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"...Better By
You..."
With a sabre-rattling
tune-rich debut in July 1968's "It's All About" already under their
musical belt - it took only eight months for the British/American five-piece
SPOOKY TOOTH to unleash what many feel is their best album - March 1969's
imaginatively entitled "Spooky Two".
Germany's Repertoire Records
made a decent stab at a CD Remaster in 2005 - but fans are going to need and
love this new 2016 version expertly and sympathetically transferred by Audio
Engineers Paschal Byrne and Ben Wiseman - two names who've graced oodles of
much-praised reissues.
"Spooky Two" is
just one amongst seven reissues covering their stay at Island Records from 1968
to 1973 before they moved to Good Ear Records in the mid Seventies amidst
myriad personnel changes (see full list below) and I'll admit that I bought the
whole lot on release in the UK with a genuine sense of newfound glee. Lost in
my dream indeed - here are the scary dental details...
UK released 30 September
2016 (7 October 2016 in the USA) - "Spooky Two" by SPOOKY TOOTH on
Universal/Island 570 547-3 (Barcode 602557054736) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD
Remaster of their 2nd studio LP from 1969 with Nine Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (72:25 minutes):
1. Waitin' For The Wind
[Side 1]
2. Feelin' Bad
3. I've Got Enough Heartache
4. Evil Woman
5. Lost In My Dream [Side 2]
6. That Was Only Yesterday
7. Better By You, Better
Than Me
8. Hangman, Hang My Shell On
A Tree
Tracks 1 to 8 are their
second studio album "Spooky Two" - released March 1969 in the UK on
Island ILPS 9098 and August 1969 in the USA on A&M Records SP 4194.
Produced by JIMMY MILLER and Engineered by ANDREW JOHN - it peaked at No. 44 in
the USA (didn't chart UK). Uncredited musicians include JOE COCKER who sings
backing vocals on "Feelin' Bad" - STEVE WINWOOD who plays piano on
"I've Got Enough Heartache" and DAVE MASON who plays guitar on
"That Was Only Yesterday" (Winwood and Mason were with Traffic at the
time, another Island Records act).
BONUS TRACKS:
9. Feelin' Bad
10. I Can't Quit Her
11. Blues Town
Tracks 9 to 11 recorded 30
Sep 1968 for BBC Radio One's "Top Gear" Session in Mono. Produced by
Bernie Andrews, first broadcast 6 Oct 1968
12. Something Got Into Your
Life
13. When I Get Home
Tracks 12 and 13 recorded 13
November 1968 at London's Morgan Studio in Mono
14. Waitin' For The Wind
(First Mix)
15. Lost In My Dream (First
Mix)
16. Better By You, Better
Than Me (First Mix)
Tracks 14 to 16 mixed 12 Feb
1969 at London's Morgan Studios
17. Pretty Woman
Track 17 is the non-album
B-side to "That Was Only Yesterday", a Dutch 7" single released
August 1969 on Island WIP 6058 in Mono. It's a cover of the A.C. Williams Blues
song made famous by Albert King on his "Born Under A Bad Sign" LP on
Stax Records in 1967.
SPOOKY TOOTH was:
MIKE HARRISON – Lead
Vocals and Keyboards
GARY WRIGHT – Lead Vocals
and Keyboards
LUTHER GROSVENOR - Guitars
GREG RIDLEY - Bass
MIKE KELLIE - Drums
MARK POWELL - head honcho at
Esoteric Recordings reissue label (part of Cherry Red) researched, co-ordinated
and produced the reissue. His 12-page liner notes include new interviews with
key players - the American Gary Wright and Brit boys Mike Harrison and Mike
Kellie. You get period photos (black and white and colour), tour posters where
ST shared the bill with other like-minded British bands Traffic and Family and
a rare Euro picture sleeve for "Waitin' For The Wind" (German Island)
with "Feelin' Bad" on the flipside. The recollections are fun and
insightful with most admitting that "Spooky Two" is the album they
are probably most proud off - a coherent whole only added to here with some
crackalackin bonus tracks.
But the big news here is new
2016 Remasters from original master tapes by two hugely experienced Audio
Engineers - PASCHAL BYRNE and BEN WISEMAN - names that have graced large
numbers of reissues - the Strawbs, T. Rex, Audience, Unicorn, Help Yourself,
Dada, Moody Blues, Procol Harum, Terry Riley and many more. This album feels
like an amplified Free circa "Tons Of Sobs", "Free" and
"Fire And Water" meets "Mr. Fantasy" Traffic - a combo of
sound I'll take any day of the week. The drums opening to "Waitin' For The
Wind" followed quickly by that organ and bass kick-in is absolutely
monster - and from there is doesn't let up. A very tasty job done and it feels
like that across the whole series...
