"Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971" by THE BEACH BOYS – August 1970 US LP "Sunflower" and August 1971 US LP "Surf's Up" and 34 Unreleased Tracks (27 August 2021 UK/EU UME/Capitol/Brother 2CD Compilation of New Remasters – Mark Linnett and Alan Boyd Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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ALL THINGS MUST PASS
1970

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters 

Classic Albums, 45-Singles, Compilations 

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Over 2,300 E-Pages of Reviews from the discs themselves

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"...Touching Your Heart..."

 

Although it's now over 21 years ago, most Beach Boys fans who wanted these cool early 70ts albums plumbed for the Capitol/Brother Reissue that Remastered both LPs onto 1CD released back in July 2000 in the USA (August 2000 in the UK). I've had that 70:22 minutes and its chunky 22-page booklet in pride of 'B' place on my shelves for over two decades now as I say.

 

So even with the promise of 56-Tracks across 2CDs as stated on the shrink-wrap sticker - 34 of which are unreleased - I have to admit (and to my amazement), that I'm a tad underwhelmed by this new 2021 "Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971" compilation. I should explain why.

 

The 103-Track 5CD Super Deluxe Box Set (also issued 27 August 2021) is a beast and a true beauty - book to die for etc. Unfortunately, the standard issue (which I’m reviewing) or just plain 'Deluxe Version' as some are calling it - is no such thing. You get a rather crappy gatefold card sleeve with a 20-page booklet in one of the two slots. The first half is taken up with just listing the tracks, while the remainder of that lesser booklet sports new liner notes from Original/Subsequent Engineers and Producers ALAN BOYD and MARK LINNETT on the new transfers and tape library discoveries (Linnet has a 30-year association with The Beach Boys and was behind "The Smile Sessions" "Pet Sounds" etc - is also a 3-times Grammy Winner). There is some discography material on the inner gatefold by HOWIE EDELSEN and a potted history of the period - especially their absence from the charts for nearly three years (something they dominated with ease for nearly all of the 60ts). But in truth - visually, when the wrap is off, this 2CD set feels and looks wimpy compared to its predecessor of two decades back. Still, there is at least the music, new and old, and all of it sparkling like never before. To the boards...

 

UK released 27 August 2021 - "Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971" by THE BEACH BOYS on UME/Capitol/Brother 00602508790584 (Barcode 602508790584) is a 56-Track 2CD Compilation that offers both the 1970 Album "Sunflower" with 18 Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks and the 1971 Album "Surf's Up" with 16 Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks. 

 

The Album Remasters are New 2019 Versions and the CDs play out as follows:

 

Disc One (78:32 minutes):

SUNFLOWER Original Album (2019 Remaster)

1. Slip On Through

2. This Whole World

3. Add Some Music To Your Day

4. Got To Know The Woman

5. Deirdre

6. It's About Time

7. Tears In The Morning [Side 2]

8. All I Wanna Do

9. Forever

10. Our Sweet Love

11. At My Window

12. Cool, Cool Water

Tracks 1 to 12 are the album "Sunflower" - released 31 August 1970 in the USA on Brother Records/Reprise RS 6382 and November 1970 in the UK on Stateside SSL 8251.

 

SUNFLOWER Bonus Tracks (Previously Unreleased):

13. Loop De Loop (1969 Mix)

14. San Miguel (2020 Mix)

15. Susie Cincinnati (2020 Mix)

16. Good Time (2019 Mix)

17. I Just Got My Pay (2019 Mix)

18. Two Can Play (2019 Mix)

19. I'm Goin' Your Way (Alternate Mix)

20. Where Is She (2019 Mix)

21. Break Away (Backing Vocals Excerpt)

22. Our Sweet Love (String Section)

23. This Whole World (Alternate Ending)

24. Soulful Old Man Sunshine (2019 Mix)

25. All I Wanna Do (a Cappella)

26. Back Home (Alternate Version)

27. When Girls Get Together (2019 Mix)

28. Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song) (2012 Stereo Mix)

