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.

Of course, this is mere speculation and I’m sure there’s an army of post-Barrett Floydians out there, who actually witnessed this once in a generation spectacle and can tell me just how wrong I am; some in a witty and erudite manner that would put Oscar Wilde to shame and others less so. Such is the anonymity teh internetz brings, where the common-or-garden obsessive can issue death threats without fear of recrimination… or, indeed, having to carry them through.

This reunion of former warring factions – in Gilmour’s case during the performance of The Wall’s centrepiece ‘Comfortably Numb’ and Mason’s during the album’s spoken word tail-end ‘Outside the Wall’ – came in the same week as the second item of news was announced. Coincidence? That’s not for me to say.

This was the moderately more interesting revelation that this year will see the reissue of the complete Pink Floyd backcatalog and, more significantly, that three of the albums had been chosen for so-called “Immersion” treatment. This entails, multiple discs featuring all sorts of rare material, including live recordings, demos, documentaries, footage, as well as vinyl editions, booklets and other assorted “value-added” tat, roped together in a desperate bid to justify its extortionate price tag.

So what are the three albums chosen for this treatment? Should we be jumping for joy at the promise of a Piper at the Gates of Dawn to end all Pipers at the Gates of Dawn?

Well, no. Somewhat predictably, the albums receiving this gargantuan overhaul are Dark Side of the Moon, the aforementioned The Wall and Wish You Were Here… With the exception of the latter, a veritable voyage into the drearier reaches of sonic paint drying. There was also something about these three albums appearing in less extravagant “Experience” box-sets, but I’d completely lost interest by the time I got to these and have since forgotten individual details.

It’s worth noting that all 14 original Pink Floyd studio albums will be reissued in “Discovery” editions: single-disc remasters with absolutely no extras whatsoever. Like there aren’t enough of those already.

So it’s a big well done to Roger Waters, for once again overlooking the Syd Barrett years when it comes to putting these swanky packages together; and well done to EMI, for another shameless stab at fleecing the fans. I suppose new owner Citigroup needs some way of reclaiming that 2.2 billion debt they so “generously” wrote off.

In other news, I fear I may well have just diminished, considerably, my chances of copping hold of a few review copies.

The “Discovery” reissues and all the associated Pink Floyd box-sets are available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk, should their acquisition be your particular bag.

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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.

HFoS – All the releases have gone on to sell out. Who makes up the Fruits de Mer audience?

AB – Not quite all! We still have a few copies of a couple of releases left. Pop over to www.fruitsdemerrecords.com for all the skinny on those and future releases. And I urge people to join the mailing list (send your email address to info@fruitsdemerrecords.com). I see the day coming where we’ll be a mailing list only label.

Geographically, we’re selling approximately 45% in mainland Europe, 45% in the UK, and 10% elsewhere. The States is the toughest place to crack. Don’t get me wrong, we have a handful of really loyal followers there – good people – but it’s tiny – less than 3% of sales. The vinyl culture isn’t the same in the USA as Europe, and there’s that attitude of “wanting to be associated with success,” which is hard to overcome.

Demographically, the majority of our customers are just like me and Keith. Male, 35+, music obsessive’s, long-standing record collectors etc. There is a healthy smattering of females there, though, and younger people who are so hungry for new music and discovering sounds from the past – that’s smart, gives me a real buzz.

HFoS – Although the limited edition status, like a Wembley cup final, make the releases that little bit more special, will there come a time when Fruits de Mer Records are putting out full production runs? The fact they always sell out so quickly suggests there might be a demand for it.

AB – To be frank, I simply don’t want it to get too big. It’s already a lot of work, and I have no desire to deal with distribution companies and the like. They’re all going out of business, anyway.

The best thing about our label(s) is the interaction we get with our customers and the people, like yourself, who support us in the media. That makes it all worthwhile. Thank you for your support, Nick.

The biggest thrill, for me, is putting out a new record, announcing its availability to our mailing list, and getting 100 messages in 24 hours from people I’ve never met, but feel like I know. I know that if we expand, that side of things will be lost, because we’ll be spending all our time posting stuff out and dealing with the administrative side of things. Small is beautiful, as I keep saying to Keith in a re-assuring tone…

HFoS – Vibravoid’s excellent Pink Floyd tribute EP, What Colour is Pink? was released this month (April). Is it true that, despite hitting volume 10, you’ve yet to make any money on the Fruits de Mer venture?

AB – The money’s an irrelevance – as long as we just about break-even, we’ll carry on. As long as people want what we do, we’ll carry on. As long as we find interesting bands to cover tracks, we’ll carry on.

HFoS – What then keeps you doing what you do?

AB – It’s terribly clichéd, but we really do “do it for the love of it.” I’m the luckiest bloke in the world. I run a label with my best mate, Keith, my wife fully supports what I do, I have a customer base second to none, some great contacts in the media, I get to deal with some wonderfully talented musicians, who also happen to be smashing people, and they all appreciate what we do.

If more people did what they’ve always dreamed of doing, instead of buying in to all the societal and media sponsored bollocks, the world would be a much better place. We even did a free cassette to our regulars at Christmas – 12 tracks donated by all the bands we’d worked with in 2009 (Alison O’Donnell gave us a Flibbertigibbet track, for example). We just gave them away as a “thank you” to people. Commercial suicide, but it’s that kind of ‘fuck you’ attitude to the perceived rules. What happened to that, eh?

HFoS – There’s a 12″ LP out in June, titled A Phase We’re Going Through (Cover artwork looks great BTW). Who’ll feature on this and what songs will be covered/reinterpreted?

AB – Indeed there is! It’s a cracker, as well, 11 tracks that were, could have, or should have been ‘phased’ back in the 60s. The track listing for that pearler shall be:

(original artist in brackets)

The Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder – ‘Baby, Your Phrasing is Bad’, (Caleb)

The Chemistry Set – ‘Silver Birch’, (Del Shannon)

Rob Clarke and the Wooltones – ‘Mind of a Child’, (Clouds)

Cranium Pie – ‘Little Wing’, (Jimi Hendrix)

Geese – ‘Point Me At The Sky’, (Pink Floyd)

The Luck of Eden Hall – ‘Love is Only Sleeping’, (The Monkees)

The Marshmallow Staircase – ‘Plastic Fantastic Lover’, (Jefferson Airplane)

Permanent Clear Light – ‘In the City’, (The Who)

Sidewalk Society – ‘Red Chair, Fade Away’, (The Bee Gees)

The Swims – ‘My Clown’, (July)

Zombies of the Stratosphere – ‘London Social Degree’, (Billy Nicholls)

And the artwork was done by Brian Langan of The Swims from a brief I gave him. He’s a smart, talented artist and he grasped exactly what I wanted to achieve. There are references to all the tracks in this psychedelic melee – brilliant.

