Why do we try and pigeon hole musicians and their music? Is it to ‘market’ the record in some way because if so it can simply then turn many people away who wouldn’t give it a second glance.
If I say it’s 60’s psychedelia mixed with rock; pop and underpinned technically by great musicians who went on to achieve everything does that do it? I hope not because there is more to this record than that. For example, 32 years after it was released it was voted #59 in the all time best British LP’s ever recorded by readers of Q magazine.
Certainly side 1, kicked off rather unusually by an instrumental is the more ‘traditional’ music output. Side 2, whilst itself containing some excellent music, is altogether a rather brave attempt at story telling, with a mixture of Unwin’s ‘Unwinese’ gobbledegook - which in itself is incredibly clever - interspersed with a journey of trying to find where half of the moon had gone. Yes really. Not sure what response you would get from the record company marketing men nowadays, but the world was rather different in 1968.
I must, however, single out Song of a Baker. Kenney Jones drum playing on this track is out of this world. Accompanied by swirling guitars, superb singing by Steve Marriott it takes your breath away. It is 60’s late rock music at its very, very best.
The cover is worth a mention. Nothing like you would imagine, in later years it was re-packaged in a metal tin. This wasn’t the first dumb decision by the record company. It was found to be way too expensive and it would roll off shelves. Another success for the marketing team of the time. Which followed the amazing decision when the LP was launched, to market it accompanied by a re-working of the Lord’s Prayer which kicked off with the lines
Small Faces
Which were in the studios
Hallowed by thy name
Thy music come
Thy songs be sung
And on….
Perhaps whatever band members took in their dressing rooms whilst touring was occasionally matched in the record company’s board room. There is no record, that I can find, of how successful the marketing team at Immediate records went on to become in later life.
Invest in this. I cannot overstate what an incredible record it is on many fronts. Packaging, the subsequent careers of the band member’s, the importance of this type of music at the time, the quality of the musicians. It is all here. Utterly amazing stuff.
