Odd Music

The year's a bit wrong here as it's the year of the compilation, as the Fairies only survived for a few years at the beginning of the 1970s. This compilation covers their three(?) albums.

I bought this a few years back because I saw them on a reunion in some dodgy warehouse in Leeds as part of the support for Hawkwind (back in, gosh let me see... 1987 I think). As far as music goes, well they're a bit of a mismash of styles really some really good 1970s heavy rock, some pretty good/obscure hippy stuff and some, well how would you describe a song entitle "Pigs of Uranus"?

I'd only recommend this kind of stuff to those people who like a bit of 1970's non-mainstream-hippy-oriented-rock! The highlights for me are "The Snake", "City Kids" (composed by Larry Wallis, which is why it appears on a couple of early Motorhead albums) and "Heavenly Man".

For me it's good to have this sort of stuff in my collection, because when I don't know what I want to listen to, something a touch odd-ball like this is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. And today whilst working away it was indeed!

I have a love hate relationship with "The Hottest Band in the World..." KISS. Most of their stuff is (IMO) dreadfull US rock, but once or twice they put out something of real quality. Notwithstanding a lot of their cheesie stuff, they do (did?) put on a pretty amazing live show. Anyhow I digress...

"The Elder" is one of those albums that is (I think) almost universally hated by all KISS fans. And from what I recall was one of those albums that the band just wishes they'd never started... But for me, it's by far my most favorite of their albums.

The album itself is a concept album (the first thing that doesn't sit well for a KISS album!) about a boy's right of passage into manhood, within a sword and sorcery world (the second thing that doesn't sit well - it's not about girls!).

And I think the album works really quite well, okay I've a soft spot for concept albums and the sword and sorcery (I grew up in a world of D&D playing during my formative years!). Most of the songs are pretty standard rock, crafted with a fair amount of KISS-polish.

The highlights are many but probably the best are "Odyssey", "Mr Blackwell" and "Escape from the Island". I really like "Escape..." which is an instrumental (a what?), but what really makes it is that it's really high energy and without any of the trademark cleches you'd expect from an instrumental - it's how KISS would do one.

Oh this is a good one. Some of my most favorite of CDs/music come from my "formative" period and this is one of those. A long time back (no not in 1977, more like 1984/5 I think) I had to resit my French O-level and my French teacher gave me and another lad (also resitting) some additional lessons at his house on Sunday afternoons. It must have worked because I passed it second time around! Anyhow, the relationship during these additional tutorials was more akin to college tutorials than school pupil/teacher stuff, and about half way through our stint Mr B brought this album out and lent it to me. I loved it and had it on a C-90 tape (with some MSG on the other side methinks) and played it to death. Since then the tapes obviously died, but I decided to get this on CD. And here it is.

It's a less would be more CD, because the original album is blindingly brief, so they've packed it with another 9 tracks that I could have done without. But the main course (tracks 1 - 9) are truly amazing.

Eddie... is a classic 1970's punk band with rock tendencies. They've got about three riffs and three different speeds. But some how manage to make each of the tracks refreshingly unique. The three tracks of real note are "Do Anything You Wanna Do" (a real fist raiser), "Life on the Line" (bit of an anthum about drugs) and "Beginning of the End" (sort of an angry young man at the world song). But the whole thing is just awesome. And if you compare it to some of todays "punk/rock" bands that should still be on the pub circuit - this one just blows them all away.

Oh, yes, it's very summery to! Put it in the car, crank up the sterio and let's rock...