Prog Britannia - Album Reviews |
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Offline Points: 41205 |
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BABE RUTH - First Base (1972)
Album Review #71:- BABE RUTH were a Jazzy Blues-Rock band who hailed from England, despite naming themselves after an American baseball legend. Although the band managed to reach first base in their native England, it was in North America where the band hit a home run and achieved commercial success when their first album achieved gold. They first emerged in the leafy town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire in 1971 and released their aptly-titled "First Base" album in 1972. They followed it up with four more album releases throughout the 1970's:- "Amar Caballero" (1973); "Babe Ruth" (1975); "Stealin' Home" (1975); and "Kid's Stuff" (1976). The band decided to call it quits after their fifth album in 1976, but they got together again thirty years later to record the long-awaited comeback album "Que Pasa" (2007). It's time now to strike out for a home run with Babe Ruth's "First Base" album. The baseball-themed fantasy artwork for the album cover was designed by Roger Dean, who also designed many YES album covers.
The album gets off to a rip-roaring start with "Wells Fargo", a song you can bank on to deliver some hard-drivin' Blues-Rock with vocalist Janita "Jennie" Haan having the same raw and earthy edge to her voice as blues legend Janis Joplin. The song gallops along at a tremendous pace with the lively horn section sounding like they're having a real blast here. The saxophonist probably needed to lie down in a darkened room just to catch his breath after his energetic non-stop performance in this 6-minute opener. There's a far more sedate pace to "The Runaways" with Jennie Haan sounding far more restrained here. It's a sensual piano piece featuring an oboe and cello in symphonic accompaniment. This rousing classically-inspired music gradually builds up in intensity, emerging into a sonorous crescendo of sound for the spectacular finale, in a bass-heavy song that's very reminiscent of some of Renaissance's epic masterpieces. This is quite possibly the best song that Renaissance *never* recorded. It's time now to go ape-crazy for "King Kong", a cover version of the old Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention song. This is one heck of a crazy jam session, with the band given free rein to improvise away to their heart's content. This is the kind of fast and furious, Jazzy improvisational free-for-all that couldn't possibly be written down formally as musical notation, regardless of whether or not you know your crotchets from your quavers. "Black Dog" opens Side Two, although it's nothing to do with the classic Led Zep song of the same name. No, this is more of a laid-back Blues-Rock piano number, at least to begin with. The song might sound moody and mellow in the opening, but it's really a wolf in sheep's clothing, because there's a rompin' stompin' Hard Rock song just waiting to get out. Beware, this is a mean "Black Dog" with sharp teeth that might just leap up and bite, so watch out! If the next song "The Mexican" sounds familiar, that's because it's a Jazzed-up version of the spaghetti western music of Ennio Morricone. Hola amigo! It's perfect music for listening to whilst watching "gringo" Clint Eastwood despatching some more Mexican banditos with his trusty six- gun after they've insulted his mule. It's a return to some heavy Blues-Rock for the final song on the album "The Joker", where vocalist Jennie Haan is in mean and moody, bad mama mode again. It's the kind of good old American Pie Southern Rock song you could listen to whilst driving your chevy down to the levee, even if the levee was dry. Sometimes, it's hard to believe Babe Ruth are really as English as a chip buttie, or a vindaloo curry. "First Base" is a good old-fashioned American Southern Rock album - from the leafy suburbs of Hatfield in England! Babe Ruth may not have hit a home run with this album in their native England, but it's easy to see why they were much more popular with our American cousins. Obvious comparisons can be drawn with the Blues-Rock of Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company. Babe Ruth sound as American as Billy Bob Thornton or Randy California eating blueberry pie and wearing a Stetson hat and cowboy boots. |
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Psychedelic Paul
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ICARUS - The Marvel World of Icarus (1972)
Album Review #72:- ICARUS were an obscure six-piece British band who released just one album during their brief lifetime. The album "The Marvel World of Icarus" (1972) was based on famous superhero characters from Marvel Comics, with band members adopting various superhero names for the recording of the album. Legend has it that the album had to be quickly pulled from the shelves due to a dispute between Marvel Comics and and the band's record label, Pye Records, with the result that the album now has the status of a very rare (and expensive) collector's item. This superheroes album won't save the world, but it's saved itself a well-deserved place in Prog-Rock history. Let's step into the Marvellous World of the Fantastic Four now and check out the thirteen fantastic superhero-themed songs on the album.
