"The Harvest Years 1969-1973" by EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND (2011 Parlophone/Harvest 4CD Reissue Set with 2004 Peter Mew Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Out Demons Out..."

Re-listening to Warwick's EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND in 2017 and their five-strong haul of albums between 1969 and 1973 is like hearing two different bands – the first lot are a bunch of imps let loose in the studio with too many Smarties and funny cigarettes - the second is a more reflective trio of grown-up men with beards who’ve woken up to real music and its message to the masses.

The barking-mad and lippy debut "Wasa Wasa" and it’s 1970 follow-up "Sing Brother Sing" remind you of Captain Beefheart's "Trout Mask Replica" - both challenging listens with moments of brilliance amidst the lunacy - while the later albums like "Edgar Broughton Band" and especially "In Side Out" show serious songwriting maturity and real depth on top of the wit and snarl of old.

I'd be lying if I didn't say that all their records are hard work in some ways – and portions of the first two albums swerve dangerously close to period-dross that's tough to take no matter how fondly you may remember them. But there's much to love and admire here too - there really is...

This Parlophone/Harvest 4CD Anthology with five full albums, rare non-LP singles and Previously Unreleased live stuff on Disc 4 is seriously great value for money – sounds the aural business (Peter Mew Remasters from Abbey Road done in 2004) and makes available in one easy package incredibly rare British LPs on that darling label of all things Alternative and Prog Rock – England’s Harvest Records. Here are the Homes Fit For Heroes...

UK released January 2011 - "The Harvest Years 1969-1973" by EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND on Parlophone/Harvest 949 4882 (Barcode 5099994948820) is a 4CD Anthology with 2004 Peter Mew Remasters (Six Previously Unreleased Tracks) and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (74:23 minutes):

1. Death Of An Electric Citizen

2. American Boy Soldier

3. Why Can't Somebody Love Me?

4. Neptune

5. Evil

6. Crying

7. Love In The Rain

8. Dawn Crept Away

Tracks 1 to 8 are their debut album "Wasa Wasa" - released July 1969 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 757.

9. Out Demons Out - Non-Album UK 7" single released April 1970 on Harvest HAR 5015, A-side

10. Up Yours! - Non-Album UK 7" single released May 1970 on Harvest HAR 5021, A-side [B-side is the album track "Officer Dan"]

11. Freedom - Non-Album UK 7" single released November 1970 on Harvest HAR 5032, B-side to "Apache Dropout" - Track 6 on Disc 2

12. There's No Vibrations But Wait!

13. The Moth (a) The Moth (b) People (c) Peter

14. Momma's Reward (Keep Them Freak's A Rollin')

15. Refugee

16. Officer Dan

Tracks 12 to 16 are Side 1 of their 2nd studio album "Sing Brother Sing" - released June 1970 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 772

Disc 2 (74:53 minutes):

1. Old Gopher

2. Aphrodite

3. Granma

4. Psychopath: (A) The Psychopath (B) Is For The Butterflies

5. It's Falling Away

Tracks 1 to 5 are Side 2 of their 2nd studio album "Sing Brother Sing" - released June 1970 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 772

6. Apache Drop Out - Non-Album UK 7" single released November 1970 on Harvest HAR 5032, A-side [B-side "Freedom" is Track 11 on Disc 1]

7. Evening Over Rooftops

8. The Birth

9. Piece Of My Own

10. Poppy

11. Don't Even Know Which Day It Is

12. House Of Turnabout

13. Madhatter

14. Getting Hard/What Is A Woman For?

15. Thinking of You

16. For Dr. Spock (Parts 1 & 2)

17. Call Me A Liar

Tracks 7 to 18 are their 3rd studio album "Edgar Broughton Band" - released May 1971 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 791

Disc 3 (69:15 minutes):

1. Get Out Of Bed/There's Nobody There/Side By Side

2. Sister Angela

3. I Got Mad

4. They Took It Away

5. Homes Fit For Heroes

6. Gone Blue

7. Chilly Morning Mama

8. The Rake

9. Totin' This Guitar

10. Double Agent

11. It's Not You

12. Rock 'n' Roll

Tracks 1 to 12 are their 4th studio album "In Side Out" - released July 1972 in the UK on Harvest SHTC 252

13. Someone - Non-Album 1st B-side on the UK 7" single to "Gone Blue" released March 1972 on Harvest HAR 5049

14. Mr. Crosby - Non-Album 2nd B-side on the UK 7" single to "Gone Blue" released March 1972 on Harvest HAR 5049

15. Hurricane Man/Rock 'n' Roller

16. Roccococooler

17. Eviction

18. Oh You Crazy Boy!

19. Things On My Mind

Tracks 15 to 19 are Side 1 of their fifth studio album "Oora" - released May 1973 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 810.

