The Fierce and the Dead is a smoking instrumental quartet from London, featuring Matt Stevens and Steve Cleaton on guitar, Kevin Feazey on bass and Stewart Marshall on drums. The group grew out an improvised recording session that was originally destined for Stevens’ second album, and as the band puts it, grew into an animal of its own – fortunately for the listeners.
To date, the band has released two EPs, Part 1 (2010) and On VHS (2012) , as well as two full length recordings, If it Carries On Like This We’re Moving to Morecambe (2011) and the subject of this post, Spooky Action (2013).
While the previous releases were a bit easier to label, Spooky Action completely defies any simple characterization. If you were to take equal parts of Fire Merchants, a ska band or two, the guitar fusion trio of your choice, some brooding post-rock band and a jack hammer, you might get close to the melodic cacophony that TFatD generates.
Take a listen.
The album is big, technical, loud, turns on a dime, dense at times and spacious when you most need a break. What separates this band from so many others is that their music consistently swings and is fun, two words not generally associated with this type of music. You get plenty of Matt Stevens trademark looped guitar effects, but not so much as to take the focus away from the contributions of the other three musicians. About the only other comparisons I can make are an amped up Twangorama or less funky Uncle Moe’s Space Ranch.
This band has been a most pleasant surprise and stands out from my recent music acquisitions. Don’t delay in adding it to your collection.
As for the rest of their catalog, On VHS is quite similar to the music that found its way onto Spooky Action and is just as recommended. It is available on iTunes as well as the band’s website. The full length debut from 2010 lacks some of the destructive power of the latest effort, but is just as melodic and fun. Just not as loud.
There seems to be a nearly endless supply of retro/stoner rock bands coming out of Scandinavia today. Some, such as Spiritual Beggars, Spice and the RJ Band, Captain Crimson, Sienna Root, Graveyard, Magnolia, Postures and the sadly defunct Black Bonzo, channel everything from Black Sabbath to Deep Purple to Uriah Heep, often amping it up to new levels. Every once in a while, you run across a band that heads off in a completely different direction, and that is what we have with the Finnish band, Jess and the Ancient Ones.
The band is a seven piece featuring three guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and female vocals, in English. On first listen, you might think of the Canadian band, Blood Ceremony, but quickly you cast that comparison aside. Where Blood Ceremony is dark and evil, Jess and the Ancient Ones are fun and psychedelic. In other words, their brand of occult is more like Elvira, Mistress of the Night, than Aleistar Crowley. That’s when it hits you – Shocking Blue. Jess sounds eerily like Mariska Veres and many of the riffs have that choppy arpeggio style found in many Robbie van Leeuwen compositions. While primarily a retro-psych band, the progressive label is not completely out of bounds. Some of their songs, especially the most recent, are long multi-part suites and feature some nice instrumental breaks. These are most welcome as the band tends to crank it up loudly during the vocal sections.
To give you some idea of their sound, here is the opening track to their self-titled debut from 2012.
The album is amazingly consistent, with the high points being the two long tracks, Crimson Comes Death and Sulfer Giants. Both showcase some more restrained instrumental sections that would not be out of place on a My Brother the Wind or My Sleeping Karma album.
To date, they have released one full length album in various formats (CD, vinyl, colored vinyl, MP3 download) and a three track EP in 2013, also in multiple formats. The EP shows a big step forward in maturity, so I eagerly await their next release.
Oh – about that Shocking Blue comparison – they actually cover Long and Lonesome Road on the EP and you can take a listen to a live performance of it here.
What a fun and unique band. If you are a fan of retro hard rock bands, you should give Jess and the Ancient Ones a chance. While at it, also give the English band, Purson, a listen.
The Los Angeles based Hardwater was a quartet of two guitars, bass and drums, who released just one album of psychedelic pop in 1968. Perhaps this was a case of the wrong band at the wrong time. Even though this was released on a major label (Columbia), it quickly disappeared into obscurity, and that is a genuine shame. The 10 tracks on the album contain some of the best psych pop of the era, yet few know them by the name Hardwater. This is ironic as they were once one of the more popular surf rock bands of the decade: The Astronauts.
