"Revelation/2 Ozs. Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle" by MAN – January and September 1969 Debut and Second Studio Albums on Pye and Dawn R2128ecords in Stereo – Featuring Deke Leonard, Micky Jones, Clive John, Ray Williams and Jeff Jones with John Schroeder Production (July 2025 UK Beat Goes On Records (BGO) Compilation – 2LPs onto 2CDs - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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WHOLE LOTTA LOVE - 1969

Rock, Pop and Genres Thereabouts

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RATINGS:

Overall: ***

Presentation: ****

Audio: *****

"….The Future Hides Its Face…"

On the 25 of May 2009 (and as part of a huge catalogue-long reissue campaign) - Esoteric Recordings of the UK (part of Cherry Red) put out the first two studio albums by Welsh Rock/Psych Band MAN onto much-praised Ben Wiseman Remastered CDs as individual releases (the original vinyl was January and September 1969). The first "Revelation" came with four bonus tracks and the second "2 Ozs. Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle" came with three (Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2127 - Barcode 5013929722729 and Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2128 - Barcode 5013929722828 respectively). But those earlier Remasters have been deleted for years and here in the late 2020s are expensive to locate (if you can find them).

 

I have never liked the debut album (insufferable listen complete with orgasmic oohs and aahs on the risible please-love-me 'Erotica') – but Beat Goes On (BGO of the UK) has deemed it cool (sixteen years down the line) to reissue both again minus the Bonuses in a July 2025 twofer CD package. 

But it must be said (and this may be a big draw for fans) - the Audio supplied here by new Andrew Thompson Remasters is truly exceptional – clear, punchy and in-yer-face. And as usual – you get that classy BGO presentation (outer card slipcase, 12-page booklet with MICHAEL HEATLEY liner notes etc). To the beginnings…

UK released Friday, 4 July 2025 (11 July 2025 in the USA) - "Revelation/2 Ozs. Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle" by MAN on Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1551 (Barcode 5017261215512) is a compilation that offers their first two studio albums (January and September 1969) on Pye and Dawn Records UK in Stereo Remastered onto 2CDs and it plays out as follows:

CD1 (42:38 minutes):
1. And In The Beginning (4:21 minutes) [Side 1]
2. Sudden Life (4:40 minutes)
3. Empty Room (3:43 minutes)
4. Puella! Puella! (Woman! Woman!) (3:34 minutes)
5. Love (2:52 minutes)
6. Erotica (4;07 minutes)
7. Blind Man (4:17 minutes)
8. And Castles Rise In Children's Eyes (3:21 minutes)
9. Don't Just Stand There (Come In Out Of The Rain) (4:13 minutes)
10. The Missing Pieces (1:55 minutes)
11. The Future Hides Its Face (5:27 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Revelation" – released January 1969 in the UK on Pye Records NPL 18275 (Mono) and NSPL 18275 (Stereo) and as "Manpower" in the USA (with the same tracks) on Philips PHS 600-313 in Stereo – the STEREO mix is used. Produced by JOHN SCHROEDER – Tracks 1, 5, 7 and 11 written by Roger (Deke) Leonard, Tracks 4, 8 and 9 written by Micky Jones, Track 2 by Clive John and Roger (Deke) Leonard, Track 3 by Clive John and Ray Williams, Tracks 6 by the whole band, Track 10 by Clive John, Clive Reynolds, Martin Ace and (Roger (Deke) Leonard.

CD2 (37:45 minutes):
1. Prelude/The Storm(12:20 minutes)  [Side 1]
2. It Is As It Must Be (8:27 minutes)
3. Spunk Box (5:48 minutes) [Side 2]
4. My Name Is Jesus Smith (4:03 minutes)
5. Parchment And Candles (1:52 minutes)
6. Brother Arnold's Red And White Striped Tent (5:02 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 6 are their second album "2 Ozs. Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle" – released September 1969 on Dawn Records DNLS 3003 in Stereo (no US issue). Produced by JOHN SCHROEDER – Tracks 1 and 5 by Deke Leonard and Micky Jones, Track 2 by Clive John and Ray Williams, Track 3 by Micky Jones and Clive John and Track 4 by Deke Leonard and Jeff Jones and Track 6 by Deke Leonard and Micky Jones.

MAN was:
ROGER "Deke" LEONARD – Guitars, Harp, Piano, Percussion and Vocals
CLIVE JOHN – Organ, Paino, Guitar, Vocals
MICKY "Mike" JONES – Lead Guitar and Vocals
RAY WILLIAMS – Bass
JEFF JONES – Drums and Percussion

The card-slipcase lends the 2CD compilation a classy look and feel – the 12-page booklet features new liner notes by MICHEAL HEATLEY that wax lyrical about The Bystanders transmogrifying into MAN (a 23-year-old Deke Leonard was amazed) and going all Quicksilver Messenger Service with their first two Acid-Rock based LPs (both issued in 1969). The gatefold artwork is there too from those hard-to-find Pye and Dawn albums. The audio is amazing on both CDs – example: as you allow the crashing cymbals and strummed guitar meanderings of the instrumental opener "Prelude/The Storm" to unfold on the second LP – the Remaster is clear – powerful – steady – fade ins and fade outs - the music of the debut might test your patience – but this sounds the business. Beloved British Rock DJ and Tastemaker Alan FLUFF Freeman featured its plus-twelve-minutes of ethereal floating on his airwaves thus bringing on board that Steve Miller, Grateful Dead crowd. 

Fabulous audio or not, the "Revelation" Debut is awful to me – an album I have never wanted to own let alone listen to. Even great sounding guitar entries like "Don't Just Stand There..." are ruined by a plodding cheesy feel and the final cut "The Future Hides Its Face" is filled with Space Race sounds and UFO tapings - just not great music. But that second platter is an entirely different kettle of mushrooms. It was the direction MAN needed – heavier – tripper – almost like they had stumbled on a Hawkwind rehearsal. The opener two-parter "Prelude/The Storm" as mentioned earlier is a fabulous slice of hair-shaking-mama that stays just the right side of hallucinogenic. Its whig-out is followed by the equally period-cool second track - "It Is As It Must Be" that sees Micky Jones riff away to a relentless hard-driving groove like a Neanderthal who has been given a Gibson for his birthday. Ugga Glugga then boogies out when it reaches five-minutes in (of course he does, much I suspect to the delight of stoners everywhere) – only for the drone rhythm to return and take the bad politician lyrics to an 8:27 minute end. 

"Spunk Box" is harder to take but I dare say die-hard Man fans would disagree (they love it) – a marching chugger that builds with guitar riffage until its near six-minutes fade. Rock and Roll filler, dilly-dally-ditty, silly track with nice slide guitars – it is hard to describe "My Name Is Jesus Smith" as anything other than OK but out-of-place. The 1:50 minute instrumental "Parchment And Candles" does not fare much better – a prelude to the yeah-man LP finisher "Brother Arnolds Red And White Striped Tent" – an intense organ vs. guitar work-out that frantics its way out of your speakers like you need to listen or else. And yet, I like its mad 1969 expansive riffage-be-damned attitude as it fades out past five minutes.

