"Close To The Edge: Definitive Edition CD+DVD Version" by YES (November 2013 Panegyric 'Definitive Edition CD+DVD' Version - Steve Wilson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Emotions Revealed..."

It's April 2017 and I'm currently pouring over a rather cool paperback called "Close To The Edge - How Yes's Masterpiece Defined Prog Rock" by author and uber-fan WILL ROMANO. 

Published by Backbeat Books in early March 2017 (only weeks ago) - across its 304 oversized pages the acclaimed New Yorker and Music Journalist puts up a strong case for "Close To The Edge" being 'the' greatest album of the Prog Genre. I don't know about that personally - how about Genesis and the magnificent "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" double on Charisma in late 1974 or the single LPs "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" on Bearsville (again late 1974) or even Jon Anderson's own solo debut "Olias Of Sunhillow" in July 1976 (and so on)?

You could of course argue that point until the Topographic Oceans come home - but what isn't deniable is that the three tracks on this one YES album from September 1972 have spawned four and a half decades of devotion, endless critique and even awe amidst those who rather get a rash on their favourite appendage than listen to Progressive Rock. The layered multiple-parts "Close To The Edge" has had legs and for many is a pinnacle of many musical sorts. But which issue of CTTE do you buy? I want to concentrate on that...

This new 11 November 2013 Reissue/Remaster of "Close To The Edge" by YES on their own 'Panegyric' label comes in two forms:

The CD+DVD issue in standard 5" card packaging on Panegyric GYRSP50012 (Barcode 633367900128)

Or a CD+BLU RAY issue in Mini LP Sized packaging (roughly 6") on Panegyric GYRBD50012 (Barcode 633367900227).

Both variants feature new Remasters from STEVEN WILSON of Porcupine Tree and Exclusive Bonus Material. This review will concentrate on the CD/DVD variant.

Disc 1 - Definitive Edition CD (66:31 minutes):

1. Close To The Edge (18:43 minutes)

(i) The Solid Time Of Change

(ii) Total Mass Retain

(iii) I Get Up I Get Down

(iv) Seasons Of Man

2. And You And I (10:09 minutes)

(i) Cord Of Life

(ii) Eclipse

(iii) The Preacher The Teacher

(iv) The Apocalypse

3. Siberian Khatru (9:03 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 3 are their 5th studio album "Close To The Edge" - released September 1972 in the UK on Atlantic K 50012 and September 1972 in the USA on Atlantic SD 7244. Produced by EDDY OFFORD - it peaked at No. 4 in the UK and No. 3 in the USA.

ADDITIONAL TRACKS:

4. America (10:31 minutes)

5. Close To The Edge - Early Assembly/Rough Mix (18:42 minutes)

Disc 2 - DEFINITIVE EDITION DVD-A:

2013 Stereo Mixes - 24-bit / 96kHz MLP Lossless

1. Close To The Edge (18:43 minutes)

2. And You And I (10:09 minutes)

3. Siberian Khatru (9:01minutes)

5.1 Surround Mixes - MLP Lossless DTS 96/24

1. Close To The Edge (18:43 minutes)

2. And You And I (10:09 minutes)

3. Siberian Khatru (9:01minutes)

2013 Stereo and 5.1 Surround mixed and produced from the original multi-track tapes by Steve Wilson

Original Stereo Mixes - Flat Transfer From original Master LPCM Stereo 24/96

1. Close To The Edge (18:43 minutes)

2. And You And I (10:09 minutes)

3. Siberian Khatru (9:01minutes)

AMERICA:

1. America (10:31 minutes) - 5.1 Surround Mix - 24/96 MLP Lossless/DTS 96/24

2. America (10:31 minutes) - 2013 Stereo Mix - 24/96 MLP Lossless & LPCM 24/96

3. America (10:31 minutes) - Original Mix - Flat Transfer From The Original Master - LPCM Stereo 24/96

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL:

Alternate Album - LCPM Stereo 24/48

1. Close To The Edge (Early Assembly - Rough Mix) - 17:42 minutes

2. And You And I (Alternate Version) - 10:18 minutes

3. Siberia (Studio Run Through of Siberian Khatru) - 9:20 minutes

SINGLE VERSIONS & EDITS - LPCM Stereo 24/48:

1. Total Mass Retain - Single Version (3:21 minutes)

2. And You And I - Promo Single Version in Mono (3:29 minutes)

3. America - Single Version (4:13 minutes)

YES was:

JON ANDERSON - Vocals

STEVE HOWE - Guitars and Vocals

RICK WAKEMAN - Keyboards

CHRIS SQUIRE - Bass and Vocals

BILL BRUFORD - Drums and Percussion

A 20-page fact-filled picture-festooned booklet sits uncomfortably in-between a 2-disc card digipak – itself inside a card slipcase. The famous Roger Dean artwork is all accounted for – that inner CTTE panorama painting that took up the whole of the inner gatefold takes pride of place on the inner pages while the equally cool/beautiful lyric bag that came with original LPs is featured in all its Roger Dean text/greenness towards the end of the booklet (how I poured over those words back in the day – trying to read and understand was a job in itself). Next to all that techno mumbo-jumbo I had to type out above are picture sleeves of rare 45 edits for "America", "And You And I" and "Total Mass Retain" from around the world – Portugal, Germany, Spain, Holland and Turkey. A very sweet touch is three unused paintings from Roger Dean - ‘mountain landscapes’ used both in the booklet and as pictures for each disc.