Between 1963 and 1967, The Astronauts produced nine albums of surf rock, some instrumental and some with vocals. They also made appearances in at least four movies, such as Wild on the Beach. One such performance comes from Surf Party, and one of their more creative pieces, Firewater. Rich Fifield is the one to the left of the drummer who has the sweater on when the camera is facing him and off when the camera is behind the band.
As popular music was getting more creative, thanks in large part to the psychedelic bands on the west coast, The Astronauts relocated from their home in Boulder, Colorado to Los Angeles. Having already recorded several songs by Boyce and Hart, the band tried out for The Monkees, but were unable to pursue that opportunity when RCA wouldn’t let them out of their contract.
They recorded a single under the name Sunshine Ward, but when guitarist Mark Bretz left, they changed their name again, this time to Hardwater. Now a quartet of Rich Fifield (guitar, vocals), Pedro Wyant (guitar), Rob McClerren (bass) and Tony Murillo (drums), they were soon signed to CBS Records. David Axelrod (Lou Rawls, Canonball Adderley and The Electric Prunes) produced their sole record, squeezing every bit of West Coast psych out of them. The result is a brilliant piece of psych pop, with more than enough to thrill a fan of Moby Grape, The Electric Prunes or even Buffalo Springfield.
The opening track is a long two part medley and firmly establishes them as Buffalo Springfield influenced West Coast psych, with layered vocal harmonies, some killer fuzz guitar leads, and a twangy rhythm guitar.
My favorite track is the short Moby Grape-ish City Sidewalks, their version of California Dreaming. In this case, it is something of the exact opposite as Rich Fifield laments being away from the wide open area and fresh air of Colorado. As the choruses repeat and get more desperate, I almost want to pick up the phone and send him an airplane ticket. Fifield’s voice is particular effective here as are the layers of harmony in the chorus.
One final sample, to give you some notion of their diversity, is the long extended Sanctuary. This is where they show off their Electric Prunes influences, perhaps aided by David Axelrod’s production. This one nicely showcases Pedro Wyant’s guitar work in the long free jam middle section.
Listening to this album, it is hard to understand how it could have fallen into such obscurity. Timing is everything, and that appeared to work against Hardwater. Delays in getting the album released, lack of a label sponsored tour and more attention being spent on other new signings (The Band and Steve Miller) meant that this little gem would soon be forgotten. Until 2011, that is, when Cherry Red reissued it on CD, expanded with some rather nice bonus material from demos of a follow on project. Thankfully we can all enjoy Hardwater now with crystal clear production, instead of second or third generation cassette tapes made from a scratchy LP.
Interestingly, the same year that Hardwater released their album, The Yankee Dollar’s sole release, also self-titled, would include three covers from the album, including City Sidewalks, a shortened Sanctuary and Good Ol’ Friends. Their treatment of City Sidewalks is a bit heavy handed, but they nailed Sanctuary with a groovy Shocking Blue treatment.
I apologize for the length of this particular posting. This is one of those albums I never expected to be reissued.
We will stay in the folk realm for just a little while longer, but kick up the progressive rock quotient a couple of notches with this little gem from Fuchsia.
Fuchsia is the brain-child of guitarist and vocalist Tony Durant. He was joined by bassist, Michael Day, and drummer, Michael Gregory in a what would have been an interesting electric folk trio, with something of a pop-ish leaning. With a good sense of sophisticated orchestration, instead of adding a keyboard player (ala The Strawbs), Durant enlisted a string trio featuring Janet Rogers (violin), Madeleine Bland (cello, piano, harmonium) and Vanessa Hall-Smith (violin). The three ladies also add some angelic backing vocals. The result was a splendid piece of nearly undefinable music, not folk and certainly not pop. This album is so unique, the only things that come to mind are Comus, minus all the strangeness, and Cirkus – especially Cirkus as Durant’s voice is similar to Cirkus’s Paul Robson. Another eerily similarity is that Fuchsia’s strings often play with effects, sounding a lot like a Mellotron.
If there is one word to describe Fuchsia, it would be consistent. This album is amazingly consistent, from the first to the last note. There is a rather wide range of music presented, from the Cirkus like opening, Gone with the Mouse, to the Caravan-ish Me and My Kite. Most of the songs are also quite long, in the 5 to 8 minute range, allowing for some surprising instrumental development. The high point is The Nothing Song, the longest track on the album at 8:26. The long middle section where the strings really get to stretch out could have easily found its way onto either of the first two East of Eden albums.
