"A Place In The Sun: The Complete Jason Crest" by JASON CREST – Five UK 45’s from 1968 and 1969 on Philips Records plus Rare and Unissued Acetate Tracks and Radio Sessions from 1968 and 1969 – featuring Terry Clark, Terry Dobson, Paul Siggery, Derek Smallcombe, Ron Fowler and more (May 2020 UK Grapefruit Records 2CD Anthology – Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Turquoise Tandems..."

Now here's an obscure one with splinters that went off in every which way. 

Formerly known first as The Spurleeweeves then The Good Thing Brigade between 1965 and 1966 – British Psych darlings JASON CREST were quickly renamed and signed to Philips in 1967, thereafter managing to usher out five singles between 1968 and 1969 (but no album). 

Thereafter they morphed yet again, this time into the Island Records act called High Bloom. You will remember Toploader's year 2000 poppy cover version of High Broom's ''Dancing In The Moonlight" - originally an August 1970 UK 45-single on Island WIP 6088. Once High Broom had had its day (again no album), three former members of the five-piece (Roger Siggery, Derek Smallcombe and Terry Clark) went into a band called Holy Mackerel who managed a single self-titled album on CBS Records UK in 1972 (not to be confused with the American group of the same name who had an album on Reprise Records in 1968 that featured "Classical Gas" hitmaker Mason Williams). A tangled web indeed... 

Grapefruit's typically exemplary anthology "A Place In The Sun: The Complete Jason Crest" gathers together all 10 of those non-album single sides, further outtake rarities and even finds some previously unreleased radio sessions - lumping the lot onto a 2CD set that will surely act as the definitive document for a band's whose 45s now command big bucks (if you can find them). Here are the turquoise tandems...

UK released Friday, 20 September 2020 - "A Place In The Sun: The Complete Jason Crest" by JASON CREST on Grapefruit Records CRSEG078D (Barcode 5013929187825) is a 28-Track 2CD Anthology that plays out as follows: 

CD1 (59:42 minutes):
1. Turquoise Tandem Cycle 
2. Teagarden Lane 
3. Patricia's Dream 
4. A Place In The Sun 
5. My House Is Burning
6. King Of The Castle 
7. The Collected Works Of Justin Crest 
8. Black Mass 
9. Charge Of The Light Brigade 
10. (Here We Go Around The) Lemon Tree 
11. You Really Got A Hold On Me 
12. Two By The Sea 
13. Juliano The Bull 
14. Education 
15. Waterloo Road 
16. Good Life 
17. Black Mass (Dubious Mix Version) 
Tracks 1 and 16 are the non-album A&B-sides of their January 1968 UK debut 45-single on Philips BF 1633
Tracks 13 and 12 are the non-album A&B-sides of their April 1968 UK second 45-single on Philips BF 1650
Tracks 10 and 3 are the non-album A&B-sides of their August 1968 UK third 45-single on Philips BF 1687
Tracks 15 and 14 are the non-album A&B-sides of their February 1968 UK fourth 45-single on Philips BF 1752
Tracks 4 and 8 are the non-album A&B-sides of their August 1968 UK fifth and final 45-single on Philips BF 1809
Tracks 2, 6, 7, 9 and 11 first appeared on the July 1993 UK Various Artists LP "Syde Trips Three" on Tenth Planet TP006 
Track 5 is copyright 1994 Tenth Planet 
Track 17 is Previously Unreleased, Copyright 2020

CD2 (35:23 minutes):
1. Hold On 
2. A Hazy Shade Of Winter 
3. Fresh Garbage
4. California Dreamin' 
5. Paint It Black 
6. What's It Like 
7. Come Together 
8. It's A Way To Pass The Time 
9. Good Times, Bad Lines 
10. Better By You, Better Than Me
11. Percy's On The Run 
Tracks 1 to 11 first appeared 1999 on the UK Jason Crest LP "Radio Sessions 1968-1969" on Tenth Planet TP041, a numbered limited edition of 1000 copies. Tracks 1 to 5 recorded in November 1968, tracks 6 to 11 in November 1969 - both radio sessions. 

The chunky three-way foldout card digipak is pretty in resplendent orange and red day-glow images as is the typically jam-packed 24-page booklet. The memorabilia pictured includes a flyer for a July 1965 gig in The Bromel Club (Bromley, Kent) – the embryonic Spurleeweeves set up for Thursday the 19th. 

DAVID WELLS employs help from all sources as he pieces together the band’s progress – promo photos, acetate labels, a two-page display of trade gig adverts where Jason Crest share stages with Elmer Gantry, Kipperton Lodge, The Skatalites and Desmond Dekker. There is even a photo of them as High Broom and loads of other juicy factoids (it is a great read and an informative one too). 

BEN WISEMAN does his usual job of wickedly good remastering even if some of the acetate stuff is a tad ropey around the edges. 

