Freedoms Children
Galactic Vibes
Original album cover
1998 Unofficial CD release
2002 CD release
Tracks:
- Sea Horse (Laxton/Davidson) [4.13]
- The Homecoming (MacKay) [15.55] live version including drum solo; studio version on Astra
- That Did It (Laxton/Davidson) [3.47]
- Fields And Me (Laxton/Davidson) [5.50]
- The Crazy World Of Pod: electronic concerto (Laxton) [2.00]
- 1999 (Laxton/Davidson, actually composed by Ramsay Mackay) [4.03]
- About The Dove And His King (Barry Irwin) [3.41]
Bonus track on 2002 Official CD:
- 1999 (extended version) [6.21]
Bonus tracks on 1998 Unofficial CD:
- The Eagle Has Landed [2.53] with Dickie Loader
- 1999 (alternative demo mix) [6.23]
Bonus tracks on 2000 Unofficial CD (all taken from the Battle Hymn album):
- Season [3.03]
- Judas Queen [3.54]
- Mrs. Browning [3.06]
- Country Boy [2.58]
- Your Fathers' Eyes [2.26]
- 10 Years Ago [5.55]
- Kafkasque [3.25]
- Boundsgreen Fair [3.16]
- Miss Wendy's Dancing Eyes Have Died [4.34]
Musicians:
Release information:
Album: 1971, Parlophone, PCSJ (D) 12075
CD: 1998, Never Never Land (Japan), FRCD019 unofficial CD with 2 bonus tracks
CD: 2000, Buy Or Die (Germany), BOD115 unofficial CD with bonus tracks from the 'Battle Hymn' album
CD: May 2002, RetroFresh, freshcd 126 official CD with a bonus track and full sleeve notes
Buy this CD from Fresh Music
Review:
The year is 1971 but the song is '1999'. The group is Freedom's and the vibes are galactic. And now just over 30 years later we can look back at '1999'. This time we can do it without having to get up to turn the record over as the Freedom's Children classic album 'Galactic Vibes' has been given a new lease on life by Retro Fresh.
This is a many layered album, almost to the point of being cluttered, but this is what makes it interesting. Each time you listen you can hear something new, be it a tone in Brian Davidson's wailing vocals, a riff from Julian Laxton's screaming guitar, a sequence of notes from Barry Irwin's booming bass, the change from sticks to hands on Colin Pratley's awesome drumming, or merely putting your ear right up against the speaker to feel the presence of Ramsay MacKay on the live version of 'The Homecoming'.
The centrepiece of Galactic Vibes does not come at the centre of the album, but is the second track. Clocking in at over 16 minutes (that a third of the CD's playing time) is 'The Homecoming'. The shorter version appeared on 'Astra', but this live version has to be one of South Africa's epic tracks. Recorded live at the Out of Town Club (which according to a copy of their flyer in the sleeve notes, advertised a Steak Parlour), the track features a quite stunning and by all accounts legendary drum solo that lasts for the best part of 8 minutes before those dramatic guitar chords herald the return of the rest of the band.
Aside from this monstrous drumfest, the album features some blistering fuzzy edged guitars on the thundering 'That Did It' as well as the quieter and beautiful 'Fields and Me'. There is also the experimental keyboard piece 'The Crazy world of Pod: Electronic Concerto' which is just short enough not to become irritating. '1999', the single, is less busy than most of the other tracks, and is probably the most radio friendly of the lot, although the orchestration on 'About the Dove and his King' adds a beauty and quality sheen to what is quite a rough rock sound.
The roughness of the album is due mainly to the inventive recording methods used. With layers of overdubs and no noise reduction, this method created what the sleeve notes describe as a 'musical mystical mist of sound'. This is a wonderful way to describe the slightly distorting guitars and vague hissing sounds. These are well preserved on the re-mastered CD as they are as essential to the album as the music.