For damn sure – this kind of Acid Rock mixed in with Head Trips and Grunge Guitars will be seen as an indulgence many can do without in 2025 and 2026. 

But for those who worship at the herbal root of such droner Sixties sound, this MAN Beat Goes On (BGO) twofer CD compilation will be worth checking out - all others however, I strongly advise a listen first…

"Seasons: The Recordings 1971-1972" by MICK ABRAHAMS [ex Jethro Tull and Blodwyn Pig] – May 1971 UK Debut LP "Mick Abrahams" and May 1972 UK Second LP "ATLAST" (as Mick Abrahams Band) on Chrysalis Records in the UK and A&M Records in the USA (Second LP had no US release) – Featuring Bob Sargeant on Keyboards, Walt Monaghan on Bass, Ritchie Dharma on Drums with Jack Lancaster of Blodwyn Pig On Saxophones on the Second LP only (March 2026 UK Esoteric Recordings Compilation – 2LPs onto 2CDs – Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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RATINGS: 

Overall: ***

Presentation: ****

Audio: **** to *****

"….Winds Of Change…"

There are some artists who engender enormous affection even if their output doesn't realistically deliver (John Lennon jumps to mind). 

The original Guitarist with Jethro Tull for the fab "This Was" debut album in 1968 on Island Records - I also loved the Mick Abrahams based Blodwyn Pig LPs from 1969 on Island ("Ahead Rings Out") and the 1970 follow-up on Chrysalis ("Getting To This"). Having jumped the Tull ship, Abrahams formed the witty and punky Blodwyn Pig (what a great name for a band), his new group of hirsute delinquents coming at you with a mixture of Rock and Prog and Bluesy elements all washed down with the occasional Flute and Saxophone (business as usual, I suppose).

So, buying the Mick Abrahams/Mick Abrahams Band solo LPs when they quickly turned up in 1971 and 1972 was a bit of a no-brainer for a lad like me (I'm 68 now and watching 55th, 56th, 57th etc Anniversaries of Seventies LPs accumulate like fluff on a tiled floor – if I see one more Super Deluxe Box Set at over £150, I will puke). But, and I say this with such a heavy heart (weighed down with guilt and Paraguay's National Debt and secret-agent stuff I dare not divulge) – I struggled with "Mick Abrahams" and "ATLAST" and still do (I know the second LP is referred to as At Last, but look at the cover and the original label and you will see it is deliberately spelt ATLAST in capitals as its title – maybe it was a pun on the word Atlas – not sure).

I wanted to like these albums and admittedly have returned to the first (especially Side 1) manys a time. But the May 1971 self-titled debut has that extended noodle on Side 2 called "Seasons" which goes on for fifteen minutes – Guitarist Abrahams and Keyboardist Bob Sargeant doing battle only to go back to the cliched vocal intro at the end. Sure, there are cool bits in it – the echoed guitars – up and down the frets with dexterity - but it tries my patience now. The songs were plodding compared to Zeppelin or Tull for that matter in the same time periods. Even as a dude who could suffer and enjoy side-long epics by Yes, ELP and Gentle Giant – the Mick Abrahams debut felt like half-an-album. 

The second LP (which saw his old Blodwyn Pig mucker Jack Lancaster return to the fold with Saxophones, Flutes and Clarinets) followed almost exactly one year later in May 1972 (the first was 7 May 1971) was all gimmicky circular fold-out sleeve ala Ogden's Nutgone Flake and with three Sargeant tunes and one co-write with Abrahams. It was clear that the songs had already run out for our Blodwyn Pig hero (A&M Stateside didn't bother to release LP No.2 there probably based on the poor sales for the debut which appears to have more white-label copies in circulation that actual stock copies). The final insult for all us fans was the song-tutor budget-label LP in 1973 called "Have Fun Learning The Guitar with Mick Abrahams" (on SRT Records SRT 73312) that just made you stare in disbelief – and ask why – who needs this? You got a page addressed to students, strumming and tuning instructions, tips on plectrums and inbetween noodles - cover versions of oldies like Blue Moon and Blowin In The Wind? Abrahams would return in the 90s and make great Bluesy Rock/Prog Elements CD albums again (much like Leslie West of Mountain) and see a second coming where his style and personality were mucho re-appreciated (even did updated versions of Blodwyn Pig material). 

Having had my whinge, up steps England's Esoteric Recordings and they say hooey – we are going to reissue both in one foldout digipak sexpot package and damn the moaning Paddies. There are no extras which is a shame and they could have included the split "Up And Down" track that appeared on all those European variants as a 9-track LP and not the British 8. But after years of 1990s CDs that kind-of sounded OK – it is a thrill to hear what Ben Wiseman has done to the master tapes in 2026. Clarity, power, presence – very tasty. 

Lot to discuss then, time for yesterday's to become our today once again - here are the Winds Of Change for the Whole Wide World (and that's just my toiletries trolly)…

UK released Friday, 26 March 2026 - "Seasons: The Recordings 1971-1972" by MICK ABRAHAMS on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC22935 (Barcode 5013929473560) is a compilation that offers 2LPs from 1971 and 1972 on Chrysalis Records (UK) and A&M Records (USA) in Stereo Remastered onto 2CDs and it plays out as follows:

CD1 Mick Abrahams (45:07 minutes):
1. Greyhound Bus (4:52 minutes) [Side 1]
2. Awake (8:50 minutes)
3. Winds Of Change (4:51 minutes)
4. Why Do You Do Me This Way (3:32 minutes)
5. Big Queen (4:29 minutes) [Side 2]
6. Not To Rearrange (3:27 minutes)
7. Seasons (15:02 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 7 are his debut solo album "Mick Abrahams" – released 7 May 1971 in the UK on Chrysalis ILPS 9147 and May 1971 on A&M Records SP 4312 in the USA – both in a gatefold sleeve. Produced by CHRIS THOMAS – Musicians included Mick Abrahams on Guitar, Slide Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar, Madolin and Lead Vocals [Original Guitarist with Jethro Tull and ex Blodwyn Pig] with Bob Sargeant on Organ, Piano, Second Guitar, Strings and Backing Vocals, Walt Monaghan on Bass and Backing Vocals with Ritchie Dharma on Drums, Congas and Backing Vocals. All songs written by Abrahams except "Not To Rearrange" which was co-written with Bob Sargeant

CD2 ATLAST (36:57 minutes):
1.When I Get Back (5:08 minutes) [Side 1]
2. Absent Friends (4:49 minutes)
3. Time Now To Decide (2:30 minutes)
4. Whole Wide World (3:53 minutes)
5. Maybe Because (8:06 minutes) [Side 2]
6. The Good Old Days (4:20 minutes)
7. Up And Down (4:25 minutes)
8. You'll Never Get It From Me (3:42 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 8 are his second album "ATLAST" credited as Mick Abrahams Band – released May 1972 on Chrysalis Records CHR 1005 in a Circular Fold-out Sleeve like Ogden's Nutgone Flake by Small Faces (no US issue). Tracks 3, 4, 5 and 7 written by Mick Abrhams, Track 1 co-written with Bob Sargeant and Tracks 2, 6 and 8 written by Bob Sargeant. Sargeant sings lead on Tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8 – Abrahams on the others. 

