Happy Rhodes-Ectotrophia

[rickawakeman]

I stumbled across this 20-track compilation at Newbury Comics last week. Despite being a fan of this Woodstock NY-based artist and her four-octave range for over twenty years, and having quite a few of her albums, most of the material on this lavishly-packaged and lovingly assembled disc is new to me. Much of it may come from her earlier works. There's an exhaustive essay and a slipcase holding a digipack to complete this first-class release. I recently fulfilled a longtime goal of seeing Happy live when she toured with the current iteration of the Security Project and she was wonderful,as is this release.Highly recommended to fans of Kate Bush, Jane Siberry Tori Amos.

[interbellum]

Thanks for the short review. Although I believe I have all her official albums I may go for this one too, especially because the essay you wrote about.

[interbellum]

The essay is indeed very informative about Rhodes' early years (it doesn't mention the Secret Project).
If you line up her early inspirations you would come to the chronically line of Switched On Bach, Freddy Mercury, Meddle, Kate Bush, Yes, Bowie, Gabriel.
The story does mention Bon Lozaga's "ambient and experimental collaboratieve Project Lo, but for those who want to explore more of her work on albums by other artists here's a list:
Robby Aceto, Kevin Bartlett's "Aural Gratification" Volume 1 & 2, Percy Howard's Meridiem V. 3, Bob Holroyd, Jeff Oster, Project Lo, Hansford Rowe and of course Security Project.

[interbellum]

I stumbled across this 20-track compilation at Newbury Comics last week. Despite being a fan of this Woodstock NY-based artist and her four-octave range for over twenty years, and having quite a few of her albums, most of the material on this lavishly-packaged and lovingly assembled disc is new to me. Much of it may come from her earlier works. There's an exhaustive essay and a slipcase holding a digipack to complete this first-class release. I recently fulfilled a longtime goal of seeing Happy live when she toured with the current iteration of the Security Project and she was wonderful,as is this release.Highly recommended to fans of Kate Bush, Jane Siberry Tori Amos.

The compilation is indeed based on her first four cassettes, which were later released on CD with a lot of bonus-tracks.
I've made a list from the albums the tracks are from:

1 Oh The Drears – Rhodes I (3:15)
2 I Cannot Go On - Ecto (4:08)
3 Would That I Could - Ecto (4:12)
4 Where Do I Go - Rhodes II (3:28)
5 For We Believe – Rearment (2:49)
6 When The Rain Came Down – Ecto (CD-version only) (5:45)
7 If Love Is A Game, I Win - Ecto (5:34)
8 I'm Not Awake, I'm Not Asleep - Rhodes I (3:22)
9 Baby Don't Go – Rearment (4:11)
10 Come Here - Rhodes II (3:56)
11 Don't Want To Hear It - Ecto (4:55)
12 If So - Ecto (3:37)
13 I'll Let You Go - Rhodes I (3:57)
14 Because I Learn – Rearment (3:41)
15 I Am A Legend – Rearment (4:07)
16 Perfect Irony – Rearment (4:01)
17 Many Nights - Rhodes II (2:51)
18 To Be E. Mortal - Ecto (8:16)

This is her discography:

Rearmament (Samson Records/Aural Gratification GC 0011, 1986)
Rhodes II (Aural Gratification AGCD0008, 1986)
Rhodes I (Aural Gratification AGCD0007, 1986)
Ecto (Aural Gratification AGCD 0013, 1987)
Warpaint (Aural Gratification/Samson Records/Gold Circle GC 0017, 1991 - actually her first CD)
Equipoise (Aural Gratification AGCD019, 1993)
HR5 (Aural Gratification AGCD5020, 1993 - promo-version with a couple of album tracks and acoustic versions)
RhodeSongs (Aural Gratification AGCD0021, 1993 - the complete version of HR5)
Building The Colossus (Aural Gratification AGCD029, 1994)
The Keep (Aural Gratification AGCD0031, 1995 - rarities, covers, live-recordings, alternative versions)
Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (Gold Circle Entertainment GC 0141-2, 1999)
Find Me (Auntie Social Music 700261225456, 2007)
Ectotrophia (Numero Group 199, 2018 - compilation)

[rickawakeman]

Thanks for the info! I think I have most of her releases beyond these. All tracks have been remastered and the disc sounds great!