Galliard

Galliard – Strange Pleasure (1969) plus bonus
Vinyl rip @ 24/96 | FLAC | Artwork | 873mb
Jazz, Folk, Rock, Psychedelia | 2007 EU reissue | Tapestry TPT 245

Galliard were formed in Birmingham, in the summer of 1968. They cut two albums, “Strange Pleasure” and “New Dawn”, both of which were produced by Phil Wainman, drummer and future Bay City Rollers manager. In my humble opinion these are two of the best, most powerful, most vibrant albums of the era.

Much of Galliard’s albums are like a Happening. A pop band who’ve gone progressive are performing at the same time as a brass section who were soul but have now got into free-style jazz; or like listening to two radios, one tuned to pop, one tuned to jazz (but without the discordance). It’s a great mix. A friend of mine once summed them up with the following words after seeing them live for the first time: “Like Blood Sweat & Tears meets the Soft Machine.” I hear no reason to change this.

Galliard have very much remained a prog-rock collectors preserve, although they are much loved by real music lovers: knowledgeable jazz freaks, and sampling DJs, but truly open minded fans of psychedelia will also find much to admire and enjoy. This is not formulaic psychedelia, that’s not what Galliard were about, but if you appreciate horns whilst not taking your eye off the ball marked Nirvana then you’ll dig them. And be warned: if you’ve been listening to too much lite-pop then these will hit you like a ten ton truck doing 80mph. Dave Thubron, Sweet Floral Albion Issue 36.

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Galliard – New Dawn (1970)
Vinyl rip @ 24/96 | FLAC | Artwork | 924mb
Jazz, Folk, Rock, Psychedelia | 2012 EU reissue | Sweet Dandelion SWDDL 726

Galliard were in on the ground floor of the British progressive rock movement, releasing their debut album, Strange Pleasure, in 1969 and mixing jazz, rock, folk, and psychedelic influences. The following year, New Dawn pretty much picked up where its predecessor left off, with one key exception. The band had initially featured two wind players, Dave Caswell and John Smith; though Smith was absent from New Dawn, a whole brace of additional horn players had been brought in to augment the sound. This was during the period when the likes of Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears (and their British equivalents) were starting out, and brass-rock was all the rage. That’s not to suggest that Galliard were trying to ride the brass-rock gravy train — their work is too skilled and varied for that — but simply that they were right in time for the Zeitgeist. Some cuts, like “New Dawn Breaking” and “Open Up Your Mind,” make full use of the horn section, coming off like a cross between early Chicago and jazzy U.K. prog rockers Colosseum, but that’s far from the dominant sound on this eclectic outing.
Lead guitarist Richard Pannell’s sitar work on “Ask for Nothing” contributes to a swirling Eastern atmosphere that seems soaked in a kind of psychedelic afterglow from the late ‘60s. “Winter — Spring — Summer” is an ambitious suite full of shifting dynamics and settings, while the gentle, acoustic-based “And Smile Again” echoes Jethro Tull or the more folk-oriented moments of Traffic. “Premonition” is a straight-up jazz-rock instrumental pushed along by Tommy Thomas’ congas, where Pannell and the horns get to stretch out a bit. Closing track “In Your Minds Eye” opens with a couple of minutes of atmospheric, otherworldly tones before bringing things home with a blast of bold-faced, brass-filled prog rock. The striking thing is just how good Galliard were at all of the varied styles they attempt on New Dawn, but sadly, it was to be their last album. James Allen, Allmusic.

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