Ramases
| INTRODUCTION |
| BIOGRAPHY |
| DISCOGRAPHY |
| FORUM |
| LINKS |
©1997-2010
Brian Currin
Glass Top Coffin
"The dreamer dreamed the dust rose up and walked Original LP released in 1975 on Vertigo 6360 115 Released on CD by Esoteric Recordings (catalogue no. ECLEC2184) in March 2010 Rare: This album is quite rare and is worth a bit on the collector's market, more so in fact than 'Space Hymns'. Australian CD: I bought a newly released Ramases "Space Hymns" CD on eBay - it has six bonus tracks from "Glass Top Coffin" which are tracks 2, 3, 6, 9, 10 and 11. CD is on Progressive Line a division of Dole Music - Made in Australia P 1971/75 C 2001. More here... Produced by Ramases and Barry Kirsch, recorded at Phonogram Studios, London All songs written by Ramases and his wife Sel Cover concept by Ramases, artwork by Dave Field/art direction: Jack Wood Album Cover: He was really upset by the cover of the album. I saw the first proofs and they weren't at all what he envisaged. The cut-out was meant to show a man falling backwards into space into the Horsehead nebula, which when you open up the album revealed that bird. Well, he didn't like what they had done, but the artwork was completed and the record company said, that's that!! So Ram persuaded the record company to let him scratch (literally) the litho plates before the cover went to press. He sanded down that little circle that is lighter in the mans head that forms a part of that birds shoulder, and it did look marginally better. His vision was that the man would look like he was in a space suit with helmet on, etc etc... Click on song title for lyrics
Tracks: Listen to an MP3 of Saler Man.
Musicians: Glass Top Coffin - inside gatefold - supplied by Adrian, October 1999
Review: 2010 CD re-issue: Sleeve notes by Jon Wright, published here by kind permission of Jon Wright and Vicky Powell (from Esoteric Recordings) With
a name that means –‘born of the sun-god Ra’, Ramases, or indeed
as modern Egyplogists have it Ramesses, is the name that is conventionally
used to describe the names of 11 Egyptian pharaohs of the New Kingdom
period of the country’s history. It’s no surprise therefore, that
when Mr Martin Raphael from Sheffield, was visited by one of the great
kings himself in a vision, that he took the name of his visitor, renamed
his wife, Dorothy Frost, Selket, after the Egyptian Goddess of cures
and set out to make music. Once you’ve met a Pharaoh, I assume you
just have to do something extravagant to honour them. Like a British
Moondog then, Ramases embarked on the practice of strange costume and
strange behaviour. The music he made, whilst perhaps equally strange
to some, bears the hallmarks of serious endeavor and forethought.
Spaced, conceptual and unashamedly grandiose, and cut with outstanding
musicians on board, the two albums that Ramases released are now both
cult prig classics, released on the equally cult prig label – Vertigo.
Having never had an official UK release on CD until now, this is the
first release of the record since the original on Vertigo in 1971. Martin
Raphael was born in the late 1930’s in Sheffield. After childhood
he became a PT instructor with the army moving to Scotland to sell double
glazing or central heating (no-one seems to be sure) after his conscription
was over. One day, parked up in his car, Raphael claimed he was visited
by the Egyptian king and told to spread the truth about the universe
to the troubled and discordant world out there. Raphael agreed, changing
his name and his identity to Ramases, (one assumes here that he was
calling himself after Ramases the Great and not one of the lesser Ramases).
Either way, he then got serious, wearing old Egyptian clothes and scouting,
along with his renamed and clearly understanding wife, for a record
label willing to help him in his quest. All this would be laughable
of course if that had been the end of it. Incredibly,
it was the mighty American label Columbia Records, known outside it’s
native land as CBS that saw the potential in Ramases, offering him a
contract to record a single. Crazy One/Mind’s Eye (CBS 3717) came
out in 1968. Now ultra-rare, the single changes hands for upwards of
£70. Those who want the song but not the artifact however, can find
it on the Exploding Plastic Inevitable Vol 2 compilation and on Vol
3 of the famous Rubble series on Voiceprint Records. The space theme
that was to define his artistic direction should have begun here, but
someone at CBS misheard the original title, Quasar One and listed it
as it now appears. The cover depicted the pair of them in Egyptian garb,
the bold Ramases, looking for all the world like Imhotep from the recent
Mummy films. Mind’s Eye was also released on a Mojo compilation, ‘Acid
Drops, Spacedust and Flying Saucers’ in August 2001. For the first
single, the duo called themselves Ramases and Selket. After the failure
of the single, they were dropped by CBS and signed with a much smaller
label to try again. Now under the name Ramases and Seleka, a name
with no obvious Egyptian connotations, the pair released Love You/Gold
is the Ring, on Major Minor Records, (MM 704), again in 1968. Less rare
than its predecessor, the single will still set you back £20 nowadays.