Bill Bruford famously found the recording of the album seriously stressful – so left at recordings end. His face is craftily replaced with Alan White (the new drummer) in an American Trade Advert for the LP. But best of all is a truly spectacular photo from a distance of a giant billboard on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles at the album’s release in September 1972. Dean’s inner gatefold sleeve painting is given full reign – at least fifty feet in diameter with that gorgeous YES logo sat above it (Roger Dean took the photo). Concert tickets from the early 1972 “Fragile” Tour are pictured - the Manchester Free Trade Hall in the UK and the Tucson Community Center and Cobo Arena in Detroit. There’s even hand-written instructions on the artwork from Roger Dean’s own archives and of course that side profile photo of Engineer and Producer Eddy Offord that graced the rear sleeve – a name synonymous with YES and their unique sound.

For all of its prettiness (and I’ve said this of each of these Panegyric reissues) – I find the CD+DVD variants just that tiny bit ordinary in their presentation. Noted writer and Prog Rock fan SID SMITH provides the new liner notes and they’re insightful, balanced and feature reminiscences from band members including the sorely missed Chris Squire. But it still feels like a lot of the flat transfers are unnecessary padding and the overall tactile feel could have been so much more expansive. The slightly larger CD+BLU RAY variant carries more stuff – so that may be your poison of choice. Let’s get the music...

For the first four albums of their extraordinary career – Yes had been a covers band gradually premiering increasing amounts of highly original material. Even "Fragile" from the year prior (November 1971) had featured a cheeky interpretation of Brahms' Fourth Symphony in "Cans And Brahms". 1972's "Close To The Edge" changed all of that. It was bold, original and out of its own perch. Three songs - one of whom was a side long piece in four parts of nearly twenty minutes - a feature that would dominate in the unlikely No. 1 double-album "Tales From Topographic Oceans" in 1973 and the Patrick Moraz line up for 1974's equally brilliant "Relayer" in 1974. The technical wizardry of Producer Eddy Offord and Roger Dean's beautiful otherworldly artwork were also now as much part of Yes The Band as was their Progressive Rock sound.

As the echoed birds and flowing streams and imagined noises of another interplanetary plane slink their way into your living room for Part 1’s "The Solid Time Of Change" – you can feel the experimentation and brilliance of the music. And even now as I re-listen to it for the umpteenth time (and having lived through King Crimson and ELP and their albums prior to CTTE in 1969, 1970 and 1971) – that wild odd time-signature guitar piece that follows the lead in is amazing – no prisoners – you dig in or you butt out. The audio transfer here is just amazing – Wilson having wrenched nuances I didn't notice nor hear before. Howe's Guitar is clearer – Squire's Rickenbacker Bass is warmer – Anderson's falsetto voice and those multi-layered lyrics – Wakeman's side-long contributions on every imaginable keyboard including church organs – Bruford doing a sterling job trying to keep up with the ambition of the whole thing. By the time I reach the glory of "I Get Up, I Get Down" where the soundscape is floating towards me like the Star Child at the end of Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" – I’m blubbing like a sappy schoolboy whose discovered an extra cake in his lunchbox. 

The same applies to the Acoustic beginning of "And You And I" over on Side 2– that wall of six and twelve string guitars – utterly gorgeous. The impact of the Remaster is so damn good and I'd honestly forgotten about the chops and changes in "Siberian Khatru" - the brilliance of it. Like most fans I bought (and still have) my copy of "Yesterdays" in 1975 - the compilation LP that first featured their ten-minute reinterpretation of Simon and Garfunkel's "America". It makes for a smart bonus track - Howe letting rip on the guitars - apparently influenced by the unlikely duo of Duane Eddy and Delaney Bramlett. But the studio assembly 'run-through' of the slightly shorter "Close To The Edge" is fascinating. "Part 2's "Total Mass Retain" and Part 4's "Seasons Of Man" have these subtle playing differences that feel like Howe is searching for that right note. "Siberia" - an early "Siberian Khatru" - hears Bruford count in Howe as the guitarist launches into that almost (dare we say it) commercial riff. You can literally 'hear' the months of painstaking work in these outtake glimpses - how the whole was gradually built (rehearsing the material for a month, studio time for two).

