"It Shall Be: The Ode & Epic Recordings 1968-1972" by SPIRIT (March 2018 Esoteric Recordings 5CD Box Set - Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 1 of 3 - Exceptional CD Remasters

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"...Dream Within A Dream..."

Now here's something a bit tasty. Five studio albums in Stereo including their debut in Mono for the first time, a rare Mono Soundtrack from 1969 to Jacques Demy's film "Model Shop" that few remember (it starred Anouk Aimee and Gary Lockwood, was about Los Angeles and remained unreleased musically until Sundazed reissued it in early 2005), the original Stereo Mix of the second album, all the straggler outtakes and session pieces from the 1991 "Time Circle..." 2CD retrospective and the Bonus Cuts from the 1996 Bob Irwin/Vic Anesini Remasters of the albums, Single Sides and more (check out those eye-popping total playing times on CD1 and 2). 108-Tracks across 5CDs. It shall be indeed.

And I love that Randy California story of how he met Jimi Hendrix at the back of a Village Record Shop in New York when he was only 15 (Manny's Music on West 48th Street) just before the God of Guitar was about do his first gig. The two bonded on first eye contact and Randy played with Jimi for 3 months at $7 a night whereupon as legend would have it - it was Hendrix who famously renamed him Randy California as there was someone else in the band called Randy Texas (young Randy thereafter forever waving goodbye to his real surname of Wolfe). Hendrix was then discovered by the savvy Chas Chandler, brought to England to become a star - but Randy was too young to travel and had to stay in the USA to finish his schooling. The band Spirit is full of such stories – great music, great ideals but perhaps not the greatest of luck commercially. A dream within a dream - It certainly was.

There's a mountain of detail to wade through - so let's have at the five and seven dreams...

UK released Friday, 18 March 2018 - "It Shall Be: The Ode & Epic Recordings 1968-1972" by SPIRIT on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 52619 (Barcode 5013929471948) is a 5CD 108-Track Clamshell Box Set of New Remasters that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (79:44 minutes):

1. Fresh Garbage [Side 1]

2. Uncle jack

3. Mechanical World

4. Taurus

5. Girl In Your Eye

6.  Straight Arrow

7. Topanga Windows [Side 2]

8. Gramophone Man

9. Water Woman

10. The Great Canyon Fire in General

11. Elijah

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Spirit" in 'STEREO' - released January 1968 in the USA on Ode Records Z12 44004 and June 1968 in the UK on CBS Records S 63278. Produced by LOU ADLER - it peaked at No. 31 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK). NOTE: the previously unreleased on CD 'MONO' mix of the album (Ode Records Z12 44003 and CBS Records 63278) is presented on CD4 for the first time - along with other outtakes from the 1967 sessions that appeared on Spirit compilations.

12. I Got A Line On You [Side 1]

13. It Shall Be

14. Poor Richard

15. Silky Sam

16. The Drunkard

17. Darlin' If

18. It's All The Same [Side 2]

19. Jewish

20. Dream Within A Dream

21. She Smiled

22. Aren't You Glad

Tracks 12 to 22 are their 2nd studio album "The Family That Plays Together" - released December 1968 in the USA on Ode Records Z12 44014 in Stereo (only) and June 1969 in the UK on CBS Records M 63523 in Mono and CBS Records S 63523 in Stereo - the ORIGINAL STEREO Mix is used here (outtakes from the album sessions appear on CD5). Produced by LOU ADLER - it peaked at No. 22 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK).

Disc 2 (83:19 minutes):

1. The Moving Van

2. Mellow fellow

3. Now Or Anywhere

4. Fog

5. Green Gorilla

6. Model Shop I

7. Model Shop II

8. The Rehearsal Theme

9. Song For Lola

10. Eventide

11. Coral

12. Aren't You Glad

Tracks 1 to 12 were recorded in 1968 in-between the second and third album (in Mono) and used in the 1969 Jacques Remy film soundtrack to "Model Shop". The music including unreleased material (Tracks 2, 4 to 6 and 10 to 12) was finally issued February 2005 on Sundazed/Sony Music SC 6095 (Barcode 090771619723) as the 12-tracks presented above. 

13. Dark Eyed Woman [Side 1]

14. Apple Orchard

15. So Little Time To Fly

16. Ground Hog

17. Cold Wind

18. Policeman's Ball

19. Ice [Side 2]

20. Give A Life, Take A Life

21. I'm Truckin'

22. Clear

23. Caught

24. New Dope In Town

Tracks 13 to 24 are their 3rd studio album "Clear" - released July 1969 in the USA on Ode Records Z12 44016 in Stereo (only) and October 1969 in the UK on CBS Records S 63729 in Stereo. Produced by LOU ADDLER - it peaked at No. 55 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK).