HFoS – Is there a temptation to put the album out on CD and go down the Amazon/iTunes route of distribution?

AB – Nope. I’d simply get no pleasure from “selling” someone a download, and very little from a CD. I’ve done a couple of CDs and I wish I hadn’t bothered. We sell 3 times more vinyl than CDs when both are offered. Why would anyone shell out for a CD, when they can just wait a while and get a free download via torrent, or something?

And I have no problem with people downloading our stuff illegally. Ultimately, these people aren’t music fans. My theory is: anyone looking for an illegal download is never going to buy a physical product, so just let them have it and maybe they will tell someone who has a soul…

HFoS – What’s does the future hold for Fruits de Mer Records (deserved world domination aside, of course)?

AB – Ha! Thank you. Nah, as I’ve probably made clear by now, I’ll always keep it at a level that is manageable and allows us to interact with the punters. We’ll keep going, in a similar vein, but perhaps pushing the boundaries of the sphere we operate in a little. Got to stay fresh, you know? And we have our next six or seven releases planned and at various stages of coming together.

Besides, at the moment it’s difficult to expand. There aren’t the media outlets, in printed form or radio, to take it much further. I don’t think the music business has ever been so closed – all that bollocks about the internet levelling the playing field, eh?

There are signs of encouragement, though. MOJO recently reviewed the Us & Them release, and Classic Rock has picked up on the upcoming Vibravoid EP. Most encouraging is that Ian Harrison at MOJO came to us and asked for a review copy. I have absolute respect for the guy for that.

HFoS – It would be unfair to ask which release so far has been your favourite, so tell us some of your favourite psychedelic acts/tracks from the multihued mists of time.

AB – Too hard, and it changes on a daily basis. I mean, I’m sat here listening to Midlake’s The Courage of Others, having just listened to CAN’s Delay 1968, and prior to that I had Traffic’s Mr Fantasy on the deck.

One thing I know: there are only four artists I buy everything by. Don’t need to hear it – just hearing about it is enough. They are Eddie Cochran, Syd Barrett, Nick Drake and The Fall. Between those four, just about every other song ever recorded can find some common ground, anyway.

HFoS – Finally, if you could have any artist or band in the world – dead or alive – from any period of time, to do a Fruits de Mer single/EP, who would it be and what tracks would feature?

AB – Good question. For me, Eddie Cochran. No hesitation. Keith would go for…hmmm, let me see: Stevie Marriott squaring off with Daltrey, with a Moon driven Who mentalling up a Pretty Things track. That’d be my guess. Shit – that’d be good, wouldn’t it?

And on that note, we leave Andy and ourselves to ponder just how good a showdown like that might really sound.

HFoS wishes to thank both Andy and Keith for taking the time to answer our questions and helping to set up the interview. We wish them and Fruits de Mer Records the best for the future and hope that they keep on doing what they’re doing.

You can find out more about Fruits de Mer and also order these wondrous nuggets of cylindrical ethene derivatives from the Fruits de Mer Records website.

Part 1 of Fruits de Mer Records interview

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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!

HFoS – Where did the idea for Fruits de Mer come from?

AB – It was mine, all mine! Kind of. I’d been running a label (Bracken Records) for a few years, and had known partner (that’s label partner) Keith for many years. We’d sit in pubs and muse the notion of starting a label together, but wanted an angle rather than simply setting up another indie imprint.

Keith wanted to re-release some of our favourite more obscure or under-appreciated tracks from 1966-1973 on 7” vinyl, but I was never too keen on that. As it happened, nor was EMI, so I suggested we get a contemporary band to cover the tracks we’d already acquired a licence for.

I pulled in a band I knew, they nailed the tracks, Keith liked them, we put it out, it sold out, and a monster was born…

HFoS – And the name? What’s the relevance of fish?

AB – Ha! Keith’s partner (that’s sexual partner), Liz, came up with it, as it’s her favourite meal. It seemed right, in an odd way, as we’re dredging up old gems and serving them up in a fresh and appetising way. That’s good – I may use that on the PR…

HFoS – How do you go about choosing which bands to work with?

AB – Initially, there has to be something we like in their sound, but we’re also always listening for potential in terms of re-interpreting. I think to successfully pull off an FdM release, the artist has to have a strong identity and a quite individual sound. The third element is then hearing what they could cover and how they could make it different or (hopefully) better.

HFoS – And who chooses which songs to cover, you or the bands?

AB – It really is a collaborative thing. We brainstorm with the band, and perhaps 20-30 tracks may be thrown into the mix before we settle on a few. We also have a bit of a say in how it’s done, as we don’t have any interest in simply putting out reverential covers. The new version has to “bring something to the party.” The whole thing is about finding the right dynamic – the right song, covered by the right band in the right way.

HFoS – Mark Fry stitched together his own fragmented, acid-folk lullaby ‘Dreaming with Alice’, bucking the trend of current band covering somebody else’s classic. How did this particular collaboration come about?

AB – I hooked up with Mark via MySpace, of all things. We exchanged emails and he and his wife came and stayed with me for a few days. The Frys are two of the loveliest people I’ve met in recent years. I suggested Mark cover some tracks for us and, after initial reticence, he agreed. There was a rumour going around for years that Mark Fry was long-departed, so it was nice to see he wasn’t. At least I don’t think he was – he ate well enough…

HFoS – Who had the idea of recording ‘Dreaming with Alice’ as a single entity? (On the original 1972 album of the same name, the track is broken up into short verses and sprinkled across its duration)

AB – Erm, that was me again (I’m feeling a bit boastful now). Mark and Keith ‘got it’ as soon as I suggested it. Mark did tell me that he wished he’d thought of it.

HFoS – Are there any plans in the pipeline to collaborate with other original artists on their own material?

AB – No, not at this juncture, but you never know. We’ve had contact with a few people from “back in the day”, so…

HFoS – Has there been feedback from any of the original artists?

AB – Yeah, we had a bit from Van Der Graaf Generator and Rod Argent (The Zombies), but those were initiated by us. I doubt any of the original artists are even aware of us, to be honest. At the end of the day, we’re hardly all over NME and ToTP, or whatever. Is Top of The Pops still going? I have no idea.

And on that note we appear to have run out of room, so we’ll leave Andy and ourselves pondering the current status of Top of The Pops until next week, when we may, or may not, discover the answer.

Make sure you tune in then for part 2 of our interview with Fruits de Mer Records’ Andy Bracken.

Fruits de Mer Records website

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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.

I had the need to contact Dan for an article I’m currently writing, and though we’d never spoken before, he went far beyond my expectations with his assistance, eventually managing to put me in contact with two members of The Idle Race. Sir, I salute thee.

