"WarChild" by JETHRO TULL – October 1974 US and UK LP on Chrysalis Records featuring Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Evan, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond and Barriemore Barlow with Orchestration by David Palmer (November 2014 UK Chrysalis The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition 2CD/2DVD Book Set Reissue – Steve Wilson Remixes and Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day..."

I dug the two-sided concept album "Thick As A Brick" in 1972 (slavered over that newspaper sleeve) but I found the mock-operatic "A Passion Play" in 1973 too dense and actually guilty of the codpiece pretentiousness that was being levelled at the band from all quarters. I sense principal leading light and songwriter Ian Anderson was aware of this and so "WarChild" returned to simpler shorter tunes and frankly benefitted from it.

But like many fans and despite the 'fun' of "Bungle In The Jungle" and the old-Tull cool of the fab "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day" - I don't recall "WarChild" with any real sense of affection - more of a gradual boredom with Tull that had begun to creep in back in those mixed up multi-genre days.

So it's with a certain relief and even belated near five-decades-later pleasure that I find 'The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition' of Tull's seventh studio album "WarChild" (like so many of these Book Editions) to be something of a revelation - especially those outtakes and the swathes of film version stuff on the DVDs. This is beautifully done and again maestro Steve Wilson has lifted up the core LP with a fabulous new remix and remaster. There is much to discuss, so let's skate away on the Book Set ice of a new reissue day...

UK released 24 November 2014 - "WarChild: The 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition" by JETHRO TULL on Chrysalis 2564621627 Warchild 1 (Barcode 825646216277) is a 2CD plus 2DVD 80-Page Book Set Reissue with Steve Wilson Remixes and Remasters that plays out as follows:

CD1 "WarChild" - A New Steven Wilson Stereo Remix (39:31 minutes):

1. WarChild [Side 1]

2. Queen And Country

3. Ladies

4. Back-Door Angels

5. SeaLion

6. Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day [Side 2]

7. Bungle In The Jungle

8. Only Solitaire

9. The Third Hoorah

10. Two Fingers

Tracks 1 to 10 are their seventh studio album "WarChild" - released 14 October 1974 in the USA and 26 October 1974 in the UK on Chrysalis Records CHR 1067 (same catalogue number in both countries). Produced by IAN ANDERSON - it peaked at No. 2in the USA and No. 14 in the UK.

CD2 "The Second Act" – Associated Recordings (78:20 minutes):

1. Paradise Steakhouse

2. Saturation

3. Good Godmother

4. SeaLion II

5. Quartet

6. WarChild II

7. Tomorrow Was Today

8. Glory Row

9. March, The Mad Scientist

10. Rainbow Blues

11. Pan Dance

WarChild Orchestral Recordings

12. The Orchestral WarChild Theme

13. The Third Hoorah (Orchestral Version)

14. Mime Sequence

15. Field Dance (Conway Hall Version)

16. Waltz Of The Angels (Conway Hall Version)

17. The Beach (Part I) (Morgan Master Recordings)

18. The Beach (Part II) (Morgan Master Recordings)

19. Waltz Of The Angels (Morgan Demo Recording)

20. The Beach  (Morgan Demo Recording)

21. Field Dance (Morgan Demo Recording)

NOTES:

Tracks 1 to 15 - A New Steven Wilson Stereo Remix

Tracks 16 to 21 Mixed To Stereo in 1974 by Robin Black

Tracks 1, 4 and 5 first issued on the "Nightcap” 2CD set in November 1993

Track 2 first issued on the "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" Box Set in June 1988

Tracks 3, 6 and 7 Previously Unreleased

Track 8 first issued on the "Repeat: The Best Jethro Tull Vol. II" LP in September 1977

Tracks 9 and 11 first issued on the "Ring Out, Solstice Bells" Vinyl EP in December 1976

Track 10 first issued on "M.U. The Best Of Jethro Tull" LP in January 1976

Tracks 12 to 21 all Previously Unreleased except Track 16, which was first released as "WarChild Waltz" on the October 2002 "WarChild" CD remaster

DVD 1 (Audio & Video) - Region 0 (Region Free) - NTSC Aspect Ratio 16:9 (except Film Footage 4:3)

"WarChild" remixed into 5.1 Surround and presented in DTS 96/24, AC3 Dolby Digital and 96/24 LPCM Stereo.