After the Marvellously over-the-top spoken-word "Prologue", we're weaving a tangled web with "Spiderman". This is an all-out psychedelic sonic assault with the raspy-voiced singer sounding like he's badly in need of a throat lozenge. This raw and earthy blues-tinged psychedelia has a similar sound to some of Iron Butterfly's heavier numbers. The fun superhero lyrics deserve a mention too:- "His secret senses tell him what to do, Who's that punk - a man in red and blue? Spider-Man is going to prowl, Oh, look out, The web's behind you now!" ..... It's Marvel-lous music designed to set your spidery senses tingling, and it's kind of ironic that we're now listening to "Spiderman" on a website on the World Wide Web. The "Fantastic Four" are looming into view next, featuring a prominent flute at the forefront, which sounds like a psychedelic version of Jethro Tull. The "Fantastic Four" of the title are Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Flaming Torch and the monstrous Thing. They represent a force for good in the world, battling a bevy of villains and evil-doers, in the manner of a typical "Governator" movie starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Hulking into view next comes the jolly green giant himself, the "Hulk". You wouldn't like him when he's angry, and he sounds mildly annoyed in this stirring Blues-Rock number, so watch out, because this song sounds mean and moody. This bluesy number is Jazzed-up by the sonorous sound of a sensational saxophonist who's really on a rollicking shirt-ripping roll here. We're entering the supervillain world of "Madame Masque" next, which turns out to be a bluesy romantic piano ballad that's very reminiscent of Chris Farlowe's "Handbags and Gladrags" (the theme from The Office). There's another supercharged burst of high and mighty Jazz-Rock for "Conan the Barbarian", which brings to mind the raw uncut power of blues legend Graham Bond. Beware the "Iron Man", because he's along next, although he's no relation to the Black Sabbath song of the same name. No, this is more of a Roaring Forties gale force blast of the saxophone in another Jazz- Rock spectacular. Take cover! It's all storm and almighty thunder for the first song on Side Two: "Thor", which opens dramatically to the sound of a thunderous lightning bolt from the blue. The music is a loud and anthemic tribute to the mighty Norse God of War, "Thor", so be prepared for a cannonade of musical artillery fire and thunderous fireworks in this powerful blast of audio dynamite. Stalking stealthily into view next is the "Black Panther", but this is no silent creeping panther - this is a rousing and reverberant Jazz-Rock refrain on the rampage that jumps up and bites! Have no fear, because "The Man Without Fear" is here, fighting for what is right in another tale of derring-do. This song is a magical mixed bag of tricks, featuring a whole kaleidoscope of musical colours, alternating between uptempo bursts of fluty Jazz-Rock energy, blended together with some mellower bluesy passages. We're on the Magic Bus to California next, because gliding into view now on a gentle wave of beautifully- harmonious melody is the "Silver Surfer". It's a soft rippling wave of sensual sound and pleasure which reminds one of the laid-back psychedelia of the American band, It's a Beautiful Day. Icarus have perfectly encapsulated the sound of American west-coast 1960's rock with this amazing song. Every day is a beautiful day when you can listen to gorgeous rejuvenating music like this. It's back to basics next for "Things Thing", a good old-fashioned slice of unadulterated British Blues-Rock, and finally, flying in now to save the world at the last moment is "Captain America", a roaring storming two and a half minutes of rabble-rousing Rock & Roll. "The Marvel World of Icarus" is a hard-hitting album of bluesy Jazz-Rock in the uncompromising style of the raspy-voiced Graham Bond. The album is a real Liquorice Allsorts box of contrasts though, featuring a good healthy serving of storm and thunder songs, some raw and earthy blues numbers, and sprinkled with a pleasant confection of sweet and tender melodies. It's an album full of superheroes and super songs. All in all, there's something here for everyone. Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 12 2020 at 09:33 |
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Psychedelic Paul
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JAN DUKES DE GREY - Mice and Rats in the Loft (1971)
Album Review #73:- JAN DUKES DE GREY sounds like a French nobleman, but they were actually a short-lived Prog/Psych-Folk band from Leeds in northern England. Their first album "Sorcerers" (1970) passed by virtually unnoticed at the time of its release, but their second album "Mice and Rats in the Loft" (1971) will be much more familiar to Prog/Psych-Folk fans. Both albums have since become real collectors items. They recorded a third album "Strange Terrain" in 1977, but that long-lost album wouldn't see the light of day until 2010/11. The "Mice and Rats in the Loft" album reviewed here, consists of three extended songs of improvisational acid-drenched Folk:- 1. "Sun Symphonica" (18:58); 2. "Call of the Wild" (12:48); & 3. "Mice and Rats in the Loft" (8:19).