Despite simply saying Mick Abrahams on the front sleeve, the debut was The Mick Abrahams Band (there is a notice on the wall of the front that announces An Evening With The Mick Abrahams Band) and indeed some early copies of the LP credit that on the label. The other three band members – Keyboardist Bob Sargeant, Bassist Mick Monaghan and Drummer Ritchie Dharma – were pictured on the inner gatefold and so those photos turn up on Page 7 of the 16-page booklet that features new liner notes from a sympathetic ear STEVE PILKINGTON (dated December 2025 - he did the Tracks book for Led Zeppelin published by SonicBond). That pixelated small-squares rear artwork is pictured on Page 9 – the artwork to the elaborate sleeve of the second LP on Pages 10, 13, 14 and 15. Pilkington gives a potted history of his career (highs and long downs) up the Nineties and Naughties comebacks where a CD generation were only-too-eager to hear more of the same just in better audio. The booklet is good without being great – does the job so to speak – the fold-out card digipak using that squares rear-sleeve of "Mick Abrahams" to fill in flaps. But there is naught beneath the see-through trays – no memorabilia - nor the full-page NME and Sounds adverts Chrysalis used to advertise the album in May 1971 – the now rare 2008 autobiography – as I say – good but not great. 

But what is kicking is the BEN WISEMAN Remasters – fulsome and powerful and clear – loving the brass opening to "Absent Friends" on the second 1972 LP (not the strongest of songs mind) or that echoed guitar passage three-and-a-half-minutes into the "Seasons" 15-minute monster on the 1971 debut. To the music…

The "Mick Abrahams" debut opens with a strong funky groove that feels like Blodwyn Pig Part 2 - "Greyhound Bus" – a cracking starter for ten that could have been an off-the-cuff 45-single in several Euro territories prepared to give that kind of Rock shuffle a chance. Followed by 8:50 minutes of the more Prog-leaning "Awake" – an exercise is showing off guitar chops that still stands up. I remember liking this after a lot of plays. Prettier and more affecting is the largely acoustic "Winds Of Change" – a very cool feel to it – but Side 1 is let down by a sort of cod Rock and Roll ditty called "Why Do You Do Me This Way" that feels like an old-time boogie conjured up as filler. Way better is the Side 2 opener "Big Queen" – another Blodwyn Pig-type groove that had it ended Side 1, would have made a perfect Side to the album for me. That is unfortunately dampened by the Country-ish Pedal Steel wimp that is "Not To Rearrange" – a co-write with Bob Sargeant that feels completely out of place. Side 2 ends with a beast – 15-minutes of "Seasons". After a nondescript Rock intro of 3:28 minutes (which is returned to in the final minutes) – things quiet to an echoed electric guitar on its own and some serious fretboard racing, bending of notes etc (impressive stuff too) – but about 6:33 the band kicks in again – Sargeant getting his chance to Deep Purple that organ solo. And on it goes, being interesting Rock until it starts to overstay its welcome. 

The second LP "ATLAST" from May 1972 has an oddity in the fade-in song "Up And Down". British and German issues kept the tune as one song at 4:25 minutes and as Track 3 on Side 2 of an 8-track LP. However, European albums split the song into two parts (Dutch, Danish and French issues) and spread them across two sides of the LP thereby creating a 9-track album (Part 1 at 2:00 minutes and Part 2 at 2:25 minutes). The first Part was placed at the end of Side 1 - while Part 2 opened Side 2. The September 1991 Edsel CD reissue used that European 9-Track configuration – Esoteric have returned it to its single-song status and only on Side 2 as Track 7. 

"ATLAST" has a fatal flaw for me, not only does it not have tunes, Bob Sargeant sings on many of them instead of Abrahams. Abrahams had a great turn to his voice, Sargeant did not. Sargeant lyrics were bad rhymes too. The opening cliched cod-rocker about women being the problem "When I Get Back" has a nice guitar break for sure but is not a song I want on my Marantz ever again. Despite a cool brass intro, the opener is followed by worse, "Absent Friends". The doomy leave you on the ground "Absent Friends" is so bad. Abrahams finally weighs in with "Time Now To Decide" – a jaunty all-lend-a-hand acoustic upbeat foot-tapper where flanged vocals unfortunately do little to rescue its dated oom-pah feel and 2:30 minute playing time. That signature Pig sound finally shows with "Whole Wide World" – the Remaster making those in the back of a shop vocals come to the fore a little more – the Jack Lancaster Saxophone and Sargeant keyboard solos punching good and hard. Things finally start to feel good with "Maybe Because" – a cool Funky Rock groove with treated Abrahams Lead Vocals and a clever slowed section in the centre that brings out MA and his guitar-playing. Slow, Bluesy and Barroom lonely is "The Good Old Days" – a things-that-I'm-going through moaner with added strings – but neither it nor the ambling "Up And Down" that follows it amount to much. Old Blodwyn Pig mucker Jack Lancaster joins the band for the final song "You'll Never Get It From Me" with his distinctive Saxophone jabs – but it's a half-assed Sargeant rocker that feels like poor Roxy Music and not helped by Bob Sargeant's straining vocals (never do find out who the lady backing singers are) – good Abrahams guitar work though. A patchy end to say the least to a band with potential – the second LP is a real plodder – and that gimmicky packaging a way of selling a turd. 

Released in November 2008, "What Is A Wommett: The Autobiography of Mick Abrahams" by Apex Publishing (ISBN 1906358486 hardback with a foreword by Whispering Bob Harris) tells us that a wommet is British military slang for a useless cadet or possibly an overly fruity one (keep those buttons closed lad). Before settling for the simpler Mick Abrahams Band, Abrahams even considered Wommet as a group name. As you can glean from all this, Abrahams had a self-deprecating wit and a prickly honesty that put him at loggerheads with other band-alphas. But he is remembered with affection for a reason. 

Like Robin Trower when he was chord-blasting with Procol Harum before going solo in 1973 or Kim Simmonds at the guitar helm of Blues Rockers Savoy Brown or Mick Ronson giving it the necessary riffage with The Spiders for David Bowie or Laurie Wisefield with late Seventies Wishbone Ash making fret dexterity look easy (and this is with a band that has Andy Powell and Martin Turner in it) – Mick Abrahams occupied that hallowed ground of great British Guitar Players that many (if not all but the uninitiated) just didn’t know were there. Maybe you knew the faces, the outfits, the neck skills, but not the name. In 2025 and 2026, there are now TV programmes enlightening us on Backing Singers – Arrangers – Axemen - and too damn right. Abrahams passed in December 2025 as Pilkington was penning the liner notes (aged 82). 

For sure here in the spring of 2026 – this kind of Seventies Rock by MICK ABRAHAMS and his band pals will be seen by newer generations as second-tier. But for those of us wommetts who were there, who poured over that first gatefold with its stippled pixelated effect rear photo and that second let's take on Thick As A Brick four-way fold-out card sleeve of the second – we worshipped at the tennis racket feet of such music - pings and things on your Garrard Stereogram and muddied Dustbuster. 