A Flat Transfer from the Original 1974 LP Master in 96/24 LPCM Stereo.

A Flat Transfer from the Original 1974 QUAD LP (with additionally "Glory Row" and "March, The Mad Scientist") in DTS 96/24 5.1 (4.0) and Ac3 Dolby Digital Surround Sound.

Video clips of a Montreux Photo Session and Press Conference on 11 January 1974 and "The Third Hoorah" Promo Footage with remixed Stereo audio (19:20 minutes).

DVD 2 (78:18 minutes duration, 61:47 minutes in Surround)

An Additional eleven group recordings from the WarChild sessions and later - remixed in 5.1 Surround and presented in DTS 96/24 and AC3 Dolby Digital and 96/24 LPCM Stereo.

Six additional orchestral recordings mixed by Robin Black in 1974 in 96/24 LPCM Stereo. 

The first thing that smacks you over the head with a steel Roman Aquila banner is the presentation - 80-pages of photos, essays, track-by-track annotation by Ian Anderson, lyrics, tape boxes, recording studio venues, recording info and tour dates from November 1973 to April 1975. There is discussion of the garish artwork (band members, girlfriends, models, dummies - all in Panto costumes on the rear sleeve as well as memories of 15-years on the road by the band's electronics man David Morris called "Batteries Not Included: Hammers Are Allowed". You get interviews by Don Needham with Kathy Thulborn and Bridget Procter of the touring string quartet, foreign picture sleeves for the singles, film script synopsis and loads of rare and previously unseen photos.

Anderson also discusses the revelations in the 5.1 Surround Mix unleashing the too-dense string section and how "WarChild" became the first Tull album to be mixed into Quadrophonic back in 1974 (Chrysalis CH4 1067). You get a 20-person collage map as to who appeared on the rear cover (18 is a stuffed Seal in case you were wondering) and there's even a saucy article called "Pan Dances" with a photo of the Top of the Pops girls "Pan's People" at the back. Choreographed by the legendary Flick Colby, they did dance routines to "Witch's Promise" and "Living In The Past" in front of an audience with costumes that appeared to leave little to the imagination. A shoulder-strap malfunction did allow one boob to be displayed, but dancer and fan-fave Babs took it like a trooper and the crowd seemed very appreciative and declared in one voice 'there is a God'. To the music...

A war siren and 'a cup of tea dear' conversation followed by guns and bombs outside opens the album - "WarChild" dancing the days and nights away. The Steve Wilson Remix and Remaster feels like a power surge has been inserted into the Prog Rock chorus - Roxy Music type Saxophone and Strings upping the oomph as it progresses. Anger at England's wild taxation laws (signed our souls away) seeps through the angry "Queen And Country" while that shushed acoustic guitar opening of "Ladies" now sings along with the flute passages (lovely transfer). Chrysalis issued "Bungle In The Jungle" b/w the next song "Back-Door Angels" on the same day as the album - 14 October 1974. Chrysalis CRS 2010 sure proved to have legs staying on the US singles charts for months peaking at No. 12 in the week ending 11 January 1975. That great rock geetar riffage that comes in the middle of "Back-Door Angel" combines with a warbling synth solo and feels like the Tull of "Aqualung" are suddenly back in your living room - leery and sneering. The US market also got "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day" b/w with Side 1's final cut "SeaLion" as a 45 - Chrysalis CRS 2013 issued 17 February 1975. Balance the world on the tip of your nose, Anderson sings as the strings threaten to overwhelm the mix. There is no business like the show we're in.

Side 2 opens with "Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of The New Day" and at last its gorgeous acoustic whimsy sounds like the bomb here - only Jethro Tull making this unique sound - brilliant. Tull would feature the meanwhile back in year one "Skating Away..." on the "M.U. Best Of..." in January 1976  - cup of tea beginning and all. Wilson has done wonders with it. You can so hear why American Radio latched onto the silly "Bungle In The Jungle" - it was the kind of 'rawk' they could use - lions and tigers waiting in the shadow - catchy chorus ahoy. The one and half minute "Only Solitaire" also hankers back to those acoustic-driven snippet-tracks that worked so well on albums like 1971's "Aqualung" and the 1972 new-and-old double-album splurge of "Living In The Past". Out comes the clavinet and familiar guitar riffage combo for "The Third Hoorah" - a stormer in this new sound. And it ends with five minutes of "Two Fingers" - one of the LPs latest recordings - done 24 February 1974. Again the Remix is absolutely kicking as Anderson sings of the good ship Earth, hard headed miracle-workers and underpants you best leave to trusted friends.