Disc 1 offers us the singles and a wad of outtakes that first saw light of day in 1993 on the cult label Tenth Planet – and what an eclectic rattle they all make. Faves for me include "Juliano The Bull" and "Two By The Sea" whilst the boys got a little Rock-Soulful with their unissued cover of the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles classic "You Really Got A Hold On Me". In fact out of only one other cover version on CD1 - Roy Wood's 1968 "Move" debut album track "(Here We Go Round The) Lemon Tree" - Vocalist Terry Clark alongside Lead Guitarist Terry Dobson provided all of the songs. 

Which makes the strange cackle of covers on Disc 2 seem like some other project Jason Crest were pursuing in order to get noticed or even paid. After Disc 1, it is weird to hear The Mamas & The Papas, The Rolling Stones and Simon & Garfunkel covers even if their genius shows through on the Spirit classic "Fresh Garbage". There are intriguing contributions too from Drummer Paul Siggery and other guitarist Derek Smallcombe in "It's A Way To Pass The Time" – Smallcombe getting heavy too on his "Good Times, Bad Lines". 

You would not call this kind of Psych an easy listen by any means, but this JASON CREST 2CD Anthology is yet another reason why Grapefruit are so liked by collectors – they tread where others won't go and deliver every time...

"At A Point Between Fate And Destiny" by MIGHTY BABY (7 November 2019 UK Grapefruit Records 6CD Clamshell Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...House Without Windows..."

Grapefruit Records of the UK (part of Cherry Red's roster of labels) has been feeding the voracious needs of crusty old music-types like me for some years now. But even by their lofty/cult label standards - this November 2019 six-disc box set "At A Point Between Fate And Destiny" by MIGHTY BABY has to be 'another' feather in their very fluffy reissue bonnet (even if the second LP leaves a lot to be desired – its bolstered up with a huge amount of worthy alternate material).

MIGHTY BABY arose out of the ashes of those Motown-blasting Mod darlings of the 60ts THE ACTION. After discovering mind-expanding LSD (not an abbreviation of London Sizeable Doughnuts I assure you), they then promptly did the big time Psychedelic (sort of England’s answer to the Grateful Dead) followed quickly by a bit of mellow navel-gazing acoustic-electric Americana meets mountain streams. Given those freeform hallucinogenic reference points, it's hardly surprising that their commune-a-go-go underground debut and lesser-valued stoned Country Rock follow-up have become sought-after albums (they were all but ignored on release and have always had serious rarity status and collectability ever since).

First up is the self-titled UK debut "Mighty Baby" on Head Records from November 1969 (a smart move has been to reproduce the gatefold sleeve with that iconic Martin Sharp artwork on the outside and Keith Morris photos of the band on the inside) and then their final studio slab of America/Eagles type Country-Rock, "A Jug Full Of Love" from October 1971 on Mike Vernon's revered label Blue Horizon.

This November 2019 multiple-disc CD box set adds on swathes of extras – a Previously Unreleased Acetate Mix of the 1969 debut album, an entire CD of 1971 Rehearsals for the second, an aborted album in-between from 1970 (bootlegs of "Day Of The Soup" have been available for years but in lesser sound quality), US and Euro issued Singles and LPs and even lengthy live material unheard for nearly five decades – six CDs worth in fact. You even get involvement by hero-worship inducing blokes like DAVID WELLS and JOHN REED with quality Remastering from OLI HEMMINGWAY at The Wax Works (I've slept with all three, but that's another set of litigation circumstances). There is a huge amount of mighty baby-ness to wade through – so onwards and upwards my soother-sucking devotees...

UK released Friday, 9 November 2019 - "At A Point Between Fate And Destiny: The Complete Recordings" by MIGHTY BABY on Grapefruit Records CRSEGBOX062 (Barcode 5013929186200) is a 6CD Clamshell Box Set including two studio albums from 1969 and 1971 and a huge amount of Bonus Material. It plays out as follows:

CD1 "Mighty Baby" (79:55 minutes):

1. Egyptian Tomb [Side 1]

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 [Side 2]

6. Trails Of A City

7. I'm From The Country

8. At A Point Between Fate And Destiny

Tracks 1 to 8 are their debut album "Mighty Baby" - released 7 November 1969 in the UK on Head Records HDLS 6002 and February 1970 in the USA on Head Records LPS 025 (both in Stereo). Produced by GUY STEVENS and MIGHTY BABY - it didn't chart in either country.

BONUS TRACKS

9. I've Been Down So Long (Early Version)

10. Trials Of A City (Early Version)

11. House Without Windows (Early Version)

12. A Friend You Know But Never See (Early Version)

13. Messages

14. Ancient Traveller

15. Same Way From The Sun (Early Version)

Tracks 9 to 12 and 15 are a PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED Stereo Acetate Version of the First Album, recorded February 1969. Tracks 13 and 14 (recorded 1969 by Guy Stevens) first appeared as a Bonus 45 Single in the 2015 album "Slipstreams: In Rehearsal Summer 1971" by MIGHTY BABY on Flashback FBLP1002.

