Prog Britannia - Album Reviews

 

 

Album Review #73:- JAN DUKES DE GREY sounds like a French nobleman, but they were actually a short-lived Prog/Psych-Folk band from Leeds in northern England. Their first album "Sorcerers" (1970) passed by virtually unnoticed at the time of its release, but their second album "Mice and Rats in the Loft" (1971) will be much more familiar to Prog/Psych-Folk fans. Both albums have since become real collectors items. They recorded a third album "Strange Terrain" in 1977, but that long-lost album wouldn't see the light of day until 2010/11. The "Mice and Rats in the Loft" album reviewed here, consists of three extended songs of improvisational acid-drenched Folk:- 1. "Sun Symphonica" (18:58); 2. "Call of the Wild" (12:48); & 3. "Mice and Rats in the Loft" (8:19).

The outlook for "Sun Symphonica" is for bright and sunny spells of long pastoral flute passages with occasional outbreaks of classically-inspired orchestral showers. Just as the song title implies, "Sun Symphonica" is a radiant sunburst symphony of sound, featuring flutes, clarinets, saxophones, harmonicas, violins and hyperactive percussion in abundance. It's very bold and brassy, but it's also very sophisticated and classy, mainly due to the ornate chamber music from the orchestra. Some of the exotic musical passages sound faintly middle eastern, conjuring up bizarre images of a Turkish bazaar where one is expected to haggle over the price of a carpet, whilst the vendor puffs away calmly on a hookah pipe. The music is a veritable potpourri of musical styles, combining pleasant strolls through golden meadows of woodwinds amidst glorious showers of lush strings and vibrant percussion. The song as a whole is a very pleasant confection that's as sweet and exotic as a box of Turkish Delights.

The next song "Call of the Wild" is nothing to do with wolves barking at the moon. No, this is more of a call of the wild in human terms with the lyrics apparently advocating free love and a freeing of the spirit:- "I will be free to sleep where I want and with who and what I will." ..... If the promiscuous lyrics are anything to go by, the northern town of Leeds in the seventies was just as footloose and fancy free as proverbial swinging London in the sixties, so maybe it's not so grim up north after all. The music is pretty wild and swinging too, consisting mainly of lively bursts of infectious fluty Folk blended together with a liberal dose of saxophonic jazz in a musical tour de force. Think of Jethro Tull combined with Soft Machine, and that's the kind of Jazzy Psych-Folk you have here.

And now we come to the title track: "Mice and Rats in the Loft". If you really DO have mice in the loft, here's a handy hint: mice absolutely love chocolate, far more than cheese, so if you want to catch mice humanely, just bait the walk-in trap with some hot chocolate powder and they'll be queuing up to get into the trap and the trapdoor will close behind them. You can then let them out later in a rodents version of the "Catch and Release" program. Anyway, back to the music after that brief digression. This is where the musicians really get to let their hair down and go off on an improvisational free-for-all. The wacky over-the-top singer sounds like he's on a mad LSD trip here and the weird psychedelic Jazz sounds as wild and crazy as bats in the belfry, or mice and rats scampering about in the loft.

Jan Dukes de Grey appear to have invented a whole new genre of music with their unique "Mice and Rats in the Loft" album. The music can best be described as Psychedelic Jazz-Folk. Sometimes, the music is rousing and spectacular, and sometimes it's pleasant and pastoral, and maybe it's even weird and wonderfully zany at times too, but it's NEVER dull.

 

 

Album Review #71:- BABE RUTH were a Jazzy Blues-Rock band who hailed from England, despite naming themselves after an American baseball legend. Although the band managed to reach first base in their native England, it was in North America where the band hit a home run and achieved commercial success when their first album achieved gold. They first emerged in the leafy town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire in 1971 and released their aptly-titled "First Base" album in 1972. They followed it up with four more album releases throughout the 1970's:- "Amar Caballero" (1973); "Babe Ruth" (1975); "Stealin' Home" (1975); and "Kid's Stuff" (1976). The band decided to call it quits after their fifth album in 1976, but they got together again thirty years later to record the long-awaited comeback album "Que Pasa" (2007). It's time now to strike out for a home run with Babe Ruth's "First Base" album. The baseball-themed fantasy artwork for the album cover was designed by Roger Dean, who also designed many YES album covers.

