Two items of Pink Floyd news hit the headlines last week… Yes, two! Quite remarkable for a band whose ability to entertain all but ran dry following the departure of Syd Barrett and the release of their second album,  1968′s A Saucerful of Secrets – though 1970′s Atom Heart Mother and 1975′s Wish You Were Here do have their moments.

In the first bit of news, Roger Waters’ current 2011 touring of his criminally overrated snorefest The Wall, threw out a surprise for those fans who’d paid to see it at the O2 arena on Thursday night and somehow managed to stay awake. For only the second time in 30 years, he was joined on stage by the surviving members of Pink Floyd. Former adversaries, Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason.

Now, thankfully, I wasn’t there, but I can imagine it to have been a smug burying-of-the-hatchet type moment, accompanied by the musical equivalent of an overdose of Mogadon. Apparently, Nick Mason played a tambourine.

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feature, news, occasional musings, prog rock, psychedelic rock

In the second part of our interview with one half of Fruits de Mer Records, Andy Bracken, we find out, among other things, what keeps them doing what they do and what the future holds for this truly unique, yet slightly demented, label.

HFoS – You only release the singles on limited edition, coloured vinyl (which, incidentally, look good enough to eat). What made you choose this particular format over, say, a compilation CD?

AB – Now, now, don’t get me started. I’m not a fan of CDs, and downloads don’t actually exist.

Thanks for liking our vinyl – that’s grand. We just choose colour combinations that feel right at the time. You never really know what they’re going to look like till they arrive at the door.

7” vinyl is what us “over 35s” grew up with, so I suppose there’s a certain nostalgic affection there from our viewpoint. But aurally and aesthetically, there’s no comparison between a CD and a vinyl record.

Essentially, though, we’re releasing music in a format that we like to buy in.

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feature, prog rock, psychedelic rock, psychedelic spotlight

Andy Bracken and Keith Jones, the combined minds behind unique indie label Fruits de Mer Records, are skipping merrily along a polychromatic highway armed only with a handful of coloured vinyl and an off-the-wall, ready wit, as anybody who’s read one of their press releases will surely agree.

Our love of the label is well documented already, so as part of the occasional Psychedelic Spotlight series, Head Full of Snow imposed itself on one half of the team, Andy Bracken, to find out what makes them tick.

HFoS – For those that don’t already know, can you tell us what Fruits de Mer Records do and what makes you different from the rest?

Andy Bracken – We release limited edition vinyl records of songs originating in the late 1960s/early 1970s, in a psych, kraut, folk, prog vein, covered and reinterpreted by contemporary artists… Sounds quite complex when you write it down like that.

What makes us different from the rest is that we don’t really have a clue what we’re doing, but do it anyway. With smiles on our faces. And it works!

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feature, prog rock, psychedelic rock, psychedelic spotlight

It’s not often we plug businesses here at Head Full of Snow, but Birmingham’s own Dan Reddington,  the virtual storekeeper at Reddingtons Rare Records, has inspired me to break with tradition.

Reddingtons Rare Records in 2006. Image courtesy of and © Andy Brown

Not only is his online store an Aladdin’s cave of rare vinyl treats, festooned with decade’s worth of original pressings, but the man himself goes out of his way to help.

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If you’ve checked out the ‘Groovy Cats’ tab on this site, you may have already tried out the recommendations thereon. Each one, naturally, is a winner, else they wouldn’t be listed at this altar to outstanding quality.

Trip Inside This House, is one such site. A cornucopia of psychedelic goodness, taking its name from The 13th Floor Elevators track ‘Slip Inside This House’ and overseen by the encyclopaedic mind gone high that is valis Hertel. A fairly regular series on the Trip Inside This House site is Ten Questions, where valis grills someone currently active on the psych music scene (playing, writing, bloody great fan), so the rest of us can discover what makes these polychromatic peoples tick.

Being the crusading force of originality that HFoS is, we decided to nick this idea wholesale and turn the technicolour tables on the man who poses the questions, valis himself.

The man knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to wax lyrical on all things mind-expandingly musical. One of the many thoroughly interesting, kaleidoscopic troubadours writing on the genre today.

Those adverse to infectious enthusiasm and the desire to share it with others need not apply.

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feature, psychedelic rock, psychedelic spotlight

Jethro Tull are one of the few groups to have thus far recorded at least one studio album in each decade since the sixties. Even in the realms of prog rock, where numerous bands have made the oft embarrassing mistake of outstaying their welcome, that’s quite an achievement.

