Hobbit House Collective - 2 x 7"

 Latest Fruits de Mer double 7” featuring covers of Fleetwood Mac, Led Zep, and a new original track!

 

The latest release from what is surely now a nationally treasured institution. I’m talking of course about the wonderful Fruits de Mer Record label. It’s 14 years since they first pressed music onto vinyl, since when they’ve put out a veritable treasure trove of psychedelia, acid-folk, prog, krautrock and spacerock. Much of it highly collectable, all worth investigating.

The label’s most recent offering is this double vinyl 7” featuring long-time friends of the label, Crystal Jacqueline, Icarus Peel, The Honey Pot and The Locker Room Cowboys. Grouped together as the Hobbit House Collective they’ve put together four tracks that draw from the early ‘70s rock scene. Crystal Jacqueline does a brilliant version of Zep’s ‘Battle Of Evermore’ featuring stellar guest violin from Curved Air’s Darryl Way. Furthering the Zep love-in is The Honey Pot’s take on ‘Ramble On’.

Icarus Peel does a storming version of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, and to round things off there’s an equally impressive original track, ‘Wolfgang Does the Nurburgring’ by The Locker Room Cowboys. The latter is a four-minute instrumental featuring full-on guitar heroics, heavy organ, and conga drum groove. What’s not to like?! 

 

1. Crystal Jacqueline – The Battle Of Evermore (Led Zeppelin)

2. The Honey Pot – Ramble On (Led Zeppelin)

3. Icarus Peel’s Acid Reign – The Chain (Fleetwood Mac)

4. The Locker Room Cowboys – Wolfgang Does the Nurburgring (Icarus Peel) 

 

Click here for the Fruits de Mer website

 

Crystal Jacqueline and The Honey Pot – I Talk To The Wind (Ltd. Colour 2x7”)

Five songs, two pieces of vinyl, one mighty fine release. Wiltshire's finest cover some psych 'n' prog deep cuts.

Another November release for the ever-expanding Fruits de Mer discography is this double 7” from Crystal Jacqueline and The Honey Pot. I'm chuffed to bits because they've chosen to cover one of my personal '60s nuggets. 'Sun Goes Down' was the B-side to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich's 1967 single 'Zabadak'. On the rare occasions I been known to dust down my vinyl and DJ down the local boozer, it's a track that always raises approving eyebrows. Someone always asks to know what it is. Top marks then to Jacqueline and The HP for choosing to cover it. They've done a pretty decent job too. Plenty of heavy reverb on the vocals, nifty guitar work from Icasrus Peel, and a nice groove with ace drum fills in the gaps between the verses and choruses. It'll be in my DJ box next time without a doubt!

Also on this release is a version of Traffic's 'Mr. Fantasy', which honours the original in tempo but has a more textural approach – Mellotron, phasing on the guitars and layered echoed vocals. Neat! They also tackle songs by King Crimson ('I Talk To The Wind'), Rare Bird ('Sympathy') and Tonton Macoute ('Dreams') – all fine versions and very much worthy of your attention. 'Sympathy' in particular carries a much needed contemporary message in it's lyrics. The set closes with an epic eight-minute version of Tonton Macoute's 'Dreams'. I'm not familiar with the original so can't tell you how it differs but suffice to say CJ & The HP's version is a spirited affair full of tension and drama. Another fab FdM release.

TRACKLISTING

1. Mr Fantasy

2. I Talk To The Wind

3. Sun Goes Down

4. Sympathy

5. Dreams

Click here for Crystal Jacqueline on Twitter.

Click here for Fruits de Mer Records.

Various - The Three Seasons

Mind blown! 3LP set celebrating the flowering of late '60s counter-cultural pop!

It can't have escaped your notice that The Beatles are on sale again. This time to mark the 50^th anniversary of the White Album. Originally released in 1968, a year after the dazzling summer-of-love opus Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and a year before they opted to “get back” to their roots by playing a stripped-down adaptation of rock and roll. Now I love the Beatles as much as I ever did but I've long since concluded that Paul McCartney has had quite enough of my cash over the years and I'm not shelling out a chunk of my wages on the boxed set of the White Album, as good as it may be. I'm sure the 102 takes of 'Sexy Sadie' are illuminating in their own way but I won't be investigating further.

A much better way to celebrate the flowering of late '60s counter-cultural pop is via this latest compilation from Fruits de Mer Records. A triple vinyl set featuring the cream of today's psychedelically inclined grass-roots artists covering their favourite tracks from the late '60s. The set is titled The Three Seasons in reference to the the years 1966, 1967 and 1968. It's from these three momentous years that all the tracks are taken. There are big names covered (The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Small Faces, Love and even Neil Diamond), along with the ever fascinating foot-notes from the era (Touch, Family, Made In Sheffield, Don Shinn and more).