CD2 "A Jug Of Love" (72:34 minutes):

1. Jug Of Love [Side 1]

2. The Happiest Man In The Carnival

3. Keep On Juggin'

4. Virgin Spring [Side 2]

5. Tasting The Life

6. Slipstreams

Tracks 1 to 6 are their second and final studio album "A Jug Of Love" - released 6 October 1971 in the UK on Blue Horizon Records 2931 001 (no US release) - Produced by MIKE VERNON and MIGHTY BABY (didn't chart).

BONUS TRACKS

7. Devil's Whisper

8. Virgin Spring

Tracks 7 and 8 are the A&B-sides of a 27 August 1971 UK 7" single on Blue Horizon Records 2096 003. The A-side is non-album while the 7:02 minute B-side "Virgin Spring" is an edited 'Alternative Version' and different to the full LP cut at 9:20 minutes

9. Only Dreaming

10. Dustbin Full Of Rubbish

11. An Understanding Love

12. My Favourite Day

13. A Saying For Today

Tracks 9 to 13 are Demo Recordings recorded in the summer of 1968. Released as The Action - they first appeared on the 1985 UK 5-Track Mini Album "Action Speak Louder Than..." on Dojo Records DOJOLP 3. 

CD3 "A Jug Of Love Rehearsals" (44:44 minutes):

1. Jug Of Love

2. The Happiest Man In The Carnival I

3. The Happiest Man In The Carnival II

4. Virgin Spring I

5. Virgin Spring II

6. Tasting The Life

7. Lazy Days

Tracks 1 to 7 are rehearsals for the "Jug Of Love" album, recorded June 1971

BONUS TRACKS:

8. Christmas Jam

Track 8 is a band jam recorded June 1969 during the making of the Keith Christmas debut album "Stimulus" (RCA Victor Records SF 8059)

9. Egyptian Tomb (Single Version, Mono)

10. I'm From The Country (Single Version, Mono)

Tracks 9 and 10 are non-album versions issued as a German and French 7" single in 1970 on Phillips 6073 900 each in different picture sleeves (both of these rarities are repro'd on Page 37 of the booklet) 

CD4 "Day Of The Soup" - Abandoned Album from 1970 (67:19 minutes):

1. Winter Passes

2. Now You Don't (Part 1)

3. Now You Don't (Part 2)

4. Now You Don't (Part 3)

5. Now You Don't (Part 4)

Tracks 1 to 5 are Olympic Studio demos recorded June 1970 for the potential but abandoned second LP "Day Of The Soup"

BONUS TRACKS:

6. Keep On Juggin' (from "Disco 2" show, 25 July 1970)

7. Now You See It

8. Stone Unhenged

9. Sweet Mandarin (tracks 7 to 9 Live At Lanchester University, March 1970)

Tracks 1 to 5 and 7 to 9 first appeared in 2009 on the 8-track compilation "Live In The Attic" on Sunbeam Records

Track 6 first appeared 2010 on the 8-track compilation "Tasting The Life: Live 1971" on Sunbeam Records

CD5 "Live At Malvern" (66:34 minutes):

1. Egyptian Tomb

2. Trials Of A City

3. Keep On Juggin'

4. Woe Is Me

5. India

6. Goin' Down To Mongoli

Tracks 1 to 6 recorded Live At The Winter Gardens, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, 20 February 1971 - first appeared on the 2010 compilation "Tasting The Life: Live 1971" on Sunbeam Records

BONUS TRACK:

7. Keep On Juggin' (recorded Live at Glastonbury Festival, June 1971) - 2019 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD6 "Live At Glastonbury" (73:42 minutes):

1. Virgin Spring

2. Goin' Down To Mongoli

3. Woe Is Me

4. Lazy Days

5. A Blanket In My Muesli (aka India) (Full Version)

6. Devil's Whisper

Tracks 1 to 6 recorded Live at Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, Somerset, 25 June 1971. A 16-minute edit of "A Blanket In My Muesli" first appeared on the triple-album live set "Glastonbury Fayre - The Electric Store" (Revelation Enterprises REV 3) in April 1972 - here it is presented as a 'Full Version' of 36:25 minutes. Track 4 "Lazy Days" first appeared on the compilation "Tasting The Life: Live 1971" on Sunbeam Records in 2010 - Tracks 1 to 3 and 5 and 6 are 2019 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

MIGHTY BABY was:

IAN WHITEMAN - Vocals, Flute, Saxophone, Organ, Piano, Harmonium and Percussion

MARTIN STONE - Lead and Slide Guitar, Acoustic Guitars and Mandolin

ALAN 'Bam' KING - Guitar and Vocals

MICHAEL EVANS - Bass

ROGER POWELL - Drums and Congas

Guest:

ZAHARA (Susan Archuletta) - Flute on "The Happiest Man In The Carnival" on the "A Jug Of Love" album 