The outlook for "Sun Symphonica" is for bright and sunny spells of long pastoral flute passages with occasional outbreaks of classically-inspired orchestral showers. Just as the song title implies, "Sun Symphonica" is a radiant sunburst symphony of sound, featuring flutes, clarinets, saxophones, harmonicas, violins and hyperactive percussion in abundance. It's very bold and brassy, but it's also very sophisticated and classy, mainly due to the ornate chamber music from the orchestra. Some of the exotic musical passages sound faintly middle eastern, conjuring up bizarre images of a Turkish bazaar where one is expected to haggle over the price of a carpet, whilst the vendor puffs away calmly on a hookah pipe. The music is a veritable potpourri of musical styles, combining pleasant strolls through golden meadows of woodwinds amidst glorious showers of lush strings and vibrant percussion. The song as a whole is a very pleasant confection that's as sweet and exotic as a box of Turkish Delights. The next song "Call of the Wild" is nothing to do with wolves barking at the moon. No, this is more of a call of the wild in human terms with the lyrics apparently advocating free love and a freeing of the spirit:- "I will be free to sleep where I want and with who and what I will." ..... If the promiscuous lyrics are anything to go by, the northern town of Leeds in the seventies was just as footloose and fancy free as proverbial swinging London in the sixties, so maybe it's not so grim up north after all. The music is pretty wild and swinging too, consisting mainly of lively bursts of infectious fluty Folk blended together with a liberal dose of saxophonic jazz in a musical tour de force. Think of Jethro Tull combined with Soft Machine, and that's the kind of Jazzy Psych-Folk you have here. And now we come to the title track: "Mice and Rats in the Loft". If you really DO have mice in the loft, here's a handy hint: mice absolutely love chocolate, far more than cheese, so if you want to catch mice humanely, just bait the walk-in trap with some hot chocolate powder and they'll be queuing up to get into the trap and the trapdoor will close behind them. You can then let them out later in a rodents version of the "Catch and Release" program. Anyway, back to the music after that brief digression. This is where the musicians really get to let their hair down and go off on an improvisational free-for-all. The wacky over-the-top singer sounds like he's on a mad LSD trip here and the weird psychedelic Jazz sounds as wild and crazy as bats in the belfry, or mice and rats scampering about in the loft. Jan Dukes de Grey appear to have invented a whole new genre of music with their unique "Mice and Rats in the Loft" album. The music can best be described as Psychedelic Jazz-Folk. Sometimes, the music is rousing and spectacular, and sometimes it's pleasant and pastoral, and maybe it's even weird and wonderfully zany at times too, but it's NEVER dull. Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 14 2020 at 06:18 |
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dr wu23
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 22 2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 20631 |
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Forgot to ck out my prog over the weekend...I'll get back to you on Tuesday...
:)
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin |
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Psychedelic Paul
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Okay, thanks for letting me know. In the meantime, I'm cherry-picking my way through your list of underground bands. I've unearthed some real treasures there.
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Psychedelic Paul
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AMAZING BLONDEL - The Amazing Blondel and a Few Faces (1970)
Album Review#74:- AMAZING BLONDEL are an English Prog-Folk band who've released ten albums throughout their long career. Their particular speciality is a reinvention of medieval Renaissance music, featuring pavanes, galliards and madrigals. They've released a whole string of albums during the 1970's, starting with the album reviewed here, "The Amazing Blondel (and a Few Faces)" (1970). They recorded four early 1970's albums on Island Records:- "Evensong" (1970); "Fantasia Lindum" (1971); "England" (1972); and "Blondel" (1973); and three albums on the D.J.M. Records label: "Mulgrave Street" (1974); "Inspiration" (1975); and "Bad Dreams" (1976). The band then took a long sabbatical before making a comeback with "Restoration" (1997) and "The Amazing Elsie Emerald" (2010). Let's have a listen to Amazing Blondel's first album now and find out if the band really ARE as Amazing as their name implies.