Sadly, Fuchsia left us with just this one album. Fortunately, Night Wings has reissued it in both LP and CD formats (the LP is out of print, but there is a recent Greek pressing). The sound quality on the CD is outstanding, allowing the listener to enjoy all of the little orchestration details.
Night Wings has also issued a compilation of post-Fuchsia material called Fuchsia, Mahoganny and Other Gems. These are demos, so the production is rather basic, but there are some real gems to be found.
Sit back, relax and enjoy The Nothing Song, by the one shot eclectic folk/prog band Fuchsia.
Sacred Scenes and Characters might be the most influential psychedelic album that wasn’t released in 1968. That might take some explanation.
Canterbury Glass was a five piece band who recorded their sole work, Sacred Scenes and Characters, late in 1968. At that time, the five members were Malcolm Ironton (guitar and vocals), Mike hall (keyboards, guitar and vocals), Tony Proto (bass), Dave Dowle (drums) and Valerie Watson (flute, harmonica and vocals). Their album consisted of six long tracks that were strongly influenced by religious choral music (Westminster Cathedral to be specific) mixed with the creative psychedelic rock of the era, specifically Caravan, Pink Floyd and to a lesser extent, The Moody Blues. The result was a brilliant concept album that displayed an amazing diversity of musical ideas – very innovative for its day.
Here’s where we will break from the actual music and look at the story behind this album.
After the recording was completed, the producer ran it over to Polydor and got an immediate offer to release it – on a major label. He then made the mistake of also shopping it to CBS, who showed some interest as well. This back and forth between the two labels went on for too long, and both decided to move on and invest in other musical projects. Disappointed, the band soon fell apart and the music was forgotten. Until, almost 40 years later, when Malcolm Ironside came across the master tapes while working on another project. Unfortunately, he could only find four of the original six tracks. An early demo of one of the missing songs was found, and it was in good enough shape to include, although it actually bore little resemblance to the finished version. There is one more interesting piece to this story. A young unknown (at the time) guitarist was invited to add some lead guitar to the final track. That turned out to be Steve Hackett, of Genesis fame.
Generally, an archival find like this rarely lives up to the backing story. In the case of Canterbury Glass, it does and much more, as you can hear for yourself in the sample linked below. As it turns out, Kyrie, the opening track, is nicely representative of the remaining three long songs. In addition to the solid bass lines and multi-part vocal harmonies, the remainder of the album will feature some nice acoustic guitar, with a distinct psych feel through the vocals. There are also long sections of organ with the typical tone and technique of the era. Some tight ensemble play with sharp staccato runs and more than a few start and stops make this album as much proto-prog as it is psychedelic. The harmonica dates it a bit, but the flute, and there is a lot of it, hints at great things to come from other bands in a few short years (Jethro Tull, Focus, et al).
If you are a fan of the very earliest psych-proto-prog crossover period, this little gem should find a nice home in your collection.
One of the most incredible psychedelic rock albums from 1968 did not see its release until 2007. Thankfully, we can now enjoy it, or at least 2/3 of what was found.
The Ship: A Contemporary Folk Music Journey is a fascinating piece of American folk rock with just enough complexity and development to interest a broad minded progressive rock listener. The band, which goes by the name of The Ship, is a five piece featuring three guitars, keyboards and bass. There are no drums, but you don’t really miss them thanks to an ever present acoustic guitar strumming in the background. Four of the five members sing, offering up some incredible vocal harmonies over the course of this concept album. Think along the lines of Ian Mathews (Seven Bridges Road) and you will be in the right ballpark. In addition to the aforementioned instruments, you will also hear dobro, harmonica, flute and perhaps even a cello.
Most of the 11 songs are in the 3-5 minute range and go from enthusiastic romping to some absolutely gorgeous somber songs. The middle of this album is where the progressive elements really start showing up with a pair of back to back 8 minutes songs about the obligatory storm encounter and subsequent sailing around while completely lost. The album closes with a nice long reprise of the main opening theme.
