GLOBAL VILLAGE TRUCKING COMPANY
Smiling Revolution ESOTERIC
Idealistic 70s commune dwellers truck again.
Operating out of their Norfolk farm commune in the early 70s, the Global Village Trucking Company could have been the last genuine British underground band, flying counterculture idealism and relentless optimism against incoming musical trends, shunning the evil music biz and playing many benefits and free festivals. The press called them the UK’s Grateful Dead, by the time their self-titled sole album emerged in 1975, the Globs, as followers called them, had disbanded.
Spread over two discs, Smiling Revolution presents their album as originally intended when the Globs recorded it at Rockfield Studios in November 1974 (for a label that was started by future Stiff supremo Dave Robinson but never got off the ground), along with tracks drawn from three Peel sessions and four songs contributed to 1973’s Greasy Truckers Live At Dingwalls Dance Hall benefit set.
If the Globs’ live shows were renowned for wild, improvised jamming that could go anywhere in the cosmos, studio recordings such as On The Judgement Day, Smiling Revolution and Americana-presaging Lasga’s Farm, all written by singerguitarist Jon Owen, can’t help but surprise with their vibrant arrangements, melodic flair and beautifully dynamic playing. They effectively gave their happy hippie ethos a commercial mainstream sheen. It helps greatly that Owen’s songs are handled with such telepathic sensitivity by keyboardist James Lascelles, lead guitarist Michael Medora, bassist John McKenzie and drummer Simon Stewart; they reach transcendental peaks when allowed to stretch out on awesomely bonkers locomotive fantasy ride Skytrain and glistening cerebral mantra of Watch Out There’s A Mind About.
Like old folk field recordings, it sounds like a document from another era, before counterculture idealism buckled under corporate containment. It’s a welcome burst of sunshine for dark times, even if it omits the timeless philosophy of The Sun Can Always Catch You With Your Trousers Down.