The label progressive rock is usually given to this kind of music, but here you can hear why the music is called thus. These guys were breaking barriers not only in South Africa's rather narrow 1970's rock world but would have broken through numerous perceived limitations on the world stage, had the world bothered to listen. 'Galactic Vibes' is an album that South Africans can be proud of, even now 30 years on. It is a great musical achievement that can be hauled out again and again and simply marvelled at. As for me, I'm off to find out what the hell a steak parlour is.
-- John Samson, SA Rock Digest, August 2002
Comments:
'1999' was re-recorded in 1998 by the Brian Davidson Band and released on the excellent Various Artists compilation CD 'Cape Town Vibes'.
The Buy or Die re-issue in 2000 had the colours on the cover reversed (see above). The cover could also be folded inside-out to show the Battle Hymn cover.
'About the Dove and his King' sometimes listed as 'About the Dove and his Ring'.
Cover scans and info supplied by Piet Obermeyer and Mike Greeff. Sleeve notes retyped by Kurt Shoemaker, September 1999. CD re-issue supplied by Benjy Mudie of RetroFresh, May 2002
Freak Emporium Website: Originally released on Parlophone records in 1971 this is heavy wah-wah fuzz led guitar rock of the highest order. This official release (with excellent sleeve notes) has one bonus track. This is one of the best heavy psyche albums to come out of South Africa or in fact the world, phased out vocals, heavy as lead thumping rhythms on the bass and drums and guitars that weave in and out of the tracks like a madman on acid. Mind melter!
News from the USA
The most immediate or meaningful piece of info is that on the back is a
small sticker that says: "Made in Austria". I guess the original album was a gatefold, for what appear to be the original liner notes are reproduced: a simple hand-lettered layout
superimposed over a contrasty black and white photo of what looks like the
heads of people at an outdoor concert near sunset. There is also a Xeroxed
piece of paper with pictures of the band, and Ramsey Mackay, on one side,
and text on the other side that tells how it was at their concerts in their
heyday. Nowhere that I can see, on the case or on the disc itself is any
meaningful info; no address, no numbers.
Oddly, on the disc itself, around the hole, it looks like someone has
taken something hot and obliterated numbers that may have been there -- my
other CDs have numbers there, top and bottom, but there is bubbly melted
plastic on the top and bottom of this disc. There is no label. Freedom's
Children and Galactic Vibes are in simple black on the disc and that's it.
Brian Davidson apparently had some connection because there are 2 bonus
tracks, one an "Alt. Demo Mix" of '1999'. The Xeroxed piece of paper says
at the end: "This CD features 2 non-LP bonus tracks (1 of which is from an
acetate), the artwork is exact to the original LP but the back photo on the
CD is a rare picture from the personal archives of singer, Brian Davidson.
Thank you to our friends from S. Africa for all their help to this CD."
I have no idea how old it is -- it was a total surprise when I found it.
It was in a discount bin at Waterloo Records in Austin, Texas. Austin
has a huge university (about 40,000) undergraduates, and this is one of the
more eclectic and successful CD stores in town. It was marked down
three times before I bought it: from $28.99 to $23.99 to $18.99 to the
$13.99 I paid for it. Plus .0825 sales tax. So maybe it has sat on
Waterloo's shelves for a year or two for all we know.
-- Kurt Shoemaker, USA, September, 1999
Sleeve notes for 2002 CD re-issue:
In the 18 months I worked at EMI
South Africa the group I believed the most in was Freedom's Children------this
is with the line up of Julian Laxton, Colin Pratley, Ramsey Mackay and Brian
Davidson. In fact I believed so much in them that I came close to leaving EMI
to manage the group full time with a view to trying to get them to London
to "make it" on the world stage, so to speak. In those days, however, there were
all sorts of obstacles with work permits, UK Musicians Union, SA Exchange
Control etc, not to mention the fact that I was only 23, had no capital and had
virtually no contacts anywhere outside of SA........so nothing came of this
particular "dream" and sadly the limitations of their having to try and evolve
creatively within the narrow confines of the SA music scene at that time, coupled with personal differences some of the members were having, ultimately led to the disintegration of what in my opinion was then and
probably still is today (30 years later) the only SA rock group that given the
right circumstances in the right geographical location,could have become an
internationally successful rock band just by being themselves and doing what
they did.
