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July 29th, 2009
Just a quick note to say that none of these things have happened here at HFoS towers:
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Archive
Archive for July, 2009
The Move – The Words of Aaron
July 21st, 2009
To my mind, ‘The Words of Aaron’ from 1971′s Message From the Country, is one of The Move’s finest compositions. With Jeff Lynne at the helm it sounds very much like early ELO, which is understandable as this song came out during the drawn out disintegration of The Move, at the overlap point between the the old band becoming the new.
‘The Words of Aaron’ blends progressive rock, psychedelia and Beatlesesque harmonies with the dense, grinding sound prevalent on previous Move album, the exceptional Looking On, and comes out the other end completely unscathed. More of this, please!
The Idle Race – The Birthday Party
July 16th, 2009
The quirky, lyrical and often whimsical Idle Race emerged out of the ashes of The Nightriders – the Birmingham beat group that had one time counted Roy Wood amongst its ranks – following the arrival of Jeff Lynne, Wood cohort in The Move and then the Electric Light Orchestra. With the core Nightriders line-up of Dave Pritchard (rhythm guitar), Greg Masters (bass) and Roger Spencer (drums), Lynne took on vocal and lead guitar duties, got busy writing some psychedelic tunes, and in 1968 they released their debut album, The Birthday Party.
Maintaining a steady balance between psychedelic rock and psych-pop, The Birthday Party avoids slipping into the heavily phased and prolonged freakouts that sometimes characterised the former, without drifting into the overt feyness that often brushed a ruffled shirt cuff against the latter.
Jaunty is a good way to describe the album, with plenty of quirky touches and lyrics to match. Jeff Lynne’s vocal style and delivery (long before he acquired the mid-atlantic accent of later ELO records) match his subject matter perfectly and the use of sound effects throughout – and in the case of the exquisite ‘The Lady Who Said She Could Fly’, orchestral lavishment – is spot on.
Edgar Broughton Band – Love in the Rain
July 11th, 2009
Here’s a rare treat. Some live footage of the Edgar Broughton Band taken from the early ’70s (well until Warner Bros. buy up the Broughton back catalogue and demand it’s taken down, that is).
‘Love in the Rain’ is taken from the debut album Wasa Wasa and is presented here in a shorter version – the original running for just shy of four minutes.
The Beach Boys – Smiley Smile
July 9th, 2009
Smiley Smile by The Beach Boys is particularly notable for two things. Firstly, it featured the chart-topping psychedelic experience that is ‘Good Vibrations’ (much to the chagrin of Brian Wilson); and secondly, it replaced the cancelled and much-hyped Smile (available only in bootlegged versions until 2004 when a revised “official” version, SMiLE, was released as a solo album by Brian Wilson).
The fact that Smile was cancelled in May of 1967 and Smiley Smile was released in the following September may account for the heavily under-produced, almost rushed feel throughout. A point that’s labelled by the inclusion of ‘Good Vibrations’ (recorded in ’66), slap bang in the middle (or the first track of what would’ve been side two), which sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the other, more subdued, tracks. Personal issues within the band and Brian Wilson’s gradual withdrawal from group participation and eventually society altogether through mounting mental problems, possibly also played their part in influencing the finished product.
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown – Nightmare
July 8th, 2009
The world of Arthur Brown is indeed a crazy one. In 1968 he and his band, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, terrorised the charts with the incendiary psychedelic stylings of ‘Fire’, a song for which a burning cake tin balanced precariously on the head became an onstage necessity.
Although the group only released one self-titled album before splitting, with ‘Fire’ being the only chart success, there were two other, less remembered singles; ‘Devil’s Grip’ and this one, ‘Nightmare’.
The Idle Race – I Like my Toys
July 6th, 2009
In need of cheering up? I certainly am. Following a week of unbearable heat and now thunderstorms, lightning and perpetual rain (not so bad, in my opinion), a dose of the absurd might be in order. What better than the Idle Race?
Procol Harum – Home (2009 Reissue)
July 2nd, 2009
“Gary Brooker and Keith Reid of Procol Harum are the only people we could ever compare ourselves to!” – Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Procol Harum’s fourth album, Home , was released in June 1970 and was a much darker offering than what had gone before. This is depite the band perhaps being at their most optimistic and upbeat during the recording, buzzing off a new lease of life as a four-piece and the formation of their own music publishing company. Nevertheless, maybe the fact they’d never found the album success they truly deserved was playing on the minds of Gary Brooker and Keith Reid when the songs for Home were written.
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