LEGEND OF A MIND The Decca Underground Anthology 2002 3CD MP3@320

LEGEND OF A MIND The Decca Underground Anthology 2002 3CD

(predecessor to Strange Pleasures Further Sounds of the Decca Underground 2008 3CD)



A definitive collection of over 235 minutes of music in three CDs from the legendary British ''underground'' and progressive rock scene released by Decca and its rock label offshoot Deram Records, between 1967-1975. Includes 48 page booklet.



LEGEND OF A MIND The Decca Underground Anthology



Disc One = 77:04

01 - Legend Of A Mind (Moody Blues)

02 - Screams In The Ears (Bill Fay)

03 - Suite No. One (Giles, Giles and Fripp)

04 - Introspection Part One (The End)

05 - I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes (Ten Years After)

06 - Austin Osmanspare (Bulldog Breed)

07 - The Song Of McGuillicudie The Pusillanimous (Egg)

08 - Voodoo Forest (Johnny Almond Music Machine)

09 - Nymphenburger (East Of Eden)

10 - Once Upon A Hill-Put That In Your Pipe And Smoke It (Aardvark)

11 - No More White Horses (T2)

12 - Hello Hello (Caravan)

13 - Freelance Fiend (Leafhound)

14 - Nutmeg, Bitter Suite (Granny's Intentions)

15 - The Witch (The Rattles)

16 - Still As Stone (The Alan Bown! featuring Jess Roden)



Disc Two = 77:17

01 - Maybe Someday (Human Beast)

02 - Chauffer (Black Cat Bones)

03 - Tomorrow Morning Brings (Pacific Drift)

04 - The Unknown Years (Zakkarias)

05 - Free To Be Stoned (Clark-Hutchinson)

06 - Cemetery Junction Part One And Two (Room)

07 - Roundabout (Keef Hartley Band)

08 - Question (Moody Blues)

09 - Love Like A Man (Ten Years After)

10 - Jig A Jig (East Of Eden)

11 - Golf Girl (Caravan)

12 - Boulders On My Grave (Mellow Candle)

13 - Theme Song (Keef Hartley Band)



Disc Three = 77:02

01 - Hellbound Train (Savoy Brown)

02 - Stranded (Khan)

03 - The Rise And Dear Demise Of The Funky Nomadic Tribes (Thin Lizzy)

04 - Seafull (Trapeze)

05 - C'Lu Thlu (Caravan)

06 - Whisky In The Jar (Thin Lizzy)

07 - Lady Fantasy (Camel)

08 - Nights In Armour (Pete Brown & Friends)

09 - Propositions (Curved Air)

10 - Air Born (Camel)

11 - The Envoy (Darryl Way's Wolf)



Various Artists Legend Of A Mind - The Underground Anthology Review

Mellotron solos! Lyrics about women selling tea! Scary chord changes! Folk music...



Chris Jones 2002



Sometimes perfection is a real bore. In an age where karaoke puppets and corporate niche marketing have rubbed any rough edges from our aural diet, it comes as quite a shock to hear stuff like this. For, while most of this material stems from a timeframe and genre that prided itself on its musical ability, it's by no means a smooth and unchallenging ride. Even Richard Madeley's favourite band, the Moody Blues (who provide the title track to this anthology) sound edgy and mysterious to modern ears. And yet it all fell under the banner of the mighty Decca label.



By late 1967 something was happening, and (to paraphrase Dylan) it wasn't just Mr Jones who didn't know what it was. Major labels were faced by an audience who now wanted something considerably more challenging than three minutes of the Hollies singing about bus stops. Those pesky Beatles had opened Pandora's musical box and it wasn't unreasonable to ask for at least three time signature changes in the space of one song. Mellotron solos! Lyrics about women selling tea! Scary chord changes! Folk music played on electrical instruments! Blues played backwards! It was all legal tender in them days and Decca wanted a piece of the action. Signing acts left, right and centre to their subsidiary, Deram, the label inadvertently set loose some of the strangest music known to man. It's all here...



To be fair most of this music's fascination lies in its position somewhere between psychedelia and progressive. It's some evolutionary stop-gap, like a musical sabre-toothed mongoose and, on the whole, clumsy and not a little pretentious. Let's face it, there's a reason why you've probably never heard of Human Beast, Clark-Hutchinson or Aardvark. But for every Keef Hartley obscurity there's a lost gem waiting to blow your mind.



Revel in the jazz exotica of the Johnny Almond Music Machine (featuring a fledgling Alan White). Be dazzled by the young Robert Fripp on Giles, Giles and Fripp's ''Suite No.1''. Realise why the folksy intricacy of Mellow Candle has won them cult status. To lump it all under prog or underground seems utterly pointless; Ten Years After's blues owes just as much to Wes Montgomery as to Freddie King, while the Canterbury sounds of Egg, Khan and Caravan juggle complexity with a self-deprecating homeliness (and how many modern bands even bother to sing with an English accent these days?).



3 CDs may seem daunting, yet such is the passion and vaulting ambition (9 times out of 10 falling charmingly short of ability) that you merely wish that major labels could still be this adventurous. Those days are long gone but, thanks to this fine compilation, far from forgotten.