 Circle: Raunio (live)
The Spacious Mind: Reality D. Blipcrotch
The Mothman Prophecies:
Music From The Motion Picture
The Lost Vegas: Surf Psychedelica
The Electric Crayon Set: One Man's Trash
The Green Pajamas: This Is Where We Disappear
Gadsby & Skol: Gadsby & Skol
Scorched Earth: Fed To Your Head
King Black Acid: Loves a Long Song
Gas Giant: Pleasant Journey In Heavy Tunes
Flyte Reaction: Sensilla
Cauldron: The Sanctuary Suit
Alchemysts: Zero Zen
Thebrotheregg: Snowflake & Fingerprint Machine
Tony Hill: Inexactness
Gas Giant vs. WE: Riding The Red Horse to The Last Stronghold of The Freaks
CIRCLE
Raunio (live)
(Ektro Records / ektro-016)
The latest Circle CD includes almost an hour's worth of
live stuff recorded late last year in Turku, Jyväskylä and Helsinki.
It's very rare to get live recordings by the band: so far the only release
has been the great '98 split CD with Japanese Marble Sheep
"Raunio" is an excellent example of Circle's present gig shape.
The hypnotic, monotonic repetition can create a religious ecstasy.
The material has been partly heavily mixed and manipulated in the studio,
which works very well in general. Especially delays and other effects
have been added quite a lot.
Most of the tracks are unreleased, which I think is very nice.
There are two familiar numbers from the latest studio albums as well:
"Kultaa" from "Taantumus" and "Dedofiktion", the opener of "Taantumus".
The latter is absolutely one of the highlights of this album, it really works!
As it accelerates and grows into more and more manic proportions
it's hard to keep your head together..but why should one even try?
An other treasure is the very kraut-oriented "Lokki".
I'm sure that everyone who's into chaos, buzz and noise must like a track called
"Potto", but to me its 13 minutes are a bit too much.
It sure didn't sound like that at The Psychotropic Zone in January
The other tracks are the peaceful "Raunio I-IV", which is cleverly divided and
placed in between the tracks and at the end of the record to give a good balance,
and the rather slow and pleasant "Alotus". In "Raunio" all the Finnish speaking
can at times really figure out what Mika Rättö is singing, and that's quite rare.
When you are listening to the album with headphones, you can find out new dimensions.
At times it sounds like two different recordings were used on different channels.
Well, who knows, but this sure is a pretty experimental live album, even by Circle.
This is a must-have for all Circle fans and to everyone into challenging,
solid psychedelic music!
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THE SPACIOUS MIND
Reality D. Blipcrotch
(Goddamn I'm a Countryman Records promo)
I received this 30-minute promo CD from the band after their
gig at The Psychotropic Zone club in Helsinki. I was anxious to get home to be able to blast my
brains with the Swedish outlaw mutation boogie.. And this is totally mind melting, excellent psychedelia!
There are two long tracks on the CD, "The Drifter" and "The Players in The Band". Especially the second
track seems like some kind of celebration for the ten years the band has been together. Congratulations!
"Drifter" starts with 7 minutes of mid-tempo, groovy bass line. The instrumental theme builds up
slowly with effected electric guitars, drums, electronics and organs. Then follows a short moment
of relief with only some small, strange noises, and we get to the beautiful, floating vocal part.
After that there are a few minutes of soaring guitar solos until the track slowly fades out.
There's a lot more vocals on "The Players in The Band" than is usual for a TSM song.
It's also a very peaceful, slow number. Maybe I can hear some Grateful Dead influences?
Acoustic guitar, cymbals, electric piano, effects, percussion, the whole deal's got somewhat
West-Coast feel to it. After ten minutes they introduce some oriental spices to the mix and
the listener is really afloat on the cosmic flow! The end of this track is absolutely the best part of the CD,
it just dies out much too soon..
The covers of this promo release seem like a miniature LP cover, so I suppose the
guys are going to release this as a 12". Their first "single" with two over 14 minutes long hits?;)
I certainly hope so. They are also going to release a new studio album and a live album, so there's a lot
of stuff coming out after a couple of years of stasis. I personally can't wait to get my hands on the
new albums, because this promo sounds so promising!