Disc 3 (77:30 minutes):

1. Prelude - Nothin' To Hide

2. Nature's Way

3. Animal Zoo

4. Love Has Found A Way

5. Why Can't I Be Free

6. Mr. Skin

7. Space Child [Side 2]

8. When I Touch You

9. Street Worm

10. Life Has Just Begun

11. Morning Will Come

12. Soldier

Tracks 1 to 12 are their 4th studio album "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" - released November 1970 in the USA on Epic E 30267 and February 1971 in the UK on Epic S EPC 64191. Produced by DAVID BRIGGS - the album peaked at No. 63 on the US LP charts (didn't chart UK).

13. Rougher Road - Previously Unreleased "Twelve Dreams..." session outtake that first appeared on the November 1996 CD reissue as a Bonus

14. Chelsea Girls [Side 1]

15. Cadillac

16. Puesta Del Scam

17. Ripe And Ready

18. Darkness

19. Earth Shaker [Side 2]

20. Mellow Morning

21. Right On Time

22. Trancas Fog-Out

23. Witch

Tracks 14 to 23 are their 5th studio album "Feedback" - released March 1972 in the USA on Epic Records KE 31175 (Gatefold Sleeve) and June 1972 in the UK on Epic Records EPC 64507. Produced by DAVID BRIGGS - it peaked at No. 63 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK)

Disc 4 (76:01 minutes):

1. Fresh Garbage [Side 1]

2. Uncle jack

3. Mechanical World

4. Taurus

5. Girl In Your Eye

6.  Straight Arrow

7. Topanga Windows [Side 2]

8. Gramophone Man

9. Water Woman

10. The Great Canyon Fire in General

11. Elijah

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Spirit" in 'MONO' - released January 1968 in the USA on Ode Records Z12 44003 and June 1968 in the UK on CBS Records 63278. Produced by LOU ADLER - it peaked at No. 31 in the US LP charts (didn't chart UK). NOTE: the STEREO mix of the album is presented on CD1 - the mono mix here for the first time.

12. Veruska

13. Free Spirit

14. If I Had A Woman

15. Elijah (Alternate Take)

Tracks 12 to 15 were first released as Bonus Tracks in 1996 on the CD Remaster/Reissue of "Spirit" - Epic/Legacy 485175 2 (Barcode 5099748517524)

16. I Got A Line On You ("Time Circle" Mix)

17. It Shall Be ("Time Circle" Mix)

18. Poor Richard ("Time Circle" Mix)

19. Silky Sam ("Time Circle" Mix)

Tracks 16 to 19 first appeared on the 1991 2CD retrospective "Time Circle (1968-1972)" on Epic/Legacy 471268 2 (Barcode 5099747126826)

Disc 5 (70:19 minutes):

1. Scherozode ("Time Circle" Mix)

2. All The Same ("Time Circle" Mix)

3. A Dream With A Dream ("Time Circle" Mix)

4. Aren't You Glad ("Time Circle" Mix)

5. Eventide ("Time Circle" Mix)

6. Model Shop Theme ("Time Circle" Mix)

7. Green Gorilla ("Time Circle" Mix)

8. Rehearsal Theme ("Time Circle" Mix)

Tracks 1 to 8 from the 1991 "Time Circle (1968-1972)" 2CD Retrospective

9. Fog

10. So Little To Say

11. Mellow Fellow

12. Now Or Anywhere

13. Space Chile

Tracks 9 to 13 recorded for "The Family That Plays Together" Sessions in 1968 - released as Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD of that album on Ode/Epic/Legacy 485174 2 (Barcode 5099748517425)

14. Fuller Brush Man

15. Coral

Tracks 14 and 15 recorded for "Clear" Sessions in 1969 - released as 2 of the 4 Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD of that album on Ode/Epic/Legacy 484416 2 (Barcode 5099748441621)

16. 1984

17. Sweet Stella Baby

Tracks 16 and 17 were the A&B-sides of a non-album US 7"single released December 1969 on Ode Records ZS7 128. Also released 2 of the 4 Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD of that album on Ode/Epic/Legacy 484416 2 (Barcode 5099748441621)

18. Animal Zoo (Mono Single Version)

19. Red Light Roll On (Mono Single Version)

Tracks 18 and 19 are the A&B-sides of a non-album US 7" single released July 1970 on Epic Records 5-10648. Also released as two of the four Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD of "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" on Epic/Legacy 485173 2 (Barcode 5099748517326)

20. Morning Will Come (Alternate Mono Mix)

Track 20 released as one of the four Bonus Tracks on the 1996 reissue CD of "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" on Epic/Legacy 485173 2 (Barcode 5099748517326). NOTE: the fourth Bonus track from the "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" CD reissue was "Rougher Road" and is Track 13 on Disc 3.

