Quadrant Rec.
Mike Heron : The Glen Row Tapes -2CD- (UK,1977-1978)*°
Mike Heron was one of the core members of the Incredible String Band for about 9 years (1965-1974). When the group split, Mike Heron wanted to record some singer-songwriter stuff in the home studio cottage of Glen Row (the row of cottages where the Incredible Community lived as an artistic community and where Mike Heron also remained to live, until today). He got an advance cheque from a publishing company to be able to do so. Three volumes were recorded in 18 months, between 1977 and 1978. In 1977 he also had two solo bands, Mike Heron’s Reputation (with some Incredible String Band members) and Heron (not to be confused with the 1970 UK band), but they had a too hard time to survive in a time when punk became the new fashion. For the recording sessions Frank Usher and Jon Bavin helped with the recordings. From the three demo tapes, 10 songs were chosen to be published on an album called “Mike Heron” (usually referred to as ‘Casablanca’), but due to some circumstances few copies became available. It took until 1987 before Mike was able to get a new record deal for the tapes. Volume 1 was a kind of best of (track 1 to 9 on this compilation), but this was quickly followed by volume 2 and 3. To promote this Mike Heron did some live gigs. In 1993 a selection of the tapes were published on a CD on Voiceprint. This is the first time the collection is again complete, on a double CD. It has extensive liner notes and lyrics.
Stylistically the music style on the songs is more mainstream song music, or straight forward rock, with the complete attention on the songs. This approach takes a little time to get a taste for it, and to accommodate with it, after being used to a rather opposite approach in the Incredible String Band. Also the production is a bit rough and lazy, without disturbing much, but also without going further than an improvised demo-like session. Also, some of it sounds also as if from a much later date, with some distance taken from the (whole folk related) music scene. For listening to all, to some degree the approach of each song is I must say more or less comparable. So when listening more closely to the songs, there is some potential here and there, but it needs some of your own imagination to find in them a deeper context or give them some conceptual background. In that way I am able to like the songs. “Close Encounters” for instance works as a concept with a Science Fiction association (you even hear a hint to the tune from “Close Encounters of the third kind”) mixed with a personal context, a double association which makes it able to lift anything from the average. But without closer attention to such details, some of the content can easily pass by, to be left in the background, because no musical element is worked out better to encourage examination.
The package looks wonderful and very complete. It shows what Mike Heron roughly has to offer as an independent singer-songwriter.