But even if Jethro Tull stretch it out to the sixth decade, releasing their 5000^th or so studio album, sorting through what has gone before can be like pogoing through a minefield of earache. Pretty much anything studio-bound beyond 1978′s Heavy Horses should be approached with the utmost of caution, and the albums that came to light during that darkest decade of them all, the 1980s, can probably be dismissed outright, dependent upon the individual listener’s pain threshold.

But for a time, namely the ten years following 1968′s debut, This Was, Jethro Tull were nigh on untouchable, laying low all that dared to stand before them.

So with no further ado, here’s five must-hears from the considerable Tull canon:
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album reviews, feature, prog rock

If you read the Prog Rock Xmas Selection Pack, then you already know the drill. If not, then to recap, it’s just five psych albums that you could do worse than spend your beer tokens on this Christmas.

It’s not a top 5, or the best of the best, so if you’re looking for a war of words, kindly try elsewhere. It’s just a few Head Full of Snow psychedelic rock faves to keep the cockles warm as the real snow falls.

Kaleidoscope – Tangerine Dream

The 1967 debut album from the UK (and vastly superior) Kaleidoscope, who would later go on to become Fairfield Parlour. With songs such as ‘The Murder of Lewis Tollani’, the sinister ‘(Further Reflections) In the Room of Percussion‘, the toytown psych of ‘Mr. Small, The Watch Repairer Man’, and the Narnia-like joy of ‘Sky Children’, Tangerine Dream is psychedelic gold. A folky feel prevails throughout, and this largely neglected example of late 60′s psychedelia is an eerie masterpiece.

Tangerine Dream is available from Amazon.co.uk
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feature, psychedelic rock

At a loss on what to spend the Our Price vouchers you’ll inevitably receive this Christmas?

Well, as Head Full of Snow is here to assist you – connoisseur of finer music – we’ve knocked up a quick list of five progressive rock albums to keep you warm through the impending winter months. This isn’t a top 5 list, just a few suggestions of some HFoS faves.

First up, the prog list:

Jethro Tull – Thick As a Brick

Jethro Tull’s 1972 experiment in the ultimate concept album is a joy to behold. Essentially one song carved into two twenty minute slices, Thick as a Brick runs the full gamut of prog, even throwing in self-indulgent drum solos for good measure. Ian Anderson’s lyrics and vocals ensure the tongue remains firmly in the cheek throughout.

Thick as a Brick is available from Amazon.co.uk

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feature, prog rock

Since the dawn of time debate has raged as to the answer to that eternal question. Which is better? Pre or post-Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd?

Many have attempted to find the answer only to fall by the wayside, their search for the truth let down by ill-preparation. Head Full of Snow will do no such thing. Instead we will weigh up the pros and cons of each era with the pivotal album remaining off-limits (for the record, a decent enough album but, in my opinion, one that’s outrageously overrated). This way there should be no fear of falling on our collective swords, long before the battle has been won.
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band, feature, prog rock, psychedelic rock, Uncategorized

In the world of cinema, remakes are usually dismissed as a sign of the lack of creativity within the film industry moneymaking machine. The same can’t be said for music. If an artist covers another’s tune it’s called a tribute, and, dependant upon the song and diversity of the arrangement or “reinterpretation”, sometimes hailed as a “work of genius”.

So what if you’re a record label and all you do is release modern re-recordings of psychedelic, prog rock and acid-folk tunes from the late 60s and 70s? Well Fruits de Mer Records is one such label (possibly the only such label), and like the bumblebee with its disproportionate bodyweight to wingspan ratio, it shouldn’t work, but somehow does.

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feature, prog rock, psychedelic rock

The HFoS ‘Who is/are:’ series provides handy bite-sized blasts of info for those who live their lives on the move.

If at some point during the late ’60s or the early ’70s you had inadvertently set foot in the Notting Hill Gate area of London known as Ladbroke Grove, you may well have been lured further into this heartland of Bohemia and the British underground by a distant cry of “Out Demons Out!” Further investigation would’ve revealed the source of this exorcism to be the politicised bark of one of England’s finest bands; one for who the term “criminally underrated” could well have been coined. Just who are the left-wing-anarcho-psychedelic-blues-prog-agit-rock outfit, the Edgar Broughton Band?

