Stackridge — Extravaganza
Appearing in the year 1975 Extravaganza was the fourth studio album from UK’s Stackridge. It saw the band pare back their folk-rock side- for a blend of pop prog rock, musical hall pomp, jazz-rock, and playful pop rock with a nostalgic and musical tilt. As part of the Esoteric Records series of reissues of the band's back catalogue- here we have a two-CD release of the album- bringing together a remastered version of the album, and a complete live recording from 1975.
The CD comes presented in a glossy yellow six-panel digipak- with the wrap-around cover bringing together the album's original artwork of a group of Victorian circus performers. With an eighteen-page inlay booklet- featuring a new seven - full lyrics & credits, band pictures, post art etc.
The band was formed in the year 1969 in the Bristol/ Bath by Andy Cresswell-Davis(lead guitars, keyboards, vocals) and Jim "Crun" Walter(Bass)- with Crun later becoming an on/off member. With the band had a fairly shifting lineup over their career- their first run was between 69 & 1976- when they released five albums- Stackridge (1971), Friendliness (1972), The Man In The Bowler Hat (1974), Extravaganza (1975), and Mr Mick (1976). The band regrouped between 1999 & 2015- putting out another three albums- Something For The Weekend (1999), The Original Mr Mick (2001), and A Victory For Common Sense (2009).
Extravaganza appeared in February of 1975. It saw the band moving from major label MCA to The Rocket Record Company- which had been set in 1973 by Elton John. The album featured ten tracks- with a more distinctive focus on musical hall pomp & Jazz prog Rock- it takes up the first disc in this set.
The first half of the album goes from the slightly country/ trad jazz music hall-tinged singer-song piano-led bound of “Spin Around The Room”. We have the jaunting pop prog rock of “Highbury Incident” which has some nicely urgent King Crimson-like sax playing on it. And there’s the musical hall led quirky English pop rock plod of "Benjamin's Giant Onion”.
In the album's second half we go from Jazz rock and lightly funked instrumental “Rufus T Firefly”. Onto the darting & bounding prog rock via Zappa like Jazz rock playfulness of “Pocket Billiards”. With the album playing out with “Who's That Up There with Bill Stokes?” which mixes warbling wordless vocals, stabbing & dramatic jazz-rock, and dartingly playful prog-rock composition.
As an album, Extravaganza feels very much like a game of two halves/ even two bands with the more vocal-led/ formal pop song structure of the first half. And the more instrumental-focused jazz/ prog rock of the second side. There are certainly some interesting ideas, and a few great songs- but on the whole, it just feels a less cohesive record than what the band had done before.
The second CD takes in a nine-track set recorded on the 17th of January for the BBC. It’s an eight-track affair- taking in both tracks from Extravaganza, and previous albums.
All in all, Extravaganza certainly shows that the band where still able to blend & mix genres in a rewarding & often whimsical manner. It’s just a pity it’s not a wholly consistent/ balanced album. Nevertheless, it’s great to see this double disc release of the album- with Esoteric Records once again doing a nice job with the reissue.