interesting music genres, while its popularity is being celebrated since the late 60s when psychedelic rock reached its peak. It is safe to say that the genre was initiated in Britain with bands from Germany following closely, although we tend to refer to a big number of these groups as "krautrock". As a continuation of psychedelia, space rock indulges in lengthy jams, whether it is guitars or synths or anything that meets the listener's needs. The golden era of the 70's bred numerous bands across the globe and the following tribute will shed a little (space) light and share five relatively unexplored albums of space rock brilliance.
Sensations' Fix were formed in 1974 in Florence, Italy, by Franco Falsini who was experimenting in Moog synth but also played the electric guitar. Joined by drummer Keith Edwards and bass player Richard Ursillo, the trio recorded their second album Portable Madness in 1974 and it was the introduction to a space sound created equally by synths and guitars. An instrumental effort of nine songs, the album is as coherent as an album can be given the fact that there is no pause between the tracks.
Arthur Brown formed Kingdom Come in 1970 following the disbandment of his Crazy World. After two experimental albums, their third and last one, Journey (1973), was the one with the most prominent space soundscapes. The band managed to create a great atmosphere - drum machine included - programmed by Brown himself, being the first album in history where all percussive sounds are played with a drum machine.
Hailing from Tokyo, Japan, Far East Family Band was another fine representative of the space tribe. 1976 was the year that Parallel World was delivered and its four extended tracks contain several elements of drifting excitement. With little vocal participation, the album captures the spirit of jamming euphoria along with a few slow-paced parts that only add to the spacey ambience.
Delired Cameleon Family was a very short-lived project put together in 1975 by the members of the French band Clearlight, just to record the soundtrack for the abstract movie "Visa de Censure Numero X". Quite an experimental album of exchanging pleasantries, one can taste the psychedelic stuff devoured by the band during the recordings. Progressive rock also takes a ride on this one, but the album is fully surrounded by space rock aura.
The last band introduced here is a controversial one. Pyramid were supposedly formed in Germany and recorded a 33-minute track in 1976, but it was not released until the 90s. Anyhow, the self titled album contains instrumental guitar driven psychedelia that ignites spacey imagery. Due to the collective wall of sound generated by various synth effects, Pyramid is a unique space rock album of characteristic quality.
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