Tag Archives: folk

70s, MUSIC PAST, progressive, psychedelia, rock, UK

mighty baby

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Mighty Baby
Mighty Baby – debut album artwork

Formerly known as The Action, this Mod band from London’s Kentish Town were reputedly the best band George Martin signed to the EMI label in the mid-Sixties.

As the musical landscape changed towards the latter half of the decade though, so did The Action, adopting more of a ‘West Coast’ psychedelic approach to their music. However, their deal with EMI was terminated prior to their last planned single could be released.

They continued recording various demos under the new guise of Azoth, these only finally being released in 1985 by Castle, as a mini-album, ‘Action Speaks Louder Than Words.’

Months of hard touring resulted in them finally signing to the small independent Head label in 1969 at which time they took on the name Mighty Baby.

Their debut, eponymous album was recorded but as so often seemed to have happened, the label went bust before any formal UK release – although a deal had been signed with Chess Records in USA who did make some copies available.

Suffice to say, copies of this album are pretty rare and exchange hands for several hundred pounds.

The album itself is a mix of quiet folk infused psychedelic tracks mixed with blues rock and prog rock, the highlight being, for me, the opening track on side one: ‘Egyptian Tomb,’ with its distinctive ‘eastern’ psychedelic sound.

Mighty Baby sound a quintessentially British ‘hippie’ type band, featuring a flute and sax, but not averse to breaking out into heavy riffs and rocking, boogie interludes.

Counting ex-Savoy Brown guitarist Martin Stone and future Ace founder Alan King in their number, they could also turn their hand to some excellent blues numbers like the following, ‘I’ve Been Down So Long.’

Continuing with the hard gigging ethos that brought them to this point, Mighty Baby spent the next two years on the Festival circuit and playing numerous radio and studio sessions. (They were the closing act on the first day of the famous Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.)

1971 saw the culmination of all this hard work with the release of the band’s second, and final album, ‘A Jug Of Love.‘ By this time, several members had turned to the Muslim faith, and the album, being more tranquil and wistful than their debut seems to reflect their new outlook on life.

Despite the critical acclaim, the album failed to shift in any great number and in autumn 1971, the band were forced to call it a day.

Mighty Baby

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MIGHTY BABY

Alan King – Guitar / Vocals
Martin Stone – Lead Guitar / Slide Guitar
Michael Evans – Bass
Ian Whiteman – Flute / Organ / Sax / Piano / Percussion / Vocals
Roger Powell – Drums

TITLEFORMATYEARLABELNOTES
Mighty BabyLP1969Head
A Jug Of LoveLP1971Blue Horizon

MUSIC PAST, psych, psychedelia, rock, USA

Stone Harbour

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Stone Harbour

Stone Harbour were a duo from Ohio who typified the DIY ethos of rock’n’roll in 1974 with the original release of their now critically acclaimed album, ‘Emerges.‘

Aspiring songwriter and multi-instrumentalist writer, Ric Ballas owned a 4-track reel to reel recorder; singer songwriter Dave McCarty could also play a bit on drums. Additionally, he had ‘a pleasant voice’ and so between them, with all bases covered, they began to write collaborate in writing some music and recording.

Though their equipment was not exactly state of the art, they recorded a few songs to tape – more or less all in one take, with the occasional over-dub.

These recordings were taken to the Peppermint Productions studio in Youngstown, Ohio where they were mixed down to two-track. The aim was these tracks would form a demo that the lads could hawk around to impress and recruit others to join their band.

Most players didn’t have reel-to reel facilities, however, so Ric decided to have five hundred copies of the resultant tracks transferred onto vinyl – this was the minimum run amount.

With their very limited budget now blown, Ric sketched a few picture, had it reproduced five hundred times and then pasted them to cardboard jackets.

And that was about it. A full, live and touring band did come about. They played to mixed responses and after a couple of years, disbanded. (A follow-up album was partially recorded, but the studio was destroyed by fire, and the master tape with it.)

But as happens so often with these ‘lost’ LPs, somebody somewhere is impressed, word gets around, and original copies become sought after treasures. A copy of this sold on Discogs for over £1000 last year!