The quaint Renaissance Folk of the opening song "Saxon Lady" sounds quintessentially English, but if you listen carefully, you can also hear the sound of an Indian sitar, giving the song a faintly exotic eastern ambience. You can almost picture the scene of English folks prancing merrily around the maypole to this music, dressed in garters and gaiters and gaily shaking their tassels and rattling their bell pads - and that's just the men! We're on a mission next with the "Bethel Town Mission", a rambunctious burst of rabble-rousing Folk Rock which sounds like the kind of stirring sing-along-song anyone could join in with on a pub karaoke night, having downed a few bevies of beer beforehand. 'Tis "The Season of the Year" next, a brief pastoral flute and guitar etude, in the style of a jolly Renaissance madrigal, which sounds charming at any time of the year. Jollying things along now comes "Canaan", an inspirational and devotional song of praise which has a spiritual gospel feel to it. If only they played music as rousing and inspirational as this in English church services, the parishioners would be flocking back to church on Sunday in their droves. It's time to round up the sheep now for "Shepherd's Song", a merry Olde Englishe Folke song that sounds as traditionally English as a ploughman's lunch and a pint of beer in an oak-beamed tavern with a thatched roof in the Cotswolds. Opening Side Two is the BIG bluesy ballad, "Though You Don't Want My Love", a rousing romantic refrain that's guaranteed to raise the spirits up to the rafters, and continuing with the romantic mood comes "Love Sonnet", a beautiful pastoral melody that's positively overflowing with love and passion, although the lyrics reveal a sad tale of lost love:- "Oh my darling you cannot hide, The love you once had for me has died." ..... It's a charming bittersweet tale of a young English gentleman wistfully hoping to rekindle the flame of a lost love affair with his fair maiden, so keep a hanky at the ready. We're off to sunny Spain next for "Spanish Lace", an upbeat and uplifting Folk-Pop song with a bright and sunny disposition, imbued with all of the warmth and happiness of a bright ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds. There's a change of pace for "Minstrel's Song", a mournful madrigal floating on a serenade of strings, which leads us into the rather rude and impolite- sounding "B*****d Song", which turns out to be a rousing Folk-Rock song to sing around the campfire together. It's a spirited song instilled with all of the vim and vigour of "Kumbaya" and more besides. Amazing Blondel have made quite a dramatic entrance with their debut album of charming English Folk. It's a traditional English Renaissance world of merry minstrels and melodic madrigals. This pastoral Folk album isn't likely to take the Prog-Rock world by storm, but if you're in the mood for some sweet vocal harmonies and lovely folky melodies bathed in a sea of sensational strings, then this could be the album for you. Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 14 2020 at 06:29 |
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dr wu23
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 22 2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 20631 |
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For Brit prog folk...I recommend Trees...they have been mentioned on PA before.
One track.... and this band... Edited by dr wu23 - January 14 2020 at 11:25 |
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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Psychedelic Paul
Forum Senior Member Joined: September 16 2019 Location: Nottingham, U.K Status: Offline Points: 41205 |
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^^ I like Trees too. I have both of their albums on CD. I'll be reviewing one of Spirogyra's albums pretty soon too.
Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 14 2020 at 13:04 |
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dr wu23
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Forgot I had this one...haven't played it for a while.....nice early atmospheric proto prog...
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin |
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dr wu23
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 22 2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 20631 |
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Another one of my favorite quirky Brit things....have it on cd...still looking for an original lp..
a Greenslade connection....;)...there's an original on Discogs for $555.00.....wow...
and his next foray into prog ... Edited by dr wu23 - January 14 2020 at 15:07 |
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin |
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hugo1995
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 20 2019 Location: New Zealand Status: Offline Points: 164 |
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Lol this is so classic.
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interests: Moon Safari, Gilgamesh, Egg, ELP, Soft Machine, Gong, Opeth (Everything pre watershed), Brighteye Brison, The Flower Kings
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Psychedelic Paul
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HELP YOURSELF - Beware the Shadow (1972)
Album Review #75:- HELP YOURSELF (known as The Helps by their fans) were a London-based band with a unique sound that can best be described as Psychedelic Country. They recorded four albums during the early 1970's:- "Help Yourself" (1971); "Strange Affair" (1972); "Beware the Shadow" (1972); and "The Return of Ken Whaley" (1973). It seemed like Help Yourself may have been consigned to the annals of rock history after poor sales from their fourth album, but due to popular demand by their fans, they made a brief belated comeback with "Help Yourself 5" in 2004, which consisted mainly of 1973 recordings from an unreleased fifth album. It's time now to give Help Yourself's third helping a listen.