Dan started his vast collection in 1954 with a Sammy Davis Jnr. record, and the shop from which he ran his business stood for 40 years just behind Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre. It closed three years ago and Reddingtons Rare Records is now run solely as a mail-order business through his website.

So if there is a particularly rare slab of vinyl you’re after, whether it be psychedelic, progressive or anything else, there’s every chance that Dan either has it, or knows someone who can get their hands on it.

Collectors of rare vinyl should check him out:

Reddingtons Rare Records

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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.

1. In ten words, or less, define “psychedelic music.”

Brain-analogue triggering devices to trip inside this house…

2. When and where did your love of psychedelic music arise?

As far as psychedelic music it’s been nearly 20 years now. My readings in the late ’80s were leading me further and further “down a rabbit hole,” with Robert Anton Wilson leading, and showing, the way. I’d copy his bibliographies and always had those on hand when going to used book stores or the library. When I felt stymied enough over the course of a few months I’d request an inter-library loan and get a book that way as my only recourse. (I’d get some strange looks, too, when requesting some of those titles.)

That was a prefatory to music exploring the same things I was reading about, i.e. “explorations of inner space.” This culminated in late 1991 with a friend loaning me a copy of the Spaceman 3 cassettes and the Roky* tribute, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye. That compilation was a true eye opening experience! No pun intended. I sought out further music from the bands contributing and haven’t been the same since. (I do enjoy power pop, too. But my main focus and obsession is psychedelic music. It fills that human desire which Ronald Siegel has termed “the Fourth Drive.”)

*Roky Erickson, founding member of The 13th Floor Elevators and pioneer of psychedelic rock

3. Where do think the line is drawn between psychedelic and progressive rock?  For instance, many psychedelic bands in the late sixties – Edgar Broughton or Soft Machine spring to mind – were also classed as progressive rock (in the UK, at least), yet a traditional prog band such as Camel would never be described as psychedelic.

I’m underqualified on this question. Having had this survey for a few weeks now this is the one question which I get hung up on. I “know”, as much as one can know, there is such a line but I’m unsure where it’s drawn; the phrase “I know it when I hear it” readily springs to my mind. I completely get the Soft Machine reference but would never classify-in my wildest imagination, Edgar Broughton Band as being anywhere near the category of prog. Their work seems to lean so heavily on blues based tropes with some dabbling in psychedelia, a la the Pretty Things, or the Rolling Stones even. My preference allows me to listen to Soft Machine works while eschewing Camel. I also avoid any Yes like a plague, but have time for early Gabriel-era Genesis. (I love ‘Carpet Crawlers’ from The Lambs Lie Down on Broadway.)

The whole question baffles, on multiple levels, in my mind. This possibly speaks to the complexities only I’m seeing in it, more than what may exist in reality. It doesn’t seem to be about the overall length of a track as putting it in progressive rock territory either. I can name numerous tracks in the 15-20 minute range which are full-on psychedelic without crossing any real or imagined line into prog’. I suppose if forced to make an easy distinction it seems prog was “overblown excess & egoistic ars gratia artis.” It works for me in an arena of music I pay little to no attention to. In the same way I pay no attention to the works (o_O) of Britney Spears and the other clones of pop/trash culture.

4. What are your reasons for laying bare your soul, so to speak, upon the internet with Trip Inside This House, and how do you hope TITH’s story to play out?

The reasons are fairly simple: a compulsion to share my obsession for flag-waving on behalf of the genre known as psychedelia. I’ve found the community of psychedelic music to be some of the nicest people I’ve ever communicated with and this adds to the overall positive experience and helps me continue the blog. As an extension of the blog, I’ve been doing a radio show, titled the same, for the past 15 months on our local community radio station. Trip Inside This House, the radio show goes out on Tuesdays, from 5 to 7am, Central time. (You can access two weeks’ worth of archived shows for streaming, too.) The radio show has also allowed me to expand the horizons of the blog. Seems symbiotic.

As far as how the story plays out..? Well.., every once in a while a new hare-brained scheme will pop into the head and I’ll act on it, so new features are added or dropped depending on how far I think I can go with it. (E.g., “The Wayback Machine” feature was a long-running constant of the blog but it got harder and harder to get participation because band members really preferred to be highlighted and increase their visibility by the more lengthy “10 Questions.” I just couldn’t stay ahead of the curve in an “inventory of respondents” way so that I’d be further stressed by the need to get someone “right now!” and that usually didn’t happen. I hope the blog continues picking up followers/readers but that seems out of my control, too. The best I can do is try to promise as much original content as I can, on a weekly basis, and hope it satisfies all concerned. Other than that, it’s a means of creative expression which is two-sided: myself & the bands. I honestly don’t have an ego about it; I’m proud of it, to be sure, and I guess pride is a part of the ego but I don’t think the blog defines me, rather the opposite.

5. What’s the -valis position on the recent news that Roky Erickson is to release his first album of new material in 14 years? Do you think some things are better left in the past?

Hmm, the “-valis position”..? I’m excited to hear where Roky’s “at” now. In most cases, decisions like this might be discerned as market-driven cash grabs but I think this falls far from that. My opinion, of course.

His name certainly has cache value and there’s no denying the importance of the man on this genre. Let’s give him a chance, at least.

The 13th Floor Elevators (Roky Erickson front row, right)

6. Which is better, the British or the American brand of psychedelic rock?

In my world there’s room for both. Turks, Africans, French, South American, Canadian, and perhaps even some Scottish, too! The collection isn’t weighted to either and I don’t make conscious decisions to play British or American psych’ on my radio show.

Now, if the question was meant to stir debate on the thematic and lyrical concerns of ’60s psychedelia coming out of the two countries I’m still going with the “room for both” statement. That debate has shaped up, in my mind at least, to be an oversimplification.

Yes, the Americans were dealing with the spectre of being drafted but there’s just as much as “light weight” & “toytown” psych’ here in the States as there was in the Isles. The argument simply doesn’t wash with me…

7. Which of today’s bands are really capturing the sound and essence of 60s psychedelic rock?

Lords! How much space do you want to devote to this survey as this may take up your entire allotment of web space? I tend to concentrate far more of my time and energy in exploring and seeking out these current purveyors, so this list could go on for, quite literally, days.

I think a couple of great starting points would be to point readers to the last two years’ “Best of…” posts. I believe I’ve named 100+ bands in my own lists! All worthy of the attention and exploration of their sounds, imho.