29. This Whole World (Live 1988)

30. Sunflower Promo 1

 

 

Disc Two (78:59 minutes):

SURF'S UP Original Album (2019 Master)

1. Don't Go Near The Water [Side 1]

2. Long Promised Road

3. Take A Load Off Your Feet

4. Disney Girls (1957)

5. Student Demonstration Time

6. Feel Flows [Side 2]

7. Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)

8. A Day In The Life Of A Tree

9. 'Til I Die

10. Surf's Up

Tracks 1 to 10 are their album "Surf's Up" - released 30 August 1971 in the USA on Brother/Reprise RS 6453 and November 1971 in the UK on Stateside SSL 10313.

 

SURF'S UP Bonus Tracks (Previously Unreleased):

11. It's A New Day

12. Big Sur

13. (Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again (2019 Mix)

14. 4th Of July (2019 Mix)

15. Lady (Fallin' In Love) (1970 Stereo Mix)

16. Behold The Night

17. Medley: All Of My Love/Ecology

18. Sweet And Bitter

19. My Solution

20. Awake

21. Disney Girls (Live 1982)

22. Surf's Up (Live 1979)

23. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone (Track & Backing Vocals)

24. Feel Flows (Backing Vocals Excerpt)

25. Disney Girls (Backing Vocals Excerpt)

26. Surf's Up Promo

 

 

The Audio it has to be said is a bit of a mixed blessing - the extra clarity has brought out quite a bit of that tape hiss behind those layers of vocals and you can really hear it in-between those musical gaps. But when it does work like on the gorgeous "Deirdre" or "Disney Girls (1957)", it's so damn sweet. I suppose you could argue that placing 17-seconds on CD1 and calling it a 'Previously Unreleased" song ("Break Away") and following that with a 'push-the-boat-out' one-whole minute of 'String Section' for "Our Sweet Love" is a bit of a stretch on two fronts.

 

One anomaly in the booklet calls Track 17 on CD2 as a Medley with "Happy Birthday" and "God Only Knows" as the duo of tracks when the back of the gatefold card sleeve gets its right – it's actually "All Of My Love" and "Ecology" – and for me it's one of a few unreleased dazzlers. Takes 1 and 2 of "Sweet And Bitter" with Mike on Lead Vocals are damn good too while the 3:43 minutes of "My Solution" complete with spoken and sung lines is just plain Beach Boys bonkers (easy on the mushrooms lads). The Final Take of the Floyd Tucker song "Awake" is so pretty (Brian on Lead) – an outtake that will thrill long-term BB fans.

 

But there is no doubt that when you re-hear Bruce Johnston's truly lovely "Tears In The Morning" that ends Side 1 of "Sunflower" that the band was at that moment swimming in melody and ideas. They were unfortunately saddled with that 60ts Surfin' Beach Boys image thing that did for them in the harder-hitting 70ts. I can remember huge numbers of people discovering these albums in retrospect and being impressed.

 

The 2CD Version of "Feel Flow: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971" is a good reissue for me then, when I was hoping to be hopping up and down in hysterics. I'll just have to wait for the Big Daddy 'Super Deluxe Version' to drop in price and in the meantime, take a load off my feet with this...

1967 – A Year in PSYCHEDELIC ROCK – The Bands And Sounds Of The Summer of Love by KEVIN FURBANK (2021 Paperback Book from SonicBond)

 

 

 

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"...Semolina Pilchard Climbing up The Eiffel Tower..."

 

As the author of Genre and Year books on CD Reissues and Remasters (see my 'Sounds Good Music Book Series' of 24 e-Book titles) - this clever wee paperback caught my eye as it concentrates on a year I didn't do – "1967" – aka The Summer of Love (yeah baby).

 

Author KEVIN FURBANK is the Managing Editor of the Irish Daily Mirror and has been a journalist/music enthusiast for over 40 years. This is his third paperback release for Sonicbond Publishing – the other two being in their On Track Series of books - Steve Hillage's Gong and those legends of English Folk Rock – Fairport Convention. Furbank is a musician himself and with a lean towards nutters like 70ts space cowboys Gong, he digs Prog Rock, Avant Garde, Symphonic Rock, and of course from whence they all arguably came – 60ts Psychedelic Rock.

