JUDGE SMITH: Orfeas lauded en Francais

So it seems that we are not the only people to be massively impressed by Judge Smith's Orfeas album. The following review is from a French wesbite, and is translated by those jolly nice people at Google. We are posting it for several reasons, not the least because the sentiments expressed are very similar to our own; like us he was someone that they had vaguely heard of, and like us the release of Orfeas has turned them into a true fan...

Rating: 7.5/10
His name sounds perhaps like a distant echo in the memory of some. Judge Smith is indeed the co-founder of Van der Graaf Generator with Peter Hammill , although it has left the adventure start 1969 before recording the first 33 laps of this group. Occupied by various musical projects, from design stage performances to composing for other artists, creating an opera of modern music in a TV series and even a film, Judge Smith expects 1991 to produce his first album, a collection of songs written between 1968 and 1977 ("Democrazy") and 1993 for his first original album is finally born ("Dome Of Discovery").

In the 2000s, he moves up a gear than seven CDs released since, one of which, "Curly's Airship", he says is the most ambitious rock album ever produced to date. "Curly's Airship" is also the first Songstory , name that gives a narrative form of music he loves and whose "Orfeas" is the third avatar. The man is complex and analysis of his music proves it. Indeed, "Orfeas" is certainly an ambitious and complex concept. Beyond the argument (revisiting the myth of Orpheus by modernizing, becoming a rock guitarist Orpheus and Eurydice idolized his muse that he will eventually), it is especially the bias of the composition s 'is original. Judge Smith has decided to register by September formations of different musical styles, each being associated with a training style.

We discover, therefore, in order of appearance on the disc, a Greek bard singing so hard on bombastic guitar arpeggios Hispanic, the Orfeas Band, rock band, Judge Smith using his technique of speech music on the soliloquies of Orfeas , a technique also used in interviews complimented with a string sextet, techno music to symbolize the passage from dream to reality of the heroes of classic opera songs way between Orpheas and Eurydice, played by Lene Lovich and finally a group of metal for the tragic end of the story. If the bard who plays the role of narrator is amusing at best, annoying at worst, the string sextet mixing romantic and contemporary music and that there is not much to say about the passages techno and metal very marked in their respective genres, back on the other three sets. Orfeas The Band plays instrumental rock classic, even if an instrument is an accordion relatively discreet. It serves mainly as a backdrop to the two soloists are impeccable as John Ellis and David Jackson . John Ellis (the "hands of Orfeas") treats us gratifying guitar solos and removed. David Jackson shines for her many saxophone in However, a register wiser than he who was in his VDGG . The duets between Judge Smith and Lene Lovitch resemble vocal improvisations: no guidelines really emerges from these "songs", this is a conversation where protagonists are expressed in these notes as in musicals where the music follows the text and not the other.

Finally the six soliloquies and two interviews using an original technique called speech music whereby every inflection of the voice is converted into its equivalent music. The "score" is then created and played by an instrument whose sound is superimposed on the voice, generating an echo phenomenon, all served on a discreet orchestration. The effect is pretty amazing and made ​​the soliloquies are sufficiently short that the surprise did not turn into annoyance. All these styles are intertwined in the album, giving a report to the staff and less chaotic. Unnecessary to consider what was coming off the lot titles, "Orfeas" is an indivisible whole that we appreciate as a whole or rejected as totally.

But creativity, inventiveness, attention to detail, the factual quality of the interpretation are undeniable. All sprinkled with a healthy dose of humor. As for assessing the results, it's just a matter of personal taste.

WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF PROG

I just want to say a big 'thank you' to our new friends at The House of Prog who have made us very welcome, and not only let us post there every day to plug what we are doing here on the Gonzo Daily Blog, but actively encourage it. What nice people they are to be sure!

http://www.houseofprog.com/

JON ANDERSON/RICK WAKEMAN NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Former Yes singer Jon Anderson says Anderson, Wakeman, Rabin project on hold
Examiner.com
Former Yes vocalist Jon Anderson has revealed that his planned collaboration with fellow ex-Yes members Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin is currently on hold. "We did some songs last year, and Trevor had some things going on in his life that he had to ...

Percussion Showcase with Stewart Copeland and Rick Wakeman ...
A celebratory concert of solos, duos, ensemble and orchestral works, including the European premiere of Stewart Copeland's Gamelan D'Drum for world ...

An Evening with Jon Anderson - American Spectator
On Thursday night, I went to see former Yes lead singer Jon Anderson perform in a solo concert at the Wilbur Theatre here in Boston. While I am not intimately ...

GREG LAKE: Punk rock 'wasn't a musical movement'

King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer founding member Greg Lake slammed punk rock in a new interview, calling it a fashion trend instead of an artistic one.