Clive Calder
January 2002
They play it down now. There was no
"concept". It was just a straight album. A rush job. No second takes. No deep
thought. No angst. No hidden meaning. No secret codes. No subliminal
emotions.
Yet Galactic Vibes is an intriguing and compelling experiment in
sound. A masterwork. A concept, indeed.
Now, some 30 years after it was
recorded and issued on Parlophone vinyl, its apparent casual exploration of
inventive technology can be said to have lipped the very periphery of the
maelstrom of new sounds only today being refined. The result, then, was an
extraordinary one for the times. And can't be repeated, despite the new wave
of frightening, sophisticated digital technology. It can't ever be equaled
either. The ambiance - the ethos - would be annihilated.
Even a casual
examination of what emanated from the flying fingers of Messrs Julian Laxton,
Brian Davidson, Barry Irwin and Colin Pratley so long ago leaves today's
listener dry-mouthed and breathless - if not only at their sheer mastery, but
at the lack of such musicianship in a world besotted by modern terminological
inexactitudes like R&B (rhythm and blues is what the Rolling Stones used
to play in their early years, not what whining orgiastic female singers
attempt today).
An in-depth scrutiny of Galactic Vibes leaves the listener
wishing he was in a time machine and could whoosh back the years to the famous
dates in Freedom's Children history - like the Out of Town Club. Or the Durban
King's Park New Year's Day concert in 1971. Or the other venues when audacious
theatre was as much a part of their scene as music. Beam me back, Scotty. And
throw away the key. But yesterday has gone. Never to be repeated. And tempus
fugit - inexorably. However, I was there.
I saw them. I wrote about them. I talked
to them. I edited, in the early 1970s, a weekly pop tabloid journal called
Trend for the then Natal Daily News. It was a music publication. Nothing
else.
What happened on every stage in Durban was what mattered. We did
Scatby Hud, Abstract Truth, Suck, Band of Gypsies, Flames, Hocus, Humphrey,
Third Eye, Wild Youth. We did Hawk and Otis. A host of others, too. And
Freedom's Children.
But a really close examination of what they were doing
never entered my mind. Then.
It was just raw energy, fanned by Laxton's
incredible lead guitar, inflamed by Pratley's powerful drums, scorched by
Davidson's voice and completed by Irwin's stunning bass. Galactic Vibes may
have been a "one-off" - but this group should have found themselves regularly
on stage at Wembley Stadium, London, instead of the political pop wilderness
this country became, and they were relegated to.
They deserved better. So
in your hands is an extraordinary and unique experiment in sound. One that,
even now, sounds fresh and new as if it were done just yesterday.
Open your
ears to:
Sea Horse (Laxton/Davidson),
The Homecoming (MacKay) (live),
That Did It (Laxton/Davidson),
Fields and Me (Laxton/Davidson),
The Crazy World of Pod: electronic concerto (Laxton),
1999
(Laxton/Davidson),
About The Dove and His King (Barry Irwin),
1999
(alternative demo mix).
So where are those magick music men who made it?
And what are they doing now?
Julian was easy - he's in Johannesburg.
Brian I found in Thailand.
Colin is in Durban.
Barry, too, is out
there somewhere, and when last heard of was teaching jazz in the United
States, after studying at Berklee in California.
He is the only one still
"missing."
Ramsay McKay - included because he played bass on the seminal,
long version of The Homecoming on this album - is in Scotland. Word has it he
has just mastered yet another solo album, ready to knock British socks
off.
But Galactic Vibes - despite the protests - is a concept album.
In
the 1970s everyone was doing them - and Freedom's Children was no exception.
