Home are best remembered as being the band that featured future Wishbone Ash guitarist Laurie Wisefield and AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams, although all three of their albums sold in reasonable quantities on their release in the early 1970s. Indeed, vinyl copies of The Alchemist seemed to be in abundance when I started seriously collecting music back in the 1980s and I was embarking on a scientific career I was naturally attracted to the album due to its cover! Ever since first hearing, I have loved the album with its prog credentials to the fore: from the gatefold sleeve to the conceptual tale of the alchemist who prevents disaster befalling the town he lives in but is ultimately killed by the people he originally saved. That Home should come up with a progressive album following the release of their first two albums, Pause For A Hoarse Horse and the eponymous Home, both released in 1972, is somewhat surprising as although both were thoroughly decent albums, neither really suggested that the group was anything other than a very good mainstream rock act. I supposed it is testimony to the record labels at the time (in this case CBS) that they were prepared to invest in groups and let them develop at their own pace over several albums. How many major-label bands get such an opportunity these days?
In addition to Wisefield and Williams, Home also featured Mick Stubbs (guitar, piano, lead vocals) and Mick Cook (drums) with, on this album, David Skillin providing the lyrics and Jimmy Anderson adding synths and Mellotrons. Throughout the album it is the playing of Wiseman that shines through, blending marvellously in the complex arrangements that incorporate numerous shifts in time signatures and arrangements that make best use of the variety of instruments available to the band. There is also plenty of harmony singing, something that features on all three Home albums given that three of the four members (Cook being the exception) were fine singers contributing their vocals throughout. For a progressive album The Alchemist starts somewhat incongruously with a delicate, almost folky, number, Schooldays. Undoubtedly this is deliberate as it is the origins of the story where the two main protagonists first meet at the very beginning of the 20th century. The folkier style is therefore representative of older days and differentiates this element of the tale from the main narrative which is based in the 1950s. It is not appropriate to provide a track-by-track coverage of the album because, as a concept, the music has been arranged to help tell the story and not, necessarily as standalone tracks. However, there are plenty of highlights that are worth noting. For instance, Wisefield's restrained playing on the instrumental Time Passes is in complete contrast to his more direct and angry lead on The Disaster. The sublime vocal melody on The Old Man Calling [Save The People] clearly demonstrates the thought that has gone into matching the lyrics not only to the story but also to the music, with the music itself displaying a breadth of imagination lacking from so many progressive albums - take, for example, the great ending to The Sun's Revenge with its piano and acoustic guitar sections.
The original second side of the LP started with three short numbers, the second of which The Brass Band Played could have eaily provided the inspiration for Camel's The Homecoming on Nude. But it is with The Disaster Returns that everything comes together with the dual guitars of Wisefield and Stubbs providing energetic backing but never dipping into self-indulgence, although the group do bring out the big progressive guns at the end of the song and on the following The Death Of The Alchemist. In classic concept album style, the final song, The Alchemist, reprises elements of the opening Schooldays bringing the music full circle and the album to a fine close. Three rare tracks have been added to this reissue, both sides of a 1974 single Green Eyed Fairy b/w Sister Rosalie which was the final release before the band called it a day. Stylistically the single, particularly the b-side, was more akin to the material on the group's first album and showed less of the progressive influences. Hayward Town is a previously unreleased number which, based on the lyrics, is not an out-take from The Alchemist. The finished nature of the song suggests it was not a demo; possibly recorded at the same time as the last single, it may have been that the band were contemplating a new album that was abandoned when sales of The Alchemist failed to elevate Home to the next level and the group split.
As expected from Esoteric releases the sound of this reissue is exemplary. I have a prior reissue of the CD which pails into complete insignificance compared with this version. Add to that the comprehensive booklet and the three rare tracks (even as a fan of the band I was unaware of the final single!) and you have an excellent reissue of an excellent album that deserves rediscovery by a large audience. Let's hope so as the band performed the whole album for a BBC In Concert performance that was issued a while back on a double CD but is now practically impossible to find. Hopefully, if this new release attracts a large enough following there will be the incentive for Esoteric to reissue the BBC sessions once more.
by Mark Hughes
Tracks
1. Schooldays - 2:57
2. The Old Man Dying - 3:47
3. Time Passes By - 2:05
4. The Old Man Calling (Save The People) - 3:15
5. The Disaster - 2:36
6. The Sun's Revenge - 4:00
7. A Secret To Keep - 1:18
8. The Brass Band Played - 1:25
9. Rejoicing - 2:49
10. he Disaster Returns (Devastation) - 8:03
11.The Death Of The Alchemist - 4:35
12.The Alchemist - 3:48
13.Green Eyed Fairy - 2:44
14.Sister Rosalie (David Skillin, Micky Stubbs) - 2:57
15.Hayward Town - 2:55
All compositions by David Skillin, Micky Stubbs, Laurie Wisefield, Cliff Williams, Mick Cook except where stated
Bonus Tracks 13-15
The Home
*Mick Stubbs - Vocals, Guitar, Piano
*Laurie Wisefield - Acoustic Guitar, Steel Guitar, Vocals
*Cliff Williams - Bass, Vocals
*Mick Cook - Drums, Percussion
With
*Jim Anderson - Piano, Organ, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Vocals
No comments:
Post a Comment