The music is varied in nature, ranging from folky psychedelia to rock-out proto grunge style. It’s pretty lo-fi in nature, but has a real innocent charm about it.

The album has been re-leased, most recently by Geurssen Records’ Out-Sider imprint. Definitely one to check out.

Stone Harbour

RELEASES BY STONE HARBOUR

TITLEFORMATLABEL RELEASE YEARNOTES
EmergesLPStone Harbour Records1974Original pressing of 500. Copies known to sell for up to £1000+
70s, MUSIC PAST, psychedelia, UK

twink.

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Twink – 1970 (Photo by Paul Welch.)

Twink (real name John Alder, though I believe he converted to Islam around sixteen years ago and is also known as Mohammed Abdullah) has played integral parts in two of my favourite bands, The Pretty Things and The Pink Fairies. I’ll get to them both at some point, I’m sure, but it’s as a solo artist he’s celebrated here.

John Alder, as he was simply known as at that time, started drumming for local Colchester R&B band Dane Stephens & The Deep Beats in 1963. On signing a deal with Decca, they changed their name to The Fairies and cut three singles, each of which are now well sought after.

Following the ban’d split, John joined The Santa Barbara Machine for a while, before drumming for the third line-up of The In Crowd who would soon morph into Tomorrow.

It was with Tomorrow, one of UK’s foremost psychedelic bands of the era, that John (having by now adopted the nom de stage of ‘Twink,’) began to make a name for himself. (This was the band that featured future Yes guitarist Steve Howe and Keith West – he of he legendary ‘Excerpt From a Teenage Opera‘ which reached #2 in the UK singles chart in August 1967.)

Sadly, for all their Swinging Sixties ‘cred,’ Tomorrow didn’t last out the psychedelic era and disbanded in April 1968. Twink the formed Aquarian Age a psychedelic band featuring Nicky Hopkins who would go on to play piano with so many bands, most notably perhaps The Rolling Stones.) They released just one single in the UK, ‘10,000 Words in a Cardboard Box,’ a reworking of which appeared on Twink‘s solo album ‘Think Pink‘ and is showcased below.

As seemed to be the pattern, Twink’s involvement with a band didn’t last very long and when Aquarian Age folded, he was on the move again.

By chance, and by being conveniently available at just the right time, he was asked to join The Pretty Things for a gig in Germany …. he remained with the band for about eighteen months!

During that spell with The Pretty Things, Twink was approached by Seymour Stein, the founder of Sire Records, with a view to recording a solo album. And so it was in 1970, using some experimental demos and an unpublished Aquarian Age track – ‘Tiptoe On The Highest Hill‘ – the wonderful ‘Think Pink‘ album was born, with the help of Mick Farren (The Deviants) and close pal, Steve Peregrine Took (ex- Tyrannosaurus Rex.)

In fact, those three were the early incarnation of The Pink Fairies, though after a disastrous start to their gigging career, Twink dispensed with his two friends’ services and hired the remaining Deviants players: Paul Rudolph (guitar); Russell Hunter (drums) and Duncan Sanderson (bass.)

And the rest, as they say, is history – I’m sure I’ll come back to The Pink Fairies somewhere down the line, here on Loud Horizon!

Although Twink released only one solo album, it’s an absolute belter! My copy of ‘Think Pink‘ is actually a Limited Edition repressing on the Akarma label and includes a second LP, ‘Sound of Silk: Demos & Rarities’ which is also on pink vinyl,

The two albums are an amazing mix of psychedelia, poetry and tales of fairies and Gandalf! The musical experimentation includes; tortured wailing; hypnotic drumming; scratchy guitar; chanting; conventional rock music and just about everything early Seventies, tripped out hippy culture could throw at it!

It truly is glorious – not a duff track in sight. Or sound.

Definitely a favourite in my collection.

RELEASES BY TWINK.

TITLEFORMATLABELRELEASE YEARNOTES
Think PinkLPPolydor1970Original copies of first pressing have sold for up to £600.