HIGH TIDE

A truly singular British outfit formed during 1969 who fused the shrieking tones of Simon House's electric violin with a crushingly-heavy rhythm section, High Tide can genuinely be called pioneers. One of the first truely heavy groups, the quartet of future Hawkwind violinist House, guitarist-and-vocalist Tony Hill, drummer Roger Hadden and bassist Peter Pavli produced some of the most primal and powerful music of the progressive rock era. Perhaps due to both the aggressive nature of their sound and the prevalent musical styles of the late- sixties, High Tide would struggle to find an audience, yet despite eventually splitting after less than two years together they did find the time to produce two exciting studio albums, with 1969's debut 'Sea Shanties' followed by 1970's eponymous follow-up. Both albums were issued by Liberty and marked High Tide out as a talented group with a distinct sound, though time has seen 'Sea Shanties' take most of the accolades with its starker, darker and heavier overall style perhaps seeming fresher first time around. By the time of 'High Tide', various folk ingredients had crept into the group's sound, though all three of the album's tracks still feature plenty of raw bluster, with Simon House and Tony Hill getting particularly wild on the epic, fourteen-and-a-half minute bruiser 'Saneonimous'. Although the lesser of the two, 'High Tide' still features its fair share of gritty moments, and all three extended tracks feature some breathtaking instrumental interplay. However, seeing as this was the heady days of the late 1960's, people just simply didn't know what to make of of this brash and aggressive new outfit, and after a fast start their once promising career stalled. Early pace-setters, even for progressive rock, High Tide would sadly become unable to continue, the deteriorating health of founding member Roger Hadden and the lack of commercial success leading to their decision to split during the latter half of 1970. Eyebrows were firmly raised, however, when nineteen years after splitting, two of the original members - Tony Hill and Simon House - formed a new version of High Tide, issuing the unimpressive 1989 'comeback' album 'Interesting Times' on cassette-only. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2013