An overall three-stars or no - once again congrats to Mark Powell and Esoteric Recordings (part of Cherry Red) for having done a passed-over hero an audio restoration solid with "Seasons: The Recordings 1971-1972" (they are to be praised for that). But for all others, I advise a listen first...

"Michael Gibbs/Tanglewood 63" by MICHAEL GIBBS - April 1970 and August 1971 UK Debut and Second LP on Deram Records in Stereo - Guests include Chris Spedding, John Surman, Brian Ogders, Ray Warleigh, Alan Skidmore, Philip Lee, Kenny Wheeler, Barbara Thompson, Mick Pyne, Henry Lowther, Gordon Beck, Jack Bruce of Cream and many more (October 2025 UK Beat Goes On Compilation - 2LPs onto 2CDs - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"….Some Echoes, Some Shadows…"

With four of the seven tracks on his April 1970 self-titled debut album dedicated to his Giants of Jazz – John Dankworth, Stan Getz, Bob Moses and Gary Burton – Rhodesian Trombonist, Composer, Arranger and Producer MICHAEL GIBBS was nailing his Avant Garde colours to the Prog-Fusion mast right out of the gate. Throw in a little New Orleans Big Band, Spacey Jazz-Funk, Acid-Rock flourishes and long noodling instrumental passages – and we are off to the Deram Records races.

Both his April 1970 "Michael Gibbs" starter and the August 1971 follow-up "Tanglewood 63" contained a huge list of contemporary contributions – any musician who was anyone in the Fusion fields of the day seemed to be on those albums (see Musician credits below). Gibbs would also go on to be a part of Brit Prog Rockers Uriah Heep (Orchestral Arrangements) as they started out on their Very Heavy Very Humble Vertigo and Bronze Records journey in 1970, 1971 and 1972. 

So up steps England's BGO (Beat Goes On Records) to give us panting punters a spivvy twofer that gathers both of those pricey originals into one presentational goody bag. While the music is absolutely an acquired taste and will make your daughter cringe at Daddy and his way-out Jazz choices – those grey-haired fooltards like me be thinking – yesterday's echoes and shadows – oh yummy. So, once more my pelicans of perinatal pleasure to the reissue breach - here are the Maidens of the Liturgies, Canticles and Throbs (and that's just their piccolo trumpets)…

UK released Friday, 3 October 2025 - "Michael Gibbs/Tanglewood 63" by MICHAEL GIBBS on Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1559 (Barcode 5017261215598) is a compilation that offers 2LPs from 1970 and 1971 on Deram Records in Stereo Remastered onto 2CDs and it plays out as follows:

CD1 (52:43 minutes):
1. Family Joy, Oh Boy! (8:53 minutes) [Side 1]
2. Some Echoes, Some Shadows (for John Dankworth) (9:01 minutes)
3. Liturgy/Feelings And Things (8:28 minutes)
4. Sweet Rain (for Stan Getz) (6:16 minutes) [Side 2]
5. Nowhere (for Bob Moses) (7:59 minutes)
6. Throb (3:55 minutes)
7. And On The Third Day (for Gary Burton) (8:04 minutes)
Tracks 1 to 7 are his debut album "Michael Gibbs" – released April 1970 in the UK on Deram DML 1063 in Mono and Deram SML 1063 in Stereo (Deram DS 18048 in Stereo only in the USA) – the STEREO Mix is used. 
Produced by PETER EDEN with all compositions by MICHAEL GIBBS – Guests Included Chris Spedding on Guitars and Bass, Ray Russell of Rock Workshop and Philip Lee of Gilgamesh on Guitars, Jack Bruce of Cream and Brian Odgers of Sweet Thursday on Basses, Mick Pine of Tubby Hayes Quartet and Bob Cornford of Alan Skidmore Quartet on Keyboards, Saxophonist and Flautist Barbara Thompson of Colosseum, John Surman of Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Ray Warleigh of Soft Machine and Alan Skidmore on Saxophones with Kenny Wheeler, Henry Lowther of Keith Tippett's Ark and Ian Hamer of Ginger Baker & Friends on Trumpets and Flugelhorns, Bobby Lamb of Woody Herman's Band on Trombone, Brass by Derek Watkins, John Wilbraham of the BBC Orchestra on Trumpet, Tony Oxley on Drums with Frank Ricotti on Percussion (and many more).

CD2 (44:05 minutes):
1.Tanglewood 63 [Side 1]
2. Fanfare
3. Sojourn
4. Canticle [Side 2]
5. Five For England
Tracks 1 to 5 are his second album "Tanglewood 63" – released August 1971 on Deram Records SML 1087 in Stereo (no US issue). Produced by PETER EDEN with all compositions written by MICHAEL GIBBS – the musician line-up mimics the debut (Chris Spedding, Alan Skidmore, Henry Lowther, John Surman etc) as well as input from Pianist Gordon Beck of Nucleus and Keyboardist John Taylor of John Surman Quartet and Azimuth, Stan Sulzman on Soprano Saxophone, Frank Alexander and Allen Ford on Cello, Geff Wakefield on Violin, Frank Ricotti on Percussion, Tony Robbins on Tenor Saxophone - along with others.

The card-slipcase lends the 2CD compilation a classy look and feel – the 16-page booklet featuring new liner notes from Mojo Jazz Contributor CHARLES WARING (dated 2025). You get the rear artwork on the inner pages and a huge array of info on the Sailsbury born Rhodesian musician (now Harare in Zimbabwe). As an arranger and musical director, Michael Clement Gibbs has worked with artists as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Uriah Heep, Whitney Houston and not surprisingly (given his rather impish tendencies) British Comedians turned songsters – The Goodies. Waring is a Jazz buff and his deep knowledge/enthusiasm comes screaming off the story – Waring talks of the wild genre fluctuations that peep in and out of Free Jazz like this - Jazz Fusion, Jazz Rock, Big Band, Prog, Avant Garde, Percussion battles and so on. He waxes lyrical too about Trumpeters like Harry Beckett, Pianist John Taylor and the huge ensembles for long spacey workouts like "Canticle" on "Tanglewood 63" or the chanteuse-wooing grooves in "Liturgy" on the debut which features a solo from guitarist Philip Lee later to be with Charisma Records band Gilgamesh. The ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters are clean and clear and reflect the truly excellent production values laid down back in the 1970 Morgan Studios day. This music gets complicated and crowded in a lot of places and yet the Remaster handles the clarity magnificently – this is big, bold, brassy and free – and yet the transfers feel alive and not cluttered or dead. To the many fusion soundscapes…

Cited as a celebration in the liner notes by Gibbs, "Family Joy, Oh Boy!" features five separate solos alongside Brass arrangements led by Derek Watkins. Chris Spedding – on loan from Harvest Records and Pete Brown and his Battered Ornaments – plays Guitar, Kenny Wheeler gives it some Trumpet, Alan Skidmore goes at his Tenor Saxophone, John Wilbraham lays down a Piccolo Trumpet passage and finally Dick Hart has a bash at a Tuba solo (of all things). Although it opens as a Blood, Sweat & Tears brass blaster – Spedding is soon going Jazz improv guns. Clocking in at 8:50 minutes, "Family Joy, Oh Boy!" is a beast of pace and tone changes. Way cooler and almost Lounge Lizard is "Liturgy" – the slinky groove suits fuzzed up guitars abutting cop-show brass jabs – you could almost image this in a San Francisco late 60s early 70s private eye shuffle – a sort of White Shaft (oh dear). Solo heroes are Chris Pyne on Trombone and heavy, heavy riffage from guitarist Philip Lee and huge in-the-pocket drum clashing from Tony Oxley. Even though it changes mood and tempo gear at about six-minutes, it slinks back into have-a-Martini territory soon enough and does so to its 9:01 minute closing. After the first two cuts of Free Form, the almost straight-up barroom smooze of "Feelings And Things" feels kind of like naff beret-Jazz – guests including Mick Pyne on Piano while Brian Odgers and Tony Oxley supply the rhythm section (Bass and Drums respectively). 