Speaking to the Montreal Gazette, Lake disparaged the musical value of punk. “The punk thing wasn’t a musical movement,” he said. “It was a fashion movement. It was a hyping, marketing movement. There was no real music there, no cultural revolution there.

"Punk was [Sex Pistols manager Malcolm] McLaren trying to whip up some media hype to create a genre so that everybody could ride on the crest of another marketing wave," Lake added. "It was only a question of a few idiots wearing tartan kilts and putting gel in their hair so it stood up like spikes.

Read on...

WALLY: The Belgians like 'em (and so do I)

Another great review from Belgiuum. This time it is the fabbo new album from Wally which has become another fixture on the office hi-fi. The big question that remains unanswered is why weren't these guys huge first time around? And why did I have to start working fopr the record company before I heard of them. I am making it one of my great purposes in life to make sure that Harrogate's best kept secret, remains a secret no longer.

http://www.keysandchords.com/6/post/2012/03/wally-montpellier.html

Wally: Montpellier18/03/2012 0 Comments Few of you will perhaps know of this band? The spores of this outfit, we find already back in the early seventies. They then took part in a contest organized by Melody Maker. They were among the finalists but were overtaken by another band. This contest took place at the famous Roundhouse in London. But luckily there was one DJ "Whispering" Bob Harris present and when I say that he also was the producer of the renowned BBC program "The Old Grey Whistle Test" I have said enough, right? Soon there will be a debut album and that was with Rick Wakeman geproducet. He was impressed with their music when he attended the final in the Roundhouse. Where can we find Wally among cataloging? Precisely, under the label hardrock like their striker brothers Uriah Heep and Deep Purple dominated the keyboards and the guitar of their oeuvre. The musicians we have here on the CD heard Roy Webber (the original singer and co-founder), Paul Middleton (also a founding member and bass player), Pete Sage (violin, mandolin, guitar), Roger Narraway (drums), Will Jackson (guitar, piano), Nick Glennie-Smith (keys) and many other names. It was 36 years ago that they were all together in a studio while they were working towards the sound of Wally during their early period. With the numbers we can find some tracks which were originally designed for their third album for Atlantic Records, but that was unfortunately not. These eight numbers are as good as indeed the perfect sound of Wally roughly 40 years ago. Melodic rock we find in each issue as well listen to 'Sailor' is a bit early on Procol Harum's "A Salty Dog 'but ultimately seems much stronger than' Dog '. Very long lead of a song that you immediately put on the wrong leg. "Sister Moon" is also very slow on stream and the guitars play an important role.Handsome riffs set the right tone and Neil Young is here now and then looming around the corner. Is this symphonic rock? Yes and no, portions of their songs jump right out of the symphonic packaging while including longer be able to rock meets progs with influences of country and westcoast rock. Listen especially to 'In The Night', that says more than enough about the quality of these guys. Rock meets progr rock flavored with a touch of country rock and rock west cost. Alfons Maes (3)

JUDGE SMITH: Popular in Belgium

There really is somethging magickal about Judge Smith's new album 'Orfeas'. I know that I keep banging on about it, but it really is one of the most magickal pieces of music that I have heard in a long time. Clearly othger people think so too, which is why I am reposting this Belgian review. I have not done any editing on it, because I think that correcting the odd grammatical error would take away some of the wide-eyed charm of the rveiew, which is obviously by someone who loves the record as much as I do...

http://www.keysandchords.com/6/post/2012/03/orfeas-a-songstory-by-judge-smith.html

Orfeas: A Story Song By Judge Smith 18/03/2012
0 Comments

Christopher John Judge Smith is an English composer and co-founder of the band Van der Graaf Generator. Initially he was successful under the name Chris Judge Smith, but ultimately he chose simply Judge Smith. He was the original drummer for Van der Graaf Generator, but when Guy Evans took the drumsticks in hand yet is limited to the vocal parts. After recording the first single "People You Were Going To" Smith decided to drop this project.

Along with saxophonist David Jackson, he formed the band Heebalob. But unfortunately this was also short-lived, zoadat Smith eventually chose solopad. Of the many songs in that period he overwhelming, there are few to excel on his solo debut "Demo Crazy" from 1991. This release was badly crushed in a limited edition and is now a real collectors item. Two years later 'Dome Of Discovery'. The strange thing behind this album is that Smith except the vocals also each note sampled sounds from real instruments arise. In 2000 he completed the double 'Curly's Airship, a project that dealt with the R101 airship disaster in 1930. Eight years we had to wait on 'Long-Range Audio Device'.