 

UK-released by Sonicbond Publishing 26 November 2021 (31 December 2021 for the USA) - "1967 – A Year in PSYCHEDELIC ROCK – The Bands And The Sounds Of The Summer Of Love" gives us 155 A5 paperback pages – the bands dealt with in release-date order for that pivotal year (priced at £14.99 but available for about ten or eleven).

 

Furbank quite rightly acknowledges The Byrds and their soundscape milestone "Eight Miles High" issued as a 45-single by Columbia in the USA in March 1966. He also smartly gives a nod to the big precursor daddy as far as most English fans were concerned, "Tomorrow Never Knows" that tail-ended The Beatles August 1966 masterpiece "Revolver" - Ringo's stunning drumming, all those swirling tape-loops and guitars and John (stunned on something else) telling all of us to "...relax and float downstream... "

 

After a few paragraphs that set the scene, we get the key bands of that mercurial year – The Beatles with "Sgt. Peppers", "Penny Lane" b/w "Strawberry Fields Forever" and the "Magical Mystery Tour" US LP, British EPs, Movie, The Doors and their extraordinary debut on Elektra Records, Jimi Hendrix and his first singles plus the "Are You Experienced" LP on Track, Jefferson Airplane with both "Surrealistic Pillow" and "After Bathing At Baxter's" on RCA Victor, Love and their dynamite "Forever Changes" and for many – the true monster of the season to be a witch – Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett influenced debut "The Piper At The Dates Of Dawn" (Interstellar Overdrive y'all). 

 

The examinations continue with Cream (both "Fresh Cream" and "Disraeli Gears"), The Byrds and their "Younger Than Yesterday" period, The Who doing "Sell Out" (baked beans ahoy), the whole Beach Boys unreleased 'Smile' album fiasco that produced "Wild Honey" and "Smiley Smile" instead of a proper follow-up to "Pet Sounds", The Rolling Stones with "Between The Buttons" and "Their Satanic Majesties Request". 

 

1967 then touches on to the most influential album of the period for me (and of all time actually IMO) – "The Velvet Underground & Nico" Debut on Verve with its iconic Andy Warhol Banana-Peel sleeve. This staggeringly desirable album was/is the only LP we ever kept multiple reissue copies of when I worked as Reckless Records in Berwick Street (originals from 1967 are impossible to find and the 70s reissues on MGM also difficult). Not all of "The Velvet Underground And Nico" is strictly Pysch, more Rock Avant Garde or Experimental or just early Punk even, but then so many LPs of that year and period crossed over into other areas. It's a smart inclusion in a smart book.

 

There are others genre big-hitters too of course in here – Donovan, Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention, Moby Grape, The Moody Blues and The Grateful Dead – an impress array of artists and discussions of their releases (each entry provides release dates UK and US, Chart Positions, Tracks etc).

 

Psych in all of its glories and horrors is a path well-trodden by both CD and Book - yet using quotes from those who were there, illuminating interviews and his own funny, in-depth and intelligent observations - he makes a damn good stab at all the bands featured here (the text touches on the highs and lows too). The only slightly jarring thing is that my copy has 20 pages of colour plates – all those gorgeous LP covers we covet so much, but the last 4 pages for Procol Harum, Country Joe & The Fish and Traffic unceremoniously go to black and white print instead of colour – a printing error perhaps – but a jarring one nonetheless.

 

I enjoyed this read and even dragged out my Universal Remastered CD of Traffic's December 1967 debut album "Mr. Fantasy" again because of it and gave Coloured Rain by Steve Winwood & Co. a whirl. Traffic sang "...Until you came along, there was nothing but an empty space..." Now that's a recommendation for "1967 - A Year In PSYCHEDELIC ROCK..." if ever there was one...