They made Astra - swathes of sweeping, strong melody lines, and freaky,
twirling sounds, and took the country by storm. It was light years from
anything ever produced in South Africa.
"It was done on a four-track, plus
two track and two metre echo-plate. By pushing and pulling and plugging and
unplugging and using my magic box (a combination of early synthesiser, flanger
and echolette) and spending 72 hours without sleep, we managed to produce it,"
Laxton told me some years ago.
"It cost an enormous amount of emotion and
we broke every recording rule in the book. In the end we had sounds that
nobody had ever heard, or produced, in this country before. But because the
multi-tracks were limited we had to layer and layer and layer overdubs. And
because there was no noise reduction, we created a sort of musical mystical
mist of sound - it became synonymous with us."
It is those same sounds that
make up whole segments on Galactic Vibes.
Laxton: "I don't think there was
an actual concept, we just tried to do some new and different stuff. As for
Pod . . . it was dedicated to a crazy girl I was going out with at the time
and I had nicknamed her Pod. She was a strange chick."
Strange as the
sounds Laxton pulled from his magic box - strange as the sounds being made
then by Pink Floyd, like Ummagumma.
Floyd had made the stunning album on
the new EMI Harvest label in October 1969, using wind machines, taped loops
and concocted sounds. It was the freedom to experiment that gave each band
member half a side to himself. The result was a dynamic, different double
album containing tracks like Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun,
Astronome Dominee, the fretfull, ghastly Careful With That Axe Eugene and
others like the Grand Vizier's Ball. Crux of it all was the wall of weird
sounds into which the music was dropped.
James Barclay Harvest produced
similar concept stuff in 1969.
Genesis did Trespass in 1970, again breaking
away from ordinary sounds.
Deep Purple did The Book of Talisyn
the same year. The Nice turned into Emerson, Lake and Palmer, in 1970,
experimenting with similar sounds, with Keith Emerson pictured stabbing his
keyboard with a huge knife to retain the chord he wanted.
Kraftwerk began
sending loops of sound through tapes in the middle of 1970. Tangerine Dream
began their experimentation in 1970 with Electronic Meditation; the Moody
Blues did Days of Future Passed and the Strawbs (with Rick Wakeman) produced
Dragonfly.
Freedom's were a part of that international wave of sound
experimentation. But they were stuck in South Africa, a land writhing with
political discontent, and cultural embargoes. Effectively it could be said
that apartheid ended Freedom's burgeoning, brilliant life.
They should have
been in London.
They were banned from playing there. The British
Musicians' Union was too strong to defy. Nevertheless, they produced Galactic
Vibes for local consumption.
Laxton: "Funny thing is, we weren't into Pink
Floyd at that time, even though some people thought our music sounded similar.
"I recently even had an e-mail from someone in London asking how it was
that Pink Floyd was 'copying our sound.' They never did. And we didn't copy
theirs either. There were even reports of me passing on to Roger Waters the
secrets of the magic box. Point is, we were experimenting, all of us.
"But
it was a strange question. I didn't reply. Some of my arrangements and sound
on Fields and Me were prompted by King Crimson's The Court of the Crimson
King. It had nothing to do with Floyd.
"On Pod, I made sound loops and
multi-tracked them. Then overdubbed more sounds from the magic box, with its
flanges, echoes, and synthesiser modes. I felt that we were doing something
different, I still do."
Laxton has always been different. Today he runs his
own club - Julian's - featuring local musicians. He's been doing film scores
for years and says another one is on the way. Currently, Julian's features the
music of Jimi Hendrix.
……………………………
The night Colin Pratley broke his wrist,
10,000 people saw him do it. He bashed it on the side of his drum-kit as he
went into one of the seminal live solos of South African music.
The Home Coming. The long
version.
It was given all the artistry he could muster - and at some 14
minutes long, that was considerable. It was awesome and bizarre.
As
Laxton's swirling electronic sounds faded spectrally out, Pratley's right hand
caught the edge of his one drum.