The BEST of 2008

Brain Buzzin’ Best of, 2009 Edition

That’s the short answer. Those which leap to mind, band-wise: The Asteroid No.4, Darker My Love, the Black Hollies, the Black Angels, Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, the Chemistry Set, Mondo Drag, the Grip Weeds, Outrageous Cherry, the Higher State, the Thanes, Anton Barbeau, the Dolly Rocker Movement, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Oblisk, Capsula, the Early Days, Lyserg Sands, Squires of the Subterrain, the December Sound, Stereoscope Jerk Explosion, Chatham Rise, Helicon, the Black Strands, A’dam Sykles, the High Dials, Troubador Dali, the Lovetones, the Quarter After, Screen Vinyl Image, the Starlight Mints, Evangelicals, Grails, Cosmic Trip Machine, Bipolaroid, the Upsidedown, Clinic, Deleted Waveform Gatherings, Dog Age, and on and on and on and on and on and on, ad inf.

8. Favourite psychedelic album of all time?

Primal Scream – Screamadelica

It’s the one which literally blew my mind, after hearing their version of the Elevators “Slip Inside This House” on the tribute compilation; has everything I really need from a psychedelic record and there’s no track I skip over.
After that it’d be Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request, by the Brian Jonestown Massacre and/or The Asteroid No.4′s brilliant These Flowers Of Ours: A Treasury of Witchcraft and Devilry… There, that’s three – ‘cos three is the magic number.

9. Top Ten Psychedelic Songs?

At this slice of time in the cone-cut:

(Randomly ordered)

1. The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows
2. Mondo Drag – Tallest Tales
3. Asteroid #4 – My Love
4. Cass McCombs – Tourist Woman
5. The Bongos – Numbers With Wings
6. Brian Jonestown Massacre – Malela
7. The Scoundrels – Up There
8. Legay – The Fantastic Story Of The Steam Driven Banana
9. The December Sound – Drone Refusenik
10. The Dolly Rocker Movement – Memory Lane

This answer will change in 23 minutes, and every 23 minutes thereafter.

10. Turn the tables, if you’d like, and ask me a question.

Where do YOU think the line is drawn between psychedelic and progressive rock?

HFoS: After giving it some thought, I find it impossible to give a definitive yay or nay. Suffice to say I have to agree with the “I know it when I hear it” answer. The two genres will never be exclusive to one another – early Procol Harum is definitely a case of both – but I think with the arrival of King Crimson the border became a little more defined, with prog rock being associated with a certain style of sound… Saying that, it’s impossible to draw a line between the two. Both are explorations of the further reaches of the musical stratospheres and, as such, an ear-pleasing one. The only way to separate is if you were to take the traditional aspects of both. ie Syd Barrett, Tomorrow and Kaleidoscope versus Yes, Camel and Gentle Giant. Even in that scenario the psychedelic wing could be classed as progressive, but not in the same way as the latter three, who, incidentally, could never be classed as psychedelic.

I think what I’m trying to say is, if there is an answer to this question, I haven’t got it.

I would like to thank valis of Trip Inside This House for taking time out to reveal a little bit more about the man behind the prismatic mind. And if you haven’t checked out his excellent site already, now’s the perfect opportunity to do so.

Until next time…

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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:

Stand Up

Following a patchy debut, Stand Up, the 1969 follow up saw Ian Anderson eject the instrumentals, the over-reliance on the Blues, and Mick Abrahams, in favour of a more pastoral prog-folk sound and long-serving guitarist, Martin Barre. The result is one of the Tull’s best, a near-perfect collection of songs that signals the future path down which they were headed. What isn’t there to like about an album that’s home to such sonic sensations as ‘Back to the Family’, ‘We Used to Know’ and ‘Reasons for Waiting’?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsCyC1dZiN8

‘Living in the Past’ – Bonus track on Stand Up

Aqualung

It’s inevitable that any best-of list regarding the mighty Tull is going to look somewhat incomplete without the all-conquering Aqualung. 1971 was the year of the Jethro Tull breakthrough, as it was Aqualung that elevated them to the world stage. Quite often mislabelled as a concept album, Aqualung is, instead, a collection of songs that mix the acoustic pastoral elegance of the folk sound with the more full on, electric energy of prog. The title track alone is worth the admission fee, but when there’s not a dud track to be heard between that and the majestic closer, ‘Wind Up’, you know you’re onto a good thing. To say that Aqualung isn’t even the Tull’s crowning glory, only demonstrates the unstoppable power of Anderson and co. during those halcyon days of the 1970s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQZI15dgMuQ

‘Locomotive Breath’ from Aqualung

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.

Minstrel in the Gallery

1975′s Minstrel in the Gallery played upon the allusions to the Elizabethan travelling player image that Ian Anderson had built around himself, with the one-legged, flute playing stage act. Framing the album as a performance in the court of a Renaissance-era Lord, it also signalled a return to a more folkish and acoustic sound, following the previous year’s Warchild. That’s not to say that there aren’t moments of stirring heavy rock and searing guitar riffs to keep the more dyed-in-the-wool prog fans happy. The rousing opener ‘Minstrel in the Gallery’, the soothingly gentle lilt of ‘Requiem’ and the 17 minute epic ‘Baker St. Muse’, rank among the strongest material the Tull ever recorded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N8nKtkj2r8

‘Requiem’ from Minstrel in the Gallery

Heavy Horses

Not only the Tull’s last hurrah before the rot set in, but also, quite possibly, their finest studio moment. Controversial as it may be to isolate one title from such an extensive body of work, 1978′s Heavy Horses nudges ahead of the rest for its seamless interweaving of folk and prog rock (but not progressive folk, a la Comus), creating an enticingly bucolic brew that serves as a portrait of rustic England and a demonstration of progressive rock at its evocative best. Who would’ve thought a song regarding the demise of the Shire horse as a working breed – as in the case of the title track – could not only be nine minutes of defining prog unsurpassed by the band, but one that’s rarely bettered by anybody else? The rest of the songs aren’t too bad either, and when you take into account the CD remaster sports the wonderfully pastoral ‘Broadford Bazaar’ as a bonus, where exactly does the “finest studio moment” moniker fall short?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ntI4TkOvEU

‘Heavy Horses’ from Heavy Horses

Stand Up, Aqualung, Thick As a Brick, Minstrel in the Gallery and Heavy Horses are all available to buy from Amazon.co.uk

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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

Pink Floyd – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Debate rages as to how much of Syd Barrett’s songwriting was actually influenced by his infamous acid intake. Whatever the leverage exerted by dubious substances, there’s no denying he brought a magical wonder to the songs that make up Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios at the same time as Sgt. Pepper, this easily outstrips The Beatles’ more homely and overrated opus for psychedelic wonder.

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is available from Amazon.co.uk

The Zombies – Odessey and Oracle

Psychedelic rock meets the baroque on The Zombies’ 1968 offering. Hammond organ, harpsichord and mellotron combine to create a harmonic whole, which goes so far as to feature a Victorian pump organ on the distressing anti-war dirge of ‘Butcher’s Tale’. Almost a year in the making, and The Zombies had split by the time of its release; Odessey and Oracle eschews psychedelic feedback in favour of the more melodic approach.