I don't have 5.1 Surround myself but a mate of mine does. Popped round for that and again the Wilson Remaster is an awesome thing to hear - a great big streak of kit-envy racing through me - like hearing the instrument-reveal on those old Quadrophonic Records in 1974 - only way better. I keep saying it but I'm going to have to invest in 5.1. - Damn!

My son Sean is 22 and a budding self-taught guitarist - he's up for anything that's musically 'interesting' or pushing the boundaries. A tad suspicious but oddly drawn to it at the same time - he looks on Prog Rock as a fine line between brilliance and indulgence. I played him this variant of "Close To The Edge" and his jaw dropped - and not just from Howe's playing both on the Electric and Acoustic - but the whole band gelling in this complicated masterpiece.

Floating worlds - mountaintop lakes - Pandora cliffs - the symbolic geography of Siddhartha - jigsaw puzzle Rock music - I've loved "Close To The Edge" for over 45 years and this reissue of it has brought that love full circle. Man I even drew the CTTE logo – RD stylee - on my schoolbooks (oh dear)...

"...All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you..." Jon Anderson sings on "Cord Of Life" - the first verse in "And You And I". Count me in - in 4/3-time baby...

"Demons And Wizards: Deluxe Edition" by URIAH HEEP (2017 BMG/Sanctuary 2CD 'Deluxe Edition' Reissue with 14 PrevIously Unreleased Tracks and Andy Pearce/Matt Wortham Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Me And My Magic Man...Doin' Fine..." 

Uriah Heep fans could be forgiven for sighing into their already severely depleted wallets. CD Reissues of the band's most popular album - 1972's "Demons And Wizards" - have been hitting their laden shelves since 1987 - and I calculate four other times since - 1996, 2001, 2004 in the UK alone and 2010 in Japan on one of those natty SHM-CD reissues with repro artwork. Well here we go again in the spring of 2017. But is this latest version actually worth buying - trading up to? Well I'm glad to say a resounding 'yes' is the answer.

Although it doesn't say DE anywhere on the packaging - this 3 April 2017 'Deluxe Edition' actually offers fans a whole lot of what they want - a fabulous and definitive Remaster on Disc 1 care of noted Audio Engineers ANDY PEARCE and MATT WORTHAM - repro packaging that shows off the lovely Roger Dean artwork that made the original vinyl gatefold album so appealing in the first place - and a whopping 14 Previously Unreleased Alternate Versions of original 1971 and 1972 tracks on Disc 2 (only recently found). And all of it has been newly remixed and remastered for this release. It's a slam-dunk for lovers of the David Copperfields of Rock (Uriah Heep is a character in the famous Dickens novel). Here are the wand-waving details...

UK released Friday, 31 March 2017 - "Demons And Wizards: Deluxe Edition" by URIAH HEEP on BMG/Sanctuary BMGCAT2CD58 (Barcode 4050538187441) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster with 14 Previously Unreleased Tracks that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 - Original LP Remastered - 39:47 minutes:
1. The Wizard [Side 1]
2. Traveller In Time
3. Easy Livin'
4. Poet's Justice
5. Circle Of Hands
6. Rainbow Demon [Side 2]
7. All My Life
8. Paradise
9. The Spell
Tracks 1 to 9 are their 4th studio album "Demons And Wizards" - released June 1972 in the UK on Bronze Records ILPS 9193 and June 1972 in the USA on Mercury Records SRM-1 630. Produced by GERY BRON – it peaked at No. 22 in the UK and No. 23 in the USA.

Disc 2 – An Alternative Demons And Wizards – 75:57 minutes:
1. Easy Livin’ (Alternate Version)
2. Rainbow Demon (Alternate Version)
3. Traveller In Time (Alternate Version)
4. Paradise (Alternate Version)
5. The Spell (Alternate Version)
6. All My Life (Alternate Version)
7. Home Again To You (Alternate Version)
8. Why (Alternate Version)
9. The Wizard (Alternate Version)
10. Poet's Justice (Alternate Version)
11. Circle Of Hands (Alternate Version)
12. Proud Words (Alternate Version)
13. Green Eye (Alternate Version)
14. Why (Alternate Single Edit)

URIAH HEEP was:
DAVID BYRON – Lead Vocals
MICK BOX – Lead Guitar
KEN HENSLEY – Keyboards, Guitar and Percussion
GARY THAIN – Bass
LEE KERSLAKE – Drums and Percussion

