THE TWO SIDES OF TONY (T.S) MCPHEE

During Tony's dalliances with Synthesisers and Mellotrons he became a master of the keyboards, creating his own home studio in Haverhill, Suffolk and producing his first solo album "Two Sides of Tony McPhee", a very personal work particularly concentrating on the subject of fox hunting - this vile practice was always abhorrent to Tony and indeed to most of us, and the cruel nature of the course of a day's fox hunt is reflected in the whole of side two using electronic synthesisers entitled "The Hunt".

Synthesisers are used to good effect simulating the chase , the animal's last dying moments and the baying of the advancing hounds and is a very progressive and involving piece.

Though many new listeners today may find the sounds on "The Hunt" dated and somewhat primitive, remember the use of Synthesisers was in its early development in 1973 and few pioneers had had any success with it, but here the sheer emotions within the piece are revealed..

"Yelping hounds pack to form a Gorgon's head of gyrating tails ready to turn a Stag's heart to stone at a single glance. Each dog has a pedigree that would fill a ream of paper as have their masters boasting generations of good breeding. Family trees with branches laden with the names of past landed gentry, their greatest contribution to the land being when they fall in their Autumn years, providing the earth with the same humus as their mongrel serfs."

The musical passages are interspersed with artificial yelps, howls and hunting horns, creating an atmosphere of sinister cruelty which culminates in a reflection of man's inhumanity to his fellow creatures.

"It makes me feel so sad, then again it drives me mad to realise the state of people's minds. Life is a frail thing but not a rich man's plaything, how far has he come from the days of ice. It's true the world is hard, death is always the final card in the game and no-one gets another deal. So shun the ace of spades, take your hand and only raise in the pursuit of life and not ....of death. "

The practice of hunting "game" in England was abolished recently but hunts still prevail in many areas of the UK without interference from the law. but from a growing band of hunt saboteurs.

The "Other" side of Tony T.S. McPhee is pure blues.

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