Khan – Space Shanty
There’s a glittering pond, somewhere beyond the grim onset of the 1980s, where floats many a progressive rock act of the 70s that have either gone on to be forgotten or never attained the recognition they might’ve hoped for in their time. Drifting on this shimmering pool of dancing light, if you look hard enough, you may well spot Khan and there 1972 oneshot Space Shanty.
Give Space Shanty a listen and it will fire itself free of the watery grave, blasting forth beyond the pull of the earth’s orbit and into the deepest and darkest reaches of the universe. A psychedelic blend of arty space-rock and progressive organ noodling provide the soundtrack.
Khan were the almost legendary Steve Hillage (later of Gong and ongoing solo success), Dave Stewart (Egg, Hatfield and teh North, National Health), Nick Greenwood (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown) and Eric Peachy (Dr. K’s Blues Band). Their lifespan was short but that matters not – Space Shanty is an ambitious, sometimes flawed vestige by which to remember them.
A concept album of sorts, Space Shanty rings with otherworldly sounds, over-sincere vocals, winding guitar passages and Dave Stewart’s ethereal organs creating an interstellar undercurrent. Everything a progressive rock album should have.
With six tracks ranging from five to ten minutes in length, Khan tick all the boxes on the progressive rock checklist with a sound that’s not a hundred miles from Camel’s Moonmadness, albeit four years prior to that release. It also suggests the direction Steve Hillage was headed in – even with his musical career in its infancy – influenced by the avant-garde Canterbury scene and showcasing the experimental flair for which he’d recieve prog rock adulation on Gong’s “Radio Gnome Trilogy” and beyond.
Space Shanty is the kernel of the far-out, spage-age voyaging of Hillage’s later years and one that takes us into the realms of sci-fi authors Brian Aldiss and Larry Niven.
Khan’s voyage across the stars ends with ‘Hollow Stone (Escape of the Space Pirates)’, a wistful opus of spage-age acid dreaming that rounds things off nicely and, along with the staring-at-the-sun-mindfuck-trip that is ‘Mixed Up Man of the Mountains’, gets the HFoS connoiseur’s choice recommendation.
Space Shanty is a solid, if occcasionally understated example of progressive rock. It sports a Roger Dean-esque cover, the staple artwork of 70’s prog, and the 2008 reissue offers two bonus tracks.
Seek out the pond, salvage the vessel, and set course for the stars.
Space Shanty is reissued by Esoteric Recordings and available from Amazon.co.uk
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