Arzachel

Interesting psychedelic jams, especially on side 2 (the last two tracks of the album). The sound quality is only so-so; it is definitely a low-budget album. But the music is definitely worth it, which is not really surprising when you know that Arzachel are none than Egg + Steve Hillage.
About "early days": They did not have any "late" days; in fact their name had originally been "Uriel" (pronounced "You real" with a slight variant; the stress in "real" is on the second syllable and not on the first; the main stress is on the "U" though). They had to change their name because the producer of their album thought "Uriel" sounded too close to "Urinal" (would have been no problem for a punk band lol). They only recorded that album; Hillage went off after that to form Khan, and the band continued as "Egg".

This album is another gem from the late '60s prog. The music is psychedelic/space prog with some Canterbury elements.

Wenstrup wrote: Wrong, please do not post if you have no clue. The proper pronunciation of "Uriel" is your-e-l. The reason they used Arzachel has nothing to do with the Producer confusing with Urinal. Egg was signed to Decca and could not record on another label so they came up with Arzachel to record their one off album. Uriel was long gone by this time with hillage quitting to go to college. Get your facts straight Baldeagle!

I know the proper pronunciation of "Uriel"; Mont Campbell sings it on the second album of Egg. It was Dave Stewart himself who explained the name change that way, in the liner notes of the reissue of Khan's "Space Shanty" album. So I think I have my facts pretty straight.


Edited by BaldFriede - January 12 2008 at 18:15