On May 9, 2011 appeared than this 'Orfeas', and this is Smith's third straight song story. It is actually an interpretation of the myhte of Orpheus, performed by seven separate ensembles. In addition to Judge Smith granted a lot of famous artists their cooperation. Or how about Gigi Cavalli Cocchi (drums), Dutchman René Commenée (percussion), John 'Fury' Ellis (guitar to include Peter Gabriel, The Stranglers), David Jackson (saxophone), Dorie Jackson (backing vocals), Lene Lovich (vocals), David Minnick (guitar), Ben Nation (cello), Ricardo Odriozola (violin) and Bert Mantilla (accordion). The song story is neatly divided into three acts. Together accounted for 34 tracks or 77 minutes and 42 seconds exactly. Smith eagerly makes use of wild contrasting music is a melting pot of Southern guitars, classical string orchestras, meditative trance sound and metal rock. Some describe it as ethereal pop, though I would seriously consider this term.

Judge Smith is a magical musician who's counting a coherent story. Philip Verhaeghe (3)

JUDGE SMITH: new podcast now online.

Jon Kirkman emailed me a few minutes ago.

"Just so you can do a story about it there is a new Judge Smith Podcast live on the Gonzo website HERE

It is almost an hour long and is Judge in conversation with me and we are also playing tracks from the Orfeas album. There will be two more Judge Smith Podcasts in the next few weeks".

For the record, I am still engaged in a love affair with this extraordinary album, and am very much looking forward to talking to Judge myself, some time soon...

MERRELL FANKHAUSER: 'Best Of The Tiki Lounge'

Psychedelic Surf Music Legend Merrell Fankhauser's 'Best Of Tiki Lounge' Volumes 1&2 DVDs
Now Available on Gonzo MultiMedia

3/17/2012 - London, UK - Hailed as the godfather of surf music, legendary Merrell Fankhauser, who has led one of the most diverse and interesting careers in music, has released 'Best Of The Tiki Lounge' volumes 1&2 DVDs, featuring performances from his famed TV show 'Tiki Lounge', on UK's Gonzo MultiMedia. Merrell Fankhauser is considered one of the main innovators of surf music and psychedelic folk rock, and is widely known as the leader of the instrumental surf group The Impacts who had the international hit “Wipeout”. His travels from Hollywood to his 15 year jungle experience on the island of Maui have been documented in numerous music books and magazines in the US and Europe. Merrell has gained legendary international status throughout the field of rock music; his credits include over 250 songs published and released.

Merrell Fankhauser has presented a number of television programs over the years including 'California Music', 'Route 66 TV Live', and in 2001 he began hosting a music show called 'Tiki Lounge' that airs on the California Central Coast, Southern California, Hawaii and parts of the East Coast. 'The Best Of The Tiki Lounge' volumes 1&2 feature highlights from Merrell's cable TV show. Volume One features Merrell performing alongside other music artists, such as Willie Nelson, Randy California, Dick Dale and Nicky Hopkins. The DVD also includes clips from Merrell's Birthday Boogie with Mary Ramsey of 10.000 Maniacs, Fito De La Parra of Canned Heat, Ed Cassidy of Spirit and many others! Joined once again by former Spirit drummer Ed Cassidy, along with John Cipollina, Mark Tullin and others, the 'Best Of The Tiki Lounge' Volume Two features new original songs by Fankhauser, including “The Whole Day Ahead of Us”. Also in this volume, Merrell takes an expedition into the Nevada desert to the edge of the secret airbase Area 51 in search of UFOs.

To purchase Merrell Fankhauser 'Best Of Tiki Lounge' DVDs www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/product_details/15360

WALLY: UK Prog Legends Wally Reunite and Release New Album 'Montpellier'

3/17/2012 – Harrogate, UK - Much to the excitement of progressive rock fans across the globe, UK '70s prog legends Wally have reunited and recorded a new CD titled 'Montpellier'. Comprising of reworked demos from the band's earlier incarnation, along with new material written by founding members Roy Webber and Paul Middleton, the CD is scheduled for release on February 10, 2012 in the UK on Gonzo MultiMedia.

Wally, led by singer/songwriter Roy Webber, originated in Harrogate, Yorkshire in England in the early '70s. In 1973, after playing the northern UK pub rock circuit, the group entered a new act competition organized by English music paper Melody Maker. The band made it to the finals held at London's Roundhouse Theatre, but did not win. They did however catch the eye of one of the judges, “Whispering” Bob Harris, legendary DJ of The Old Grey Whistle Test. The runners-up prize was the opportunity to record a session for Harris's BBC radio show The Monday Program. Taking Wally under his wing, Harris secured a recording contract with Atlantic Records. “I really liked them,” recalls Bob Harris. “I liked the swirling sound they made...acoustic guitar, electric guitar, fiddle, Fender Rhodes piano and pedal steel guitar. I liked their harmonies, the way their voices matched. I liked their influences...David Crosby, Jackson Browne and Neil Young. But most of all I liked Roy Webber's songs.”