There is not a dull moment anywhere to be found in this fun concept album.
Every once in a while, you come across some new music that makes you drop what you are doing and just listen. Such is the case with this German folk/rock band. Please don’t confuse them with another German band called Faun, which is easy as the music is eerily similar, though Faun (without the s) is more pagan folk on period instruments.
The band has been together since the mid-1990s, but has just recently started releasing full length albums. To date, they have issued two, LeafFall (2009) and Awaiting the Sun (2011). There is also 23 minute EP that the band has issued earlier in the summer. The EP is only available at their performances or through their website.
Fauns is a six piece featuring two guitarists (one acoustic and one electric), bass, drums, keyboards as well as viola/flute. The band also makes great use of both male and female vocals, either individually or in harmony. They also do a nice job of mixing long and sometimes complicated 10+ minute songs with shorter verse/chorus pieces. Fauns does one more thing that really sets them apart – they aren’t afraid to play in unusual time signatures, which puts them right on the progressive rock radar. Long suites of breathtakingly beautiful pastoral music with flute mixed with some loud amped up heavy riffing – what’s not to like.
Instead of just one sample, I’ve decided to include three to give you some idea of the breadth of this band’s repertoire, which is mind-boggling when you consider they only have two albums. As for where to start, it really doesn’t matter. You will end up owning both albums. I don’t know that I have a favorite, but LeafFall is probably the place where I would begin.
Dawn is an except from the 20 minute closing track on Awaiting the Sun. Breathtaking.
As Her Autumn Song Called is one of the more basic short pieces from LeafFall.
And to show off their progressive side, here is the long closing track from the debut, Cuiviénen.
If you like some folk to go with your prog, give Fauns a listen.
The date was March 14, 2004 and a little known English group unleashed a behemoth of progressive rock mayham on an unsuspecting world. Guapo’s Five Suns significance was that the album was truly a genre buster. It was Zeuhl, it was avant-garde. It was heavy as a ton of bricks, yet it had a melodic quality where you could actually hum the main themes. In a world where so many bands get labelled and we spend a tremendous amount of time and energy classifying, and often times alienating listeners, this was a rare moment of unity. The follow up effort, Black Oni, thrilled some and others not so much. The group hug was short lived and eventually the divide grew wider as Guapo continued to develop their style with their next release, and then as Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses. The world had indeed returned back to normal.
Zoom ahead to some time in late September, 2012, and the same thing has just happened, this time thanks to this new five piece band from France. New might not be terribly accurate as the guitarist is Frank Fromy from the legendary Zeuhl/RIO/Avant band Shub-Niggurath. At first that did not thrill me as I’m not a fan of that particular band. Oh, I appreciate the dark angry noise that they created, I just need a bit more melody.
To say that Unit Wail floored me is an understatement.
The album starts off with a gnarly sustained guitar line that we have heard a hundred times, from Richard Pinhas to Frank Fromy to just about anybody who has played with Christian Vander in the last decade. The guitar line begins to uncoil like a snake and all of a sudden we are hearing some of best blowtorch guitar/bass/drums since Heldon’s Stand By. Oops, now a mood swing and it’s gently re-building while a Mellotron can be heard in the distance. Finally the entire band jumps in with the ferocity of Shub-Niggurath ….. and the melodic qualities of the aforementioned Guapo. This is Zeuhl, this is avant-garde. This is post-rock, and RIO. This is ……. well, incredible.
All of this took place in just the first three minutes of this remarkable album.
Keyboardist and principal composer, Vincent Sicot-Vantalon, has done a spectacular job of creating 3 to 5 minute musical ideas in which to showcase the versatility of the band. Through it all you hear the glorious Mellotron, always in the background, but never very far away when it is momentarily absent. There is a great mix of high energy blowtorch pieces as well as some less intense moments, allowing the listener to catch their breath. You will also hear some of the nastiest fuzz bass since Jannik Top and Bernard Paganotti tried to show who was boss on Da Futura. The album closes out with a heavy funeral march that creates mental imagery of Godzilla walking off into the sunset, sad that this has come to an end. At least for now. You can always hit the play button again. And again.
The most important thing you need to know about this album is that it is always moving, nearly always busy and energetic, and always melodic.