The three-way foldout card digipak (pictured below) is a pleasingly in-depth affair. Using worldwide 7" single picture sleeves for the two big singles from the album - the far left flap shows a Dutch issue of "The Wizard" while equally rare Japanese issues of "The Wizard" and "Easy Livin'" adorn the flaps beneath each see-through plastic tray. Each blue-tinted picture CD features Roger Dean's wonderful 'wizard' artwork - as does most of the digipak itself. Inside is a 20-page booklet with new interviews and reminiscences from original band members Mick Box and Ken Hensley as well as a slew of rare Euro and Worldwide pictures sleeves for more singles some of which uses the 'Very 'Eavy Very 'Umble" artwork. There's a cool photo of the Lansdowne Studios master tape for Side 1 of ILPS 9193 that the album's original inner gatefold is spread across the centre pages. While the interviews are very insightful, the credits full and overall presentation in keeping with Dean's artwork - the lyrics that came with the US issue on Mercury Records are missing - which is dropping the ball a tad.

But all of that pales into the background once you lay your weary lugs on the new remaster. I've been hearing this Prog-Rock album for over 45 years now – CDs from Essential and Sanctuary – but I've never heard it sound this good. Both ANDY PEARCE and MATT WORTHAM have been building up a formidable Audio Engineer rep these last few years. They handled the Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Kinks and Wishbone Ash catalogues with much praise (Pentangle, Bert Jansch and The Bible too). But their recent work in 2015 and 2016 with ELP, Budgie, Free and now Uriah Heep has seen their names used as a way to plug sales in Record Collector adverts. I love what these guys do - they make the music feel alive - not over-trebled for the sake of it or clinically clean - just 'there'. Take the guitar and piano battle that takes place at the end of "Circle Of Hands" or that huge chunky organ sound at the beginning of "Rainbow Demon" - the acoustic guitars of "The Wizard" – the wild guitar playing and sheer pace of "All My Life" - it's all so damn good now. Let's get to the music...

There can't be too many UH fans who won't shed a little Proggy tear as that brilliant opening to "The Wizard" fills their man-cave - and when the huge chorus kicks in - grizzly shapes will be thrown on the carpet whiles wives look on and worry about hip-replacements. In a similar vein - "Paradise" over on Side 2 ploughs the same Acoustic-Rock terrain - and man does this builder sound good as the vocalists pan and flange from left to right singing about secret hearts and sorry tales. There's monster riffage ahoy on "Traveller In Time" while the catchy chorus of "Easy Livin'" was a worldwide hit for them and broke the album everywhere. The gorgeous five minutes of "Paradise" segues into the near eight-minutes of "The Spell" - a piano and guitar boogie that's way more commercial than I remember it. Fans will be glad to know that the central piano solo is now clear and clean.

Fans will rightly flip for Disc Two - 14 fully formed 'Alternate Versions' from the period - versions only recent found after a home trawl. Not surprisingly it opens with a storming mix of "Easy Livin'" that races harder and faster than the released version - bigger voices and more guitars. There's a suitably doomy "Rainbow Demon" - six minutes of that huge ELP-like organ and layered vocals - amazingly punchy. I have to admit I went straight for "Paradise" and "The Wizard" both of which have those beautiful acoustic strums but with extra bass and vibes and slightly altered keyboard pieces. The vocals in "The Wizard" aren't much altered - the echoes on 'thousand kings' and so on - but there's grungier guitars as they go into that 'voices in our hearts' chorus. "Home Again To You" is a straight-up Rock song - like Badfinger gone over to Nazareth - I love it - what a find. "Proud Words" is the same - an almost poppy Rock number that would have made a very cool B-side - it's almost Bad Company first album in its tight-trouser riffing way. "Green Eye" is probably the worst sounding of the Bonus Tracks but that doesn't stop it from being a huge riffage tune. Most interesting to me is the non-album "Why" - the B-side of "Easy Livin'" in August 1972. Here you get a more Funky Bass-Driven mix where Uriah Heep seems to be a Soul-Rock version of Rare Earth all of a sudden.

Hensley is still with us - but Thain and Byron passed in 1975 and 1985 - while a version of Uriah Heep featuring Mick Box still tours to this day. The Heep would go on to an unsightly number of 2-to-3 star albums in their 26-album career – but for most this Prog-Rock fourth studio platter was their peak.

Remember them this way. And for fans and the curious alike - this new variant of 1972’s "Demons And Wizards" is the best ever. Well done to all involved...

UK 2016 and 2017 2CD URIAH HEEP Reissues 

in this BMG/Sanctuary 'Deluxe Edition' Series so far include...

