Philwit & Pegasus Philwit & Pegasus

Fantastic concept LP released in 1970 and
masterminded by producer Mark Wirtz together with Maria Feltham, who wrote most of
the songs. Its wonderfully arranged sound gravitates towards varied influences: folk-pop,
soft psych, chamber pop, late 60s rock. The featured vocalists and musicians include John
Carter (The Flower Pot Men), Roger Greenaway, Peter Lee Stirling and Chris Spedding,
among other talented artists. Presented in facsimile artwork and pressed on 180g vinyl. It
may look kind of weird but the one person's name that has to be brought up here neither
played or sung on this album. Mark Wirtz is the mastermind behind this long-forgotten
concept LP released in 1970 by Chapter One Records, a one-off studio project he put
together with his girlfriend at the time, Maria Feltham, who wrote most of the songs.
Although the album is supposed to be driven by a common concept, its sound gravitates
towards broad influences: there are fierce guitars and also soft psych passages, it gets as
close to easy listening as to rock. During the 60s Mark Wirtz was an in-house producer
for EMI, working on the Studio 2 series. The next milestones in his career were "A
Teenage Opera", a musical project that was never released as an entire work, and
producing Tomorrow's self-titled debut LP, a psychedelic masterpiece. In 1969 Mark
resigned from his post at EMI Records to return to independent production and
approached Les Reed's Chapter One label for the release of his new Philwit & Pegasus
project, recorded by a group of musicians that includes John Carter (The Flower Pot
Men), Roger Greenaway or Peter Lee Stirling on vocals, and Chris Spedding on guitar,
among other talented artists. The album starts with 'Happiness', featuring incredible vocal
harmonies, followed by the outstanding oyo Thoughts', a folk-pop delight, but half way
through it we reach some of the strongest songs on the LP: the energetic 'My What a
Lovely Day It's Been', 'Lonely Flower' and pinning Carousel', which echo The Beach Boys
and Love and create an intimate yet vaporous vibe. Fans of sunshine and chamber pop
coupled with memorable songwriting will be enthralled by this album.