RAMASES

The symphonic effect is apparent in most of the tracks here, from the buoyant opening 2 numbers reminding me of mid 1970s AMAZING BLONDEL and FUCHSIA respectively. Two peaks are achieved, the first being the chart ready "Now Mona Lisa" with brilliant backing vocals by Sel, the engrossing "God Voice", and RAMASES' best song "Mind Island", a ballad so breathtaking that it alone is worth the price of discovery. That theme was explored earlier by the original RENAISSANCE and KING CRIMSON, and later in the decade by the classic RENAISSANCE lineup in the sun-kissed "Kalynda". The second summit is in the trio "Stepping Stone", "Saler Man" and "Children of the Green Earth", which glance back a bit more at the debut but with considerably more intricacy. Only Sel's bland "Only the Loneliest Feeling" and the out of place funky title track flop here.

I'm a bit surprised that I don't find a lot of references to TOM RAPP and PEARLS BEFORE SWINE in other reviews I've seen, as the new Ramases is a ringer for Rapp both in terms of his voice and the string arrangements. I can't imagine that "The Use of Ashes" wasn't a big influence here. It's a homage well worth executing, more so this artfully. Speaking of success, this final release didn't even attain the modest recognition of the debut. Ramases took his own life about a year later, and some time after that a jealous second husband destroyed the unreleased original recordings that Sel had in her possession.

So yes this is better than the debut if the two can be compared at all, and is almost at 3.5 star level, affording an exquisite and less embarrassingly transparent view of pop folk psychedelia of its time.

Backed by the future members of 10CC, who scored a hit earlier as the group HOT LEGS (some just have all the luck don't they?), Ramases and Selket offer an eyes of wonder take on the peace and love folk of their day, or perhaps the day before that, not a million miles away from PETER PAUL AND MARY, DONOVAN, FRESH MAGGOTS, and LINDISFARNE. In fact, the guitar in the brilliant opener "Life Child" is similar in timbre to that deployed on some of ALAN HULL's later solo work. "Oh Mister" is just as impressive, fusing negro spiritual and middle eastern motifs, with distinguished bass and percussion. Sel takes the lead on the round the campfire number for depressives "And the Whole World" and that makes 3 ear turners in a row.

Unfortunately, the somewhat vexing repetitiveness wafts into the listening room around "Quasar One", still charming, especially compared to the awful "You're the Only One" and the closer "Journey to the Inside", where the dubious connection between this fellow and the Pharoahs is severed for good, It was fun while it lasted, and along the way I'll highlight "Earth People" which is one of the few numbers I could call understated. Even "Jesus" exudes a melancholy that reminds us that there was a time when we at least sang like we were sure he was coming back. Not sure what Pharoah thought of all this though. At least throw in a song about a mummified cat or something! But, to repeat myself, like none of us are used to over redundancy in prog? We can't all be ECHOLYN you know.

Another similarity with COMUS, I am rating this a solid 3 stars and am willing to sing the praises of "Space Hymns" to the lower cloud layer if not recklessly to the skies. For you to discover.

I like the idea of combining religion with science fiction as the album cover and title of this album strongly suggest. Roger Dean did the cover art, and it opens to a mini poster, and it is incredible. Like a spaceship busting out of a church. And I love that title "Space Hymns". The opener "Life Child" is by far the best track although I also like the folky "Jesus Come Back" for how hopeful it is. So that's the positives right there folks. Yes this album is unique and different, but that doesn't mean it's good.

The worst part for me by far are the male and female vocals. I can hardly tolerate them. Or the repetitive mantra-like vocal style that is often in play. This is a tough one for me. I get that a couple of our reviewers who gave this 4 stars are big Folk fans, and you all know I'm not. So there's that. The lyrics are also an issue for the most part. I'm just not a fan of this one. And it's so sad that Barrington took his life five years after the release of this record. He was in his early forties.