The group's eponymous debut album, recorded at Morgan Recording Studios in London, home of Black Sabbath and YES, was released in 1974. It was co-produced by Bob Harris and legendary YES keyboardist Rick Wakeman, who had seen Wally perform at the Roundhouse. “I will never forget the first time I heard Wally,” Rick Wakeman relates. “I was completely bowled over by both the music and enthusiasm of the guys in the band for what they were doing. Whilst singing their praises to all the music industry I came across over the next few weeks, which included my management at the time, and Phil Carson, who was the head of Atlantic Records, was discovering that my great friend Bob Harris was also a massive fan and this culminated in the pair of us having the privilege of producing their first album together."

After Wally's debut release, now managed by Brian Lane, best known as the manager of YES, embarked on a series of tours through the UK, Japan and US. They even opened for YES at a concert in London at the Alexandra Palace and also made an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. “The band recorded sessions for my 'Sounds of the '70s' show on Radio 1 and played on Whistle Test,” says Bob Harris. “They slept on the floor of my London flat, we did big tours together, bought one-legged pedal steel guitars and broke the bar-bill record at Morgan as half of Harrogate arrived to put a drink on our tab, or a tab on our drink...we didn't care. We were having far too much of a good time.” “The great thing about Wally for me was the fact that they were as tremendous on stage as they were in the studio,” adds Rick Wakeman, “so I had no qualms whatsoever when inviting them onto the bill at my 'Journey To The Centre of the Earth' concert at Crystal Palace in the summer of 1974, and as expected, they were tremendous.” Wally released a second album titled 'Valley Gardens', but by that time continual touring had taken its toll and the band eventually parted after Atlantic ended their contract. Wally's members would go their separate ways, only to reunite after a 30 year hiatus!

In 2009, the surviving members of Wally's original line-up (Roy Webber, Paul Middleton, Pete Sage, Roger Narraway and Nick Glennie-Smith, augmented by Frank Mizen on pedal steel and Will Jackson on guitar) reunited and performed to a sell out crowd in their hometown of Harrogate. A DVD of the concert titled 'The Urban Man' was released later that year. Which brings us to the release of the bands first studio release in decades 'Montpellier'. “I've always believed that if music is placed above individuals as regards to importance, then it will live on forever,” says Rick Wakeman about Wally's reunion. “It's a relief to report it still has all the qualities that made this instrumental band special all those years ago,” says Graham Chalmers of the Harrogate Advertiser about Wally's new CD. “Emotional but not sentimental, epic but grounded, warmly melodic but with the emphasis on harmonies and the overall feel than the central riff.” Along with playing another reunion show in April 2011, Wally's track "Your Own Way" from their debut album has been included on the latest The Old Grey Whistle Test country compilation album to be released later this year.

For more information: http://www.wallymusic.co.uk/

WALLY: Why Wally?

Legend has it that at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, Bob Dylan lost his dog. The dog's name was 'Wally', and a distraught member of the festival organisational team, who was probably worse the wear for chemicals clambered on the stage between acts and started shouting "WALLLEEEEE!" over the PA. The crowd took up the chant, and a neologism for 'someone stupid' was born.

Like most legends this is probably 90% apocryphal. There are too many holes in it. Why would a rock star (who had flown from Heathrow to John Lennon's Surrey mansion by helicopter, have his dog with him? Even the most star-struck of custom's officers would have stopped 'The Big Zim' from bringing it into the country. A variant of the story goes that Dylan adopted a stray dog that was wandering about the festival ground and named it 'Wally', but again this seems unlikely. But by 1974 the term had entered the hippy venacular.

A disparate group of freaks who may or may not have been led by one Phil Russell (aka Wally Hope) adopted 'Wally' as a group name a-la 'Luther Blisset' or 'Emmet Grogan' when they were busted after the first Stonehenge Festival, in 1974. And the next year when Hope died under mysterious and sorded circumstances, the name 'Wally' was part of our shared culture.

By the end of the decade it had entered the mainstream and the rest is linguistic history.

What I am wondering, is where the group got their moniker from? Has it anything to do with the events described above? Or is it a coincidence?

A dear friend of mine (the one responsible for all the pictures of sky clad witches trying to raise the Loch Ness Monster) claims that there is no such thing as a coincidence! Ha!

I have been working as a maverick zoologist and writer for the past two decades and I haven't done a pop music interview in nearly as long. My technique is probably a little rusty. But I will be talking to Wally soon, and I bet you can guess what my first question is going to be...

JUDGE SMITH: Dutch Review

CHRIS JUDGE SMITH - Orfeas (2011)

Co-founder of Van der Graaf Generator ...

... made ten albums and now comes with 'Orfeas', a retelling in a modern style of the classic story of Orpheus, the mystical musician to the Land of the Dead travels in search of the lost Eurydice.