SPIRIT was (all albums except "Feedback"):

RANDY CALIFORNIA - Guitars

JOHN LOCKE - Keyboards

MARK ANDES - Bass & Vocals

JAY FERGUSON - Vocals & Percussion

ED CASSIDY - Drums and Percussion

"Feedback" album only:

JOHN LOCKE - Keyboards

ED CASSIDY - Drums & Percussion

AL STAEHELY - Lead Vocals and Bass

J. CHRISTIAN STAEHLEY - Guitar & Vocals

While the 20-page booklet is pretty enough and has MALCOLM DOME liner notes - period photos and so forth (the "Model Shop" film poster, sleeve repros etc) - it actually feels rather slight somehow given that there's six albums worth of material here. The LPs are discussed but none of the extras - the five singular card sleeves might have served the set better if they used the five studio albums as artwork so we don't find ourselves missing the mighty "Twelve Dreams..." or "Feedback" in their Gatefold Sleeves. On the rear of each card there are band photos, the CDs are picture discs too and the booklet's last page uses the rear sleeve of the "Clear" LP as its artwork.

But that aside - I'm digging the new BEN WISEMAN Remasters - tapes licensed from Sony Products. I had the Vic Anesini/Bob Irwin versions from 1996 - two Audio Engineers I love - and I'd have to say that here even though the difference is slight - I'm noticing it in the bottom end. Those Marty Paich arranged strings on the instrumental "Taurus" on the debut are wonderful  (hello Jimmy - got an acoustic guitar opener sequence you need) and the ah-ha-ha opening of "Mr. Skin" on "Twelve Dreams..." as well as the fade-out echoed brass is as good as the Mobile Fidelity CD I had decades ago. I'd still prefer the Stereo Mix to the Mono when it comes to the treated Sitars on the debut's wicked and cool "The Girl In Your Eye". And the whole recorded shebang is here too. Let's get to the space children...

Famously "Fresh Garbage" from the wonderfully confident self-titled debut was on the early playlists of the newly formed Led Zeppelin while the Acoustic guitar notes in the instrumental "Taurus" bear an uncanny resemblance to the opening acoustic-guitar passage in "Stairway To Heaven". And given their Houses of the Unholy penchant for nicking other people's tunes on all of the first four albums - this similarity landed them in court in 2004 over copyright infringement (Zep won - much to Randy's decades-long chagrin). There's a wonderful rolling Byrds feel to "Straight Arrow" while Randy gets to stretch out Bloomfield-style on "Topanga Windows". Tracks like "Gramophone Man" and "Water Woman" would have enamoured them to Jefferson Airplane fans and you have to love those counterpoint vocals. Both "The Great Canyon" and "Elijah" show experimentation and how good a songwriter Jay Ferguson was - the latter being one of those cool so-60ts instrumentals that's part Rock, part Jazz-Fusion and very 'Spirit' in its eleven-minute's long 'we don't care if it isn't commercial' structure. Great audio too...

Sexily Hitsville and cool into the bargain - "I Got A Line" opened the second album and their singles account proper. Feeling like Spirit had suddenly arrived - Randy California's Motown-Rock-Soul song hit No. 25 in the States on Ode ZS7 115 (the album's "She Smiled" was the flipside – a pretty flowers-in-her-hair ballad over on Side 2). The record just gets better with "It Shall Be" a co-write between Randy and Keyboardist John Locke - one of my favourites of their early tracks (Marty Paich arranged the Horns but we still don't know whose playing the flute). Jay Ferguson's "Poor Richard" runs into his "Silky Sam" - a talkative nutter and a travelling salesman immortalised in each song. I love the string arrangements on "The Drunkard" (a drunk missing his daughter's message) while the Randy California penned "Darlin' If" has more to do with Buffalo Springfield than Spirit. Things go to grungy boogie with Randy and Ed Cassidy's "All The Same" while the weirdly wonderful "Jewish" is a Psalm put to Space Rock (dig those twinned guitars). But my fave-crave is "Dream Within A Dream" - a Jay Ferguson song – slipping off his mortal coil for trippy Californian Rock and enjoying the process of both. "The Family That Plays Together" ends with Ferguson's equally ambitious "Aren't You Glad" - five and half minutes of slow piano and guitar rock - the kind of tune that has an epic feel as those strings come floating in and Randy let’s rip on that 48th Street guitar.

