Customer Reviews

Space Shanty

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It was eleven years ago, when in the Cheapo record store (God Bless her) in Uptown Minneapolis, going through the shelves of used cds, I stumbled with one with the strange name of "Khan: Space Shanty", I looked at the back cover and there they were, four long haired guys, one of them even with a long beard. Among them was Steve Hillage, whose fame rang a little bit my bells, and there was Dave Stewart, of whom I had heard in the two vinyls I used to own of Hatfield and the North. Even so I took it to the desk and asked for a hearing of the disc. Well, it sounded good and it had a good price, four dollars if I recall well. I took it home, and played it, played it, played it..., my goodness, this disc grew and grew in me. 1972, impressive guitar work by Hillage, dreamy keyboard work by Dave Stewart, sound and fascinating rhythm section of Eric Peachey (drums) and Nick Greenwood (bass). The latter and Hillage perform the vocals, which are quite good and coherent with the style of the music played, authentic progressive rock characterized by awesome instrumentation, lots of time signatures, structured improvisation, long instrumental passages punctuated by nice and moving vocals that reinforce the epic feeling pervading the music. Besides, the lyrics composed mainly by Hillage not only transpire the spirit of the seventies, but reach out to a more universal subject, that of the questions and answers that the Human Being keeps on asking and wanting during its existence, set in a science-fictional frame.

It was quite strange for me that discovering such a disc in that marvelous Cheapo Record Stores of my adored city of Minneapolis was really a matter of much luck for me, because Space Shanty had been out of print for a long time!!! And not even the few reviews that I found in the internet, even some in the Amazon site, made justice to the value of this masterpiece.

I celebrate the reissue of such a wonder!!! I bought it again in Amazon, and here I give testimony that the purchase is worthwhile. This reissue contains two bonus tracks, plus a valuable commentary by a critic called Mark Powell. It is sad that this is the one and only record that this group made. That what did I do with my old disc? Well, after graduating in the University of Minnesota I live in my country now, the Dominican Republic, and thinking that good music must be shared, and already having the reissued one, I donated it to a former student of mine, 23 years old, who was struck by this awesome music.

Isn't that enough proof that this disc is worthy of all this praise? Buy it, and you will be grateful.

before joining Gong, steve hillage gathered this ensemble to perform the music that had been fermenting within him while at college. This is some of his most progressive and complicated songwriting with elaborate time signatures and dense arrangements. the music has a thick texture of progressive improvisation and elaborate composition thanks in no small measure to the presence of dave stewart on keybords fresh from his work with egg; in fact this resemble very closely some of egg's great albums but apparently hillage wrote the material. in fact hillage and stewart started their musical careers together in a band 'uriel' in high school actually recording a very psychedelic jam session together under the pseudonym 'arzachel' which is also excellant but very differant from this. on this album steve hillage brings all his emerging talent to the table. hillage and stewart have a keen telepathy and the intelligence on this album soars. the music (like egg) is very involved and will probably require keen attention or several listenings to hear the canterburian magic of this great album. every single track is fantastic, including the two bonus tracks. hillages guitar is superb and abundant all thru as is stewart's keywork. the high level of craftmanship never falters and this ends up being one of finest recordings of hillages career. he actually composed material for a second khan album which ended up being used on 'fish rising' which also utilized the talents of his friend stewart. while not as psychedelic and quite a bit more progressive than his later work, this is an absolutely beautiful example of canterburian space rock.

This is a very interesting album from 1972 and certainly one of the heaviest that I have heard from the Canterbury scene. In fact, the riff heavy nature of this album took me a little by surprise - I think I was expecting something a little lighter. Khan is (and was) however a quintessential Canterbury rock band; especially with the dense ensemble work, high level of musicianship, and the ever-present sense of humor. Come to think of it, this album is somewhat stylistically similar to Gong's Camembert Electrique album from 1971 - except not as crazy!

The musicians include fantastic guitarist Steve Hillage (acoustic and electric guitar; vocals); incredible keyboardist Dave Stewart (organ, piano, celeste); Eric Peachey (Drums); and Nick Greenwood (electric bass and vocals). The musicianship on Space Shanty is top notch and there are loads of instrumental passages that show off some pretty dense ensemble work and fantastic soloing by Steve and Dave (they are impressive throughout). Eric and Nick are no slouches either and comprise an excellent rhythm section - in fact I would love to track down some other recordings by these guys but would not know where to start. The vocals and vocal harmonies are excellent by the way.

Although I have described the music as heavy (and believe me Steve rips it up on the electric), there are some very spacey and quieter sections that feature Dave's soft organ playing and Steve on acoustic guitar. In fact, some folks have described this album as space rock, although I think there is far too much going on each composition to call this space rock. In general, each piece features an excellent blend of heavy riffing played in unison on the bass and the electric guitar; intricate ensemble work; and more relaxed passages that feature vocals. The six pieces are highly melodic and it is clear that they spent just as much time on the vocal melodies as the fancier instrumental passages. The tracks are not too long (by prog standards) and range in length from 5'32" to 9'22" - they are all well put together and arranged.

This remastered album is pretty good and has great sound quality, restored cover art, song lyrics, and loads of liner notes. The short bonus tracks include the short (3'31") Break the Chain and an early version of Mixed up Man of the Mountains. Break the Chain is OK.

Space Shanty is very highly recommended along with Camembert Electrique. Steve Hillage went on to join Gong after this album and two heavy/spacey/proggy albums including Angel's Egg (1973) and You (1974) are both highly recommended.

The above reviewers do a great job with the factual information on this disc. I'll just say that if you have any or all of the Steve Hillage solo works or Gong albums with him on guitar, then proceed on to this treasure. If you don't and have an interest in prog, this album will launch your journey into a discovery of the best Hendrix disciple on the planet.

