Mighty Baby - Mighty Baby (1969)

Αυτό το χρώσταγα μετά το εξαίσιο A Jug Of Love που ανέβασα πριν λίγο καιρό.

When the Action broke up in the late 60s, they reformed minus Reggie King as Azoth. The Azoth name was short lived, leading the band to settle on Mighty Baby. The Action had played the club circuit for years, releasing many excellent mod singles before plunging into the world of psychedelia. This band had always worked hard, and now they were finally given the luxury to record a long player.
Mighty Baby’s album was released in 1969 off the small independent Head label. At this point, Mighty Baby could technically and instrumentally hold their own against rock’s finest: The Grateful Dead, King Crimson, Collosuem, Caravan and the Allman Brothers. The album is miles away from the soulful, sweaty mod garage of their mid 60s singles and could best be described as a melding of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young harmonies, Allman Brothers guitar improv and Notorious Byrd Brothers psychedelia.

Few debut openers are as good as the revolutionary Egyptian Tomb. It’s a sleek, powerful piece of psychedelia with strong west coast style guitar interplay. At 5:30 minutes, this great song never falls flat and is definitely one of the defining moments of British acid rock. Same Way From The Sun has a similar stoned vibe with psychedelic echo and sounds like it could have been lifted from a really good latter day Byrds album. The spacious, pounding A Friend You Know But Never See, yet another highlight, rocks really hard with some interesting raga style guitar and has a strange mountain air aura. Other works such as the rural I’m From The Country provided a sound Mighty Baby would further explore on their next album, the equally brilliant Jug of Love from 1971.
Over the course of 1970 several members of the band became Muslims (adherents of the Sufi order), and their second album reflected the spiritual journey they had embarked on, sounding little like its predecessor. It has been said that it was a meeting between Richard Thompson and the band that introduced Richard and Linda Thompson to the Sufi order. It has notable guitar parts from Martin Stone.

Tracks:
1. Egyptian Tomb
2. A Friend You Know But Never See
3. I've Been Down So Long
4. Same Way from the Sun
5. House Without Windows
6. Trials of a City
7. I'm from the Country
8. At a Point Between Fate and Destiny
9. Only Dreaming
10. Dustbin Full of Rubbish
11. Understanding Love
12. Favourite Days
13. A Saying for Today
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Mighty Baby – A Jug Of Love (1971)

Ένας έξοχος δίσκος τον οποίο δεν βλέπω να κυκλοφορεί όσο έπρεπε στα μέρη που γυρίζουμε. Το δεύτερο lp των εξαίσιων Mighty Baby το οποίο είχα την τύχη να ακούσω για πρώτη φορά πριν από 25 περίπου χρόνια από original κόπια. Είχα την τύχη να δανείζομαι τον δίσκο κάπου κάπου από τον κάτοχο του και ευτυχώς που η τεχνολογία μου επέτρεψε να τον ψηφιοποιήσω κάποια στιγμή. Κυκλοφορεί βέβαια πλέον και σε βινύλιο αλλά και σε cd.
Όταν τους άκουσα για πρώτη φορά η πρώτη μου εντύπωση ήταν πως πρόκειται για Αμερικάνικο γκρουπ. Μην μου πείτε δηλαδή ότι στο άκουσμά του σας έρχεται κάτι από Βρετανική κουλτούρα. Όπως λέει και το Αγγλικό κείμενο προήλθαν από τις στάχτες των Action (στο μέλλον θα ανεβάσω και αυτό το lp το οποίο κάποια στιγμή ανατυπώθηκε) που ήταν αρκετά δημοφιλείς στο Λονδίνο.
Αγαπημένο κομμάτι μου από το δίσκο τον οποίο ακούω ανελλιπώς όλα αυτά τα χρόνια είναι το The Happiest Man In The Carnival. Ένα κομμάτι συγκλονιστικό και αέρινο κυρίως από την στιγμή που μετατρέπεται σε ένα jam, στο οποίο αναλαμβάνει να μας ταξιδέψει η Zahara Archuletta με το φλάουτο της. Συνοδεύεται βέβαια από ένα εξαιρετικό beat του ντράμερ Powell και ένα εξίσου πανέμορφο πιάνο του Whiteman. Ένα τέλειο κομμάτι το οποίο κατά την ταπεινή μου εκτίμηση παραμένει ολόφρεσκο.

Στην ίσως επίσημη ιστοσελίδα http://www.actionmightybaby.co.uk/ υπάρχει ένα σύντομο βιογραφικό που παραθέτω στο οποίο γίνεται αναφορά στο ‘Live In the Attic’ το οποίο είδα να υπάρχει στο πανέμορφο blog http://standinatthecrossroads-blackcatbone.blogspot.com/

Mighty Baby evolved out of The Action as a vehicle for the progressive development of their music. Sometimes misunderstood, these developments were often quite radical relying heavily on improvisation. It demanded a great deal from audiences -but if they were up for it, so were Mighty Baby.
The bands own compositions had a strong West Coast flavour to them and were characteristically jazz or country rock influenced.
Just like The Action, Mighty Baby were a truly collaborative outfit who gave their best performances in a live setting when the essential interaction with the audience was present.
After all this time it is pleasing to witness the continuing enthusiasm and interest of the bands followers for material that was produced back in the late 60s and early 70s. December 2000 saw the release of ‘Live In the Attic’ on CD-R format in response to the many requests for new material.
Additional previously unreleased recordings are currently being gathered together, in preparation for release at some future date. As soon as we have enough, we will let you know.
Best wishes
Mightybaby

Personnel:
MIKE EVANS bs A B C
ALAN KING vcls, gtr A B C
ROGER POWELL drms A B C
PETE WATSON gtr A
IAN WHITEMAN woodwind B C
MARTIN STONE gtr C

ALBUMS:
1(C) MIGHTY BABY (Head HDLS 6002) 1969 R2
2(C) A JUG OF LOVE (Blue Horizon 2931 001) 1971 R2
NB: (1) reissued as Egyptian Tomb (Psycho 31) 1984 (SC) and on CD (Big Beat CDWIKD 120) 1994 along with some demos recorded in 1968 when they were still The Action. (2) reissued on CD (Flash 58) 199?, with one additional track - their, A Blanket In My Muesli from Glastonbury '71.

45:
1 Devil's Whisper/Virgin Spring (Blue Horizon 2096 003) 1971

This superb late sixties underground band were formed from the remnants of pop/soul band The Action, who were popular around the London mod club circuit and issued five singles on Parlophone, including I'll Keep Holding On and Shadows and Reflections between 1965-67.
Both Mighty Baby albums are now very rare. The first, in particular, has a definite psychedelic West Coast influence. Both are important progressive releases and Mighty Baby had their own distinctive and imaginative sound. Their music was often a sophisticated interplay between the twin guitars of King and Stone and the woodwind accompaniment of Whiteman. Its influences were wide-ranging from jazz (Egyptian Tomb) through to country rock (I'm From The Country) and Some Way From The Sun, notable for an hypnotic guitar intro. Egyptian Tomb is unquestionably the most inspired moment on their first album - melodic guitar playing set to a jazzy arrangement.
Alan King later played in Ace whilst Martin Stone later fronted Chilli Willi and Red Hot Peppers. Mighty Baby also played on lots of other albums, including Reg King's and others on Head. Evans, Powell and Whiteman were later in Habibiyya.

Tracks:
1. A Jug Of Love

2. The Happiest Man In The Carnival

3. Keep On Jugging

4. Virgin Spring

5. Tasting The Life

6. Slipstreams

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