UK 1960s

LONGA ’NUFF
THE NICE’S second chapter reissued and expanded.
By MARCO ROSSI.
THE NICE
Five Bridges
Elegy
Autumn ’67-Spring ’68
Fillmore East 1969
All EMI/Charisma CDs
I’ve loved those pioneering showboaters of Hammond organ-stoked rock/classical fusion, The Nice, since I was 12 years old. My big brother brought home Five Bridges after regular exposure to ‘Intermezzo: Karelia Suite’, the theme music in those days for This Week, ITN’s drearily beige current affairs programme. Five Bridges and its “studio and live leftovers” follow-up Elegy, from ’70 and ‘71, now reappear in remastered and expanded form, alongside the Autumn ’67-Spring ‘68 compilation and the freshly minted 2-CD Fillmore East 1969.
The early psych material was viewed with lofty disdain in the ‘70s by the greatcoated grandees of prog, for whom nothing passed muster unless it was at least half an hour long and written in the 17th century. Revisionism has pretty much flipped that notion on its head: nowadays, it’s the harpsichords, finger cymbals and paisley cravats of Autumn ’67-Spring ‘68 which excite the tastemakers, and understandably so.
Whether it’s the spit-shined soprano chorale of ‘The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack’, the sylvan poise of ‘The Cry Of Eugene’ or the petal-strewing surge of ‘Flower King Of Flies’, the original four-piece Nice were as psychedelic as HR Pufnstuf viewed through tangerine jelly; but it was that ecstatically crunchy version of Leonard Bernstein’s ‘America’ which indicated where they were headed.
Fillmore East 1969 is a fascinating live snapshot of the three-piece band, displaying both the pleasures and pitfalls of their untrammelled indulgence. They kick off the set with their riveting showpiece, ‘Rondo’: hog-wild, distorted and relentless, with the fearful momentum of a plummeting safe. This is followed, testingly, by the “short version” of ‘Ars Longa Vitae Brevis’ i.e. only 42 years in duration. A well-titled piece: no ars ever seemed longer. Those sustained passages of creaks, boings, scratches, detuned bass string thuds and reverb spring splashes are like listening to someone with a chronic shaving rash, wearing foot spas instead of shoes, rummaging in the cupboard beneath the stairs to dislodge a wedged bed frame.
To hear The Nice at the height of their powers is, however, to forgive them everything. They were rough, scary, a bit dangerous and monumentally exciting in a way that ELP could never approximate. Besides which, there were no honking synths to dilute the impact of that roaring Hammond.
Which CD to buy? Psych fanatics urgently need Autumn ’67 in their lives, while Five Bridges, with the Sinfonia of London in tow, offers the most rewarding all-round experience of the band’s subsequent proto-prog phase.

A WHALE OF A TIME
PROCOL HARUM’s third and fourth expanded.
By ALAN ROBINSON.
PROCOL HARUM
A Salty Dog
Home
Both Salvo/Fly CDs
www.salvo-music.co.uk
The Salvo reissues of the Procol Harum catalogue are rapidly setting the benchmark for how reissues should be done. The Procols’ recordings have been digitised several times over the last 20 years or so, but have never been given the kind of all-encompassing treatment they deserve… until now.
A Salty Dog was the third Procol album, originally released in June 1969. The original 10 tracks are supplemented here by a further six bonus tracks, five of them live recordings from an April ’69 US tour, selected by main man Gary Brooker.
A Salty Dog opens with the majestic title track, a stately and elegant, oddly moving and elegiac piece, with a string arrangement conducted by Brooker, and is perhaps the most concise distillation of how to fuse elements of classical orchestration with a rock lyric. ‘A Whiter Shade’ aside, it’s the band’s defining moment, and has never sounded better than on this release. Contemporaries such as Jimmy Page acknowledge it as Procol’s finest recording, and he’s not wrong; when released as a single, however, it ran aground at #44 – rough justice for such an indisputably fine track, but in truth, it would’ve been a tough commercial call at any time.
For all the allusions to “classical-rock” fusion that are frequently attached to the band, listening to A Salty Dog and its gritty successor, Home, serves to confound this notion by illustrating what a punchy and effective rock combo they were at heart. They could also turn their hands adeptly to delicate acoustic balladry, such as A Salty Dog’s ‘Too Much Between Us’, a co-write between Brooker, lyricist Keith Reid and guitarist Robin Trower, with a lyrical reference to the sea that is a motif that threads through several tracks on the album.
Home, originally released in ’70, was the band’s last album before they moved on to the Chrysalis label – they’d already signed a new deal with Terry Ellis and Chris Wright, Chrysalis management, and the upbeat atmosphere informed a record that crackles with the kind of vigour and punch that permeated much British rock as the ’60s morphed into the ’70s. ‘Whiskey Train’ kicks off proceedings in rambunctious style, whilst ‘Whaling Stories’ is another Procol seafaring magnum opus.
Two great albums then, which should be hastily added to any self-respecting fan of the era’s collection.