Quite why the sexy Rock
riffage of "Waitin' For The Wind" wasn't chosen for a second British
45 is anybody's guess - but I think a winning radio hook was missed out there
(a Grosvenor, Wright and Harrison composition). The huge sound of melody and
voices continues with the excellent "Feelin' Bad" where the liner
notes now inform us that the equally gravel-laced larynx of Joe Cocker is
adorning those backing singers alongside Mike Harrison - and if you listen hard
enough - you can just about make out his distinctive Brummie rasp amidst the
guys and gals. It's actually not surprising that the deeply Soulful "I've
Got Enough Heartaches" got chosen as the LP's one and only UK 7"
single in June 1969 (Island WIP 6060) - even if it was tucked away on the
B-side of a non-album A-side written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin -
"Son Of Your Father" - a song that would eventually turn up on album
number four "The Last Puff" in 1970 with Gary Wright on Lead Vocals.
Although the riffage for "Evil Woman" is 'rawk' with a capital 'r' (a
cover of the Larry Weiss blues song first released by Guy Darrell in September
1967 on Piccadilly Records in the UK) - for me its clichéd lyrics and sentiment
make it the most dated song on the LP (though many love it - especially that
gee-tar solo towards the end).
The combo of Wright and
Kellie penned both “Feelin’ Bad and I’ve Got Enough Heartaches” over on Side 1
but all of Side 2 is Gary Wright. He opens accounts with the trippy-psych-rock
of the album's most famous cut - the wicked and cool "Lost In My
Dream" - a tune where nightmares do battle with reality amidst floating
organ, marching drums and Harrison's intense vocals – the Englishman channelling
another Rock belter throughout - Steve Marriott of Humble Pie. In fact as an
example of Sixties triptastic lysergic bombast - "Lost In My Dream"
can't be beat. Things mellow into the Soundtrack sounding harmonica-wail of
"That Was Only Yesterday" where she's gone for sure and our poor boy
is wondering how he's gonna face the weekend (get the beers in son).
Re-listening to it after all these years – I'd forgotten how good the song is
and can easily hear why it was such a hit on German radio. None other than
Judas Priest covered the choppy riff of "Better By You, Better Than
Me" on their "Stained Glass" album in 1978 and it all ends on
the acoustic-ethereal "Hangman, Hang My Shell On A Tree" - another
waiting-to-die tune that builds and builds until it feels like a Spooky Tooth
meets Humble Pie epic.
Even though they're in Mono
- the three "Top Gear" tracks from September 1968 are well recorded
(God Bless Bernie Andrews, RIP) and show a band that sounds 'so' Island Records
- a mash-up between Free, Humble Pie and well - Spooky Tooth (the non-album
track "Blues Town" is the rocking prize here). We get two
surprisingly good album outtakes in Mono - the first "Something Got Into
Your Life" being very Atomic Rooster in its heavy guitar tone while
"When I Get Home" feels like a really good Family song and is the
more cleverly melodic of the pair. The three 'first mix' variants of key album
tracks will thrill long-time fans - subtle differences in all. And Spooky
Tooth's cover of Albert King's "Pretty Woman" has been a sought-after
European-only B-side rarity for decades – so how cool is it to see that
forgotten flip-side back on CD here.
To sum-up - a great Spooky
Tooth album given quality audio, good presentation and at least some Extra
Tracks that actually warrant the moniker 'Bonus'. 1969's "Spooky Two"
is no longer lost in anyone's dream. Well done to all involved in this superb
CD reissue...
Reissue Titles for
SPOOKY TOOTH
In the 30 September 2016 (UK)/7 October 2016 (USA)
Universal/Island CD Remaster Series
1. It's All About (1968
Debut) - on Universal/Island 570 547-1 (Barcode 602557054712) with 10 Bonus
Tracks
2. Spooky Two (1969 2nd LP)
– on Universal/Island 570 547-3 (Barcode 602557054736) with 9 Bonus Tracks
3. Ceremony: An Electronic
Mass (1969 3rd LP with Pierre Henry) - on Universal/Island 570 547-0 (Barcode
602557054705) with 6 Bonus Tracks
4. The Last Puff (1970 4th
LP) - on Universal/Island 570 547-5 (Barcode 602557054750) with 6 Bonus Tracks
5. You Broke My Heart...So I
Busted Your Jaw (1973 5th LP) - on Universal/Island 570 547-8 (Barcode
602557054781)
6. Witness (1973 6th LP) -
on Universal/Island 570 547-7 (Barcode 602557054774) with 1 Bonus Track
7. The Mirror (1974 7th LP)
- on Universal/Island 570 547-6 (Barcode 602557054767)
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