The 40-page booklet with liner notes from DAVID WELLS is a feast even for diehard fans benefitting enormously with hugely detailed extracts from band–member IAN WHITEMAN and his forthcoming biography The Average Whiteman. You get a potted history of THE ACTION and their Mod beginnings through to their discovery of Religion and Drugs and the late Sixties formation of MIGHTY BABY. Page 12 features May 1969 trade adverts for Covent Garden’s Middle Earth venue sporting no-marks like The Byrds, Family, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pink Floyd, Spider John Koerner, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Zoot Money and of course The Action (can't say I'd want to pay five schillings as a member's fee for any of these hairy men acts let alone the guest fee of seven schillings and six pence – an outrageous amount). Page 16 for instance has a promo card from Head Records, London of their grass-lounging five-piece looking suitably in tune with the elements man - whilst the album Acetate and rare Euro Pic Sleeves bring up the final credits pages (the Box Set is dedicated to the memory of Mike Evans and Martin Stone who passed in 2010 and 2016).

The AUDIO is a mixed bag to my ears of fabulous to ordinary in a matter of seconds. The exciting but crudely recorded debut LP was pretty much a live affair – so we're not talking Dark Side Of The Moon here – but the Remaster is ballsy and revelatory. I love the way the guitar-playing feels so hurried and even off-key at times and I'd argue it only adds to the charm and that feeling that MB could go all Hawkwind or Grateful Dead at any moment and goof off into a thirty-minute plus guitar barrage that someone might have to stop by jamming a copy of the I-Ching into the plug-banks. The Acetate and Live Tracks reflect their sources – good without ever being great – but make no mistake - that doesn't stop the non-album outtakes like "Messages" and "Ancient Traveller" being anything other than amazing finds very much in the spirit of the debut LP's sound and class.

While The Kinks' "Arthur..." or The Pretty Things' "S.F. Sorrow" grab all the 50th anniversary plaudits - I'd shout out that Mighty Baby's debut is arguably a better lost classic (heresy ahoy I know). So it's hardly surprising too that the opening number "Egyptian Tomb" has been used on so-many cool compilations - an Eastern influenced message song about the world possibly letting you down. Even now 50 years on, it feels like a fantastic slice of forgotten chugger brilliance - a groove that Kula Shaker or even The Stone Roses would genuflect in front of (we get the stereo album cut at 5:28 minutes and the rare mono single mix too). Their conversion to Islam and the Muslim religion falls out of the lyrics but more in a search for peace and understanding than dictatorial indoctrination. Groovy tunes like "I've Been Down So Long", "Same Way From The Sun" and "House Without Windows" are filled with references to ancient travellers, rain purifying the spirit and anticipating light - while guitars trip over themselves to express Nirvana in a recording studio. "Trials Of The City" is the only nod towards Rock and Roll with its almost early Quo-like boogie whilst the box set title song "At A Point Between Fate And Destiny" is as musically plaintive as its deep-thoughts moniker suggests. Wild guitars, crude recording maybe, but what a fab little album their 1969 debut really is...and that "Egyptian Tomb" b/w "I'm From The Country" Euro 45 combo is going into my forthcoming e-book "Love Me Two Times" with a bullet (singles where both sides are great)...

Two years is a long time in the life of a band in flux and by the time MB reached their second platter in the summer of 1971 – the genre-fusing excitement of the debut was gone with a harsh thud. Unfortunately and despite the playing and production values going up through the roof (a great sounding Remaster) - the change-of-musical-direction to insipid Country Rock for the second album "A Jug Of Love" (produced by a bewildered Mike Vernon) was not well received by the British music press on release 6 October 1971 – and for good reason. One went as far as describing the increasingly stoned hippy adventures of Mighty Baby as 'mighty dull' and frankly he was so on the money. With only six tracks and most of them feeling like sub-Band noodles as the boys stare in wonder at nature and snow and thawing streams (but not awed enough to produce an actual tune) – stuff like "Tasting The Life" and the title track are almost stupefying in their ordinariness. Also whilst the first LP could hide the weakness of the lead vocalists behind grooving rhythms – the acoustic sub-Cochise/Brinsley Schwarz of the second platter exposes them as not being able to carry a tune. Only the slightly trippy tinkering bells and jazz flutes of "The Happiest Man In The Carnival" livens proceedings up on an album that comes as a crushing disappointment after the debut.

Of the extra stuff I love the Grateful Dead excess of "A Blanket In My Muesli" – stretching the live at Glastonbury edit from its Fayre 3LP 16-minute edit to a whopping 36-minute monster. The Acetate album stuff is audio compromised for sure but its still more than acceptable and the four parts of "Now You Don't" suggest that the abandoned Hawkwind-esque second LP "Soup Of The Day" would have been a better move than the anaemic "A Jug Of Love" LP we did end up with. There appears to be no footage of their one and only TV performance on "Disco 2" (a precursor to "The Old Grey Whistle Test") - but at least the 25 July 1970 audio track survived - presented here for the first time.

