Always a sucker for a Roger Dean Cover....Is this a prog-folk gem worth investigating???
Always a sucker for a Roger Dean Cover....Is this a prog-folk gem worth investigating???
Absolutely a must own:
Store it next to your collection of Erich von Däniken books.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Fold-out cover is gorgeous! I spent half a day in the 80's appraising and making an offer on a record collection. I was outbid but the owner had put aside this album for me and allowed me to buy this one album. I never saw another copy again.
Ratings from the pot-head pixies at Gnosis...
11.28 Kingdom Come - Galactic Zoo Dossier 1971
10.12 Hawkwind - In Search of Space 1971
10.10 Freedoms Children - Astra 1970
09.64 Hawkwind - Hawkwind 1970
08.52 Ramases - Space Hymns 1971
10.65 Hawkwind - Warrior on the Edge of Time 1975
10.00 Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come - No Man's Land 1975
08.77 Ramases - Glass Top Coffin 1975
08.76 Seventh Wave - Psi-Fi 1975
^^^
Ibnteresting the GTC gets a higher average, though not that much surprising given its symphonic (ala Moodies) sonics, rather than pure flower-power pop of SH... i'd actually re-rate SH from 10 to 11, but in either case I'm thinking the Gnosis is being unkind to both albums.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
I ordered and just received in the mail today "The Complete Ramases Discography" which is housed in a thick book like the Miles Davis boxed sets. Includes "Space Hymn," "Glass Top Coffin," an album of "Space Hymn" studio outtakes, and album of "Glass Top Coffin" studio outtakes, an album of singles and rare tracks, and finally an album of Ramases tracks done by other people in tribute to the late Barrington Frost.
It's probably WAYYY more Ramases than I really needed but the set was cheap, like $35. Looking forward to hearing "Space Hymn" again after all these years.
Space Hymns is a classic, in my opinion. I think Ramases really lucked out by having 10cc as his backing band, because they are what make it such an enjoyable album. It captures that fringe-hippie-new age-spiritual blender thing in all its optimism with a glossy pop charm. And just when you think it can't get any weirder, it gets weirder - not sonically so much as conceptually. I totally didn't see that irony-free prayer to Jesus coming at the end, not after the Quasar One and the Deserts of Zeus and whatnot. I also love how they invest a whole track just to fuck with any stoned guy named Joe who would happen to listen to the album: classic psychedelic pranksterism. It's one of those things that comes together in a way that I don't think could intentionally be recreated. The backing band were very talented and generous with Ramases material. Ramases was very sincere in his songwriting. Both had a kind of optimism that comes from a certain stage of life, and expressed a point of view that came from a certain historical period. It a great document, and above all a really fun and listenable record.
That being said, Glass Top Coffin doesn't really come together. The weaknesses in Ramases songwriting are much more apparent without a talented rock band behind him. His songs are arranged for a larger studio ensemble with strings and everything, so there is very little rocking going on. It sounds more like a score to a musical than a rock album. Plus the alienation so prevalent in '70s music seemed to hit Ramases in a hard way. The overall tone is maudlin as he wrestles with self-doubt, and what optimism there is seems forced. I can't say I've spun it all that many times because of the combination of this downer vibe and shift in musical style.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Supposedly the studio outtakes are pre-strings and overdubs, which were not authorized by Ramases and not to his liking.
That makes sense, because those overdubs pushed the pathos into melodrama at points.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
Space Hymns is a fave of mine... probably the best 10CC album (including those bearing that name)
Glass Top Coffin is a very different beast... Sounds more like TMB (partly because of the orchestra) at forst, but it doesn't last. More cosmic ... and a tad proggier, IMHO...; though it's not as immediate and SH.
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
I never heard of this band but man what a beautiful album cover that I understand folds out to something even more meaningful.
"The wind is slowly tearing her apart"
Sad Rain
Anekdoten
I do have to say, I do miss Godley & Creme as folk-rockers. A lot of the Hotlegs album is like that, ditto some of their work for Kasenatz-Katz (like “There Ain’t No Umbopo,” what a lovely tune that is!). By the time 10cc rolled around, that stuff got shuffled off to the side, which is presumably why the gorgeous “Waterfall” and “Good News” were relegated to B-sides. It’s like they were ashamed by their origins as hippie folkies. Mind you, they were going for a different direction, and there were tons of CSNY clones proliferating at the time. It’s just that G&C really excelled at it (just as they excelled at a lot of other things).
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
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