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Here & Now《Give And Take》[FLAC/整轨][211M]1978年08月17日发布
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专辑介绍:Here & Now's debut
album is a stunning, if slightly inconsistent effort; when it's good, it
kicks serious donkey and ranks up there with the very best space/prog
has to offer. You will be hard pushed to find better.
If you're familiar with "Floating Anarchy" (listed under Gong), then
you'll have an idea of what you're in for, as this is "The Here and Now
Band" referred to on that album. Here & Now mix punk, reggae
influences and space rock into a sound reminiscent of Gong and Hawkwind,
and it's easy to hear where the Ozric Tentacles got their sound from
(the Ozrics regularly supported Here & Now in the early 1980s before
their first album release).
The first track is actually entitled "What You See is What You Are" on
my original vinyl copy - and on the Here & Now fan sites. A catchy,
spacy keyboard hook is joined by a unison female vocal and the
bass/drums/guitar pile in with a driving riff for a pair of verses and
chorsuses that are pleasant but don't attempt to progress. But the
interesting bit is to follow; the instrumental section kicks off into a
different dimension - a spine-tingling space bridge that could have been
lifted from "You", but with the Here & Now twist; Kieth da Bass
driving Kif Kif le Batteur's jazzy percussions under some superb
Hillage-esque guitar from Steffi Sharpstrings - we get the feeling that
this is something the Ozrics would like to have achieved.
"Nearer Now" is a well-written song with fabulous "walky" bass lines.
There seem to be snippets of early Pink Floyd and Hawkwind here. There's
a punky edge, and the song is in a fairly standard format - but somehow
this is unmistakably prog rock, with the catchy yet unpredictable
melody lines, contrapuntal instrumental parts and ambiguity of key base.
Around 3:40 the instrumental section kicks in, and Steffi S provides
spine-tingling and melodic guitar solo lines treading once more into
Steve Hillage's shoes with something that might have come from "Green".
"Grate Fire of London" is the centerpiece for me. An absolute
masterpiece in itself and worth the price of the album. Smoky keyboards
swirl around ambient guitars as Sooze ba Blooze sings "I'm gonna find
you again" in a pure voice - comparisons to Annie Haslam may be
appropriate here, but the space whispers are more similar to Shakhti
Yoni. Percussion and bass increase the dramatic tension, and we get
colours of "Angel's Egg", but with added chaos and sirens. The
instrumental section from around 5:02 onwards is peculiarly regressive
in some ways, in that it hearkens back to "Flying Teapot" and even
"Camembert Electrique", but with Keith's pounding bass lines. Steffi's
unison guitars and Kif Kif's precision drumming confirm the
"Camembert..." links - but the music does not kick in, leaving
anticipation for what happens next...
...which I find somewhat unsatisfying. Keith's bass has a fantastic rich
sound, da Blitz works some great spacey keyboards, Sharpstrings
provides some really subtle stabbing accompaniment - but the overall
effect is of a very repetitive and unimaginative song "This Time". When
the change comes it's chaotic - but in a disorganised way. The "stream
of consciousness" male vocals are probably the best feature of this
track - although I might take issue with the line "If you wanna lot of
chocolate on your biscuit join a club..."
"Seventies Youth" is delightfully "Dippy Hippy" and a simply wonderful
song. At the same time, it is the foundation of the songwriting path
that Here & Now would follow. The albums that come after this, up to
"Been and Gone" all develop the style presented in this track - but are
very hard to track down. Notable points; It's just a great song with
superb textures - not harmonically adventurous, but slightly Bowie in
flavour, and very psychedelic.
"Improvisation" is just that. 11 minutes of blissful Here & Now
style improv - although you just know that the structure was
pre-arranged... H & N demonstrate what it is to play with feeling -
this is how it's done, boys and girls, and this would only be out of
place on an Ozrics album because it outclasses the Ozrics all over.
Otherwise, you might be forgiven for thinking this was the Tentacular
ones with Hillage on lead and beautiful and sometimes slightly
disturbing female backing vocals. Enjoy this one at maximum volume and
dance around your clothes, which are probably in a pile on the floor by
now...
But close the curtains, OK ;0)
Easily the proggiest of Here & Now's output of the 1970s and 1980
(the remainder of their albums focus on progressive songwriting,
incorporating ever deeper punk and reggae influences), "Give and Take"
possesses something of a mysterious otherworldly quality and comes
highly recommended, despite the fact that I can't really award
masterpiece status, mainly because of "This Time".
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