"On The Threshold Of A Dream" by THE MOODY BLUES – April 1969 UK Fourth Studio LP on Deram Records in Stereo (May 1969 in the USA) with Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Ray Thomas, Graeme Edge and Mike Pinder (July 2008 UK Universal UMC/Deram Expanded Edition CD Reissue With New 2006 Remaster and Nine Additional Previously Unreleased Tracks) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 339 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

 

WHOLE LOTTA LOVE - 1969
Rock, Pop and Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95 (Jan 2022 Update)

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

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"...Comes The Day..."

The fourth album in their Voyage gave The Moody Blues their first UK No. 1 and broke them Top 20 in the American Billboard Rock charts – a huge LP win for Decca's experimental label Deram Records back in the spring of 1969.

 

Hardly surprising then that "On The Threshold Of A Dream" was singled out for a prestigious SACD Reissue in 2006 overseen by leading band member Justin Hayward. This 2008 follow-up is therefore the Standard Stereo CD Remaster so to speak and part of a whole series of reasonably priced single CD reissues – all pumped up with tasty bonus material, most of which is unreleased. Are you sitting comfortably - then here comes the day...

 

UK released 15 July 2008 - "On The Threshold Of A Dream" by THE MOODY BLUES on Universal UMC/Deram 530 662-5 (Barcode 600753066256) is a 1CD Expanded Edition Reissue and Stereo Remaster of their 1969 UK fourth studio album with Nine Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows (68:19 minutes):

 

1. In The Beginning [Side 1]

2. Lovely To See You

3. Dear Diary

4. Send Me No Wine

5. To Share Our Love

6. So Deep Within You

7. Never Comes The Day [Side 2]

8. Lazy Day

9. Are You Sitting Comfortably?

10. The Dream

11. Have You Heard (Part 1)

12. The Voyage

13. Have You Heard (Part 2)

Tracks 1 to 13 are their fourth studio album "On The Threshold Of A Dream" - released late April 1969 in the UK on Deram DML 1035 (Mono) and Deram SML 1035 (Stereo) and late May 1969 in the USA on Deram DES 18025 in Stereo only. Produced by TONY CLARKE – it peaked at No. 1 in the UK and No. 20 on the US Billboard Charts. The STEREO MIX is used for this CD Reissue only.

 

BONUS TRACKS (Alternate Versions, Out-Takes & BBC Radio Sessions):

14. In The Beginning (Full Version, 3:26 minutes, LP Version is 2:07 minutes)

15. So Deep Within You (Extended Version, 3:32 minutes, LP Cut 3:07)

16. Dear Diary (Alternate Vocal Mix, 4:01 minutes)

17. Have You Heard (Original Take, 3:51 minutes)

18. The Voyage (Original Take 4:37 minutes)

19. Lovely To See You (2:26 minutes)

20. Send Me No Wine (2:39 minutes)

Tracks 19 and 20 recorded 18 Feb 1969 for the BBC Radio 1 John Peel "Top Gear" Show

21. So Deep Within You (3:06 minutes)

22. Are You Sitting Comfortably

Tracks 21 and 22 recorded 2 April 1969 for the BBC Radio 1 "The Tony Brandon Show" and is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

THE MOODY BLUES was:

JUSTIN HAYWARD – Vocals, Guitars, Cello and Mellotron

JOHN LODGE – Vocals, Bass Guitar, Cello and Double Bass

MIKE PINDER – Vocals, Mellotron, Hammond Organ, Piano and Cello

RAY THOMAS – Vocals, Harmonica, Flute, Tambourine, Oboe, Piccolo and Synth

GRAEME EDGE – Vocals, Drums, Percussion, Synth

 

The big draw for fans here is going to be the ALBERTO PARODI and JUSTIN HAYWARD Remasters from original Deram tapes done in 2006 for the SACD Reissue – here reissued as a sort of 2008 Standard Stereo CD Remaster Edition (2006 is the copyright date on the CD, whilst 2008 is the release date on the rear inlay). The Audio is really excellent throughout. Another highly experienced and much-praised Remaster Engineer PASCHAL BYRNE (of The Audio Archiving Company) has done the Bonus Material - again sweet.