1. "Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble" (June 1970 debut) - 2CD set released 16 Sep 2016 on BMG/Sanctuary BMGCAT2CD55 (Barcode 4050538187205)
2. "Salisbury" (January 1972 2nd LP) - 2CD set released 28 Oct 2016 on BMG/Sanctuary BMGCAT2CD56 (Barcode 4050538187281)
3. "Look At Yourself" (November 1971 3rd LP) - 2CD set released 31 March 2017 on BMG/Sanctuary BMGCAT2CD57 (Barcode 4050538187366) 
4. "Demons And Wizards" (June 1972 4th LP) - 2CD set released 31 March 2017 on BMG/Sanctuary BMGCAT2CD58 (Barcode 4050538187441)
5. "The Magician's Birthday" (November 1972 5th LP) - 2CD set released 31 March 2017 on BMG/Sanctuary BMGCAT2CD59 (Barcode 4050538187526)

"Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" by EUGENE McDANIELS feat Miroslav Vitous and Alphonse Mouzon (2001 Label M 'Classic Albums' CD Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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SOUL, FUNK and JAZZ FUSION - Exception CD Remasters  

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"...Jagger The Dagger..."

Weird and wonderful and compared to what indeed! It's amazing now to think that this obscure, right-on, very American and at times 'difficult' Funk-Fusion LP from 1971 got issued in the UK at all. I mean who was buying Eugene McDaniels back then?

As one of the principal buyers in Reckless Records, London buying across the counter and visiting people's homes all over the city and elsewhere - I can recall maybe two occasions seeing this album in someone's collection - and I'm talking about buying vinyl LPs for nearly 20 years. The Voices Of East Harlem's "Right On" LP on Elektra Records from 1970 was/is the same (another hugely sought after piece from the time). "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" on (Plum Label) Atlantic Records 2400 163 must have sold jack on release.

But of course times change and across the 90s and 00s – a steady stream of Rare Groove CD compilations and Box Sets from the massive WEA Archives have seen Soul and Funk fans rediscover the pioneers, innovators and nutjobs of those halcyon years.

Nick-named 'Elephant Ears' by Mile Davis and Cannonball Adderley when he backed up their live shows in the Sixties - at the time of this second Atlantic Records album (“Outlaw” was his first for Atlantic and had been issued in 1970) – The Reverend Mc. D was most well known for writing "Compared To What" for fellow Atlantic Records Jazz Keyboard whizz and Vocalist Les McCann. McCann and Saxophonist Eddie Harris had charted their duel-credited "Swiss Movement" LP in December 1969 on Atlantic SD 1537 - seeing it and the funky "Compared To What" track peak at No. 2 on the US R&B LP charts. In fact going much further back - Gene McDaniels the Soul Boy had a career with Liberty Records in the first half of the Sixties where he worked his way through an impressive eight rapidly released LPs (1960 to 1963) including popular titles like "Tower Of Strength" and "100 Lbs of Clay!"

But then the mid to late Sixties happened and social change/revolution grabbed every African American artist by the short and curlies and suddenly the crooners of old were now storming, funking slices of anger and righteousness. Apparently on hearing the condemning and savage lyrics in the album's title track - even Richard Nixon's administration (itself embroiled in justifying the ludicrous and callous Vietnam War) reputedly called up Atlantic's Promotions department demanding to know what the Hell they were playing at? How could they and their 'uninformed' artist be so unpatriotic as to suggest in his lyrics that 'powers in the master game' saw Americans and The Vietnamese as the same - '...basically cannon fodder...' for the '...player who controls the board...' McDaniels was of course right and Nixon would go on to infamy for all manner of dodgy 'I'm not a crook' reasons.

Heady stuff indeed - deep lyrics in deep grooves - as the rather brilliant and insightful liner notes from $mall $hange inform us. And that’s where this fab little CD reissue from New York’s 'Label M' comes in – here are the dagger details...

US released 19 November 2001 - "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" by EUGENE McDANIELS on Label M 495733 (Barcode 644949573326) is a straightforward CD Reissue and Remaster in their ‘Album Classics’ Series (manufactured by Rhino) that breaks down as follows (38:34 minutes):

1. The Lord Is Back [Side 1]

2. Jagger The Dagger

3. Lovin' Man

4. Headless Heroes

5. Susan Jane

6. Freedom Death Dance [Side 2]

7. Supermarket Blues

8. The Parasite (For Buffy)

Tracks 1 to 8 are the album "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" - released May 1971 in the USA on Atlantic Records SD 8281 and July 1971 in the UK on Atlantic Records 2400 163. Credited to EUGENE Mc DANIELS The Left Rev. Mc D - and Produced by JOEL DORN - it didn't chart in either country. All tracks are written by Eugene McDaniels with "The Lord Is Back" co-written with Dwight Singleton.

