Prog Britannia - Album Reviews

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Album Review #104:-   MAY BLITZ were a hurricane-force English/Canadian power trio. They recorded two albums of storming Psychedelic Rock in the early 1970's. Their first album "May Blitz" (1970), released on the renowned Vertigo label, features arguably one of the worst album covers in rock history, but you can't judge an album by its cover, so let's hope the cover is no reflection of the music contained within. The second May Blitz album, the aptly-titled "2nd of May" (1971), would be their final studio album as the trio disbanded shortly afterwards in late 1971 due to lack of commercial success and two of the band members returned to their native Canada. A retrospective Live album was released in 2012, featuring a concert recording from Essen, Germany in 1970. And so, without further ado, it's time to load up the arsenal and unleash the musical blitzkrieg of fire and fury that is May Blitz.

 

"Smoking the Day Away" opens the album in a swirling 8-minute-long purple haze of wispy psychedelic smoke. It's a heady and intoxicating flower-power acid trip that takes you right back to those wild and crazy, hazy lazy days of summer in San Francisco in 1967, without ever having to leave the comfort of your front room. These three guys in May Blitz have probably never been anywhere near San Francisco either, but you'd never guess that from this acid-drenched psychedelic trip. They sound like they were born to be wild within sight of the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. They're probably in their rocking chairs by now though - if they're still around - bearing in mind this album was recorded back in a distant bygone age, half a century ago. You can almost picture yourself riding on the back of Peter Fonda's Easy Rider motorcycle whilst listening to this music, even if the sad reality is that you're more suited to riding 'round in the back of Henry Fonda's family station wagon. I don't Know about you, but I'm in the mood for some heavy Blues-Rock, and that's exactly what you get with the second song, "I Don't Know", a mean and mighty blues number, bringing to mind classic Cream, only this band sound even more raw and earthy than the Rock God power trio of Clapton, Bruce & Baker, if that's at all possible. This bluesy music is probably more similar in style to the other well-known heavy British blues trio, The Edgar Broughton Band.  Our third song "Dreaming" opens as a laid-back acid-tinged excursion into a dreamy Twilight Zone world of transcendental meditation, where the hazy-voiced singer sounds like he's stoned out of his mind.  Don't get too laid-back though, because the music soon goes off the rails completely - a bit like this album review - and takes us on a harum scarum wild phantasmagoric nightmare ride along the highway to hell and back, followed by a return to calmer restorative climes for the mellow flower-power peace and love conclusion.  This is wonderfully heady stuff and the glorious highlight of the album so far. After "Dreaming", it's time now to wake up and smell the coffee and get ready for Side Two.

 

We may need to delve into the lyrics of the mysteriously-titled "Squeet" to find out what it's all about, so here goes:- "Squeet, All over a wall, Dying  to have a ball, It's been too long, I feel, I feel it coming on, Squeet, all over the wall." ..... No, it still makes no sense whatsoever, but who says hazy, acid-influenced Psychedelic Rock has to make any sense anyway!? One thing's for sure, it's a real storming humdinger of a song, despite the crazy lyrics being like a riddle wrapped inside an enigma. This great song represents a perfect example of early 1970's psychedelic stoner rock long before Stoner Rock with a capital "S" had even been invented. After the wonderfully dreamy (and occasionally nightmarish) excursion of "Dreaming" on Side One, along comes "Tomorrow May Come", another hazy lazy fantasy ride aboard the brightly-painted magic bus. You can really chill out and relax to this moody and mellow music, so just close your eyes and be transported back in time to the late-1960's hippy-trail along the magnificent Golden Gate highway of dreams - and you don't even need a bus ticket to travel there. FIRE IN THE HOLE! Take cover, because it's time now for the fiery sonic outburst of "Fire Queen", a  fast and furious blazing trail of Psychedelic Rock which explodes into life like a grenade and then bombs along relentlessly at full steam ahead for four solid minutes. Sensational! What we need now after that supersonic assault on the eardrums is a return to calmer seas, and that's precisely what we get with "Virgin Waters". Prepare to sail away and let the calming music wash over you in a blissful sea of dreams for this wonderful trip back in time to the psychedelic sixties. It's groovy, baby!

 

May Blitz have delivered a storming blitzkrieg of heavy Psychedelic Rock with this superb debut album. It's not ALL heavy and thunderous Rock though, as the album's sprinkled with a nice liberal helping of laid-back trippy tunes too. All in all, there's enough variety on offer here to keep everyone entertained, even if you're not a flower-power child of the sixties.

High Tide's "Sea Shanties" is the heaviest Psychedelic Rock album I've heard since listening to Blue Cheer's "Vincebus Eruptum" album, although I preferred Darryl Way's Wolf album because there was a lot more variety to it, instead of the High Tide non-stop barrage of Heavy Metal thunder from beginning to end.