Alan 'Bam' King joined Paul Carrack, Fran Byrne, Phil Harris and Terry Comer in ACE contributing songs to three albums on Anchor Records in 1974, 1975 and 1977 - Martin Stone and Phil Lithman joined CHILLI WILLI & THE RED HOT PEPPERS for their lone LP "Bongos Over Balham" on Mooncrest Records in 1974 - whilst Ian Whiteman, Roger Powell and Mike Evans joined forces with Jazzers Conrad and Susan Archuletta to form the wildly unsellable Acoustic-Religious Folk-Jazz group THE HABIBIYYA. That cacophonous coven made a lone and truly eccentric album called "If Man But Knew" on Island Records HELP 7 in 1972 - not something you are going to see in Sainsbury’s Top 20 LP racks or hear on Radio 1's Drive Time any day soon (Sunbeam Records put out a 2007 CD Remaster of the album if you're interested).

"At A Point Between Fate And Destiny: The Complete Recordings" by MIGHTY BABY is very much one for the collectors (fans will be thrilled) - whilst newcomers may indeed wonder why all the fuss man. But you have to hand it to Grapefruit Records of the UK who seem to know what us punters want. A classy anthology then of a band many revere to this day and despite the wimpy second album – a clear 'reissue of the year' for me...

"Across The Great Divide: Getting It Together In The Country 1968-74" by VARIOUS (25 October 2019 Grapefruit Records 3CD Box Set of Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...After The Gold Rush..."

Deeply disturbed muso-types like me have been gobbling up truckloads of those natty little 3CD clamshell box sets by England's Grapefruit Records like its Christmas for The Grinch and time once again to spike the oat-bags of Santa's reindeers. Everything I do – I do it for you – Grapefruit keep telling me. And not wanting to upset their obvious passion for Bryan Adams and his Canadian lugnuts – I foolishly believe them.

So when I spotted this newly minted scalp on their release sheets, I got a little Theresa May in the trouser area - hopefully aroused at what's to come (don't get me started on crossing divides, it could get legal). Unfortunately and despite a huge longing within for "Across The Great Divide: Getting It Together In The Country 1968-74" to be the crossover motherlode – too many on each disc is good rather than great (hence the four stars).

But before Bercow and Letwin issue an amendment to the addendum to the appeasement of the Dead Sea obfuscation appendixes (and then call in the thought-police for good measure), let us praise the truly amazing influence Americana has had on Blighty via Bob Dylan, The Band and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. With a monster 64-tracks (four of which are Previously Unreleased), there's a hell of a lot of hip mellow-fellows presented to us here in this still-brill little smoozer, so here goes...

UK released Friday, 25 October 2019 - "Across The Great Divide: Getting It Together In The Country 1968-74" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Grapefruit Records CRSEGBOX061 (Barcode 5013929186101) is a 3CD clamshell box set of 64-tracks that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Teatime On The Trail" (78:32 minutes):

1. Warming Up The Band - HEADS, HANDS & FEET (Non-Album November 1971 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6115, A-side)

2. Cajun Woman - FAIRPORT CONVENTION (from the July 1969 UK LP "Unhalfbricking" on Island ILPS 9102)

3. Home Is Where I Want To Be - MOTT THE HOOPLE (from the March 1971 UK LP "Wildlife" on Island ILPS 9144 - sung by Guitarist Mick Ralphs)

4. Devil's Whisper - MIGHTY BABY (August 1971 UK 7" single on Blue Horizon 2096 003, A-side)

5. Desert Island Woman - CHILLI WILLI & THE RED HOT PEPPERS (from the November 1974 UK LP "Bongos Over Balham" on Mooncrest CREST 21 - the name used for CD 1 "Teatime On The Trail" was the working title for "Bongos Over Balham")

6. Willowing trees - SHAPE OF THE RAIN (from the July 1971 UK LP "Riley, Riley, Wood & Waggett" on RCA Neon NE 7)

7. Abbot Of The Vale - TONY HAZZARD (from the October 1971 UK LP "Loudwater House" on Bronze ILPS 9174)

8. Louisiana Man - THE HOLLIES (not originally issued, recorded September 1969 - first appeared on the November 1988 LP/CD compilation "Rarities" on EMI)

9. Fading - MASON (September 1973 UK 7" single on Dawn DNS 1040, A-side)

10. Sleep Song - UNICORN (from the August 1974 UK LP "Blue Pine Trees" on Charisma CAS 1092)

11. Boy, You've Got The Sun In Your Eyes - OPEN ROAD (from the August 1971 UK LP "Windy Daze" on Greenwich GSLP 1001)

12. Cousin Norman - THE MARMALADE (August 1971 UK 7" single on Decca F 13214, A-side)

13. Clifftop - RICHMOND (from the March 1973 UK LP "Frightened" on Dart ARTS 65371)

14. Lady Came From The South - STARRY EYED AND LAUGHING (from the October 1974 UK LP "Starry Eyed And Laughing" on CBS Records 80450)

