This Review Along With 500 Others Is Available In My
SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites
CLASSIC 1970s ROCK On CD - Exception Remasters
Just Click Below To Purchase for £3.95
Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
(No Cut and Paste Crap)
"...Edge Of The Sea..."
In a sort of bleary-eyed
screw-you Age of Aquarius mission statement - it says on the back inlay of the brilliantly
exploratory CD compilation "English Weather" from those brave blokes
over at Ace Records - "...with The Beatles gone and the pound sinking, a
new and distinctive sound emerges, led by flutes and Mellotrons..."
I think what decent British
chappies BOB STANLEY and PETE WIGGS (of Saint Etienne) are having us believe is
that at the beginning of the Seventies over here in Blighty - something
seriously Folk-Acid this way comes. Much of this compilation is incredibly
mellow with only sporadic hints at Jazz Rock and complicated Prog stretching
from early 1969 to mid 1976. But I hear you say (as you choke on your real ale
that tastes like a Lindisfarne wetty on the wall) - I need another Prog-type CD
compilation in my home like I need the phone number of Donald Trump's
hairdresser. But actually there's much to love here and the dynamic duo have
come up with an extraordinary set of uncommons (generous too at nearly 79
minutes).
Having said that - many tracks and artists are
obscure for good reason (perceived pretty or no). But finds like the Prelude track
"Edge Of The Sea", the pre-Pilot B-side "Pamela" and a
pairing of obscure library track instrumentals will thrill lovers of melodic
Rock like Mellow Candle, Keith Cross and Peter Ross, Trader Horne, Tudor Lodge
and Spring. The Nick Robbins mastering is absolutely superb too - bringing out
those acoustic flourishes and lovely melodies. And even as a fan of Prog and a
long-time reviewer and collector - I can safely say that I've not heard at
least 75% of this stuff before. Nice and I don't mean pre ELP. Here are the
floatation tank details...
UK released 27 January 2017
(10 February 2017 in the USA) – "Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs present
ENGLISH WEATHER" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace CDCHD 1484 (Barcode
029667077125) is a CD compilation of 18 Tracks and plays out as follows (78:35
minutes):
1. Love Song With Flute -
CARAVAN (on their debut LP "Caravan" released February 1969 in the UK
on Verve SVLP 6011 in Stereo)
2. Moon Bird - THE ROGER
WEBB SOUND (instrumental on the Music Library LP "Vocal Patterns"
released 1971 on Music De Wolfe DW/LP 3182)
3. Early Morning Eyes - THE
PARLOUR BAND (on the studio album "Is A Friend?" released June 1972
on Deram SDL 10)
4. Pamela - SCOTCH MIST
(non-album track, the 7" single B-side to "Ra-Ta-Ta" released
July 1974 in the UK on EMI Records EMI 2208)
(Scotch Mist is Billy Lyall
and Stuart Tosh before they formed Pilot)
5. Last Cloud Home - THE
ORANGE BICYCLE (A-side to a June 1969 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5789)
6. JLT - T2 (on the LP
"It'll All Work Out In Boomland" released July 1970 in the UK on
Decca SKL 5050)
7. 'Til The Christ Come Back
- BILL FAY (on the LP "Time Of The Last Persecution" released January
1971 in the UK on Deram SML 1079)
8. Refugees - VAN DER GRAAF
GENERATOR (A-side to a UK 7" single released April 1970 on Charisma CB
122)
9. Very Nice Of You To Call
- AARDVARK (on their debut LP "Aardvark" released March 1970 in the
UK on Deram Nova SDN 17)
10. Big White Cloud - JOHN
CALE (on his debut solo LP "Vintage Violence" released June 1970 in
the USA on Columbia CS 1037)
11. Bottles - BELLE GONZALEZ
(A-side of a UK 7" single released February 1972 on Columbia Records DB
8852)
12. Watching White Stars -
THE WAY WE LIVE (1971 Tractor Recording - first appeared on the 1998 CD
compilation "Before, During And After The Dandelion Years, Through To
Deeply Vale" on Ozit/Morpheus OZITCD 0024)
13. Windfall - OFFSPRING
(Non-Album A-side to a UK 7" single released April 1972 on RCA Records RCA
2198)
14. Never Let Go - CAMEL
(A-side to a UK 7" single released January 1973 on MCA Records MUS 1177)
15. Wise Man In Your Heart -
DAEVID ALLEN and EUTERPE (on the LP "Good Morning" released May 1976
in the UK on Virgin V 2054)
16. O Caroline - MATCHING
MOLE (on their debut LP "Matching Mole" released April 1972 in the UK
on CBS Records S 64850 - Robert Wyatt vocalist)
17. Edge Of The Sea -
PRELUDE (A-side to a UK 7" single released March 1972 on Decca F 13292)
18. Evening Shade - ALAN
PARKER and ALAN HAWKSHAW (instrumental on the Music Library LP
"Alternatives" released 1971 on Music De Wolfe DW/LP 3219)
The 14-page booklet has the
usual plethora of rare 7”-single label-repro's (45s on Decca, MCA and CBS)
alongside trade adverts for such obscuros as Billy Fay, The Parlour Band and
T2. There's even a review of Caravan's Verve Records debut, A Roundhouse
Benefit gig poster for Matching Mole with Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt and best
of all - hugely informative and witty liner notes from compiler BOB STANLEY. I
thought I knew my stuff (I've reviewed Aardvark and the Decca/Deram 3CD Box
sets containing T2 and Camel and the like) - but Bob clearly goes deeper than
most - offering up his knowledge with real affection for the subject matter
(not just a blizzard of dry facts). But the best news is yet another stunning
mastering job by NICK ROBBINS on a wide range of sound sources - his mastering
of T2's superbly musical "JLT" is spot on. And as much of these songs
are Acoustic based - the Audio rises to that challenge with aplomb. A top job
done...
