ST. RADIGUNDS

Though the term 'acid folk' sound quite interesting, it's hard to find a lot of music that you could label as such. Spirogyra is however a more known English psychedelic folk rock group with political and anti-war lyrics. Spirogyra's first album 'St. Radigunds' was released in 1971, the same year as Comus' 'First Utterance' (to which it is most resembling) and Jan Dukes de Grey's 'Mice and Rats in the Loft' (one of my favorite psych folk records). Furthermore the first two albums of Pearls Before Swine could be seen as acid or psych folk.

The sound of Spirogyra is made up of acoustic guitar, bass, male & female vocals and violin ór a key-instrument (piano or organ). On some tracks drums were added, but I must say I hadn't missed any drums before they first appeared on the middle of the first side. Martin Cockerham who plays guitar and sings also wrote all the material and because of his extrovert performances we can assume he's sort of a mastermind of the group. His vocals are confronting, ever on the edge of pitch-perfect and sometimes when he's shouting his meaningful vocals he's really impressive (and psychedelic!). His guitar-playing and compositional style is highly original and right in your face. The violin, played by Julian Cusack is a great element of the music. Often creating beautiful, sweeping melodies, but always right in time to add some psychedelic shrieks to the already troubled atmospheres. The bass of Steve Borrill isn't often on the foreground, be he does a great job in playing both percussive and melodic bass-lines. The female vocals by Barbara Gaskin are very beautiful and are pure, and clean and a perfect element of the atmospheric folk of the band. The end result is a dynamic, balanced folk sound that sounds as REAL music.

As other reviewers have pointed out (in both words and ratings) this album is perceived as being a spectacular piece of psych folk. I think the power of this album lies in these elements; the extremely catchy (in a psychedelic and sentimental way) and powerful song- writing, the progressive instrumental passages (both rhythmically, melodic and original) and above all the perfect balance between the male and female efforts. The heaviness and expressive vocals of Cockerham and the subtle and melodic vocals of Gaskin are a perfect marriage! Whilst their duo vocal parts are particularly strong, I can also admire the songs in which they perform solo. Furthermore, both are more then capable to find the right catchy melodies that stick with you for the rest of the day.

The atmospheres of St. Radigunds go from haunting, dark and confronting to peaceful and hopeful. On a song like 'Love is a funny thing' even simple happiness is expressed with a beautiful performance by Gaskin. The instrumental folk parts can also have some mysteriousness to it.

Conclusion. Particularly strong psych folk album that is almost guarantied to satisfy every- one interested in the classic prog era. The song-writing and composition has some haunting beauty to it and major moments of intense enjoyment appear during all tracks. 'St. Radigund's isn't yet a perfect album (some vocals of Cockerham are really challenging), but the album has a certain appeal I rarely come by. You are certain not to find it in modern prog though. A great piece of progressive/psych folk that should be looked after by every-one. Five pouncing ponies and five peaceful salutations.

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