Synergy was the sobriquet of Larry Fast's one-man synthesizer show. Hailing from New Jersey, Fast would rise to prominence as one of America's premier electronic musicians, largely through a series of albums released on the Passport label. Released in 1975, his debut album, Electronic Realizations For Rock Orchestra, set the stage. Awash with synthetic flourishes and Mellotron a-plenty, "Legacy" unfolds in a familiar way. But the promise of the initial heavy sequence fades into something altogether lighter, much to this listener's chagrin.

Originating from the German city of Cologne, Birth Control was one of the first German rock bands, releasing their debut album in 1970. They played heavy rock with styling not dissimilar to Vanilla Fudge or Deep Purple; and their self-titled debut even saw a US release. The core of drummer Bernd "Nossi" Noske and guitarist Bruno Frenzel then led the band through a few well-executed but ultimately unspectacular follow-ups. In 1974, keyboardist Bernd "Zeus" Held and bassist Peter Foeller joined for the Rebirth album, another heavy rocking affair.

By the time Hoelderlin got around to recording their second album, the band had changed considerably. Nanny de Ruig had departed, and another pair of brothers—Peter and Joachim Käseberg, on bass and guitar, respectively—now augmented the group. But more significant than the personnel changes was the new musical course Hoelderlin had adopted: British prog rock. Although there was a three-year gap between this album and their last recording, the band had continued to play live, clocking in hundreds of concerts over the years; undoubtedly this honed their skills.

As Hawkwind's longstanding contract with United Artists was ending, their next album was licensed back to United Artists (explaining why future reissues would be so difficult), and saw release in the US on Atco Records. The band added a second drummer, Alan Powell, during their European tour, but didn't replace the departing Del Dettmar. Warrior On The Edge Of Time drew on Michael Moorcock's concept of the "eternal champion" figure, first presented in his 1961 work Elric of Melniboné.

Camel's inspiration for their third album, The Snow Goose, was a novella written by Paul Gallico, for which the author won an O. Henry Award in 1941. The band did not receive the author's blessing, however, and subsequent pressings would be retitled (Music Inspired By) The Snow Goose to avoid copyright infringement. The all-instrumental album was again produced by Genesis and Caravan cohort David Hitchcock, and featured orchestral arrangements from David Bedford.

Banco is short for Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso or "Bank of the Mutual Trust." Hailing from Rome, the group centered around brothers Vittorio and Gianni Nocenzi's dual keyboards, and Francesco Di Giacomo's classic Italian tenor. Following a UK tour in 1974, the band was approached by Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore label, who had already signed fellow countrymen Premiata Forneria Marconi.

While still a member of Gong, Hillage was afforded the opportunity by Virgin Records to record a solo album. It's no surprise then that Fish Rising contains most of the Gong crew, plus Hillage's partner Miquette Giraudy and former bandmate Dave Stewart. In fact, much of the material here was first written during the second incarnation of Khan in 1972. Stewart's keyboards give "Solar Musick Suite" (sic) a none-too-subtle nod towards the so-called Canterbury sound.

Hatfield and the North's second album appeared a year after their debut. The Rotters' Club offers more of their jazzy inventions and supports a fine cast of guests, including Virgin labelmates Lindsay Cooper and Tim Hodgkinson from Henry Cow. Again, Dave Stewart's keyboards are central, particularly his use of the electric piano and organ.

Along with a host of guests from the French progressive scene, Cyrille Verdeaux recorded a series of albums under the umbrella of Clearlight. The Paris-born keyboardist had a formal musical education at Conservatoire de Paris, and this experience certainly shaped his compositions. Signed to Virgin Records in the wake of Tubular Bells' success, the similarities between Mike Oldfield and Clearlight are purely topical: If Oldfield represented a folksy, hippie vibe, then Clearlight was the opposite—the French sophisticate.

Hailing from Munich, saxophonist Klaus Doldinger (b. 1936) had an illustrious career throughout the 1960s, playing with such jazz luminaries as Don Ellis and Donald Byrd. But in the late 60s, he hooked up with the younger generation to explore psychedelic and jazz-rock terrains. He recorded two albums on the Liberty label with Motherhood, a band that included the yet-to-be-famous Udo Lindenberg on drums and a pre-Amon Düül II's Lothar Meid on bass. Adding Jimmy Jackson on organ and Olaf Kübler on tenor saxophone, they morphed into Passport in 1971.