1967 HAPSHASH & THE COLOURED COAT Human Host ACID PSYCH

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1967 RARE ORIGINAL ~ UK ACIDROCK FROM THE LONDON UNDERGROUND  

 HAPSHASH & THE COLOURED COAT

          Featuring The Human Host

\                                             USA - LIBERTY RECORDS - IR 12377 - stereo

RARE and sought after 1967 first pressing original ... one of the legendary primal acid-freakout psychedelic trips from the London scene...designed to blow minds...they even say so. The group consisted of smembers of British freakbeat band "ART" who meshed into Spooky Tooth... 

One of the ‘60s sought-after of cult LPs is 1967’s Hapshash and the Coloured Coat Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids  -- it is the sort of record that could only have emerged during the psychedelic era, and a vibrant manifestation of that period’s freewheeling, boundary-breaking spirit of musical adventure. Hapshash and the Colored Coat initially achieved notoriety as a graphic design team whose distinctive visual sensibility placed them at the center of London’s original psychedelic explosion. The crews vivid visual imagination spawned album covers and countless posters promoting performances at London’s legendary UFO Club by such acts as Pink Floyd and the Incredible String Band. Those visual works brilliantly captured the London scene’s buoyant, mind-expanding vibe, and feature some of the psychedelic era’s most arresting imagery.

Such was Hapshash and the Colored Coat’s prominence and influence that, in 1967, they were given the opportunity to branch out as a recording act. For the occasion, English and Weymouth teamed with legendary producer/manager/DJ/scene catalyst Guy Stevens, whose lengthy resume encompasses work with the Rolling Stones, Procol Harum, and Mott the Hoople. The result was Hapshash and the Coloured Coat Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids. The unlikely collaboration produced a one-of-a-kind sonic experience that exemplifies the spirit of psychedelia while sounding like no other record of its time, mixing primal vocal chants and insistent tribal rhythms with fuzz guitar and bluesy keys on such memorably titled tracks as “H-O-P-P Why?, ”The New Messiah Coming 1985,” “Empires of the Sun” and “A Mind Blown Is a Mind Shown.” Well, this album is just that -- It’s wayward, repetitive, freaky, and VERY 1967...well, just look at that cover: drawings of Little Bo Peep, flying saucers and supernatural fairy tale figures surrounding a benevolent sun head emanating rays of light over the mirror-imaged, hand drawn lettering is probably one of the most psychedelic album covers ever designed.  ‘The Heavy Metal Kids’ was an alter ego for the English freakbeat band Art: the proto-Spooky Tooth group comprised of Mike Harrison, Greg Ridley, Mike Kellie and Luther Grosvenor who appear with full group backing. But who was ‘The Human Host’?

Judging from just the title and production credit on the album, it was none other than Guy Stevens, the eternal groover who would typically dream up a fantastic concept; concoct an equally great name for it and only THEN set about creating it. And although Stevens produced this album, he wound up spending most of the four and a half hour late night session in the studio with the additional thirty ravers -- many tripping on LSD -- on assorted percussion and ecstatic cries as he directed the whole freewheeling affair. The first cut, “H-O-P-P-Why?” sees the entourage jangling along with jarring hits of gongs as the hushed vocals spell out the nickname of John Hopkins, the early English psychedelic dropout and underground pioneer. “A Mind Blown Is A Mind Shown” continues with further bongo galloping, blowing of both harmonica and minds as it quickly fades. Who knows how long this particular segment went on for, because it fades probably ages before it finally broke down.

“The New Messiah Coming 1985” is another group tambourine, bells and finger cymbal freak out, although at a stoned, relaxed tempo with general background chattering and one voice intoning indecipherable and unknown mysteries. There are no lyrics, but voices do wind up chanting “We are...we are...we are...” to fade back in later against “I am...I am...” As you can probably guess by the title, “Aoum” is the group “Ommmmm” which quietly lands side one as the now calmed ensemble assemble for a group vocal drone.

Side two is completely taken up by “Empires Of The Sun,” an instrumental driven by the group reiterating the barest skeleton of backing with more dangerously-hit gongs and general anarchic background mayhem. And it continues as every conceivable space is filled by SOMETHING over the insistent rhythm section of Art/Spooky Tooth's Mike Kellie(drums) and bassist Greg Ridley (the only elements that do not degenerate into freeform-ness): chanting voices, bells, guitar strings plucked as complement to the innumerable chimes and bells, bongos, tambourines and multiple plastic flutes that blat out. It does start to build, but only as when someone starts to war whoop and that creates more vocal craziness as everybody is soon screaming, faking orgasms or speaking in completely fake languages. The obligatory “Krishna, Krishna” gets thrown in, as does the whole psychedelic kitchen sink and when those gongs get hit far too hard again, hard enough to fall from their suspended frames, they brutally cut through everything. When the extended backing track and communal blow out that is “Empires Of The Sun” finally recedes, a quiet flute theme and sparse vocal cries emerge behind a stark, dramatic narrative of the coming of Ragnarok until the whole trip gets blown by an inquisitive Cockney voice. The magic and visions of “a sight to stagger the senses” vanishes with a quick flute trill, and it’s over. An abrupt ending to an album whose extremely primitive yet effective qualities are probably best revealed at nighttime by candlelight (incense optional.)

1. H-O-P-P Why?
2. A Mind Blown Is a Mind Shown
3. The New Messiah Coming 1985
4. Aoum

SIDE II
5. Empires of the Sun

CONDITION: The cover is solid, just small shelf wear from previous handling but nothing to near keep it from being proudly put in any music collection, VG++ to "EX"(excellent) even the white boarders back cover with group photo on back cover is very clean...no seam splits, no bends anmd no writing anywhere

The vinyl is glossy both sides, having a few very minor soft scuff lines, looks VG++ plays excellent.... 

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record