1975 saw BAKER GURVITZ ARMY reach the peak of their flight, with "Elysian Encounter" – featuring, alongside Adrian and Paul Gurvitz and Ginger Baker, singer Snips and keyboardist Peter Lemer – blending art-rock and blues into a new concept. But it’s on-stage that the British ensemble conjured genuine magic and delivered unrecorded material, even though there was enough previously issued pieces in their repertoire for quite a long performance. Documenting the point is “On The Road Again”: a report from London’s “New Victoria Theatre” – scheduled for a September 13th release.
For all their powerful potential and mythology, involving the musicians’ conversion to Islam, MIGHTY BABY were destined to remain underground denizens, yet what the quintet laid down over the course of three years of existence is truly mesmeric. The band’s two albums mixed space rock with folk, Western and Eastern, and there were many other elements that can still keep the listener transfixed for a long time. And that’s what “At A Point Between Fate And Destiny” – a six-disc box set, scheduled for an October 25th issue – will undoubtedly do.
Subtitled “The Complete Recordings” and comprising 60 tracks, the collection features not only the aforementioned studio records – the ensemble’s self-titled debut from 1969 and its 1971 follow-up “A Jug Of Love” – but also demos, alternative version of the first LP which was preserved on an acetate, rehearsal tapes and concert material, including a 36-minute take on “A Blanket In My Muesli” which everyone considered lost. More so, there’s “Day Of The Soup”: the album the group worked on in 1970 only to abandon the project, even though they played it on-stage. Unfortunately, such a document – released in 2009 as “Live In The Attic” – didn’t make it to the box. Yet this would be the only gripу with regards to the otherwise essential set.
At the time when it’s cool to be uncool, it’s time for David Hasselhoff to release a new album – with an array of covers sung in the company of heavy guests. It might be another over-the-web project, yet that’s a sign of the time, too, so “Open Your Eyes” – out on September 27th on CD and colored vinyl – must be interesting thanks to the singing actor’s choice of material and the instrumentalists who play with him, as well as for the fact that the record is aimed to mark the 30th anniversary of Berlin Wall’s fall and the reunification of Germany. If one struggles to imagine The Hoff mingle with MINISTRY and Patrick Moraz or stepping into David Coverdale‘s shoes, this can be a thing to investigate. Whether the revisiting of David’s old hit “Jump In My Car” was worth it remains to be seen.
Nigel Benjamin has died, aged 64. A troubled soul, satisfaction was never part of his agenda – be it in personal life or on-stage – but he had a huge heart. The singer used to rant about many things in later years and seemed to be on the verge of paranoia, blaming outside world for his issues, but always sought refuge in music – something that brought Nigel to the heart of fans.
Since November 2019 will mark their 50th anniversary, HAWKWIND couldn’t pass on the possibility to release a new record, even though it’s only three years ago that "The Machine Stops" saw the light of day and two years after its follow-up “Into The Woods” was issued – if we don’t count 2018’s “Road To Utopia” which featured fresh cuts of the veterans’ classics. Still, the “More Of The Same” formula has always worked wonders for this band, so “All Aboard The Skylark” is to be out on October 25th – coupled with a concert album titled “Acoustic Daze”: a studio replication of the ensemble’s tour trick where they opened for themselves with an unplugged showcase of the collective’s perennials.
Unlike the CD version, it’s going to be two separate LPs on vinyl, with the acoustic one receiving a run limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. But the focus will be on “Skylark” which is said to reflect the group’s return to their space-rock base.
