staffer Jeffrey Bowen, co-writes the most outré selections, notably ‘Little Ole Country Boy’ – which kicks the shit out of shit-kicking C&W – and the remarkable ‘Silent Boatman’, best of the many “What the fuck?!” moments on an album generously overstocked with them. Bagpipes and harp meet testifying soul vocals? Why ever not. Seven fine bonus tracks are included, of


which the funk-in-space schizophrenia of ‘Loose Booty’ and the sticky shadowboxing of ‘Red Hot Mama’ are standouts. Marco Rossi


SUSAN PILLSBURY Susan Pillsbury Sunbeam CD www.sunbeamrecords.com


Listen in hushed awe to the crystalline beauty of the third track on this 1973 LP and it’s not hard to believe that Susan Pillsbury is now a


United Methodist Minister. Like many of the best songs here, ‘Heaven’ exudes simplicity and earthiness and yet is suffused with an ache for elsewhere, and a soaring skywards longing. In the great glut of post-Joni Mitchell


Laurel Canyon/hippie goddess records, this one is truly something special. A hitherto unheralded genius LP of very dark and quirky country/folk-pop with an edge and a half and a cracked and dirty little girl lost kind of vocal, it’s torn me up on every single listen since I first sourced a copy of the original album. The accompanying booklet features an


insightful interview and the five bonus tracks, recorded a few years later are almost gothic in their eerie country emptiness. Haunting and essential. Hugh Dellar


RAMASES The Glass Coffin Esoteric CD www.esotericredordings.com Naming yourself after an Egyptian Pharaoh and your co-vocalist/ wife after Selket the


Egyptian goddess of cures, decking yourselves out in antique exotic garb and crafting a distinctive line in cosmic


melancholia might not have been the most obvious route for commercial success. But so it was with Ramases AKA Martin Raphael, former army PT instructor from Sheffield. Originally released on Vertigo in 1975 as


the long awaited sequel to his ’71 debut Space Hymns, this first time CD release of The Glass Coffin reveals something of a lost masterpiece. With ambitiously widescreen arrangements featuring members of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and The London Symphony Orchestra who augment Ramases and Selket’s more conventionally dimensioned studio band, the visionary space-psych flavour that radiates through the songs on The Glass Coffin guarantees its continued status as a cult treasure. Grahame Bent


BUFFY SAINTE MARIE Soldier Blue: The Best Of The Vanguard Years Vanguard CD www.acerecords.co.uk


Ho hum, another compilation. What purpose it actually serves (except making DJing easier) I fail to grasp, but the Buffster’s on tour


again, plugging new product, so I suppose it helps to familiarise prospective buyers with the catalogue. Or part of it. Still, at least the music is brilliant. You can’t


argue with the redemptive beauty of ‘He’s An Indian Cowboy In The Rodeo’ or ‘I’m Gonna Be A Country Girl Again’ (a categorisation only hinting at her capabilities), and no country artist has ever captured the strangeness and surrealism of the West the way she did, as ‘God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot’ from the psychedelic masterpiece Illuminations demonstrates. Her best known song may be by


someone else, but the tracklist is proof of how much she contributed – and how much you’ll recognise – which adds up to a worthwhile investment (unless you’ve got her albums already). Like I said, ho-hum, another compilation. Darius Drewe Shimon


THE SHADOWS Shades Of Rock RPM CD www.cherryred.co.uk


Eight years after they were the biggest band in Britain, Hank and co teamed up with Hammond maestro Alan Hawkshaw for this 12-tracker of


contemporary and rock ’n’ roll standards. The Shads plus The Hawk? Wow, bring it


on! Alas, it gives me zero pleasure to agree with Brian Bennett’s verdict of their attempt to catch up with the times – it’s “dreadful”. This comes across as one of those car boot


