Sea Shanties

伝説的アンダーグラウンド･ゴシック･プログレ･バンド、ハイ･タイドが69年リバティ･レコーズからリリースしたファースト･アルバムのリイシュー盤。トニー･ヒルの奏でる重厚なファズ･ギターの轟音と、サイモン･ハウスの突き刺さるようなエレクトリック･ヴァイオリンの音色の壮絶なまでのアンサンブルが生み出す、サイケデリック/フォーク/ハードロック/ブルース/ジャズといった様々な要素が溶け合った混沌のサウンドはただただ圧巻。オリジナル･マスター･テープから新たに起こしたリマスター音源を使用し、デモ音源やアルバム･セッションからのアウトテイクなど5曲をボーナス･トラックに追加収録。付属のブックレットには、オリジナルを復刻したアートワークやレア･フォト、ライナーノーツなどを掲載。

Record Collector (magazine) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his album is aggressive, forceful and insistent but will also be of interest to early prog fans, with its changing time signatures."

With the Misunderstood, Tony Hill co-wrote epochal psych-rock anthems like "Children of the Sun"; however, while High Tide's sound has roots in the peace-and-love era, the band was also in tune with the post-psychedelic comedown at the decade's darker end. On Sea Shanties, there's nothing fey and flowery in Hill's bleak lyrics or his doomy Jim Morrison-like delivery, and psychedelia's melodic whimsy is supplanted by a physicality more in line with the visceral heft of metal progenitors such as Cream, Blue Cheer, and the Jeff Beck Group. Hill's grinding riffage and searing, effects-laden guitar pyrotechnics combine with the punishing rhythms of drummer Roger Hadden and bassist Pete Pavli to forge some of the heavier sounds to emerge from Britain in 1969: tracks like "Futilist's Lament" are matched only by Led Zeppelin for sheer weight. High Tide weren't a power trio, though, and it was the interplay of Hill's guitar with Simon House's violin that created the band's unique signature. Showing that rock violin needn't be a marginal adornment, House whips up an aggressive edge that rivals the guitar: on the nine-minute "Death Warmed Up," House refuses to play second fiddle and matches Hill's scorching assault all the way, while on the album's other epic, "Missing Out," the violin generates a trance-inducing Eastern groove. High Tide had the muscularity of a no-nonsense proto-metal band, but they also ventured into prog territory with changing time signatures and tempos, soft-hard dynamics, multi-part arrangements, and even some ornate faux-Baroque interludes. Indeed, "Pushed, but Not Forgotten" and "Walking Down Their Outlook" share common ground with King Crimson (especially Crimson's mid-'70s work with violinist David Cross). Far from the collection of nautical ditties its name suggests, Sea Shanties is an overlooked gem encapsulating the shifting musical currents in late-'60s British rock. ~ Wilson Neate