Customer Reviews

Aardvark

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Aardvark" is the only album by the progressive band of the same name. Released in 1970 it has been remembered for several things: the unusual name of the band, the album's two names (In some places the album is listed as "Put That in Your Pipe and Smoke It" from the last track on the album), the album cover, and the fact that they do not have a guitar player. Unfortunately, it isn't really remembered for the music. There are some wonderful passages on this album, but there are also many parts that are rather weak. The overall result is an average album. The best known, and the best piece on the album is "Put That in Your Pipe and Smoke It". The band members are: Frank Clark (percussion), David Skillin (vocals), Steve Milliner (organ, piano, celeste, vibes, marimba & recorders), Stan Aldous (bass).

Aardvark was like many groups, released one album and then disappeared. The group consisted of keyboardist Steve Milliner, vocalist Dave Skillin, drummer Frank Clark, and bassist Stan Aldous. Some people believed Steve Milliner would later join Caravan for the album Waterloo Lily, but he didn't. That guy was Steve Miller (not the American Steve Miller of Fly Like an Eagle Fame, but the brother of Hatfield & the North's Phil Miller). It's easy to see why Steve Milliner and Steve Miller got confused: both were keyboardists and had similar last names, and both existed around the same time. Steve Miller (the guy who temporarily replaced David Sinclair in Caravan) was playing with Carol Grimes and Delivery at the time Aardvark existed.

Anyways, Aardvark released their only album in 1970 on the Deram/Nova label around the same time Egg released their debut (also on the same label). I find this album rather underrated. For some reason many prog rock bands that had keyboards but no guitars are often underrated. There were several groups going for the keyboards and no guitar format including Quatermass, Egg, Rare Bird (at least the original 1969-1970 incarnation as the post-1972 version had guitars and sounded very little like the original band), and most of all, The Nice (post-Emerlist Davjack), who, no doubt inspired many other bands to follow this format. Many people thought Aardvark weren't that remarkable, many felt the organ solos go on too long, but to me I didn't bother me (in fact I wasn't bothered by the organ solos found on Le Orme's Collage either, another underrated album). Being 1970, it's also hard not to notice the late '60s psychedelic elements still intact (in fact lots of prog rock albums released as late as 1972 often still had late '60s psychedelic elements intact, and I'm pretty convinced that by the time Yes released Close to the Edge had prog rock pretty much went beyond its late '60s psychedelic roots). A great example goes to "Once Upon a Hill". This has late '60s written all over it, a pleasant psychedelic number that sounds a lot like Caravan with medieval influences (even David Skillin sounds like Richard Sinclair). Other highlights for me include "Copper Sunset" and "Very Nice of You to Call". "Greencap" is that one piece with the extended organ solo, but I found it really interesting, especially the use of marimba too. I really think many people would have a problem with "Outing". It starts off pretty normal (for this album), with vocals that keep repeating, "We're going away" in typical English fashion, but then they really go off the deep-end with lots of distortion and feedback, many would simple write this off as self-indulgent noise, much like Egg's "Boilk" off The Polite Force. A lot of the album has that English feel, especially "Once Upon a Hill". BTW, that particular song is the mellowest piece on the album, probably there to prepare you for the aggressive instrumental onslaught of "Put That in Your Pipe". To me, I don't think the album is as bad as many would let you believe, there is enough excellent material making a worthwhile album.

I really like the music I've heard from this album. The final two songs are really good, and feature pleasant vocal melodies in the former, and an outrageously creative keyboard jam in the final song. I love Aardvark (hey, who can forget a name like THAT?) Recommended for fans of Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Jethro Tull.

UPDATE: This review was for an album called "Aardvark" but it turns out that was just the title of the album by Kensington Market. I left the review here in case anyone else is looking for that album. Here's the Amazon link to that one, and below is my review of that album.

[...]

I found this at a cut-out bin in the grocery store in about 1972 (remember those? They'd cut one corner of the LP album cover and mark it way down?) and bought it because I liked the cover art & name. It ended up being one of my favorite albums when I was a teenager. The song "If it is Love" is still a favorite of mine, and almost every title is great. I wish I could find this album again. There's something mesmerizing and very pleasant about their sound. I've never heard the later albums, I'm not even sure if they're by the same group, but this old original one is a winner! :)