It’s a paradox, yet there are cult albums that every collector knows about – or, rather, became aware of some quarter-century after such platters were first released – and ORANG-UTAN‘s self-titled longplay is one of those records. Still, there’s a weird story behind this British band’s sole offering, because the heavy-psych ensemble called themselves HUNTER, and when the quintet endeavored to lay down eight cuts at London’s De Lane Lea Studios in 1970, in a single session, they hoped to hit the big time; instead, their producers absconded with the tapes to the States and issued what turned out as “Orang-Utan” there without telling the musicians.
Fast-forward to the late ’90s, and the rare copies of the long-forgotten group’s album started circulating and exchanging hands for ludicrous sums, so the appearance of mostly unauthorizes CD versions, with the advent of that format, seemed inevitable – all sourced from the original vinyl, until now. After the passing of the collective’s manager Adrian Millar – who would go on to manage THE BABYS a bit later – an 8-track session tape was found in his loft, which made it possible to not only properly remix and remaster the platter, with corrected speed, but also present it in a what-might-be variant and reveal instrumental takes in a fly-on-the-wall fashion, with studio chat preserved. Scheduled to be out on August 28th on two discs, “The Producer’s Cut” is potentially a thing to marvel at.
The Producer’s Cut
Producer’s Cut:
1. Magic Playground
2. I Can See Inside Your Head
3. Slipping Away
4. Love Queen
5. If You Leave
6. Country Hike
7. Fly Me High
8. Chocolate Piano
Original Session:
9. Slipping Away
10. I Can See Inside Your Head
11. Chocolate Piano
12. Flying High (aka Fly Me High)
13. Magic Playground
14. If You Leave
15. Country Hike
16. Love Queen
LP Remixes:
17. I Can See Inside Your Head
18. Slipping Away
19. Love Queen
20. Chocolate Piano
21. If You Leave
22. Fly Me High
23. Country Hike
24. Magic Playground