The Mono Audio gives the short but hugely interesting instrumentals on "Model Body" a very focused urgency. "The Moving Van" and "Mellow Fellow" feel like Spirit have merged with The Doors and gone off on an early Santana experimental guitar trip - whilst the guitar chug of "Green Gorilla" (one of the few tunes with some singing) is way cooler than it had any right to be. The near six-minutes of "Song For Lola" is a blast - a mixture of echoed Bass lines, shimmering vibes, empty spaces and plaintive-gumshoe piano notes - like its Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd searching for a tune. Hell even the five and a half-minute demo of "Aren't You Glad" is truly excellent as a Bonus - tremendous guitar soloing over a slinky keyboard refrain. Many people rate 1969's rocking "Clear" as placement number two behind "Twelve Dreams..." (I think they’re equal) and on hearing tracks like the superb "Dark Eyed Woman" and the sexy "So Little Time To Fly" – both show how much the guitar prowess had come on. "Ground Hog" sounds amazing as it opens – those flicked Bass notes to the left and the layered vocals to the right. Ferguson could surprise with the tender and lonesome-lovers vibe to "Cold Wind" – the same with the hugely evocative instrumentals "Clear" followed by Locke’s piano-lounge-room-sexy "Caught" both feeling like something off of a particularly effective John Barry soundtrack. "Give A Life, Take A Life" is fantastic 60ts Rock-Pop – a rare co-write between Producer Lou Adler and Randy California.

For me "Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus" has always been their zenith. "Prelude - Nothin' To Hide" is a wickedly good opener showcasing the Bluesy slide guitar of Randy California arising out of an Acoustic beginning. Its 3:43 minutes is full of clever chords, vocal layering and that unexpected slide break (funky) - it's lyrics about being "married to the same bride" sounding racy without knowing why. The acoustic balladry of "Nature's Way" comes as a melodic calmer after all the preceding speaker-to-speaker riffage. "Nature's Way" is a short but gorgeous song and one I return to again and again. It's followed by the album's lead off single "Animal Zoo" - the 7" Mono Single Mix of which is a Bonus Track. You can hear why Epic picked it's upbeat rhythms as an album taster - that hooky beat, the Bass break and Keyboard interlude making it more musically interesting that most anything else on the scene at the time. And as they sing "...much too fat...and a little too long..." during the sound-effect fade out in their best Todd Rundgren mad hatter voices - it had a 'Spirit' sound.

"Love Has Found A Way" floats in with speeded up guitar sounds floating over clever melodic vocal lines - sort of Frank Zappa with a melody at its vibe core. The one-minute and acoustic "Why Can't I Be Free" feels like a beautiful plea for peace of mind as it swirls around in a haze of marijuana. But then we get Side 1's other masterpiece - the brill "Mr. Skin" - it's fantastic choppy beat benefitting from Brass Arrangements done by David Blumberg. Epic in Britain gave it a belated 7" single release in February 1973 with "Nature's Way" on the B-side (Epic S EPC 7082).

Side 2 opens with probably my fave instrumental by them – the trippy brilliance of “Space Child” – a piano floater with superb sound scapes and ideas. We then get wickedly good speaker-to-speaker guitar in the driving "When I Touch You" - a Jay Ferguson song that already has Jo Jo Gunne in it - the band he would form after Spirit with Mark Andes and his brother Matthew. "Street Worm" could easily be "Stand Up" or "Benefit" Jethro Tull - a very catchy Guitar/Piano duo back up Ferguson's wailing about 'not making any deal' with the man. Things go seriously melodic with the beautifully produced "Life Has Just Begun" - an acoustic builder where all their voices are featured to great effect (wonderful remaster). The album goes into its only Rock 'n' Roll boogie in the shape of "Morning Will Come" (lyrics from it title this review) cleverly offset by the faded-in Elton John-type piano of "Soldier" - a serious song giving huge power by the pipe organ Producer David Briggs recorded for the finisher. It rounds off an album that just grows and grows with each listen...

I had expected the Bonus Tracks to be throwaway - but if anything the Previously Unreleased Byrds-sounding "Rougher Road" is a bit of a gem. The single mix of "Animal Zoo" has a visceral punch in Mono - not so sure about the Alternate Mono Mix of "Morning Will Come" which I think loses its power compared to the finished Stereo LP cut. The 'tapes rolling - this is Take No. 1' dialogue at the beginning of the non-album B-side "Red Light Roll On" only adds to its excellence (shame there appears to be no Stereo variant of this wicked groover). The extras elsewhere are all good too.