The booklet cleverly features the lyrics to the Additional Songs on CD2 that opens with "Paradise Steakhouse" - a cracking very-Tull rocker that first appeared on the "Nightcap" double-CD in 1993 and could so easily have been a cracking "WarChild" LP track or even B-side to "Bungle In The Jungle". Recorded in December 1973, the major riffage continues with "Saturation" - Martin Barre letting rip on the axe. Originally called 'D Bass & Vibes One' - "Quartet" comes on like an English Chamber Ensemble has just invaded your sonic pantry and announces that its actually likes ELP and wants to emulate their brand of Prog Rock. An accordion accompanies the whimsical opening of the previously unreleased "WarChild II" before it quickly descends into a teacup rocker. Far better is the two thousand travellers of "Tomorrow Was Today" - a genuine rocking JT find - and given that it was recorded 24 February 1974 - could have enlivened the album considerably. There is gorgeous acoustic clarity to "March, The Mad Scientist" while the "M.U. Best Of" exclusive cut "Rainbow Blues" has 'get me to the stage on time' power in all areas. As we romp to the end of CD2, I suspect the orchestral stuff is going to be very much an acquired taste. Personally much of it is too twee for me and I know I won't be returning to it any time soon.

When you play DVD 1 – you find the 4th part is the Video elements – an 11 January 1974 press conference given by a fountain in Montreux in Switzerland with the 5-piece British Rock Band looking like a bunch of drug-addled dandies (rainbow suits, silk scarves and cigarette holders the length of a autobahn) who shouldn't be allowed near anyone's daughter (or domestic pet) let alone a city landmark. Probably because the audio is either too boring, corrupted or lost completely – Ian Anderson has decided to do the 2014 monologue for it all himself as the footage then segues into a press conference at the Euro Hotel where the group is handing over a cheque to build a studio for uppercoming Swiss kids (they had toured there in 1972). As you can imagine and given the distance of decades - his deliberations on the way they look, ludicrous English taxes, offers of Swiss citizenship and press junkets with bored tank-top wearing reporters looking to the sandwiches and wine - are erudite, intelligent and at times ball-breakingly funny. Terry Ellis of Chrysalis Records is there as is Tull's champion and organiser of the Jazz Festivals in Montreux - Claude Nobs – sadly lost to the world in 2014. It's great fun and I'll leave the rest for you to discover.

Despite its No. 2 chart placing in the States – the LP "WarChild" has always been treated as something of a snotty return here in Tull's own Blighty – a guilty pleasure of sorts after two albums of excess – and bettered too by bigger albums to come. But like all of these multi-disc Tull reissues – they amaze and restore the faith...

"Riley, Riley, Wood and Waggett" by SHAPE OF THE RAIN – July 1971 UK Debut Album on RCA Neon Records NE 7 featuring Keith Riley, Len Riley, Brian Wood, Iain 'Tag' Waggett and Pete Dolan with guests Eric Hine, Bob Skelland, Nip Healey and David Brookfield (22 May 2020 UK Grapefruit Records 3CD Deluxe Edition Reissue with an Unreleased Second Album, Demos and Rehearsals and Live Material – 61 Tracks with 17 Unreleased and Many Other Rarities – Oli Hemingway Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Rusty Road..."

Seen as Country Hick and terminally unhip by much of the buying public - RCA Victor's answer to the progressive rock craze that was sweeping music in the late Sixties and early Seventies was the ill fated RCA Neon label. With its beautiful Venus In A Shell logo, jet-black labels and inner bags - this home of the obscure and supposedly Avant Garde managed only 11 albums in 2 years (1971 to 1972) and the first was a reissue of an LP initially released in 1970 (Fair Weather's "The Beginning Of The End").

