July — The Complete Recordings.
The six-CD is presented in a flipside glossy box- this features colorful graphics on a black background. Inside each of the six CD’s come in its own card slip- also we have forty-page inlay booklet- this features a new twenty-two page write up about the bands initial history, and their resurrection. Along with a great selection of band paraphernalia taking in pictures, press cuttings, lyric sheets, studio logs & more. So as we’d expect from Cherry Red a very nicely presented boxset.
July seemingly started around 1968 in Ealing London- coming from the ashes of R&B Band The Tomcats. The line-up brought together: Tom Newman - lead vocals, guitar. Tony Duhig - lead guitar, organ. Jon Field - vocals, flute, organ. Chris Jackson - drums, organ. Alan James - bass guitar. The band signed to Major Minor- releasing their first single My Clown" b/w "Dandelion Seeds, which sadly didn’t chart- soon after the band put out their self titled debut- sadly the same happened, and the band ground to a stop in 1969. Nothing was heard from the band until 1995 when Second Of July was released, then in 2009, the band full resurfaced with Tom Newman, Alan James, Chris Jackson, on one Peter Cook on guitar & Vocals releasing in 2013 the album Resurrection.
The first two CD’s take in mono & sterol versions of the bands 1968 self titled debut, and it's a charming & often wonderful blend of tuneful-yet-bounding garage pop-rock and trippy hippy psychedelic experimentation. The original album took in twelve tracks with a total runtime of thirty-seven minutes- and it is a great mix of rocking garage and coy sonic invention- sure you can hear nods towards to a host of 60’s bands- on the more trippy side The Beatles and Pink Floyd, and on the rocking side The Birds, The Small Faces, and similar- but it’s the blend of sound that makes it stands out, that and of course the bands own quirkiness. Things kick-off with "My Clown"- with its blend of Floyd like echoed sing-song vocals, and organ ‘n’ churning psych guitar riffing- with along the way a baying & scorching guitar solo, and towards the end, tabla break down & mincing guitar phonics. As we move we have "You Missed It All" with its proto hip-hop/ ethic opening percussion that shifts onto a mix of bounding garage rocking-to- jingling & clear guitar meets rising vocals. Or "To Be Free" that feels like a direct mix & blend of Syd Barrets rapidly playful lyrics & guitar work, and McCartney-like bound charm. Towards the end of the album, we have wondering wavering “Friendly Man” with its haphazard mix of tightly strummed garage rock, tabla percussion, and drifting in-then-rapidly out horn work. It’s certainly an accomplished & inventive debut- sure it’s rough around the edges, and at points, they almost wholesale steal from others- but there’s enough here to have psych fans coming back for more.
Moving onto the third disc in the set, and we have The Second Of July- this brings together a selection of fourteen demo tracks that where recorded in early 1968- so we get a blend of early versions of album tracks, and unreleased tracks. Largely the album tracks are fairly different from the first albums versions, and we get four unreleased tracks- these go from the galloping ‘n’ pumping riff & shaker percussion of "The Stamping Machine", onto the churning & strumming acoustic meets sudden baying electric guitar of "The Girl In The Café" with it’s very Syd Barret like rapid lyrics/ vocals. The CD runs at a fairly short thirty-one minutes, and I guess it's best seen as a bonus to the first album- not really having enough about it to stand in its own right.
Disc four takes in the unreleased album Temporal Anomaly- and I’m guessing this was material recorded after the re-surfacing in 2009. It’s a ten-track album that slides in at forty-two minutes, and the more guitar/ rocking side of the band very much comes to the fore- though we still do have psych traces here and there. We go from the very Kula Shaker like opener "I like It", onto wavering & quirky bassline and blues guitar harmonics of “All The Hours There Are” which all in all sounds a little like unwell AOR. Onto the tight clean guitar & bass drum bounce of "Magic Days"- with its blend of echoed psych vocals & rising organ/ vocal chorus, playing out with the later day Floyd-meets-stomping pub rock chug of "Lights". On the whole, it’s a pleasant enough collection of tracks, but nothing amazing- feeling largely like the band trying to find their feet again
Disc five takes in Resurrection- the proper come back record that was released in 2013. The album takes in fourteen tracks( two of these are different version of album tracks), with a running time of sixty-one minutes- and it feels like the band is attempting to bring the spirit of their first album back, but add in a few modern touches & other genre traits. We go from the tabla & squawking rock riff meets synth atmospheric/ fake sitar twang of "Can I Go Back". Onto the R&B chug meets wondering & wavery organ rock “I’m Talkin’ You” which drops into a Squeeze like chorus. We have almost table-hop meets thin twang psych-rock of “Heaven or Hell” with some neat moments of sudden techno stabs, moody synth, and chanted female Hare Krishna vocals. We also get a return of some of the better tracks from Temporal Anomaly- given a bit of a polish up. All in all, it’s a good & worthy comeback record.
The final disc in the set is The Wight Album- this twenty-three track and seventy-nine-minute album. It was recorded this year, and I’d say it’s a more layered-yet-playful take on the sound from Resurrection- bringing together the band's original blend of psych and garage, with a more up-to-date/ nuanced production & other genre touches. As you’d hope with an album of this length it’s certainly a varied musically journey- we go from “Special Guy” which sounds like a bizarre crossbreed of The Travelling Wilburys & The Wurzels, onto the galloping tabla meets seesawing accordion of "Protest Song" with it’s mocking of modern life mocking sing-song vocals. We have sparkling psych organ and vocals opening "Let Me"- which later brings into play buzzing ‘n’ trumping guitars & electro beats. Or the dramatic-to- bounding bass meets electronica fired rock of "Dancing", and just before the end of the album we have shambling-yet- charming hippy sing-song meets layered harmonizing vocals “Once When We Were Free”. It’s an great end to the boxset, and it certainly shows July still have creative flare & often punchy genre flair on their side.
All in all this a rather fascinating & well put together box set charting July’s career with start, stop and final resurrection. If you’re a fan of where rock and psychedelia meet I’d say you’ll be needed to your hands-on July The Complete Recordings.