Spirogyra - Old Boot Wine (1972)

Line-up:

- Martin Cockerham / vocals, guitar
- Steve Borrill / bass
- Barbara Gaskin / vocals
- Marc Francis / vocals, guitar, keyboards

Guest musicians:
- Dave Mattacks / drums
- Julian Cusack / violin, keyboards
- Alan Laing / cello
- Rick Biddulph / mandoline


Total Time: 39:10

Spirogyra's second effort is certainly not a perfect album. Why is this album Incredible? Because here we are given the epitome of the Spirogyra sound, if not the all encompassing opus of all acid or pschedelic prog is general. The song is Grandad. This is by far, hands down the greatest achievement on any Spirogyra album…Martin Cockerham reaches the depths of his inner genius and destroys you with this miracle of a song. The album itself continues surrounding this with fantastic music, with some of the best songs by the band and one of their best endings ever on Runaway. Dangerous Dave is a fantastic opener and a great song, and while some of the tracks are less experimental and seem more simple than St. Radigunds, this is almost a calling for the band to lean towards this style. The album, afterall, was the next step in leading to their best album, Bells, Boots and Shambles.

A couple of tracks on here certainly did not strike me as brilliant or truly loveable, but everything here is consistent Spirogyra sound and goodness. Martin Cockerham screamed for me to research him after this one, and I've found a true genius of music throughout. I would love to give this album a masterpiece score just based on Grandad, but then I would have to do the same for alot of albums with one absolutely mind blowing track. The album is amazing, though, as is to be expected from Spirogyra. The masters of the acid folk scene, check this one out.
(The Lost Chord. Progarchives.com)

Spirogyra were a British folk/prog band that recorded three albums between 1971 and 1973. Martin Cockerham (vocals/guitar) and Mark Francis originally formed Spirogyra as a duo in Bolton, Lancashire in the summer of 1967. When Martin went to University in Canterbury in 1969 he expanded the band to include fellow students Barbara Gaskin (vocals), Steve Borrill (bass), and Julian Cusack (violin). They were soon spotted by student union entertainments officer Max Hole, who offered to manage them and got them a deal with B&C Records. Their debut album, St. Radigunds , was named after the street that their student house was on.

It established them as a cult act on the underground club circuit, and sold respectably. Its follow-up, 1972's Old Boot Wine , appeared on Peg Records and showcased a harder-edged sound than their predominantly acoustic debut. After the release of Old Boot Wine , the band was pared back to the duo of Cockerham and Gaskin, who were by now romantically involved. Their final album, Bells, Boots and Shambles, appeared on Polydor in April 1973 and sold very poorly.
Widely regarded today as one of the great classics of British 'acid folk', it featured guest appearances from the band's former members, as well as contributions from Henry Lowther on trumpet. Copies of all three albums are rare and expensive today, with Bells, Boots and Shambles almost impossible to acquire.

The group's sound was unusual, with Cockerham's brittle, almost adenoidal vocals counterpointed by Gaskin's crystalline tones. Musically, too, the bandmembers played their instruments off against each other, with soaring, sometimes searing violin rocketing around strummed guitar and striking keyboard work. Stylistically, Spirogyra were determined to clash genres as well, and although much of their sound was grounded in folk-rock, Spirogyra interlaced it with proggier elements and psychedelic leanings.



Tracklist:

1. Dangerous Dave (4:16)
2. Van Halen's Belt (2:35)
3. Runaway (4:55)
4. Grandad (3:23)
5. Wings of Thunder (3:08)
6. World's Eyes (7:31)
7. Don't Let It Get You (4:28)
8. Disraeli's Problem (4:15)
9. A Canterbury Tale (4:03)