Here is a sample, courtesy of our friends at Soleil Zuehl.
As a result of this album, I am revisiting the Shub-Niggurath releases with a new set of ears, and am liking what I hear.
Since the last couple of postings have been about jazz-rock bands, let’s keep that going with Dr. Tree.
This sextet from New Zealand released just one album, a self-titled work back in 1976 . In addition to the typical core of guitar, keyboards, bass and drums, Dr. Tree adds a second percussionist and a trumpet, who gets his fair share of the spotlight. While you might think that tilts them more in the direction of a stage band, consider that the second track on the album is a cover of Return to Forever’s Vulcan Worlds, one of the few tunes that doesn’t feature trumpet. I should add that it is a pretty ripping cover. At the very least, Dr. Tree was trying to be a high energy fusion band and they were quite successful accomplishing that. You will also hear more than enough to tickle your prog-bone, like long passages of rather complicated counterpoint. Then there is the riffing. And riffing. And riffing.
One of the things that can go terribly wrong with fusion or jazz-rock bands of this era were the inclusion of vocals, or even worse, the dreaded girl chorus. Dr. Tree plays this one smartly and keeps it all instrumental.
The first three tracks, one being a short introduction, are the high energy rocking parts of the album. The Return to Forever cover and the sample below round out that portion of the album. The next two tracks are a bit less rock and move into a Freddy Hubbard Red Clay direction, and that is a very good thing indeed. The ever present twinkling of the Fender Rhodes keeps it interesting through that part of the album. The finale starts with the instruments going around in circles, as if in a bubbling cauldron about to erupt. That is temporarily interrupted by an energetic, and thankfully brief percussion solo. Your patience for sitting through those couple of minutes are rewarded with a hyper-energetic finish to the album.
Fortunately, this album has been legitimately reissued in a gorgeous digipack. If you have picked up one of the bootlegs, perhaps the Poor House, you should really replace it with this edition. The packaging and sound quality are top notch.
Important note: The legitimate reissue of this CD is on EMI New Zealand. I have checked a couple of US domestic sources for this and they are not the EMI reissue, but a bootleg on Southside out of Germany. And of course, there is the Poor House bootleg from a decade or so ago still floating about. In the comments, Tom suggests looking on Ebay or from an online shop in New Zealand called Smoke CDs. A big thanks to Tom Hayes for this information!
Diabolus is another of those unusual bands that, like Nektar, were English but released their only album in Germany. Although their 1972 self-titled debut (also listed as High Tones) was released on the Bellaphon label, it would have fit in perfectly on Neon (Raw Material, Tonton Macoute, Dawn (Jonsey, Gravy Train), Vertigo (Catapilla, Cressida) or Deram (Room, et. al). In fact, if you were to take the best elements of each of those bands, plus a little bit of Aquila (1970) and Hannibal (1970), you pretty much have this little masterpiece.
Instrumentation is led by a pair of brothers, John and Anthony Hadfield, on guitar, bass and vocals. Phillip Howard broadens their sound by providing not only keyboards but also flute and sax (lots of flute and sax). The quartet is rounded out by an impressive drummer, Ellwood Von Seibold, who treats us with a brief drum solo at the end of one of their best numbers, a cool free form jazzy jam called Spontenuity. It goes on for just long enough to appreciate his talents, but not so long that we reach for the “next track” button.
Diabolus style is a perfect blend of electric psych inflenced folk with a load of jazz rock. That gives their songs something of an energy and tension, even in the gentle ballads, because you know that they could break out in a spirited riff at any moment. And when they do, they are are at their best. The dueling between guitar (often switching from rock to jazz technique) and flute is just brilliant. Their ability to play tight start/stop and shift effortlessly through time signatures sets them apart from many of their peers. I could listen to music like that for hours on end.
This sample should give you some idea of the creativity and diversity of the music Diabolus produced.
The only CD reissue of this currently available is on Akarma, which is dubious on a good day. I’m going to give them the benefit of doubt on this one, but I do wish that some label would give this a proper reissue with liner notes describing how the album was released and the band’s legal fight that took place years later to regain the rights.
ps: all of those bands listed in the first paragraph will be subjects of future postings.
The Best Bands You've Probably Never Heard (of) 