Musicians:

EUGENE McDANIELS – Vocals

CARLA CARGILL and THE WELFARE CITY CHOIR – Vocals

RICHIE RESNIKOFF – Guitars

HARRY WHITAKER – Piano

GARY KING – Electric Bass

MIROSLAV VITOUS – Acoustic Bass

ALPHONSE MOUZON – Drums

KEVIN CALABRO and $mall $hange produced the CD Reissue – a gatefold card digipak with see-through tray and a 12-page booklet. The liner notes are all typed in over-sized letters (a tad pretentious actually) - but the content and insight is superb. GENE PAUL and JENNIFER MUNSON did the Mastering at DB Plus Digital Services in New York and the Audio is fabulous - full of presence and oomph where needed. This really is a lovely sounding reissue.

The album opens with "The Lord Is Back" - telling us that the divine one is black, riding the subways in the rain and here to make a few corrections on our self-inflicted road to mass destruction. It's hard-hitting guitar funk feels like Sly Stone just had a baby with Funkadelic - those Mouzon drums whacking your speakers as McDaniels echoed-vocals warn and scorn (dig that slinky keyboard slide in too). Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones doing the Devil Dance comes in for some stick in "Jagger The Dagger" - Carlo Cargill duetting with the Mc D on vocals. The very cool rare groove of "Lovin' Man" turned up on a 1996 Japan-Only CD I had called "Free Soul River" - while the aforementioned political dynamite of "Headless Heroes" were found on the CD Compilation "Right On!" Volume 1 of Break Beats And Grooves From The Atlantic & Warner Vaults in 1999 and also on the stunning "What It Is!" Rhino 4CD Box Set in 2006. The Acoustic "Susan Jane" feels like the album's first ballad even if it is about a bum-wiggling, sugar-cane-eating hippy that likes to make love barefoot in the muddy road (yeah baby).

Keeping with mellow - the beautifully transferred shuffle of the Bass (Miroslav Vitous of Weather Report) and the Drums on "Freedom Death Dance" opens Side 2 with a winner. It's a fantastic groove that's both mellow and funky at the same time - and the lyrics wax lyrical about needing justice and equality and not more pointless political dancing from Capitol Hill types who don't care (lovely licks on the guitar too). Trading a can of peas for a lousy loaf of bread becomes an incident in "Supermarket Blues" where a cop joins in the fracas by threatening the man on the floor with some lead - while a white woman calls him a Communist (God damn!). The album ends with the near ten-minutes of "The Parasite (For Buffy)" - a tale of forked tongues and religion and liquor and guns screwing up the native Indian population. At times it feels like Gil Scott-Heron circa 1971's "Small Talk At 125th And Lennox" - letting rip on a subject that appals him. It over extends its welcome and goes musically mental in the last minute - like Zappa and the Mothers having a guitar wig out.

Hard in ways to categorise or pigeonhole - "Headless Heroes Of The Apocalypse" is nevertheless a quietly magnificent album that thoroughly deserves its underground status. It's not all genius for sure and his vocal mannerisms I know can irritate some  - but man that good stuff.

And as I look at that dedication on the rear sleeve "...we have killed the very earth beneath our feet...yet we still kill each other and speak of the future..." - I think other words come to mind - like real, timely and right on...

"Dandelion Albums And BBC Collection" by BRIDGET ST. JOHN [feat John Martyn, Ric Sanders and John Peel] (2015 Cherry Red 4CD Box of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…The Lady And The Gentle Man…"

Despite its flaws - I'm already thinking this is an early contender for Reissue Of The Year, 2015.

UK folky Bridget St. John made three albums for John Peel's Dandelion Records while only in her early twenties with one further record on Chrysalis in 1974 ("Jumble Queen"). This gorgeous little 5" square box set from Cherry Red of the UK offers up those the three Dandelion albums - "Ask Me No Questions" (1969), "Songs For The Gentle Man" (1971) and "Thank You For..." (1972) - with "Ask" and "Thank You" in expanded form ("Song" is just the 12-track album). 

There's also a fourth 19-track CD called "Live At The BBC (1968-1972)" (released I believe in 2010) which is in rough shape in some places it has to be said. The studio albums also include John Martyn, Andy Roberts, members of Quiver, Fairport Convention and The Occasional Word Ensemble. The BBC disc has three Kevin Ayers live duets - albeit in very crude form...

Eagle-eyed collectors will notice that these three albums have already been reissued by Cherry Red Records in late 2005 (so those remasters are used here) and the BBC disc (copyrighted 2010) is new. Cherry Red has simply put the albums into three single card sleeve Repros covers (no gatefolds unfortunately but lovely to look at nonetheless) sided with the BBC live disc (itself in unique card artwork). They've all been given a fact-filled/picture-strewn 12-paged booklet to round it all off. It's a properly lovely thing to behold and especially to listen to. And a nice touch is that each of the CDs reflects the differing label designs on the original LPs for the period while the BBC CD looks like a Tape Box. Here are the Folky shaggy dog details...