Complete with staggeringly dull please-don't-buy-me because I want to be obscure gatefold sleeves (obligatory for all these releases it seemed) - names such as Fair Weather (NE 1), Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath (NE 2), Indian Summer (NE 3), Tonton Macoute (NE 4), Dando Shaft (NE 5), Spring (NE 6), Raw Material (NE 8), Centipede (NE 9), Mike Westbrook Orchestra (NE 10) and The Running Man (NE 11) - don't exactly role off the tongue - even now. I have an October 1973 RCA Victor product catalogue and only NE 9 and NE 10 were listed as available for sale – all others were deleted. None of them sold jack and the one-album-then-we-died SHAPE OF THE RAIN effort on RCA Neon NE 7 was no different. They weren't even Prog. SOTR music was West Coast Country Rock via the Byrds meets British Folk Rock via Matthews Southern Comfort, Cochise and Brinsley Schwarz – not an Elf nor a Manticore nor a bank of noodley synths anywhere in sight.

Still - up steps our UK reissue heroes Grapefruit Records in 2020 and they think – screw those I woke up this morning with the post-pandemic woke-generational blues. 

What the hell – let's give these Northern mining-village reprobates and their Seventies Big Star-ish Americana music a whopping great 61-track 3CD anthology and damn the accounting torpedoes. We can even give the album a gatefold card repro sleeve (the public will just love that legal firm LP title that absolutely no one will remember), throw in an unreleased second album complete with homemade artwork of the period, demos, rehearsals and badly-recorded live material before they finally broke up in 1973 and Remaster the damn lot like the flashy gits we are. And who am I to disagree with wiser and hairier men than I. Let's get shapely...

UK released Friday, 22 May 2020 - "Riley Riley Wood and Waggett (Deluxe Edition)" by SHAPE OF THE RAIN on Grapefruit Records CRSEG067T (Barcode 5013929186705) is a DELUXE EDITION 3CD 61-Track Reissue and Anthology of Remasters that plays out as follows:

Disc One – The Album Plus Bonus Tracks (79:13 minutes):

1. Woman [Side 1]

2. Patterns

3. Castles

4. Wasting My Time

5. Rockfield Roll

6. Yes

7. Dusty Road [Side 2]

8. Willowing Trees

9. I'll Be There

10. Broken Man (a) Every One A Gem (b) After Collapsing At Kingsley's

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut and only album "Riley, Riley, Wood and Waggett" - released July 1971 in the UK on RCA Neon NE 7 (no US release). Produced by ERIC HINE and TONY HALL - it didn't chart.

BONUS TRACKS:

11. My Friend John – 29 October 1971 UK Non-Album 45 Single A-side on RCA Victor RCA 2129 with an edit of the LP cut "Yes" on the B-side (last minute lopped off) and the group now credited as SHAPE

12. The Very First Clown *

13. What You Gonna Do Now? *

14. You're The One *

15. From Me And From You *

16. No Use Cryin' Again *

17. Watercolour Sunshine *

18. Nothin' You Could Do *

19. We Can Put It Right *

20. Lady Of My Dreams *

21. It All Depends On You *

22. Listen To Your Heart *

23. Now's The Time To Start *

24. Don't You Know *

25. Second Time Around *

Tracks 12 to 25 (*) are all PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Disc Two – The CD "Shape Of The Rain" (aka "The Red Album" 1966-1973) (79:40 minutes):

1. Broken Man (Demo Version)

2. I Don't Need Anybody

3. I'll Be There (Demo Version)

4. We're Not The Boys

5. Hallelujah

6. Hello 503

7. I Doubt I Ever Will

8. Willowing Trees (Demo Version)

9. Canyons

10. Spring

11. Words

12. Look Around

13. Advertising Man

14. Go Around And See It

15. It's So Good Here

16. Big Black Bird

17. Everyone The Fool

18. You Just Call

19. It's My Life

Tracks 1 to 19 previously issued in 2001 as the CD "Shape Of The Rain" (aka "The Red Album") on Background HBG 123/14

BONUS TRACKS:

20. Dusty Road (Demo Version)

21. Too Many Lies

22. Yes (Demo Version)

Tracks 20 to 22 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Disc Three – Previously Unreleased Live Recordings (1968-1973) (76:26 minutes):

1. Willowing Trees

2. Passing Of Time

3. Imagination

4. I've Been Wrong

5. Spring

6. Everyone The Fool

7. Vanishing Cottage

8. Calling

9. Big Black Bird

10. Go Around And See It

11. Say It's Goodbye

12. Woman

13. We're Not The Boys

14. Hello 503

Tracks 1 to 8 recorded live at Alfreton hall, in England, 2 May 1970

Tracks 9 to 13 recorded live at Manchester University circa 1973

Track 14 is a Live Acetate recorded at Velvet Underground/Down Broadway clubs in 1968