Side 2 opens with a tribute to Stan Getz, "Sweet Rain" gives us up and down the scales (like raindrops) and mellow soloing from John Surman (Soprano Sax), Ray Warleigh on Alto Sax with Alan Skidmore on Trombone. "Nowhere" again gives us that B,S&T brass-blasting opening only to settle into a tinkling shimmer of cymbals and reed instruments for the Bob Moses tribute. In this almost eight-minute canter, you can hear Tubular Bells and Kevin Ayers and Terry Riley and even Santana three years after 1970 – all of it getting spacey before the big boys of brass come in to sort out the meandering. The shortest cut on the album is probably its most commercial – a pretty, melancholic cellos and guitar murmur calling itself "Throb" of all things. Fred Alexander and Alan Ford are on Cellos with gently strummed acoustics before Chris Spedding arrives just after two minutes with Electric Jazz Guitar licks. Continuing that strummed acoustic guitar bint, the 1979 debut LP ends with "And On The Third Day" for Gary Burton and features solos by Chris Pyne (Trombone), John Surman (Baritone Sax) with the trio of Alan Skidmore, Ray Warleigh and Mike Osbourne all joining in for the final melee. The sexy groove deviates as it meanders for its eight-minutes, pianos and brass puncturing the sashay (lovely John Surman solo at 4:02 minutes) - but always with cool musicianship that will entrance Jazz buffs and top quality production values brought to the fore by a quality Remaster.

Recorded in November and December 1970 (again in Morgan Studios in London) but not released until August 1971, Gibbs take his Trombone to Tanglewood U.S.A. for album number two (his last for Deram). Named after a music centre/musician learning facility in Lenox, Massachusetts where Gibbs had spent happy daze in 1963, you get more of the same spacey jams. Tipping its hat to a catchier (dare we say it) more commercially acceptable sound – the title track is piano-plinking Jazz mixed with Brass and Funky Rhythms. And again, gorgeous sound and clear instruments (dig that Bass run at 6:40 minutes before its goes into Chris Pyne, Henry Lowther and Tony Roberts on Trombones and Tenor Sax). Stan Sulzman blasts his Soprano Sax on the short but far too bombastic "Fanfare". Things become far more pleasant with the lazy drawn-out vibes of "Sojourn" – a shimmering piece that features Frank Alexander on Cello, John Surman on Soprano Saxophone with Alan Skidmore on Tenor Sax. The opening other-dimension majesty and ethereal musicality of "Canticle" is impressive and the audio - gorgeous. A lingering drone floats as Horns and Winds float in, out and over it – Tony Roberts guesting on Alto Flute, Alan Skidmore on Alto Flute and Soprano Sax, John Surman on Soprano Sax while Gordon Beck tinkers the Electric Piano. The problem is that at 13:04 minutes – it overstays its welcome (I still think it’s the coolest thing on the album). Finally, a guitar gets a chance to let rip on the LP closer "Five For England" – a free-wheeling vehicle for Chris Spedding and a huge array of Brass – not unlike Rumplestiltskin by Rumplestiltskin on Bell Records – another Funky-As-F instrumental you must check out. "Five For England" ends "Tanglewood 63" on an up-note – but more importantly – Spedding and his flicking wah-wah guitar make it cool. And you can so hear why this album appeals to Funksters more than the debut. 

For damn sure in 2025 and 2026 – this kind of Free Form Jazz Fusion mixed in with Funk and Space and Acid Head Trips will be seen as indulgence many can do without. But for those who worship at the tapping feet of such music, this Michael Gibbs BGO twofer will be bliss in a carbon-dated 2CD bottle. Beat Goes On pops out a cool one…

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"The Good Book/Gather Me/Garden In The City/Please Love Me" by MELANIE – February 1971 UK LP, October 1971 UK LP, November 1971 UK LP and Spring 1971 German LP – Eventually Released November 1973 in the UK as her last album on Buddah Records (3 March 2026 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) Compilation – 4LPs Digitally Remastered onto 2CDs – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://amzn.to/4sYuNxR

Overall: ***

Audio: *** to *****

Presentation: *****

"….Rub Gently To Release The Magic…"

There are a handful of artists who can claim to have had five albums worth of material released in one year – the wildly prolific Tennessee lass Melanie Safka is one of them (four of them show up here).

1971 was huge for the Hippie Chanteuse who charmed the world with her warbly voice and beautiful smile (as a budding teen in 1971, I recall, the rest of her wasn't bad either). By the time she got to October 1971 and the release of her huge single "Brand New Key" – she had made No. 4 in the UK on the all-important singles charts and a staggering No.1 in America. The "Gather Me" LP it came off did well too – No. 15 in the States and one better at No. 14 in Blighty. Suddenly the ethereal Melanie was everywhere, and hip too.

And that's where this stacked March 2026 twofer CD compilation containing a whopping four albums worth comes a scratch and sniff-in. There is a lot to unpack, so let's have at it…

UK released Friday, 3 March 2026 - "The Good Book/Gather Me/Garden In The City/Please Love Me" by MELANIE on Beat Goes On BGOCD1571 (Barcode 5017261215710) is a 43-Track Compilation that offers Four Seventies Albums Remastered across 2CDs and plays out as follows:

CD1 (66:27 minutes): 18 Tracks
1. Good Book [Side 1]
2. Babe Rainbow
3. Sign In The Window
4. The Saddest Thing
5. Nickel Song
6. Isn't it A Pity
7. My Father [Side 2]
8. Chords Of Fame
9. You Can Go Fishin'
10. Birthday Of The Rain
11. The Prize
12. Babe Rainbow (Reprise)
Tracks 1 to 12 are her fifth album "The Good Book" – released January 1971 in the USA on Buddah BDS 95000 and May 1971 in the UK on Buddah Records 2322 001. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK – it peaked at No. 80 in the US Billboard LP charts and No. 9 on the UK LP charts. All songs by Melanie except Tracks 3, 7 and 8 by Bob Dylan, Judy Collins and Phil Ochs. Musicians include Hugh McCracken, Sol De Troia and Vinnie Bell on Guitars with Ron Frangipone on Keyboards and Eric Weissberg on Fiddle.

