CULPEPER'S ORCHARD

"Nicholas Culpeper (1616 - 1654) was an English botanist, psychologist and astrologer. He is known for his work with herbs, for use against diseases and was against the doctors from his time. Lawyers and Priests used Latin as there Internal language to demean the normal citizen, who didn't understand that language. Culpeper's Orchard was formed in 1969, their name was made as a memorial for Nicholas Culpeper."

Culpeper's Orchard are: Cy Nicklin (lead vocals, rhythm & acoustic guitars, percussion), Neils Hendrikson (lead guitar, piano, lead vocals, harpsichord), Michael Friss (bass, organ, flute, two finger piano, percussion), Rodger Barker (drums, percussion). This album has a psychedelic (as you can see at the cover art) blues rock mixed with folk passages. You will find some folky banjo at the opening title. The second track, Mountain Music Part. 1, reminds me of Jethro Tull early albums like Stand Up, and suddenly falls into a Led Zepellin kind of hard rock domain with very interesting guitar riffs and solo by Neils Hendrikson. After the guitar rage, the track becomes slow, with acoustic background and another deep solo. Hey You People has a psychedelic prog vibe, with a little Beatles touch. A short song. Teaparty For An Orchard background organ and acoustic rhythm guitar chords are beautiful. Listening to this album you will find the guitar solos very Clapton'esque, bluezy and deep, and the lead guitar is always doing something! Ode To Resistance start as a simple folk song and surprises with a heavy heavy metal breakdown. The track goes on ranging between hard rock heavy riffs and folk parts. The guitar riffs and solos just rules (as the whole album riffs and solos)! The hard rock finalization part kick asses and the song continues in a quick folk ending, with strings and flutes in a very Jethro Tull way. Your Song & Mine is one of my favorites, the acoustic guitar picking rhythm has a great beat, and fits perfect with the electric guitar and bass. It's a hard rock track.The short chorus including piano is kinda boring imo, but it's very short, it does not change anything. Gideon's Trap is boring, but the guitar solo saves the track. Blue Day's Morning is an acoustic track. Pretty fingering guitar melody. So we have another Mountain Music, the Part 2. This second part is great as the previous one. The beggining sounds like a moody rock, but after a few minutes the track gets happier turning into a blues, with an interesting high bassline. The song back to the angry rock, but you will find a cool harpsichord at the guitar solo background this time. The ending of the track is just like Banjocul, the first track. My CD version features three additional tracks, including the live track Classified Ads (almost 10 minutes). All good tracks.

If you like prog folk like Jethro Tull and are looking for oldschool guitar heroes from the psychedelia era like Hendrix, Page and Clapton, you must try this one!