There is so much great stuff here it's difficult to know where to begin. Take a look at the tracklisting below to get an idea of what makes this such an amazing collection. I won't go through every track but they're all worth hearing. Standouts for me include The Locker Room Cowboys excellent take on The Stones' 'We Love You', The Past Tense's version of 'Magic In The Air' (originally by The Attack) and Jay Tausig's take of folk standard 'Let No Man Steal Your Thyme' (included here having been covered by Pentangle in 1968).

Suffice to say this is probably the best compilation I've heard all year, I can't recommend it highly enough. Oh and it also features three '60s legends in The Pretty Things, The Electric Prunes and The Yardbirds. So if fiftieth anniversaries are your thing avoid that White Album deluxe box set and opt for this fabulous collection instead. You will not regret it.

Side 1
1. The Past Tense - Magic In The Air (originally by The Attack : recorded in 1967)
2. LoveyDove - Bedazzled (originally by Drimble Wedge and the Vegetations : 1967)
3. Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder - Amelia Jane (originally by Made In Sheffield : 1967)
4. Jack Ellister - Aquarius (originally by The Zodiac:Cosmic Sounds : 1967)
5. Rob Gould - Granny Takes A Trip (originally by The Purple Gang : 1967)

Side 2
1. Mark McDowell and Friends - Up The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire (originally by The Small Faces : 1966)
2. Anton Barbeau – Sunshine Superman (originally by Donovan : 1965)
3. The Electric Prunes - 7 and 7 is (originally by Love : 1966)
4. Moonweevil - Child Of The Sky (originally by The Deviants : 1967)
5. Kris Gietkowski - A-Minor Explosion (originally by Don Shinn : 1966)
6. The Yardbirds - Think About It (live in 2016) (originally by The Yardbirds : 1968)

Side 3
1. The Locker Room Cowboys - We Love You (originally by The Rolling Stones : 1967)
2. King Penguin - White Bird (written : 1967, released by It's A Beautiful Day : 1969)
3. Aunt Cynthia's Cabin - Solitary Man (originally by Neil Diamond : 1966)
4. The Luck Of Eden Hall - Reflected (originally by Alice Cooper : 1968)

Side 4
1. The Honey Pot - Kites (written by Hackaday/Pockriss; recorded by The Rooftop Singers / Simon Dupree and the Big Sound : 1967)
2. Cary Grace - 1983 (A Merman I Should Be...) (originally by the Jimi Hendrix Experience : 1968)

Side 5
1. Sidewalk Society - A Saying For Today (originally by The Action : 1968)
2. Jay Tausig - Let No Man Steal Your Thyme (trad. recorded by Anne Briggs : 1963 / Pentangle : 1968)
3. Magic Bus - Tribal Gathering (originally by The Byrds : 1967)
4. Proud Peasant - Down At Circe's Place (originally by Touch : 1968)
5. Icarus Peel - Beck's Bolero (originally by Jeff Beck Group : 1966)

Side 6
1. The Green Ray - Dusty (originally by John Martyn : 1968)
2. Ex-Norwegian - Winter (originally by Family : 1968)
3. Consterdine - Fly (originally by J.K. & Co : 1968)
4. The Gold Needles - The Smell of Incense (originally by West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band : 1967)
5. The Pretty Things - Loneliest Person (live at the Half Moon, 2010) (originally by The Pretty Things : 1968)

Click here for Fruits de Mer Records.

Fruits de Mer - 10th Birthday Glastonbury All-Dayer (May 12th)

A special day of music, beer, fun and new records!

The Fruits de Mer 10^th birthday all-dayer at Glastonbury's King Arthur pub on May 12^th will no doubt be a fantastic day for those lucky enough to attend. It's already sold-out but you may be able to get a ticket from Ebay. Along with the live music there'll be the opportunity to purchase new and limited items from the increasingly collectable label. Completists will be hoping they don't sell out there and then so keep an eye on the FdM website for any left-over stock. Here's a round-up of the new vinyl that will be on sale in the vale...

Tir na nOg – Hall Of Mirrors - lathe-cut 7” (90 copies only)

Could there be a more fitting act to be playing on the mystic Vale of Avalon on a beautiful spring day? Answer – no. Tir na nOg will have this delightful 7” available on the day. It features two tracks – 'Columbine' has lyrics taken from a 1920s fantasy novel Lud-in-the-Mist, and tells the tale of what happens when you eat mind-altering fruit. The other side is a cover of 'Hall Of Mirrors' by Sweeney's Men.

