Khan - Space Shanty

[simon moon]

Count me as another major fan of this album! There are just so many great Canterbury instrumental sections on this.

The vocals, while I wish they were better, do not bother me.

[Zalmoxe]

"Dear Abby - I have this album and really like it a whole lot, but every time I try to give Gong a chance "I find my way to the same old jam". Why am I having all these good times and bad times?"

Sincerely,

Lost In Space

If it's any consolation, know that you are not alone! The cosmic whispers do not want to reveal themselves to people like us!!!

[Matata]

Great album!

[PROGMONSTER]

I don't really like the songs all that much. Some fine instrumental passages but the verses are a bit bland. Not very melodic

[Zeuhlmate]

"Driving to Amsterdam"

Steve Hillage - guitar/vocals
Nick Greenwood - bass/vocals
Eric Peachey - drums
Val Stevens - organ/clavinet



"found these reel to reel tapes in storage and was about to throw them away. Then, I was somehow redirected to putting them on YouTube before disposing of them. Here is the band's last performance before it disbanded in 1972.. . . Val Stevens"

[The Twickerman]

Fab, isn't it? I wonder is there more in the vaults?

More background on this line-up here:-

https://canterburyscene.wordpress.co...istory-part-6/

[Sputnik]

It took me awhile, but I've really come around to this album. Not a bad song on it and wonderful solo-ing from Hillage and Stewart.

I know this thread is ancient. I'm not sure I actually owned this album in 2013. I'd sampled it, but always found it a bit too "primitive" for my tastes, and I didn't really love the vocals. But some time in the past couple of years I did break down and buy it, and over time I've come to enjoy quite a lot of it. I think it had a lot more sophistication than I'd given it credit for. I'm not a big Hillage fan, this is the only album I own with him on it, and his vocals are still a bit on the raw side for my tastes. But overall it's a nice album that I've grown to enjoy.

Bill

[rcarlberg]

Nick Greenwood's 1972 solo album "Cold Cuts" (with Eric Peachey on drums, Bunk Gardner [MoI] on winds, Bryn Howarth [Les Fleur de Lys] on guitar, and a few others) really points up the strength of the songwriting on Khan. Greenwood's song-writing isn't in the same league. In fact, "Cold Cuts" reminds me less of Khan and more of Quatermass, another organ-centered rock band, with a couple of great cuts and several that are, uh, "less great."

[Supersonic Scientist]

...what a coincidence....I just listened to this entire album last week..........Still love every minute of it.

[progman1975]

"Driving to Amsterdam"

Steve Hillage - guitar/vocals
Nick Greenwood - bass/vocals
Eric Peachey - drums
Val Stevens - organ/clavinet



"found these reel to reel tapes in storage and was about to throw them away. Then, I was somehow redirected to putting them on YouTube before disposing of them. Here is the band's last performance before it disbanded in 1972.. . . Val Stevens"

Isn't this on Hillage's box set???

[The Twickerman]

Apparently not.

[GuitarGeek]

Since I apparently didn't comment ont his before, I guess I will now:

This is a great album! I forget how/when I first learned of the existence of Khan, probably saw it mentioned in one of the mid 90's Wayside catalogs, but I'm sure my first copy came from my old penpal, who made up a cassette for me that had that on one side, and the flipside was Little Red Record by Matching Mole (essentially my introduction to Robert Wyatt's post-Soft Machine career).

Then later an LP copy surfaced at Wax Stax and I bought that (and 10 years later, had Steve sign it at the Gong Uncon in Amsterdam), and then I got the Esoteric CD once it was available. Definitely an enjoyable record. For awhile I had it on my mp3 player (which insisted on playing the tracks in the wrong order if you didn't program a custom playlist in).

[miamiscot]

I love it. Along with Museo Rosenbach, Bubu, Mirthrandir and Quiet Sun - one of the greatest one-and-done's ever.

I too am not a huge Hillage fan but this record is superb!!!

[happytheman]

"Driving to Amsterdam"

Steve Hillage - guitar/vocals
Nick Greenwood - bass/vocals
Eric Peachey - drums
Val Stevens - organ/clavinet


"found these reel to reel tapes in storage and was about to throw them away. Then, I was somehow redirected to putting them on YouTube before disposing of them. Here is the band's last performance before it disbanded in 1972.. . . Val Stevens"

When did Dave exit and Val enter the scene? Obviously Steve ended up using Dave later for his first solo album..

[calyx]

When did Dave exit and Val enter the scene? Obviously Steve ended up using Dave later for his first solo album..

All you need to know is found in the Khan series on my blog :
https://canterburyscene.wordpress.co...istory-part-1/

(A shorter answer : Dave Stewart was recruited temporarily to play on the album after the band's original organist, Dick Heninghem, suddenly left. Val Stevens was recruited once the album was completed, with Dave S otherwise engaged with Egg. When that line-up of Khan split in July 1972, Stewart joined, for the first time as a full-time member)

[Sputnik]

Just listened to this again tonight. Some good stuff, some OK stuff. Some two chord vamping, which gets old for me, but overall not a spoiler. Vocals were maybe a touch better than I'd remembered, especially when the harmonies are there.

Do you suppose the beginning of Driving To Amsterdam was the inspiration for much of Camel's music?

Bill

[Scrotum Scissor]

Do you suppose the beginning of Driving To Amsterdam was the inspiration for much of Camel's music?

I was a huge Camel fan back on first hearing this (although I'd already heard plenty of it), and I remember thinking Khan to be a dream come true. The album perfectly marries the ambitiously intricate and youthfully naive, often to the point of sounding intentional - just like Camel did on my fave record by them, Mirage. There's little in the way of "Lady Fantasy" having been a Khan tune, although in the end I do think Khan had something a bit more going for them; the Whole mid-section of the title track, for instance, displays some pretty Advanced ideas for a bunch of 20-year olds.

[aith01]

Haven't spun Space Shanty in quite a while. I'm gonna put this one on today while I'm at work.

[Mythos]

Loved the music, but hated the vocals, couldn't listen anymore and dumped the LP back in the 70's...

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ Yup, the vocals aren't exactly impressive, not in a technical manner anyway. Bad timbre, worse sound in general. Still, they aren't 'out of tune' or formally deteriorating the music. These were underpaid *kids* striving for advancement in approach to writing and performing a type of rock which they deemed exciting. When you for instance listen to that doubled-voiced chorus in "Stranded", there's a sense of confident enthusiasm on the part of the two singers. I don't know if I'd even want to hear any others serve that melody; it's perhaps more 'charming' than actually packed with conviction, but it's so inimitably their own that they do own it. And the vocals on a track like "Hollow Stone" isn't really that off in the first place.