He cried out, faltered for a few seconds,
and then carried on. From where I was sitting, on the grass just below, it was
an agonising moment.
Only at the end, when he slumped from the kit, did the
ecstatic crowd packing King's Park Stadium, Durban, realise what had
happened.
He had been playing with a broken wrist.
In agonising pain, he
thrust his long flowing black hair from his face, and was helped into an
ambulance. And the stadium crowd, calling for an encore, went quiet with
concern.
It was the evening of New Year's Day 1971.
Freedom's Children,
despite the temporary loss of South Africa's finest rock drummer, had
conquered again.
Pratley: "The Homecoming drum solo started as an
interlude but soon developed into a solo as such. It was an African drum
technique, a natural rhythm that I later expounded on (in the group Wildebeest
for instance) when we played live.
"I discovered that I could expand on
various techniques, but eventually I found there was little new I could do
with the sticks - so I experimented, using my hands on a conventional drum kit
- you can hear it clearly on The Homecoming on Galactic Vibes. There is a
distinct break when I shift from sticks to hands.
"The rest of them
wandered about when I began the solo - and when I picked up the sticks at the
end, it was a sign for them to come back on stage.
"Sometimes, Julian,
Brian and Barry would disappear completely when I started that solo and much
of my technique was employed trying to get them back on stage. I never knew if
they were watching me. They could sure hear me.
"At times, there were tense
moments. I couldn't see because of the spotlights. But eventually they came
back on stage - although I had to improvise until they did.
"I worked on a
basic framework for the solo but no version was ever the same. Oh, and there
were times when I broke the bass drum skin and had to play without
it."
Pratley's version of The Homecoming on
the Astra album was curtailed - because there was not enough room on the vinyl
to contain the whole 14 minute track.
Touring was part of the
deal.
Pratley: "What I can remember about those days vividly was being sent
on a nation wide tour in a VW Kombi. EMI paid us R1 a day each.
"But the
real 'trick' was to get Laxton to stop the bus in order to find the nearest
bush - and believe me, through the Free State, this took some creative
planning.
"Laxton was always wanting to get there. He was always a man in
a hurry. We were always very tired. I was angry at the 'system' and it came
out through my drumming I suppose. We were all affected by the politics at the
time.
"Barry Irwin was never allowed into hotels and had to sleep in the
Kombi and at some concerts in really politically sensitive towns, had to wear
a T shirt over his head. Barry wasn't white like us.
"It's a pure miracle
that we came out alive.
"I have not been active musically since
establishing our home Shepherd's Keep - a home for abandoned AIDS babies in
Durban. But I have lately applied myself to the African drums again. I have
developed Drums Triumphant - A Voice for the Voiceless . It's a show in which
I use 100 hand made drums, all to raise awareness of the plight of AIDS
sufferers and the tragedy of HIV positive babies who are regularly abandoned.
Shepherd's Keep takes them in.
"This is what I am currently working on.
It's the time in my life that through my drums, I can focus my musical talent
on that which I believe is part of God's purpose for my existence.
"I
don't visualise Drums Triumphant as an ongoing vehicle. My life is consumed
together with my wife, Cheryl, in caring for abandoned babies at Shepherd's
Keep."
And Astra?
Pratley: "I was listening to it the other day. It
could never be compared to Galactic Vibes which you can describe as a 'naked
expression' of Freedom's music on the road."
………………………
Brian Davidson (via e-mail from Thailand):
"It will be quite difficult to remember all the things that happened so long
ago on the making of Galactic Vibes.
"While it may have seemed so, Ramsay
McKay never sang on Astra at all. His vocal contribution was the poetic
speaking voice on the last track.
"All the voices, the harmonies, double
or treble tracks were sang by yours truly.
"Ramsay played bass on the live
version of The Homecoming which was recorded at the Out of Town Club.
"He
also wrote the version of 1999 which appears on Galactic vibes.