 

 

Album Review #103:- HIGH TIDE were a very 'eavy, very 'umble Psychedelic Rock band from England. They released eight albums over the course of four decades, although it's their ironically-titled debut "Sea Shanties" (1969) that's by far their best-known album. The album represents one of the earliest progenitors of the Heavy Metal sound and High Tide are often compared with the American Acid Rock band Blue Cheer. High Tide followed up the powerhouse "Sea Shanties" album with a self-titled album in 1970 and then took a very long hiatus before making a comeback with a new line-up in the late-1980's with an incredible run of six back to back albums in a row:- "Interesting Times" (1986); "Precious Cargo" (1989); "The Flood" (1990); "Fierce Nature" (1990); "Ancient Gates" (1990); and "The Reason of Success" (1991). And so, without further ado, let's give "Sea Shanties" a listen before the tide comes in.

HERE IS A WEATHER WARNING:- There's a storming gale of VERY HEAVY Psychedelic Rock on the way which is expected to reach Force 10 on the Beaufort Scale. Occasional gusts of very high decibels are expected! The opening blitzkrieg of storming Hard Rock and Heavy Metal thunder is titled "Futilist's Lament", and it would indeed be futile to lament the loss of sleep throughout this window-rattling sonic blast. This thunderous assault on the eardrums won't just keep you awake, it'll probably wake up the neighbours too and have them angrily banging on your door. There's no peace for the wicked (or the good) either with the next song "Death Warmed Up" as the non-stop artillery barrage of sound continues. This storming "Sea Shanty" is an unrelenting 9-minute-long pressure wave that's LOUD enough to wake the dead, never mind the neighbours, and it's probably the only time you'll ever hear a violin played on a heavy Psychedelic Rock/Metal album. Yes, really! A violin! Although you've never heard a violin played quite like this before. This even goes beyond the incredible power of Darryl Way's manic violin-playing in Curved Air. Yes, it really IS that awesome! Is this stunning album Psychedelic Rock or is it Heavy Metal? Who knows? Maybe it's some amazing new hybrid such as Psychedelic Metal. Either way, it's a remarkable album of unbridled raw power and energy. Phew! There's a bit of a breather now but not for long with "Pushed, But Not Forgotten". The song opens deceptively gently, but there's another storming outburst of Heavy Metal thunder and lightning on the way. It's not quite the storming hurricane of the first two powerful numbers, because this third song contains some gentler melodic passages, and it sounds all the better for it too. After all, thunderbolt and lightning can be very very frightening (according to Queen). This song is more like a warm gentle breeze with occasional outbursts of Heavy Metal thunder raining down, so keep an umbrella handy.

The enigmatically-titled "Walking Down Their Outlook" doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but who says LSD-influenced wild and crazy Psychedelic Rock has to make any sense anyway!? One thing's for sure though, it's another burst of raw Psychedelic Metal mayhem, featuring an absolutely maniacal violin player running rampant throughout. Who would have believed a delicate violin could ever sound so incredibly LOUD! Not Stradivari or Vivaldi, that's for sure! There's no let-up in the incredible pace of this album, so be prepared for more fireworks with "Missing Out", another 9-minute-long, non-stop fusillade of Heavy Metal cannon fire. This sonic blast explodes into life like a psychedelic shell burst bathed in glowing iridescent rainbow colours. There's more musical madness and mayhem on the way with "Nowhere", and nowhere will you find any gentle romantic ballads on this album. It's another wild and frenzied, psychedelic violin ride aboard the crazy train, which brings the album to a magnificent conclusion in a storming blaze of pounding and percussive glory.

High Tide's "Sea Shanties" rides high on a great tsunami wave of thunderous raw energy and power. "Sea Shanties" they are NOT! This is a rolling wave of storming Heavy Metal thunder from beginning to end. Batten down the hatches and hold on tight because it's going to be a wild and windy ride. There's an unstoppable High Tide on its way with a Force 10 gale blowing in on this supersonic blast from the past. Come hell or high water, you won't want to miss out on the storming ballroom blitz of High Tide!

Thanks! I'll review Deep Feeling's album in my next batch of reviews.

4,500 vinyl albums! That's very impressive. I have around 2,600 CD's and around 160 of those are prog. Here's a link to my entire Prog-Rock CD collection which I've just updated to include the prog CD's I bought recently:-

 

Probably one of the most obscure and rarest of the Spiral Vertigo releases..

Three Parts to my Soul (1971)

Mr Fox; a Folk rock outfit from Yorkshire formed around Husband and wife duo of Bob & Carole Pegg plus a backing band of excellent musicians.. not quite as dark as Comus but dirtier and grittier than Fairport or Steeleye and subsequently shunned by the folk and rock world for being too much of both and not enough of either (if that makes sense). Bob Pegg's lps 'Shipbuilder' and 'Ancient Maps' are worth a listen..