The legendary Chris Judge Smith is This "movie for your ears", as the accompanying letter states, including assisted by David Jackson, nice to him after his forced departure from VDGG again to hear, guitarist John Ellis (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Stranglers), drummer Gigi Cavaalli Cocchi (Moon Garden, Mangala Vallis) and Lena Lovich (the famous new wave singer).

Smith's love for a combination of song, spoken word and music is here performance exhibited in a 34-piece 'three act-song story'. So there you love but it appeals to me: strong musicianship, excellent production and great songs all take the strong and fairly strong musical interludes, a sort of mixture of death metal, trance, rock and classical music, I sometimes just to short. Smith is also a novelty which he, with a relatively unknown technique, recorded vocals into music and melody. I find it intriguing but it is hard to explain. Listening is the motto.

Orfeas is an excellent and successful attempt of Smith to this wonderful, classic story telling again, wrapped in a fine coat in which musical creativity and humor have found their place. The sleek layout and the book make it down. Harry 'JoJo' de Vries (what a week 11)

WALLY REVIEWED

http://www.progrockmusictalk.com/2012/03/review-wally-montpellier.html

FRIDAY, MARCH 16, 2012

Review: Wally-Montpellier

Wally has added another great CD to the long and strong tradition of English Progressive Rock with their album Montpellier. Fans who remember the band from the early 70s will find that Wally has retained their classic feel, but with some tasty additions. The most important would be Frank Mizen on steel guitar. His prevalence in the music throughout the album lends it a slight Southern feel that makes for a really interesting sound.

“Sailor” opens the album with atmospheric synth accented by the sound of gulls. A guitar blast and crash cymbal mark the end of the introduction and the beginning of a thoughtful ballad with Beatles-esque piano and vocals. After a couple of times through the verse and chorus, the song erupts with guitar and organ sounds leading to an electric finish, tempered by the briefest denouement (the sound of gulls again). “Thrill Is Gone” has a more raw sound. The highlight of the song features the bands other new addition, guitarist Will Jackson. His solo develops from a simple riff in the lowest range of the instrument into a shrieking jam worthy of any number of great guitarists (think Duane Allman meets Eddie Van Halen). “Surfing” is a very unique offering that begins with spoken vocals and instruments that sound like the background music of a Tom Waits song, and then it turns into a straight-forward rock song on the chorus with screaming vocals. Very cool!

The album closes with the powerful anthem “Giving.” It literally gave me chills when I first listened to it. The classical-style strings (and/or synth) that begin and end the song would be beautiful all on their own, but the middle section of the song blows even those sweet moments away. The final arrival of the lead guitar solo towards the end of the tune is nothing less than triumphant. Wally is a great band still dedicated to doing their own thing. I hope that they continue to make music for another 3 or 4 decades!

4/5 Stars

Key Tracks- Sailor, Thrill Is Gone, Giving

Donny Harvey

March 15, 2012

JUDGE SMITH: Many layers of the onion

ORFEAS, Part Three
I am still trying to get my head around this record. The more I listen to it the more complex it becomes. One of the most irritating things about much popular music is the wysiwyg sundrome - basically what you see IS what you get, and the thing about artists like Judge Smith is that it is nothing like that.

It works on all sorts of levels. On the surface it is a jolly collection of songs which tells a story with engaging characters.

But it is also a whole collection of different pieces of music in a number of different idioms. It also features Lene Lovich (who is a great and sadly underappreciated singer) and John Ellis, the guitarist from The Vibrators who was one of my inspirations back when I was a spiky haired little herbert just about to be expelled from a not-very-good public school back in the day.

It is also a remarkably complex allegory, which uses a Chorus in the fashion of Greek Classical drama. But it also has drug jokes (one at least).

I am giving it a few more days, and will be listening to it again. Judge, by the way, emailed me yesterday. He seems a jolly good fellow, and I will be interviewing him in the not too distant future, so watch this space dudes and dudettes..

MERRELL FANKHAUSER: Don't judge a book by its cover said my dear old Ma

...well actually she didn't. She made more ridiculous generalisations, and then based her actions upon them than any other human being that I have ever met. Maybe I am being unfair to her memory (she died ten years ago this week) but I remember her refusing to watch Brideshead Revisited on the grounds that there were no such things as homosexuals in the British aristocracy, and condemning various people over the years because of their footwear. She even took an instant dislike to Princess Diana because - apparently - her nostrils were too close together.

Hmmmmm.

Basically, although I loved my parents dearly I have done my best not to turn out like them, and one of the great tragedies of growing older is that every time I pass a mirror I see my father (albeit fatter and with long hair) staring balefully back at me. However, one thing I have always tried not to do is to judge the aforementioned book by its cover.

