Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Stackridge
Label: MCA Records
Released: 1974
Running time: 35:20
Rating: 4.5/5
Stackridge remain one of the most overlooked British prog rock bands, even though they once belonged to that elite handful of acts the press most often hailed as the heirs to the Beatles in the early seventies. The comparisons were earned mostly thanks to the similar vocal harmonies, the same genuine English (black) humor and a outstanding knack for building melodic arrangements, even though Stackridge started swearing by an eclectic mix of symphonic and folk-rock elements very early on, driven by a string of daring wind and string parts and cunning electric guitar variations courtesy of keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Andy Cresswell-Davis and guitarist/vocalist James Warren. They widened the layers of their wind arrangements even further after saxophonist Keith Gemmell (ex-Audience) joined, bringing a few jazzy nuances into the Stackridge sound.
Stackridge soon built a completely their own, recognizable style, and by the time they released their third studio album in 1974, »The Man In The Bowler Hat«, their most commercially successful effort (released in the US and Canada under the title »Pinafore Days«), it had long been clear that this was much more than just another set of (failed) Beatles successors. The Beatles’ shadow was a long one, though, and in a strange twist of irony the producer on »The Man In The Bowler Hat« turned out to be none other than the legendary George Martin, whose masterful production skills indirectly helped Stackridge score a pretty decent, if short-lived, success on their home turf in Britain. Interestingly, Stackridge were the first band since the Beatles that Martin chose to work with as a producer.
Thanks to their tickling humor in the vein of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ and their pronounced ‘Englishness’, along with certain pastoral touches in the sound, some music fans mistakenly filed Stackridge under the Canterbury scene, which you can hardly hold against them. »The Man In The Bowler Hat« opens in utterly rowdy fashion with the cheerfully colored »Fundamentally Yours«, which, with its fluid blend of sparkling string and wind arrangements and cocky vocal harmonies, easily brings to mind some of the more playful moments of certain Canterbury scene bands.
The track »Pinafore Days« sounds like the soundtrack to some old English black-and-white film about the life of the decadent British aristocracy in the days of Lord Byron, while on the pastoral-flavored »The Last Plisoll« eclectically seasoned electric guitar variations and dramatic vocal harmonies step into the spotlight, courtesy of all three lead vocalists (Cresswell-Davis, Warren and flutist/keyboardist Michael ‘Mutter’ Slater, who usually contributed most of the vocals on Stackridge tracks). With its circus sounds, »The Galloping Gaucho« is a classic example of Stackridge’s trademark English eccentricity and ‘off-kilter’ humor, but also of their outstanding musicality and melodic sense.
The ballad »To the Sun and the Moon« has elegiac vocal harmonies and melancholy symphonic arrangements, and it’s one of the few more serious moments on the album. The eternal jokers can’t help themselves on the very next track, »The Road To Venezuela«, which, besides sparkling strings, also features the sound of castanets, indirectly adding a pinch of Latin charm to the prevailing Anglo-Saxon melos. »Humilation«, where things turn a bit more serious again, is a heart-piercing, pastoral-tinged lament with an elegiac vocal performance from Slater and gorgeous violin arrangements. The burlesque merry-go-round »Dangerous Bacon«, with its melodic vocal harmonies and cheeky rhythmic nuances, at times sounds like a close encounter between the late Beatles and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. On »The Indifferent Hedgehog«, the sarcastic lyrics, built on an animal fable, stand in sharp contrast to the melancholy main arrangement. »God Speed the Plough«, the most adventurous piece on the album, is a folk-rock instrumental with Celtic-flavored violin and flute arrangements that closes the album in utterly pompous and melodramatic fashion.
With »The Man In The Bowler Hat«, Stackridge created one of the most inspired moments of a career that (temporarily) came to an end in the late seventies. Right up to their breakup in 1976, and despite a few lineup changes, they stayed a relatively stable outfit, at least when it came to songwriting, although interest in their music only really came alive after the band’s return to the scene in 1999. That’s when interest in the ‘ancient’ prog rock bands started growing again, and the ‘rediscovered’ Stackridge came across as some kind of obscure cross between the Beatles, Jethro Tull and Caravan, even though newer releases such as the album »A Victory for Common Sense« (2009) proved that they should never be dismissed as merely superficial.
Line-up
Andy Cresswell-Davis – guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals
Michael ‘Mutter’ Slater – flute, keyboards, percussion, vocals
Mike Evans – violin, vocals
Billy Bent (aka Billy Sparkle) – drums
James Warren – guitar, vocals
Jim “Crun” Walter – bass guitar
Keith Gemmell – saxophone
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Reg Leopold – violin
William Reid – violin
Graeme Scott – viola
Vivian Joseph – cello
Jack Emblow – accordion
Ray Davies – trumpet/cornet
Derek Taylor – French horn and solo on “To the Sun and the Moon”
B. Lamb – trombone
M. Fry – tuba
R. Chamberlain – clarinet/saxophone
Production
George Martin
Track list
1. Fundamentally Yours
2. Pinafore Days
3. The Last Plimsoll
4. To the Sun and the Moon
5. The Road to Venezuela
6. The Galloping Gaucho
7. Humiliation
8. Dangerous Bacon
9. The Indifferent Hedgehog
10. God Speed the Plough
