LEGEND OF A MIND

I am not one to buy compilations or box-set especially of multi-artist , but let temptation get the better of me and I am reaaly glad I did. This compilation is a tribute to one of the most known but bluesish label Decca that created a sub-label Deram for its more adventurous and progressive acts. EMI will do the same with Harvest , Philipps will create Vertigo , RCA will create Neon etc... Most of those sublabel will not bring much money to their bigger brothers, but in spirit with the era , this was not the goal, but to create some out of ordinary music was the main aspiration. A very noble project indeed. The title refers to a song that The Moody Blues wrote in honour of Timothy Leary "the pope of acid", but really honours a certain type of music developped here that was partially created under use of substances.

Although most of the artist featured here , i knew and needed no more introduction , there were a few surprises (not really among the more progressive artist, though) that got my interest going. Ten Years After , Caravan , Curved Air , Camel and The Moody Blues were definitely the best known and better selling artist of the label , and they are represented here overe the 3-discs set 2 or 3 times. Some artists such as Egg , Aardvayk , East Of Eden and Khan are probably known to my older fellow reviewers , but the real interest here is the obscure stuff. Johnny Almond And The Music Machines (future Mark-Almond), Leafhound , Black Cat Bone , Room and Mellow Candle were among the fine momemts.

Actually , the thing I regret most here is that too much space for the well known artists is spent , not allowing more space for the obscure stuff! Some things never change!