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THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES
Music From The Motion Picture
(Lakeshore Records LAK 33694-2)
I was a bit amazed to hear that King Black Acid,
one of my favourite bands during the last few years,
is involved in a new Richard Gere movie! Okay,
their music has been used in films before,
but maybe in a bit smaller productions.
Mothman Prophesies is a movie about a reporter,
who investigates the appearances of a mystical,
winged creature in a small town called Point Pleasant.
Mark Pellington, the director of the movie,
also known as the director of videos for Pearl Jam's " Jeremy" and U2's "One",
describes it as "creepy, beautiful and frightening at the same time.
Hypnotic, menacing, but in a strange, inviting way."
The music of the soundtrack fits in perfectly to these moods.
You can check out the Mothman legend in detail at
www.mothmanlives.com.
There are two CD's in this soundtrack. On the first one,
there are a couple of different versions of "Half Light" by Low from Minnesota.
They have four albums out, and have been touring for example with Godspeed You Black Emperor!.
The opener is also released as a video, the second version that ends disk one is heard
in the movie during the credits. I must say, that I've really begun to enjoy this song very much.
It's beautiful, hypnotic, simple and compelling. The voices of the trio's Mormon couple,
Alan and Mimi, are celestial.
There are seven new KBA songs on the album. You can listen to "Wake Up #37" at the band's site at
www.kingblackacid.com. Musically they
continue their dream-like, peaceful and rather monotonic style. They still remind me of the softer
tracks by Pink Floyd. What's new is the smoother production, the use of programming and
much shorter songs than before. I wonder if this was the bands own decision, or record
company's pressure that made this happen. I'm sure that the wider audience is more interested
in this than in the 20 minute jams of the Sunlit CD, but I still hope that there will be more
raw electric guitars and also a bit faster songs on the next KBA album.
All tracks in themselves are masterpieces. It's hard to believe that the whole production happened
in three weeks, what comes to KBA! When you're listening to the album, you are beginning to feel the
urge to see the movie, as well. But when is it coming to Finland? I don't know, how many of these tracks
are really used in the movie. Besides Floyd, the dark moods of the album remind me of Massive Attack, Sigur Rose,
Spiritualised and even Godspeed!. "One and Only" is the only track with a short, faster distorted guitar
part á la Nine Inch Nails. Nice! There are also some strings and piano on the album, which is a pleasant bonus.
The majestic "Soul Systems Burn" might be the best track. That's also some of the most psychedelic stuff on the album..
The second CD in the set is the original score of the movie. It's composed by a couple of guys called Tomandandy.
The same guys also made the music for Natural Born Killers! Well, if the first CD was peaceful, dark and spooky,
this is also so with the second CD times 10. These ghostly orchestrations must go with the movie very well,
but I don't think I will listen to this at home that often. If you're not afraid of the nightmares,
you might try this when going to sleep. On headphones and with your eyes closed it sure conjures up the
weirdest images to your mind!
I hope that KBA will get more fans with the Mothman Prophesies movie. They've deserved it.
I'm sure the tracks on the soundtrack will appeal to a lot of people, at least to the Pink Floyd fans,
and there are a lot of them, I suppose.
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THE LOST VEGAS
Surf Psychedelica
(Worldwide Ocean WW-44PSY)
The Lost Vegas from Columbus, Ohio, have released their second CD.
It's a pretty good mixture of slightly psychedelic pop, retro rock, surf mayhem and so on.
The CD is only about 28 minutes long, so maybe we should talk about a mini CD, even though there are eight tracks on it.
"The Trip" is the most progressive track with its time changes, not bad at all. The next one, "D-thing" is a
Stones influenced retro rock piece. Sounds actually a bit like The Soundtrack of Our Lives! Then nothing
else but a cover from The Beatles.. Their version of "Baby, You're a Rich Man" works surprisingly well.
