VARIOUS ARTISTS
Peephole In My Brain: The British Progressive Pop Sounds Of 1971
Mind-boggling panoply of silly era-capturing nuggets.
Nineteen seventy-one was a transitional year for British music as Yes, Genesis and Van der Graaf crystallised prog tropes on landmark albums, Marc Bolan cavorted as glam rock’s first superstar and the Faces and Mott joined the Stones in ruling rock. Things got surreal as underground rock crossed into the mainstream, Top Of The Pops replacing John Peel’s radio show as the bar for fame-clinching ambition.
This three-disc, 71-track follow-up to 1970 overview New Moon’s In The Sky presents a cross-section of the madness and magic in the air. Once again deeply excavated and annotated by Grapefruit boss David Wells, it presents acts old and new, famous and unknown, striving to move with rapidly changing times, embracing eccentric twists or even the hugely successful novelty genre.
It begins with David Bowie plotting superstardom by producing Dana Gillespie’s version of his Hunky Dory track
Andy Warhol (its lyrics providing this comp’s title). Elsewhere, prominent 60s bands update themselves for the new decade, including the Kinks’ own God’s Children from the Percy
soundtrack, Procol Harum toughening up with Robin Trower riffs, The Hollies presaging glam, and the Move and Status Quo signalling their next phases. The sound of long hair and loon pants invading TOTP manifests itself in Curved Air’s beguiling Back Street Luv, Atomic Rooster striking fear with
Devil’s Answer and disgraced former music mogul Jonathan King mauling Sugar Sugar with Fairport Convention.
Some of the songs here were picked up in mainstream quarters: Radio 1 DJ and soul aficionado Tony Blackburn championed Edgar Broughton’s Hotel Room. But there’s inevitably a heavy Peel presence, with Dandelion Records providing idiosyncratic nuggets by Medicine Head, Beau and Kevin Coyne’s Siren. There are appearances too from progressive gig circuit stalwarts Barclay James Harvest, Cressida and Graham Stansfield’s Fields, while ELP homage Little Richard on Tarkus knockabout Are You Ready Eddie?.
The set is enlivened by curios and obscurities, including Southend satanic rockers Zior and Steve Howe’s Bodast colleague Curtis Maldoon, along with such forgotten names as Bear Foot, Fickle Pickle, Knocker Jungle and Bronx Cheer. The novelty highlights peak with bird trainer Don Crown and His Busking Budgies, and Phase 3 ransacking Bill Bailey with lysergic abandon.
Peel may have declared 1971 “sterile”, but this heartily recommended collection confirms music was in rude, diverse health as it faced the new decade.
THIS CONFIRMS THE MUSIC OF 1971 WAS IN RUDE, DIVERSE HEALTH.