Grannie

I was taking a trip through my shelf of lesser known British bands and thought I'd write something about Grannie since no one has reviewed it lately and I like this album. This rather unknown album by this unknown band needs to be better known among fans of late '60s/early'70s British rock/prog-rock. Their sole album, issued in 1971, this (37 + minutes) set of tunes is prime British rock with prog-rock overtones. Little is known about the band which consisted of Phil Newton-guitar and songwriter, John Clark-drums, Dave Holland-bass, John Stevenson-keyboards (added to flesh out the band's sound when they went into the studio), a vocalist--known only as Fred, and a female flute player (who adds some fine sound to the band) that no one can remember.Sadly Newton died years ago and the master tapes, photos of the band, and a lot of information about the band is gone forever. The digitally remastered sound is pretty good (the source used isn't stated) with only a slight loss of openess and clarity. Saying that, the album has that sound and feel of it's vinyl era, but obviously a master tape would've been nice to have. But this music (especially Newton's fine guitar work) makes up some for the lack of great sound from a master tape. His electric guitar work is quite good along with his acoustic playing ( listen to "Dawn") which elevates this album to something worth hearing. Fred's vocals are squarely in the early '70s mold and are actually better than I originally thought when I purchased this album--a nice surprise. I'm reminded slightly of the album by Clear Blue Sky, which was also quickly recorded and gives the music more of an edge.A cross between '60s/'70s British rock with progressive leanings in the music and lyrics (listen to "Romany Refrain", "Tomorrow Today", or "Saga Of The Sad Jester"), the band had a nice tough/progressive sound. Only 99 copies of their album were pressed and these disappeared years ago. The album was basically played live in the studio (it sounds like Newton overdubbed some guitar parts), with the band running through their songs quickly. There were no photos of the band--the back of the album jacket was blank, with the cover photo montage used for this CD. The band played on the second tier of venues before splitting apart sometime in 1972. The 6 page booklet has some information about the band from both Clark and Stevenson, repros of the original LP labels, and repros of a couple of gig posters.While the sound could be better, this set of tunes is one of the least heard and one of the better albums from this era from a little known band. Unless you're an audiophile, don't let the slightly muddy sound issues keep you from hearing this album if you're a fan of this era of British rock/prog-rock. The playing, the vocals, and the overall feel of this album make up for any sound issues. Yeah--listen to the 9 + minutes of "Coloured Armageddon" and that too will tell you all about this band's great sound.

WOW, i dont know how else to describe the music on this cd other then it is a real touch of rock mixed with hard rock sorry the whole prog thing does not come to mind when i listen to this, i think more of larry wallis and the pink faries when i listen to this cd, this was a great era for that whole london scene, also this record reminds me a lot of the velvet fogg album as well, remember this was released on a very tiny label and bands like deep purple, led zeppelin and uriah heep where starting to dominate the uk charts at this time so that seems to be some of the direction in wich grannie goes, regardless this is a real great long lost gem that was long overdue for a remastered cd release a few years back i feel the remastering on this cd was the best that could be done, i love it, i cant afford the original lp so this is the best next thing to that i feel..................

If you're into early '70's prog rock, then you need to listen to Grannie. The CD is an energetic romp through standard early '70's prog rock maneuvers. Someone compared them to early Wishbone Ash and that's as accurate as it gets. The nine minute ' Colored Armageddon' is the showpiece, with obligatory organ use at the forefront, giving it the feel of an extended Deep Purple jam onstage. There are the expected lulls before returning to heaviness, the usual passages associated with keyboard dominated epics. Clearly they're not The Who or Deep Purple, but on it's own accord 'Grannie' is still a lot more accomplished than many other of their kind and worth a listen to those who enjoy this particular timeframe of rock.

Very cool music that screams London underground at the turn of the 60's into the 70's. Too bad the production isn't cleaner. If you like T2, Clear Blue Sky, Fuzzy Duck, Hard Stuff, Pink Fairies etc you'll dig it.