But it's very difficult to match those vocal harmonies..
Then there's a couple of more surf oriented tracks before they go for their version of "Powder Finger" by Neil Young.
That's nothing special in my opinion, but I'm not that much into Young, anyway. "The Space Song" isn't space rock,
but the lyrics are quite spacey. There's more of that surf stuff over here. An instrumental called
"Elopa" ends this album.
It's a bit hard for me to decide how to react to the music of The Lost Vegas. I like some of the stuff,
but some of it seems a bit out of place to me. I prefer the style of the first two songs. Maybe this CD
just needs some more time to grow on you. Surf Psychedelica is very well played and produced, and the
sound is crystal clear. I certainly hope to hear from these guys again, maybe with a bit more psychedelic touch.
You can visit their web site at www.thelostvegas.com
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THE ELECTRIC CRAYON SET
One Man's Trash
(SoundHawk Horus-001)
The Electric Crayon Set is a Finnish band from Pori led by
singer/songwriter/guitarist Timo Pääkkö. Timo is also a psych/mod record dealer, and is known
for his work with bands Kinsky and Penniless People of Bulgaria. The other musicians on this CD
(limited to 500 copies) are Seppo Tyni-bass, Jussi Reunamäki-keyboards and Timo Lilja-drums
with a couple of guests. Tyni has played with prog legend Pekka Pohjola. Before this debut album,
they've released one sold out 7" on British Detour Records.
The album opens with a very nice acid folk song One Man's Trash. Lyrics on this one and on six
other tracks are by Kim Hitchcock from Texas. One of my favourite tracks on the CD! Then the band
goes into mid 70's Deep Purple sounding soul rock stuff, not really my cup of tee. Other bands that
came to mind are The Who (power chords!) and Uriah Heep (high pitched vocal harmonies, Hammond).
So, this is not that psychedelic as I expected..but pretty nice retro rock/pop/hard rock.
Other highlights besides the title track are A Fast One (especially the psyched-out middle part),
My Dear Old Problem, Dark (yeah, a lot darker than the rest) and Now Ann (the end part is great,
but could have been a lot longer). One Man's Trash took a whole year to record and mix, and the
playing and sound quality are excellent. Timo also has a great voice. I think this is one of those
albums that will grow on you with time.
The Electric Crayon Set have a lot common with Five Fifteen (Helsinki, Finland), and their
fans should really check this album out. You can get it from
Hippie Shake Records
or directly from Timo (timo.paakko@satabaana.net). I don't know if these guys play live gigs,
but one in Helsinki with 5.15 would be nice!
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THE GREEN PAJAMAS
This Is Where We Disappear
(Woronzow WOO 49)
The Green Pajamas from Seattle have been making their mystical and psychedelic pop for over 15 years now.
I've only heard them before on a couple of compilations. Their latest album is a real masterpiece:
it includes over an hour's worth of excellent compositions, beautiful melodies, skilful playing and emotional lyrics.
They have been able to capture some really great feelings. In their most magical moments the band makes cold shivers go through your spine.
The material is very varied: there is peaceful light pop, heavier psych rock and everything in between.
My favourite tracks are the heavy opener This Is Where We Disappear, Matilda (inspire by a Gothic story The Monk) and Downslide,
where their female guitarist Laura Weller shines also as a talented singer. The other members are Karl Wilhelm-drums, Joe Ross-bass,
Eric Lichter-vocals/keyboards/drums and Jeff Kelly-vocals/guitar/bass/keyboards/drums.
Also the male singers know their job very well, and there is really nothing to complain about anybody's playing either.
There is only one song on this CD that I don't like that much (French to Japanese). The lyrics on this album are about ghosts, saints and secret circles,
but also about the waitress at a local pub. Quite large scale on this side, too.
This Is Where... is highly recommendable in every way if you like deep,
fragile and mystical music. At times, you can sense a historical atmosphere from this album.
This is added by the use of woodcuts form the 13th century in the booklet.
Still, this is a really good, straight psych pop album.