UK released February 2015 (March 2015 in the USA) - "Dandelion Albums And BBC Collection" by BRIDGET ST. JOHN on Cherry Red CRCDMBOX17 (Barcode 5013929101708) is a 4CD Mini Box Set with Card Repro Sleeves & Booklet that breaks down as follows:

Disc 1 - "Ask Me No Questions" (51:52 minutes):

1. To B Without A Hitch

2. Autumn Lullaby

3. Curl Your Toes

4. Like Never Before

5. The Curious Crystals Of Unusual Purity

6. Barefoot And Hot Pavements

7. I Like To Be With You In The Sun [Side 2]

8. Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy

9. Hello Again (Of Course)

10. Many Happy Returns

11. Broken Faith

12. Ask Me No Questions

Tracks 1 to 12 are her debut album "Ask Me No Questions" - Produced by JOHN PEEL - it was released September 1969 in the UK on Dandelion Records S 63750 and in the USA on Elektra D9-101. John Martyn plays Second Guitar on both "Curl You Toes" and "Ask Me No Questions" - Ric Sanders of The Occasional Word Ensemble (and later Fairport Convention) plays Second Guitar on both "Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy" and "Many Happy Returns". All songs are Bridget St. John originals.

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Suzanne

14. The Road Was Lonely

Track 13 is a non-album track cover version of the Leonard Cohen classic. It's the first B-side to "There's A Place I Know" - a 1972 UK 3-track Maxi 7" Single on Dandelion/Polydor 2001 280. The second B-side is "Passin' Thru" - both it and the A-side are bonus tracks on the "Thank You For..." expanded CD.

Track 14 is a non-album B-side to "Passin' Thru" - released 1973 in the UK as a 7" single on MCA Records MUS 1203

Disc 2 - "Songs For The Gentle Man" (36:13 minutes):

1. A Day A Way

2. City-Crazy

3. Early-Morning Song

4. Back To Stay

5. Seagull-Sunday

6. If You'd Been There

7. Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall Part 2 [Side 2]

8. Making Losing Better

9. The Lady And The Gentle Man

10. Downderry Daze

11. The Pebble And The Man

12. It Seems Very Strange

Tracks 1 to 12 are her second album "Songs For The Gentle Man" - Produced by RON GEESIN (of Pink Floyd fame) - it was released in the UK February 1971 on Dandelion Records S DAN 8007 and in the USA on Elektra EKS-74104. "Back To Stay" and "The Pebble And The Man" are John Martyn and Donovan cover versions respectively - "Seagull-Sunday" is co-written with Nigel Beresford - all other songs are Bridget St. John originals.

Disc 3 - "Thank You For..." (76:15 minutes):

1. Nice

2. Thank You For...

3. Lazarus

4. Good Baby Goodbye

5. Love Minus Zero, No Limit

6. Silver Coin

7. Happy day

8. Fly High

9. To Leave Your Cover

10. Every Day

11. A Song Is As Long As It Wants To Be

Tracks 1 to 11 are her 3rd album "Thank You For..." - Produced by JERRY BOYS - it was released June 1972 in the UK on Dandelion/Polydor 2310 193 (No US release). "Lazarus" is a Traditional arranged by St. John, "Goodbye Baby Goodbye" is written by Nick Beresford, "Love Minus Zero, No Limit" is a Bob Dylan cover, "Every Day" is a Buddy Holly cover, "Silver Coin" is written by Terry Hiscock of Hunter Muskett - all others are Bridget St. John originals.

BONUS TRACKS:

12. Passin' Thru

13. There's A Place I Know

14. Nice (Live)

15. Silver Coin (Live)

16. Fly High (Live)

17. Lazarus (Live)

18. The River (Live)

19. Thank You For... (Live)

20. Ask Me No Questions (Live)

21. If You've Got Money (Live)

Disc 4 - "Bridget St. John At The BBC/Live At The BBC (1968-1972)" (59:42 minutes):

NIGHT RIDE SESSION, recorded and broadcast 28 August 1968

1. To B Without A Hitch

2. Ask me No Questions

3. Many Happy Returns

4. Hello Again (Of Course)

5. Rochefort

6. Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy

TOP GEAR SESSION, recorded and broadcast 24 August 1969

7. The River

8. Song To Keep You Company

9. Night In The City

10. Lazarus

PETER SARSTEAD SESSION, 1969

11. Curl Your Toes

BOB HARRIS SESSION, recorded and broadcast 25 April 1972

12. Thank You For...

IN CONCERT, recorded 31 January 1972

13. Leaves Of Lime

14. City Crazy

15. The Pebble And The Man

16. Back To Stay

17. Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall Part Two

18. Jolie Madame

19. The Spider And The Fly

Musically - her gut-string guitar-picking sounds like Nick Drake on his debut "Five Leaves Left" and her voice is deep and dark like a more sombre version of Sandy Denny. Most of the arrangements are just St. John and her guitar - very quiet, pretty folk songs. The mood isn't dark either, more reflective than that - the songs often sound like the countryside although she's from a capitol city. If I were to nitpick, I'd say the lyrics are sometimes weighed down with too many hippy-dippy ponderings about nature and 'buttercup sandwiches' that may sound twee to some ears now...others, however, will feel they are very much part of the music's charm.

