MIGHTY BABY

Mighty Baby was a Savoy Brown-related band, in that guitarist Martin Stone was a member and played of Savoy Brown's debut Shake Down from 1967 (that album was unknown to many American fans of the band due to it never being released here). Mighty Baby managed two albums, this being their debut, appeared on Head Records in the UK and US (in the US it was oddly distributed by Chess Records, a label I associate with R&B, blues, and early rock and roll, like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, etc.). Also we get a Roger Powell on drums, not THAT Roger Powell from Utopia, a British musician with the same name. I noticed Ginger Baker was a big influence on his drumming as he did a lot of those same type of cyclical fills that Baker did (Baker would likely be less than impressed if he heard it, given his unnecessary contempt for other drummers). It's the kind of album I felt should have been on Decca (due to the Savoy Brown association), but being on Head meant the album received limited distribution at the time making it a bonified rarity. While Savoy Brown pretty much stuck to a blues format (competing with contemporaries like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers), Mighty Baby obviously stretched out and took a more diverse format, in a psychedelic format. The opening cut "Egyptian Tomb" is a great piece of psych with early prog leanings. "A Friend You Know But Never See" is more in the straight up heavy psych vein, with some of those Ginger Baker type drum fills I mentioned. "I've Been Down So Long" is more in the country vein bearing more than a passing resemblance to the Grateful Dead. Even some of the vocals sound like Jerry Garcia minus his trademark guitar playing (I could even imagine the Dead playing this song live and it could easily pass as one of their own). "House Without Windows" and "A Point Between Fate and Destiny" are clearly in the prog/psych vein, while "I'm from the Country", unsurprisingly has more of that country/Grateful Dead feel to it.

While an original LP, regardless if its a UK or US pressing, will cost you a pretty penny, go seek out a reissue. This is really worth your time!

Mighty Krauty Trippy psychedelic live from UK. This incredibly delightful, fantastic gig in 1971 can be called as sorta their legacy. Although their acceptable catchiness heard e.g. in "Trials Of A City" sounds like 60s bluesy psychedelic rock like Iron Butterfly, addictive, aggressive improvised energy of leapfrog all over the entire live (album), first of all, reminds me of long trip gigs by Grateful Dead, and at the same time notifies me of authentic Krautrock texture like Eiliff (this is the reason why I thought they should be approved as a Krautrock combo).

Even in the first pickup and their signature song "Egyptian Tomb" are plenty of improvisational, spiritual mashup phrases. Monotonous loose lazy blues rock between freakout improvisations is comfortable indeed, but their real "might" should be upon another turf. The longest track (over 20 minutes!) "India", that might be the highlight upon this stage methinks, has various musical, rhythmic appearances. Mainly impromptu, improvised rock / blues sensation was played, without any deformation nor distortion. The audience might be quite happy drenched in such a tripping atmosphere, and enjoy in front of "the mighty babies" without any breath.

It's a pity they are appreciated simply as an old-fashioned progressive rock unit. Let me say they are non-German Krautrock prototype from UK. Why cannot we get amazed at their gorgeous live album?

A solid four stars for this wonderful second Mighty baby album. Quite different in style compared to the first psychedelic (and also excellent) first album. The instrumentation is very pure, mainly guitar/piano. "Jug of love", the eponym opening track is a good example: a mellow and upbeat tune, sweet waves of guitar/piano with a fluid and spacey quality similar to QUINTESSENCE, without the religious, mystic fervor. "The Happiest Man in the Carnival" is another highlight, lot of guitar/piano/flute extatic moments and there's no doubt about the proginess! Cherry on the cake, singing is very pleasant and soft, with a tone which evokes Rick Wright at times. The general mood is hippy, meditative, and sligthly upbeat. A fantastic aerial feeling somewhere between QUINTESSENCE and POPOL VUH. "Keep On Juggin'" is another substantial piece with a more groovy bluesy feeling, trippy psychedelic guitar parts betray another major influence from the GRATEFUL DEAD. "Virgin Spring" is a charming evanescent, melancholic tune featuring superb piano/acoustic guitar parts and still that spacey, sound, "planant", as we say in french. Perfect! "Tasting the Life" shows a bluesier, down-to-earth facet of their sound and still featuring great guitar, while "Slipstreams"gently ends the record. The 2006 Sunbeam CD edition i own is good sounding (natural) and features good bonus, alternate and unreleased tracks "(Ancien traveller" is from the first era).

An overlooked late-sixties psych-rock gem, Mighty Baby's self-titled 1969 debut somehow got lost amongst all the 'Atom Heart Mothers' and 'In The Court Of The Crimson Kings' upon it's initial release. Although a fairly straight-forward of R'n'B, folk, rock and psychedelic influences, which, technically-speaking at least, is closer in spirit to the likes of The Beatles, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane than it is to any of the genre's popular progressive rock acts, 'Mighty Baby' showcased an inventive and surprisingly-experimental outfit whose West coast-leanings contrasted nicely with their UK beat-group origins. Songs, such as the impressive, country- flecked rocker 'A Friend You Know But Never See' start as seemingly-simplistic late-sixties psych-tinged rock, before breaking headlong into complex, overlapping rhythms that spin off into Jerry Garcia-inspired oblivion and back again via semi-progressive instrumental passages that feature Cajun violins, bluesy-guitars and folk-pressed vocals. Fans of The Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Wizards From Kansas, as well as early rainy-day UK psych purveyors The Move, Tomorrow and The Magic Mixture should find much to admire on this enjoyable album, and whilst there may not be the complex keyboard passages, rampant experimentation and surreal conceits that ordain the best 1970's prog, Mighty Baby's brand of all-encompassing Beatles-ish psych-folk-rock remains refreshingly unique. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2010