Odessey and Oracle is available from Amazon.co.uk

Dantalian’s Chariot – Chariot Rising

Chariot Rising is the album that was never released. In 1967, Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band turned all psychedelic, and after changing their name to Dantalian’s Chariot they became fixtures of the London underground scene. ‘Madman Running Through the Fields’, their exceptional and only single was released in 1967, but material recorded for a proposed album was largely discarded by a fickle record label. Chariot Rising collected all this material together and a complete Chariot Rising finally saw the light of day in 1996. Lysergic acid diethylamide seeps through the kaleidoscopic cover and laces the album with gems such as the aforementioned ‘Madman…’, ‘Sun Came Bursting Through My Cloud’, and what sounds like the soundtrack to a psychedelic spaghetti western, ‘This Island’.

Chariot Rising is available from Amazon.co.uk

The Small Faces – Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake

A mixture of heavy rock, jauntiness and psychedelic space-age nonsense make up The Small Faces’ classic 1968 album Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake. Side A’s a belter, Side B’s a belter; the only mark against it is the inclusion of “Professor” Stanley Unwin and his brand of bollockry, narrating the second side’s story of Happiness Stan and his search for the missing half of the moon. Apart from that, Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake = “deep joy”.

Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake is available from Amazon.co.uk

As it’s nearly Christmas, we offer a bonus treat for you to get your teeth into:

The Nice – The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack

Another debut, this time from The Nice, and 1967′s The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack fuses together both psychedelic and progressive rock to form what is not only an agreeable whole, but also one of the finest albums of the psychedelic era. Whoever cannot be moved by the atmospheric outings of the title track, ‘Flower King of Flies’, and ‘The Cry of Eugene’, or the dynamism of ‘Rondo’, is evidently dead from the neck up and in need of more than a selection pack this Christmas. The fact that it’s also the album that introduced us to the keyboard noodling wizardry of Keith Emerson, ably demonstrated on the CD reissue bonus track ‘America/Second Amendment‘, only adds to The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack’s greatness.

The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack is available from Amazon.co.uk

And there it is. Head Full of Snow’s Psychedelic Rock Christmas Selection Pack – a handy companion piece to the Prog Rock Selection Pack.

All that remains is for us to wish you a merry Christmas, with enough booze to floor a stampeding herd of elephants. As Head Full of Snow approaches it’s first birthday, maybe our paths will cross again in the new year.

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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

Wizzard – Wizzard Brew

Roy Wood’s tour-de-force of progressive noisemaking confounded both critics and fans at the time of its release in 1973. Those expecting an album full of singles such as ‘Ballpark Incident’ and ‘See My Baby Jive‘, were knocked bandy by Wizzard Brew’s mix of styles and the complete lack of anything that could constitute a chart hit. ‘Wear a Fast Gun’, particularly, is prog perfection. The current CD reissue also bundles the non-album singles, including the perennial, and under the circumstances, wholly apt ‘I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday’.

Wizzard Brew is available from Amazon.co.uk

Genesis – Nursery Cryme

Long before Genesis fell under the will-to-live purloining spell of Phil Collins, they made albums such as this. Featuring the ten minute ‘Musical Box’ for starters, it’s both dramatic and pastoral in turns. It may be the first Genesis album to feature the malignant drummer, but don’t hold that against it, this is still Peter Gabriel’s gig. On 1971′s Nursery Cryme the Genesis cup runneth over with invention and storytelling in both the music and the lyrics.

Nursery Cryme is available from Amazon.co.uk

Yes – Close to the Edge

Rightfully listed in the book 1001 Albums: You Must Hear Before You Die, 1972′s Close to the Edge is Yes’s finest hour. The title track itself is worth the admission fee alone, and at a minute shy of the twenty mark there’s no fear of being dragged away from the fireside in a hurry. Mystical gubbins, Chris Squire’s bass and Rick Wakeman’s keyboard noodling drive the album spectacularly on.

Close to the Edge is available from Amazon.co.uk

Camel – Moonmadness

The last Camel album to feature their original line-up, and undoubtedly the best. 1976′s Moonmadness is a mellow offering that, following on from their previous exercise in listening to paint dry, The Snow Goose, returns vocals to the Camel sound. “Overall, the tracks comprising the album were conceived as a loose concept based on the individual personalities that made up Camel…” So says the CD reissue liner notes. All we know is that this often dreamlike offering is a damn fine listen that’ll transport your mind, if not your body, far from the bitter cold reality of the Great British winter.

Moonmadness is available from Amazon.co.uk

Next time, HFoS will be serving up the Psychedelic Rock Christmas Selection Pack.

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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.

Pre-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd

Prior to The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd were one of Britain’s finest exponents of psychedelic rock… for all of two albums. These were 1967′s Piper at the Gates of Dawn and 1968′s A Saucerful of Secrets. The first, written largely by and featuring the vocals of Syd Barrett, lurches from acid space-rock freak-out tracks like ‘Interstellar Overdrive’, to the whimsical Barrettisms of classic toytown-psych, ‘The Gnome’.  The second, recorded when Barrett was sinking deeper into acid-induced oblivion and featuring only one of his compositions, the spine-tingling, eerily uncomfortable ‘Jugband Blues‘, continues the psychedelic standard of the debut with the likes of ‘Set Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ and ‘Corporal Clegg’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKN0-BC9PPg

Following these first two releases, as well as non-album singles such as ‘Arnold Layne’, ‘See Emily Play’, ‘Apples and Oranges’ and ‘Julia Dream’, and, of course, the unceremonious expulsion of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s ground became a little patchier.

More (a movie soundtrack) followed, with its mish-mash of styles and lack of cohesion, after which Pink Floyd began their drift towards The Dark Side of the Moon and a more “traditional” prog rock sound, which would see Roger Waters pretty much take the reins as Floyd’s creative force, whilst David Gilmour settled in as the lead vocalist. Ummagumma, is perhaps the most disappointing release of this transitional period, which despite being home to the blissfully gentle pastoral-folk of ‘Grantchester Meadows’, is elsewhere pretentious and nigh-on unlistenable in equal turns.

Atom Heart Mother continues the push to separate Pink Floyd from its psychedelic past, but it’s not until 1971′s Meddle that the pointers for The Dark Side of the Moon really fall into place, with the 23 minute ‘Echoes’ sounding, for all intents, like a dry run for parts of the eternally-celebrated Pink Floyd axle. With another film soundtrack in the bag in the shape of 1972′s Obscured by Clouds, 1973 arrived and the Floyd changed.

