OFF: Pressurehed, Nik Turner, High Tide

[Stephan Forstner]

Thanks for all the info - just catching up here. I have computer access only
at work, so I couldn't tune in to SDNC for the Pressurehed this Sat, but
hopefully that will change before the end of the year. The description of
the Turner material sounds fantastic, and if it really is better than 'Past
or Future' then it should be truly fine - I thought PoF was a high point of
Hawkwind-and-related releases of the 90's.
As for High Tide - after my recent acquisition of 'Open Season' I was
psyched - so-to-speak - into searching out their later stuff, and have been
able to collect quite a bit of info and even acquire a few of the discs. The
first 2 releases, 'Sea Shanties' and 'High Tide', were reissued by
Repertoire and should be available from CDNow.com and other major online
retailers. 'Precious Cargo' and 'Interesting Times' are both available on
Akarma Records and can be gotten from <www.akarmarecords.com> as was
previously mentioned. I'll also repeat what has been said before - SS, HT,
and PC are all exceptional and highly recommended - IT is the weakest of
these 4 but I think it still has a lot of good material on it and I like it
a lot, despite the drum machines, though YMMV.
Then, about 1990 or so, a slew of other releases came out on
SPM-WorlWideRecords and it is only recently that I became aware of these.
'The Flood' is a collection of recordings from 70-76, and almost the entire
album was compiled onto 'Open Season'. I believe the only 2 tracks that were
left off were the title track and a version of Ice Age, an excellent song,
but one that is present on both 'Precious Cargo' and 'Interesting Times' in
2 fine versions, so I don't know if an acquisition of this title is
warranted if you got 'Open Season'.
I did track down 'The Reason of Success' - its an all-instrumental
collection - the 1st and last tracks are Garage Gods and Turn Yourself Down,
the 2 tracks compiled on 'Open Season' that convinced me that the 1990
material was more-than-worth looking for. These 2 tracks make up slightly
more than half of 'Reason', but the remaining 3 tracks are almost as good
and I highly recommend this disc. This is serious, and seriously good, music.
'A Fierce Nature' - I got a Russian pressing of this on Ebay - it arrived
this morning -and I am listening to it for the first time as I type this -
PC speakers so I don't have a proper opinion yet. This one is only Tony Hill
and Drachen Theaker, and seems to be split between instrumentals that would
sound at home on 'Reason' (i.e. they're great) and song-type pieces. None of
these tracks appear on 'Open Season'.
Finally there is 'Ancient Gates' - apparently a collaboration with an Indian
vocalist, Sushi Krishnamurthi. I haven't found this but did come across this
description in the Tapestry of Delights on the Delerium webpage - "The first
track Resonance is brilliant, but gets worse with every subsequent track and
I defy anyone to listen to it all the way through." Resonance is apparently
the track that was compiled on 'Open Season', and its a good one, but based
on the above quote I'm not sure if I will get the disc, even if I can find it.

Thanks for your time,
Stephan

NP: High Tide - A Fierce Nature