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"...Cyclops..."
Anyone who has slaved and
slavered in the 'rare records' game (like me) will have come across Second
Hand's two albums of Experimental Rock from the late Sixties and early
Seventies - "Reality" on Polydor in 1968 and this - the cheerily
titled and mad as a dingbat on acid "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" (Mushroom Records UK from the
spring of 1971.)
Commercially both records
tanked at the time but collectors have loved their Avant Garde grooves ever
since - so the first LP is booked in 2018 at a mere £300 or you can have the
second for a paltry £250 (but of course you may have to sell that Pokémon
collection if your seeking good-copies on well-known auction sites). In fact
three members of the disbanded band under the songwriting aliases Nek, Max Fish
and (wait for it) Herr Von Tskutting (Ken Elliott, Kieran O’Connor and George
Hart) - went on to make "Chillum" by Chillum which was released
December 1971 on Mushroom Records 100 MR 11 in a sleeve that resembled a private
pressing. That album too has been subject to CD reissue and British originals
with its hand-stencilled sleeve and photo insert will set you back a trifling
£150 – or more.
Some history first - the
nucleus of SECOND HAND (or The Moving Finger as they were credited on early
copies of "Reality") was Ken Elliott and Kieran O'Connor -
multi-instrumentalists who would later morph into SEVENTH WAVE (on Gull
Records). The first album on Polydor got no promotion and the second just as
little - so both have been notorious rarities on the UK Prog collecting scene
for decades. See For Miles had a bash at a CD reissue in 1997, UFO in 1991,
Sunbeam in 2010 and now in late June 2017 we're getting the latest and greatest
from a rising star in the reissue firmament - 'Esoteric Recordings' - part of
England’s Cherry Red Records. Resplendent with a Ben Wiseman remaster,
hallucinogenic liner notes from Malcolm Dome and three relevant Bonus Tracks -
this weird and wonderful sucker has never sounded nor looked so good - or
frankly ahead of its time. Here are the first hand funereal revelations...
UK released Friday, 30 June
2017 (7 July 2018 in the USA) - "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" by
SECOND HAND on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2594 (Barcode 5013929469440) is an
'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue with Three Bonus Tracks and pans out as follows
(44:19 minutes):
1. Death May Be Your Santa
Claus [Side 1]
2. Hangin' On An Eyelid
3. Lucifer And The Egg
4. Somethin' You Got
5. Cyclops [Side 2]
6. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
7. Revelations Ch. 16, Vs.
9-21
8. Take To The Skies
9. D.M.B.Y.S.C. (Reprise)
Tracks 1 to 9 are their
second studio album "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" - released April
1971 in the UK on Mushroom Records 200 MR 6 (no US release).
SECOND HAND was:
ROB ELLIOTT - Lead Vocals
KEN ELLIOTT - Vocals, Organ,
Mellotron and Piano
KIERAN O'CONNOR Vocals,
Vibraphone, Percussion, Noises and Drums
GEORGE HART - Vocals, Bass
and Violin
Guest:
MOGGY MEAD - Guitar on
"Cyclops"
BONUS TRACKS:
10. Funeral
11. Dip It Out Of The Bog
Fred
12. Baby RU Anudder Monster
PAUL GREEDUS - Vocals on
"Funeral"
TONY McGILL - Guitar on
"Funeral"
Co-ordinated by Mark and
Vicky Powell – this reissue features a 16-page booklet with new MALCOLM DOME
liner notes including revealing interviews with original band member Ken
Elliott (a mere 22 when he made the album with a 20-year old Kieran O’Connor)
and Vic Keary who produced their debut album in 1968 and formed the British
Independent label Mushroom Records which would house their second and third
platters in 1971. The rare "Funeral" British 45 on Mushroom 50 MR 19
is pictured (released June 1972, the album track "Hangin' On An
Eyelid" was its B-side) as are period band photos, tour dates, trade paper
adverts and each set of double-pages features the smoke trails of the “Reality”
album sleeve as a backdrop (nice touch).
But the big news is a BEN
WISEMAN Remaster from original tapes. Ben has handled wads of reissues - The
Flock, Audience, Help Yourself, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Patto,
Unicorn, Spooky Tooth, Man, Juicy Lucy, Second Hand, Dada, Eyes Of Blue and
many more. Another bang up job here.
It opens with a decidedly
ELP vs. Greenslade moment in "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" complete
with a rather overbearing vocal and mad keyboard tinkling from Elliott. The
album's true experimental nature shows through with "Hangin' On An
Eyelid" where it seems that hundreds of keyboards ideas are colliding with
each other - the playing and sound stages amazing. The near eight minutes of
"Lucifer And The Egg" is a Prog monster with treated screeching
vocals and manic drumming - modern art meets keyboard radio workshop madness.
Heavy Psych Fuzz Guitar lovers will head straight for "Somethin' You
Got" while aficionados of doom-keyboards will dig the seven minutes of
"Cyclops" - all in-and-out menace as it builds on layers and layers
of Moog sounds. The 45-seconds of "Sic Transit Gloria Mundi" is
lunatic noises and throwaway madness. It leads into the difficult guitars and
Magical Mystery Tour keys of "Revelations..." where someone's been
reading too many underground leaflets about the end of the world and the
Russians. "Take To The Skies" and the Reprise of the title track may
test your patience but again others will secretly thrill to their BBC workshop
sounds.
Mushroom Records also put
out a rare album by Greek singer Andreas Thomopoulos called "Born Out Of
The Tears Of The Sun" which apparently featured Ken Elliott, George Hart
and Kieran O'Connor of Second Hand. Ken Elliott and Kieran O’Connor then formed
the Synth band Seventh Wave and did two albums on Gull Records in 1974 - "Things
To Come" and "Psi-Fi". Ken Elliott does soundtracks now while
Kieran O'Connor sadly passed in 1991 due to alcohol related illnesses.
No matter how accomplished the
paying may be – this is a difficult and at times trying listen and very much of
the period (experiment and be damned) – so for sure SECOND HAND will not be for
everyone. But those who love their Prog a bit mad and keyboard noises a tad workshop
will find much to enjoy in this smorgasbord of soundscapes. Take me to the
skies indeed...
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