I really hope that these guys won't disappear,
we're talking about such an enchanting acquaintance here!
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GADSBY & SKOL
Gadsby & Skol
(Woronzow Woo 48)
Gadsby & Skol is a Canadian power trio, who apparently used to support all visiting acts in Toronto in the late 60's and early 70's.
Now they have regrouped again, and recorded a set of old songs in the studio.
Their drummer Rick Skol gave the recordings to Nick and Ade from Woronzow,
and being such a big fans of the era, they just had to release them as a CD.
The other musicians on this album are Chuck Gadsby-guitar and Drew Tjernstrom-bass.
The musical influences of the band are at least Blue Cheer, Cream,
Third Power and Jimi Hendrix. So, the dudes play good old heavy power trio rock.
Regrettably they don't reach the standard of their idols.
This album doesn't give that much, at least not to me.
I must admit that the guys are high quality players,
but the songs are not particularly good, I'm afraid.
The guitars scream quite nicely, and it's still pretty okay basic stuff.
The sound on the CD is good, but I would have like to have some more balls to it.
It would be nice to know how the band rocked it the 60's.
I wonder if some of the energy and feeling have dropped during the decades?
Well done, anyway.
You can find the following tracks on this album: 1. Guitar Dog, 2. Jam and Guts,
3. Getting Used to It, 4. You Could Have, 5. Fools like You, 6. The Feel,
7. Who Calls You?, 8. I Don't Know, 9. Just a Little Bit, 10. Stop,
11. Number Six. In my opinion, some of the best tracks are Fools Like You,
Stop and Number Six, which is inspired by the cult TV series The Prisoner. Cool!
If you're a die-hard Blue Cheer fan, you should check this album out.
You can find more information about the band from
www.gadsbyandskol.com
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SCORCHED EARTH
Fed To Your Head
(Woronzow Records WOO 45)
Wow! This really rocks. Scorched Earth is a project of three near legendary heavy guitar,
stoner rock veterans and a fictional bastard of bands like Blue Cheer,
Third Power and SCR, as it says on the promo sheet. So we're talking about some hazy 70's moods here.
There's some straight-forward head to the wall spirit, a couple of blues numbers, beautiful, floating stuff,
and a sufficient amount of good old psychedelia.
They try to convince us on the Woronzow homepage (www.woronzow.co.uk)
that any resemblance between Scorched Earth and members of Bevis Frond and other groups of the label is purely coincidental,
but some of the vocals and guitars sound a lot like Nick Saloman... And the guy is known for his many pseudo names.
What ever the case, on Fed To Your Head, there's some of the finest guitar playing you'll ever going to hear.
All the playing is tough as a diamond, and the album is oozing out enough energy to fill the universe with.
At times it reminds me of MC5, but these heroes are better musicians.
Some of the best songs in my opinion are fine Electric City (dig that fuzz!), pretty Blues For The Universe,
Bevis Frond styled Killing Time and the longest, over 14 minutes, Long Black Gown.
The latter of these is my favourite. How can you resist a song with the opening line like
"I had a conversation with the all seeing Eye"? After the mystical beginning we'll get to the
eternally growing guitar solos, and this will really twist your mind. Wild stuff! This should
please any heavy stoner and jam rock fan, especially since the production is excellent.
Judging by the freak styled cover, you can already tell what's the deal.
This is one of the best albums in 2001 so far. Get it.
9½/10
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KING BLACK ACID
Loves a Long Song
(Cavity Search Records CSR 48)
Founded in the mid 90's on the West Coast of the USA, King Black Acid is absolutely one of the best bands I know.
Loves a Long Song is their fourth and finest album. During the recordings KBA tried a new technic to them:
they had already wrote the songs before they entered the studio! Thie experiment really paid off,
because all the eight songs are excellent. In the early days the band used to play 10 to 20 minute jams,
that they'd also put on the records. Not that there's anything wrong with that way either:
for example Sunlit is a very good one-hour album with only three tracks...
KBA plays very airy and spacey music. Beautiful melodies play very important role especially on this new CD.