Ok you could argue that the weak "Feedback" album lets the side down (four stars for that alone) and others have moaned about the card sleeve presentation (I think they are fine). But whatever way you look at it – Esoteric Recordings have stumped up yet another goody here. And if ever a band deserved reappraisal – there surely SPIRIT shall be that band...

"Thick As A Brick: The Steven Wilson 2012 Stereo Remix" by JETHRO TULL (June 2015 Chrysalis 1CD Reissue) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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CADENCE /CASCADE 

PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
And Others Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

Fusion Rock, Acid Folk, Art Rock and Underground 

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"...St. Cleve Chronicle..."

For those of us who can't afford or won't pay the price for the now deleted and suddenly extortionate "40th Anniversary Edition" BOX SET from 6 Nov 2012 - there's now this simpler yet beautifully presented June 2015 single-CD reissue of Tull’s 1972 epic "Thick As A Brick". It comes resplendent with 'The 2012 Steven Wilson Stereo Remix' and a big old chunky 24-page booklet. And at under six quid – isn't a rip-off either.

Riding on the shirt tales of 1971's hugely popular "Aqualung" and although heavyweights like Lester Bangs mauled the new 1972 album - Tull's "Thick As A Brick" took the charts by storm on both sides of the Atlantic (especially America) – No. 5 in the UK and an astonishing No. 1 in the USA. Speaking of critically controversial yet commercially successful records - when you think that Yes then put a triple-live-set “Yessongs” and a double-studio album of four full-length sides "Tales From Topographic Oceans" ‘both’ at Number 1 in Blighty in May and December of 1973 – 1972 and 1973 really were the Progressive Rock years - whether the Press liked it or not. We (Joe Public) certainly did.

But in the cold light of 2018 – does a 44-minute piece of Rock Music from 1972 still stand up (if you’ll forgive the pun)? Well with this sparkly new sprinkle of remaster fairy dust from the Wilson Prog-meister – you'd have to say that Little Milton's Girl Pregnancy Row is in fine fettle. Let's unfold the newspaper and find out if an 'On-Form Eileen' really has 'pulled them out'...

UK released 29 June 2015 - "Thick As A Brick: The Steven Wilson 2012 Stereo Remix" by JETHRO TULL on Chrysalis 0825646146468 (Barcode 0825646146468) is a straightforward Single CD Reissue of the 1973 album that plays out as follows (43:44 minutes):

1. Thick As A Brick (Part 1) [Side 1] – 22:39 minutes

2. Thick As A Brick (Part 2) [Side 2] – 21:05 minutes

Tracks 1 and 2 are their fifth studio album "Thick As A Brick" - released 10 March 1972 in the UK on Chrysalis CHR 1003 and 10 May 1972 in the USA on Reprise MS 2072. Written and Produced by IAN ANDERSON - the album peaked at No. 5 in the UK and No.1 in the USA.

JETHRO TULL was:

IAN ANDERSON - Lead Vocals. Flute, Acoustic Guitar, Violin, Saxophone and Trumpet

MARTIN BARRE - Electric Guitar and Lute

JOHN EVAN – Organ, Piano and Harpsichord

JEFFREY HAMMOND-HAMMOND - Bass and Vocals

BARRIMORE BARLOW - Drums, Timpani and Percussion

David Palmer arranged the String Section towards the End of Side 2

The 7 Jan 1972 foldout newspaper sleeve gimmick of the original vinyl album supposedly penned by an 8-year old child prodigy called Gerald Bostock (smug winner of a school poetry competition) is discussed in the booklet. The entire 12-page edition legendarily took longer to create than the album to record and came complete with a crossword, fake advertisements, bowling and fishing news etc - all written tongue-in-cheek by band members Ian Anderson, Jeffrey Hammond and John Evan (if you want the entire contents of the 'St. Cleve Chronicle & Linwell Advertiser' edition you can access it at jethrotull.com/taab-booklet). The 'Late Extra' square that was used to announce the contents of the new CD Remaster has rightly been replaced with the original 'UFO Sighting Sensation' paragraphs to the right of the album sleeve in the new booklet (although the JETHRO TULL Title is gone for some reason). Judges disqualify Little Milton In Last Minute Rumpus...it's all there.