Happy Hammond Hits Of Today efforts – a genre I normally revel in. Recorded in a padded cell, the musicianship is as soulless as it is competent. The vibe is that which would grace British ‘tec shows throughout the ’70s (but don’t let that tempt you). The lone gem is the sole bonus cut, ‘Scotch On The Socks’, recorded four years previously. Hank plays Keef – I love the idea, but it


doesn’t work. Buy instead the magnificent Mo’Hawk album, assuming you already own a Shadows’ Greatest Hits. Vic Templar


SOUL CHILDREN There Always Shout CD www.shoutrecords.co.uk


For lovers of Southern soul, the Soul Children will forever be Stax children. It was at 926 East McLemore Avenue that they formed and recorded


their biggest hits. However, as the doors of Soulsville were slammed shut by the IRS, the


NECROMANDUS Orexis Of Death/Live Rise Above Relics 2-CD/LP www.riseaboverecords.com


Hailing from Cumbria’s much trodden Lake District, and more famous for being “mates of Black Sabbath”,


Necromandus’ unreleased (at the time, shelved by Vertigo) sole album sees a long- awaited remastered and revamped release on CD and vinyl. Coupled with a Live At Blackpool set, a booklet rich in unseen photos and meticulous sleeve notes (plus first takers of the vinyl offering get a repro acetate and “mega” booklet!), Rise Above have set a benchmark for UK reissue labels. On hearing Orexis, my first thoughts are


“Why in the fuckhole did Vertigo decide to shelve such a remarkable album”? It oozes Vertigocity – shamelessly kicking Sabbath


vocal quartet, now reduced to a trio after the departure of Shelbra Bennett, signed with Epic in 1975 and cut two first-rate albums in two years. This package contains both Finders Keepers and Where Is Your Woman Tonight, released on CD for the first time. Whereas the Don Davis-produced Finders


Keepers continues where ’74’s Friction left off with a slickly, polished mixture of string-and- horn-arranged gospel-soul ballads and uptempo funky numbers, their undervalued follow-up sets the pulse racing. Back with Stax mentor David Porter producing, the trio get down and take it to the church on a handful of gritty, deep soul ballads, including the excellent title track, before dancing their heartache away at the disco. Alan Brown


ZAKARRIAS Zakarrias Cherry Tree CD www.cherryred.co.uk


The sole album by Zakarrias – AKA “very odd Austrian bloke” Bobby Haumer – is one of the most collectable but curiously unloved


artefacts in the prog canon. Originally released – listlessly and covertly – by Deram in 1971, Zakarrias headed directly towards obscurity without so much as doffing its hat en route, but that selfsame obscurity now works in the album’s favour: one chap recently forked out more than $1,000 for a copy.


While you’d have to be moonstruck to


suggest that Zakarrias is worth even a tenth of that in real terms, it’s still rather more endearing than its flat reputation implies. Haumer’s insular, funk-indebted and bass-led riffs have worn well – possibly due to the album’s eschewal of squalling lead guitar – while his vocals resemble a less castrato Geddy Lee. What remains is stylishly stripped-down and discreetly melodious stoner-rock, heard to best advantage in the loose groove of ‘Who Gave You Love’ and ‘Cosmic Bride’ with its stern fanfare of strings. Marco Rossi


and Uriah Heep’s arses with some high octane, chugging proto-metal, added to celestial 2nd Of May style acoustic-driven stints – floating psych of the highest order. Not to mention the underpowered Townsend lead/rhythm guitar flourishes, which indicates that somebody in their fold had ingested Tommy live! Orexus has a distinct jazzy/progressive edge, reminiscent of Yes and King Crimson, but without the protraction. In a strange way it reminds me of the Steve Howe and Bodast recordings, only there’s a lot more meat on the bone! Live, Necromandus do not disappoint. This


set features heavier interpretations of album tracks, plus the occasional work reflecting the plight of “a mate whose joint rolling technique is stacked in one’s favour”. A cracking set, just the ticket for the cross-legged, trench coat clad minions – eyes clenched shut, nodding, digging. Vertigo really dropped the baton with this


one. Thankfully those kind folks at Rise Above have picked it up. Louis Comfort-Wiggett


65


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