Post-Dark Side of the Moon Floyd

The first release following The Dark Side of the Moon was 1975′s Wish You Were Here, an album that not only eclipses its predecessor in terms of greatness, but also sees Pink Floyd back at their best following the dumping of Syd Barrett. Superior psychedelia had finally given way to superior progressive rock.

With the songs ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I- IX) and the title track, it puts Pink Floyd back at the top of their profession. The fact the album is about Barrett also provides a fitting, if belated and slightly hypocritical tribute from his former cohorts. An eerie moment that has since passed into rock folklore occurred during its recording and can be read about here.

Animals in 1977 maintained a standard, but despite its undoubted proggishness with just the three main songs, the lengthy ‘Dogs’, ‘Pigs (Three Different Ones)’ – including a commendable dig at anti-freedom campaigner and professional busy-body, Mary Whitehouse – and ‘Sheep’, it couldn’t hold a candle to Wish You Were Here.

This was followed in 1979 by The Wall, the Floyd album that even newborn babies have heard of, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous single ‘Another Brick in the Wall’. The lengthy concept album features quality tracks such as ‘Nobody Home’, ‘Comfortably Numb’, and ‘In the Flesh’, but “lengthy” is the operative word in this case, with too much filler wedged in between the killer, padding out the album’s story, somewhat unnecessarily. But nonetheless, it was the last decent album Pink Floyd recorded, as the onset of the 80s saw them polluted by the same disease that struck down any band whose roots were in the 60s but chose to continue recording beyond the 70s – that of trying to stay abreast of the new kids by embracing pop/rock.

Pink Floyd, in one shape or another, recorded three more albums before calling it a day with 1994′s The Division Bell, but these were as far from the psychedelic beginnings and prog rock fruitions as it was possible to get. Being as such, they don’t warrant inclusion in Head Full of Snow’s search for the better Floyd incarnation.

The Verdict

Despite a strong showing from Wish You Were Here, and a fair bit of fluff from before the days of The Dark Side of the Moon, it’s the earlier incarnation that takes the title. The psychedelic rock and sometime whimsy of the Barrett era beats the often laborious, and dare one say, sometime boring prog of The Dark Side of the Moon and beyond.

And so ends our quest. Take this answer with you and step forth into the world, a better person for it.

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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.

Fruits de Mer Records put out these little curios on limited edition, coloured 7″ vinyl, harking back to the age of the A-side and B-sided single with a repertoire of songs from such HFoS-friendly acts as The Zombies, Van der Graaf Generator, Caravan and The Rolling Stones.

Performing these tracks are a variety of modern day psych and prog apologists, including The Flaming Gnomes, Vibravoid and Stay; and in the case of Mark Fry, the original artist re-recording tracks from his seminal, though relatively obscure, acid-folk reverie Dreaming With Alice.

The 11-track sampler sent to HFoS towers absolutely bristles with energy, as these new acts inject old favourites with a renewed vigour, rendering something that sounds nowhere near as bad as the concept might suggest.

For instance, Schizo Fun Addict’s version of The Small Faces’ ‘Ogden’s Gone Nut Flake’ adds an ethereal female vocal,  whilst cutting back on the original’s heavy phasing, firing it onto a new plain. Elsewhere, the aforementioned Stay, a neo-psych band from Spain, take credible shots at Strawberry Alarm Clock’s ‘Rainy Day, Mushroom Pillow’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘2000 Light Years From Home‘.

Mark Fry’s version of the haunting title track from his Dreaming With Alice album is notable for appearing in one continuous form as opposed to the fragmented, album-straddling original, but loses nothing for it, sounding as though it was recorded in 1968 (despite the original album’s slightly out of time recording of 1972). Juxtaposing this gentleness is the barking mad, phased out psychedelic rock of Cranium Pie, chucking out a blistering rendition of Dantalian’s Chariot’s ‘Madman Running Through the Field’, complete with spectral vocodered chorus and backwards vocals.

Fruits de Mer and its roster of artists are doing a splendid job. Their multicoloured range of mind-bending musical platters is well worth checking out.

You can find out more at the Fruits de Mer website or sample some of the tracks on their MySpace page.

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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?

Who are: The Edgar Broughton Band (formerly the Edgar Broughton Blues Band)

Formed: 1965, Warwick, England

Genre: Low-down and dirty Blues; Prog rock; Psychedelic rock; Freak rock; Political

Former identities: The Original Road Runners, The Talons…

Core line-up: Rob ‘Edgar’ Broughton (Vocals, Guitar); Arthur Grant (Bass, Vocals); Steve Broughton (Drums)

Other notable members: Victor Unitt (Guitar) – original member, left to join the Pretty Things, but rejoined for the 1971 – 1973 albums. Luke Broughton (Keyboards and synthesisers) – Rob ‘Edgar’ Broughton’s son, plays on the present tours

How to recognise: The Fabulous Furry Freak Brother’s made flesh

Albums: Wasa Wasa (1969); Sing Brother Sing (1970); Edgar Broughton Band (1971); In Side Out (1972); Oora (1973); Bandages (1975); Parlez-Vous English? (1979); Super Chip: The Final Silicon Solution (1982)

Live Albums: Keep Them Freaks a Rollin’ Live at Abbey Road 1969; Demons at the Beeb; Live Hits Harder; Chilly Morning Mama

Essential Albums: Sing Brother Sing; Edgar Broughton Band; Oora; Keep Them Freaks a Rollin Live

Best Songs: Too many to choose from so here’s a few… American Boy Soldier (WasaWasa); The Moth (Sing Brother Sing); Aphrodite (Sing Brother Sing); Up Yours (Sing Brother Sing); Evening Over Rooftops (Edgar Broughton Band); For Doctor Spock (Edgar Broughton Band); I Got Mad (In Side Out); Homes Fit For Heroes (In Side Out); Hurricane Man / Rock ‘n’ Roller (Oora); Eviction (Oora); Get a Rise (Bandages)

Doing now: Since the ’70s have undertaken sporadic reunions and tours. Presently reformed with the original recording line-up of Rob ‘Edgar’ Broughton, Arthur Grant and Steve Broughton and the addition of Rob’s son, Luke. Gigging and touring throughout the country

The First Supper – Edgar Broughton’s Blog
Steve Broughton’s Bitz
Edgar Broughton Band MySpace page

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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!