Nirvana's second album with the VERY long title is the only Nirvana CD I have in my collection and I bought it mainly for the song "Rainbow Chaser". I prefer the second album to the first album too.

 

Album Review #101:- NIRVANA (U.K) were around long before the Seattle grunge rockers of the same name first emerged onto the music scene in the late 1980's. A dispute over the use of the name "Nirvana", led to the American band settling out of court in the early 1990's. The British Nirvana were formed in swinging London back in 1965. Their first album of Proto-Prog "The Story of Simon Simopath" was released in 1967, and their second album - released in 1968 - deserves a place in the annals of rock history for having probably the longest album title of all time. Here it is in its entirety:- "The Existence of Chance Is Everything and Nothing Whilst the Greatest Achievement Is the Living of Life and So Say ALL OF US". Wow! That's quite a mouthful! The long- winded album title is not easy to remember at the best of times, so for the sake of brevity, the title is usually shortened to "All of Us". The album contained Nirvana's best-known song: "Rainbow Chaser". Three further albums followed:- "To Markus III (Aka: Black Flower)" (1969), "Local Anaesthetic" (1971) and "Songs of Love and Praise" (1972). Nirvana were led by Patrick Campbell-Lyons's, who released his first solo album "Me and My Friend" in 1973. Nirvana had one more album up their sleeve with the release of "Orange and Blue" in 1996, a collection of unreleased material from their earlier years. It's time now to delve into the mysterious world of Simon Simopath and find out what's the story, morning glory.

We're taking off and flying on the "Wings of Love" for our opening number. This delightful and unashamedly twee-sounding Pop tune could only have come from England in the late-1960's. The story concerns our hero schoolboy, Simon Simopath, who dreams of sprouting wings so he can fly away - just like Peter Pan - and escape being bullied at school. He later suffers a mental breakdown in adulthood and ends up in a lunatic asylum, but escapes after getting aboard a rocket and meeting a centaur and a goddess who take care of him in a place called Pentecost Hotel, where they presumably live happily ever after in a state of heavenly bliss and spiritual Nirvana. Yes, the Story of Simon Simopath really IS that wacky, and yes, you've guessed it, it's a proggy concept album before prog-rock or concept albums had even been invented. Simon Simopath is just a lonely boy at heart, and "Lonely Boy" is the title of the second song where all he wants to do is cry. The mournful lyrics might tell a sad tale, but the music is bright and uplifting as it romps merrily along on a wave of joyous hope and exuberance. There's a rousing chorus too in this lively Pop song, so it's not all doom and gloom, despite the lyrics. There's a healthy burst of optimism on the way with "We Can Help You", a bright and sparkling burst of golden Sunshine Pop which sounds as quaint and quintessentially English as a thatched cottage in the Cotswolds, or a game of croquet served with tea and crumpets on an English summer lawn. We have lift-off, because next up is the bizarrely-titled "Satellite Jockey", the most commercially appealing song on the album, which could potentially have gone into orbit and risen up into the Top 10 of the Hit Parade, back in the days when the chart placings still mattered to Pop pickers. Space: the final frontier. We're "In the Courtyard of the Stars" now for this out-of-this-world 1960's sci-fi Pop hokum. It's Proto-Prog, Jim, but not as we know it. This is a lovely jazzy Pop tune that's light years away from classic 1970's Prog-Rock.

Our silly but charming story continues with "You Are Just the One", another pleasant Psych-Pop diversion in an album full of sparkling good Pop tunes, and there's a gorgeous Baroque Pop song on the way with "Pentecost Hotel", a magnificently ornate grand hotel featuring a lush string symphony. We're getting all romantic now with "I Never Had a Dream Like This Before", a lilting piano ballad with rich orchestration, where Simon Simopath dreams of being carried away to distant parts of the universe, or failing that, watching the latest episode of Star Trek. Beam me up another great Pop song, Scotty! There's the sound of wedding bells in the air for "Take This Hand", as Simon Simopath prepares for his betrothal to his loved one, so it looks like we're headed for a happy ending to our story with this gentle Folk Pop refrain. There's a complete change of musical style for the final uplifting song "Nirvana", which sounds like a good old-fashioned knees-up in a pub. It's a Dixie-land-jazz-style number, featuring a honky-tonk piano and with the singer sounding in a merry and jubilant mood, which indeed he would be if he just got hitched to his romantic love interest. All's well that ends well in the weird and wonderful world of wacky 1960's concept albums.

This cheerfully zany slice of sixties sci-fi hokum is a Psych-Pop album that's in another universe altogether from Prog-Rock, and it's barely even Proto-Prog, but if you're in the mood for some jolly good English Pop tunes from the Beatles' era, then "The Story of Simon Simopath" might just be the album for you. The twee music is joyful and exhuberant with a bright message of hope for the future, but if you hope to attain a state of spiritual Nirvana from listening to this album, then it's best to look elsewhere - back to the future of the proggy 1970's perhaps.