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feature, who is/are

The HFoS ‘Who is/are:’ series provides handy bite-sized blasts of info for those who live their lives on the move.

To kick off what will be an occasional series (basically when I haven’t the time to write anything more substantial), who better than Birmingham’s own musical magi, unfairly remembered by most for the perennial Christmas fave ‘I Wish it could be Christmas Everyday’? The mighty Roy Wood!

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“…  like Pink Floyd and Miles Davis jamming at a 13th Floor Elevator’s party …”

Mixing a variety of styles including the blues and elements of psychedelia into one progressive rock melting pot, intodown paint musical soundscapes that bring to mind early Pink Floyd, post-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd and the 13th Floor Elevators in varying degrees.

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band, feature

During the late sixties and early seventies, each and every rockstar worth their salt considered themselves to be the new Che Guevara. They communicated with the masses via soundbites of revolutionary rhetoric – more often than not from the comfort of their three storey mansion or tax exile in the South of France – and once the imminent uprising that had been promised burned itself out, they retired to count their money.

Revolution was, after all, big business.

So in honour of some of these Che charlatons who turned tail and fled as soon as the going got tough, Head Full of Snow brings you 5 songs with which to spark a revolution (or not).

The Rolling Stones – Street Fighting Man

An absolute stormer of a track and one that was written at a time when the anti-Vietnam war protests had spread as far afield as London, sparking riots and encouraging Mick Jagger himself to take to the streets and… stand on the sidelines taking photos of the ensuing chaos. Jagger was perhaps the biggest pretender to the revolutionary throne, toying with the imagery during the era of Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed, but soon getting bored and leaving it all behind to concentrate on becoming the mucky little devil we all know today. ‘Street Fighting Man’ appears on 1968′s Beggars Banquet.
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feature, folk rock, freak rock, music vid, prog rock, psychedelic rock

Further news on the the Fly Records and Salvo reissues of the first four Procol Harum albums as mentioned on Wednesday. As said, the first two, Procol Harum and Shine on Brightly are already out, but the classic A Salty Dog and Home are to be released on May 18th (2009).

As with all these superlative Fly reissues – the recent The Move ones being textbook examples of how these things should be done – they come with a host of bonus tracks to keep the connoisseur and completist happy.

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feature, news, prog rock, psychedelic rock

First the good news. Polydor reissued digitally remastered and enhanced editions of The Soft Machine’s first two albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2 early last month (late to the party, I know). The inevitable bad news is, horror of horrors, they were released solely as MP3 downloads!?!?!

At the risk of sounding like some Luddite with his head stuck in the late 60s and 70s – though I’m sure I probably do – I must ask the question, WHY?

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feature, occasional musings, prog rock

The world of prog rock has never shied away from the important things in life. Such as social comment; some spaced out, acid-soaked wierdness; a prolonged guitar solo; and the ability to grow a beard of note. Here are some of prog rock’s illuminati, who have taken it upon themselves to demonstrate that man is not judged by razor alone.

The Edgar Broughton Band

An absolute barnstormer of a band, sporting barnstorming beards. Warwick’s own The Edgar Broughton Band set out to prove there was legs in that old adage: “Why settle for one beard, when you can just as easily have three?” Or four, dependant on the line-up. Rob and Steve Broughton, HFoS salutes thee.

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As was so often the case with many a band signed during the psychedelic heyday of the late 60s (Focal Point being a case in point), The End remain one of those enigmas lost to time amidst a swirl of colour and a cloud of  hash smoke.

Image from: Marmalade Skies

In fact, mentioning Focal Point is no mere accident as two of the similarities between the misfortunes of the two bands sits firmly on the less desirable side of uncanny. Both had the sort of backing other bands could only dream of – Focal Point had The Beatles and The End had the Rolling Stones (more specifically Bill Wyman). Both were allowed to slip into obscurity through no fault of their own. The death of Beatles manager, Brian Epstein saw Focal Point’s priorities at Apple Records thrown onto the backburner, whilst Rolling Stones’ business manager Alan Klein sat on The End’s one and only album, Introspection, for eighteen months before it saw a release, at exactly the time when musical trends had moved on.

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band, feature, psych-pop

Head Full of Snow is a new music blog for anybody with a passing interest in the strange and wondrous stylings that came about during the halcyon days of the late sixties and seventies.

COMING SOON

If that’s enough to tickle your fancy, then please bookmark this page and check back.

Launching February 2009

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