"After
Astra and Ramsay's departure from Freedom's Children, EMI were screaming for a
second album.
"We had no time, really, to consider any particular theme,
but Jules and I sat down to work this problem out. After Ramsay's artistic
control on Astra it was really great to let it all out ourselves. After the
gruelling tours we were both at the top of our game anyway.
"The album took
no time at all to record. Single takes were the name of the game. Jules was
absolutely superb in everything he touched. Barry Irwin and Colin slotted in
perfectly. It just came flowing out.
"Jules just used, as usual, his magic
box to get the most amazing sounds again, and he played acoustic guitar on all
tracks, as well as electric. We combined the EMI orchestral division on some
of the tracks and that also worked out wonderfully.
"I really loved the
album. I had the freedom to sing what I wanted, how I wanted. Jules brought
the chords and I brought the voice. This simple, free partnership paved the
way to the album. I'm very pleased about the way it's being presently
handled.
"I'm teaching English in Thailand, at a secondary school full time
and also singing with a great Thai blues band. I'll be in South Africa soon on
holiday".
Strings?
Like Deep Purple's Concerto for Group and Orchestra
and later Gemini Suite, marrying the sounds of electric guitar, bass, drums
and voice to orchestra was yet another milestone in the art of the "concept"
album.
On Galactic Vibes, they add to the space and depth.
Robin
Netcher was the arranger - with Laxton, moulding sound sequences around the
main themes.
At the time, this is how EMI's publicity machine saw the
original issue of Galactic Vibes:
Engineered by: Leo Lagerway
String
arrangements by: Robin Netcher
Cover design and photography by: Ricky
Alexander
Lettering by: Jemima Hunt.
Sleeve notes:
Galactic Vibes is
about Colin Pratley's outstanding drum solo, applauded by audiences all over
the country, and captured 'live' at the Out of Town Club. It's about Barry
Irwin's transition from driving bass player to lyrical composer on the
orchestrated About the Dove and his King which features a 25 piece string
section. Galactic Vibes is about the magic that is Brian Davidson. The emotion
of Fields and Me and the taste of blood and dirt. It's about the technical
brilliance of Julian Laxton illustrated on The Crazy World of Pod, which
features his electronic synthesizer.
Galactic Vibes is the presence of
Ramsay Mackay on 1999. It's the influence of people looking into tomorrow.
Freedom's Children are the No. 1 group in South Africa today. Their last album
Astra was acclaimed by critics as a milestone in pop recordings. The group has
twice toured the country and played to capacity houses everywhere. At Durban
on New Year's Day they received a standing ovation from 10,000 beautiful
people.
"If you've seen them, you know. If you haven't seen them, we're
sorry that your life is a little emptier."
And in a press
release:
"Undeniably the greatest 70s heavy psych band to come out of South
Africa and arguably in the top ten of the world for the genre and era. This
album (their third and final LP) followed the well known and amazing Astra LP
and has an incredible 16 minute live version of The Homecoming . . . a classic
blistering, wailing masterpiece song of 70s heavy psychedelia whose shorter,
studio version was featured on the Astra album.
"This live version allows
the listener to travel back in time and experience the thunderous raw cosmic
energy of this great group, replete with banshee wailing, swirling psychedelic
fuzz-wah guitar, intertwining and twisting, screeching, fazed out vocal,
heavy-as-lead thumping, melodic bass & and arm-breaking megalomaniac
drumming.
"At live concerts the drummer would play a drum solo with his
bare hands until they began to bleed (listen for the hand drum solo halfway in
the solo).
"The guitar player cavorted about like a mad scientist,
squeezing frightening leads out of his guitar, while twisting knobs and
hitting switches on a 3 feet high self-made effects machine (similar shape to
a time machine).
"The singer catapulted all over the stage, screeching and
using his microphone stand as an axe to chop amps, organs and P.A.
speakers.
"Colin, the drummer used to walk in
from the back wearing a white sheet and a candle and that's how the gig would
start . . ."