DOM LAWSON has his ‘Full Story?’ liner notes for the 2012 '40th Anniversary Edition' Box set reproduced and original album Engineer ROBIN BLACK has Page 22 on the intricacies of the recording – speed mistakes on the tapes that had to be fixed and mentions GEORGE PECKHAM who mastered the album at Apple Studios in January 1972. The lads in trench-coats looking slightly seedy, then bare-chested in a hotel room with some semi-naked lassie on the phone (what was that about) and one of Ian giving it his one-legged pose as he plays live. It's comprehensive stuff - although funny enough this would be one occasion when I feel the booklet would have benefitted from the lyrics - but they're available online. The CD colouring reflects the original British Chrysalis Records label and there's a set of band-member photos from the period beneath the see-through CD tray.

But the big news over previous editions is the new 2012 STEVE WILSON Remix and Remaster which is beautifully clear and full of life. The Clarity is obvious - but his work on "Aqualung" he seems to have removed a haze from the original sound that was muddying up the listen. Around 10:55 when they start that Organ vs. Saxophone passage - the kick is fantastic and it's like that throughout. To the music...

When that keyboard Prog March starts at about 11:50 – I'm transported back to Genesis and all things Charisma. I keep expecting Peter Gabriel to start singing about Giant Hogweeds or Cuckoo Cocoons. There’s no doubting the wallop of the Remaster. And as they get towards your comic-book idols bending the rules (about 18:10) – the Audio is gorgeous and the music returned to a variant of that lovely Acoustic Guitar melody that opens the Side (cut as a 7" single edit in the USA). Huge keyboard notes and guitar chops fade out Side 1 and again wonderfully clear as they echo those notes and heartbeats see the Side out. Side 2 opens with the 'teach him to be a wise man' portion - rapid Prog Rock at its most expressive - stunning drumming from Evans as he lets rip. The 'overwhelming response' and 'all fluffy' voices flit from speaker to speaker as Tull go all King Crimson on us before returning to that fabulous Anderson Acoustic guitar. I take my place with the lord of the hills - he sings - the music returning in some ways to "Aqualung" and its most melodic moments. And again the Audio is storming as the Electric Guitar gives way to Acoustic at 5:35 minutes. By the time we get to 6:45 (light the sun) - we're into a full-on acoustic instrument exploration complete with Harpsichord flourishes. The pavements are empty, the gutters are full - Tull tell us as they do March of the Lemmings come 14:30. Where the hell is Biggles when you need him lyrics bring the wild Prog flourishes to an end with a few David Palmer string moments and that Acoustic melody - wise men don't know how it feels - well they do now.

For sure the whole shebang requires some serious commitment on the part of a listener - especially the denser parts of Side 2 - but "Thick As A Brick" is also musically adventurous in a way that much new music isn't.

Taking our bow and quoting the witticisms of the rear sleeve - do you want to be part of the 'Chrysalis and Bostock Firm Foundation Deal' for pre-teen enlightenment and listen to forty-four minutes of complicated Rock (all royalties go to this cause you know and not Ian’s pocket or his wife’s Maserati). Well of course you do...

"Another Monday" by JOHN RENBOURN (April 2002 Castle Music CD Reissue - Andy Pearce and Sean Magee Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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1960s and 1970s MUSIC ON CD - Volume 2 of 3 

- Exceptional CD Remasters

As well as 1960s and 1970s Rock and Pop - It Also Focuses On

Folk, Folk Rock, Country Rock, Reggae, Punk and New Wave

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"...Gonna Blow My Blues Away..."

After the shaky but promising start of his debut "John Renbourn" in February 1966 - along came album No. 2 "Another Monday" in December of that amazing year and things really started cooking for Marylebone's finest Acoustic Guitar virtuoso.

This seriously hard-to-find album is still only listed at £30 in the 2018 Edition of The Record Collector's 'Rare Record Price Guide' but try finding one in any condition for that money. With this CD reissue hovering at around four to eight quid - I suppose these days we're a little blasé as to just how rare this record is – but what is for sure – via digital Joe Public has access to a great rarity that would have been otherwise out of their reach.

At a piddly twenty-eight minutes exactly, Renbourn's second is hardly guilty of Prog excess when it comes to playing time, but it does 'throw its arms around you like a circle around the sun' as the great man sings in "I Know My Babe". "Another Monday" is a beautifully even-handed album - a cool breeze listen all the way through and I for one love his voice even though there were those at the time that slagged it off and would have paid him good money to never open his gob again (one went ballistic generous, taking all of his might to describe JR as a 'pleasant enough singer'). That cruel assessment was balls IMO because when you listen to his three duets with future Pentangle leading light Jacqui McShee on "Lost Lover Blues", "Can't Keep From Crying" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" - the combo of their voices produced magic to my ears. Throw in the instrumental "One For William" where he accompanies himself on Oboe of all things using the ponderous pseudonym 'Jennifer d0e Montforte-Jones' and you get some trippy Acid Folk moments that also touch on a slight Jazz vibe. There's so much to love here - let's get to the weeklies...

