Customer Reviews

Man In The Bowler Hat

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Stackridge, were a collection of like-minded English West country eccentrics comprising a former timber yard labourer, a bookshop assistant, a cleaner in a birdseed factory, a bricklayer, a bus conductor and a professional inventor, whose musical influences encompass everything from "Mozart To Road Drills" had built up a very solid dedicated live following and released two album's, the second of which "Friendliness", had delighted the critic's and hard core fans, but had continued to bemuse the listening public at large, leaving the bands quest for world musical dominance rather hanging out in the wind.

But in mid - 1973 the band's record label MCA Record, ensconced them in London's Air Studios, with ex-Beatles producer George Martin (Stackridge were the first band that Martin worked with after "The Beatles" whose influence can be heard here on all the songs on this fine album "Man In The Bowler Hat").

On the stage Stackridge split into two definite factions, the serious minded of the band, shall we say the working musicians. Warren, Walter & Sparkle. Whilst the other three, lets just call the Nutters down the front. Stage shows included, lots of ludicrously easy repetitive dance steps ("Do The Stanley"), the bashing together of giant dustbin lids ("Let There Be Lids"), general chaos and mayhem, Mass audience participation, both singing, clapping, stomping, with some looney like Sandilands down the front leaping about with a giant leek. Great fun, no wonder they were probably the most popular band on the college circuit in the early seventies.

But "The Man In The Bowler Hat" was definitely make or break time, in the studio the two factions of the live show, would join forces and each member made an equal contribution and with Martin as producer, the band was definitely concentrating on making their "Magnum Opus". Working on the melodic and rhythmic patterns and in particular the harmonies, the resultant album which was released in February 1974 whilst full of recognizable Stackridge trademarks, (strong beat, massive use of instrument not normally associated with Rock `n' Roll, and plenty of extravagant titles) had strong echoes of the Fab Four and marked the artistic and creative peak of the band on record including "The Galloping Gaucho" and the ambitious "God Speed The Plough".

Unfortunately after this it all went dramatically pear-shaped, with Mutter Slater being the first to leave hating the idea of trying to create this album on stage amid the chaos of their live show, within six months only Andy Davis was left from this line up. Today their music still exudes and evokes warmth, joy, happiness, and a welter of memories, real and imagined, and there in lines their lasting success, the ability to stand out from the crowd and create clever songs, with witty lyrics and highly original arrangements.

Goodbye Stackridge, it was a blast. And all together now
"C'mon and Stanley
Lets all do the Stanley now".
Mott the Dog.

I saw the band live promoting this album - and was immediately impressed when they wheeled out the kettle drums! For sheer diversity and inventiveness then The Man in the Bowler Hat is hard to beat (other than by the Fab 4...). From pathos to sheer breathtaking musical audacity (turn God Speed the Plough up loud) then this is a wonderful record, to which I return time after time. If you like late 60s Kinks, the Beatles, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band etc. then buy this!

If you are looking for great melodic pop then look no further. Man in a Bowler Hat is simply the best successor to Abbey Road that you will ever find. It's not that Stackridge sound exactly like the Beatles, it's that they embody the same creative and melodic spirit like no other band. It helps that this album was produced by George Martin but the similarities were there all along. Yes Stackridge take diversions and yes they are sometimes a comedy/novelty act but Bowler Hat is a consistently good pop album from the first note to the last.

My rating is for the music content on this CD but I do have some critical comments about the Angel Air reissue:

ARTWORK: Awful! The only black mark I can find on the whole Stackridge remaster program is that the artwork is hideous. I mean BAD! The colors on the covers are not accurate and the images are very fuzzy. Some of the liner note photos are pixilated and hardly worth using. I can't say enough bad things about the artwork. Truly some of the worst reissue artwork I have in my collection - especially give the high quality of the original LP art.

PACKAGING: Fair. With bad artwork its hard for the packaging to be good. The problem is that the packaging looks like a homemade job at best and just isn't consistent with the amazing cover art the band had going for it. The photos in the booklets are minimal and the memorabilia looks like it was photographed by kids. The liner notes are okay but just not detailed enough to be worth the time to read them.

BONUS TRACKS: None. Note that the Amazon listing is wrong as of the writing of this review. This CD is the orginal album only (10 tracks). For the bonus tracks you need to buy Friendliness.

SOUND: Unforunately the Edsel is still the way to go for the original sound of the album. This one uses modern mastering which some will like and audiophiles will hate.

Fortunately it's the music that prevails here. For the high prices of the CDs and for a band that had interesting LP covers I wish Angel Air had invested just a little more in the art and packaging. Perhaps that's looking a gift horse in the mouth?

This was the 3rd of Stackridge's 5 lps released between '71 and '76. 26 years after it's release in Jan. 1974, it has been awarded (by album and song-by-song) more than twice as many vote points as any other work they've yet released. George Martin emerged from pop-group production retirement, on the urging of his son (with current demo tapes in hand), to help Stackridge craft this masterpiece of clever, compassionate, whimsical, and deft "pop" (as defined by the musicians, critics and fans of that time).