SHAPE OF THE RAIN was:

KEITH RILEY - Lead Guitar, 12-String Guitar and Vocals

LEN RILEY - Bass Guitar

BRIAN WOOD - Pedal Steel Guitar, Bass and Vocals

IAIN 'Tag' WAGGETT - Drums and Percussion

PETE DOLAN on Guitar and Bass from 1973

GUESTS included:

ERIC HINE - Electric Piano on Tracks 5, 7, 8 and 10 on Disc One

BOB SKELLAND - Bass on Track 5 on Disc Two

NIP HEALEY - Drums on Tracks 2, 4 and 11 on Disc Two

DAVID BROOKFIELD - Synths of some of the Keith Riley Home demos - Tracks 12 to 25 on Disc One

Once out of its shrink-wrap (I put the titled sticker on the booklet, difficult peeling it off) - the outer lightweight slipcase holds three card sleeves inside and a 24-page colour booklet. They give the LP the Keef artwork gatefold sleeve (apparently an outtake from the set of the Oliver! film) while the other two are singles with credit details on the rear of those cards instead of taking up pages in the booklet. DAVID WELLS of Cherry Red's Grapefruit Records (and Esoteric Recordings) gives us new January 2020 liner notes with contributions from band players and associates - Keith and Linda Riley, Tag Waggett and Pete Dolan. You get several black and white period photos, Melody Maker reviews, Acetates pictured, the labels for their two singles from May and October 1971 pictured, homemade artwork for the aborted second album and even a calling card for an early embryo of the group as 'The Gear' in a 1965 village hall. There is also a superb two-page collage of support tour press adverts with the likes of Love, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Curved Air, Mighty Baby, Elton John and even Pink Floyd in March 1971 at Chesterfield's St. James Hall. It's a classy and in-depth display, as one would expect from Grapefruit. Wells also makes no bones about management mistakes that put the band on the Prog-obscure Neon label (thereby guaranteeing dismal sales figures for an album that deserved better) instead of the more commercially viable RCA Victor label with the likes of David Bowie, Sweet, The Kinks, Jefferson Airplane and Nilsson to name but a few. It’s an entertaining and informative read.

OLI HEMINGWAY has handled the Remastering of the album while Audio Engineers KEITH KNIVETON, KEITH RILEY (of the band) and JONATHAN KIRKPATRICK digitised and remastered the Acetate, Home Demos and Live stuff. It's a very mixed bag. The album sounds good but the sheer haphazard nature of the rest is ok to good only. To the music...

Neon tried to pre-empt interest in the band and the album by issuing Side 1's opener "Woman" as a 45 - but the 21 May 1971 UK 7" single on RCA Neon NE 1001 with "Wasting My Time" on the flipside did no business. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs of St. Etienne featured the "Wasting My Time" B-side on their "Occasional Rain" CD and 2LP compilation for Ace Records just recently (May 2020) - thinking highly of the pleasant acoustic strummer. Maybe "Patterns" would have been a better choice - its Byrds-like jangling-guitars with Pedal Steel overtones hitting that Matthews Southern Comfort crowd with a lovely and catchy tune. "Castles" offers the first hint of Genesis-type acoustic-guitar Prog (only hints mind) - gorgeous 12-string strums rattling around your speakers - build your castles in the air - and yet another possible single.

Things start to clavinet boogie with the short and jolly instrumental "Rockfield Roll" - but soon return to something way more substantial with truly excellent "Yes". It's album-sized Big Star-sounding jangle-and-strut groove of 5:51 minutes was cut by one minute as an edit for the stand-alone single in October 1971 of "My Friend John" - the band momentarily returned to the orange RCA Victor label and now called just SHAPE. In fact when you play the Country-Funky Pedal Steel bopper that is "My Friend John" and you throw in the excellent "Yes" B-side, you can't help thinking the public missed a trick on this one. We go full on Country Rock with "Dusty Road" – a clavinet and distant vocal that could almost be Poco Americana in its delivery (Riley sounds like a young Matty Healy from The 1975 with his 'time' regional twang) – another sweet melody on an album packed with them. Despite some great ideas in the melody, "Willowing Trees" feels badly produced, all those clever guitar moments lost in a muddy mix. "I'll Be There" talks of giving a hand in another potential mid-tempo single. The album ends on the only real rocker on the record "Broken Man" - a good guitar chugger but again with a vocal that lacks muscle or definition. 

