Gentle acoustic guitar and Georgia Lamb’s vocalisation starts off opening track ‘Mad, Magic and Fire’, before Barry Lamb takes the lead vocal, drums, percussion and electric guitar provided by Peter Ashby. Lamb, who is also the bassist, adds some flute in a heady mix. ‘Clumsy Oaf’ comes next in a lumbering psychedelicised tale with sitar-like sounds in the background, very atmospheric, suddenly bursting into life in its denouement. ‘Stones and Rings’ (I wonder if this connects with ‘standing’ and ‘circles’) brings shimmering electric guitar, and some violin. ‘The Landlady’s Lair’ spotlights Georgia Lamb, the men repeating ‘round and round’, melodica, someone is “lost in the eerie air”, an evocative invocation of rural folklore perhaps? ‘Cedars’ - “in the corner of an eye where secrets fly”, more myth and mystery; on ‘Leading the Blind’ the protagonists seem to be trying to make sense of a world that seems otherworldly if you know what I mean. ‘A Dance of Shadows’ is the longest number at around 8-minutes; Barry’s vocal phrasing reminded me of Peter Hammill here. Around 5½ minutes in there’s a scintillating electric guitar break. There is little that’s upbeat on the album, but that is OK as a charming earnestness pervades all.
Rooted in folk music, with intriguing acoustically based collages of sound and word, might be a description that demarcates Three-Headed Emperor’s unique sound. I can imagine in the days when the Harvest label was signing bands like Tea & Symphony, the Panama Jug Band and Shirley & Dolly Collins, that Three-Headed Emperor would have carved out a niche for themselves; these are changed times though, but it’s nice to hear such eclectic music once more.
Comments