The album gets off to a rip-roaring start with "Wells Fargo", a song you can bank on to deliver some hard-drivin' Blues-Rock with vocalist Janita "Jennie" Haan having the same raw and earthy edge to her voice as blues legend Janis Joplin. The song gallops along at a tremendous pace with the lively horn section sounding like they're having a real blast here. The saxophonist probably needed to lie down in a darkened room just to catch his breath after his energetic non-stop performance in this 6-minute opener. There's a far more sedate pace to "The Runaways" with Jennie Haan sounding far more restrained here. It's a sensual piano piece featuring an oboe and cello in symphonic accompaniment. This rousing classically-inspired music gradually builds up in intensity, emerging into a sonorous crescendo of sound for the spectacular finale, in a bass-heavy song that's very reminiscent of some of Renaissance's epic masterpieces. This is quite possibly the best song that Renaissance *never* recorded. It's time now to go ape-crazy for "King Kong", a cover version of the old Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention song. This is one heck of a crazy jam session, with the band given free rein to improvise away to their heart's content. This is the kind of fast and furious, Jazzy improvisational free-for-all that couldn't possibly be written down formally as musical notation, regardless of whether or not you know your crotchets from your quavers.

"Black Dog" opens Side Two, although it's nothing to do with the classic Led Zep song of the same name. No, this is more of a laid-back Blues-Rock piano number, at least to begin with. The song might sound moody and mellow in the opening, but it's really a wolf in sheep's clothing, because there's a rompin' stompin' Hard Rock song just waiting to get out. Beware, this is a mean "Black Dog" with sharp teeth that might just leap up and bite, so watch out! If the next song "The Mexican" sounds familiar, that's because it's a Jazzed-up version of the spaghetti western music of Ennio Morricone. Hola amigo! It's perfect music for listening to whilst watching "gringo" Clint Eastwood despatching some more Mexican banditos with his trusty six- gun after they've insulted his mule. It's a return to some heavy Blues-Rock for the final song on the album "The Joker", where vocalist Jennie Haan is in mean and moody, bad mama mode again. It's the kind of good old American Pie Southern Rock song you could listen to whilst driving your chevy down to the levee, even if the levee was dry. Sometimes, it's hard to believe Babe Ruth are really as English as a chip buttie, or a vindaloo curry.

"First Base" is a good old-fashioned American Southern Rock album - from the leafy suburbs of Hatfield in England! Babe Ruth may not have hit a home run with this album in their native England, but it's easy to see why they were much more popular with our American cousins. Obvious comparisons can be drawn with the Blues-Rock of Janis Joplin and Big Brother & the Holding Company. Babe Ruth sound as American as Billy Bob Thornton or Randy California eating blueberry pie and wearing a Stetson hat and cowboy boots.

:)

 

 

Album Review #69- COMUS were a dark, paganistic Psych-Folk band who crept out of the shadows from Bromley in Kent in 1969. The nighmarish music of Comus was reflected in the ghoulish image on their first album cover, "First Utterance" (1971). Comus' first unearthly album is their best-known album by far. They followed it up with the "To Keep from Crying" album in 1974 which passed by virtually unnoticed by the record buying public. The band got together again in 2012 for the long-awaited comeback album, aptly-titled "Out of the Coma", which contained three new songs as well as featuring songs from a 1972 live session. It's time to descend into the dark abyss now and check out the "First Utterance" album. The 2001 CD reissue added three bonus tracks to the original seven songs on the album.

