Old news to many, I'm sure, though a new aural pleasure for me, the last one in the shop too! The Luck of Eden Hall's 2012 7" EP release, Crystal Ship, and the accompanying digital album,
Alligators Eat Gumdrops, are both wonderful creations.
Crystal Ship is a nice coloured vinyl EP (I received a grape version,
with peach the alternative colour) and has 4 tracks. On the A side are
two fabulous covers of mid sixties numbers. Firstly, the 'titular' Crystal Ship by the Doors, now I reckon you've got to be brave to take on covering this iconic classic, though from the first gentle guitar twang and mellow tempo-ed approach you know TLoEH have nailed it, doing the original service as well as bringing their own flavour to the mix. I have to admit that I'd never heard of the other track 'Black Sheep' nor the band SRC, my bad, though I greatly enjoyed it, and searching out the original, again TLoEH have done the track justice. Whilst on the B side of the EP are two tracks off Alligators
Eat Gumdrops, Bangalore and This is strange, both smashing pop/psyche numbers. Alligators Eat Gumdrops was originally released as a limited edition CD, although nowadays only the download option is available. Alligators Eat Gumdrops is an album of beautifully crafted pop/psych tracks, all relatively short numbers too, which only increases that pop sensibility. From the first track 'High Heeled Flippers' you know your going to be in
for a treat, and you're not mistaken, track after track hitting the
spot. There's a magpie-esque nature to the influences in TLoEH/Curvey's work, though 'one' of Curvey's gifts is that whereas you or I may gather loads of threads and we'd end up with a mess of knots, Curvey ends up with a lavish tapestry. A guitar rift there, the tinkle of keys there and the tone is set, one moment your mind is thrown back to those iconic sounds indicative of the British psych explosion that followed on from the mods in the mid sixties, suddenly the scene may change and you're transported to early eighties, there's an echo of bands like The Church swirling about in some of the atmospheres this album creates, early 80's post mod/psych/indie flavours abound, with some nice sax and keys too, then whoosh, and there are more of those airy sounds you'd associate with sixties psych, along with a spattering of folk/psych, and so so much more. Wisps of abundant and wide ranging influences abound, though only ethereal wisps, mind, this isn't an attempt at reproduction, a homage or doff of the cap, maybe, although the album is most certainly contemporary. What the album definitely is though, is The Luck of Eden Hall, there's no mistaking their original sound and arrangement style, and again for authenticity it's watermarked with Curvey's distinct vocal style. A fantastic album, I loves it, I do! Towards the mid 60's the 'mods' discovered psychedelia, and for a period
their music was steeped in those flavours. In the late 70's/early 80's
there was a second generation of 'mods', who took up the baton and music influences
of their cultural forebears and embraced and evolved them, and they too went on to experienced their
period of psychedelic discovery. I don't know about you, but to my ears at least (and I was a 2nd gen mod), on Alligators
Eat Gumdrops The Luck of Eden Hall have picked up that psychedelic mod
baton again, buffed it up, evolved it further, re-energized it by sprinkling on their magic and ran like the
wind with it. And, wow, what a fantastic job they've done, creating a contemporary slice of modernist psychedelia.....very nice indeed! A must for any collection, and check the rest of their
catalogue too, it's fabulous.
As you'd imagine, the musicianship is, par excellence, combine that with the quality song writing and thoughtful lyrics, and from the first listen you know you've got yourself another chunk of
The Luck of Eden Hall gold. For me, the only down side is that it took me 6 years to discover this little gem or 'midget' gem, if you will. Get it?
As I proof read this post, and as if to support my assertions, the gas man has just serviced our boiler and commented that he liked the music I was playing (Alligators
Eat Gumdrops) and his words when I told him it was a contemporary band were, 'right, I though I could hear the Human League, it's got that 80's sound, but thought it was a 60's band I was listening to and that Human League must have pinched their sound'. Well I never.
