Agnes Strange ‎– Strange Flavour (1975/2007)

2018-07-26T13:32:33Z

Agnes Strange ‎– Strange Flavour (1975/2007)


1 	Give Yourself A Chance 	3:31
2 	Strange Flavour 	3:59
3 	Alberta 	5:48
4 	Loved One 	6:06
5 	Failure 	5:20
6 	Children Of The Absurd 	7:52
7 	Odd Man Out 	3:55
8 	Highway Blues 	5:33
9 	Granny Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll 	5:23
10 	Interference 	1:34

John Westwood — lead guitar, vocals (03, 11, 12), backing vocal (12)
Alan Green — bass, vocals (07-09), backing vocal (01, 07, 08, 14)
Dave Rodwell — drums, vocals (02), backing vocal (08)
+
Dave Travis — acoustic rhythm guitar (06, 07, 13), slide guitar (06),
 mouth harp (11), vocals (04, 06, 10, 13), vocal harmony (01, 04, 07, 08, 12, 14)
Colin Thurston - backing vocal (01, 08, 14)

Sometimes, albums become far more interesting because of their back story. Case in point: Agnes Strange. This heavy trio from Southampton, England, led by singer-guitarist John Westwood, somehow didn't make a splash on the early '70s boogie circuit despite their obvious similarities to beloved acts like the Groundhogs, Budgie and the almighty Status Quo. Despite some heavy names in their corner, including management company DJM (led by Dick James, who had made a mint off the Beatles' publishing) and A&R folks at Pye Records, some bad luck and inexplicable business decisions led them off course. Foremost among these was a fundamental misunderstanding of the term "pub rock," which led Pye to release Strange Flavour on a one-off label called Birdsnest, which was affiliated with a chain of theme pubs of the same name, owned by the beer manufacturer Watney's. The existing heavy rock audience at the time reacted much as straight-edge punks would if McDonald's and Sony BMG joined forced to release a hardcore album available only at fast food restaurants, and Strange Flavour disappeared without trace, as did Agnes Strange.

Funny thing, though: it turns out that Strange Flavour is actually pretty good. Produced by Dave Travis, whose remarkably cheesy country albums from the '60s are much beloved by Anglo-kitsch collectors, and engineered by Colin Thurston, who was about a half decade away from his heyday as a name post-punk and new romantic producer, Strange Flavour is comfortably pitched between the old and the new, or at least the new iterations of the old. "Clever Fool" is a basic bluesy shuffle that would sound right at home on one of Dave Edmunds' Rockpile-era albums, while "Motorway Rebel" is tailor-made for the Foghat crowd, with its faux bluesy riffage and a hackneyed opening line "Well, I been to New York City/You know I been to L.A." delivered in a voice that screams that its owner has never been further west than Liverpool. On side two, things get a lot spacier, culminating in the epic freak-out "Children of the Absurd," complete with Pink Floyd-style sonar guitar pings and rampant wah-wah abuse. Westwood and his compatriots, bassist Alan Green and drummer Dave Rodwell, may not have been able to solidify a trademark Agnes Strange sound, but the "see if it works" variety and generally tasteful playing makes Strange Flavour an interesting listen for rock obscurantists and old boogie fans alike. This reissue features remastered sound, full liner notes of the whole odd story and four bonus tracks including the punchier 45 single mix of the anthemic opening track "Give Yourself a Chance." ---Stewart Mason, AllMusic Review

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Agnes Strange ‎– Theme For A Dream (2000)

2018-12-04T14:17:49Z

Agnes Strange ‎– Theme For A Dream (2000)


1 	Theme For A Dream 	
2 	Messin' Around 	
3 	Graveyard 	
4 	Rockin ' In ' E 	
5 	Dust In The Sunlight 	
6 	The Day Dreamer 	
7 	Book With No Cover 	
8 	Failure (Demo) 	
9 	Motorway Rebel (Demo) 	
10 	Children Of The Absurd (Demo) 	
11 	Clever Fool (Demo) 	
12 	Strange Flavour (Demo) 	
13 	Odd Man Out (Demo) 	
14 	Highway Blues (Demo) 

John Westwood — lead guitar, vocals
Alan Green – bass, vocals
Dave Rodwell – drums, vocals
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Dave Travis – acoustic guitar, vocals (5, 13), producer
Terry Nicholson – bass (5)
“Spider” Kennedy – drums (5)
Sunny – vocal harmonies (5)

"Unreleased masters & Original demos", 1972-1974.

Digitally remastered reissue of this very rare and collectable self-financed album. Most of the Supergroups of '70s Rock had become too vast and trunkless to mean much to the average music fan. Up and down the country, every night, small-time bands kept the spirit alive; playing R&B, Prog, Folk Rock, you name it, they didn't give up the music they loved. But record labels didn't really get it, giving rise to the phenomenon nowadays loved by collectors - the Private Press record. Agnes Strange were one of the best and most unusual (and at the same time archetypal) of these bands. With producer and well-known scholar of '50s Rock'N'Roll, Dave Travis at the recording controls, it was never going to be ordinary! Much bootlegged, pirated and faked by collectors' labels, here for the first time, with the full involvement of Dave Travis and the band, is the real story of Agnes Strange... 13 tracks. Rev-Ola. 2007. ---Editorial Reviews

What a great record! I had completely forgotten how good their first album was, so I started listening to this cold. As a hard rock fan since the beginning, this caught my attention right out of the box, and virtually never let up. It features awesome, power-trio style hard rock with plenty of progressive and psych elements in the mix. One of the main pluses of this set is that the band is not a one-trick pony, and favor mixing up the style of the material enough to keep things quite interesting. Whoever did the song writing had plenty of good ideas, and went on to develop them in novel ways. My only criticism is minor: while guitarist John Westwood is a superb guitar talent, "power-trio" hard rock may not be his best style. For while he certainly has the chops to lead away, in my experience, the best power-trio players are those who can (and do) drift effortlessly back and forth between lead and rhythm, sometimes even playing both simultaneously! Hendrix was a master at this, but there are plenty of others as well. Westwood leaves the rhythm chores to his bassist, while he soars among the clouds on lead. Of course, it sure works just fine, and I'm just nit-picking here, but it might have been even a little better, that's all. This was apparently their second album, which went unreleased at the time. Bonus tracks are from yet another, demo album, possibly recorded prior to their first. These tracks are all in precisely the same vein, and without knowing otherwise, you would not suspect they were from a different source. I'll surely go out and pick up the official release of this. CDR is great if all you need is the music. But I can't get enough of this fine group. ---tymeshifter, rateyourmusic.com

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Rock, Metal

Agnes Strange ‎– Strange Flavour (1975/2007)

Agnes Strange ‎– Theme For A Dream (2000)