15. Oil Fumes And Sea Air - STRAY (from the May 1973 UK LP "Mudanzas" on Transatlantic TRA 268)

16. Redman - RARE BIRD (from the March 1974 UK LP "Born Again" on Polydor 2383 274)

17. The Pie - THE SUTHERLAND BROTHERS BAND (January 1972 UK 7" single on Island WIP 6120, A-side)

18. Touch Her If You Can - MATTHEWS SOUTHERN COMFORT (not originally issued, recorded June 1970, a Dillards cover version - first appeared on the 1991 CD compilation "Orphans & Outcasts - A Collection Of Demos Volume 1" on Dirty Linen CDL 102)

19. Empty Street, Empty Heart - QUICKSAND (October 1973 UK 7" single on Dawn DNS 1046, B-side of "Time To Live")

20. Ooh La La - FACES (from the April 1973 UK LP "Ooh La La" on Warner Brothers K 56011)

Disc 2 "Before The Goldrush" (78:22 minutes):

1. Country Girl - BRINSLEY SCHWARZ (30 October 1970 UK 7" single on Liberty LBF 15419, A-side)

2. When I'm Dead And Gone - McGUINNESS FLINT (October 1970 UK Debut 7" single on Capitol CL 15662, A-side)

3. Roamin' Thru' The Gloamin' With Forty Thousand Headmen - TRAFFIC (February 1968 UK 7" single on island WIP 6030, B-side of "No Face, No Name And No Number" - appeared on their October 1968 second LP "Traffic" simplified to "Forty Thousand Headmen")

4. New Day Avenue - BRONCO (from the June 1971 UK LP "Arc Of Sunlight" on Island ILPS 9161, featured Jess Roden and Robbie Blunt)

5. Try Again - TRANQUILITY (from the January 1972 debut album "Tranquility" on Epic Records EPC 64729)

6. Velvet Mountain - COCHISE (from the July 1970 debut album "Cochise" on United Artists UAS 29177)

7. A Souvenir Of London - PROCOL HARUM (from the March 1973 UK LP "Grand Hotel" on Chrysalis CHR 1037)

8. Cinnamon Girl - THE DEEP SET (Non-Album track, December 1970 Irish 7" single on Target 7N 45018, A-side - cover version of the Neil Young song from his second LP "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere". Guitarist Gus Guest later in Horslips)

9. Day The World Ran Away - STEPHEN JAMESON (from the March 1973 debut album "Stephen Jameson" on Dawn DNLS 3044)

10. I'll Just Take My Time - BYZANTIUM (from the March 1974 privately-pressed LP "Live & Studio" on Byzantium BYZL/S - 100 copies only)

11. It's A Way To Pass The Time - HIGH BROOM (not originally issued, recorded early 1970)

12. Going To The Country - HOLY MACKEREL (from the December 1972 UK debut album "Holy Mackerel" on CBS Records S 65297)

13. Liquor Man - MONTAGE - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (recorded January 1972)

14. Jesus Is Just Alright - SHELAGH McDONALD (not originally issued, recorded February 1970 - first appeared on the 2005 2CD set "Let No Man Steal Your Thyme" on Castle Music CMDDD 1065)

15. We Both Need To Know - GRANNY'S INTENTIONS (from their March 1970 debut and only album "Honest Injun" on Deram SML 1060 in Stereo - album featured Noel Bridgeman and Gary Moore, Moore later with Skid Row, Thin Lizzy a huge solo career)

16. Bye And Bye - HERON (April 1971 UK 7" single EP on Dawn DNX 2509, Track 1 on Side 1)

17. Country Dan And City Lil - TIMEBOX (not originally issued, recorded circa August 1968 - first appeared on the 1998 CD compilation "The Deram Anthology")

18. And A Button - THE SEARCHERS (October 1971 UK 7" single on RCA Victor RCA 2139, B-side to "Love Is Everywhere")

19. Take Me To The Pilot - THE ORANGE BICYCLE (January 1970 UK 7" single on Parlophone R 5827, A-side - a cover of an Elton John song that would appear before his own second LP version on "Elton John" in April 1970)

20. The Jailer - NATURAL GAS - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (Recorded October 1971)

21. So Nice - CURTISS MALDOON (from the October 1971 UK debut album "Curtiss Maldoon" on Purple Records TPS 3501)

22. Million Times Before - JAWBONE (from the June 1970 UK debut LP "Jawbone" on Carnaby CNLS 6004)

Disc 3 "Urban Cowboys" (79:01 minutes):

1. Open The Door - CAROLANNE PEGG (from the April 1973 UK LP "Carolanne" on Transatlantic Records TRA 266 - ex Mr. Fox)

2. Country Comfort - ROD STEWART (from his June 1970 second UK album "Gasoline Alley" on Vertigo 6360 500)

3. Home For Frozen Roses - NORTHWIND (from the August 1971 UK LP "Sister, Brother, Lover..." on Regal Zonophone SLRZ 1020)

