SPACE SHANTY

Khan is a Canterbury supergroup of sorts, uniting past and future members of prominent bands like Egg, Gong, Hatfield & the North and National Health. The sound is exemplary for its style and age, with a warm woolly sound, melodious vocals, jazzy improvisations, spacey guitars and plenty of deliciously dusty Hammond organs.

The opening title is a real winner, a surging 9 minutes of musical creativity and vigor, with catchy vocal lines and plenty of gorgeous improvisations. Heavier and less poppy then Caravan and a true masterpiece in the style. This opener puts me in a benevolent mood. Normally the poppy ballad style of Stranded would stir my usual skepticism, but the instrumental jam in the middle saves the party. As usual with Canterbury style Prog, the vocals can get a bit too poppy and mellow for my taste. Luckily Greenwood is a powerhouse, reminding me a bit of Hammill on the earliest VDGG releases.

Mixed up Man is very different again, quite heavy and even anthemic in its opening and closing sections, but before you know, the capricious creativity of these guys make them veer off in another gorgeous smooth jazzy-psychedelic improvisation. More 70ties ballad influences on Driving To Amsterdam, the chorus with the "Now the morning opens slowly" line is tacky at least, and hard to bare for a Beatles/hippy skeptic like myself. Stargazers continues with delicious jazzy psych rock. Hollow Stone starts hesitatingly but explodes in pure heavy space-rock orgasm.

A more then excellent album with great heavy space-rock done in a delicate Canterbury jazzy style. If you also like the Beatles-inspired ballads on this album, this may be a perfect masterpiece for you. Recommended.