 

Anybody who bought the British pressed LP back in the 1969-day will remember with real affection its look – that glossy laminated gatefold sleeve and the 12-page lyric/illustrations book inside. While this CD can't of course reproduce the Red for Mono and Blue for Stereo indicator hole on the rear sleeve of the gatefold on the booklet (leave that to the Japanese SHM-CD reissues with their faithful artwork) – fans will be glad to see that the 24-page booklet reproduces the 12-page LP libretto in its entirety and the bulk of the inner gatefold artwork too. The band actually fought with Deram who were concerned that the elaborate LP booklet (with a liner note by musical impresario Lionel Bart entitled "And They All Lived Happily Ever After") would add two-pence cost to the LP and put some purchasers off – thank God The Moodies prevailed because surely that chunky presentation made the album feel like an event rather than just another release. Throw in some period photos and comprehensive liner notes from Esoteric's MARK POWELL – and you get the gist – this is a quality reissue through and though (five serious men and their Producer). To the music...

 

The album opens with the short Graeme Edge penned "In The Beginning" – all building keyboard Space 1999 soundscapes followed by a spoken passage – Edge going all computer nutty in his 'I Think Therefore I Am' vocal passage (face piles of trials with smiles man). That very particular brand of Moodies Pop/Rock follows on the Hayward-penned "Lovely To See You" – the electric guitars panning expertly across the speaks – the upbeat tune underpinned by acoustic rhythm and a wall of voices (don't know why Deram didn't chose this as the LP's go-to 45 release). Ray Thomas kicks in with the first of three writing credits on the album - "Dear Diary" – his warbling vocals run through devices while that flute, double bass, acoustic and piano float out through your speakers (been just like a dream) – a sweetly remastered tune.

 

Immediately into the John Lodge penned rapid-paced acoustic strummer "Send Me No Wine" – four of the boys providing a mulch of voices behind that ever-present Mellotron (Hayward, Lodge, Thomas and Pinder). Lodge gets his second and last songwriting shot on the album with the guitar-rocking "To Share My Love", but again I have always felt it sounded like 1966 instead of 1969 in its naïve poppermost vibe.

 

In "Never Comes The Day", Justin worries that if she only knew what was on his inside, she wouldn't want him at all. Beginning so quietly, I've loved this track for years – the almost McGuinness Flint English Folk-Rock jaunt to it – a tremendous cut with that Harmonica backing feeling like it has more muscle and those slowed-down acoustic pieces further in - really clear. Hardly surprising then that Deram thought it had Radio potential and placed "Never Comes The Day" with the lesser B-side "So Deep Within You" on a 45-single in April 1969 (Deram DM 247 in the UK and Deram 45-85044 in the USA). But its chop-change structure seemed to do for the release and it barely registered in the UK, making only No. 91 in the US Billboard Singles charts. The LP followed only three weeks after the 2 April 1969 UK 7" single with a B-side that was on the album, so with nothing new, that too probably downed its chances of a success. Shame really, because I think the A-side is one of those lost masterpieces of the late 60ts. Speaking of the flipside (and the Side 1 finisher), with its castle by a stream lyrics and its penchant for overdone Mellotron melodrama, "So Deep Within You" always felt like a skip to me (others love it though).

 

Harmonica, Cello and Acoustic Guitar all beautifully clear on the Sunday afternoon pastoral feel to "Lazy Day" – the second Ray Thomas tune on the album and one that may be too fay for the hardened ear pallets of 50+ years. Flute and soft Acoustic picking fill the Camelot/Merlin spell casting "Are You Sitting Comfortably?" – again the Remaster gorgeous on this pretty fan fave (a co-write between Justin Hayward and Ray Thomas). Graeme Edge gets his second and last poem-song contribution to the "On The Threshold Of A Dream" album with his "The Dream". While it might have been No. 1 material back in let's-give-everything-a-go 1969, its spoken-poetry backed by wailing Mellotron notes is pretty much my number one avoid in 2022.

