Memory Lane: Esoteric Collects Baker Gurvitz Army Albums, Celebrates "Underground Sounds of 1968"

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Today we're looking at a pair of recent releases from Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint featuring some heavy sounds!

With a résumé including Cream, Blind Faith, Blues Incorporated, The Graham Bond Organisation, and Fela Kuti's group, Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker has long been recognized as one of rock's greatest - and most volatile - drummers. With a personality as outsize as his talent, Baker brought a powerful touch to all of his projects and various bands. Between 1974 and 1976, Baker led Baker Gurvitz Army with brothers Adrian (guitar/vocals) and Paul (bass/vocals) Gurvitz, both formerly of Gun. Now, the fascinating if short-lived group's three studio albums have been packaged together by Esoteric in one set.

Since Beginning includes 1974's self-titled debut, 1975's Elysian Encounter, and 1976's Hearts on Fire. Baker Gurvitz Army was greeted with acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic as a welcome return from Baker to the power trio format. Its hard-hitting, aggressive songs (all written by the group members in various permutations) encompassed both vocal tracks and instrumentals, and even incorporated unusual flourishes such as piano and orchestration. Guest vocalists included such veterans as Madeline Bell, Barry St. John, Liza Strike, and Rosetta Hightower on the dramatic "I Wanna Live Again," one of a handful of effective tracks departing from the hard rock template. Esoteric's edition adds a live version of "Memory Lane" as a bonus track. Elysian Encounter continued in the same style, adding keyboardist Peter Lerner and vocalist Mr. Snips (a.k.a. Steve Parsons) to the mix of heavy, blues, and even jazz-rock. Live versions of album track "People" and Jimi Hendrix's "Freedom" have been added here. BGA's final album, Hearts on Fire, was a bit slicker than its predecessors, and also a bit more expansive in sound. Madeline Bell returned to lend her powerhouse vocals to "Tracks of My Life," and Martyn Ford (who co-orchestrated "Love Is" on the debut album) graced the song with lush strings. Clavinet, keyboards, Hammond organ, and synthesizers pushed the album further away from pure hard rock. "Dancing the Night Away" nodded at disco, and Mr. Snips even contributed one composition, the funky "Neon Lights." One bonus track has been added to this album, the live "Wotever It Is."

Each album is housed in a mini-LP sleeve, with Elysian Encounter in a gatefold. The discs are housed in a clamshell case which includes a foldout poster with credits but surprisingly, no liner notes. While there is no proper remastering credit, collection producer Mark Powell is credited with "master preparation," and sound is up to Esoteric's usual high standard.

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Earlier this year, Esoteric continued its series of stellar compilations with a new 3-CD volume, Revolution: Underground Sounds of 1968. Featuring both classics and unearthed rarities, the set explores the wild year in which psychedelia, jazz, blues, folk, world music, and hard rock all collided as groundbreaking and genre-bending new music.

The new compilation curated by Powell draws on various labels, and while the focus is on the underground, it includes a number of now-legendary U.K. groups and artists who pushed the envelope of their art and later attained international fame, including Deep Purple ("And the Address," "Mandrake Root"), Jethro Tull ("My Sunday Feeling"), Genesis ("One Eyed Hound," "That's Me"), The Move ("Blackberry Way," "Mist on a Monday Morning"), Fleetwood Mac ("Black Magic Woman," later covered to hit status by Santana), The Pretty Things ("S.F. Sorrow Is Born," "Talkin' About the Good Times"), Procol Harum ("Shine On Brightly"), Jeff Beck ("Shapes of Things"), and Traffic ("Pearly Queen"). Other heavy hitters on hand for this varied and comprehensive survey include Jeff Lynne's Idle Race, Barclay James Harvest, The Action, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Spooky Tooth, The Incredible String Band, and John Martyn. Less well-known but no less worthy acts on display here include the Dylan-inspired Blonde on Blonde, Dantalian's Chariot, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, and Gun, whose members would go on to form Baker Gurvitz Army with Ginger.

This captivating set beautifully captures the period in which "rock" was coming into its own as serious, experimental music, incorporating psychedelia, blues, jazz, folk, classical, and even pop. Mark Powell's notes place the artists and music into the context of U.K. culture at the time, including the creation of BBC Radio 1 and the rise to prominence of tastemakers like DJ John Peel. The 3 discs and 52 tracks are supplemented in a clamshell case by a thick, full-color, 48-page book with detailed artist-by-artist liner notes. Ben Wiseman has remastered all tracks.

Both Baker Gurvitz Army's Since the Beginning and the compilation Revolution: Underground Sounds of 1968 are available now from Cherry Red and Esoteric Recordings!

Baker Gurvitz Army, Since the Beginning (Cherry Red/Esoteric ECLEC 32669, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: The Baker Gurvitz Army (Vertigo 6370 404, 1974)