4. Nice - BRIDGET ST. JOHN (from her June 1972 third album "Thank You For..." on Dandelion Records 2310 193)

5. Country Road - THE PRETTY THINGS (from the November 1972 UK LP "Freeway Madness" on Warner Brothers K 46910)

6. Home Grown - ANDY ROBERTS (from the March 1970 UK LP "Home Grown" on RCA Victor SF 8086)

7. Sheriff Myras Lincoln - EDWARDS HAND (from the March 1971 UK LP "Stranded" on RCA Victor SF 8154)

8. Circle Round The Sun - MARIAN SEGAL [ex Jade] (not originally issued, recorded 1971 - first appeared in 2017 on the 3CD Box Set "Fly On Strangeways: The Anthology" on Cherry Tree CRTREE021T)

9. Pretty Haired Girl - THE PARLOUR BAND (from the May 1972 UK LP "Is A Friend?" on Deram SD 10)

10. Hello Buddy - THE TREMELOES (June 1971 UK 7" single on CBS Records CBS 7294, A-side)

11. Tallawaya - GREASY BEAR (not originally issued, recorded 1970 - first appeared on the April 2016 Record Store Day LP "Is Adrian There?" limited to 500 copies on Vinyl Revival VL 008)

12. My Name Is Jesus Smith - MAN (from their October 1969 UK second album "2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle" on Dawn DNLS 3003 – featuring guitarists Micky Jones and Deke Leonard)

13. Metropolis - KEITH CHRISTMAS (from the November 1969 UK LP "Stimulus" on RCA Victor SF 8059)

14. Country Heir (Edit) - DEEP FEELING (October 1971 UK 7" single on DJM Records DJS 257, A-side)

15. Johnson Boy - PRELUDE (from the October 1973 UK LP "How Long Is Forever" on Dawn DNLS 3502)

16. Cottage Made For Two - PAUL BRETT'S SAGE (from the July 1971 UK LP "Jubilation Foundry" on Dawn DNLS 3021)

17. See How They Run - DAVE COUSINS [of Strawbs] and DAVE LAMBERT [of Fire, Strawbs] (not originally issued, recorded 1972 - first appeared November 2006 in the 5CD Box Set "A Box Of Strawbs" on Witchwood Media WMBS 2036)

18. Clear Blue Sky - MOTHER NATURE (non-album track, April 1972 UK 7" single on Kingdom KV 8003, B-side of "Once There Was A Time")

19. Dancing Flower - IDLE RACE (from the May 1971 UK LP "Time Is" on Regal Zonophone SLRZ 1017)

20. Wheel Of Fortune - THE ILLUSIONS - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (Recorded November 1969)

21. My Little One - GORDON, ELLIS & STEEL [Rick Gordon, John Steel and Ross Ellis] - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (Recorded 1972)

22. I'll Fly Away - PLAINSONG (not originally issued, short A Cappella version recorded early 1972)

It was Traffic who came up with the notion of 'getting it together in the country' (man) and they did so at Aston Tirrold, a village at the foot of the Berkshire Downs. I mention this because that collector-appealing nugget is the kind of deep-level factoid that peppers every paragraph in the fabulous 44-page booklet - annotated and compiled by the lithesome and obviously well endowed DAVID WELLS. There are rare publicity shots (colour and black and white), album covers and euro pic sleeves for 45s you just don't see every day of the week. The centre pages have a spread of period posters, NME adverts, ticket stubs, gig flyers for The Marquee, Lyceum, Roundhouse and other legendary depositories. For some of us nodding off at a certain age, looking at these multiple band bills is enough to make our pacemakers short-circuit - an October 8th admission fee of 50p to see Quintessence, Heads Hands & Feet, Ian Matthews' Plainsong, Bond & Brown and Supersister (with stalls, food and a bar). Or how about David Bowie, Bridget St. John and the Alan Skidmore Quintet at the Extension Building in Little Titchfield Street near Oxford Circus for ten schillings (what a out-and-out rip off). In fact I think the presentation here and sheer research hours that went into this may warrant awards being handed out come the season...

As you can imagine with such a myriad of audio sources, the SIMON MURPHY mastered sound varies from amazing to really good to acceptable with thankfully not too many downsides in-between. In fact, I found most of kicking. To the tunes...

I can just see the beams on people’s faces as they play the opener "Warming Up The Band" by Heads, Hands & Feet – the kind of early 70ts stand alone single that reminds you of 45-brilliance like "Standing in The Road" by Blackfoot Sue or "Journey" by Duncan Browne – Albert Lee rocking it out in that very British-does-American kind of way. Other CD1 highlights include the Michael Nesmith-produced "Desert Island Woman" by Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers from the album "Bongos Over Balham" (apparently this CD's moniker takes it name for that LP's unused working title). Sheffield's Shape Of The Rain had the press on their side in 1971 but their lone LP on the cult RCA Neon label "Riley, Riley, Wood & Waggett" (the title is each band member's surname) barely registered with the public. But on the strength of Traffic-meets-Badfinger "Willowing Trees" – I think we probably missed a trick there (excellent stuff).

