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Old 08-09-2009, 12:02 PM   #63 (permalink)
boo boo
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Space Shanty - Khan - 1972

Personell:
Steve Hillage - Guitar, Lead vocals, Backing vocals.
Dave Stewart - Organ, Piano, Celesta, Marimbas.
Nick Greenwood - Bass, Lead vocals, Backing vocals.
Eric Peachy - Drums.

This is not a hard band to get the entire discography of, because this is their only album, seriously, no live albums, comps, singles or bootlegs, this is it. A band whose entire discography is only 7 songs, one being an unreleased track that appeared in the 2005 reissue.

Khan was a Canterbury supergroup consisting of former Uriel and future Gong guitarist Hillage, former Egg and future Hatfield & The North and National Health keyboardist Stewart, former Arthur Brown bassist Greenwood and former Dr K's Blues Band drummer Peachy.

While being a canterbury band, much like Camel their music has a more symphonic rock based sound, thus Khan have more in common with Yes, ELP and Uriah Heep than with Caravan or Soft Machine.

It's very symphonic rock but there are space rock elements (as the album title clearly suggests) and jazz fusion elements as well, thanks in part to the diverse, psychedelic guitar style of Hillage which would later become a contributing factor in the success of Gong. Hillage and Stewart are two of the most talented and prolific musicians in prog and this is some of their finest work. Though props should also be given to the rhythm section, Greenwood can still provide the kinda psychedelic R&B grooves that he did with Arthur Brown, and he also shows himself to be a quite capable singer, as does Hillage, who was pretty much the dominant songwriter for this album.

I do have to say, like a lot of prog it is an aqquired taste, the converted proggie is more likely to appreciate this than casual listeners trying to get into prog. I have to say that this is one of the most stereotypically "prog" sounding albums ever. Operatic vocals? Check. Long and flashy guitar/organ jamfests? Check. Crazy time signatures? Check. Whimsical sci fi themed lyrics? Check.

This is by no means anything truly innovative for prog even back in the day, but this is a fantastic album nonetheless and if you're a big fan of bands like Camel, Egg and late 70s Gong, this is something to add to your Canterbury collection.

Space Shanty: What a great opener, god it's getting tiresome to say that over and over again, but you get my drift, the first minute and a half of this song starts out like a Uriah Heep-ish hard rock number, a very addictive one, so they got something to reel you in, and that's when they start proggin your ass off with a long and drawn out medley of guitar and organ harmonizing and solos, and it couldn't be sweeter. Stewart's jazzy organ work and Hillage's bluesy psychedelic guitar really comes out at full force on this one. The outro brings things back to the tagline melody. Fantastic stuff.

Stranded/Effervescant Psychonovelty N0.5: This one opens beautifully with some acoustic guitar and organ in the background, then some more organ and electric piano join in as well as some lovely falsetto vocals from Hillage. This has a very mellow and spacey sound to it which of course works perfectly with the obvious sci fi theme of this album. This starts out as a lovely ballad, but of course being prog, things can't stay calm forever, 3 minutes in a crashing guitar riff comes out of nowhere and things once again descend into delicious proggy chaos, if only for a brief moment before we are greeted with a jazzy organ solo, followed by a psychedelic harmony of guitars, and once again Khan bring things back to where they began and closing with a wonderful aquatic cadence of celesta glissandos and acoustic guitar arpeggios. Bombastic? Very.

Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains: Some nice acoustic guitar arpeggios and calming organ work to start things off, Greenwood gives a nice vocal performance though he could have toned down the vocal gymnastics a little, still pretty solid if not as good as the first two tracks, once again things turn into a hyper guitar freak out, followed by some funky organ work, then a few more guitar solos. Ok sure, the whole "intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/super long instrumental medley/verse/chorus/outro" dynamic is turning into a formula at this point, so what?

Driving to Amsterdam: This is a very jazzy, fanciful track. This song starts out with a Mahavishnu-ish fusion freakout, with some especially wonderful work from Hillage and Stewart, and some very melodic basslines by Greenwood. The traditional vocal segments here really showcases Hillage's talent as a melodist and songwriter. This is followed by Hillage and Stewart trading some solos, Hillage really shows his range here, going from harmonized blues freakouts to jazz fusion. Another one of the album's highlights.

Stargazers: This one opens with some jolly marimba, which combined with Hillage's trippy guitar squeals really brings to mind the kinda stuff Hillage would go on to do with Gong. This one has quite a Yes vibe to it, with a lot of trippy fusion stuff going on. Stay tuned for the awesome guitar outro.

Hollow Stone/Escape Of The Space Pirates: The song starts off with just some acoustic guitar and vocals, the "Hollow Stone" segment is very dreamy and folky, some great acoustic work by Hillage. Eventually we get a groovy Hammond solo, the kind that very much defines the canterbury sound. The final segment starts off with dirty hammond and bluesy guitar and the song closes with a 21st Century Schizoid Man style atonal freakout. Overall a great closing track.

Even though Hillage and Stewart went on to produce a lot more great music with other bands, it's still a shame that this ensemble only lasted for one album. This is like a fusion of all the different prog styles of the time, symphonic rock, space rock and of course the usual jazzy Canterbury sound, all mixed together. Hillage really shows his diversity here, as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, some like to say that this is just a Hillage solo album, but the overall musicianship here is not to be overlooked. Like many prog bands that can make the transition between a variety of moods, from composure to chaos, and vice versa, as with any great work of prog, expect the unexpected.

So hope on aboard the space shanty. This is an overlooked gem without a doubt.





EDIT: That's right, I've added video uploads to all my previous reviews, enjoy.
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