And that's how thousands of Freedom's Children fans will
remember them.
Helped now by this issue of Galactic Vibes.
A
masterpiece in time and space.
Owen Coetzer, Cape Town
Sleeve Notes from the original album:
Galactic Vibes is about Colin Pratley's outstanding drum solo, applauded
by audiences all over the country, and captured 'live' at the Out of Town
Club. It's about Barry Irwin's transition from driving bass player to
lyrical composer on the orchestrated "About the Dove and his King" which
features a 25 piece string section.
Galactic Vibes is about the magic that is Brian Davidson. The emotion of
"Fields and Me" and the taste of blood and dirt in "That did It." It's
about the technical brilliance of Julian Laxton illustrated on "The Crazy
World of Pod," which features his electronic synthesizer.
Galactic Vibes is the presence of Ramsay Mackay on "1999." It's the
influence of people looking into tomorrow.
Freedom's Children are the No. 1 group in South Africa today. Their last
album "Astra" was acclaimed by critics as a milestone in pop recordings.
The group has twice toured the country and played to capacity houses
everywhere. At Durban on New Year's Day they received a standing ovation
from 10,000 beautiful people.
"If you've seen them, you know. If you haven't seen them, we're sorry
that your life is a little emptier."
Sleeve Notes from 1998 unofficial CD:
Ramsay Mackay, a founding member of the group, left after the 'ASTRA' LP,
but 'The Homecoming' on this CD was recorded live in Johannesburg during the
'Astra' period, thus featuring Ramsay on bass. He also plays bass on all
tracks of the ASTRA LP and the BATTLE HYMN OF THE BROKEN HEARTED HORDES LP
Undeniably the greatest 70's heavy psych band to come out of South Africa
and arguably in the top ten of the world for the genre and era. This album
(their third and final LP) followed the well known & amazing ASTRA LP and
has an incredible 16 minute live version of The Homecoming....a classic
blistering, wailing masterpiece song of 70's heavy psychedelia whose
shorter, studio version was featured on the Astra album. This live version
allows the listener to travel back in time & experience the thunderous raw
cosmic energy of this great group, replete with banshee wailing, swirling
psychedelic fuzz-wah guitar, intertwining and twisting, screeching, fazed
out vocal, heavy-as-lead thumping, melodic bass & and arm-breaking
megalomaniac drumming. These guys were notorious for their lysergic
adventures & it shows in the music. At live concerts the drummer would play
a drum solo with his bare hands until they began to bleed (listen for the
hand drum solo halfway in the solo on this CD)....The bass player cavorted
about like a mad scientist, squeezing frightening leads out of his guitar,
while twisting knobs and hitting switches on a 3 feet high self-made effects
machine (similar shape to a time machine)...The singer catapaulted all over
the stage, screeching & using his microphone stand as an axe to chop amps,
organs and P.A. speakers.....Says Ramsay Mackay "We used dry ice, tapes &
films of monks chanting and bombs dropping & audiences would freak
out...Colin, the drummer used to walk in from the back wearing a white sheet
& a candle & that's how the gig would start. Once some guys from the Dutch
Reformed Church, the mayor & police came to see us, they said we were
deranging the minds of our audiences. Eventually it got to where everyone
was against us....If we had been overseas it would have been okay because
the minority there would have been big enough to support us, to make us go
on....But at that stage it had become really macabre. People wanted more
every night & we all started drinking heavily. The press had created it
all...It became ridiculous."
This CD features 2 non-LP bonus tracks (1 of which is from an acetate), the
artwork is exact to the original LP but the back photo on the CD is a rare
picture from the personal archives of singer Brian Davidson.
Thank you to our friends from S. Africa for all their help to this CD.
Back cover of 1998 CD
Webpages:
Discography:
Freedoms Children Family Tree - the roots and branches of South Africa's greatest rock band
South Africa's Rock Classics
South Africa's Rock Legends
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