JOHN BROMLEY
Songs
Rev-Ola
www.revola.co.uk
Primarily revered due to Les Fleur De Lys backing him on a number of tracks on his 1969 album, Sing, John Bromley has by default become associated with psychedelic pop – ‘So Many Things’ has certainly become a Rubble favourite.
Yet the rather wonderful Sing LP, which wrongly passed by without any fuss, is actually closer in spirit to the often sad, regularly bombastic ballads of The Bee Gees and novel pop tunes of Tony Hazzard and Gilbert O’Sullivan. The influence of Paul McCartney also looms large throughout and from start to finish the mix of the sanguine and melancholic, the twee and the rockin’ is the foundation of a decent LP that should have originally been noticed.
Rev-Ola’s edition bookends the album with 16 demos and B-sides, making Sing into Songs.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills

BULLDOG BREED
Made In England
Grapefruit CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
Too pop for prog, too prog for psych, the sole album by Bulldog Breed (comprised of former members of groups like Gun and The Flies) does not fit into a single comfortable niche, which is perhaps why this generally impressive album remains more obscure than works from lesser groups of the same era. Issued in ’70, the late ’60s, Kinks-like whimsy of ‘Eileen’s Haberdashery Store’ and ‘Dougal’ gave Bulldog Breed the aura of yesterday’s news, despite the presence of more progressive, riff-driven rockers like ‘Reborn’ and ‘When The Sun Stands Still’.
Today, it all sounds rather fine, touching on a wide range of styles that made up the UK rock scene of the period. Augmented by both sides of their ’69 psych-rock 45, ‘Portcullis Gate’ and ‘Halo In My Hair’, this is the definitive Bulldog Breed artifact, remastered from the original Decca master tapes and packaged with rare photos and comprehensive liner notes by David Wells.
Stefan Granados

FAT MATTRESS 
Fat Mattress
Fat Mattress II
Both Esoteric CDs
www.cherryred.co.uk
Reissued here with eight bonus tracks compromising non-album single A & B sides, mono single versions and out-takes from the sessions for both Fat Mattress albums, Fat Mattress’s 1969 debut features Noel Redding in his original pre-Hendrix role of guitarist and includes appearances from Mitch Mitchell and Traffic’s Chris Wood. Overall the album feels like a loose patchwork of West Coast melodic rock, folk and mild psychedelia with the odd Traffic-esque touch thrown in for good measure. 
Recorded after Redding had left the band, the Chas Chandler-produced Fat Mattress II largely treads the same path as its predecessor although, interestingly, the bonus tracks include material recorded for what would have been the band’s third album after Noel Redding had rejoined in the wake of Jimi Hendrix’s death in late ’70.
Grahame Bent