The band is, along with Porcupine Tree, the heirs to Pink Floyd. At times it feels like they both surpass their forefathers.
KBA has chosen quite an orcanic approach: there's not much sequencers or other machines. Electric and acoustic guitars,
full keyboard layers and nice effects are most prominent in the overall sound.
The voice of their siger and band leader Daniel Riddle fits in perfectly. Almost every song is peaceful and very hypnotic.
At times they do kick ass, if not with the tempo then at least with wilder, distorted guitars.
The soundscape on Loves a Long Song is polished to brilliance, but the album still doesn't sound overproduced.
You can listen to it on a very different occasions, but you can probaply get the best results in a horizontal position with headphones on.
At least three of the songs have also been used in a German film called Sonne.
I really think that this stuff should have some commercial potential as well. All my friends have liked it, at least.
Some of the most memorable songs are perhaps the opener Butterfly Bomber, catchy, extremely beautiful Into The Sun,
which was also released on a single, and the almost twelve minutes long I've Heard You're Still Alive.
The whole album is very pleasant, though. I've listened to it dozens of times, and I still haven't even started to get bored with it!
All in all, an absolutely marvellous record, and I can warmly recommend it to all the people, and why not to
other lifeforms as well. You can hardly find this from Finland,
but check out www.cavitysearchrecords.com. It's worth it.
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GAS GIANT
Pleasant Journey In Heavy Tunes
(Burnt Hippie records)
Pleasant Journey... is the first album by Danish Gas Giant.
It is the third release of Copenhagen based Burnt Hippie Recordings,
who are specialised in space/stoner/psych rock, and not bad at all. The band has been together for
over ten years and released several demos and promos under two different names.
They have gigged with Nebula and On Trial, among others. They play very well together on this record,
and a lot of the songs are excellent. The opening number Too Stoned is one of the best songs with its
Monster Magnet plagiarism (compare with Dinosaur Vacume...). The band plays rather clearly stoner rock,
but with a style of their own. The weakest parts might sound a bit too standard rock.
My girlfrind said that a couple of tracks (Desert Call and Freak Sensation) reminded her of AC/DC!
All Creatures which opens with a nice speech and the wild Super Sun Trigger are the highlights with the opener.
Also the nearly eight minutes long Storm of my Enemies grooves nicely. There's a ninth, cleaner "hidden" track
(Holy Walker), that they might as well have left out.
The sounds on this record are very heavy. There's a lot of distortion and other effects. It's very guitar dominated music,
and there are no keyboards. The wall of guitars works very well, but I would have liked to hear more solos.
Particular favour goes for the singer, who is surpisingly good for this kind of a band. The man really can sing!
The drums sound a bit muddy: I wonder if they tried to save some money with the recordings?
The use of delay on vocals have been maximized nicely in places.
All in all, Pleasent Journey... is a pleasant experience. Most of the material works very well,
and gets your foot moving. There seems to be a demand for Gas Giant especially in Germany,
where this album will apparently also be released. Why not, because I feel that this might also draw a wider audience.
You can get some more info from www.gasgiant.dk. Now just put some stoner to your machine,
light up a big joint and let it rock!!!
Available at least from www.burnthippie.dk
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FLYTE REACTION
Sensilla
(Woronzow Woo 44)
Sensilla is the fifth album by the English psychedelic pop band Flyte Reaction.
The only regular member of the band is the guitarist/singer Mick Crossley,
who's almost completely responsible for the music and lyrics. He also plays keyboards,
flute, bass and percussion on the record with a few fellows helping on drums and bass.
Crossley has a phenomenal ability to write beautiful, catchy pop songs.
They vary from fast and energetic eruptions (Candy Girl, Try Me, Diamond Geezer...)
to peaceful, a bit folky acoustic numbers (Swim Around The Moon, Flow, Catching Leaves...).
There's also mystical and mind altering compositions (Water From Your Well, Dark Rain Falling).
There's 14 tracks on the near 70 minute album, two of which are hidden tracks at the end.
