East of Eden

**yoyiceu** · 07-19-2013

East of Eden is one of those very early British prog or rock jazz bands that are seldom remembered these days. Basically they had two very good albums -the Psych and Middle eastern influenced Mercator Projected and the somewhat more conventional Snafu. There's also some great bootleg quality live material from that era.
Their frontman was Dave Arbus, fiddlle and sax player, certainly best known for playing on The Who's Baba's O"Reilly.
They kept making albums until the late seventies with altered personel and with a hard rock or even country or pub rock feel. There's a longish Youtube live on a TV studio session of the second or third version of the band.
Then, in the Nineties, Arbus came back with a couple of older players and recorded a couple of conventional jazz rock albums.
In all, one of those bands that made a couple of good albums and then became progressively worse after that.

**mellotron storm** · 07-19-2013

Love their first two albums and I noticed a new one has been released and was hoping to get some info on it. Well not new but a posthumous release I believe.

**mogrooves** · 07-19-2013

Mercator and s/t ....

**Bake 1** · 07-20-2013

1st two are great Mothers meets faux eastern Mingus riffers... I used to hate the vocals, but they can grow on you like a 70's psycho-active cheese.

**Johnboy** · 07-20-2013

**Johnboy** · 07-20-2013

Brilliant band.

**mellotron storm** · 07-20-2013

The new release is called "Essen 1970" so it's probably a live one.

**TheH** · 07-20-2013

Originally Posted by mellotron storm

The new release is called "Essen 1970" so it's probably a live one.

Yes it is, a semi proffesional cut from their concert on 10/22/1970 at the 3. Essener Pop & Blues-Festival in the Gruga-Halle Essen.
(actually my birth town)

**Homburg** · 07-20-2013

Yes, curious how they're little-remembered now. First two albums were good.

**GentleG** · 07-20-2013

Mercator was my first LP purchase

**Forester1** · 07-20-2013

I have "World of East of Eden" which compiles from the first 2 LPs plus hit single Jig a Jig. Still find it enjoyable enough to get a spin on the old turntable. There were rumours of a reunion about a year ago - presumably one of those rumours which sadly come to nothing ?

**alanterrill** · 07-20-2013

One of those who were a big influence on my musical upbringing. I saw them in a tiny club when I was 15 and they were quite unlike any band I'd seen before -with the two front men swapping instruments and at one point they both picked up saxes and walked around between the audience swapping riffs. There was free improvisation, bits of jazz, bits of reggae, a bit of eastern music and a deal of humour all mixed together.They were great fun and very eclectic. I seem to remember the first drummer was quite mad too.

**yoyiceu** · 07-20-2013

I think the first drummer was Geoff Britton, a karate expert who afterwards joined Wings for awhile.

**mellotron storm** · 07-20-2013

Originally Posted by TheH

Yes it is, a semi proffesional cut from their concert on 10/22/1970 at the 3. Essener Pop & Blues-Festival in the Gruga-Halle Essen.
(actually my birth town)

Thanks !

**progeezer** · 07-21-2013

Up until this thread I had never even heard of the band, much less heard a single note.

I just watched the video and 10 minutes into it paused it and ordered Mercator & s/t.

Thanks from me too!

**yoyiceu** · 07-21-2013

The albums are even better than the music heard in the video, that is from the Mk II lineup.

**Scrotum Scissor** · 07-21-2013

First three albums are solid, with Mercator having some heavy acid rock influences, Snafu bringing about the more jazzy stuff and the s/t seeing them turning towards the "rural".

**Joe F.** · 07-21-2013

I love most of Mercator.

I could probably do without Centaur Woman or at least the lyrics.

**Progbear** · 07-21-2013

I have New Leaf. The opening track, “Bradshaw the Bison Hunter” (or something similar), is excellent. Sadly, the entire rest of the album is garbage. They made some later albums with a completely different lineup that seem to have been released only in Germany.

I also have Mercator Projected. This album, on the other hand, is excellent from start to finish.

Originally Posted by Joe F.

I could probably do without Centaur Woman or at least the lyrics.

Not me. It makes me laugh hard every time.

-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"It is not an obscenity to be free. It is a divine right." --Annette Peacock

N.P.:nothing

**polmico** · 07-21-2013

Originally Posted by progeezer

Up until this thread I had never even heard of the band, much less heard a single note.

I just watched the video and 10 minutes into it paused it and ordered Mercator & s/t.

Thanks from me too!

Same here. Looking forward to checking them out.