Ptolomy Psycon - Loose Capacitor (EP). 1971 private. (catalog number HAT 1306 A).
This one has been on my curiosity list for a very long time. At least since Amber Soundroom had announced their intention to reissue it on vinyl (guessing this was around 2003/2004?). Leave it to The Alaskan Connection to have it on hand. And this one lived up to its reputation.
Ptolomy Psycon practically defines the raw UK underground of the early 1970s. I suppose the 99 count Holyground albums, or the hyper rare Dark album* can give you an indication of the recording quality. But the music is definitely influenced by the upcoming progressive rock movement, especially Hawkwind, Steel Mill, Jethro Tull and King Crimson. The AC also offers "Ptolomy Psycon has lots of that UK psychy proto-prog flavor. This was released as a 10" EP, in an edition of only 50 copies with homemade covers. The band were from the Birmingham area, and were supposedly all students in the same school (around 16-17 years old, I think). In fact, all the "orchestral" stuff you'll hear on this was apparently done by their school band, who they hired to play on the recording!"
Hopefully they recorded more than the 22 minutes found here, as this is a really good example of the early 70s UK deep underground scene.
Priority: 2
*when I say hyper rare - I mean it! An original copy of Dark just went for near $11,000 on ebay just last week. That's right - $11K!
5 comments:
An unplayed copy was found last month by a UK digger who didn't know what it was, but bought it as a "speculative buy." Found out what he'd found after getting home and checking the Net.
Amazing. I remember those days in the 1980s coming home with piles of European albums that just "looked cool". I miss those days.
Thanks Mark for the comment!
Thank you Tom for the review!
Happy New Year! :o)
Happy New Year Isabel!
Thanks Tom for information, BRILLIANT music.
Post a Comment