But today I did just that. I received a press release from those jolly nice people at Glass Onyon PR, dealing with a Gonzo Multimedia Artiste called Merrell Fankhauser. I always thought that I knew a lot about rock and pop music over the years, but once again my knowledge was and is lamentable. So I did what I always do. I looked him up on spotify, and pressed `play`.

I had immediately jumped to the conclusion that Mr F (or Herr F as I had imagined him) was going to be experimental and slightly spiky krautrock, something like a cross between Can and Throbbing Gristle (both bands I like by the way). I could not have been more wrong.

It turns out that he was the bloke who wrote 'Wipe Out' and is a venerable doyen of the surf-rock scene. But then he got all mystic. The best analogy I can give is Eric Burdon. You will recall that he was a rough tough bluesman from Geordieland until he discovered peace and love and made some extraordinarily eccentric records that I love to this very day. But one could always here his bluesy roots even in his most outrageously hippy songs.

It is the same with Mr Fankhauser. You can tell that he comes from the surf music community; he still has those sparkling Dick Dale chord shapes, but this sounds more like.....

....ummm

I don't really know what it sounds more like. There are hints of Neil Young, hints of Spirit (he has played with Ed Cassidy apparently) and the songs are delivered in an outrageously cool MOR voice. But to be quite honest he doesn't really sound like anyone else. He once played in the same band as Drumbo from Captain Beefheart's ensemble, and he obviously believes in the concept of the Lost Continent of Mu, made famous by Francis Churchward. The songs are melodic, nuttily new age, and really impossible to categorise.

Check them out. I already have.
Add To Cart

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Merrell Fankhauser was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to California when he was 13 years old this move was to have a life changing effect on the teenager. Merrell went on to become one of the innovators of surf music enjoying success with his band The Impacts and also a hit album entitled Wipe Out. Merrell went on later in the sixties to branch out into psychedelic folk rock.

His travels from Hollywood to his 15 year jungle experience on the island of Maui have been documented in numerous music books and magazines in the United States and Europe. Merrell has gained legendary international status throughout the field of rock music; his credits include over 250 songs published and released.

Return To Mu is a seven years in the making album featuring a cast of famous guest artists including with Jay Ferguson and Ed Cassidy of Spirit, Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean, John McEuen of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Nicky Hopkins, John Cipolinna both of whom played for Quicksilver Messenger Service and many others. The album is considered a masterpiece amongst friend's critics and fans and was produced by award winning movie and record producer, William E. McEuen.

Originally released in 2003 to many good reviews this album has had limited availability until now when it is reissued.

Tracks: 1.Mystical Land , 2.Waterfall , 3.On Our Way To Hana , 4.Pictures of the Past , 5.The Unknown Writer , 6.Queen Mu , 7.Mother Sea , 8.Beckoning Maiden , 9.Polynesian Dream , 10.Time Travellers , 11.Prospectors Moon , 12.Goin' Down To Atlantis , 13.The Land of Mu , 14.Under A Maui Moon , 15.Matthew's Dream , 16.Lodru's Mu Chant , 17.The Mothership , 18.Mu Rainforest.

WAITING FOR THE RITES OF MU

To compliment my diatribe on the subject of Merrell Fankhauser and his fixation with James Churchward's lost continent of Mu, (see map) I am being mindnumbingly self-indulgent. But I am the editor and I can do so if I wish.

So check out James Churchward and also some stuff on the so-called 'Lost Continent' itself.

And whilst we are on the subject of complete self indulgence, watch this video. It is not by a Gonzo artiste, but it is not available commercially so who cares:

HAWKWIND - The Weird Tapes 7 & 8

Both these disks, previously on sale individually, are proto-Hawkwind, but in two very different ways. The first disk is early 1980s Brock material that became Hawkwind stuff later on, whereas the second disk reflects Dave Brock's activities prior to Hawkwind, mixed up with some very early Hawkwind.

Disk 1 review: The Weird Tapes #7:

The opener, 'Choose Your Masques', is preceded by the introductory dialog of the 1960s TV show, 'The Outer Limits'. Somewhat similar to 'The Twilight Zone', its Control Voice intones: 'Do not attempt to adjust your picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper.'

Since this is Brock rather than Hawkwind, the customary drumming and bass guitar is replaced by drum machine and / or keyboard rhythm. That's not to say the tracks are lacking anything, though. 'Masques' has a very grungy and dense feel, due to Brock's fuzzy guitar churning relentlessly away, and it's a good album opener, especially with the Control Voice preamble.

Brock has a tendency to vary his vocal processing a lot more when solo than with Hawkwind; and here, all the way through to a dalek... except this dalek speaks of 'turning star projections' rather than extermination.