Moonweevil – Vertical Tide - LP + CD (160 copies)

Rob Appleton is the keyboard player in progressive rockers Cranium Pie. Having recently moved to Austria, he's been creating instrumental library music. This thoroughly captivating LP is an extension of that work. Though more “out there” and experimental. A hot one folks! Grab a copy if you can before the price goes through the roof on Discogs.

The Honey Pot / Icarus Peel's Acid Reign – Silver Diamonds/Half Space - lathe-cut 5” single (80 copies)

Both bands playing on the day, and here taking a side each of a split 5” single. The Honey Pot's contribution was specially written for the gig/single and is even more meta in that it celebrates previous FdM events. 'Half Space', the track from Icarus Peel's Acid Reign, is described by Peel as “a bongo freak-out with the potential to be lengthened at some point”. Until then this 5” version will do nicely. It comes housed is a special tin. Perfect for damage limitation at an all-dayer! Floppy hats off to Fruits de Mer once again!

Click here for the Fruits de Mer website

Click here for Tir na nOg

Click here for Moonweevil

Click here for The Honey Pot/Icarus Peel's Acid Reign

Icarus Peel - Forget-Me-Not Under Pussy Willow

Conceptual village wyrdness among the rolling hills!

A concept album about an undertaker and a gang of London villains set in a village between the Cotswolds and Milton Keynes! Yep you heard right. The leader of The Honey Pot and musical collaborator with Harmonic Distortion favourite Crystal Jacqueline has concocted a song suite set in a fictional English village. A seemingly normal world but scratch beneath the surface and the strangeness of old Albion soon reveals itself. Packed from start to finish with the sort of pastoral eccentricity that went out of fashion when Mr. Barrett retreated to suburban Cambridge, this album was apparently written as a bet. The nature of that bet may not be known but the resulting LP means everyone wins.

No-one would make the claim for Icarus Peel as being a great singer, his voice more suited to teaching geography than selling a song but that matters not and indeed is almost the point, with the songs all delivered in a straight, English folk story-over-style manner. Shifting between gentle psychedelia, acoustic ballads and soft spacey rock, this is a strange album for an even stranger year and a great tonic when the real world's ugliness is too much.

Available on limited edition black vinyl (250 copies) and as a 4 CD set housed in a handmade individually numbered wooden box.

Click here for Icarus Peel on Facebook.

Click here for Mega Dodo Records.

Games For May 2016 – The Half Moon, Putney, Sunday 29th May

This month's hot gig ticket! Bank holiday psych all-dayer! Four live bands and a mini record fair!

You have to love the month of May in merry old England! The sun and heat has finally arrived, there's not one but two Bank Holidays, the festival season is just around the corner, and it's also time Games For May, the all-day music event that's become a must-attend for any self-respecting psych fan. Jointly hosted by Fruits de Mer Records and Mega Dodo Records

As well as the four live bands appearing, (Sendelica, Magic Bus, The Honey Pot and Soft Hearted Scientists. More on those below), there'll also be a mini record fair with lots of rare and exclusive items from both labels and all the bands. Worth spending the day indoors I'd say!

All legitimate ticket holders will receive some free items on entry including a 4-CD set featuring the four bands along with a bonus CD of acoustic guitar instrumentals by Scott William Urquhart.

One of the exclusive records for sale will be a rather wonderful lathe-cut 8” (yes that's eight inch vinyl!) tribute to David Bowie. It features Cary Grace doing Black Country Rock and Sound And Vision which segues into Consterdine's version of Sound And Vision. Only 50 copies are up for grabs so get 'em while they're hot as they say. (Or spend a week's wages tracking one down on Discogs!)

Here's more about the 4 bands - 

Sendelica

Welsh Spacerockers. Their epic new album Cromlech Chronicles is out next week. We'll be running a review soon! Their contribution to the 4-CD set is an exclusive mix of highlights from their 10 years of music making. Check out their recent Ziggy Stardust 7".

Magic Bus

The Canterbury sound re-imagined in Devon. Pastoral prog at its finest. Their first single for Fruits de Mer came out last year. Let's hope there's more releases soon.

Soft Hearted Scientists

Favourites here at HD,Soft Hearted Scientists are set to release their 7^th long player Golden Omens in July. If you're not familiar with them, get that rectified! Games For May will be the band's debut London appearance. 

The Honey Pot

Flagship band for Mega Dodo Records, featuring Crystal Jacqueline on vocals. The band will be promoting tracks from Jacqueline's newly released Morning Dew EP.

Unfortunately I'm unable to attend but you should! Tickets from the link below. Don't hang about!

Click here to purchase tickets online.

Click here for the Fruits De Mer Records website.

Click here for the Mega Dodo website.