The first spooky song "Diana" conjures up a dark satanic image of nefarious goings-on at a witches coven. The focus of this supernatural hocus pocus hokum is mainly on the unsettling violins and off-kilter harmonising from the witches choir giving the music a dark macabre sinister edge. It's creepy and disturbing folk (although that's no reflection on the band members themselves) which is very reminiscent of the eerie folk music in the paganistic horror movie, "The Wicker Man" starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee. The hair-raising lyrics to "Diana" are pretty scary too:- "Lust he follows virtue close, Through the steaming woodlands, His darkened blood through bulging veins, Through the steaming woodlands." ..... It's enough to send a shiver up the spine and give you a touch of the heebie-jeebies. You might be tempted to leave the lights on at night after listening to this creepy witches brew of Halloween music, but try not to have nightmares. The next song "The Herald" is a 12-minute Psych-Folk masterpiece, which still has the same sinister air of a midnight mass at a witches coven, but it's a strangely beautiful song at the same time. The music is carried along on a wave of gently rippling guitar strings and violins with the hauntingly-beautiful vocals of Bobbie Watson sounding somehow sweet and angelic, so maybe she's a harmless white witch and not a dark satanic black witch after all. If the first two songs haven't already given you the creeps though, then the third song "Drip Drip" surely will. The music is a 10-minute-long barrelling ghost train ride, ending in a helter-skelter Psych-Folk frenzy, featuring some absolutely manic violin playing and tortured and strangulated vocals from lead singer Roger Wooton. The lyrics are very dark and disturbing too so I won't recite them here, other than to say, the "Drip Drip" refers to the drips of blood from a hanging corpse. Enough said. This is definitely not the kind of folk album you'd want to buy your dear old aunt for Christmas as it'd probably scare the living daylights out of her.

The seven and a half minute "Song to Comus" opens Side Two. It's a dark and disturbing tale of a damsel in distress having her virginity forcibly taken by the monstrous Comus of the title. The music is an infectious fluty Prog-Folk number which sounds like a mad and unhinged version of Jethro Tull. The demented vocalist is clearly going ever so slightly mad here, sounding like a deranged inmate on day release 
from a lunatic asylum, where "care in the community" clearly hasn't worked. It brings to mind the manic 1966 novelty record "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" ..... Watch out! There's a werewolf about in the next song "The Bite". This guitar, violin and flute melody gallops along at an absolutely insane pace, with the musicians barely coming up for air in this manic 5-minute psychedelic freak-out. The dark mood deepens with "Bitten", a brief 2-minute instrumental, featuring the lonely sound of a mournful violin. The final song "The Prisoner" is another manic manifestation of deeply disturbing music, which takes us on a terrifying paranoid schizophrenic ride to hell. It's quite literally a tale of sheer lunacy, because it's all about a disturbed mental patient being given electro-convulsive "therapy" against their will. It's shocking! "The Prisoner" is pretty scary, but it's probably not as scary as the thought of watching back to back episodes of Prisoner Cell Block H.

Dare you enter the weird and sinister world of Comus? There's nowt so Wyrd as the paganistic freaky folk of Comus. This unsettling and disturbing Psych-Folk music is as unnerving as a stay in a haunted house on the night of a full moon during a thunderstorm at Halloween. This frightfully good album contains more Black Magic than a box of dark chocolates. It's a dark descent into madness, death, witchcraft and supernatural fairy tales, but it's also a very good album too. "First Utterance" might not appeal to Prog-Rock fans generally, but if you're in the mood for a scary Friday the 13th outbreak of infectious freaky folk, then this might just be the album for you. Just make sure you secure all of the doors and windows before settling down to listen to this dark and menacing album in the middle of the night, because you never know who or what might be lurking out there in the darkness.

 

It's funny you should ask that because by pure coincidence, East of Eden's "Mercator Projected" is the album I have lined up to review tomorrow.

 