I hadn't expected much of the thirteen unreleased tracks that come as Bonuses on Disc One but shockingly Shape Of The Rain sound like another set of tune makers who didn't get the recognition they deserved - Unicorn - over on Transatlantic and Harvest Records. There isn’t anything Prog or Psych about these – all acoustic guitars and at times Pedal Steel. There is even traces of Duncan Browne in the lovely and hooky "The Very First Clown" and the brokenhearted "What You Gonna Do Now?" The well-recorded America-sounding "Now's The Time To Start" is a 'we can make it if we try' song.

The audio drops more than a tad on the looking for a hit "You're The One" and the peaceful (but hissy) "From Me And From You". Best of the others are the decidedly Matthews Southern Comfort vibe to the wash my soul of "Watercolour Sunshine", the how can we tell them "We Can Put It Right" and the McCartney strum/doubled vocals of "Lady Of My Dreams" - all good but needing full realisation in a studio. And you can't help thinking that "Second Time Around" would have been a melody pace setter for that Badfinger meets Brinsley Schwarz-sounding second album.

The first nineteen tracks of Disc Two covering recordings from 1966 through to 1973 was first issued as a stand-alone CD in 2001 as "The Shape Of Rain" on Background HBG 123/14 (Barcode 5032379231421) and typically it comes on as a good compilation with recording values fluctuating from great to poor. The four demos of album tracks "Broken Man", "I'll Be There", "Dusty Road" and "Yes" were recorded in 1970 at DJM Studios by Rodger Bain and Tony Hall - the last of the four being incredibly poor audio so not surprising its been left in the can all these years. "I Don't Need Nobody", "We're Not The Boys" and "Words" were recorded in 1973 at Phonogram Studios and show Shape Of The Rain still playing melodic Folk-Rock tunes with a West Coast influence. Beatles Engineer Geoff Emerick recorded the decidedly poppy "Hello 503" at Abbey Road with Tony Hall as co-producer.

Despite the muddy recordings, there were tunes going a begging in 1969 with "I Doubt I Ever Will", "Canyons" and "Spring" - its just a shame they never got the last especially into a real studio and onto the LP. Sixties Who leaps out at you with "Look Around" recorded in 1966 in Nottingham (Pete would either have been proud of them or ready to punch their copycat lights out). Better is a home recording made at Brian Wood's house in 1972 in the shape of "Go Around And See It" - a hit in the making had it been Badfinger.

The first eight songs from 1970 on the live disc are disappointingly little more than bootleg quality, distant vocals, not much fidelity and therefore not something you’re going to return to any time soon. By the time we reach 1973 the band recordings are marginally better and the playing much tighter and more accomplished. And while "Woman" rocks rather well, the whole of Disc Three is very disposable.

SHAPE OF THE RAIN devotees will love the all-guns-blazing splurge of new material while Seventies-curious Badfinger nee Big Star worshipers will probably find much to love here even if not all of it is essential. But whatever your musical poison, once again, Grapefruit Records of the UK has gone the full hog here and they are to be praised for it...

"Heads Hands & Feet" by HEADS HANDS & FEET – Debut 17-Track US Double-Album from April 1971 on Capitol Records and Debut 11-Track UK Single Album from June 1971 on Island Records – featuring Tony Colton, Ray Smith, Albert Lee, Pete Gavin, Chas Hodges and Mike O’Neill with guest Elton Dean on Saxophone (September 2014 UK Prog Temple Expanded Edition CD Reissue and Remaster of the Original 17 Track U.S. Version) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

"...The More You Get, The More You Want..."

Rinse-haired geezers like me (62 and still no criminal record) will remember with a fuzzyheaded glow and a shape-shifting shuffle in the trouser area SAMPLER ALBUMS of the late 60s and early 70ts.

They were a great way of getting to know tons of new music/genres for next-to-zip amounts of cash. One of these is the now-forgotten "El Pea" double-album from June 1971 on Island IDLP 1 – an Island/Chrysalis Records twofer pitched at £1.99 with a great big green pea on the cover. The double-album and its distinctive artwork were supposed to plug 1971 Rock Music and Folk Rock on both conjoined labels. 

