"Alchemy" by THIRD EAR BAND – July 1969 UK Debut LP on Harvest Records (April 2019 UK Esoteric Recordings '2CD Expanded Edition' Reissue with 10 Previously Unreleased Tracks and New Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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WHOLE LOTTA LOVE - 1969
Rock, Pop and Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

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"...Lark Rise..."

 

You would have to say that in early 2022 music like that of the THIRD EAR BAND simply wouldn't get made let alone released by a major label. 

Even trying to describe their sound is like trying to nail down genre quicksand - Art Rock with a definite whiff of the Avant Garde, Baba O’Riley Indian Raga drones, speaker-to-speaker ye olde English Folk mingled with adventurous 60ts Progressive Rock sensibilities, Captain Beefheart let loose with an Oboe, people always taking trips. Hell, there's even a Country lean on some of these mood-ethereal outpourings. And one of the band members is even credited as playing wind chimes (say no more). So God Bless Harvest Records and their truly eclectic band roster - here you go sales rep hipsters, sell this to the British public, good luck boys.

 

Which brings us today to other heroes, England's 'Esoteric Recordings' (part of Cherry Red) who have been winning the minds and wizened malfunctioning hearts of collectors like me these last few years, forcing us on far too many occasions to make more digital purchases of dodgy ruminations from our vast arsenal of bitcoin wealth.

 

Esoteric have taken on the beast that is this hard-to-define-and-hold music and done it proud (see list below). To the dragon lines, square circle druids and Egyptians sipping tea with their dead books...  

 

UK released 5 April 2019 - "Alchemy" by THIRD EAR BAND on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 22668 (Barcode 5013929476844) is a '2CD Expanded Edition' Reissue and Remaster of their 1969 UK debut album with 10 Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (62:07 minutes):

1. Mosaic [Side 1]

2. Ghetto Raga

3. Druid One

4. Stone Circle

5. Egyptian Book Of The Dead

6. Area Three

7. Dragon Lines

8. Lark Rise

Tracks 1 to 8 are their debut album "Alchemy" - released July 1969 in the UK on Harvest Records SHVL 756 and in the USA on Harvest SKAO-376. Produced by PETER JENNER – all songs written by Glen Sweeney, Richard Coff and Paul Minns except "Lark Rise" by Dave Tomlin.

 

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Hyde Park Raga

10. Druid One

Tracks 9 and 10 are a 'BBC Radio One "Top Gear" Session recorded for John Peel's Radio Program and is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

CD2 (60:19 minutes):

1. Cosmic Trip

2. Jason's Trip

3. Devil's Weed

Tracks 1 to 3 made in 1968

 

4. Raga No. 1 (Mono)

5. Unity

Tracks 4 and 5 recorded 24 January 1969 at Abbey Road Studios and are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

6. The Sea

7. Druid

8. Hyde Park Raga

Tracks 6 to 8 recorded 12 September 1969 at Abbey Road Studios and are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

THIRD EAR BAND was:

GLEN SWEENEY – Tabla, Hand Drums, Wind Chimes

PAUL MINNS – Oboe, Recorder

RICHARD COFF – Violin, Viola

MEL DAVIS – Cello, Slide Pipes

Plus

JOHN PEEL – Jews Harp on "Area Three"

DAVE TOMLIN – Viola on "Lark Rise"

 

The 3-way foldout card digipak is pretty to look at (the artwork beneath the two see-through CD trays matching that of the LP) and reproduces the original LP’s gatefold artwork too. Working with remaining members of the band, Esoteric have even managed to uncover two sheets of unseen black and white photos taken for the cover shoot and promotional purposes. They are small and hard to discern, but there are also suitably physic posters on Page 5 of the superbly detailed 16-page booklet – the liner notes enlivened by LUCA CHINO FERRARI – the band's official archivist. Someone even had a photo of TEB on stage at The Isle Of Wight in 1969. As I say, proper attention paid...

 

The big draw for fans here is going to be the BEN WISEMAN Remasters from original Harvest tapes – the Audio is stupendous. Anyone who had this album on vinyl back in the day will know that during those quiet Oboe passages, that format was less than ideal. Here the clarity is startling and some might say – beautiful. I have to say though, that I find the music hard work after a fashion and any newcomers might recoil at the reality. With their endless ye olde Oboe noodlings like say on "Druid One", they come across like an earlier version of Gryphon and it can all be a bit too much. But then during the warbling of "Ghetto Raga", when the Tabla kicks in especially, the music goes to another trippy place that I know lovers of this band can't get enough of. Beautiful and difficult Prog Folk. Nice.

 

What is indisputable however, is that the Audio and Quality Presentation of this 2CD Expanded Edition of "Alchemy" have done this obscure band and their eclectic debut a solid. And Esoteric Recordings are to be praised to the Raga nines for that...

 

THIRD EAR BAND CD Reissues/Remasters on Esoteric Recordings

 

1. "Alchemy" [July 1969 Debut UK LP on Harvest SHVL 756] - April 2019 UK 2CD Expanded Edition with 10 Bonus Tracks on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 22668 (Barcode 5013929476844)

 

2. "Third Ear Band" [July 1970 Second UK LP on Harvest SHVL 773] – December 2018 UK 3CD Compilation called "Elements 1970-1971" on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 32653 (Barcode 5013929475342).

Tracks 1 to 4 on CD1 are the "Third Ear Band" album Remastered.

The "Elements 1970-1971" 3CD compilation also contains the "Abelard & Heloise" Soundtrack recorded July 1970 for German television (unreleased until 1997) and other Previously Unreleased period material

 

3. "Music From Macbeth" [March 1972 UK Third LP on Harvest SHSP 4019] – February 2019 UK 1CD Expanded Edition with 3 Bonus Tracks on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 2656 (Barcode 5013929475649)