UK released April 2002 (re-issued March 2008) - "Another Monday" by JOHN RENBOURN on Sanctuary/Castle Music CMRCD436 (Barcode 5050159143627) is a straightforward CD transfer and Remaster of the original 12-track 1966 Stereo LP and plays out as follows (28:00 minutes):

1. Another Monday [Side 1]

2. Ladye Nothinge's Toye Puffe

3. I Know My Babe

4. Waltz

5. Lost Love Blues

6. One For William

7. Buffalo [Side 2]

8. Sugar Babe

9. Debbie Anne

10. Can't Keep From Crying

11. Day At The Seaside

12. Nobody's Fault But Mine

Tracks 1 to 12 are his second studio album "Another Monday" - released December 1966 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 149 (unreleased in the USA). Produced by BILL LEADER - it didn't chart. NOTES: All tracks written by Renbourn except 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12 which are Traditional Song and Blues covers. Tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 11 are instrumentals; Renbourn sings Lead Vocals on Tracks 3 and 8 and duet vocals with Jacqui McShee [later with Pentangle] on Tracks 5, 10 and 12.

The 12-page booklet has wonderfully informative liner notes from COLIN HARPER author of "Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch And The British Folk Blues Revival" from 2000 (Bloomsbury Books). There are some photos of a beardy John looking suitably pensive (one on a chair with his acoustic miked-up and ready to take the English music scene by the scruff of the neck), a two-page advert spread for Sanctuary's reissue program for Renbourn and the band he would be most famously associated with. Speaking of which - on Page 8 is a photo of the 'blond-haired' singer Jacqui McShee – a Folky on the scene since 1960 and introduced to Renbourn in 1965 - thereby beginning a musical partnership that blossomed with Danny Thompson, Terry Cox and Bert Jansch into the mighty Pentangle.

But the big news here is a gorgeous Remaster from two fave Audio Engineers of mine – ANDY PEARCE and SEAN MAGEE. Pearce has done wads of great transfers across a large set of genres - Rory Gallagher, Free, Spooky Tooth, Wishbone Ash, ELP, Uriah Heep, Status Quo, John Renbourn, Pentangle, Budgie, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, The Bible and many more. Magee has been involved in the prestigious and much-praised Beatles Remasters as well as Lennon solo reissues. This is a lovely sounding CD – warm and inviting and as much of it consists of simple acoustic instrumentals – songs ping out of your speakers with real clarity.

It opens with two short instrumental originals - "Another Monday" and "Ladye Nothinge's Toye Puffe" - loveliness that flows over you sweetly (he revisited "Ladye..." on "The Nine Maidens" album in 1985). Renbourn sings "I Know My Babe" - a Blues Traditional that James Taylor based "Circle 'Round The Sun" on when he covered it too on his 1968 Apple Records debut "James Taylor". Renbourn's picking, his warm-toned vocal delivery and the "...sun's gonna shine..." lyrics all combine to make a fast-paced Acoustic mini masterpiece out of "I Know My Babe". But of all the instrumentals on the LP - his own "Waltz" is by far the most hair-raisingly brilliant - feeling like some lost Blues Speeder on some forgotten Folkways LP of the early Fifties (and you can so hear where Page nicked a few licks for Zeppelin). A cover of Blind Boy Fuller's "Lost Lover Blues" becomes the first of three featuring Jacqui McShee on duet vocals with Renbourn - sure ain't got no lovin' baby now. Combined with Renbourn moonlighting as the po-faced pseudonym Jennifer de Montforte-Jones the 'Oboe' player - the Acid Folk instrumental of "One For William" ends Side 1 on a high.

He advises in the rear-sleeve liner notes that Side 2's "Buffalo" is from the repertoire of Davy Graham - yet it’s credited as a Renbourn original on the label. "Sugar Babe" is another Blues Traditional that he admits is a thinly disguised "Lost Lover Blues" where our poor chap has to leave on the morning train (woman troubles you know). "Debbie Anne" is an instrumental picker that precedes the second Jacqui McShee collaboration - a Blues Traditional called "Can't Keep From Crying" taught to Renbourn by Mike Rogers. As he speeds up and down the frets - she hits a low chorus duet vocal that works perfectly. At only 1:11 minutes "Day At The Seaside" is very short but also very lovely. And it all comes to a wicked finishing line – John on the bottleneck guitar as he slides through the Blues Standard "Nobody's Fault But Mine" with Jacqui on her final vocal contribution. If the poor girl singing the song doesn't read her Bible - her soul will be lost and it'll be... Well I'm not so sure about that - but I love the way it finishes "Another Monday".