But instead of introducing fans to the likes of Nick Drake, Traffic, Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Sandy Denny, Quintessence, Amazing Blondel, Mick Abrahams, Free, Mott The Hoople etc – it became infamous for its rubbish plastic inner holder sleeves with foam lips which were supposed to clean the LPs as you took them out - but just ended up scratching the palm-tree label vinyls to buggery (a great compilation of new music ruined by gimmicky).

Amidst its many other presentational sins was also Side 1's entry for "Song For Suzie" by Heads Hands & Feet. It advertised beneath, that you could find this wickedly good song on their Island Records debut album ILPS 9149. But when punters went looking for the seven-minute opus, the 11-track UK self-titled LP hadn't got the song - nowhere to be seen. This is because their debut "Heads Hands & Feet" had been a 17-track double-album in the USA issued in April 1971 on Capitol Records (containing that song) - but when their debut was eventually issued June 1971 in the UK, Island didn't want to chance a double, so edited it down to an 11-Track single LP minus of course the "Song For Suzie" track (cut probably due to time restrictions). In fact when Universal issued the "Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal: An Island Anthology 1967-1972" 3CD Box Set of Remasters in 2005 – the booklet compounded the mistake again by saying you could get the song on the UK LP. Well, you can't. But here is a place where you can...

Which brings us via a very circuitous route to this rather splendid fully loaded 2014 Prog Temple CD reissue - finally offering fans the Original 17 Track U.S. Version of Heads Hands & Feet as a CD Remaster for the first time. There is a lot to wade through, so on to the head-bangers...

UK released 1 September 2014 – "Heads Hands & Feet" by HEADS HANDS & FEET on Prog Temple PTCD8029 (Barcode 4753314802919) offers the Original 17 Track U.S. Version on CD for the first time. This 15-Track CD (two of the songs have two parts, hence the 17) plays out as follows (77:55 minutes):

1. I'm In Need Of Your Help [Side 1]

2. Send Me A Wire

3. Look At The World It's Changing / 3a. You Because You Know Me

4. Green Liquor

5. Country Boy [Side 2]

6. Tryin' To Put Me On

7. I Wish You Knew Me

8. Devil's Elbow

9. Pete Might Spook The Horses [Side 3]

10. Everybody's Hustlin' / 10a. Hang Me, Dang Me

11. Delaware

12. The More You Get, The More You Want [Side 4]

13. Song For Suzie

14. Tirabad

15. Little Bit Lonely 

Tracks 1 to 15 are the April 1971 US Debut Double-Album "Heads Hands & Feet" on Capitol Records SVBB-680. It was issued June 1971 in the UK with the same name on Island Records ILPS 9149 as a Single LP with 11 Tracks.  That British album can be sequenced from this 2014 CD Remaster as follows:

Side 1: Tracks 1, 2, 7, 10, 10a and 8 (six tracks)

Side 2: Tracks 5, 6, 11, 9 and 15 (five tracks)

HEADS HANDS & FEET were:

TONY COLTON – Lead Vocals

ALBERT LEE – Lead and Rhythm Guitars, Keyboards, Vibes and Vocals

RAY SMITH – Lead Guitar and Vocals

MIKE O'NEILL – Guitars, Vibes, Keyboards and Vocals

CHAS HODGES – Bass, Banjo, Fiddle and Vocals

PETE GAVIN – Drums, Percussion, Vibes and Vocals

Along with Jerry Donahue and Pat Donaldson (later of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention fame) – Tony Colton, Albert Lee, Ray Smith and Drummer Pete Gavin had been with the group Poet And The One Man Band for their lone self-titled album on Verve Forecast SVLP 6012 – released April 1969. Mike O’Neill had been part of The John Barry Seven and Chas Hodges had been with Cliff Bennett and The Rebel Rousers (amongst others) and would of course go on to be one half of Chas & Dave. And even though he'd left to join Sandy Denny in Fotheringay, Pat Donaldson had been songwriting with them so long that he is listed as the third writer of "I'm In Need Of Your Help" alongside Tony Colton and Ray Smith (principal songwriters on almost every song).

As a sort of newly formed supergroup, there was a lot of major label interest, and as the eight-page FRASER MASSEY liner-notes explain (with the aid of Tony Colton) – the British boys were wined and dined at the legendary Troubadour club in Hollywood, then signed for very big money at the time to the established Capitol Records in the USA - to be handled by the hipper independent label Island Records in the UK. On this 2014 Prog Temple CD it clearly states DIGITALLY REMASTERED but there is no name associated. No problems because the audio throughout is really great - fantastically alive and without being over-trebled too. Nice job done. Let's get to the music...