13. Little Bit Of Me [Side 1]
14. Some Day I'll Be A Farmer
15. Steppin'
16. Brand New Key
17. Ring Around The Moon
18. Ring The Living Bell: Shine The Living Light (Chant)/Ring The Living Bell/Shine The Living Light (Chant Reprise)
Tracks 13 to 18 are Side 1 of her sixth album "Gather Me" – released October 1971 in the UK on Buddah 2322 002 and October 1971 in the USA on Neighborhood NRS-47001. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK – it peaked at No. 15 in the US Billboard LP charts and No. 14 on the UK LP charts. All songs by Melanie except two on Side 2 called "What Wondrous Love" and "Tell Me Why" which are a Traditional and a Forties Ballad by Micheal Edwards (often called "Tell Me Why (The Stars Do Shine)")

CD2 (75:25 minutes): 25 Tracks
1. Railroad [Side 2]
2. Kansas
3. Some Say (I Got Devil)
4. Center Of The Circle
5. What Wondrous Love
6. Baby Day
7. Tell Me Why
Tracks 1 to 7 are Side 2 of her sixth album "Gather Me" – released October 1971 in the UK on Buddah 2322 002 and October 1971 in the USA on Neighborhood NRS-47001. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK – it peaked at No. 15 in the US Billboard LP charts and No. 14 on the UK LP charts. All songs by Melanie except two on Side 2 called "What Wondrous Love" and "Tell Me Why" which are a Traditional and a Forties Ballad by Micheal Edwards (often referred to as "Tell Me Why (The Stars Do Shine)")

8. Garden In The City [Side 1]
9. Love In My Mind
10. We Don't Know Where We're Going
11. Lay Lady Lay
12. Jig Saw Puzzle
13. Don't You Wait By The Water
14. Stop! I Don't Wanna Hear It Anymore
15. Somebody Loves Me
16. People In The Front Row
Tracks 8 to 16 are her seventh album "Garden In The City" – a Compilation of Earlier Outtakes and Soundtrack Rarities released November 1971 in the UK on Buddah 2318 054 and November 1971 in the USA on Buddah BDS 5095. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK (except Tracks 10 and 14) – it peaked at No.19 in the UK LP. charts but didn't chart in the USA. 

In September 1970 in the USA on Bell Records BELL 1203, the Soundtrack LP "R.P.M. (Revolutions Per Minute)" by Writers and Producers Barry DeVorzon and Perry Bodkin, Jr. contained two Melanie songs which are Tracks 10 and 14 above. These tunes were also repeated on the Spring of 1971 Euro-Only LP called "Please Love Me" (Germany on Buddah 2318 047) and on the eventual release in November 1973 in the UK of the "Please Love Me" LP which follows next. Because they are duplicates, BGO has not placed them twice on CD2. Guest Musicians include Toots Thielman on Harmonica, Sal De Troia on Guitars with Roger Kellaway on Keyboards. 

17. Please Love Me [Side 1]
18. In The Hour
19. Getting Out
20. Momma, Momma
21. Save The Night
22. Please Love Me (Instrumental) [Side 2]
23. Ears To The Ground
24. Pebbles In The Sand
25. God's Only Daughter
Tracks 17 to 25 are the UK LP variant of the 1971 European LP of the same name "Please Love Me" – released November 1973 in the UK on Buddah 2318 047
The Outer Card Slipcase protects the 2CD jewel case inside while a jam-packed 24-page booklet gives a huge career overview by longtime contributor to BGO booklets – JOHN O'REGAN. O'Regan moves from her iconic Woodstock appearance in 1969 (where America embraced her) through the early Seventies milestone songs like "What Have They Done to My Song Ma" and "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" and of course to these albums. With quiet Acoustic passages, sweeping strings and her wailing warbling voice – new 2026 Remasters from ANDREW THOMPSON do a fab job (even with those Sixties throwbacks on the iffy compilation "Garden In The City").

Fans will notice that the missing link here is her fifth 1971 outing and a popular title in the UK – the Soundtrack LP "All The Right Noises" issued July 1971 on Buddah 2318 034 (August 1971 in the USA). About a hip family down by the Seaside trying to make ends meet and starring the gorgeous Olivia Hussey, the Soundtrack had 17 songs, 16 Melanie originals and one Traditional cover version. Perhaps BGO will get to that next time. 

Speaking of missing bits, the "Please Love Me" LP has a convoluted history worth explaining too - initially a European-Only album first released spring of 1971 in Germany, Austria and Spain (Buddah 2318 047 in Germany) – it did not chart (some copies were simply called Love Me). The 1971 Euro LP "Please Love Me" contained two Melanie songs "We Don't Know Where We're Going" and "Stop! I Don’t Wanna Hear It Anymore" that first appeared on a US Soundtrack LP in September 1970 called "R.P.M. (Revolutions Per Minute)" by Perry Botkin, Jr. and Peter DeVorzon. Melanie is also credited as a composer on Bell Records BELL 1203 (the film featured Anthony Quinn, Ann-Margaret and Gary Lockwood). Never one to miss out on more Melanie product, Buddah finally issued the LP November 1973 in the UK on Buddah 2318 090. Blighty copies of "Please Love Me" however used different artwork to the 12-Track 1971 German issue, dropped one tune and re-jiggered the song sequence for the remaining 11. The missing song is "All The Right Noises (Instrumental)" which is not on this double unfortunately (so you could sequence both variants of the LP) - it is available on the "All The Right Noises" soundtrack LP from July 1971. This 2CD BGO set also does not repeat the songs "We Don't Know Where We're Going" and "Stop! I Don't Wanna Hear It Anymore" for the "Please Love Me" set because they already appear in the Garden In The City album (Tracks 10 and 14 on CD2). 

To the music and what we have… 

"…Give the poet a poem and the singer a song, they’ll tell us they love us so we don’t feel alone..." she sings on the lovely piano and chorus singa-long opener "The Good Book". Hiss accompanies "Babe Rainbow" – but it soon settles into a quietly savage attack on the physical demands of the media to look good every second of the day (afraid to walk down the street). Thinking of today’s celebrities and their scrutiny cells, Melanie must have known 55-years ago what it meant physically and mentally to be lumbered with looks that stop men in their tracks (keep your glow on). The first of three cover versions is Bob Dylan – clearly enamoured with his "New Morning" LP from the year before (1970) – Melanie does a lovely organ-lead take on "Sign In The Window" – the lyrics about searching for peace in a rural setting appealing. The rabble-rouser "Nickel Song" (the January 1972 US 45 on Buddah BUD 628 that followed the huge hit Brand New Key from late 1971) might have been fun back in the day but in 2026 it’s a more than difficult to take. More misery in the second cover - "My Father" - a Judy Collins tune from 1969 on Elektra Records that longs to live in France – anywhere but Smallville. The third and last cover is by Phil Ochs - "Chords Of Fame" regaling the tale of a Troubadour trying to be a star only find that whiskey and music is all he has left once the lights have faded. Country Acoustic rhythms slither in with "You Can Go Fishin'" – the home domestics and gambling soon bolstered up with a rolling piano from Ron Frangipone with Eric Weissberg on Fiddle (nicely Remastered). The quiet introspective nature of "The Good Book" continues with "The Prize" – another attack on her being the trophy while some man grins on the sidelines counting the dollars.