Who is: Roy Adrian Wood

Born: Kitts Green, Birmingham. 1946

How to recognise: Full of beard, long of hair

What’s he do: Songwriter, singer, composer, musician

Instruments: Guitars, bass, saxophone, cello, sitar, mandolin, banjo, recorder, the kitchen sink… In fact, if it’s possible to get a tune out of it, there’s a fair chance Roy Wood can play it. And even if it isn’t, he’ll give it a ruddy good shot.  A bowl of water, for instance (‘Wake Up’ from Boulders)

Bands: Gerry Levene and the Avengers; Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders; The Move; Electric Light Orchestra; Wizzard; Roy Wood Wizzo Band; Helicopters; Roy Wood Big Band; Roy Wood’s Army

Essential Albums: Looking On (The Move); Message From the Country (The Move); The Electric Light Orchestra (Electric Light Orchestra); Wizzard Brew (Wizzard)

Best Songs: Fire Brigade (The Move – The Move); Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited (The Move – Shazam [sung by Carl Wayne]) Brontosaurus (The Move – Looking On); Looking On (The Move – Looking On); Tonight (The Move – Message front the Country); California Man (The Move – Message From the Country); Whisper in the Night (Electric Light Orchestra - The Electric Light Orchestra); Meet Me at the Jailhouse (Wizzard – Wizzard Brew); Buffalo Station/Get on Down to Memphis (Wizzard – Wizzard Brew); See My Baby Jive (Wizzard – Wizzard Brew); Songs of Praise (Roy Wood – Boulders)

Doing now: Wheels out the old favourites with Roy Wood’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Band for gigs and TV appearances. Writes an occasional column in Birmingham’s Sunday Mercury newspaper. The odd spot of TV, particularly local TV

Roy Wood’s official website

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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.

With frontman and guitar-warlock Michael Clark – who looks like the ringmaster at the Devil’s own rock ‘n’ roll circus – citing the likes of Peter Green, Mayall and Cream era Eric Clapton and the psychedelic gypsy himself, Jimi Hendrix, as chief amongst his influences, they bang out the sort of music that gets the HFoS seal of approval.

intodown have an album out, Brave New World, available through their website, and a taster of their style can be sampled on the intodown MySpace page. ‘Sonic Voyage 3′ in particular has that early Floyd sound, reminiscent of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’ from Piper at the Gates of Dawn, whereas other tracks sometimes dabble with a more Gilmouresque sound.

If largely instrumental freakouts be your thing, then you could do a lot worse than lending your ears to the eclectic sounds of intodown, “the 60’s band from the future.”

www.intodown.com
www.myspace.com/intodown

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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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRqtKLskPQs

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.

The Pink Fairies – Right On, Fight On

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TU517Qb1Ok

In contrast to Jagger and his cronies, The Pink Fairies (nee The Deviants) at least made some attempt at revolutionary zeal. As part of the Ladbroke Grove underground scene, along with with the likes of The Edgar Broughton Band and Hawkwind, they would play free concerts and benefits for various good causes, sometimes even turning up uninvited and playing, just to further their anarchist agenda of ‘free music for the people’. ‘Right On, Fight On’ comes from their 1972 album What a Bunch of Sweeties and sounds like the precursor to social upheaval, the morning prior to the revolution, so to speak.

Jefferson Airplane – Volunteers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SboRijhWFDU

Jefferson Airplane were quick to place themselves behind every single right-on movement going during the lates 60s – Grace Slick famously blacking up for a performance of ‘Lather’ on the Smothers Brothers show, in support of the Black Panther Party. However, when it came to leading from the front they were a little less forthcoming, content to encourage uprising from the stage before buggering off in their chauffeur-driven Cadillacs. Their commitment was spelt out as little more than youthful rebellion when, once revolutionary fervour had died down, songwriter and rhythm guitarist Paul Kantner said, “We were all punks in high school and we were always rebelling against authority.” The culmination of all this political bravado and revolutionary-chic comes with ‘Volunteers’ from the album of the same name, a sonic call to arms for revolutionaries the world over.

Thunderclap Newman – Something in the Air

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9oxyqLWoEI

It’s pretty safe to say that Thunderclap Newman were never going to be the band that kickstarted the revolution. Not unless sedition and social equality were to be brought about by a man who looked like a chartered accountant and a schoolboy. Nevertheless, Pete Townshend’s proteges had a crack of the whip in 1969 with this post-psychedelia standard that’s been used to advertise everything from British Airways to mobile phones… Hand out the arms and ammo, indeed.

Joan Baez – Joe Hill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5po2p8V-SRs

Quiet revolutions are often the most effective, shunning the drawn-out battles in favour of change that happens overnight. The Russian revolution has gone down in history as a spectacular event culminating in the storming of the Winter Palace, whereas in reality there was little, if at all any, bloodshed. The real Joe Hill was a Swedish immigrant trade union activist, executed by firing squad on trumped up charges in the United States. His name has since gone on to reach almost mythological proportions within the labour movement, largely thanks to a number of folk songs highlighting his plight. This particular one was written in 1936 and is here performed by Joan Baez – who was at least prepared to go to jail for her beliefs, as she did for her anti-war activism. It doesn’t need the cannons firing and guns blazing to invoke passion. ‘Joe Hill’ settles for the quieter revolution.

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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.

1967′s Procol Harum boasts eleven bonus tracks alongside the original remastered album, including the perennial singles ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ and ‘Homburg’, plus the unreleased ‘Understandably Blue’, originally written for Dusty Springfield and regarded as Gary Brooker and Keith Reid’s lost masterpiece. There’s also an early instrumental version of ‘Pandora’s Box’, which would later be re-recorded for 1975′s Procol’s Ninth, going on to reach No. 16 in the UK charts.

1968′s Shine on Brightly also has eleven bonus tracks to delight, including the original 1967 version of the sumptuous ‘Magdalene (My Regal Zonophone)’ and two other Head Full of Snow faves, the humorous ‘I Seem to Have the Blues (Most All the Time)’ and the split-personality tale of ‘Monsieur Armand’. There’s also ‘McGregor’, the final Procol song to be produced by Denny Cordell and an unreleased backing track, ‘A Robe of Silk’, long a hot topic of rumour between Procol Harum fans.

The yet to be released A Salty Dog, from 1969, has six bonus tracks on offer, four of which are live tracks recorded in the US at the time of the original album’s release. If you’ve heard the live disc included on The Move Anthology then you’ll know that the sound quality should be of a tip-top standard. There is also the first take of ‘The Milk of Human Kindness’ , which has come from a tape box marked 31st January 1969. This track, in its rawest form, promises to be a good example of the band’s recording process.

Which brings us to the final release – until Salvo and Strongman Productions reissue the remaining Procol Harum albums – which is 1970′s Home. This has two bonus tracks to offer (the only ones approved by the band), which are raw versions of the splendidly misanthropic ‘Still There’ll Be More’ from the Chris Thomas produced sessions at Abbey Road, and a work-in-progress taken from PYE Studios of ‘Whaling Stories’. Once again these promise to illustrate the recording process, from the very early stages of laying down tracks.

Head Full of Snow can’t wait for these last two to be released, particularly A Salty Dog, and reviews of all four albums will be posted in the future.