Most of the songs are under four minutes long. The longest track is Dark Rain Falling with it's over 14 minutes.
That's the best (and most progressive) stuff on the album in my opinion, and seems to be very much improvisation based.
Good jamming! Crossley is not only a fine songwriter and excellent singer, but also a great guitar player.
Even though this is an 8 track analogue recording, it sounds very pleasant and organic There's some studio wizardry
being used, but not too much. The whole package works really well, and so do all the tracks separately.
I've got to get the other albums by the band to my record shelf as well!
You can get a taster from this too at: www.woronzow.co.uk
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CAULDRON
The Sanctuary Suit
(Wild Places - WILD 006)
Jens Unosson, the keyboard player of The Swedish Spacious Mind seems
to be rather productive fellow. Having gained cult status in the psychedelia circuits, the band has
released five excellent albums since 1993. Jens' other folkier psych project Holy River Family Band
has already managed to release two CD's, the latter being a double. They've got great reviews.
This surely wasn't enough for the guy, so he grounded duoproject called Cauldron with Arne Jonasson
(guitars, different exotic stringinstruments etc.), who's also in HRFB. The Sanctuary Suit is the pair's
first product under this name. The ethereal element that is charasteristic to all of Jens' bands has
been dragged to almost it's extreme, we're talking about so dreamy music here.
The over an hour long disc has four songs ranging from over seven to over twenty minutes in lenght.
The first number is called "The Sea/The Road", and one of the most important elements in the first
part is the rush of the ocean... On top of that they start peacefully to create interesting sounscapes;
first with some strange sounding wind instruments, then with airy guitar improvisation,
and soon also with syntheziser. There's a little bit more rhythm on the next section,
gentle guitar comp and careful percussions.
Then we return to more floating style with the pumporgans in the start of "The Cathedral".
This one has some simple primordial force, like in the nature herself. The desolate pictures
of forest and sea in the CD covers emphazise this ambience. Put your earphones on and your eyes closed,
and you'll find yourself in nature's own sanctuary, even if your physical body is still laying in your
flat in Sörkkä (part of Helsinki)... After five minutes we get some rhythm again, which speeds up
the trip nicely. In the end, the song dissolves into cosmic floating again, accompanied on the citar. Great!
The third track begins with churchbell-sounding, a bit chaotic moods. Could this be "Cathedral",
after all? What ever the case, but the insert says number three is called "The City".
The atmosphere changes from soothing to almost oppressive, maybe this is how the friends of the forest feel the city...
After five minutes I'm getting a bit bored, the right stimulants might help. Luckily this is the shortest "composition".
The last one is "The East/The Dream/The Bliss" in three parts. The first part, according to its name,
utilizes the musical traditions of the east: some more citar. Then we fly with just organs and synths for a while,
until we're joined by trumpet, sax, percussions and other fellows! Very soft and pleasant stuff!
If you didn't notice yet, this is not the kind of record you listen with your friends when drinking beer.
If you demand constantly changing rhytmics and fast, techinal playing, you can forget the whole thing.
If you need interesting meditationmusic fors selfexploration and astraltravelling, you shouldn't miss this one.
I listen to this with pleasure myself, while waiting for the next The Spacious Mind album...
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ALCHEMYSTS
Zero Zen
(Woronzow Woo 43)
 Woronzow from the UK has released yet
another great psych record! You can already figure out what's the deal looking at the nice collage cover.
The Alchemysts power trio plays high-octane acid rock spiced with all the necessary effects. The guitars scream,
and they really don't skimp on speed. At times they do cool down with more relaxed, floating songs,
which are in good balance with the harder parts. Influences can mostly be found from the 60's US garage bands (MC5?).
I suppose that also the stoner freaks will like this, even though the guitar sound is not THAT heavy.
I would have liked to hear some analog synths, but they do use some organs on a couple of songs.
There's even some sitar and tamboura on a bit oriental Spores.
