Issue #18 Extra!: Reissues
Hawkwind - “Golden Void 1969-1979”
Marillion - "Misplaced Childhood
Marillion - “Clutching at Straws”
St Mikael – “Visions Of the Unknown”
St Mikael – “Visions Of the Unknown”
(Gallium Arsenide GaAs 2504, 1982/96/1997, CD)
Amateur psych, like the two reissued titles here by Swedish musician
St Mikael, is not flattered by the CD medium. The effect-lavished,
drivel-through-a-tunnel sound that these types of garage projects
produce sound better to me when surrounded by the symphony of pops
and crackles of vinyl. Without this sort of protection, one can be
distracted by the poor recording equipment to the detriment of the
music. As badly recorded, and sometimes as badly played as these
two albums, “Visions Of A Trespasser” and “The Unknown,” are, they
retain the unique charm of late 60’s acid rock and acid folk, in
that really bad Bevis-Frond-on-a-bad-day songs can be combined with
moments of startling brilliance and clarity. St. Mikael obviously
has listened to a lot of the early psychedelic rock and folk artists,
as this album sounds like a mixture of the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix,
Donovan, Buffalo Springfield, Spirit, Bob Dylan, and Pink Floyd.
Often, it’s just St. Mikael with acoustic guitar and vocals, letting
the simplicity speak for itself, but the better moments come when
surrounded by a full band, such as the addition of P. Sjoblom and
J. Lachen on “Calling The Djinn” from “Visions of a Trespasser.”
The bonus tracks added to both discs are of far less interest,
sounding even more primitive whether drugged blues or an off-key
crooner. “The Unknown” culls from a wider time period, and it is
even less coherent than “Visions.” There are great guitar freak-outs
mixed with echoing folk songs, all reverbed and tweaked out, but
often the playing is plain and sometimes extremely poor. A short
CD of the best tracks between these two would probably have been
more interesting; one really has to wade through a lot to get to
the good parts on these basement tapes. – Mike McLatchey
Marillion - “Clutching at Straws”
(EMI 72430 498611 2 1, 1987/1999 CD)
This EMI reissue has given me an opportunity I thought was long past:
to review what I consider to be Marillion’s finest moment. When I first
discovered Marillion, I was dying for something new to listen to. Sure,
they weren’t exactly original, but with each successive
album I was convinced they shed that comparison and emerged as a unique
and original band (attested to by all the “Marillion clones” that followed).
Marillion merged the lyrical and complex sound of old Genesis
with the power and pomp of the 80’s version. While the band was certainly
an able bunch, the singer known as Fish was the defining element. Fish
could unleash a stream of words that combined both the soul of the poet
with the delivery of the Shakespearean actor. “Clutching at Straws” is a
blatant self-portrait filled with lyrical brilliance and cute innuendo of
excess. You really didn’t need the booklet to sense the band was in trouble.
In following with the other excellent reissues, 1987’s “Clutching at Straws”
is now 24 bit (the obnoxious purple border tells you so), digitally remastered
and reissued with an entire disc of bonus tracks and comprehensive liner notes
by the players in the drama that was to become the end of Marillion. I really
don’t need to say much about the album except buy it. If two seconds of “Hotel
Hobbies” doesn’t convince you, what else can I say? The second disc contains
“alternative” versions of “Incommunicado” and “Going Under,” the excellent
B-side “Tux On,” a very different version of “White Russians,” and “Sugar Mice.”
The remaining seven tracks are the demos from the band’s next album which, of
course, never happened-or did it? My viewpoint is this: These sessions
allowed both parties to release one more mini-masterpiece-Fish’s “Vigil in
the Wilderness of Mirrors” and Marillion’s “Seasons End.” It’s in these crude
and inferior demo recordings that we hear the origins of that legacy. The music
from “Beaujolais Day” becomes the outstanding “Season’s End”; “Story
from a Thin Wall” is an odd track with the lyrics of Fish’s “Family Business”
combined with the music of “Berlin”; and “Tic-Tac-Toe” becomes “State of Mind.”
These early sparks show the creative process at work; however, they’re not lost
gems. Only “Exile on Princess Street” really rises and grabs you, and it would
have made a great album cut. This reissue is a must for the fan and if you’ve
never heard “Clutching at Straws” before, here’s your chance. If this is Neo,
Neo rules! - Dane Carlson
Marillion - "Misplaced Childhood"
(EMI 7243 497034 2 1 CD 1985/1998)
Marillion’s opus “Misplaced Childhood” is about as perfect a specimen
of the neo-progressive genre as you’ll find. I am no adherent of this
often-maligned and badly-defined brand of accessible symphonic rock,
but back in the 80’s before the advent of the CD medium, there were
slim pickings, and this title, which spawned big hit Song “Kayleigh,”
did the job nicely. In retrospect, the album rings painfully nostalgic.
After one relisten, I had the chorus to “Heart of Lothian” replaying
in my head for two weeks, enough to prevent me from yet another repetition
(well, at least it wasn’t “Kayleigh”). Anyway, if you read Expose, you
know that describing this title would be akin to describing “Nursery Cryme”
or “Dark Side of the Moon.” This reissue is a nicely remastered version
of the album with a second disc including alternate versions, B sides, and
an early demo version of the album. The latter, while quite interesting,
is mostly redundant, and the B sides don’t hold a candle to the gems
produced around “Script for A Jester’s Tear,” making the second disc
dead weight to anyone but the ardent Marillion fan. Overall, this album
is an ideal introduction to the Prog 101 student, but, regardless of
its status as a neo-progressive classic, it’s going to be old hat to
most readers and dispensable to those with more experimental tastes,
particularly due to the high lyric-to-instrumental ratio. –
Mike McLatchey
Hawkwind - “Golden Void 1969-1979”
(Purple Pyramid CLP 0471-2, 1979/1999, CD)
Hey look, it’s another Hawkwind compilation! I hope they got paid
for this one. For your information, the band is as unhappy as the
fans about the crop of Hawkwind reissue albums that pop up, always
with the same damn songs. Fear not! “Golden Void 1969-1979” is a
collection of EPs from the late 70’s of material from the Flicknife
label (most unreleased to CD as yet). You get the “Hawkwind Zoo” EP
featuring two tracks from 1969, the folksy “Hurry on Sundown,” and
a taste of things to come with “Sweet Mistress of Pain.” The “Sonic
Assassins” EP features tracks from the 1977 tour of the same name.
“Over the Top” and “Freefall” are excellent Calvert spoken-word songs.
It’s a nice little glimpse of the band live. The “Earth Ritual Preview”
EP from 1983 brought Lemmy back into the fold for “Night of the Hawks.”
Also on this set is the great 12” version of “Valium 10” and the
hard-to-find B-side “Time of... (The Hawklords).” Also appearing
is a nice instrumental version of “Kings of Speed” which I had never
heard before, and awesome live versions of “Spirit of the Age” and
“Robot” from the “Friends and Relations” albums. Official Hawkwind
chronicler Brian Tawn provides the liner notes, giving this nice
gold-disc collection a stamp of legitimacy, as does the 30-minute
Dave Brock interview appearing at the end of disc two. I would
highly recommend this to Hawkfans, but I don’t think this would
be the place to start for the unfamiliar. - Dane Carlson