After the downer-feel to "The Good Book" (produced by her husband and Neighborhood Records founder Peter Schekeryk) – her truly big-album arrived in October 1971 on both sides of the pond. "Gather Me" was preceded with the monster crowd-pleasing fun that was/is "Brand New Key" – a Buddah and Neighborhood Records 45 that smashed to No.1 in the USA and No.4 in the UK. The LP had the feel of a major voice finding her groove – tunes and lyrics scoring – songs like the witty "Some Day I'll Be A Farmer" where Melanie is building and climbing a mountain that is not there. "Steppin'" is a cool tune and the audio on "Brand New Key" is fantastic (pairs of roller-skates) while Side 1 ends in the ambitious/excellent triple-part "Ring The Living Bell" – big lyrics about big spiritual subjects complete with spiralling Gospel-type vocal choruses, church organ and gushing strings. Side 2 opens with the heavily orchestrated "Railroad" – screaming about the road getting in the way and friends who did stupid self-harm things to rocking bands. One of her lovelier songs – the la-la of "Center Of The Circle" pleads for lovers and friends to understand until she gets it together somewhere down the road (nice audio too as those Brass and Strings do battle half-way through). Two covers are massively re-worked into Melanie songs towards the end of the "Gather Me" album – the Gospel oh-my-soul Traditional "What Wondrous Love" (beautiful string arrangements) while a Forties crooner ballad "Tell Me Why" ends things in high acoustic+voice romance (I will tell why I love you). Impressive stuff and you can feel why the LP is such a fan fave.

"Garden In The City" opens with a retro-60s glockenspiel sound and fans soon work out this is a step back and not forward – the LP being peddled as a New Melanie album is in fact a collection of earlier outtakes and rare Soundtrack songs. "Love Is My Mind" slinks in with only an Acoustic Guitar and a lone violin – the Remaster clearly trying to contain tape noise rather well. The 1970 Bell Records "R.P.M. (Revolutions Per Minute)" Soundtrack song "We Don't Know Where We're Going" is a lovely Acoustic ballad ala Uni Records Neil Diamond with sweeping strings and oboes a fluttering. Time for a Bob Dylan cover in "Lay Lady Lay" – but again its very Sixties production and feel gives the game away as not quite being singer-songwriter kosher in late 1971. Cheap photos creep in for "Don't You Wait By The Water" – an angry screecher that feels like a Demo you want to shelve. The other RPM soundtrack tune is "Stop! I Don't Wanna Hear It Any More" – an army marcher complete with confederates penny-whistle and da-da-da-da vocals – very dated by 1971. The lonesome "Somebody Loves Me" is staggeringly close to the emotional bone – Melanie wondering which guy that passes by is her baby – the one that is meant-to-be. A patchy album romps to another Sixties reject close with "People In The Front Row" and you can see why this LP is on sale for £1.

The release schedule of the fourth LP on offer here has been explained above – to the tunes… Buddah Records milked her output – much you suspect to her artistic detriment. Released in the UK in late 1973, its 1971 material explains why her commercial impact fell off an out-of-time cliff after 1972 (especially in England where she never charted again). What was good in 1971 was old-hat by the next year and the year after as Rock moved fast and Melanie seemed to remain in the same type of song rut. Melancholy is keeping company with Leonard Cohen for the sad "In The Hour" – but far better is a powerhouse "Momma, Momma". I live in this world but I am really dying instead - her passionate moaning delivery is all-in and you either dig in or turn off. "Save The Night" is a sad wife song – longing to slip away – longing to save something other than face. The 1973 UK LP ends with three well-produced life-must-change anthems - "Pebbles In The Sand" being the prettiest hippie amongst the lot.

Fans will love "The Good Book" and its follow-up "Gather Me" – two nuggets from an extraordinary year for Melanie Safka (1971). But the two compilation sets after it are patchy to say the least – and worse - feel wildly out of place. Sure, there are lovely moments on both "Garden In The City" and "Please Love Me" but the truth is they were and are thin on the ground. 

Still, this is another stellar release from Beat Goes On – a wallop of material for fans to dig and in typically cool presentation/spiffing audio. Melanie Safka passed in 2024 – classy to the end – RIP lovely lady…

"Quicksilver Messenger Service/Happy Trails" by QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE – May 1968 US Debut LP and March 1969 US Second LP on Capitol Records (New Studio Material, Some Recorded Live At The Fillmore East & West and San Francisco’s Golden State Recorders in 1968) Plus Two Bonus Non-LP 45-Single Sides – Featuring John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan and Greg Elmore (7 November 2025 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) Compilation – 2LPs Digitally Remastered onto 2CDs with Two 45-Single Non-LP B-Sides as Bonus Tracks on CD2 – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://amzn.to/42vgfKZ

"….Where You Love…"

In the late Sixties as the counterculture raged and changed everything everywhere, the initial line-up of American Rock-Psych-Blues four-piece Quicksilver Messenger Service lasted only two albums when they did get to record and release – their May 1968 US self-titled debut and the LP they are most famous for - "Happy Trails" – their March 1969 follow-up that was half live and half studio and all out there. 

San Franciscans John Cipollina (Lead Guitar), David Freiberg (Lead Vocals, Bass and Viola), Gary Duncan (Lead and Rhythm Guitar and Vocals) and Greg Elmore (Drums) had been about the Bay Area Scene since 1965 with other giants like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. As much admired as those other legendary names, QMS struck what looked like a sweetheart deal with Capitol Records but wouldn't see an actual album until the late spring of 1968. 

Bad luck seemed to dog them (if you could call it that). Before imploding on the departure of Gary Duncan just as the second and most popular platter of theirs was released ("Happy Trails" peaked at No. 27 in the US 1969 Billboard LP charts – a real feat back in the day for a completely unknown band – the debut did not chart) - QMS could have played Woodstock in July of that year and made a serious splash (like Ten Years After did) or toured the country with their surprise hit album (Capitol wouldn't invest in them in disarray) – but alas, it was not to be. British Keyboardist and ace session-man Nicky Hopkins then joined and future releases featured an array of revolving door members and similarish Top 30 US LP placings. But here we concentrate on their auspicious beginnings – Rolling Stone's Greil Marcus even going as far as saying (of the live stuff on LP2) – that when Rock & Roll makes its rebellious stand "…it will be music like this that makes it…"

England's BGO has been a friend to QMS for more than three and half decades now - first issuing "Comin' Thru from May 1972 on BGOCD88 in July 1991, "Happy Trails" in September 1992 on BGOCD 151, "Just For Love" from August 1970 on BGOCD 141 in December 1992, the November 1971 album "Quicksilver" on BGOCD 217 in January 1994 and the self-titled debut in 2009 on BGOCD 861. 

They have also done a September 2025 Remaster for the 2LP "Anthology" set from 1973 as BGOCD1565 (it gathered up tracks from five LPs and other rarities). 

