MCCULLY WORKSHOP INC -AGES (S.African 60's psych KINKS,YARDBIRDS, PRETTY THINGS style ) CD

In the early 70Õs, the promise made by the improvisational bands in the late 60Õs like Cream, Iron Butterfly, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and many others, had started to bear fruit. It was a time of rock music becoming really heavy and progressive, but also a time of the Singer-Songwriters and Folk Rock. Medieval themes ‡ la Lord Of The Rings and ÔDungeons and DragonsÕ were the order of the day. Keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman had released an instrumental album about the ÔSix Wives Of Henry VIIIÕ, Ritchie BlackmoreÕs Rainbow had sang about ÔThe Man On The Silver MountainÕ and Uriah Heep celebrated ÔThe MagicianÕs BirthdayÕ. When McCully Workshop used to perform live around that time, the set list would include their arrangements of classical pieces like BachÕs ÔToccata in D MinorÕ, GriegÕs ÔHall Of The Mountain KingÕ and StraussÕ ÔAlso Sprach ZarathustraÕ (better known as the theme to Ô2001: A Space Odyssey)Õ alongside ÔEvery Little ThingÕ by The Beatles and ÔThe Man From AfghanistanÕ by Curtiss Maldoon. Quite an eclectic mix. The ÒAgesÓ album (EMI, 1975) was born from this mixture of elements. The album opener, ÔAvenueÕ is a bass-driven rock track, which echoes ÔSalisburyÕ-era Uriah Heep, whilst ÔCarbon CanyonÕ is an up-tempo Steve Miller Band-influenced blues boogie with rollicking piano and cool guitar licks from Richard Black, who had been in rock power trio Elephant, with George Wolfaardt (Abstract Truth) and Savvy Grande (Suck). When asked about his favourite song on the ÔAgesÕ album, Mike McCully says without hesitation: ÔI Walked AloneÕ. ÒThis song had very difficult drumming, and I was influenced by Jim Keltner at the time. And the drumming on ÔGuinevereÕ features double-tracked triplets... I used to play this with four sticks (a la John Bonham) for audio and visual effect.Ó Includes seven previously unavailable bonus tracks, updated liner notes and photos.