Disc 4 (65:29 minutes):

1. Exhibits From A New Museum/Green Lights

2. Face From A Window/Pretty/Hi-Jack Boogie/Slow Down

3. Capers

Tracks 1 to 3 are Side 2 of their fifth studio album "Oora" - released May 1973 in the UK on Harvest SHVL 810.

Live At Hyde Park, London, 18 July 1970 (Previously Unreleased)

4. Love In The Rain

5. Silver Needle

6. Drop Out Boogie

7. Refugee

8. American Boy Soldier

9. Out Demons Out

Band: 

EDGAR BROUGHTON - Lead Guitar and Vocals

VICTOR UNITT - Guitars (on "Edgar Broughton Band", "In Side Out" and "Oora")

"In Side Out" and "Oora")

ARTHUR GRANT - Bass

STEVE BROUGHTON - Drums and Vocals

Guests:

Vocalists The Ladybirds are on the "Edgar Broughton Band" album  

Mike Oldfield (Mandolin) and David Bedford (Piano) on the "Edgar Broughton Album"

David Bedford Arranged Strings and Wind Instruments on the "Oora" album 

Vocalists Doris Troy, Lisa Strike and Madeline Bell are on the "Oora" album

The 8-page booklet feels miserly and the recording/discography on the leaves beneath the see-through CD trays at the front and rear of the double jewel case is more of a hassle to access than a joy to read (microscopic print). There are some photos of the boys and new interviews by HUGH GILMOUR with the brothers Edgar and Steve about the band's history as a power trio (later joined by Guitarist Victor Unitt) with anecdotes about Harvest Records - backing Blind Faith in front of a huge crowd in London's Hyde Park - praising Peter Mew's Abbey Road Remasters (the whole set sounds amazing). I can’t help thinking it could have been done much better...

Sounding not unlike Captain Beefheart with a rage at society - "Wasa Wasa" contains very dated material like "American Soldier Boy" where they stick in a few jabs at the mindless Vietnam War and the young minds being sent there but still end up sounding like their slagging of kids with no choice. The single "Out Demons Out" has become a signature for them. The very Psychedelic 2nd platter features the ad-nauseam repetition of the word 'negative' on "There's No Vibrations But Wait!" but the clever lyrics bludgeon rather than hammer home the point. "The Moth" though shows real growth - a brilliant acoustic beginning goes wild after a while only to return to the opening acoustic refrain. Beefheart and even The Stooges get channelled in the angry "Momma's Reward..." while "Refugee" is just crap to me. Edgar goes the full Trout Mask Beefheart on Side 2's "Psychopath" - weird sounds accompanying his strangulated 'my dream...you should have heard her scream...' lyrics against a discordant rhythm (oh dear).

But the 3rd self-titled album is an altogether different beast – a long way from 1968 to 1971. The "Edgar Broughton Band" album is accomplished ("Even Over Rooftops" which features The Ladybirds on Backing Vocals) – has hard-hitting social commentary in "The Birth" - acoustic Brinsley Schwarz whimsy in "Piece Of My Own" where they long for a house of wood in the hills as the American fiddles play and a big black eagle flies in the sky above. Both the acoustic "Poppy" and the Richard Thompson guitar chug of "Don't Even Know Which Day It Is" display world-weariness that feels real - lost in the 'new confusion' - fantastic guitars carrying the 'crying inside'. There's even prettiness in "Thinking Of You" (Mike Oldfield and David Bedford contribute Mandolin and Piano respectively) and clever guitar parts in the very Kevin Ayers "Getting Hard/What Is A Woman For?" that goes all Bluesy halfway through and grows to a huge string-ending (shame about that crappy title though). "Hotel Room" asks would you give me your assistance even though you don't know my name - the acoustic strums and toned back voice sounding not unlike David Gilmour and Pink Floyd circa "Obscured By Clouds" - ending on the T. Rex guitar-funk of "Call Me A Liar" - a great groover with a catchy chorus that would have made a potential chart single (in edited form) akin to say Blackfoot Sue or John Kongos.

