Ache was one of the first progressive rock bands to come from Denmark. "De Homine Urbano" was their debut, and probably their best release. The album consisted of just two side-long suites. The title-track was, according to the band themselves, the world's first "rock ballet". The swirling organ of Peter Mellin and the smooth, melodic tone of guitarist Finn Olafsson dominated the sound. The track itself featured many fine melodies, and the suite was well constructed, with no unnecessary or redundant parts. The instrumental "Little Things" took up the second side of the album. This was an intense and impressive jam with lots of good themes and tight solo passages. Funnily enough, it goes into the riff of Led Zeppelin's "How Many More Times" for a few seconds at the end! This is not an album overflowing with originality, and the band's overall sound was similar to very many other bands of the same time, but the overall good songwriting makes "De Homine Urbano" a worthwhile album from the early 70's scene of Scandinavian progressive rock.

I'm wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of the specific release date of this album. I'm trying to subdivide my 1970 albums into pre-Sabbath and post-Sabbath, for purposes of a series of pre-Sabbath mixtapes I'm gearing up for. Thanks to the tip about this one quoting Zep, I may well want to use this on the same installment that I use HMMT, and recording dates and/or a specific release date would help me qualify of disqualify it for inclusion. Thanks in advance.