Moving on, some of the tracks or ideas for tracks ended up on the 'Church of Hawkwind' album, and 'Circles' was wholly revamped for the 'Levitation' album – the track being rebranded as 'Fifth Second of Forever.

I've always been fond of the 'Circles' track, whatever it might happen to be called at the time - ever since I first heard it on Weird 3, back in 1981. The instrumentation originally was from a Watchfield Festival jam during 'Magnu' but here on Weird 7 it's had another total makeover and is done in a 1978 Hawklords / 'Douglas in the Jungle' kind of style.

Talking of 'Magnu': if the musical DNA of the 'Streets of Fear' riff was subjected to a parenthood test, 'Magnu' would receive a bloody large bill for child maintenance!

Finally, 'Looking In The Future' (aka 'Letting in the Past') is a not-very-well-known Hawkwind number that gets an embryonic run-out here.

Before turning to disk 2, a word about the appearance of this twofer.

The front artwork draws mainly on the Weird 8 imagery - Dave Brock on a text surfboard? - but includes text lifted from the Weird 7 cover. The original release titles were 'The Weird Tapes 107' and 'The Weird Tapes 108,' by the way.

Disk 2 review: The Weird Tapes #8:

It seems odd to be mentioning the absent track 'Douglas in the Jungle' twice in one review, but 'Live and Let Live' really is a dead ringer for it. However, it's very early Hawkwind, as is 'Down On Her Knees' – and the latter reminds me a lot of 'Paradox', a classic track from much later on.... 1974!

There's also what sound like audience recordings (in mono) of early versions of 'You Know You're only Dreaming' and 'You Shouldn't Do That' which are both performed in the 'In Search of Space' tempo and style.

Other tracks are from the pre-Hawkwind group, the Dharma Blues Band, and include the jaunty blues song 'Come On' with harmonica and honky-tonk piano well to the fore. For those wondering how the heck Hawkwind was born out of that band, 'Dealing with the Devil' goes some way to explaining it: after some fairly standard bluesy / rock 'n' roll stuff, it starts going grunge-grunge-grunge-grunge in a riffy and headbanging early Status Quo manner, with distorted harmonica twirling away.

Given the embryonic remit of both disks, albeit in different ways as I mentioned earlier, this pairing is probably for the diehard Hawkwind fan, rather than the casual punter looking to dip their toes in the water and get their first Hawkwind record.

To people in the latter category, I'd say buy the mainstream stuff first... and get to know it.... and then come back to this re-release.

(release details and ordering)

'WALLY' IN THE NEWS

Wally is a British progressive rock band formed by singer song writer Roy Webber in Harrogate in the early seventies. The band was signed to Atlantic Records in 1974 after entering a contest organised by the music paper Melody Maker. Unfortunately the band did not win the competition but they did catch the eye of One of the judges at the competition, presenter of the Old Grey Whistle Test Bob Harris who oversaw their prize which was to record a session for his Radio 1 programme. Through Bob the band were signed to Atlantic Records and Bob subsequently produced the band’s debut self titled album alongside Rick Wakeman. The band also enjoyed a number of high profile concerts including an appearance at the 1974 Crystal Palace garden Party which was headlined by Rick Wakeman and after being managed briefly by the manager of Yes Brian Lane would support Yes also at a number of high profile concerts.

Read on...

JUDGE SMITH: Speech Music and Allegorical tales

ORFEAS, Part Two

We sat down to listen to it last night, and although I know vaguely what I was expecting, but what we got was nothing like it.

For one thing I didn't expect it to be so enjoyable. I was expecting a piece of heavy Art with a capital A, but what we got was definitely well crafted, artostically valid, yadda yadda yadda, but it was also really entertaining and good fun.

It tells the story of George Orpheus, a rock guitarist of a certain age, whose career is dependent on his artistry on a magickal guitar called Eurydice (which he completely misunderstands, misreading it as "Furry Dice"). It transpires that Eurydice is actually his muse (no, not a three piece rock band from Teignmouth, that would have a capital M, duh!) and the magick guitar was her way of communicating her creative spirit into the engagingly numb skull of George O.

When George O turns his back on his creativity, disaster strikes....

One of the most striking things about the album is the way that Judge Smith uses a singular technique that I had not come across before:

"Speech-music involves taking a recording of a spoken voice, and then setting that recording to music; a music that closely follows the rhythm of the spoken words and the natural rise and fall of the speaker’s voice. This rather demanding and arduous technique was first heard in the 1980s, in the work of a small number ofcomposers and performers, all from the Americas. These include Scott Johnson, Hermeto Pascoal, and Steve Reich, while more recently René Lussier and Charles Spearin have continued to develop the idea. But perhaps the most accomplished speech- music practitioner to have emerged is another American, David Minnick,whom I was lucky enough to involve in the Orfeas project. My own initial experiments in the field can be heard on the 2007 L-RAD album Long Range Audio Device, and my only minor claim to originality in using the technique is that I believe I mightbe the first composer to use 'acted' or deliberately performed speech to generate the music, as opposed to documentary recordings of one kind or another".