Album Review#67:- KEN HENSLEY (born 1945) is the thundering keyboard powerhouse that drives the High and Mighty sound of URIAH HEEP. He's been involved with a number of "very 'eavy, very 'umble" bands during his early years, including two albums with The Gods: "Genesis" (1968) and "To Samuel a Son" (1969), one album with Head Machine: "Orgasm" (1969), a self-titled album with "Toe Fat" (1970), and another self-titled album with "Weed" (1971). Ken Hensley appeared on thirteen Uriah Heep albums in a row, from their first album, "Very 'eavy, Very 'umble" in 1970, right through to their "Conquest" album in 1980, when he left the band he'd founded shortly afterwards due to the age-old band problem of "artistic differences". In the mid-1980's, Ken Hensley appeared on two albums with the American Southern Rock band Blackfoot: "Siogo" (1983) and "Vertical Smiles" (1984). He's also recorded two Live albums each in 2001 and 2002 with his two former Uriah Heep bandmates, John Lawton and John Wetton. More recently, he's recorded two studio albums under the name Ken Hensley & Live Fire: "Faster" (2011) and "Trouble" (2013). Ken Hensley launched his solo career in 1973 with "Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf", when he was still very much the driving force behind Uriah Heep. Two of Ken's Uriah Heep bandmates featured on the album: Gary Thain on bass and Lee Kerslake on drums. He's since recorded eight more studio albums with his most recent solo album "Love & Other Mysteries" arriving in the record stores in 2012. It's time now to take Ken Hensley's loud and proud first solo album off the shelf and blow off the dust and wipe away the cobwebs and give it a listen.

The album opens in magnificent style with a tremendous power ballad: "When Evening Comes". Ken Hensley is in fine voice here and he's a very accomplished guitarist too, as he demonstrates here with some phenomenal soaring power chords and glittering glissandos. This dramatic refrain is just as strong and powerful as anything Uriah Heep have ever done, representing a dazzling entrance onto the solo stage for Ken Hensley which he can feel justly proud. Stunning debut albums like this one only come along "From Time To Time" and that's the title of our next song. It begins as a gentle strumming acoustic guitar number and blossoms out into a high and mighty passion play of stupendous sonic splendour, in true Uriah Heep style. Think of the magnificent majesty of "July Morning", and that's the kind of epic song you have here, only without David Byron's extravagant high-pitched vocals. When the dynamic keyboards appear at the midway point, that's when the song really reaches up into the stratosphere. It's back down to earth for "A King Without a Throne", a fairly routine and plodding Blues- Rock number without any great Demons and Wizards keyboard histrionics. It's time to put the umbrella up now for "Rain", which features Ken in full romantic balladeer mode. It's a gorgeous piano ballad featuring these moving heartfelt lyrics:- "It's raining outside but that's not unusual, But the way that I'm feeling is becoming usual, I guess you could say, The clouds are moving away, Away from your days, And into mine." ..... The moment when the gorgeous choir joins in is truly inspirational. This mellifluous romantic melody is guaranteed to brighten up the dullest of rainy days. We've reached the halfway point now with "Proud Words", a rousing and rollicking rock & roll song with a boisterous attitude. Ken Hensley's clearly not in the mood to stand for any nonsense here as he loudly and proudly urges us all to:- "Stand up and fight, Or you'll lose your right, Do you want to stand in a line, Fightin' hard to hold on to your mind." ..... It's a rockin' good song to close Side One, which sounds like a rousing call to arms.

We've struck lucky and hit musical gold with "Fortune", a resonant reverberant refrain with High and Mighty Ken Hensley at his exhilarating and exuberant best. It's a true Return To Fantasy in a glorious Wonderworld of classic Uriah Heep pomp and passion. It's a song with all of the storming power of a tank rolling across Salisbury Plain. This is where we get to hear the booming and bombastic sound of Ken Hensley having the Sweet Freedom to do what he does best of all - delivering dynamic and dramatic Hard Rock with all of the explosive power of a stick of TNT. It's very 'eavy, but not so very 'umble. There's a nice change of pace for "Black Hearted Lady", an uplifting romantic ballad with Ken Hensley wearing his heart on his sleeve with these bittersweet lyrics:- "Reading between the lines I find, You don't mean what you say, You cheated and you lied, And how you made me hurt inside, You turned my days into darkest nights, And re-arranged my dreams, You're just not what you seem, Black-hearted lady." ..... It sounds like Ken was writing from bitter personal experience with those emotionally-wrought lyrics. It's time to "Go Down" now for a lovely acoustic guitar ballad. It's a charming heart-warming song carried along on a harmonious wave of rich golden guitar chords and with Ken Hensley in fine impassioned voice. In an album that's choc-a-bloc full of great songs, the penultimate song "Cold Autumn Sunday" represents the highlight of the album. It's a passionate power ballad that pulls out all the stops, featuring a glittering display of stratospheric guitar riffing and a rousing honey-voiced choir that's guaranteed to lift the spirits up into the heavens. This is THE BIG anthemic number on the album with all of the grandiose splendour and magnificent majesty of a great royal occasion. And finally, here comes the real shocker..... Ken Hensley goes Country! Yes, really! "The Last Time" is the last song on the album and it's a twangy Country song, adding a countrified string to Mr Hensley's versatile musical bow, although it's hard to picture Ken Hensley wearing a Stetson hat and cowboy boots.

