Sweet Okay Supersister – Spiral Staircase
For those that dismissed prog rock as being overblown, overlong and – heaven forbid – pompous to the point of self-deluded arrogance, there was always the completely bonkers Supersister on hand to shoot down such accusations with a bizarre barrage of off-the-wall lyrics and bohemian tunes.
This is none so more evident than on one-shot side-project Sweet Okay Supersister and the 1974 album Spiral Staircase, upon which not a moment’s seriousness, or indeed sanity, is allowed to escape.
Compared to the previous Supersister album, 1973’s Iskander, this is a very different beast entirely. Whereas that was an about turn in direction, being a somewhat po-faced concept album in the more traditional prog rock vein, Spiral Staircase returned the sense of humour to the Supersister name for what was to be the silliest offering yet.
It may have been the band’s final bow, featuring only founder members Sacha van Geest and Robert Jan Stips along with a variety of guest musicians, but you wouldn’t have guessed this from the level of energy, enthusiasm and sheer daftness demonstrated hereon.
It’s difficult to pick out certain tracks for analysis as they all blend into one jaunty and whimsical whole, but particularly off kilter are the intermittent blather of ‘Sylvers Song (Groan, Stamp, Shock, Hoot)’ and the clearly insane calypso of ‘Gi, Ga, Go (Gollumble Jafers)’, both of which need to be heard to be believed.
Fetching up somewhere on an isolated shore of eccentricity with the Supersister of old, fellow Dutchmen Focus, the Bonzos, Arthur Brown and Gong; Spiral Staircase is a fitting close to the band’s legacy, particularly if you’re not adverse to your progressive rock stylings keeping their tongue firmly in the cheek.
The Esoteric Recordings reissue also features the mad as a box of frogs, calypso-courting single ‘Coconut Woman’ and its B-side ‘Here Comes the Doctor’, both recorded with the Los Allegres steel band.
Spiral Staircase is released on Esoteric Recordings and available from Amazon.co.uk
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