SPACE SHANTY

Khan was a UK progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. They were only active in 1971 and 1972 and released only one album, "Space Shanty". "Space Shanty" was released in June 1972, followed by a UK live tour supporting Caravan. It's a truly classic progressive rock album of the Canterbury scene. It's a question of love or hate to proggies. Some love its loose, jazzy jams, and others hate its hippie lyrics and flowery arrangements. Some others say that its sound has more to do with a hard rock album than to a Canterbury classic album. But what's more notable is that "Space Shanty" is a distillation of the many styles of the Canterbury scene, with its cosmic hippy humor, the fascinating and busy arrangements but, above all, it remains completely new, fresh and exciting. This is a progressive rock album of the first class, and it's, definitely, one of the best albums where Hillage and Stewart have played together.

Khan was a supergroup, one of the first ones. As is typical with the Canterbury scene, each member was also a member of a number of other bands. Keyboardist Dave Stewart played with Arzachel, Egg, Gong, Hatfield And The North, and National Health, to name a few. Guitarist Steve Hillage went on to play and record a number of notable albums with Kevin Ayers, Gong, and as a solo artist. Bassist Nick Greenwood had done time with the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown.

So, the line up on the album is Steve Hillage (vocals and guitars), Dave Stewart (organ, piano, celesta and marimbas), Nick Greenwood (vocals and bass) and Eric Peachey (drums).

"Space Shanty" has six tracks. All tracks were written by Hillage except "Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains" which was written by Hillage and Greenwood. The first track is the title track "Space Shanty". This opening title track is very representative of the album, both in quality and style. It has lengthy and complex tones with strong melodies, riffs and much extended instrumental parts that will impress and satisfy any true progressive rock fan. Stewart's organ sound is immediately recognisable, and the addition of Hillage's guitar work gives the band a sonic range that the otherwise excellent Egg didn't have. There is a slight space edge to some of the instrumental parts, quite natural with an album's title like this, but I still wouldn't consider the overall sound on the album to be spacey or space rock. The second track "Stranded (Including Effeverscent Psycho Novelty No. 5)" features a beautiful, deep organ tone by Stewart along with a sprinkling piano and a very strong vocal melody. The instrumental part burst out in a heavy riff, and an acoustic flamenco influenced guitar solo makes a surprising and nice appearance. This song flows right into the next one, "Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains". The third track "Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains" starts with a fairly straightforward rock beat played at a stride. The instrumental parts on this track has a slightly jazzier feel, with wordless vocals and lots of soloing between Hillage and Stewart with some of the best Canterbury prog jamming that you'll ever heard. The fourth track "Driving To Amsterdam" also starts a bit jazzy and turns quickly into some delicious melodies played simultaneously by Hillage and Stewart. It features some particularly fiery keyboard work by Stewart with his prepared keyboards. The melody on the vocal parts is probably the most beautiful in the whole album. The fifth track "Stargazers" reminds a lot of Gentle Giant and the song itself is a progressive rock at its catchiest and most immediate. It features some excellent guitar solos from Hillage along with patented guitar and organ interplay, between both, and some tasteful and prominent rhythm section of bass and drums. The sixth track "Hollow Stone (Escape Of The Space Pirates)" has some soft and pleasant vocal passages with Stewart's dreamy organ in the background, while the more distorted side of his sound dominates the solo parts. The track ends with an incredibly grand sounding heavy riff that creates a hell of a climax to the song. This is another excellent track that concludes brilliantly this great masterpiece.

The 2005 reissued release includes two bonus tracks, "Break The Chains" and a fantastic first version of "Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains". With these two additional tracks the running time of this new release increases to 55 minutes.

Conclusion: "Space Shanty" is a must have and it's too bad that they didn't last long enough to make more albums. The music has a real sense of scale and joy, and the guys are clearly enjoying themselves with their instruments. The recording is warm and straightforward with panning and flanging done to a real good effect. The music here is quite innovative, particularly with combining effects pedals with keyboards. In this time weren't relying too much on studio trickery and tape manipulation. This is one of the jewels in the crown of the Canterbury prog and one of my favourite albums of that sub-genre. It's highly recommended for all fans and collectors of the early 70's British progressive rock scene. Canterbury rock didn't start with Khan. But, if you're not intimate with that genre, then "Space Shanty" would be a perfect place for you to start, despite its heaviness. This is a pure gold plated classic progressive rock album, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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