Heaven - Brass Rock 1 (1971 England). I first ran into “Brass Rock 1″ at a local record convention sometime in the mid 1980s. It was a double album and featured an extraordinary multi-foldout cover of a totem pole. With the long tracks and expanded lineup, I figured it would be right up my alley. It was only a few bucks, so I decided to take a chance. And it was indeed up my alley, except it wasn’t what I expected. This wasn’t a typical 1970s progressive rock album. In fact, the only album I had like it back then, were the early Chicago Transit Authority albums. But Heaven were different from CTA as well. The compositions were more complicated, and the horn section was more diverse (Heaven featured a 5 piece horn section verse Chicago’s three). There really aren’t any pop tracks on Heaven, the closest they get to “normal” rock were the more blues influenced numbers. And even those were because of the vocalist, who sounded like he drank an entire fifth of scotch minutes before the recording. Almost without exception, each track features lengthy instrumental bits, with quite a bit of horn interplay, changes of meter, dynamic shifts, the whole nine yards. And, maybe best of all in the horn rock genre, a wild guitarist who does his best to attack the wah wah pedal during the solo sections ala Terry Kath. Heaven could mellow out too, and weren’t afraid to mix an acoustic guitar / flute number to set the mood. Since that time of stumbling onto Heaven, I’ve discovered many more horn rock bands, including the UK variety of a US original. Other than maybe Brainchild, Heaven is the most developed and, for my tastes at least, the best England has to offer in the brass rock genre. Heaven is wilder than Brainchild, but they do miss that band’s touch for crafting magical melodies. It wasn’t until 2008 that a legit CD arrived, from the always great Esoteric label, complete with unique liner notes, and the booklet features a poster recreation of the amazing original cover. Highly recommended package overall.
Galliard - New Dawn (1970 England). Super horn rock band that was once known as the British Blood Sweat and Tears, though from my perspective, Galliard were more thoughtful in the same way that Brainchild and Heaven are. Chicago Transit Authority and some of the late 60s UK progressive scene, like early Jethro Tull for example, seem to also weigh in. “New Dawn” features a lengthy sitar driven rock raga as well. I haven’t heard “Strange Pleasure” yet, but will get to it shortly. Looks like these albums have been booted many times. Hopefully Esoteric will take this one on as well, now that they’ve done Heaven’s “Brass Rock I”.
Poliphony - s/t (1973 England). Very nice instrumental jazz psych record. Not too far from some of the Italian film library bands like Fourth Sensation or Psycheground or even the UK group Hungry Wolf. Some nice fuzz leads and flute. Also some jazz-tone guitar and plenty of Rhodes. I think a little more fire in the belly would have lead to a tier 1 olbum, but it’s still close. Well worth seeking out and would make a nice candidate for a CD reissue. Not to be confused with the more well known US band Polyphony.