Upon hearing the "Beware the Shadow" album for the first time, you'd be convinced they were an American Southern Rock band. In fact, their first song "Alabama Lady", sounds like a typical song that the U.S. bands Alabama or the Allman Brothers Band might have recorded in their heyday. Help Yourself have encapsulated the American Southern Rock sound perfectly with "Alabama Lady". It sounds as American as a Stetson-wearing cowboy in a rodeo riding a bucking bronco. Next up is the real highlight of the album, the 12-minute-long song "Reaffirmation". The floating sound of a Mellotron in the opening gives the song a somewhat mystical air, but this is only a prelude to a long Psychedelic Country jam session that sounds very reminiscent of some of the Grateful Dead's extended jams, only Help Yourself are much more Alive and Kicking in this exhilarating number than the Grateful Dead ever were in their seemingly endless jams. Side One draws to a close now (already?) with the brief "Calypso", which turns out to be a hippyish campfire sing-along song. The Side Two opener "She's My Girl" has the same happy and carefree sound of the summer as "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles. "She's My Girl" has Hit Song written all over it. It's a song that's positively aglow with passionate romantic love and optimistic hope for the future. Up next is "Molly Bake Bean", a song with childish innocence which sounds just as silly and frivolous as the song title implies. It's a perfect Country sing-along song to listen to and join in with whilst eating baked beans around a campfire with the kids. And now it's time for the BIG bluesy piano ballad "American Mother", another song that sounds as quintessentially Born To Be Wild American as riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle over the Golden Gate Bridge. "American Mother" sounds like a song that Big Brother & the Holding Company might have recorded and it brings to mind another great song, "American Woman", by the Canadian band The Guess Who. Both songs represent good old-fashioned Blues-Rock numbers with the same raw and earthy appeal. We're just "Passing Through" now for the final song, a gently laid-back slice of Folk-Rock Americana. "Beware the Shadow" is unlikely to appeal to Prog-Rock fans generally, but if you're in the mood to listen to some good old country boys from the Deep South of London in England, then Help Yourself to this rather unique Psychedelic Country album. Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 15 2020 at 13:22 |
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Psychedelic Paul
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MIGHTY BABY - Mighty Baby (1969)
The full "Mighty Baby" album isn't currently available on YouTube, so I've posted this extended psychedelic jam session instead, titled "Now You Don't" Album Review #76:- MIGHTY BABY were a two-album Psychedelic Rock band from London, England, who were previously known as The Action. Their first album "Mighty Baby" (1969) was firmly rooted in American Psychedelic Rock. They had a change of direction with their second album "A Jug of Love" (1971), which had more of a laid-back spiritual feel to it, due to several members of the band taking up the Sufi faith in the interim period between the two albums. Let's take a mighty leap now into the psychedelic world of Mighty Baby's eponymously-titled first album.
We're in Raiders of the Lost Ark territory for the glorious opening number, "Egyptian Tomb". It's a trippy acid-drenched song that perfectly captures the American West Coast sound of the late 1960's, emulating such bands of the time as Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane, only with a saxophone providing some additional flawless flourishes. The music brings to mind exotic images of pharaohs, sphinxes and pyramids, and camel rides across the desert beneath a burning red sun. Just watch out for those nasty scorpions and huge camel spiders though. There's more sunny psychedelia on the way with "A Friend You Know But Never See", another full-blooded blast of Psychedelic Rock with a powerful driving rhythm and some magnificent fuzzy guitar soloing. This is a perfect sunburst of rainbow-coloured psychedelia for listening to in a free-and- easy hippy commune on a sunshiny day in Southern California, or failing that, listening to at night with the lights off where you're free to do some California Dreamin' of sun, sand, sea and surfing, regardless of whether all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey, on a winter's day. There's a pleasant change of pace for "I've Been Down So Long", which begins as a nicely laid-back groove to put you in a mellow mood, but this is only a prelude as the dazzling guitarist has his amp turned up to eleven and he's more than ready to deliver another scorching hot guitar solo in a magnificent crescendo of sound. We're