Dr Phibes And The House Of Wax Equations Hypnotwister x2LP Vinyl Shoegaze EX/VG+
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Description
Dr Phibes And The House Of Wax Equations Hypnotwister x2LP Vinyl Shoegaze, Indie, Psychedelic EX/VG+. Condition is "Used". Dispatched with Royal Mail 2nd Class signed for.
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Vinyl is Graded Very Good Plus: Actually it is borderline Excellent. I have cleaned and play-tested all three sides of the vinyl - the fourth side is reserved for their Logo - and it plays really well, save for the very beginning of Burning Cross the first song on Side A. There is a slight crackle which soon subsides after about a minute and a half and does not spoil the overall enjoyment of the track which is nearly 10 minutes long. But it's for this reason I downgraded it.
The sleeve is near Near Mint.
If you're looking because you remember this band then I do not need to tell you how awesome they were! I first heard them on Mark Radcliffe's Out On Blue Six Radio 1 programme in 1991. I saw them live twice and missed them once when I got stuck in a lift! I met them later that night and they put me and my girlfriend on the guest list for the next night! Brilliant fellas!
If you want to learn more about them here is a Youtube link to a single off the album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRHXpute4XE&t=71s
And here's some online info:
Cult heroes: Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations – enraged shoegazing
Ferocious live gigs, psychedelia, Jimi Hendrix-style instrument abuse – the Crewe band had it all for a brief period in the 1990s
Up to their necks in psychedelia … Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations.This is a strange tale, about a strange band with a strange name who played strange music.
The post-Madchester years were an odd time to be a young indie fan, with many of the most popular bands being not just really pretty bad, but funny as well. Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Sultans of Ping FC, the Frank and Walters – you can guess what they sounded like without even hearing their music.
At the same time, there were terrific, unique bands falling entirely by the wayside: New Fast Automatic Daffodils, Five Thirty, World of Twist (who were prone to quirk but backed it up with drama and poise, in the Pulp style). And Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations.
Dr Phibes, as fans called them, to save time, hailed from Crewe, whose only other contribution to the modern pop pantheon has been former Corrie star and prospective Conservative candidate Adam Rickitt. They were a three-piece who made a hell of a noise, and were genuinely, densely psychedelic.
Everything about them was peculiar. Obviously, there was that name, a melding of two Vincent Price film titles with the baffling addendum of Equations – what on earth did that mean? They were prone to giving songs forced portmanteau titles (Sugarblast, Misdiagnosedive) or lapsing into hippyish guff (Eye Am the Sky, I Am Forever) and on the occasions when you could make out singer Howard King Jr’s lyrics, they tended to err towards the bollocks side. “I have the power / of a dying flower,” indeed.
Musically, though, they were incredible. Bassist Lee Belsham’s style was fluid and ominously dubby, and drummer Keith York veered between gentle restraint and explosions of Reni-style flailing, as King coaxed weird, spidery patterns through a bank of effects pedals. Baggy they were not.Another thing that set them apart from the rest was that King is black, which may not seem like a big deal now but was practically unheard of in early 1990s indie, especially in a lead singer. Indeed, a few journalists at the time felt compelled to compare him to Jimi Hendrix and, although I would call into question the reason for the comparison being made, it’s not as absurd as it sounds. There’s a superb, all-too-brief live performance on YouTube for Granada TV’s late-night live music show The New Sessions, where King grapples and manhandles and slashes at his guitar in a decidedly Hendrixesque fashion. He was a great abuser of his instrument, though limited as a vocalist, his words enigmatically low in the mix until he would explode into anguished squealing. Backed up by a sympathetic live show on a small stage, they were a great live act. The best way I can describe the sound is enraged shoegazing.
Watch Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations liveIt’s also interesting that King is performing, as he was wont to do, in a heavily defaced James hoodie, making it unclear whether they were an influence or he was cocking a snook at one of the era’s dreariest bands. I like to think it’s the latter.
Dr Phibes could certainly noodle – across two albums, only three tracks clock in at under five minutes, as opposed to 10 on the far side of six. But it was never without, as they say in football punditry, a final product – on tracks like Eye Am the Sky or Moment of Truth, I’m reminded of Spirit of Eden-era Talk Talk, particularly their track Desire, languidly jazzy but always ready to become ferocious, with King deploying his voice as an extra instrument in much the same way as Mark Hollis.
I'm selling a lot of my vinyl and CD collection, because the kids are getting bigger and the house is getting smaller! Basically, it was either the kids or the records, sadly the coin came down tails...Thanks for looking!Dr. Phibes & The House Of Wax Equations ?– Hypnotwister
Label: Quigley Records ?– DRPLP1, 50 Seel Street Records ?– DRPLP1, Offside Records ?– DRPLP1 Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album, EtchedCountry: UK Released: 04 May 1993 Genre: Rock Style: Indie Rock
Tracklist
A1 Burning Cross A2 Deadpan Control Freak A3 Real World B1 Anti-Clockwise B2 Moment Of Truth C1 Misdiagnosedive C2 Hazy Lazy Hologram C3 Jugular Junkie C4 Bearhugprice rating