There's 14 songs on the album, the shortest being Terranaut at under two minutes,
and the longest DMT Blues at over 15 minutes in length. Some other wacky titles are The Psychic Fayre,
Black Hole Kickout and Time Travel For The Lonely. The record sounds surprisingly good,
and especially at loud volume you can feel it all the way to your back brain!
The music is also very well played, and the singer's voice fits in perfectly,
so there's really nothing to complain about. The lyrics are guaranteed freak
out stuff from the beginning to the end. You'll have to try this in the car, but please be careful...
Your mind might just melt.
(This is an English translation of my review for the February issue of Suomi Finland Perkele mag.
It concentrates on metal, but also covers stoner rock and a bit psych.)
You can get a taster from this too at:
www.woronzow.co.uk
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THEBROTHEREGG
Snowflake & Fingerprint machine
(Woronzow Woo 47)
TheWoronzow boys were so dazzled after hearing the album by thebrotheregg
from Oregon, USA, that they had no other option but to release it. Snowflake
& Fingerprint Machine is the band's first record, and undeniably pretty
original stuff.
This is rather progressive all right. You can (almost) make comparisons with
Gentle Giant, VDGG and partly old Crimson. At times they get close to Floyd
in spirit. The peaceful ¾ time is characteristic for the album.
There are a lot of time changes, though, and there are nice tricks written
in the songs. The progressiveness is not an end in itself. It's nice that
there are also rather psychedelic elements involved.
The album requires a few listening times before it really opens up probably,
but after that is a really juicy treat. Violins and different wind instruments
give their own bonus. There are plenty of beautiful melodies and harmonies.
Adam Goldman, the bandleader, has a very pleasant voice.
The best tracks in my opinion are Dark Workmanship, Negative Space and Omniuniminiverse.
The record is suitable for summer feelings for example at a summer cottage,
where I'm writing this review. Try it!
You can get a taster from this too at: www.woronzow.co.uk
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TONY HILL
Inexactness
(Woronzow Woo 46)
Inexactness is a fresh solo album by guitar legend Tony Hill,
who used to be in the 60's/70's cult band High Tide. The style also on this album is heavy progressive
psych rock. His backing band is The Bevis Frond (Nick Saloman: guitar,
organ, synth; Adrian Shaw (familiar also from Hawkwind!): bass; Andy Ward
(who's played in Camel): drums). In addition to this, the original High
Tide bass player Pete Pavli plays on three tracks. Violin virtuoso Matt
Kelly provides more High Tide moods. Why not Simon House, I'm just wondering?
I'm sure the album is a pleasant experience for all the High Tide fans,
even though it's more song-oriented stuff. Of course there's also some
jamming on a couple of tracks. Tony is apparently still in power as a composer
and a guitar player. The playing is very fluent, and there are a few greater-than-life
moments. Luckily not all the songs are so heavy, otherwise I'd get an overdose
of High Tide pathos. Now the album works great altogether! Nice.
You can get a taster from this too at: www.woronzow.co.uk
You should also check out the new High Tide compilation Open Season released by Black Widow.
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GAS GIANT vs. WE
Riding The Red Horse to The Last Stronghold of The Freaks
(Burnt Hippie - BHR-005)
This is a split vinyl by Danish Gas Giant and Norwegian We.
We're talking about a limited edition of 500 copies here.
After last year's debut album, Gas Giant continues the same, heavy stoner style.
The first track, Firetripper, explodes your head! Rough stuff, this really
rocks! If only we could get this band to play at Tavastia (along with Spiha?!),
that would really shake some head.. The couple other, longer (about 10 minutes)
songs are mostly on the easier bur freakier department. Nice groove.
The We side is a bit lighter, but very pleasant stuff. There are a couple of longer songs and a shorter
one called The Raven by them as well. The Raven could almost be early Saint Vitus.. The beginning of
the last track The Trip reminds me of Led Zeppelin, but in a nice way. Then they speed up to cacophony,
then some citars to the middle, and then back to the heavy playing. I think I'll have to learn more
about this band.
All in all, a very nice album. Get it, if you can find it.
Available at least from www.burnthippie.dk
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