"Big Brother Is Watching You: The CBS Recordings Anthology" by SKIN ALLEY (February 2011 UK Esoteric Recordings 2CD Antholgy of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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Includes the albums "Skin Alley" and "To Pagham And Beyond" - both from 1970

"...Take Heed..."

Obscure for a reason - unknown but worthy of rediscovery – a bit of both? I've always found the hybrid Jazz-Rock and Underground Music of England’s SKIN ALLEY difficult to pin down. In fact you could say that by the time they made their third album "Two Quid Deal?" over on Transatlantic Records in 1972 (outside the remit of this double that chronicles their first two platters on CBS) - they were more Funk-Rock than Prog or Fusion (for that reason, two of that album's songs made their way onto the superb August 2017 RPM Records 3CD Box Set "One Way Glass: Dancefloor Prog, Brit Jazz and Funky Folk 1968-1975" – see separate review).

To the matter at hand - what you get here is the London band's first two platters on CBS Records both released in 1970 - "Skin Alley" from March and "To Pagham And Beyond" from December. There's also the debut UK 7" single from March 1970 - an Edit and Remix of "Tell Me" from Side 1 of the debut LP paired up with the non-album "Better Be Blind" on the flipside. And as if that's not good enough, for real aficionados there are 9 new tracks recorded in London in November 1970 for a movie called "Stop Veruschka" about the German Model and socialite Verushka - or if we're really being snobby here - Countess Vera von Lehndorff-Steinort (her real name). These wild Jazz recordings have languished in vaults for over four decades and make their digital debut here mastered from original tapes. A lot on offer then - let's get to the cops and robbers...

UK released February 2011 (re-issued September 2015) - "Big Brother Is Watching you: The CBS Recordings Anthology" by SKIN ALLEY on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 22243 (Barcode 5013929734326) is a 2CD 26-Track Reissue containing the two 1970 albums "Skin Alley" and "To Pagham And Beyond" along with a non-album single and Nine Bonus Tracks from an unreleased soundtrack "Stop Veruschka". It plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (67:19 minutes):

1. Living In Sin [Side 1]

2. Tell Me

3. Mother Please Help Your Child

4. Marsha

5. Country Aire [Side 2]

6. All Alone

7. Night Time

8. Concerto Grosso (Take Heed)

9. (Going Down The) Highway

Tracks 1 to 9 are their debut album "Skin Alley" - released March 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 63947 (no US issue). Produced by DICK TAYLOR for Clearwater Productions - it didn't chart.

10. Better Be Blind

11. Tell Me (Single Version)

Tracks 11 and 10 are the A&B-side of their March 1970 UK debut 7" single on CBS Records 5045. "Tell Me" (the A-side) runs to 4:39 minutes on the album - but the 'Single Version' is 3:58 minutes and a different mix - the B-side "Better Be Blind" is non-album.

12. Shower Music

13. Sofa, Taxi And Sand Themes

14. Cemetery Scene

15. First Drug Scene

Tracks 12 to 15 recorded November 1970 at De Lane Lea Studios in London and come from the unreleased soundtrack to "Stop Veruschka" (see also Tracks 7 to 11 on Disc 2)

Disc 2 (64:20 minutes):

1. Big Brother Is Watching You [Side 1]

2. Take Me To Your Leader's Daughter

3. Walking In The Park

4. The Queen Of Bad Intentions [Side 2]

5. Sweaty Betty

6. Easy To Lie

Tracks 1 to 6 are their second studio album "To Pagham And Beyond" - released December 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 64140. Produced by FRITZ FRYER - it didn't chart.

7. Russian Boogaloo

8. Skin Alley Serenade

9. Sun Music

10. Bird Music

11. Snow Music

Tracks 7 to 11 recorded November 1970 at De Lane Lea Studios in London and come from the unreleased soundtrack to "Stop Veruschka" (see also Tracks 12 to 15 on Disc 1)

SKIN ALLEY was:

Tracks 1 to 11 on Disc 1

KRZRYSTOF HENRYK-JUSKIEWICZ - Organ, Piano, Mellotron, Harpsichord and Vocals

BOB JAMES - Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Flute and Vocals

THOMAS CRIMBLE - Bass, Mellotron and Vocals

GILES 'Alvin' POPE - Drums, Congas and Timpani (Tracks 1 to 9, Drums only on Tracks 10 and 11)

Tracks 12 to 12 to 15 on Disc 1 and Tracks 7 to 11 on Disc 2

KRZRYSTOF HENRYK-JUSKIEWICZ - Hammond Organ, Piano, Mellotron and Vocals

BOB JAMES - Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Flute and Vocals

NICK GRAHAM - Bass, Flute and Vocals

GILES 'Alvin' POPE - Drums

Tracks 1 to 6 on Disc 2

KRZRYSTOF HENRYK-JUSKIEWICZ - Hammond Organ, Trumpet, Piano, Mellotron and Vocals

BOB JAMES - Guitar, Alto Saxophone, Flute and Vocals

THOMAS CRIMBLE - Acoustic and Electric Bass, Guitars, Harmonica and Vocals

NICK GRAHAM - Vocals on "Walking In The Park" and "Sweaty Betty"