If you like 70s prog, you will like this CD.

Lost GEM'. Any one Music Collector Will Appreciate Talent in every direction. Arrangements, Guitar JAMM' Harmonies' as Any 69'70'71'72... Band would deliver... STONER ROCK ... my Best way to discribe.... I listen to it daily. it get GROWING onto u... Headphones...a MUST...

excellent

best original lp i've heard in years ! lightyears ahead of the field.

Ovaj vrlo rjedak album je osvanuo koncem 71ve za SRT rec.Stampan je tada u 99 kopija za budzet od oko 100£.Za preko 100 primjeraka,proizvod je podlijegao zakonskoj taksi u Britaniji.U knjizici cdea,David Wells je istrazio pricu o snimanju i znanim i prezivjelim clanovima benda.Grannie su bili iz istocnog Londona,glazba je hardrok vrlo melodioznog usmjerenja te gitarski natprosjecno odsvirana!Ovo je zagubljeni biser ciji org.masteri su nestali u bespucu smrcu autora gitariste Phila Newtona!Zvuk je kvalitetan dovoljno!Vrjedno nabave.

Wiederveröffentlichung eines der seltensten Exemplare des frühen britischen Progressive-Rock. Im Original nur 99 mal gepresst, handelt es sich hier um das Studio-Demo einer Band, deren Identität bislang unbekannt war.Umso löblicher ist daher die CD-Reissiue, deren Booklett nun einige Infos enthält; es kommt sogar der ehemalige Drummer zu Wort.Das Londoner Quartett bietet hier sechs melodiöse Stücke voller Ideenvielfalt und Intensität, die, teilweise mit Flöte und Keyboard unterstützt, etwa mit frühen Wishbone Ash vergleichbar sind (steht so im Booklett und ist auch tatsächlich so).Arrangement und Umsetzung gelingen nahezu perfekt und deshalb stört die Tatsache, dass es halt "nur" ein Demo mit entsprechendem Sound ist nicht sonderlich. Wer natürlich einen Sound a la Porcupine Tree erwartet, der wird enttäuscht, immerhin ist das Ding hier von 1971 und dafür ist das doch sehr gelungen.Musiziert wurde hier jedenfalls auf höchstem Niveau und das gilt auch für das Songwriting, dessen Qualität vor allem bei den letzten drei Stücken zur Höchstform aufläuft: "Saga of the Sad Jester", ein fulminantes, riffbetontes Werk, "Dawn" eine ganz ausgezeichnete Akkustik-Ballade mit betörender Gitarrenarbeit und schließlich das leidenschaftliche "Coloured Armageddon" ein Tour-de-Force Ritt, bei dem sämtliche Register gezogen werden.Man kann in der Tat froh sein, dieses Teil überhaupt mal hören zu können, da von den ohnehin wenigen Originalen anscheinend nur ein paar in Umlauf kamen. Leader und Songschreiber bzw. Gitarrist Phil Newton hatte nämlich, lt Booklett, fast alle behalten (warum auch immer...) und ist leider schon vor längerer Zeit verstorben. Deshalb sind die Originalscheiben bis auf wenige Einzelstücke auch nicht mehr auffindbar und es existiert lediglich eine Mini-Nachpressung auf Vinyl (Bootleg ?) Anfang der 90er.Was bleibt ist diese CD-Reissue mit einer guten halben Stunde feiner Mucke.Hohe Empfehlungsstufe für Leute, die qualitativ hochwertige Musik auch mit (durchaus akzeptablem !)Demosound schätzen.

Psychedelic Rock wie Ihn die bekannten Heroen dieses Genres vielleicht aus Markstrategischen Gründen leider nur selten veröffentlichen konnten. Wer diese Musikrichtung mag und GRANNIE nicht kennt -so wie ich bis vor kurzem- versäumt eine wichtige Inspiration.

..for the nice band ! Grannie represents a competent mix of early British prog/hard rock spiked by folkish moments.A very enjoyable obscure record for connoisseurs of 70es !