"Proud Words on a Dusty Shelf" is a magnificent debut for Ken Hensley and it's an album that any discerning connoisseur of classic Prog-Rock can feel proud to have on their dusty shelf. You don't HAVE to be a Uriah Heep fan to love this stunning album, but it might help. It's not as hard and heavy as Uriah Heep, but it's an album bursting at the seams with pride and power and romantic passion.

 

Album Review #65:- Guitar legend STEVE HOWE (born 1947) is best-known as a long-standing member of the Prog-Rock supergroups YES and ASIA. He began his illustrious career in the 1960's with the Psychedelic Rock bands Bodast, Tomorrow and the Syndicats before joining YES in 1970 for their third studio outing "The Yes Album" (1971). He appeared on the following seven YES studio albums up to and including the "Drama" album in 1980 before leaving to form ASIA together with keyboard player Geoff Downes. In 1985, he formed the supergroup GTR with Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and they recorded one self-titled album together in 1986. Steve Howe featured on the "Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe" album in 1989, which was a YES album in all but name, and he returned to YES for the "Union" album in 1991. He didn't feature on the following YES "Talk" (1994) album, due to the age-old band problem of "artistic differences" over the recording of the preceding "Union" album. You can't keep a good musician down though and he returned to YES in fine form for the "Keys to Ascension" album in 1996. He's appeared on all of the following six YES studio albums, up to and including the most recent album "Heaven and Earth" (2014). Steve Howe launched his solo career with the "Beginnings" album in 1975, after the rigours of recording the YES "Relayer" (1974) album, when all of the YES members were taking a well-deserved long break from the band to each record a solo album. He followed the "Beginnings" album with "The Steve Howe Album" in 1979, which was generally well-received by critics. Altogether, Steve Howe has recorded twelve studio albums throughout his long career, as well as six albums of re-recorded material released as the "Homebrew" series. He even found the time to form a Jazz group in 2007, imaginatively named "The Steve Howe Trio", and they've so far recorded three albums together. Steve Howe wrote all of the music and lyrics for his first solo "Beginnings" album and he bravely takes on lead vocal duties, although Steve Howe's not normally noted for his vocal abilities. The album featured some of Steve Howe's YES bandmates, Bill Bruford & Alan White on drums and Patrick Moraz on keyboards. The fantasy cover artwork was designed by Roger Dean.

 

 

Album Review #63:- Keyboardist PETER BARDENS (1944-2002) is best-known as one of the founder members of Camel, alongside guitarist Andy Latimer. In fact, they look so much alike, you could almost believe Peter Bardens and Andrew Latimer were brothers. Peter Bardens appeared on the first six Camel albums:- "Camel" (1973); "Mirage" (1974); "The Snow Goose" (1975); "Moonmadness" (1976); "Raindances" (1977); & "Breathless" (1978), as well as making a guest appearance on "The Single Factor" album in 1982. Peter Bardens launched his solo career with "The Answer" album in 1970, back when Camel was still a twinkle in Andy Latimer's eye. The album is known to have featured guitar legend Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac in an uncredited appearance under an assumed name. Pete Bardens released two more solo albums at the beginning and end of the 1970's:- "Peter Bardens" (1971); and "Heart to Heart" (1979). He also formed a supergroup in the mid-1990's called Mirage, consisting of ex-Camel and ex- Caravan members, although they only recorded one live album together and never quite got around to recording a studio album. Altogether, Peter Bardens' has recorded nine albums throughout his long solo career, with his most recent album "The Art of Levitation" (2002) released the same year as his tragic death from lung cancer at the age of 57. The 2010 CD re-master of "The Answer" added two bonus tracks to the original six songs on the album. So, what can we expect from Pete Bardens first solo outing. Will it be a Camelesque kaleidoscope of keyboard colours? "The Answer" lies within.