Despite the range of dates
(February 1969 to May 1976) - the overall listen holds together very well. But
as one other reviewer put it (and well) - there's good stuff on here but only a
few genuinely stand out. The seven-minute "Watching White Stars" by
Tractor saps your patience while I defy people who call the weedy Matching Mole
ballad "O Caroline" gorgeous (Robert Wyatt or no) and I think there
are better tracks on Bill Fay's album like the piano-beautiful "I Hear You Calling". But I hadn't
expected to be so impressed by the Van Der Graaf Generator single - which is a
world away from their fearsome Moog anthems - five and half minutes of Peter
Hammill pining for the sunshine of pretty London suburbs to the backdrop of
violas, choral voices and unnervingly pretty melodies on strings.
Smart choices include
running the Aardvark track immediately before the Velvet's John Cale song
"Big White Cloud" – its huge Spector-esque production full of strings
and longing and images of skies and trees – Cale's ragged druggy voice moaning
his fate like Tim Rose on steroids. The Belle Gonzalez and Camel UK singles are
rare as hen's teeth and again smart inclusions. Both display musical beauty and
are bolstered up here by superb Nick Robbins mastering – especially on the
Acoustic/Mellotron/Flute 'man must survive' eco-message song that is Andy
Latimer's "Never Let Go". A clever slot-in is the African rhythms
meets Kraut Rock feel of "Wise Man In Your Heart" by Gong's Daevid
Allen and his band of the time Euterpe – a lengthy exercise in vibe with sonic
rhythms predating those found on "Peter Gabriel 4" in September 1982.
But best of all for me is
six and half minutes of Prelude's "Edge Of The Sea" - the only band
on the compilation to brush the charts when they placed their beautiful
Acapella cover version of Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush" in
January 1974 on Dawn Records at the lofty heights of No. 21. Who thought this
hippy-tastic acoustic folk tune with singing and spoken passages about mermaids
and shaking the foam was a commercial 45 in 1972 was quietly off their rocker -
but that doesn't stop "Edge Of The Sea" from being a fabulous slice
of Mellow Candle Folk Rock with Acid tinges. And again - Robbins has mastered
it so well. And there's no denying the musical brilliance also of Caravan's
"Love Song With Flute" nor the truly lovely find in
"Pamela" - an obscure B-side by Scotch Mist (Billy Lyall and Stuart
Tosh) who would later become Pilot and have a UK No. 1 with "January"
in January 1975 (again on EMI).
The Peter Mitchell photos on
the front and rear of the booklet show a Britain in pain and even decay –
crippling strikes - war overseas impacting here - the hippy dream of everyone
loving each other fading fast in a cloud of three-day weeks and unemployment.
Yet despite this backdrop of cold-chips and tepid teabags - English musicians
produced extraordinary music in the early years of that decade - the Seventies –
much of it hopeful. And some of it is here (man).
Not quite genius but
brilliant in places (and changeable like its title) - "Bob Stanley &
Pete Wiggs Present ENGLISH WEATHER" is a rather cool little CD to start
off 2017 with. Deserving of your moody post-Brexit spondulicks - well done to
all involved...
PS: the limited edition Vinyl Version is a 2LP set with 1 Bonus Track
"The Prisoner (9 to 10)" by SPRING
PS: the limited edition Vinyl Version is a 2LP set with 1 Bonus Track
"The Prisoner (9 to 10)" by SPRING