What we have here is Beat Goes On (BGO) pairing up the first two albums from 1968 and 1969 into a 2CD compilation with new 2025 Remasters and two Bonus Tracks thrown in (non-LP 45-single sides on CD2). It tidies things up nicely. Here are the Maidens of the Cancer Moon…

UK released Friday, 7 November 2025 - "Quicksilver Messenger Service/Happy Trails + Bonus Tracks" by QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE on Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1562 (Barcode 5017261215628) is a compilation that offers 2LPs from 1968 and 1969 Remastered onto 2CDs Plus Two Non-LP Bonus Tracks (Both on CD2) that plays out as follows:

CD1 (31:39 minutes):
Pride Of Man [Side 1]
2. Light Your Windows
3. Dino's Song
4. Gold And Silver
5. It's Been Too Long [Side 2]
6. The Fool
Tracks 1 to 6 are their debut album "Quicksilver Messenger Service" – released May 1968 in the USA on Capitol ST 2904 (Stereo Only) and October 1968 in the UK on Capitol T 2904 (Mono) and ST 2904 (Stereo) – only the STEREO Mix is used. Produced by Harvey Brooks, Nick Gravenites and Pete Welding

CD2 (56:09 minutes):
1.Who Do You Love Suite: Who Do You Love - Part 1 [Side 1]
2. When You Love
3. Where You Love
4. How You Love
5. Which Do You Love
6. Who Do You Love – Part 2
7. Mona [Side 2]
8. Maiden Of The Cancer Moon
9. Calvary
10. Happy Trails
Tracks 1 to 10 are their second album "Happy Trails" – released March 1969 in the USA on Capitol ST 120 (Stereo only) and September 1969 in the UK on Capitol Records E-ST 120 (Stereo only). Produced by QMS – it peaked at No. 27 on the US Album charts

BONUS TRACKS
11. Bears – Non-LP B-side of "Stand By Me", November 1968 US 45-Single on Capitol 2320
12. Stand By Me - Non-LP A-side, as per Track 11

The card-slipcase lends the 2CD compilation a classy look and feel – the 12-page booklet featuring new liner notes from SEAN EGAN (dated 2025). You get the rear artwork on the inner pages but it would have been a nice touch to feature the rare Picture Sleeve for the US 45 to "Stand By Me". The ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters rock – clean and clear – even when something as overloaded as the "Stand By Me" stand-alone 45 threatens to overdo it production wise – it still sounds as good as we are going to get. The British Mono Mix LP is not even mentioned – bluntly it could have been a first on CD1 – but. To the albums…

"Quicksilver Messenger Service" opens with a God of Gold damnation song that is so 1967 – lyrics about greed and whispered slaps in the cultural puss - "Pride Of Man" even fading out with a bended guitar note (written by singer and actor Hamilton Camp). Things become more strangely musical ala Doors with the Freiberg/Duncan song "Light Your Windows" – great ideas and chord changes that suggest QMS will be a storming experience in the live arena (and they were). Things boogie up fast with the Dino Valenti penned "Dino's Song" where our hapless suitor hopes she can love him too (even if he is in prison on a drug’s bust – apparently why Valenti never got to fronting the band with Cipollina). In an album that promises Guitar-Psych, it finally arrives with the killer 6:40 minute instrumental and Side 1 finisher "Gold And Silver" – a guitar-battle speaker-rattler written by Gary Duncan and Saxophonist Steve Schuster that showcase both styles of Cipollina and Duncan. The two cuts that make up Side 2 open with the 2:57 pop minutes of "It's Been Too Long" where the band is obviously hustling for a commercial winner that might just do it. And while it’s good, it is quickly whomped by the LP’s centrepiece - "The Fool" – a 12-minute (largely instrumental) swirling guitars and viola fest that is brilliant and sounds just amazing on this latest Remaster. Guitars battle it out in varying soundscapes (plain, flanged, etc) before it settles into a slow moody strum-fest peppered with treated guitar interludes. It takes until seven minutes in until we get lyrics about golden suns and sun-signs getting it on with love is life and life is love man – oh yeah baby. A surefire inclusion on the inevitable 4CD compilation Now That's What I Call Psych – this is why the debut is such a discovery – brilliant and still sounding shockingly contemporary (like cool James Gang). 

Apparently culled down from a 27-minute live jam, the 6-part 25:22-minute Suite that is "Who Do You Love" is a wild re-working of the Bo Diddley Chess R&B classic where that loose backbeat gives way in sections to varying Guitar Passages. It took up the whole of Side 1 and Capitol even truncated a 45 variant for release in July 1969 as the LP was surprisingly adopted by an intrigued (and possibly stoned) buying public in the summer of 1969. Capitol 2557 paired the "Who Do You Love" portion on the A-side with the wild feeding-back guitar sounds of Freiberg’s "Which Do You Love" on the flipside and it made No. 94! In fact, it’s hard to think if such an album of loon improvisation could even be made now – the crowd slowly clapping in as Part 3 starts to get their attention – all hippy-ish and Haight Asbury and mellowed and yet batshit nuts as Cipollina rocks out in Part 4. It does seem a shame that the full cut isn’t available here but what is here sounds fab – whacking bass and steady drums. Got a cobra-snake for a necktie, the boys sing as they bring a quiet, controlled yet loose Part 6 home – who do you love indeed.

Side 2 of "Happy Trails" opens with another Bo Diddley cover version, an equally heavy but sexy groove where for seven-minutes and a few seconds their guitars mimic Elias McDaniels and his red-box Gretsch sound. "Mona" is cool as fuck and my go-to track on the LP - where a chilled but Doors-growling QMS sound like a more swamped up version of Creedence Clearwater Revival. And somehow too the speaker to speaker panning and stark guitars with effects pedals works a treat – soloing between the fruity lyrics - I wonder why Capitol didn’t try their luck with a 45 of it. The Diddley epic slyly segues into more Television-sounding guitars for "Maiden Of The Cancer Moon" – a sonic continuation of the heaviness – an Iron Butterfly three-minutes. Again, we slyly segue into doomy Acoustics and Guitars for an even stranger sonic soundscape – the near 13-minute recorded-live-in-the-studio track called "Calvary". Acid Rock, Psych, Granny On A Trip to the Guitar Shop – tis all here. Then the whole thing ends on the silly and dippy Country cover of "Happy Trails" (well of course it does) – more panning but this time with happy-go-lucky whistling as our heroes walk away into the Californian sunset with a copy of How To Grow Grass At Room Temperature (And Stick It To The Man, Man) under their sunkissed arms.

Perhaps because it has a silly "Happy Trails" country-ditty vibe to it, the B-side "Bears" is offered to us first instead of its A-side - "Stand By Me". The A-side is not the Ben E. King song but a Dino Valenti tune and a pretty one at that. This lost gem ends CD2 with a very cool listen (and in great audio too). Nice…

To sum up - with the best will in the world, you could not call either of these QMS albums flavour of the month in 2025 (or 2026 for that matter) and yet they remain heroic – a sound that expressed freedom even it was wrapped up in indulgence that no record company would allow today. The Acid-Rock of Quicksilver Messenger Service will not be for ABBA fans or Swifties – but man those Sunshine State boys made a cool racket and were fun (and out there too). Recommended…