continuing the wild ride with more psychedelic red-hot vibes in "Same Way From the Sun", a footloose and fancy-free fuzz- toned guitar freak-out from beginning to end. Opening Side Two is a "House Without Windows" which must be a very dark house indeed. The music is as bright as a sparkling crystal though, featuring six uninterrupted minutes of musical magic in another groovy psychedelic jam session. There's no let-up in the incredible pace with "Trials of a City", a bluesy psychedelic jam which barrels along at full-speed ahead. These London guys have really nailed it when it comes to playing American Psychedelic Rock. They sound like they were born and raised within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge, instead of the sprawling suburbs of London. We're slowing things down a bit now with "I'm From the Country", a pleasantly countrified, mellow diversion amongst the heavy Psychedelic Rock numbers. This is the kind of laid-back West Coast sound we're accustomed to hearing from any number of U.S. Country Rock bands, although it's rare to hear it played so authentically by a London-based band, where there's not a lot of sea and surfers to be seen. The final song "At a Point Between Fate and Destiny" has a somewhat solemn and spiritual air to it, which opens to the sound of a beautiful church organ. The music sounds mystical and hauntingly atmospheric and represents the real highlight of the album. It's a charming and blissful melody floating amidst a sea full of psychedelic rockers surfing on Californian waves of sun-drenched late-1960's music. "Mighty Baby" is a mighty fine album for all of the psychedelic rockers out there who lived through the "Summer of Love" year of 1967 and want to rekindle those bygone, flower-power free-love days. You can re-live those halcyon days at any time of the year and travel back in time whenever you listen to this evergreen album of sparklingly effervescent psychedelia. |
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dr wu23
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 22 2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 20631 |
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A few more names for you.....
Julians Treatment- Cirkus- One plus Czar- Pussy- Eyes of Blue- In Fields of Ardath |
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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dr wu23
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNwUHNSy9vg
Julians Treatment Edited by dr wu23 - January 16 2020 at 12:05 |
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Psychedelic Paul
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Amazing! Julian's Treatment is an album I added to my list of albums to review just a couple of days ago and it's 85th on my list.
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dr wu23
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There's a part 2 called 'Waiters On The Dance'....by Savarin. |
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
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Psychedelic Paul
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^^ I'm not far off the hundred mark now with the number of upcoming albums to review. I'm planning to review all of your helpful suggestions eventually if they're on ProgArchives.
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Psychedelic Paul
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ANTHONY PHILLIPS - The Geese and the Ghost (1977)
Album Review #77:- ANTHONY PHILLIPS (born 1951) is best-known as the original guitarist with GENESIS. He appeared on their first two albums "From Genesis to Revelation" (1969) and "Trespass" (1970), but decided to quit the band due to crippling bouts of stage fright when performing live. He took a long hiatus from recording music and studied classical music for awhile until 1977 when he embarked on his long and illustrious solo career with the release of "The Geese and the Ghost" album. Three further albums followed at the tail-end of the 1970's:- "Wise After the Event" (1978); "Private Parts & Pieces" (1978); and "Sides" (1979). Altogether, Anthony Phillips has recorded an incredible thirty-one albums, including eleven volumes of "Private Parts & Pieces" and four volumes of "Missing Links", consisting primarily of demos, out-takes, and previously unreleased material from his vast library of music recordings. He still continues to record to this day with his latest album "Strings of Light" released as recently as 2019. Anthony Phillips' first album "The Geese and the Ghost" is notable for including his Genesis bandmates Mike Rutherford on bass and Phil Collins on vocals on a couple of tracks, and Steve Hackett's brother John Hackett on flute. Ant Phillips played all of the guitar and keyboard parts on the album. The 2008 CD reissue included a bonus disc of unused material from the album.