GILES 'Alvin' POPE - Drums

The 16-page booklet features the front and rear sleeves of the 'lippy' cop of the debut LP and the colour photo of the band on the inner gatefold of "To Pagham And Beyond". Amidst the text is a trade advert for the 6 March 1970 release of the "Skin Alley" album and 'Clearwater Productions' adverts for their Underground clique of acts - Cochise, Hawkwind, Heron, Trees and of course - Skin Alley. There's even a very rare promotional for the 'Afan Festival No.2' on Saturday the 23rd of May 1970 at the Afan Lido, Port Talbot in Wales with a tasty line-up across 8-hours to choose from that included Rory Gallagher's Taste, The Keef Hartley Band, Atomic Rooster, Skin Alley, Hawkwind and some upper-coming little Prog band called YES. 48 years later and the lead singer’s mush - Jon Anderson of Yes - is gracing the glossy cover of the August 2018 Edition of England's Record Collector magazine – side by side with that other stallion of Prog - Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull - both immortalised by a specially created illustration for the front cover by Rodney Matthews (limited edition art prints No'd to 200 available for £200 each - get in my son).

MARK POWELL (leading light at Esoteric Recordings) provides the detailed and informative liner notes while a duo of Audio Engineers I love did the remastering from original tapes - PASCHAL BYRNE and BEN WISEMAN. These guys have been through (quite possibly) hundreds of these reissues and are more than up to the job. Licensed from Sony - these CDs sound great – especially that second LP. Let's get to the music...

Side 1 of the self-titled debut album opens with two from Bob James - the witty wayward generation song "Living In Sin" and the almost Fleetwood Mac sounding feeling-blue single "Tell Me" (dig that Mellotron evoking those Summer days). They're followed by two from keyboardist Juskiewicz - the organ and drums fusion of "Mother Please Help Your Child" and seven minutes of pure Underground Jazz-Rock in the instrumental "Marsha". It’s clear that the tapes are in remarkable shape - that rhythm section rattling around your speakers as Juskiewicz gives in some Keith Emerson on the Organ followed by Bob James getting all blowy on his Sax. Side 2 opens with another Bob James composition - the Flute and Harpsichord pretty "Country Aire" - a jaunty little number that sounds like its title. There then follows the first of three Thomas Crimble songs - "All Alone" - the other two are "Night Time" and "(Going Down The) Highway" - sandwiched between 30-seconds of Harpsichord from Juskiewicz called "Concerto Grosso (Take Heed)". Both mellow and melancholic - his vocals on "All Alone" aren't possible the strongest but there's a great 'where is my little girl gone, left me all alone' shuffle about it and "...Highway" would have been the kind of tune that heads bobbing in the live scenario.

The unreleased soundtrack opens well with "Shower Music" - a piano roll that could be 2018 let alone 1970 - only to give way to a breathy flute. Five minutes of "Sofa, Taxi And Sand Themes" sports lyrics about growing old floating over acoustic guitars and impressive musical passages on various keyboards and guitars. Esoteric Recordings clearly thought "Skin Valley Serenade" (over on Disc 2) worthy of punter’s adoration because they give it pride of place on the August 2017 3CD Box Set "Let The Electric Children Play: The Underground Story Of Transatlantic Records 1968-1976". The funky "Russian Boogaloo" will have instrumental nuts sit up and dance too. But I'd have to say both "Cemetery Scene" and "First Drug Scene" are insufferable lengthy Jazz and Sound Effect whig-outs that would test Captain Beefheart's patience and I can see why these were left in the can.

Over on Disc 2 we get the accomplished second album "To Pagham And Beyond" released at the tail end of 1970. With only three lengthy songs to each side - the album is far more Jazz-Rock than the first LP. The title of this 2CD anthology opens Side 1 - "Big Brother Is Watching You" - a face-the-wall warning mixed in with misery lyrics over a lost girlfriend. Eight minutes and forty-three seconds of "Take Me To Your Leader's Daughter" sees the flute and stop-start Latin rhythms mingle with Jazz Piano as the workout nears its snake beat high-hat drums ending. Having joined the band for the "Stop Veruschka" sessions - Nick Graham guests as lead vocalist on two tunes - the cover of Graham Bond's "Walking In The Park" and Thomas Crimble's delightfully entitled "Sweaty Beatty". Threatening to turn into a Juicy Lucy session doing a Hammond Organ shuffle - "Walking In The Park" could easily have been an edited single in my books - go after the Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago market - but alas. After a wild and slightly ill-advised Saxophone screaming beginning - "Sweaty Beatty" thankfully settles into a rather cool Jazz-Rock tune – nice melody lines and playing. The album ends on "Easy To Lie" – six-minutes twenty of people talking all over town – some dude got shot down and our incensed singer is not sure that innocent/sucker wasn’t set up. Nice vocal lines and a finger-clicking beat are soon joined by Fuzz Guitars and Spaghetti Western chants – only to go into speed halfway through. "Easy To Lie" ends the CBS period well...

SKIN ALLEY were very much a part of a period in British counter-culture when experimentation was embraced – even the norm a few years later. For sure not all of this music will sail your average Joe's dancing dingy – but I have to praise Esoteric once again for a quality job done. Recommend from Margate and beyond...