Rock & Indie 422 Items

One reviewer said this about Lavender Daydreams: “Blissed out folk psycher in the vein of Tim Buckley or Dan Fogleberg but waaay more psyched out. Richard has certainly dropped a tab or three in his time. A really, really good album to mind-surf to, and also poppy enough that it would sound good coming out of a boombox in a field while you are throwing the frisbee and smoking some bohoofus.” And they were right—Richard did drop many a tab when writing and recording the album: "The songs ‘Lord and Master,’ ‘Here We Are,’ ‘Sunny Days,’ and several others were inspired by experiences I had on psychedelics. Lavender Daydreams comes from my meditation experiences. ‘Electra’ is about a girl I fell in love with while tripping... I realized my purpose in life I was always looking for was in experiencing the extraordinary perfection in front of me every moment and engaging it in play and fun… This is a common theme in my songs. Celebrating those everyday moments. ‘Falling Angels’ was written about crashing on acid. About when we have to squeeze back into our everyday self and the feeling of “Now that the doors of perception have been blown off their hinges what am I going to do about it.” And that slides right into ‘A Stranger’ where you begin reflecting on it. There you are, crashing, beer in hand, a stranger to yourself. ‘Soaring’ is inspired by lying on our back in the field by the Long Island Sound on spring afternoon tripping on ‘Windowpane’. Mike and I were staring up at the sky and the clouds turned into angels singing and it felt like we were soaring up there free. ‘Soaring’ was trying to capture the rapture.” Edition of 370 copies on black vinyl.

When Richard Thompson began writing songs for his latest album, Ship to Shore, the artist was instinctively drawn to his own musical roots, employing them in the service of fashioning a deep and diverse 12-track collection that pulls from various styles, genres and eras, but remains unmistakably Richard Thompson. There’s the rumbling, Motown-style rhythm that propels “Trust,” and the straightforward riff-rock of “Turnstile Casanova.” The drone-y “The Old Pack Mule,” an “old man’s song” that takes musical cues from 1600s-era European music, and “Life’s a Bloody Show,” an ode to “snake-oil salesmen and hucksters” that floats on a glammy, cabaret-like melody that’s “almost like a parody of a Noël Coward song, or something from Berlin in the 1920s,” Thompson says. “I liked the idea of having a strong base to work from and reaching out from there,” he says. “And I think of my base as being British traditional music, but there’s also Scottish music, there’s Irish music. There’s jazz and country and classical. As far as I’m concerned, once you establish your base you can reach out anywhere. It’ll still be you ringing through, wherever you decide to go musically.”

This is the first vinyl issue of Temple IV, arguably Roy Montgomery’s finest solo album, originally released in 1996 on CD. The original album has been enhanced with two newer tracks that constitute side four of the album. Montgomery states: “The two new tracks recorded in 2018 were about asking the question “Can you step into the same river twice?” Heraclitus said you cannot. I say you can…”

From the original press release:

Few recording artists have aligned the quantity and quality of their releases as well as New Zealand singer /guitarist Roy Montgomery has in 1995. Beginning with kranky’s release of the soundtrack for an imaginary film That That Is...Is(Not) by Montgomery’s duo Dissolve early in the year, a series of superb albums and singles have been issued by a variety of labels across the world. Each one of them is a must have. Most recently, the Drunken Fish label released a collection of pastoral drones entitled Scenes From The South Island, singles have appeared on the Roof Bolt and gyttja labels, and further singles are scheduled with Ajax, Siltbreeze and others.

Temple IV is the first solo recording by Roy Montgomery on kranky. The album was recorded by Montgomery on a four-track tape deck and then thickened up with monophonic moog. The tracks on the album are thick with interwoven guitar lines and moog drone, inspired by the Guatemalan rain forests and the mysterious ruins of the temple and ruins Montgomery visited there.

Roy Montgomery spent the past year in New York, Chicago and London before returning to New Zealand. While in the UK he played live with Flying Saucer Attack and collaborated with spoken word performer Kirk Lake. A brief tour across the United States in September saw him performing before enraptured audiences in New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and Los Angeles.

The long overdue recognition of Roy Montgomery as a crucial figure in New Zealand’s musical history as a member of The Pin Group, Shallows and Dadamah, is now augmented by his new recordings. Temple IV will serve to extend and deepen that appreciation.

Psychedelic, funky hard-rock with plenty of distorted guitar and Hammond by this “supergroup” created by legendary producer Shel Talmy and featuring some of the best session musicians from the UK: Herbie Flowers (bass), Alan Parker (guitar), Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards) plus Peter Lee Sterling (Daniel Boone!) on powerful vocals.

This is their first album from 1970, originally released in the UK, Europe and the US, now officially reissued on vinyl for the first time, faithful to the original UK edition with the effects between songs and the lavish gatefold sleeve (both omitted on the US one).

Riyl: Led Zeppelin, Ugly Custard, Hungry Wolf, Black Cat Bones, Atomic Rooster…

*Original UK artwork in gatefold sleeve *Sourced from the original master tapes *Insert with liner notes by Alec Palao and rare photos / memorabilia

Psychedelic, funky hard-rock with plenty of distorted guitar and Hammond by this “supergroup” created by legendary producer Shel Talmy and featuring some of the best session musicians from the UK: Herbie Flowers (bass), Alan Parker (guitar), Clem Cattini (drums), Alan Hawkshaw (keyboards) plus Peter Lee Sterling (Daniel Boone!) on powerful vocals.

This is their first album from 1970, originally released in the UK, Europe and the US, now officially reissued on vinyl for the first time, faithful to the original UK edition with the effects between songs and the lavish gatefold sleeve (both omitted on the US one).

Riyl: Led Zeppelin, Ugly Custard, Hungry Wolf, Black Cat Bones, Atomic Rooster…

*Original UK artwork in gatefold sleeve *Sourced from the original master tapes *Insert with liner notes by Alec Palao and rare photos / memorabilia