 

The album proper ends on an eight-minute-or-so three-parter from Mike Pinder - "Have You Heard" broken into Part 1 and 2 - with those centred by an instrumental "The Voyage". This melodic trio is surely why the album is still held up as a passion by fans – their earlier more twee moments on Side 1 countered by this almost Procol Harum Prog Rock Medley – especially in the playing dexterity that permeates the instrumental passage (that Keith Emerson-type piano solo is brilliant). It returns to the you-and-I-belong-in-the-same-world idea for the Part 2 and ends the album on a happy high (how very 60ts) and the floating synth bit that opening Side 1.

 

I hadn't expected much from the Bonuses but how brilliant would have been to have had the Extended Version of "In The Beginning" open the LP – that one-minute and 19-seconds extra somehow making it so much more substantial. You can hear why the Alternate Vocal of "So Deep Within You" wasn't used – while the playing is up to muster – the voice is off. Can't say I hear much difference in the Alternate Vocal to "Dear Diary" but I like it. But for Prog-tastic chaps like me, the prize here is the Original Take of the instrumental "The Voyage" which is slightly extended to 4:37 minutes and feels proper epic. There's more than a rough-in-yer-face to the John Peel and Tony Brandon BBC sessions – good, but not something I'm going to be playing a whole lot of.

 

I'd be the first to admit that parts of the "On The Threshold Of A Dream" album (dare we say it) and its Symphonic Rock haven't aged as well as many would like to think (modern-day ears may wonder how this made it to No. 1 at all). 

 

But if you're a Moody Blues fan, and you need this densely produced artifact of 1969 in your life, then look no further than this superbly presented threshold...

"Alchemy" by THIRD EAR BAND – July 1969 UK Debut LP on Harvest Records (April 2019 UK Esoteric Recordings '2CD Expanded Edition' Reissue with 10 Previously Unreleased Tracks and New Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review Along With 339 Others Is Available In My

SOUNDS GOOD E-Book on all Amazon sites

 

WHOLE LOTTA LOVE - 1969
Rock, Pop and Genres Thereabouts
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters  

Just Click Below To Purchase for £6.95 (Jan 2022 Update)

Thousands of E-Pages - All Details and In-Depth Reviews From Discs 

(No Cut and Paste Crap) 

 

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"...Lark Rise..."

 

You would have to say that in early 2022 music like that of the THIRD EAR BAND simply wouldn't get made let alone released by a major label. 

Even trying to describe their sound is like trying to nail down genre quicksand - Art Rock with a definite whiff of the Avant Garde, Baba O’Riley Indian Raga drones, speaker-to-speaker ye olde English Folk mingled with adventurous 60ts Progressive Rock sensibilities, Captain Beefheart let loose with an Oboe, people always taking trips. Hell, there's even a Country lean on some of these mood-ethereal outpourings. And one of the band members is even credited as playing wind chimes (say no more). So God Bless Harvest Records and their truly eclectic band roster - here you go sales rep hipsters, sell this to the British public, good luck boys.

 

Which brings us today to other heroes, England's 'Esoteric Recordings' (part of Cherry Red) who have been winning the minds and wizened malfunctioning hearts of collectors like me these last few years, forcing us on far too many occasions to make more digital purchases of dodgy ruminations from our vast arsenal of bitcoin wealth.

 

Esoteric have taken on the beast that is this hard-to-define-and-hold music and done it proud (see list below). To the dragon lines, square circle druids and Egyptians sipping tea with their dead books...  

