Psychedelic : Shoegazing : Reverberation
Our favorite round, beachball-sized, constantly beeping friend turns 51 today. Or would’ve turned 51 today had he not burned up a bit in the Earth’s atmosphere. I like to spend my Tuesday evenings with PBS’ science program Nova, and this week’s installment covered all that you probably didn’t know about the Sputnik program and the advent of the Space Race… Continue reading ‘Happy Birthday, Sputnik!’
Oh, junk! I’ve finally been awarded the opportunity to grip some serious Friends grooves. Friends was the project of Peter Howell and John Ferdinando. Both dapper gentlemen were involved in headtrip psych groups Ithaca and Agincourt – two bands that, unfortunately, never widely released any of their music. The best of the crop, though, was their baroque-esque, harmonic psychedelic pop collaboration on the rare gem Fragile, released in 1972.
Howell and Ferdinando, between cutting rollicking folk records, were both members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. As you know, I’m extremely fascinated by the Radiophonic Workshop. Howell himself played a key part in the composition for the Dr. Who and Through the Looking Glass scores. Time Has Told Me has a pretty in-depth bio.
Not only is the Fragile LP difficult to find, it’s also tricky to find information on Friends since they, uh, fuckin’ called their band Friends! Obviously, Lisa Kudrow’s gonna Google rank a little higher than Howell and Ferdinando, whether it’s fair or not. Anyway, enjoy these two jam hives that were ripped straight from the vinyl for full bass explosion, and definitely czech out “One Sweet Day” if you’ve been rocking that Fleet Foxes record as of late. Get shattered.
MP3 :::
Friends – A Tale of Your Life
Friends – One Sweet Day
