(Progressive Rock, Esoteric Psych) William Nowik - Pan Symphony in E Minor (1974) (USA) {GUERSSEN GUESSCD029, Spain} - 2009, APE (image+.cue) lossless

One of the newest and most surprising discoveries in the 60's & 70's rock rarities field, this caused big hype among collectors in the last months. Certainly easy to understand, as it's an ace album no one had heard of before.

Guitarist William Nowik recorded this obscure instrumental record back in 1974 in the NY area. It has such a deep feeling, nothing anyone could have done without really loving it aside of any commercial view.

Psychedelic, progressive, very early Floyd sounding at times, Crimson- esque, and a kind of sound that reminds on the British early 70's underground but with an experimental, trippy touch. 14 tracks in total but played like suites.

Seems only 200 copies were pressed and never distributed, so it needed 35 years to be discovered!

This wonderful reissue comes with the intended original artwork (it came out in green and black cover instead of the black and white that William wanted), has nice remastered sound and includes a booklet with rare unseen photos and extended linernotes.

"Pan Symphony in E Minor is the kind of album that hardcore vinyl collectors - especially those whose specialty is esoteric psych-prog relics of the ‘60s and ‘70s - talk about using terms like 'holy grail.' Such has been the rarity of the barely released 1974 recording that the few available copies floating around years later, after its legend had begun to grow, commanded high prices among serious record geeks. Fortunately, 36 years after its release, the music that upstate New Yorker William Nowik made during a brief recording session under spartan circumstances was made widely available on CD. Originally conceived as the possible soundtrack to a film whose projected theme was the Greek god Pan, the album was recorded mostly by multi-instrumentalist Nowik, who plays everything from guitar and violin to pump organ and kalimba, with some help from a cast of characters that includes Greg Walker (of AOR band Duke Jupiter) on guitar, Warren Cooper on sax, and Pete Genovese on percussion. An all-instrumental affair - except for some chanting - the album basically consists of two long suites, each of which is broken down into several smaller pieces that move through a dizzying array of sounds and styles. The first 'movement,' if you will, goes from meditative drones and spare, hypnotic guitar patterns to a driving, heavy psych-prog jam before ending on a blissed-out, spacy mood amid ambient tones and guitar harmonics. The second, considerably longer, is an even wilder ride that encompasses Eastern-sounding violin and acoustic guitar duets, Americana-sounding slide guitar, sax-led jazz-rock à la early King Crimson, gentle percussive moments with vibes and kalimba, some John Fahey-esque guitar excursions, and more. What the whole thing has to do with Greek mythology is tough to say, considering that the film part of the project seems to have never materialized, but this monument to one man's musical vision is a fascinating document regardless."