JARDINE
Look In The Window
Lion CD
www.lionproductions.org
Here’s another one of those albums that was unreleased at the time of its making. Jardine grew from the ashes of Brum bands Love & Understanding and Paint and recorded Look In The Window in 1969, intended for release on Polydor. Principal songwriter and singer Keith Law would later go on to Velvett Fogg and here, although more in the folk mode, his distinctive style can be heard. Nothing’s exceptional, but the 12 songs, which mix floral, folky, almost sunshine pop harmonies with late period UK psych have enough about them to merit attention.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills

JACKIE LEE
The Town I Live In: The EMI Years 1965-1967
Poker CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
Jackie Lee, fondly remembered for singing the themes to ‘White Horses’ and ‘Rupert’, had a long career in showbiz and this CD, along with Poker’s earlier Jackie reissue End Of A Rainbow, showcases the versatility of a great voice. She’s far more than a children’s singer as these recordings prove.
Here we concentrate on Jackie’s Brit-girl era; ‘The Town I Live In’ and its original flip ‘You Too Can Have Heartaches’ particularly are simply dazzling examples of how sophisticated and soulful British pop got in the mid-60s. Also featured are Jackie’s recordings as Emma Rede, many unreleased, including the adopted Northern soul classic ‘I Gotta Be With You’.
Jackie, slightly older than most of the teenage female singers involved in the pop industry during this era, brought a schooled vocal technique to some brilliant songwriting. This CD shows that winning combination again and again.
Jeanette Leech

THE LIVERPOOL SCENE
The Amazing Adventures Of
Esoteric CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
This impressive double CD compilation of long out of print recordings by the spectacularly inventive Liverpool Scene is essentially a trip back in time to the UK’s thriving counter culture of the late ’60s. Centred on the larger than life talents of painter and poet extraordinaire Adrian Henri, during their short lifespan The Liverpool Scene blazed a uniquely left field trail as a freewheeling collage of spoken word poetry, jazz, psychedelia and satirical art rock which perfectly expressed the bohemian spirit of the age.
As far as sources go the collection draws on the six albums the band released on RCA between ’68 and ’72 and also includes four previously unreleased tracks from various TV appearances. With such a wealth of material on display the highlights are many – among them ‘Batpoem’, ‘The Woo Woo’, ‘The Entry Of Christ Into Liverpool’, ‘I’ve Got Those Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall Can’t Fail Blues’ and the extraordinary ‘Made In USA’.
Grahame Bent

THE SORROWS
Old Songs New Songs
Wooden Hill 2-CD
www.tenthplanet-woodenhill.co.uk
This is the final word on The Sorrows, dating from their later Italian period. Disc one is the real keeper here, coupling the rare Cream/Hendrix inspired ’69 LP Old Songs New Songs in great sound with the addition of nine rare and unreleased tracks from the same period. The spy film theme ‘Ypotron’ is a freakbeat jewel and ‘Which Way’ and ‘My Way Of Thinking’ from a ’68 acetate are sublime psych gems, up there with the greatest of the genre.
Disc two is not essential but adds interest as wider documentation. There’s a nine track demo album, featuring some great band originals and alternate takes as well as rather less thrilling extemporisations of Bee Gees, Animals, Beatles and Traffic songs. A 1980 live reunion reflects the band’s mid-60s stage repertoire but other than spirited renditions of ‘Let Me In’ and ‘Take A Heart’, this is mainly a rock ’n’ roll revival show.
The booklet and David Wells’ liners are immaculate and make clear sense of the convoluted story of this undervalued band.
Paul Martin

SPOOKY TOOTH
Lost In My Dream: An Anthology
1968-1974
SPOOKY TOOTH & PIERRE HENRY
Ceremony (An Electronic Mass)
Both Esoteric CDs
www.cherryred.co.uk
This double CD retrospective offers an overview of the evolution of Spooky Tooth’s distinctive soulful prog/psych sound across the seven albums they recorded for Island between ’68 and ’74.
Disc one concentrates its focus on the Jimmy Miller produced debut It’s All About and follow up Spooky Two from the following year. Besides boasting a generous selection of tracks from both albums disc one rare single mixes and three previously unreleased titles from ’68/’69 including the original mix of the collection’s title track.
Planned as an experimental one-off collaboration with French avant-garde composer Pierre Henry, Spooky Tooth’s third album saw Gary Wright compose six themed tracks, which Henry then embellished with a variety of electronic sound effects. Unhappy with the results Wright left the band in protest at Island’s decision to release the recordings as Spooky Tooth’s third album. For all the fall out, Ceremony survives as a fascinating curio.
Grahame Bent