 

UK released 5 April 2019 - "Alchemy" by THIRD EAR BAND on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 22668 (Barcode 5013929476844) is a '2CD Expanded Edition' Reissue and Remaster of their 1969 UK debut album with 10 Bonus Tracks and plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (62:07 minutes):

1. Mosaic [Side 1]

2. Ghetto Raga

3. Druid One

4. Stone Circle

5. Egyptian Book Of The Dead

6. Area Three

7. Dragon Lines

8. Lark Rise

Tracks 1 to 8 are their debut album "Alchemy" - released July 1969 in the UK on Harvest Records SHVL 756 and in the USA on Harvest SKAO-376. Produced by PETER JENNER – all songs written by Glen Sweeney, Richard Coff and Paul Minns except "Lark Rise" by Dave Tomlin.

 

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Hyde Park Raga

10. Druid One

Tracks 9 and 10 are a 'BBC Radio One "Top Gear" Session recorded for John Peel's Radio Program and is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

CD2 (60:19 minutes):

1. Cosmic Trip

2. Jason's Trip

3. Devil's Weed

Tracks 1 to 3 made in 1968

 

4. Raga No. 1 (Mono)

5. Unity

Tracks 4 and 5 recorded 24 January 1969 at Abbey Road Studios and are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

6. The Sea

7. Druid

8. Hyde Park Raga

Tracks 6 to 8 recorded 12 September 1969 at Abbey Road Studios and are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

THIRD EAR BAND was:

GLEN SWEENEY – Tabla, Hand Drums, Wind Chimes

PAUL MINNS – Oboe, Recorder

RICHARD COFF – Violin, Viola

MEL DAVIS – Cello, Slide Pipes

Plus

JOHN PEEL – Jews Harp on "Area Three"

DAVE TOMLIN – Viola on "Lark Rise"

 

The 3-way foldout card digipak is pretty to look at (the artwork beneath the two see-through CD trays matching that of the LP) and reproduces the original LP’s gatefold artwork too. Working with remaining members of the band, Esoteric have even managed to uncover two sheets of unseen black and white photos taken for the cover shoot and promotional purposes. They are small and hard to discern, but there are also suitably physic posters on Page 5 of the superbly detailed 16-page booklet – the liner notes enlivened by LUCA CHINO FERRARI – the band's official archivist. Someone even had a photo of TEB on stage at The Isle Of Wight in 1969. As I say, proper attention paid...

 

The big draw for fans here is going to be the BEN WISEMAN Remasters from original Harvest tapes – the Audio is stupendous. Anyone who had this album on vinyl back in the day will know that during those quiet Oboe passages, that format was less than ideal. Here the clarity is startling and some might say – beautiful. I have to say though, that I find the music hard work after a fashion and any newcomers might recoil at the reality. With their endless ye olde Oboe noodlings like say on "Druid One", they come across like an earlier version of Gryphon and it can all be a bit too much. But then during the warbling of "Ghetto Raga", when the Tabla kicks in especially, the music goes to another trippy place that I know lovers of this band can't get enough of. Beautiful and difficult Prog Folk. Nice.

 

What is indisputable however, is that the Audio and Quality Presentation of this 2CD Expanded Edition of "Alchemy" have done this obscure band and their eclectic debut a solid. And Esoteric Recordings are to be praised to the Raga nines for that...

 

THIRD EAR BAND CD Reissues/Remasters on Esoteric Recordings

 

1. "Alchemy" [July 1969 Debut UK LP on Harvest SHVL 756] - April 2019 UK 2CD Expanded Edition with 10 Bonus Tracks on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 22668 (Barcode 5013929476844)

 

2. "Third Ear Band" [July 1970 Second UK LP on Harvest SHVL 773] – December 2018 UK 3CD Compilation called "Elements 1970-1971" on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 32653 (Barcode 5013929475342).

Tracks 1 to 4 on CD1 are the "Third Ear Band" album Remastered.

The "Elements 1970-1971" 3CD compilation also contains the "Abelard & Heloise" Soundtrack recorded July 1970 for German television (unreleased until 1997) and other Previously Unreleased period material

 

3. "Music From Macbeth" [March 1972 UK Third LP on Harvest SHSP 4019] – February 2019 UK 1CD Expanded Edition with 3 Bonus Tracks on Esoteric Recordings PECLEC 2656 (Barcode 5013929475649)