Sometimes albums aren't overly flashy or chock to the monkey-nuts with obvious zippy-lick brilliance - sometimes they're just sweet and good on the brain - and yes – on the soul too. The quietly lovely "Another Monday" is one of the records.

"...The sun's gonna shine on my back door someday..." - Renbourn sang on "I Know My Babe". Let in this ray of light shine into your home someday. And remember sinners - if you don't - it ain't "Nobody's Fault But Mine"...

"Tomb Raider" - A Review of The 2018 Movie - An Unintentional Turkey for Easter...

"A Turkey At Easter"

Tomb Raider 2018 – A Review

God help us all but sexiness is out and politically correct drudge is in.

Alicia Vikander is one of the most exquisite looking women on the planet and a fantastic actress more than capable of greatness and sincerity with a single look. But her soulless reboot of "Lara Croft" sucks for so many reasons it beggar’s belief.

It's clichéd now to use the word derivative when it comes to storyline - but that's what this dull and lifeless Indiana Jones wannabe is. Many crimes are committed here - first is that in the movie's desperate need to get bums on seats the trailer gives you every sequence worth looking at in two minutes flat - so when you do sit down - you've already seen the best bits. But the worst crime of all is that one of the sexiest characters ever put on screen comes over here as one of the dullest imaginable. This Lara Croft whines, she whinges, she mopes, she loses every time and has all the confidence and backbone of Hilary Clinton at a post election no-show - shafting her supporters when they needed her the most - especially those who believed in her. In an effort to make this LC more human – the makers of this turkey have sucked all the life out of her.

And let’s be blunt about this – where’s the sex? If you take Alicia in the vastly underrated "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." - she was an object of desire with the right guy - Armie Hammer - there was a palatable chemistry between them that made the movie work. Here the man she wants is absent Dad - played very well it has to be said by Dominic West (although some have called him performance hammy). Their relationship was probably the best thing about the film (some genuinely touching scenes) - but there's little else.

Formulaic I know but poor Alicia doesn't even have a decent man to go after or spar with emotionally (she has a sidekick in drunken boatman Daniel Wu - but nothing ever ignites or feels right about their bond). Walton Goggins is a very effective bad guy with his mad eyes and sweaty brow and his trapped-on-an-island for seven years frazzled brain. But again he spends much of the movie looking up in awe at something in the jungle or in the tomb and when the camera cuts over to it - you're wondering what's impressing this dude so much because haven't we seen all of this hieroglyphs and revolving death traps crap before - and done better.

Once on Yamati Island off the coast of Japan and in order to get to the prize a shady foundation called Trinity wants - Alicia must of course face the trails of Empress Himiko (a close relative of General Biscuit Mikado). One is the Chamber of Lost Souls (you hang left at The Cauldron Of Inappropriate Flatulence) and another is the Sarcophagus of Death (round the corner from The Underpants of Bad Personal Hygiene). And on it goes...and on...and on...

Then there's the stuff that just jars - the set pieces you don't want to see - a pointless bicycle race in London with a tin of paint - the painful pawn shop sketch that thinks its funny but isn't - the tedious board room scenes (will she or won't she sign) with actors like Derek Jacobi and Kristen Scott Thomas laughing all the way to the bank for phone-in performances that must have taken all of four minutes to rehearse - the big reveal at the end that turns out to be none at all.

But the real problem is surely casting. Alicia rocks nine times out of ten - check out her staggering chemistry with Michael Fassbender and Armie Hammer in "The Light Between Oceans" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." But Angelina Jolie oozed it back in the day. She had that look in her eye - that vivaciousness - that inherent belief in her own sexiness that made the silly movie such fun to watch. She was Lara Croft and everyone knew it. I'd pay 50p for a DVD of "Tomb Raider" with Jolie in it because at least a re-watch would be worth it. This Lara Croft has all the va-va-voom of a used teeshirt on the floor of a gym and somehow that's just unforgivable to me. It's almost as if sexiness in this new Lara Croft is somehow a dirty word - replaced by po-faced sterility. If this is new-girl empowerment then it didn’t come off as such. 

I felt robbed of two hours watching this "Tomb Raider" remake, forgot about it the moment I left the cinema and even (as you've no doubt worked out) felt a little angry at the laziness of it all (the same emotions washed over me at the trailer to "Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom" - more lazy-assed drivel with zero story originality). What a waste of everyone's time and ultimately...what a huge let down...