"In Side Out" came in 1972 when few were listening - which is a shame – because it’s stab at Social Welfare Britain deserved ears. "Get Out Of Bed..." is a three-part song that finds our boys once again searching - down a tunnel without light - emerging into another morning hoping their guitars and harmonica will lift the mood. After an acoustic ditty about comrade "Sister Angela" – we get another angry Edgar vocal in "I Got Mad" – a no-more-war song to a backdrop of melodic guitars. There’s an almost Rock ‘n’ Roll sloppiness to the guitars of "They Took It Away" as everything from furniture to free speech gets taken away. "Homes Fit For Heroes" is the kind of fighting-for-their-rights acoustic ballad Ray Davies would have written for The Kinks – depressing in subject matter (shafted soldiers) – but poignant. Someone thought "Gone Blue" would make a single (Harvest HAR 5049 in March 1972) – but its ‘hole in the back of her head’ and needle references might have put the squids up the BBC. Far better is the lonely guitar and distant vocals of "Chilly Morning Mama" – the kind of song that stays with you even though it initially feels slight (brilliant little tune).

The elaborate plastic outer sleeve artwork to the final album "Oora" from 1973 is nowhere to be seen – but we audible progress in the group’s sound. David Bedford arranged the Strings and Woodwinds and the Soulful trio of lady backing singers add a lot of weight to the walls of acoustic guitars - Doris Troy, Lisa Strike and Madeline Bell. Highlights include "Hurricane Man/Rock ‘n’ Roller" and "Things On My Mind" where the music feels more Richard Thompson than the Beefheart of old. The near eleven-minute "Face From A Window..." suite that opens Side 2 is ambitious stuff – once again the ladies giving it a very Bowie feel as the guitars strum and funk.

Despite Prog and Alternative dominating these seminal years - the Edgar Broughton Band didn't chart anything in their own Blighty and it's easy to hear why. But it's also obvious too as to how they engendered such cult status – the EBB made a uniquely British Prog sound – angry like Terry Stamp and Jim Avery in 1971's Third World War over on Fly Records (see separate review) - adventurous like Kevin Ayers and socially-minded like Michael Chapman (other Harvest label artists).

"The Harvest Years 1969-1973" won't be for everyone – but those who loved England's EBB will relish the great new audio and those cool rarities all in one place. A job well done...

"Whatevershebringswesing" by KEVIN AYERS (2003 EMI 'Expanded' CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…No Eggsplanation…"

I’ve still no idea what the nonsensical title means and frankly who gives a rat's ass. Part genius - part hard work – Kevin Ayers has had a solo career to envy and his third solo album "Whatevershebringswesing" from 1971 was the beginning of an astonishing run of albums that ran into the later Seventies with Island Records. As brilliant and as prolific as his fellow Harvest Records label mate Roy Harper – he’s also as eclectic and infuriating as say Robert Wyatt or even Ivor Cutler. But would we have our heroes any other way… Here are those funny smelling cigarettes…

Released June 2003 - "Whatevershebringswesing" by KEVIN AYERS on EMI 07243-582778-2-1 (Barcode 724358277821) is an 'Expanded CD Remaster' and plays out as follows (51:26 minutes):

1. There Is Loving/Among Us/There Is Loving
2. Margaret
3. Oh My
4. Song From The Bottom Of A Well
5. Whatevershebringswesing [Side 2]
6. Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes
7. Champagne Cowboy Blues
8. Lullaby
Tracks 1 to 8 are his 3rd album "Whatevershebringswesing" by KEVIN AYERS released January 1972 in the UK on Harvest Records SHVL 800 in a textured gatefold sleeve

BONUS TRACKS:
9. Stars - the non-album B-side to "Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes" - a UK 7" single released 27 August 1971 on Harvest HAR 5042
10. Don't Sing No More Sad Songs
11. Fake Mexican Tourist Blues – 9 and 10 recorded 1972 - finally released on the UK compilation LP "Odd Ditties" released February 1976 on Harvest Heritage SHSM 2005
12. Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes - an Early Mix/9 July 1971 - Previously Unreleased

The 16-page booklet has superb liner notes by fan and musicologist MARK POWELL - a name many will know well from his stellar work on the Esoteric Label and the Underground/Prog 3CD Box Sets covering the Polydor, Vertigo, Deram and Decca labels for Universal. But the big news is a fabulous remaster by the album's original engineer PETER MEW. It was done at Abbey Road in February 2003 from original tapes and the audio quality is amazing.