Two notable contributors on the debut are JOHN MARTYN on "Curl Your Toes" and the stunning album title track "Ask Me No Questions" where he plays second guitar on both (no vocals unfortunately). There's also second guitar from Ric Sanders on "Lizard-Long-Tongue Boy" and "Many Happy Returns" (on which he also plays some wonderful Bottleneck Guitar).

Highlights include the forgiving relationship song "Broken Faith" (lyrics are the title of this review), the sweet "Barefeet And Hot Pavements" and Martyn's subtle backing on "Curl Your Toes". But the best is kept until last - the near eight-minute folk work out that is the album's title track - "Ask Me No Questions". The song's lovely guitar refrain fades into bird song and bells about three minutes in - only to come back again to the lilting music to great effect. It's still moving - 40 years after the event.

Recorded in December 1970 - the second album was released in February 1971 and saw a massive improvement in Production values courtesy of Ron Geesin fresh from knob twiddling on Pink Floyd's "Atom Heart Mother" in 1970. It also saw St. John settle down into an English pastoral vibe that suited her and her plaintive songs completely. If you take a tune as simple as "If You'd Been There" which is just her voice and guitars - it's gorgeous - a beautifully delicate and simple song given the audio quality it deserves. The two-minute "Early-Morning Song" is the same - exquisite in its simplicity with cleverly treated guitar sounds swirling in and out of the mix (what a sweetheart of a tune). Her cover of John Martyn's "Back To Stay" (from his October 1967 "London Conversation" album on Island Records) is the same - beautifully soulful Folk in that Nick Drake English countryside/pastoral Nico kind of way. And the "ba rump pa bum bum" vocal gymnastics on the Donovan cover "The Pebble And The Man" by a group of choral singers is genius and a very clever reworking of the song.

Album three has a lot of outside musician involvement - her cover of Dylan's "Love Minus Zero, No Limit" features Tim Renwick of Quiver on Guitar with Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention on Drums. In fact Renwick along with other Quiver members - Bruce Thomas on Bass and Willie John Wilson on Drums - also turn up on the gorgeous "Happy Day" (an album highlight) and an ill-advised cover of Buddy Holly's "Every Day" that just doesn't work. Another absolute highlight is her very John Martyn influenced "To Leave Your Cover" which features Andy Roberts on String Organ. The mighty Scot (John Martyn) plays his trademark treated electric guitar on the single "Fly High" while the pretty piano on "Goodbaby Goodbye" makes for a nice change from the guitars (Electric Bass by Ian Whiteman). It ends on the short 1:11 minutes of "A Song Is As Long As It Wants To Go On" - her voice sounding like she's moved in permanently with Nico and family.

The live stuff on Disc 3 is excellent - introduced by a Frenchman trying his utmost to convince a meek Folk crowd (in both French and English intros) that they should listen up because our Bridget is Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell combined. But as she launches into an acoustic "Nice" and a delicate version of the Hunter Muskett song "Silver Coin" - she again sounds like a female Leonard Cohen (in a good way). The audio quality is uniformly superb throughout - real clarity on "Fly High" - and by the time she gets to the John Martyn cover of "The River" - she's won the day and the audience.

The BBC stuff is a very mixed bag indeed - not from a song-quality point of view - but from the audio front. The liner notes admit that the tapes have long since disappeared into history and the tracks are 'dubbed from best available sources'. In the case of "The Pebble And The Man" - if this is their 'best source' - I'd hate to hear a bad one. Covered in crackle and hiss - it resembles a passable bootleg at best. The first six are the same unfortunately and it's not until you get to "The River" (the Top Gear Session from 24 August 1969) do you get great sound quality. Her cover of Joni Mitchell's "Night In The City" is a definite highlight - lovely acoustic work and echoed vocals - eerily good. The rest of it is again merely bootleg and in the case of the final three - "Song For The Laird Of Connaught Hall Part Two", "Jolie Madame" and "The Spider And The Fly" - which excitingly have KEVIN AYERS on duet vocals and guitars - they're barely listenable but included for historic reasons.

So there you have it - three superb albums (number two a stone masterpiece) - with nice extras - and a curio BBC disc tagged on for good measure. Despite the let down of those flawed transfers on Disc 4 - it still feels to me like a huge release and one that deserves your attention.

As lovely as English Folk gets - Bridget St. John is a discovery you want to make. Well done to all involved at Cherry Red for getting this out there...