TINKERBELL’S FAIRYDUST
Tinkerbell’s Fairydust
Grapefruit CD
www.cherryred.co.uk
Unfortunately the group’s name and fetching album cover art promise more than is ultimately delivered here, on this first ever legit release of TB’s unissued album (a handful of test pressings, which spawned some dodgy bootleg CDs, escaped from the Decca office in ’69).ت
Compiling the album, three ’67-69 Decca singles, two singles cut in ’66-67 as The Rush and several unreleased recordings, this well-annotated collection confirms our suspicions that Tinkerbell’s Fairydust had more in common with The Symbols and The Montanas than the psychedelia they’ve become associated with. From the spooky choral weirdness of ‘Twenty Ten’ to the magic sunshine pop of Spanky & Our Gang’s ‘Lazy Day’ and Vanilla Fudge’s “heavy” rendition of ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’, producer Vic Smith laying on some studio fairydust of his own to keep things interesting.
Stefan Granados
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Creative Outlaws: UK Underground 1965-1971
Trikont
www.trikont.de
Munich based label Trikont’s Creative Outlaws does a sterling job in presenting a highly evocative impression of the diversity and richness of Blighty’s once flourishing rock counter-culture. Lavishly packaged and with CD booklets in both English and German which include a foreword by Mick Farren, an interview with Edgar Broughton and an article on the ’60s Liverpool poetry scene, Creative Oulaws vividly documents the energy of the UK underground of the day in all its wild bohemian diversity.
With the 21 track miscellany dedicated to the memory of John Peel the track list includes The Nice, Small Faces, The Edgar Broughton Band, Arthur Brown, Traffic, The Deviants, Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity, the Bonzos et al but arguably it’s the less obvious curios from The Liverpool Scene, Harvey Matusow’s Jews Harp Band, Aynsely Dunbar’s Retaliation and, most beguiling of all, Lol Coxhill’s radical take on ‘I Am The Walrus’ that best capture the spirit of those halyon daze.
Grahame Bent 

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Rainy Day Mind: Ember Pop 1969-1974
Ember CD
www.futurenoisemusic.com
Having worked through a few recent comps of Jeffrey Kruger’s pioneering indie ’60s pop and beat sides we arrive at the ’70s, when even the square singers started to make records that demand hearing. Whilst Led Zep were squeezing their lemons and Keith Emerson was doing ridiculous things with his organ, pop groups and staid singers took on new production values and had realised that if The Beatles had gone weird maybe it was time to ditch the dinner suit.
As Rainy Day Mind is confined solely to the output of the Ember label, it’s slightly uneven, but if the Mr Toytown Presents or Fading Yellow comps appeal this is worthy of inspection.
Dave Payne & The Medium Wave’s ‘A Walk In The Sunshine’ is indeed on Toytown (and what an amazing Moody Blues inspired piece of pop it is), and it’s nice to hear The Good Vibations’ excitable take on The Who’s ‘Call Me Lightning’ again, but what about the slow burning funky fuzzed-out soul version 0f ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ by Milt Mathews Inc or the delicious groovy housewife pop-soul of the little known US lady Polly Niles?
A beardy French singer called Black Swan gets distinctly wiggy as do Blue Beard and their Cupid’s Inspiration-like ‘Baby I Need You’ (taken from their withdrawn LP). There’s even some Suzi Quatro styled glam from Mother Trucker and unknown late sides from PJ Proby.
Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills