Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Astral Navigations - Astral Navigations (1971)


Και πάλι από την Βρετανία η σημερινή επιλογή που αφορά τους Astral Navigations (προφανώς και δεν έχουν καμία απολύτως σχέση με ένα γκρουπ από το Νορθάμπτον του καιρού μας) και το μοναδικό Lp τους. Το «μοναδικό» cd τους στην περίπτωσή μας, από την «συλλεκτική» επανέκδοση της Background HBG 122/1 CD που αναφέρει και το κείμενο από το The Tapesrtry of Delights, περιέχει στο ένθετο τους στίχους.

Όπως θα παρατηρείται στην σύνθεση του γκρουπ μιλάμε για δύο διαφορετικές ομάδες ατόμων που μετά από 400 ώρες δουλειάς παρουσίασαν (μία πλευρά η κάθε ομάδα) την ενδιαφέρουσα δουλειά τους. Η πρώτη πλευρά ηχογραφήθηκε το 70 και η 2η το 71. Μέσα στα μέλη εμφανίζεται ο Brian Wilson από τους Beach Boys ο οποίος παίζει μπάσο μόνο στο κομμάτι Yesterday.

Πρόκειται σαφώς για ένα πολύ αξιόλογο δίσκο που συνδυάζει την ψυχεδέλια με την folk (στην «πρώτη» πλευρά). Ξεχωρίζει το Today (North Country Cinderella), το Windows of Limited Time-The Astral Navigato και το Path of Stone από την «ήρεμη» φύση τους.

Personnel: (Lightyears Away)
BRIAN CALVERT vcls, piano A
TED HEPWORTH drms A
BILL NELSON gtr A
BRIAN WILSON bs A
and other guests A

Personnel: (Thundermother)
DAVID JOHN vcls A
FRED KELLY drms A
DAVE MILLEN gtr A
FRANK NEWBOULD bs A

ALBUM:

1(A) ASTRAL NAVIGATIONS (Holyground HG 114) 1971 R4

NB: (1) reissued on Magic Mixture (MM 2) and on Holyground in 1989 (R1) and on CD (Background HBG 122/1 CD) 1992. The CD reissue is limited to 1,000 copies and includes two bonus tracks, Rock Me Babe, and a spacey version of Come On Home.

These two bands share a side each of this album which is a nice mixture of folk and psychedelia with lots of fuzz guitar. A very difficult record to find now, the original came with a poster cover and booklet and the reissue came with a booklet and was lavishly repackaged. The five Lightyears Away tracks are mostly quite folky and melodic with pleasant male vocals and the occasional female voice too. The exception is Yesterday which begins with a recording of a space launch which leads into lots of fuzz guitar work.

Thundermother were a studio creation and their contribution was recorded over a weekend (mostly on acid). They were an amalgam of various Preston artists:- David John (David John and The Mood), Fred Kelly (Rare Bird), Dave Millen (The Puppets) and Frank Newbould (Little Free Rock). To my ears the three Thundermother tracks are better. Today, Tomorrow, Someday and Country Lines are both notable for some discordant instrumental work whilst on the first cut the vocals are rather folky. The magnum opus, though, is the extended and highly experimental finale Boogie Music, which is imaginative with lots of good fuzzy guitar work - one of Holyground's finest moments.
Thundermother have also been the focus of another CD retrospective No Red Rowan (Kissing Spell KSG 003) 1995, which features material recorded between '70-'71. You can also Thundermother's Boogie Music and Rock Me Babe on Loose Routes.

Tracks:

1. Lightyears Away: Fourth Coming
2. Lightyears Away: Path of Stone
3. Lightyears Away: Windows of Limited Time - The Astral Navigator
4. Lightyears Away: Yesterday -
5. Lightyears Away: Today (North Country Cinderella)
6. Lightyears Away: Tomorrow (Buffalo)
7. Thundermother: Someday
8. Thundermother: Country Lines
9. Thundermother: Boogie Music/Rock Me [UFO Mix]
Bonus
10. Rock Me Babe Jam
11. Come On Home (space version)

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