The album opens with the title track, and if you like laid-back Psychedelic Soul, then this song will be "The Answer" to your
prayers. The cheerful and vibrant opening keyboard chords conjure up a tantalasing image of an English country garden on a
warm summer's day, which seems fitting, as Peter Bardens is pictured on the cover sitting on a throne in a veritable Garden of
Eden, surrounded by a bevy of beauties. This is a song to savour as you  drink in the drops of sunlight, bathed in the golden
glow emanating from the scintillating psychedelic guitar. It's mellow and groovy slice of sweetly seductive psychedelia coated
in a honey-rich texture of sound, that's guaranteed to permeate the very Soul. If you're in the mood to embark on a wild and
soulful psychedelic trip without the aid of any psychedelic substances, then this song is "The Answer". The intriguingly-
titled "Don't Goof with the Spook" is up next. This song is no Mellow Yellow. This is a Purple Haze of acid-drenched guitar reverb. This psychedelic freak-out is very reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix with Peter Bardens vocals sounding so laid-back here that he's almost horizontal. This heavy dose of
psychedelia is sure to delight fans of the late-1960's American west coast acid guitar sound. Even The Doors in their wildest
moments never sounded quite as psychedelic as this. The musicians somehow manage to replicate the genuine sound of
American Psychedelic Rock perfectly whilst still remaining firmly rooted in England. I can't remember the last time I heard an
album of British psychedelia as good as this and "I Can't Remember" is the title of the next song. We're moving to the blue end of the psychedelic spectrum for this Blues Rock number, although it's positively aglow with some ultra-violet sparkling rays of sunshine, in the form of an extended psychedelic jam from the dynamic
duo of Peter Bardens and Peter Green, battling it out in unison to see who's the greatest caped crusader of them all in the hallowed halls of Rock & Roll. 

Side Two opens with "I Don't Want To Go Home",  a light and airy song featuring a flirtatious flute and with some gorgeous
soulful backing vocals from Linda Lewis (best-known for the song "Rock-a-Doodle-Doo). It's a playful and pleasurable melody carried along on a sea of flower-power love and
peace that's best-listened to on a warm sunshiny day when all of the brightly-coloured flowers in the psychedelic garden are
in full bloom. It's back to basics for "Let's Get It On", a straightforward Blues-Rock number with Linda Lewis providing some
mellifluous and soulful harmonising on backing vocals. And now we come to the BIG number to close out the album, the 13-
minute-long "Homage to the God of Light". This is an out-and-out rocker going full speed ahead and it's easily the proggiest of all the songs on the
album, giving a hint of the dynamic keyboard virtuosity to come from Peter Bardens when he made his presence loudly felt
with Camel's debut album in 1973. This storming,  pounding and percussive powerhouse of a song is the thunderous highlight of the album, containing all of the sparkling power and dynamic energy of an electricity generating sub-station.  This rousing and rollicking, keyboard-driven number pounds along at a relentless pace in a
sonic high-decibel assault on the eardrums with all the unstoppable power of a runaway express train thundering down the
tracks.

This outstanding album of British Psychedelic Rock has a liberal sprinkling of Soul in the form of soulful backing vocals from
Linda Lewis and Steve Ellis (of Love Affair). It might not be very proggy - apart from the last track - but if you like your
music "painted" in wild psychedelic rainbow colours, then this superb album might just be "The Answer" to your psychedelic
flower-power dreams. This is an album that's as bright and vibrant as an aurora borealis (or an aurora australis if you come from a land down under).

 

 

Thanks! That would be great and I'm looking forward to seeing what other obscure British albums you come up with. I've liked every album you've recommended so far, and your list of Underground Rock Albums has proved immensely useful. I've found a lot of great artists on that list I'd never even heard of before. Being a member of Prog Archives has been a constant journey of discovery. In the meantime, I'm about to listen to and review Peter Bardens first album,  "The Answer".