Orang-Utan - Orang-Utan (1971 uk, exciting hard acid psych rock, 2005 digipak edition)

The saga of Orang-Utan is one of classic 60s-style music-biz skulduggery, contrived by dodgy late impresario Adrian Millar who, according to Jeremy Cargill’s sleevenotes, had the group name and King Kong-style sleeve design. All he needed was some gullible rockers to provide the music. 

Enter North London’s Hunter, stalwarts of Freddie Mac’s soul revue, armed with a clutch of songs by drummer Jeff Seopardi, which became proto-metal juggernauts in the hands of lung-busting singer Terry ‘Nobby’ Clark, bassist Paul Roberts and dueling axemen Mick Clarke and Sid Fairman. The group knew it was doomed from the moment Seopardi signed Millar’s contract in a Soho alley, later discovering the album had been released by Bell in the US. 45 years later, Orang-Utan is being released in the UK for the first time, complete with that sleeve, which now stands as a tacky classic of the time. 

Devotees of the kind of riff-heavy blues-rock ground out back then by the likes of Free and Cactus will relish the monolithic but dynamic bombast of outings such as Love Queen and Chocolate Piano. Proto-prog rears its head in the episodic arrangement of Magic Playground.

by Kris Needs

Tracks
1. I Can See Inside Your Head - 3:15
2. Slipping Away - 6:12
3. Love Queen - 4:31
4. Chocolate Piano - 6:33
5. If You Leave - 5:22
6. Fly Me High - 4:38
7. Country Hike - 4:20
8. Magic Playground - 3:20
All songs written by Jeff Seopardie

The Orang-Utan
*Terry "Nobby" Clark - Vocals
*Mick Clarke - Guitar
*Sid Fairman - Guitar
*Paul Roberts - Bass
*Jeff Seopardie - Drums

Related Acts
1965-71  The Herd - The Complete Herd (2005 remaster, digi pack two disc set)  
1967-68  Jason Crest - The Collected Works
1972  Holy Mackerel (2015 reissue) 

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