When the opening 3-part string-laden "There Is Loving/Among Us/There Is Loving" exits your speakers - your hit with a sonic clarity that is wonderful and the real beauty of David Bedford's wonderfully lush string arrangements. Ayers made special mention of it on the album's inner gatefold. Both "Margaret" and "Oh My" come on as dainty old English ditties after the complex opener - but are lovely in their melodies - evocative of a vaudeville England long since past. I've always hated the dark and suffocating noisescapes of the Side 1 closer "Song From The Bottom Of A Well" - a song that does exactly what it says on the tin. It can stay down there...

Side 2 opens with the title song - the curiously titled "Whatevershebringswesing" which after the drubbing of 'well' comes as a blessed relief - bolstered so subtly by girly 'oohs' and a fantastically complimentary twin vocal half way through from ROBERT WYATT. Everyone's favourite spliff song follows - the wonderful and funny "Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes" - a song with lyrics that make me laugh to this day. MIKE OLDFIELD and his distinctive guitar style add much to "Champagne Cowboy Blues" while babbling water gurgles throughout the melodious finisher "Lullaby" - a gorgeous little ditty and a great way to finish the album. The four extras are worthy of the moniker 'bonus' - especially the 'early mix' of "Stranger" which is fascinating to hear.

Like his first LP for Island Records in 1974 - the brilliant and druggy dark "The Confessions Of Dr. Dream And Other Stories" - "Whatevershebringswesing" is the very definition of a 'cult' album. You either love it or dismiss it as one of 'those' Seventies records. I've always thought it genius - a bit like the man himself - and this superb EMI remaster does that defiantly English oddity a solid. As Kevin says on the "Stranger In Blue Suede Shoes" track during the fade out - "...thank you very much..."

PS: see also my reviews for "Bananamour" (1973), "The Confessions Of Dr. Dream And Other Stories" (1974), "Sweet Deceiver" (1975) and "Yes We Have No Mananas" (1976)

This review is part of my SOUNDS GOOD Music Book Series. One of those titles is CLASSIC 1970s ROCK - an E-Book with over 245 entries and 2100 e-Pages - purchase on Amazon and search any artist or song (click the link below). Huge amounts of info taken directly from the discs (no cut and paste crap). 

This review and hundreds more like it can also be found in my SOUNDS GOOD Music Book: 1960s and 1970s MUSIC Volume 2 - Exceptional CD Remasters. 

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"The Confessions Of Dr. Dream And Other Stories" by KEVIN AYERS - May 1974 Album on Island Records (2009 UK EMI/Harvest 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue with Peter Mew Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…How Will You See Me Later When You Can't See Me Now…"

I remember buying this album in the summer of 1974 in Dublin. I liked the laminate embossed sleeve - I liked Island Records as a label and I liked the price - two quid. But when I got it home and played the album - I just didn't get it. I didn't know what to make of the disparate song styles - nor did I like the really heavy drug-addiction references that permeated so many of the tracks - especially the 4-part suite on Side 2. But of course across time and several plays - I grew to love it - and even though I traded other albums in second hand shops to feed my music addiction - I never parted with my two quid deal. Here are the needle-fuelled details...

UK released March 2009 - "The Confessions Of Dr. Dream And Other Stories" by KEVIN AYERS on EMI/Harvest 268 2952 (Barcode 5099926829524) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Remaster that plays out as follows (65:50 minutes):

1. Day By Day [Side 1]

2. See You Later

3. Didn't Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You

4. Everybody's Sometimes And Some People's All The Times Blues

5. It Begins With A Blessing / Once I Awakened / But It Ends With A Curse

6. Ballbearing Blues

7. The Confessions Of Dr. Dream Part One: Irreversible Neural Damage [Side 2]

8. The Confessions Of Dr. Dream Part Two: Invitation

9. The Confessions Of Dr. Dream Part Three: The One Chance Dance

10. The Confessions Of Dr. Dream Part Four: Doctor Dream Theme

11. Two Goes Into Four

Tracks 1 to 11 make up the album "The Confessions Of Dr. Dream And Other Stories" by KEVIN AYERS released in the UK on Island ILPS 9263 in May 1974

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Another Whimsical Song

13. Lady Rachel

14. Stop This Train

15. Didn't Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You

Tracks 12 to 15 are live - recorded 9 July 1974 at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios for  "The John Peel Show" - 12 and 13 are solo acoustic renditions, 14 and 15 are with his band

16. The Up Song - non-album UK 7" single A-side released May 1974 on Island WIP 6194

17. After The Show

18. Thank You Very Much - 17 and 18 are the non-album A&B-sides of a UK 7" single released June 1974 on Island WIP 6201

THE BAND:

KEVIN AYERS - Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitars

SAM MITCHELL - Electric Guitar

MARK WARNER - Acoustic & Electric Guitars

RUPERT HINE - Clavinet, Organ, ARP Synthesizer, Electric Piano & Percussion on 3

JOHN PERRY - Bass

MIKE GILES - Drums

THE G'DEEVY ENSEMBLE - Percussion

DORIS TROY, ROSETTA HIGHTOWER and JOANNE WILLIAMS - Backing Vocals

SIMON JEFFES - Brass Arrangement

THE GUESTS:

RAY COOPER [of Elton John's Band] - Percussion on 2 and 9

SEAN MILLIGAN - Backing Vocals on 2

OLLIE HALSALL [of Patto] - Guitar Solo on 3 and Guitar on 14 and 15

MIKE OLDFIELD - Guitar Solo on 4

CAL BATCHELOR - Guitar on 4

HENRY CRALLAN - Piano on 4

STEVE NYE - Organ on 5 and Electric Piano on 8 and 9

MIKE MORAN - Piano on 5

LOL COXHILL - Saxophone on 5

THE HULLOO CHOIR - Backing Vocals on 5

NICO - Vocals on 7

JOHN GUSTAFSON - Bass on 8 - TREVOR JONES - Bass on 9

MIKE RATLEDGE - Organ on 10

The 8-page booklet is packed with details and has an album overview by noted writer and compiler MARK POWELL. But the sound is the big news. The original vinyl LP had quiet parts and it was always difficult to get a vinyl copy that wasn't scratched by the coarse white inner card/lyrics sleeve. These quiet parts on preceding CDs were hissy and less than useful. But on this stunning 2009 REMASTER it finally sounds like the business - clean and clear and with just the muscle it's always needed.

The remaster has been done by PETER MEW at Abbey Road and in order to put this into a sound-quality context - check out his extraordinary work on the 2CD Collector's Editions of "Down By The Jetty" by DR. FEELGOOD and "This Was" by JETHRO TULL. He also added sonic uplifts to "Duncan Browne" by DUNCAN BROWNE (his 1973 album on RAK Records with "Journey" on it) and the fabulous 2CD Deluxe Edition of FREE's "Fire And Water" (reviewed them all). He's a sound engineer whose name I look out for - even Ayers himself has praised his tape skill - having allowed Mew to handle all of his back catalogue remasters exclusively.

Mike Oldfield's tasty guitar work makes the mellow and languid "Everybody's Sometimes..." - while Nico's vocals empower the druggy "Irreversible Neural Damage..." with a genuinely sinister feel. But by far the best addition is the blistering guitar pyrotechnics of Patto's OLLIE HALSALL ("Didn't Feel Lonely...") who also turns up on two of the four Peel Sessions bonus tracks. They were recorded 7 July 1974 at the BBC's Maida Vale studios. The 24-second "Another Whimsical Song" is a cute ditty, but "Lady Rachel" is beautiful - it's a solo acoustic take of a track off 1969's "Joy Of A Toy" and it sound so good - could have been recorded yesterday. After them follows two band efforts, another "Joy Of A Toy" track and a fab rockin' version of "Didn't Feel Lonely..." where Halsall reproduces that fantastic guitar work again. They are 2009 remasters even though they turned up on 2005's "BBC Sessions" 2CD set - done again for better sound probably. The last 3 are non-album single sides - rare on vinyl and make a welcome addition here on CD. The acoustic strum and deep-throated vocals of "Thank You Very Much" is rarely heard and deserves to be.

The four-part "Confessions Of Dr. Dream" is a bit of a masterpiece frankly - opening with an acoustic drubbing that sounds like trance before there was such a thing - slipping into the upbeat (almost pop) "Invitation". But then you get the coolest break ever - the mid-song change in "The One Chance Dance" - fantastic swirling sound - and so damn cool. It blows me away to this day.

So there you have it - a strange and wonderful album (almost Avant Garde in places) bolstered up with genuinely superb extras you'll play again rather than audition once as a curio.  

 

"...It begins with a blessing...but ends with a curse..." - our Kevin warns us. But sounding fantastic at last - this is one aural shot I want mainlined to my well-addled neural regions any day of the week...

PS: see also my reviews for his other EMI/Harvest 'expanded' CD remasters - "Joy Of A Toy" (1969), "Shooting At The Moon" (1970), "Whatevershebringswesing" (1972), "Bananamour" (1973), "Sweet Deceiver" (1975) and "Yes We Have No Mananas, So Get Your Mananas Today"