"Space Hymns" - The final frontier! Prepare to blast off into orbit with an out-of-this-world collection of 11 devotional space- themed songs where Ramases boldly (or baldly!) goes where no album has gone before. The countdown has begun..... Five!.....Four!.....Three!.....Two!.....One!.....We have lift-off!..... Launching us into orbit in spectacular style on this 11-stage rocket is "Life Child", which opens in suitably atmospheric style with some spacey sound effects. The spaced-out song takes us on a wild acid guitar trip, where the singer tells us with a religiously-inspired passion for the environment that..... "The sun is fading from Your city, Life Child, From where I stand it ain't so pretty, Life Child, I see Your sun is going down, I see Your wreckage on the ground, Life Child, Your seas are full of poisoned water, Life Child......" Taking us through the stratosphere and up into orbit comes "Hello Mister", which sounds like a devotional Hare Krishna chant, with the title words of the song chanted seemingly ad finitum, although that's no bad thing. Achieving orbit now, and along comes Space Hymn No. 3, "And the Whole World", another Hare Krishna inspired song with the pleasant harmonies blending nicely with the gentle sound of the acoustic instruments. You can almost picture the singers gathered half-naked around a campfire at night with their eyes pointed towards the heavens. "Quasar One" continues our journey around the Earth in similar devotional style with much chanting and featuring a whole jamboree of acoustic instruments. "You're The Only One Joe" follows next, where the only lyrics are the song title repeated endlessly for 2 minutes, which does become rather repetitive and you're left wondering who on Earth Joe is. The next song "Earth People" features a beautiful female vocal lead and represents one of the highlights of the album. It's a delightful song to listen to at night with the lights turned down low where you can be carried away into a higher orbit, or failing that, you can drift off to sleep and have pleasant dreams of drifting through endless space with the magnificent Earth down below. The next song "Molecular Delusion" is probably the most religious-inspired of all of the Space Hymns on the album. It's an acid-tinged song George Harrison might have recorded during one of his more meditative moments after visiting the Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Next up is "Balloon", where the singer imploringly sings "Don't burst your bubble, or you're in trouble." which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but who cares, because it's a fun lyric and a great song. The intriguingly titled "Dying Swan Year 2000" is a short little a capella album filler before "Jesus Come Back", an unapologetically devotional song that wears its religious heart on its sleeve with these words, "Have you got fears for the future, my friend Jesus, Jesus come back". It's *almost* enough to turn a confirmed atheist into a devout follower of Jesus. Who needs Jehovah's Witnesses knocking at their door when there's devotional music as good as this to inspire you!? Finally, we return to Earth with "Journey To The Inside" to close out the album. It's a weird 6-minute-long, drug-induced acid trip, which is nothing less than you'd expect from a religiously-inspired album drenched in psychedelic colours.

If you want to get all religious without going to church and fancy listening to some gentle and devotional Prog-Folk songs with a sprinkle of psychedelic flower-power, then this is the album for you. The album will have special appeal if you like the idea of dancing naked around a tree under a star-filled moonlit sky with some flowers in your hair. "Space Hymns" features enchanting harmonies and various acoustic delights designed to transport you to musical heaven on Earth.

A terrifying prospect, is it not? Well Britain's nutcase duo named their second work after it. You may have heard the name Space Hymns somewhere circulated about the rock circle during the 90's, along with the tragic but also sort of poetic death of Kimberly Barrington Frost. The truth is a year before his death Frost and his wife Dorothy Laflin released a second album titled Glass Top Coffin. This certain release is very different compared to Space Hymns, as it features a completely different tone compared to it's predecessor. While many chastise Hymns for being amateur and very disjointed (at least those were my criticisms), Glass Top is completely different.

Sure, it may sound very similar, but when you get down to it's not. Glass Top is far more refined, infinitely more mature, and there is a tinge of tragedy to it. You see, Laflin and Frost both thought themselves to be the descendants of the gods Ramses and Serket from Egyptian mythology. This was happily expressed and flaunted on Space Hymns, and to many people's distaste. Four years pass however after a slew of unsuccess came with Hymns' release in '71. This is complete conjecture, but it is my belief that there was a moment of epiphany for the two, a realization that they weren't living in some dream where they could say they were godsends and that would be the word of law. This epiphany I believe started some time after Space Hymns ('73 or '74) and ended with Frost's death in '76. If we take this as true this album becomes a whole lot more meaningful, as it occupies that middle space in time shortly before Frost went into a state of isolation and disconsolation. Now after we've laid that base, let's actually take a look at the album.