Within 40 minutes, they gently criticised the Glam 'n' Glitter crowd in "The Galloping Gaucho",out-arcaned the '68 Beatles in "Dangerous Bacon" (while proudly saluting them), paid tribute to the determined but fallable gringo adventurers in 1940s South America (featured in many US films of the 30s & 40s, revived in the 80s via "Indiana Jones"), ventured observations on a stolid, fence-sitting hedgehog and some of it's back garden cohabitants as succinctly as Ogden Nash had, recalled a young boy's fascination with the giddy, absurd carnival that was England in the early 1940s (far more convincingly than Paul McCartney did in "Penny Lane"), and much more.

With frontman Mutter Slater singing & playing flute, Mike Evans wielding violin or fiddle, depending on the style, James Warren singing and playing bass, lead guitar, writing, singing, Andy Davis writing, singing,playing guitar, keyboards, or anything else he chose, "Crun" Walter and Billy Sparkle could have settled with providing only the bass and drums backup. Au contraire, they helped tip over the band into Fairport-Convention -meets-Adrian-Boult-and-Charlie-Watts territory. No other rock sextet--before or after--could and routinely did wield this distinct sonic lineup. After this album was recorded, but before it saw release, flautist/saxophonist Keith Gemmell and keyboard wiz Rod Bowkett were hired to fill the vacancies created by the departure of Slater, then of Walter and Warren, then of Evans (Paul Karas and Roy Morgan were added to help reproduce all the material's challenging arrangements and fulfill their 1974 live engagements.

George Martin crafted "The Man In The Bowler Hat", but these West Country Diversipop avatars gave him the best of their material at their collective writing/composing peak, and madre de dios, does it show! If you like your whimsy florid, gratitude self-effacing,angst subdued, and optimism unquenchable, buy this album.

The Man in the Bowler Hat must represent the peak of Stackridge's achievement. Teamed up with Beatles collaborator George Martin, the band scale new heights of melody, invention and offbeat humour. Classic moments include the live favourite The Galloping Gaucho (what were they taking - and where can I get some?), The Road to Venezuela, a wistful tale of lustfulness in Latin America, and God Speed the Plough - which manages to evoke the England of a bygone age just as effectively as the music of Delius, Vaughan Williams and Elgar - from a rock band!

If you are new to Stackridge this is the one to buy! I can't listen to this album without wanting to pull on my Morris Dancing gear, grab a pint of summer ale and smile ridiculously all day.

If that sounds appealing your money will be well spent here.

...and why shouldn't it be since it was produced, in part, by George Martin? But the excellent song writing makes it so much more than a Beatle wannabe album.

The songs are joyous, humorous, pensive, exhilirating and remarkably well written, produced and performed. I have both the LP and the CD (which has three added tracks, which actually thematically detract from the original LP).

I highly recommend the purchase of this fun CD.

My brother had given me the LP years ago stating that he thought it was junk. After one listen I realized that it was anything but. I think that this masterpiece, elegantly produced by George Martin, stands as a tribute to the Fab Four. But I feel that it's more than a tribute album and stands as a wonderful compilation in its own right. The songs range from humor to pathos. Excellent instrumentals and a Fab time.

I first encountered most of the songs from this album on a compilation album DO THE STANLEY which appeared in 1975. I was fresh out of college, recently disappointed in love, and enduring a gig as an actor participating in 30 min adaptations of Shakespeare that were performed in down and out areas of communities who treated us with suspicion, indifference, and hostility. I was really bummed out and thought that things couldn't get worse. They did. I was in an automobile accident that nearly killed me.

But in this darkest hour of my life came STACKRIDGE with their songs of innocence, fun, and a world of their own which totally captivated me and helped to lift my spirits enormously. The song GREASEPAINT SMILES from their next album EXTRAVAGANZA became my official theme song and helped me through the rough times ahead. I went out and bought every STACKRIDGE album I could get my hands on. Of course it was disappointing to learn that just as I had discovered them they stopped performing but as one of the group's singles succinctly put it, C'EST LA VIE. The original incarnation of the band (Albums STACKRIDGE, FRIENDLINESS, and THE MAN IN THE BOWLER HAT) described these albums as "children's favorites with attitude". They appeal to the child in all of us and it is that which makes the group and their music so special.

Needless to say I survived and eventually prospered and now have children who listen to STACKRIDGE and especially this album. For beginners this is the best place to start. Songs like THE ROAD TO VENEZUELA and THE GALLOPING GAUCHO contain not only catchy melodies but pointed observations as well. Their childlike qualities come through best in THE INDIFFERENT HEDGEHOG while DANGEROUS BACON contains their social observations. Sir George Martin (of BEATLES fame) produced this album, giving it his special layered touch that has you coming back again and again to catch all the subtleties. All 5 of the STACKRIDGE albums between 1971 and 1976 are worth your while so start collecting now before they disappear. As Jim "Crun" Walter longtime bassist with the group observed, "Rock and Roll it ain't but then Stackridge came from Bristol (U.K.) not Memphis".

A collection of well crafted pop songs from England's Stackridge; one of the goofiest but most lovable bands to emerge in the early 70's. Fun for the whole family...

See the band "Korgis" for a new wave incarnation of Stackridge.

Boy ya really gotta be hard up to pay $70 for a CD no matter how great it is. Incidentially "The Man in the Bowler Hat" IS a great CD, although I do prefer the American release of the same album called "Pinafore Days". Even then, I would pay more that $24.95 for it. Make me an offer !