Recorded between November 1970 and February 1971 and Engineered by EDDIE OFFORD of Yes fame - the double-album splurge begins with "I'm In Need Of Your Help" - a rapido Funk-Rock chaser that even feels a tad Prog as it begins. Better is "Send Me A Wire" where I always felt their strengths lay - a sort of Rock-Funk groover that chugs along very nicely - put out the smoke - put out the fire - can't get any higher. I've included it on some compilations of mine where I dig Rock on a Funky tip. We're then hit with a seven and a half minute two-parter - (3) "Look At The World It's Changing - and (3a) "You Because You Know Me". The first part is a dreadfully syrupy love song that overdoes the melodrama whilst part two goes all acoustic Simon & Garfunkel which is only a little better. Side 1 ends with the boozy swagger of the tasting-fine "Green Liquor" - a sort of precursor in song style to their fabulous single "Warming Up The Band".

Side 2 of the American double also opens Side 2 of the single British LP - a cotton-picker horse and cart romp non-surprisingly called "Country Boy" - and again amazing clarity in the Remaster. That's followed by the Dobro and Fiddle Country Blues of the excellent "Tryin' To Put Me On" - a fave amongst fans - put this one in the steel house. "I Wish You Knew Me" opens on an acoustic guitar flourish only to be followed by a wall of harmonising vocals - a sort of Beach Boys meets Bronco moment (gorgeous remaster too). A Methodist Minister calls on our vocalist and asks his domination - trying to convert the Rock 'n' Roll man away from the "Devil's Elbow" - though even despite the mellow feel of the track - I think the preacher has his work cut out for him.

Side 3 opens with "Pete Might Spook The Horses" - a drum-driven rocker co-written by Colton and Smith with sticks-man Pete Gavin. Again the Remaster leaps out of the speakers as PG whacks his kit to the accompaniment of funky chugging guitars from the boys (shine on sunshine). Another countrified two-parter follows – Uncle Joe hustling the bar and everything for that matter (including his kids) in (10) "Everybody's Hustlin'" - while things get funky-rock again with the rolling across my mind (10a) "Hang Me, Dang Me". And again another great audio spread. Side 3 ends with five minutes of piano-peace in "Delaware" – probably the prettiest song on the album – lines down in Utah – raining in Delaware – still things are good.

Side 4 gives us seven-minutes of the J.J. Cale Tony Joe White Vocal stylee Bass-Funky "The More You Get, The More You Want". Unfortunately UK fans lost on this one (wasn't on the single LP) and what a loss. Our boy is looking for some Hookfoot – servicing another turnstile to keep that hooch flowing and the girls by the bar rolling their eyes. This wickedly groovy funky-as-a-tweeter Swamp-Country-Rock tune was Heads Hands & Feet stock in trade – sexy-cool flicking guitar work from Albert Lee and fantastic wild Alto Sax soloing from guest musician Elton Dean. What a tour de force, and for me, a definite highlight on the album. That is then followed by the epic Moody Blues-sounding "Song For Suzie" - a prayer ballad for a lost lady's peace of mind. The Little Feat guitar boogie of "Tirabad" and the Spanish acoustic of "Little Bit Lonely" bring a big album to a quietly majestic end. It's not all magic - but damn - when they hit that groove - they were so damn good.  

Heads Hands & Feet would issue their second studio album "Tracks" in late April 1972 on Island ILPS 9185 (June 1972 in the USA on Capitol Records ST-11051) and a final UK studio set called "Old Soldiers Never Die" in March 1973 – newly signed to Atlantic Records for K 40465 – but all to no avail. Not even the wickedly good "Warming Up The Band" stand-alone single broke the charts for them - when it should have (both it and its non-album B-side are featured as Bonus Tracks on the "Tracks...Plus" CD reissue - see my review). 

England's Heads, Hands & Feet are a footnote now in the history of Seventies Rock Music - but they're remembered with affection for a reason and the better tracks on this wicked-sounding 2LPs-onto-1CD Remaster prove why. A very cool little reissue really and I'd love to see someone tackle all three of their Seventies albums in a mini box set with Extras - and right soon...