"…Spin Your Threads…Spider Of Forgetfulness…"
C.C.S. (short for COLLECTIVE
CONSCIOUSNESS SOCIETY) made 3 studio albums and 7 singles for Mickie Most's RAK
Records in the early Seventies, before the band finally split up in late 1973.
This fantastically
clear-sounding Repertoire CD is the first of those three - their self-titled
debut album remastered and supplemented with four relevant bonus tracks. The
Digipak on this 'Expanded Edition' Reissue/Remaster CD mimics the album's
original laminate gatefold artwork (a nice touch) and has an 8-page booklet
with a CHRIS WELCH essay on the LP and the band's history. Here's a 'whole
lotta love'...
Released April 2000 (reissued
June 2002) - "C.C.S." by C.C.S on Repertoire REP 4851 (Barcode
4009910485125) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster in a Card Digipak and plays out as follows (54:34 minutes):
1. Boom Boom
2. (I Can't Get No)
Satisfaction
3. Waiting Song
4. Looking For Fun
5. Whole Lotta Love
6. Living In The Past [Side
2]
7. Sunrise
8. Dos Cantos
9. Wade In The Water
Tracks 1 to 9 are the debut
album "C.C.S." by C.C.S. - originally released October 1970 on Rak
Records SRAK 6751 in the UK and issued later as "Whole Lotta Love" in
the USA on Rak 30559 in April 1971
BONUS TRACKS (Non-Album
Singles):
10. Walking
11. Salome
Tracks 10 and 11 UK issued
February 1971 on RAK Records RAK 109 as a stand-alone 7" single.
"Walking" is a DONOVAN cover version while "Salome" is a
John Cameron and Alexis Korner original.
12. Tap Turns On The Water
13. Save The World
Tracks 12 and 13 UK issued
August 1971 on RAK Records RAK 119 as a stand-alone 7" single. Both songs
are Korner/Cameron originals.
The huge ensemble group was the
brain-child of British Blues Boom Godfather ALEXIS KORNER who along with Danish
singer PETER THORUP and British arranger JOHN CAMERON pulled together the cream
of brass/flute-playing session-men of the time and went after the BLOOD, SWEAT
& TEARS market for funked-up rock. Mickie Most's timing couldn't have been
better. Deciding right from the start to include cover versions ala B, S &
T, they did a fantastic brassed-up take on Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta
Love" that not only complimented the original, but also defined that
"CCS" sound. So when the new BBC pop program "Top Of The
Pops" needed a cool new theme song, they took this winner, dropped the
flute intro and the vocal middle and end - and a theme song legend was born.
Even now, I can remember vividly
as a budding teenager watching Top Of The Pops on a Thursday night (for what
seemed literally like years) and when that theme came on, a rush went through
your veins! I dare say that experience was repeated all across the land and
it's probably one of the reasons why CCS is held in such affection to this day.
"Whole Lotta Love" came before "Walking" as their 1st
7" single issued in October 1970 on RAK 104 with their cover of John Lee
Hooker's "Boom Boom" on the B-side (both tracks are on the debut LP).
But the best bit is the
SOUND. Repertoire re-issues are always good in my book, but this
licensed-from-EMI remaster is exceptional. I'd expected wads of hiss, but the
transfers are very clean - and given the amount of brass coming at you,
muscular to a point where you have to sometimes reach for the volume control!
Plus what also impresses is that there are a lot of quiet patches in between
all the musical bluster in the songs and they sound lovely too - a really great
job done.
Musically the album itself
has been a treasure trove to me - the structure of the songs being complicated
and therefore bear repeated listening and discovery. While I'm not overly mad
about Thorup's vocals to be truthful, the gravel voice-over wonder that was
Alexis Korner's larynx will always send a chill up my spine. A sadly, sadly
missed man and God bless him wherever he may be. Their stabs at covers of
Jethro Tull's "Living In The Past", The Stones'
"Satisfaction" and John Lee Hooker's magical stop-start "Boom
Boom" all impress - as does the swagger of the Traditional "Wade In
The Water". Originals like "Waiting Song" "Lookin' For
Fun" and "Sunrise" are superb too. But I've always loved
"Dos Cantos" - an 8-minutes passage of pure C.C.S. melodrama and fun
(lyrics from it title this review) - Korner's lyrics and menacing voice
rattling around the speakers like some uncle you both love and don't trust!
When C.C.S folded, both
Korner and Thorup teamed up with King Crimson's BOZ BURRELL and IAN WALLACE to
form SNAPE who issued some albums in Europe. But my heart is with the fab
C.C.S. on RAK Records. I’m biased of course because I've loved their albums
since I was knee-high and I can say with certainty that this re-issue and its
great remaster is superlative and highly recommended to those who love their
Seventies Rock with a bit of balls and a sense of humour…
PS:
For those who want more, their second album from 1972 also called
"C.C.S." on the original vinyl (CCS II for CD purposes) is also
available in this series - as is their 3rd and last album from 1973, "The
Best Band In The Land". I've bought the other two also - and remastered
with bonus tracks - they're the business too. I've also extensively reviewed
Esoteric Recordings "Tap Turns On The Water: The C.C.S. Story" 2CD
Anthology from 2013 which has equally stupendous audio quality...