The single failed, again to have any impact and for a couple of years,
Ramases and Selket/Seleka all but disappeared. As
befits a legendary king of old however, his return was both triumphant
and beautifully timed. Vertigo, the spiral label of which is now virtually
synonymous with the high years of progressive rock, signed Ramases in
1970. Without a band at this point, the pair located to Strawberry Studios
in Stockport to record their debut, Space Hymns. The studio was owned
by four chaps who were to have a lasting impact on the UK music scene
themselves as 10cc. Kevin Godley, Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman and
Lol Crème would form the band in 1972, but at this point they were
free to help Ramases and help him they most certainly did. Space Hymns
was relased on the label in 1971,( Vertigo 6360 046). Replete with a
dramatic and beautiful painting by Roger Dean on the cover, the inside
folded out into a huge, solarized poster of Ramases and Selket holding
ears of corn in retrospect it looks for all the world like a progressive
rock album – but it isn’t. Decidedly folky in tone, with the hippy
tinges one might expect from Amon Duul or Quintessence, it was really
a psych record that found its audience in the prog market as a welcome
anomaly. A counterpoint perhaps to the endless tempo and time-signature
twiddling of labelmates like Gentle Giant or Cressida and full of tantric
chanting and quasi-religious overtones. Two singles were released from
the debut, Ballroom/Muddy Water, (Phillips 6113 001) and Jesus Come
Back/Hello Mister ,(Phillips 6113 003) – once again neither, perhaps
unsurprisingly, bothered the pop charts. After
the release, Ramases and Selket moved south to Felixstowe and again,
a hiatus followed and not much is really known about what they did in
this time. There were almost certainly no live dates. Then, in 1975, Ramases and Selket returned with this masterpiece, Glass Top Coffin. Co-produced by Ramases and keyboardist Barry Kirsch, the album was markedly different from the debut. More eclectic and certainly more professional it was another concept album based on space themes. Orchestral arrangements gifted by members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra clearly helped Ramases to fashion his space hymns into a space opera. Confident perhaps in their abilities with a solid recording set-up Ramases and Selket both found their voices on this record. Their duet on Now Mona Lisa being a seductive and beguiling standout. Elsewhere,
tracks like the dittyish Long, Long Time and Saler Man found the pair
surfing a way between pop and prog to a degree that shames many other
bigger names of the time. Gone was the chanting and quasi-religious
babble, to be replaced by an altogether firmer song cycle – in short,
this is a more considered and better orchestrated record. An indication
that during his hiatus, Ramases had matured significantly as a musician
and songwriter. The
cover was a sticking point for Ramases, who clearly had an acute aesthetic
sensibility. The cover was designed by him with artist Dave Field,
but a mistake in the production, which lead to the figure on the cover
not being pop-out as he had planned annoyed him just enough to lose
interest. Ramases were no more and after poor sales he retreated from
the industry. Ramases left very little behind him, but this masterpiece is justification enough for his extravagant claims and outlandish dress. Melancholy, uplifting, though still strange enough to be cult, the album has continued to garner worldwide praise. Selket has recently resurfaced to discuss the albums on various fan sites and forums from here to South Africa and Germany, where the albums became immensely popular. She claims that she has tried to forget most of what they did. If true, that would be sad enough, but the death of Ramases at his own hand in the late seventies reads like an Egyptian tragedy. Only the Loneliest Feeling and Mind Island take on an added poignancy in the light of this, full of innate sadness and dark melancholy, they also indicate the hand of a sensitive and heartfelt songwriter. Ramases may have gone to the spirit word, but his legacy lives on in his music and this is the best of it. INTRODUCTION | BIOGRAPHY | DISCOGRAPHY | FORUM | LINKS |
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