Ozric Tentacles
Ozric Tentacles is one of those bands that has its admirers and detractors. Detractors like to point out that all their albums sound alike. I have to disagree about that, because they do evolve through the ages. They were a fixture on the British Free Festival scene, and even performed at Stonehenge, before the authorities brought an end to the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1985.
Musically, the band is all-instrumental and influenced by the likes of Gong and Hawkwind, as well as some modern influences. The band got started in the good old fashion D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) mentality of releasing their first six albums as privately issued cassettes, produced and made by the band themselves. These six releases are:
– Erpsongs (1985)
– Tantric Obstacles (1985)
– Live Ethereal Cereal (1986)
– There is Nothing (1986)
– Sliding Gliding Worlds (1988)
– The Bits Between the Bits (1989)
All six cassette-only releases had been later reissued on CD. As you might guess, the production is home-made, but even here, you can tell it’s still quite professional. The earliest releases used all analog synthesizers (as well as the guitar, bass, drums, and later on, flute), but by the time of Sliding Gliding Worlds they started to add digital synthesizers as well, but they have always used them in a rather tasteful manner.
Word got around and the band was soon to get a deal from a proper record label. This label was Demi-Monde, a small, independent label owned by Dave Anderson who was bassist for such bands as Amon Düül II and Hawkwind back in the early 1970s. The resulting album was Pungent Effulgent (1989), oddly released only on vinyl at the time (a little strange, since the CD was common knowledge by that time). The album benefitted from a much more professional production and more variety.
Apparently relations with Demi-Monde soured, and so the Ozrics went back to releasing material themselves, this time by launching their own label, Dovetail. They got to work on a new album, Erpland (1990), which is regarded by many as the band’s high point, and I have no argument about that. The band decided to reissue Pungent Effulgent on Dovetail and give it the better treatment that Demi-Monde didn’t by making it available on CD and cassette, as well as LP, with two bonus cuts, “Wreltch” and “A Gog in the Ether”.
Their next album, Strangeitude (1991) finds them going toward a more techno-oriented direction, likely because keyboardist Joie Hinton and drummer Merv Pepler were starting Eat Static around the same time which was a pure techno act (that group really isn’t my thing, as techno, in general isn’t to my taste, although I’m never bothered by the Ozrics techno-like explorations).
Their follow-up album was a compilation album called Afterswish (1991). This double CD set consists of the best material from their 1985-1989 cassette-era, as well as three new cuts, “Chinatype”, “Abul Hagog”, and “Haii!”. They then proceeded to give us their first new live album since 1986 with Live Underslunky (1992) which was recorded live in November 1991, the first recording with their new bassist Zia Geelani.
It was only a matter of time before a label over in America started to take notice. That label was I.R.S. Records. This label seemed best known for punk and new wave acts (like The Go-Gos, for example), and they started to include some prog rock acts on their roster (they even went as far as reissuing some Focus albums). And so they signed the Ozrics to an America deal with I.R.S., while the band continued to release their albums in the UK on their Dovetail label.
Their first American release was Jurassic Shift (1993), and their earlier release, Strangeitude got an American release at the same time. Jurassic Shift became the Ozrics bestseller and even went Top 10 on the British charts. Quite an accomplishment for a band who could care less about commercialism, and cared more about their audience, who themselves were sick of corporate crap posing as music. Despite the sales, this album has all that wonderful, mystical, and exotic atmosphere that I enjoy so well.
They would follow Jurassic Shift with Arborescence (1994), which was sadly, their final album for I.R.S. (the label was under severe financial strain that caused it to go under by 1996). A totally amazing follow-up to Jurassic Shift, although more guitar-oriented, none of the great mystical atmosphere is lost. For the next album, Become the Other (1995), they were only able to get it released in Britain on their own Dovetail label. It was sadly, their final release on that label. I think the fact I.R.S. was going under hurted the band.
Regardless, Become the Other is still a fine addition, finding the band going deeper in to techno, thanks to the addition of new members Rad (Conrad Prince) on drums and Seaweed (Christopher Lenox-Smith) on synthesizers.
For their 1997 followup, Curious Corn, the band found a new label, Madfish, which was distributed on Snapper Records. Another solid effort from these guys, this CD included a cool pseudo-acid blotter that’s really a psychedelic silhouette of the band performing on stage.
Now here’s where the band really started having troubles with labels. They were to record a followup to Curious Corn in 1998 on Snapper called Swirly Termination, but they had a falling out with the label (Swirly did get released in 2000, against the band’s wishes). So they went back to releasing material themselves, by starting a new label called Stretch, with an American deal with Phoenix Rising.
The results gave us two albums, Waterfall Cities (1999) and The Hidden Step (2000), in which I felt the latter was their best from this era. Problems started to arise again: Phoenix Rising went belly-up in 2001, and their drummer Rad left the band because of emotional problems. They got themselves a new drummer named Schoo (Stuart Fisher).
They released an EP in 2001 (with Rad still on drums) called Pyramidion on their Stretchy label. The title track is a brand-new cut, while the rest was live material from The Hidden Step tour. The band apparently made some reconcilement with their previous label, Snapper, so they released a live CD, Live at the Pongmasters Ball (2002) on that label. But then their bassist Zia Geelani had quit the band and I have yet to know who their new bassist might be.
You may have noticed I haven’t discussed the personnel much. The band, like Gong and Hawkwind, had a very unstable lineup. But through all the mess, guitarist Ed Wynne has been though it all. Also I haven’t mentioned how they are musically, since I reviewed a bunch of their albums elsewhere on this site, where I describe them in more detail.
So if you’re a newcomer to the Ozrics, try Pungent Effulgent, Erpland, Jurassic Shift, Arborescence, or even The Hidden Step then if you’re convinced, work your way through their vast catalog, it’s well worth it.