ARZACHEL

The band took their name from a crater on the moon and so it's no surprise that the music is spacey and psychedelic with some blues thrown in as well. I remember when I first received this record and saw the names of the band members on the back (with a funny write up about each of them) I thought I had ordered the wrong cd, because the guys used fake names to avoid any contractural problems that might arise. So Steve Hillage is named Simeon Sasparella (haha) and so on.

"Garden Of Earthly Delights" features the dual vocals of Campbell and Hillage that are done so well. We are treated to some drifting organ melodies and lazy guitar from Hillage that gathers strength before the song ends. "Azathoth" opens with organ as the drums come in as well as haunting vocals and some screeching guitar.

"Queen St.Gang" is an instrumental of drums and organ, and the organ sounds so good. "Leg" is a blues song with some incredible guitar solos. "Clean Innocent Fun" is another blues song with an organ / guitar melody 2 1/2 minutes in that is great. The final song "Metempsychosis" is very "Interstellar Overdrive" sounding except this goes on for over 16 minutes and eventually sounds like a Krautrock style jam. It's quite a ride anyway.

I admit I bought this because of the involvement of Hillage and Stewart and although it's good (the sound quality isn't) it doesn't compare to the KHAN's "Space Shanty" that they did together along with two other musicians. Still this is a good sample of an early Psychedelic record.