See also:

Procol Harum debut album reissue
Procol Harum – Shine on Brightly

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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?

Why download only? Surely Polydor are missing their market completely – or maybe it’s just me. Granted, I’m fully aware that the day will soon arrive when newborn babies are born with every single piece of music ever recorded, pre-programmed into their tiny brains and archived for immediate access whenever the mood takes. That’s progress for you. But until that happens there are those of us who still purchase the quaint artefact known as the compact disc – though we are ostracised and casually harangued on the street for our peculiar preference.

True, I occasionally download albums from Amazon or iTunes myself – making me not only a Luddite but a ruddy great hypocrite – but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the majority of people who would be interested in a remastered reissue of an album by progressive art-rockers, The Soft Machine, would appreciate the choice of either going the electronic route or having something they can actually hold in their hands.

A download only track may be all right for the latest single by Lilly Allen, Beyonce Knowles or Eminem, as their music is targeted specifically at a disposable generation seeking instant gratification, but these two albums hark back to 1968 and ’69 respectively, long before the humble CD even, in the days when the gatefold sleeve was an artform in itself.

I for one prefer the packaging, the informative booklet – something to look at, something to read (Am I sounding like a simpleton here?). You only have to look to the likes of Repertoire or Fly Records with their lush digipack reissues to see how this should be done.

So have Polydor dropped a bollock here?

Maybe I’m way off mark and it’s just me. Maybe this is what the rest of The Soft Machine’s audience have been screaming out for. I doubt it though – particularly when you consider that not everybody has access to their own computer, let alone an MP3 player.

Let me know what you think.

Update Both The Soft Machine Volume 1 and Volume Two reissues are scheduled for a CD release on July 20th 2009 and available from Amazon.co.uk. Thanks to Martin Westmacott for the letting us know.

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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.

Barclay James Harvest – Les Holroyd

Despite Barclay James Harvest boasting a member going by the name of Stuart ‘Woolly’ Wolstenholme, it was bassist Les Holroyd who took it upon himself to aquire the ‘woolly’ look. With beard and flowing locks he upheld the prog tradition of being both hairy and carefree.

Hawkwind

Even if they have been through more line-ups than a Turkish lady of the night, during the 70s Hawkwind could always be relied upon to knock out a cracking album and deliver an assortment of beards. Beards that would not only frighten small children, but also double as a handy stash for illicet substances the next time the old Bill kicked the doors in on your Ladbroke Grove squat.

Aphrodite’s Child

As everybody knows, the Greeks invented the beard, and in celebration of this fact Aphrodite’s Child ensured its members never left home without a substantial growth of facial furniture. Boasting Demis Roussos and Vangelis amongst the ranks, their progressive sound may have been forgotten in the intervening years, the beards however, remain eternal.

Van Der Graaf Generator – Dave ‘Jaxon’ Jackson

Time for a quick game of spot the beard, featuring Van Der Graaf Generator. I can only give a couple of clues as to where the beard is located so listen (or read) carefully. It is an unorthodox, ‘two-way’ beard – some say the holy grail of beard cultivation. It is attached to the face of Dave ‘Jaxon’ Jackson. Good luck with that.

Roy Wood

If anybody’s still in doubt as to the direct correlation between length of beard and size of talent, they need look no further than the mighty Roy Wood. Creative talent behind The Move, early E.L.O, Wizzard and accomplished solo artist, need we say more? Oh, alright – I believe Shakespeare himself wrote of Roy Wood’s beard: “Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale its infinite variety” Say no more.

Jethro Tull – Ian Anderson

Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson is the prog god of beardy, wierdy goodness. Sporting beard, and quite often a trilby, since time began, it is the acclaimed minstrel in the gallery himself who takes pride of place here. A beard for all seasons, no less.

Feel free to contribute your own beard/prog rock ‘anecdote’ in the comments below.

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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.

The End had started out as The Innocents, performing backing for singer Mike Berry, who ‘d later go on to appear in later series of British sit-com, Are You Being Served.

Now anybody whose heard The End’s Introspection will agree that they were far better than a session outfit for a future sub-holiday camp entertainer, a point not lost on Bill Wyman when their paths crossed in the first half of the 1960s, appearing further up the bill than the Stones, and he offered his assistance should the time come they wished to branch out on their own.

Which is what two members of The Innocents, Dave Brown and Colin Griffin, did, recruiting three more members, two of whom would later be replaced, and becoming The End.

Bill Wyman kept his word and prior to the band decamping to Spain to take a pop at the Spanish music circuit, he and the then Rolling Stones engineer, Glyn Johns, produced The End’s single ‘I Can’t Get Any Joy’ – a title that proved  an unfortunate portent to the band’s future fortunes in the UK market.  Success in Spain saw their sound drifting towards a more guitar-based psychedelic one and it was Wyman again who suggested the band begin working on an album to capitalise on the psychedelia buzz that casting its basket of flowers into the heart of the UK scene.

July 1967, and The End began work on Introspection – Their Bill Wyman produced, one and only album that down the years would become something of a psychedelic holy grail.

Recorded at around the same time as the Rolling Stones were recording Their Satanic Majesties Request, the album featured guest appearances from Charlie Watts and Nicky Hopkins (session keyboardist on many a classic Stones tune) and is unashamed psych-pop; a factor that would play a major part in Introspection’s lack of success, come its eventual release.

A single, ‘Shades of Orange’ backed with ‘Loving Sacred Loving’, was released to a good reception and these songs would later go on to cause quite a stir amongst bootleg afficianados ever-eager to unearth the next lost pièce de résistance,  who mistakenly thought them to be unused Stones tracks – and if that wasn’t enough to get the juices flowing, ones  that featured The Beatles(!)

Once completed, Introspection was placed in the ‘capable’ hands of the aforementioned business manager, Alan Klein, where it would remain for eighteen months before seeing the light of day in 1969. Decent reviews weren’t enough to counter a lack of interest from The End’s record company Decca, nor the fact that the market had shifted to favour heavier psychedelic and progressive rock, and the album sank without trace. Colin Griffin says: “I think if Introspection had been released a year earlier it may have made an impact…”

Such was the fickle nature of the ever-changing swirl of trends and fashions that spiraled through the latter half of the 60s. An album eighteen months out of time.

The End drifted apart following the disastrous release, with three of the members (including Dave Brown) leaving psychedelia well and truly behind  to form hard rock act, Tucky Buzzard.

And that was it until 1999, thirty years on from the release of Introspection, when they reformed for a festival in Spain, the country in which they’d enjoyed the lion’s share of their success.

The End had their all-too-brief moment but were denied a shot at true greatness by the conspiracy of human ineptiitude, record company apathy and damned bad luck.

Introspection is released on the Decca label and available from Amazon.co.uk

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Launching February 2009