Glass Top Coffin, like I said before, is much more mature in structure than the meandering Space Hymns. The songs are quieter and more secluded, and do not tend to become too energetic. Even at times where you feel the album should kick up a notch it does so very slightly (with the exception of the upbeat rocking title-track). Also noticed is a certain, dark motif that comes to light during the album, and that is one of death and solitude. These may not seem clear at first, for they are a bit cryptic and/or minimalist in nature. Some of the more clear cut examples of this are 'Only the Loneliest Feeling', a short, atmospheric tune consisting only of ambient sound and a lone warbling falsetto by Frost. The opener 'Golden Landing' is a soaring almost angelic strings/choral piece that's tinged with a sense of dread, which is very strange for an opening. But of all these the most interesting I found was 'Sweet Reason', a wonderful tune where, like before, has a tinge of sorrow in it. Here Frost inquires to the listener their thoughts of certain aspects of life, including friends, family, nature, and of course, those passed away. It really is a bittersweet tune that actually brought me close to tears at one point. Even the rocking title track I mentioned before, 'Glass Top Coffin', ends with an almost manic but completely flustered intensity, something not expected by a happy-go-lucky song you thought it would be in the beginning, only to abruptly bleed into 'Golden Landing, Pt. 2', which marks the end to our long journey. It ends with the tumultuous words of Frost: "I can see! / I can feel! / I can breathe! / I'm still myself!".

This is already way longer than I would have wanted, but it is an album that truly deserves more respect. Sure it's not particularly a 'concept album', but it's main theme is executed so well that I am in haste to recommend it. If you're looking for examples of music that transcend boundaries, then this is one for the books. Check it out.

Together with Alphataurus this vinyl reprint has perhaps the most inpressive artwork in my collection. When folded out you get to see a spaceship that was part of a big church in a romantic scene. But what's the music about?

Psychedelic folk songs with some space-influences and many repetive vocal parts, sometimes a bit like chanting. The first and the last track have some progressive rock leanings. The lyrics are actually the weak point, though some lines are catchy like the slightly freakish "What to say to the Earth people?". I actually like the concept of finding some catchy psychedelic/folky phrase and giving it some time to settle in. I like it when atmospheres aren't ruined by needless interventions, like so often happens in progressive rock music. Some people mention the weaker tracks, but I myself only dislike the second track 'Hello Mister' which is a bit too simple and repetitive. Other songs like the often critisized like 'Balloon' and 'Jesus Come Back' I really liked, the latter reminds me a bit of Pearls Before Swine. The recording and soundeffects are really good.

Conclusion. Well let's be honest, how many psychedelic folk records with space rock influences are there? Just give it try! It's not hard to digest. Three stars, add a star if you like to listen to rare music.

The sound, to me, is a blend of late 60's psychedelia, like Jefferson Airplane, and the trippy space rock of Daevid Allen's Gong. And while the music is fair, especially where the 10CC sound manages to get through, the proto new age and possible acid induced naive lyrics tend to make this effort mostly tedious. In fact, the insipid Come Back Jesus is simply painful to listen to.

The slow, majestic opener 'Golden Landing' has a female choir and orchestra. 'Long, Long Time' is a very atmospheric song, 'Now Mona Lisa' a solid folk song featuring both Ramases and Sel(ket) as vocalists. I had this kind of an association with this serene and fairly romantic album: dreamy folk hippies accompanied by Barclay James Harvest plus a light orchestra of Emmanuelle soundtracks. May not be very much progressive rock, but beautiful nevertheless. The title track with more biting rhythm breaks the mood a bit, as the ethearal 'Children of the Green Earth' has even the charming cliche of whispered backing vocals. I think this work captures well the fragile spirit of the artist, who committed suicide in 1978.