The album opens with the brief prelude "Wind-Tales", featuring a light breeze of keyboards floating past the listener like a zephyr in a mellow wave of calming pastoral sound, which leads us into "Which Way the Wind Blows". This song is a gorgeous slice of melodic prog with the familiar voice of Phil Collins reminding us that this song would have fitted very nicely onto a classic Genesis album, although the music is altogether gentler and mellower than anything Genesis have ever recorded. We're travelling back in time to the royal court of Henry VIII now with "Henry: Portraits from Tudor Times", in the first of two long suites on the album. The six-piece "Henry" suite is a glorious 12-minute-long combination of gentle acoustic passages and marching battle themes and it also features a tremendously rousing chorus for the grand finale. The dynamic contrast between Ant Phillip's gentle acoustic guitar combined with his sonorous outbursts from the almighty keyboards are what really sets this long suite of music alight with passionate and powerful intensity. It's dramatic symphonic music imbued with all of the regal power and magnificent majesty of a King upon his throne. Phil Collins returns to vocal duties in a lovely duet with Vivienne McAuliffe for "God If I Saw Her Now". It's another beautiful piece of gentle melodic prog in an album that's positively overflowing with charming and enchanting English tunes. Opening Side Two is "Chinese Mushroom Cloud" which sounds just as dramatic and doom-laden as the song title suggests. It's a short prelude featuring the rousing and resonant deep rumble of a cello, conjuring up a portentous and disturbing image of some cataclysmic disaster. This leads us into the two-part suite and title track "The Geese and the Ghost". Running at nearly sixteen minutes long, it's an epic masterpiece, combining orchestral, pastoral folk and proggy themes in a timeless timbre of tuneful melodies, which also includes some rousing grand symphonic keyboard flourishes too for our delectation and delight. We get to hear Anthony Phillip's voice for the first time on "Collections", and a very fine singer he is too. The music is a gorgeous flute and guitar melody floating on a sea of sensational strings. The final piece of music "Sleepfall: The Geese Fly West" is as gentle and peaceful as the gentlest of lullabies and it's a perfect dream-like melody to bring a marvellous and masterful album to a close. "The Geese and the Ghost" is a timeless album full of reverberant refrains and mellifluous melodies combined together in a magnificent melange of pastoral folk, classical compositions and melodic prog symphonies. It's a superb album that should appeal equally to Genesis fans and non-Genesis fans alike. The music has been described as sounding like a "mixture of Vaughan Williams and Mike Oldfield" which sums it up rather well I think. Edited by Psychedelic Paul - January 17 2020 at 12:32 |
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Psychedelic Paul
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TONTON MACOUTE - Tonton Macoute (1971)
Album Review #78:- TONTON MACOUTE were a short-lived British Jazz-Rock band, previously known as Windmill. Tonton Macoute were bizarrely named after the paramilitary death squad created by "Papa Doc" Duvalier in Haiti in 1959. Their one and only self-titled album released in 1971 contained seven tracks, and featured an album cover that was just as bizarre as their name. Let's step into the intriguing and mysterious world of Tonton Macoute now and give this curious one-of-a-kind album a listen.
There's a pleasantly pastoral fluty opening to "Just Like Stone", which turns out to be a real gem of a song because this is just a prelude to a lively outburst of pounding and percussive Jazz-Rock which sounds as hard and solid as stone. This is powerful Jazz- Rock with an attitude that kicks like a mule. There's more jumping, jiving and gyrating Jazz-Rock on the way with "Don't Make Me Cry", a wonderful eight long minutes of soaring saxophone, flirtatious flute, hard-driving bass-lines and stunning piano and organ interplay. This Jazz is as cool as an air conditioner on full power! We're migrating southwards now with "Flying South in Winter" which has something of a mystical Arabian snake-charmer feel to it. This is exotic music for rocking away to down at the Egyptian kasbah whilst puffing away on a hookah pipe, or if you're on a tight budget, listening to down at your local Middle- Eastern-themed restaurant. It's all aboard the Magic Bus now for "Dreams", the stunning highlight of the album. This is the kind of wild and carefree sun- drenched psychedelia that sweet dreams are made of. You can float along on a magic carpet ride of flower-power love and hippyish 1960's grooviness to this absolutely fabulous music. It's back to basics next for "You Make My Jelly Roll", a lively Blues- Rock number with a title which is presumably a reference to Jazz legend Jelly Roll Morton. The song features some masterful improvisational soloing from the dynamic saxophonist. The music won't have you jumping and jiving, because this is the kind of cool and sophisticated Jazz you might expect to hear in a salubrious up-market cocktail lounge whilst sipping on a dry martini on the rocks - shaken not stirred. If you're not already on a natural high from listening to the great music on this album, you'll be flying high as a kite (not literally) after hearing the final two-part song, "Natural High". It's a complex 11-minute arrangement, featuring an invigorating improvisational free-for-all from the wild vocalist and musicians. This is where the band really get to let their hair down and strut their stuff in a spectacular Jazz-Rock freak-out. Tonton Macoute have really excelled with this barn-storming 50-year-old blast from the past. This stunningly-powerful one-off album represents a timeless Jazz-Rock masterpiece that sounds just as good today as it ever did. Tonton Macoute might have a bizarre name, but they really know how to deliver a resonant refrain. |
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