JUDGE SMITH: Orfeas (Yer Press Release)

2/29/2012 - London, UK - Independent composer and recording artist Judge Smith, who in 1967 co-founded with Peter Hammill the influential underground band Van der Graaf Generator, has created a movie for your ears – a new concept CD titled 'Orfeas'; a retelling of the ancient myth of Orpheus, the magical musican who travels to the Land of the Dead in search of the lost Eurydice. Since his Van der Graaf Generator days, Judge Smith has been responsible for a wide variety of music projects, including four stage-musicals (with productions at the Edinburgh Traverse, Sheffield Crucible and the Lyric, Hammersmith), opera and cantata libretti, songs for the ‘70s TV show ‘Not The Nine O’clock News’, and songs recorded by Peter Hammill and Lene Lovich. His film ‘The Brass Band’ has won several international awards. Judge Smith's music is complex in structure and often fragmented, but is always tuneful and strangely memorable, with humor never far from the surface. In the course of a twenty-year independent solo career, he has released ten CDs and DVDs.

“My principal interest is in telling stories with words and music,” explains Judge. “Some of my CDs are collections of songs, the usual format for an album, although people say that my songs are unusual and idiosyncratic. However, three of my projects are in a different category. Over many years, I have developed a new way of making extended musical narratives that I call ‘Songstories’, which are more complex than song-cycles or ‘rock operas’. They are not ‘musicals’ either, since they are pretty well un-stageable, and are each intended to be being complete as an ‘audio experience’. The three Songstories are all very different. The first, ‘Curly’s Airships’, a double CD with a running time of two hours and twenty minutes, was completed in 2000 after six years full-time work, and tells the story of the 1930 R-101 Airship disaster. It is probably one the largest and most ambitious pieces of rock music ever recorded. The second, ‘The Climber’, released in 2009, in complete contrast, is performed by me with an unaccompanied Norwegian male voice choir, and a double bass. The third Songstory is ‘Orfeas’, my own interpretation of the Classical myth.”

This Songstory uses wildly contrasting styles of music to tell its story, including instrumental Rock, Mediterranean guitar music, modern classical string sextet music, classical Trance dance music and Death Metal. 'Orfeas' also features a radical, and little-known, technique for transforming recorded speech into melody. “As far as I am aware, I am the only person making work like this, and I think it would be probably fair to say that no one else does what I do,” says Judge.

“Best known for his role in the formation of Van de Graaf Generator, Judge Smith is clearly not an artist with much interest in toeing the line. 'Orfeas', a three-act 'songstory' in which Smith and a host of guest performers re-imagine the titular Greek legend as he headlines at Wembley Arena, is effectively an exercise in schizophrenic musical theatre, replete with rambling soliloquies and plot-revealing dialogue set to avant-garde chamber music, that takes in everything from Jaunty rock radio-jingles and ethereal pop.” Dom Lawson – Classic Rock Presents Prog

In recent news, on November 6, 2011 a performance of Judge Smith's 'The House That Cried' was held in Como, Italy. The show also took place on November 20, 2011 in Chiasso, Switzerland.

For more information visit www.Judge-Smith.com

To purchase Judge Smith – Orfeas CD http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/product_details/15417

Press inquiries: Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, glassonyonpr@cs.com

JUDGE SMITH - Tell me the old old story

ORFEAS, Part One

I've got a confession to make. I have vaguely heard of Chris Judge Smith over the years, but until this evening I hadn't ever got around to listening to him. And not for the first time in my life, I am cursing the unfortunate omission.

OK, what do you think when you hear that an ex-member of Van der Graaf Generator has made a mildly avant garde concept album based upon the classic story of Orpheus and Eurydice?

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Rock music is often a medium prone to hyperbole, and the word 'classic' is one of the most over used words in the genre. However, when one finds out that the earliest known appearance of the story is in the 6th Century BC, it makes claims that "Robbie Williams has made a 'Classic' album" seem pretty small beer, but I digress - I do that a lot, you'll find)

Still digressing, for those of you who are not familiar with the old old story about how Orpheus lost his wife and went into Hades to find her, you had better check it out HERE)

You know it is going to be classy; you know it is going to be edufite; you know that it is going to be well crafted. But, bloody hell, you don't realise that it is going to be so much fun! Corinna, (my wife), Graham (my best mate) and Prudence (my rather silly bulldog/boxer bitch) sat down to listen to it this evening, and none of us got even slightly what we expected....

To be Continued...