This is a great 1st recording by Khan. Prog-rock at it's early best. This is some of Steve Hillage'(Gong and solo)best work. If you like early progressive music that's guitar oriented you will not be disappointed.

Khan only released this one album, Space Shanty in 1972. If you like Gong or Hatfield & the North, you know you need this album thanks to the presence of Steve Hillage and Dave Stewart. But unlike those bands, Khan has a very typical prog rock sound, heavy on the Hammond organ (the electric piano that Dave Stewart would later use much more like with Hatfield & the North is kept to a minimum here concentrating mostly on the organ). The music is also definately heavier than what Caravan had done as well, none of the pop tendencies like you would hear from that band. Some of the passages are jazzy, but not in the fusion style like Hatfield & the North. At this point, Steve Hillage hadn't really developed his trademark guitar style (although the opening cut does features a fantastic guitar solo that will represent his trademark style like on Gong's You and his solo efforts, most of the rest of the album sounds like him sounding like any other countless guitarists in prog and jazz rock bands). You don't even have to like Gong or Hatfield & the North to like Space Shanty, you just have to like early '70s Hammond organ driven prog rock. My only real complaint of the album is it gets rather homogenous in the long run, despite the rather interesting compositions.

Space Shanty is an obscure but brilliant 1972 release that features Steve Hillage (Ex-Gong) on guitar (and vocals) and Dave Stewart (of Egg, Hatfield & the North, National Health, and Bruford) on keyboards. The music is a powerful psychedelic progressive excursion with some of the best solo and ensemble work that you'll hear on any album of this vintage. If you like Hillage's wonderful "Fish Rising" album (his best solo effort) then you need to check out this disc. There are two previously unreleased tracks on this new version plus excellent liner notes. Highly recommended.

This album is probably a lot heavier in feel than you might expect from Steve Hillage, but the inclusion of two members of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, may have alot to do with it.I find the vocals melodramatic in style and can sometimes detract from the complex music presented here.
There are some great moments, especially between Hillage on guitar and Dave Stewart on organ (both went on to greater things with "Gong","Hatfield and the north" and the album "Fish Rising").

Although the music is varied in feel the style gets a bit samey after a while; its an interesting album to hear these musicians playing early in their careers, but I found it fairly hard going, and wouldn't put at the top of my list of must haves!!

Originally released in 1972, by this short-lived project. Even though it's not as mind-blowing as Steve Hillage's earlier one-time group effort, Arzachel (see my review) it's still a good disc to own a copy of. Nicely done / obscure progressive art rock title. Took me a while to get a copy of this reissue, but was worth the wait. Key tracks are the nine minute title cut "Space Shanty", the airy and sometime even spaced out "Mixed Up Man Of The Mountain" and "Stargazers". Line-up: Hillage - guitar & vocals, Nick Greenwood - bass & vocals, Dave Stewart (keyboardist for Egg) - piano, organ & marimbas and Eric Peachey - drums. A should-have for most Gong and Hillage fans.

Khan manages to do what no other Canterbury band seems able to do on Space Shanty: create something musically interesting and retain good lyrical content, with a decent singer to boot. Hillage's tone is unmistakable, and all the instruments are used with masterful taste. There's a good deal of counterpoint on the album, as well, which makes for good repeated listenings. I'm going to do this track by track, to provide a general feel to the album.

Space Shanty (8:59) - The opening track starts off with a sort of Led Zeppelin vibe: bluesy, spacey, and generally stuff that I don't like in my prog, but listening to the entirety of the track is rewarding. It's a very energetic song, but not my cup of tea. Some good Hammond organ that persists through the rest of the album. The texture changes pretty frequently, and the lead in to the solo around 3:00 is pretty cool. Despite the blues inflections, the structure of the song makes this an interesting track, with plenty of tempo and rhythm changes, as well as some harmonic exploration.

Stranded (6:35) - Less bluesy than the previous offering, with a descending piano motif that reminds me of Debussy's Second Arabesque. Harmonized vocals are prominent here, but not offensive. The track starts off pretty tame, but breaks into a diminished arpeggio around three minutes in that gets the energy going. The trading soloistic ideas at the four minute mark are ear-catching, and Steve Hillage's guitar sounds almost violinlike in the background. The end of the track transitions into the next track, but if you were playing it by itself, neither track would be harmed by the edit.

Mixed Up Man Of The Mountains (7:14) - A return of the bluesy sound (which I generally don't like), but I think that it works well for this track. One of the best tracks on the album, in my opinion. Some really nice guitar sounds on this track, distinct sections, imitative parts, organ shredding, awesome bass, and seamless integration of jazz and rock elements Hillage's solos.

Driving To Amsterdam (9:23) - Lyrically, the best track. I would say that this is the best track on the album. Good complex structure, yet strophic enough that it's pretty catchy. 4:37 is awesome. Changes in texture are frequent, and range from soft and introspective to jazzy to straight up rocking. There's a really neat ascending bassline at 6:15.

Stargazers (5:32) - This one starts of with a really cool and rhythmically active mallet riff that creates a spacey atmosphere, but the music degenerates into some hippie psychedelic-sounding crap that absolutely ruins the song.

Hollow Stone (8:16) - A good closing track. One of the few tunes on this album that has a minor feel to it. On the goodness scale, it competes with Driving To Amsterdam. The lyrics were written well, and there's an awesome heavy metal section at the end with some stereo phaser effects on the lead guitar, followed by about a minute of some awesome, awesome noise generated by the collection of instruments, notably by the organ. Not quite Penderecki, but any fan of tone clusters and stereo panning should be happy.