Fresh from providing backing vocals on Elton John's "Tumbleweed Connection" – Tony Hazzard gives us a Bronze Records album named after his Hertfordshire estate (Loudwater House) and a song about his favourite Greene King tipple Abbot Ale (here called "Abbot Of The Vale"). Hookfoot's Guitarist Caleb Quaye is in there as is the Pedal Steel Guitar of Cochise's B.J. Cole along with the girly dulcet tones of Lesley Duncan with Sue & Sunny – all of it combining to give the tune a backwoods feel. Can't say I'm a fan of The Hollies cover of "Louisiana Man" and the Mason track feels like sub Hollies but not in a good way. But then there's Unicorn. Despite great melodies and accomplished tunes, the story of America's Big Star and England's Unicorn unfortunately tread the same public indifference boards. I mention this because Unicorn's "Sleep Song" is the only time they get to shine in this box set, when I'd have included three more including "Electric Night" (two members of the band played on a young Cathy Bush’s demo recordings for God's sake and yet few know how good Unicorn were at melodies). Didn't much care for the terrible vocal on the Open Road cut nor the trite Red Indian ballads by Stray and Rare Bird, but the Ian Sutherland song "The Pie" is a gem that deserves attention and a very smart choice by Wells. And I'm genuinely shocked at how good the Jimmie Davies song "Empty Street, Empty Heart" is for Quicksand – both he and Jeff Hooper layering on the acoustic guitars beautifully (Davies would go on to be in Alcatraz). And even now in late 2019, Ronnie Lane's truly fabulous "Ooh La La" from the Faces fourth and last LP (of the same name) that bookends CD1 makes mincemeat of all that preceded it. Poor old Grandad – gobsmacked and bewildered – his words coming through in a song about the mystery of women that still somehow manages to feel young and so 'British' in that most brill of ways...

Even after near fifty years, the sheer musicality of the October 1970 McGuinness Flint single and album track "When I'm Dead And Gone" raises a smile while the jolly crew of Traffic's "Forty Thousand Headmen" dream of small ships sailing into shore to raid stashed loot. Their are gorgeous guitar strums and swoonsome harmonies in Bronco's disarmingly lovely "New Day Avenue" - ex Band Of Joy guitar-boys Jess Roden, Robbie Blunt and Kevyn Gammond providing the melody. Other highlights on Disc 2 include three rather cool covers - Dublin's Deep Set doing a very cool and punchy riffage-take on Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" (is there any cover of this song that isn't brilliant), Orange Bicycle doing Elton John's "Take Me To The Pilot" proud where they sound like early Frankie Miller (praise indeed) and best of all for me Holy Mackerel coming on some rocking Hollies as they harmonise on The Steve Miller Band's brilliant "Going To The Country". Not a fan though of the sub-Byrds Jawbone, the lightweight Byzantium or Curtiss Maldoon - all pleasant enough but never anything more than that.

Disc 3 opens on what will be a genuinely great find even for us old-fogies and Smart Alec heard-it-all types - another cool cover - Caroline Pegg of Mr. Fox doing the Judy Collins song "Song For Judith (Open The Door)" now shortened to just "Open The Door". Sounding at times not unlike a young Kate Bush, her impressive vocals in the sunshine-when-we're-together song are bolstered up with licks from Heads, Hands & Feet master guitarist Albert Lee (he's pictured on Page 6 of the booklet - see photos provided below) while Keith Nelson from Matthews Southern Comfort adds backing on a Banjo. Rod Stewart shows his uncanny knack in picking a great song and somehow making it his own when he does his turn on Elton John's "Country Comfort" - Ron Wood of the Faces and three members of Silver Metre being his backing band (it was their publishing demo version of EJ's song that RS heard first and not Reggie's). Disappointments on Disc 3 - the Edward Bear track is dull as is the Keith Christmas cut and I'd have chosen maybe "John The Revelator" for Andy Roberts. But the Pretty Things song "Country Road" brings together the talents of two wildly different but much admired pickers - the Pedal Steel Guitar of Gordon Huntley from Matthews Southern Comfort (remember his contributions to the number 1 single "Woodstock") and accompanying maestro supreme Pete Tolson. The early Man cut is a clever melodious choice, "Tallawaya" by the mysterious Greasy Bear too, as is the 36-second A Capella cover of "I'll Fly Away" that Iain Matthews and Andy Roberts in Plainsong brings the disc to an end with it. But for me the real find here is the Prelude track "Johnson Boy" - the band that gave us that gorgeous cover of Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush" (and charted it too). Prelude's album from 1973 "How Long is Forever" on Dawn Records was the kind of LP that used to turn up regularly when people were selling in collections to Reckless back when I was manager there - I'd forgotten about that one...

For sure some may find the overall selection of material to be a teeny weeny bit a let down and with a Gatling gun spread of 64 acts, how could it not be (too many names that didn't make it and for good reason). But make no mistake, there is still so much to wallow in here that's revelatory and the presentation of "Across The Great Divide..." is world-class.

The staggering musical shadow of The Band by way of The Byrds vs. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is quite something to behold (Americana/Country Rock melodies we're still emulating fifty years post). A smart and timely idea for a CD box set and well done to all involved...