EYES OF BLUE FIELDS OF ARDATH RARE PSYCH PROG
£
95
$
126
£ 95
Sold For
Nov 21, 2011
Sold Date
Nov 20, 2011
Start Date
1
Number Of Bids
Great Britain
Country Of Seller
eBay
Sold at
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Description
EYES OF BLUE FIELDS OF ARDATH RARE PSYCH PROG
DEAR BIDDER I AM A PROFESSIONAL SELLER. ALL MY PICTURES ARE OF THE ACTUAL ITEM FOR SALE, I DO NOT USE STOCK PHOTOS.NO RISK PURCHASE.
DEAR MUSIC BUYER, ALL OF MY RECORDS ARE CLEANED ON A VPI TYPHOON LP CLEANING MACHINE THEN PLACED IN A BRAND NEW UNCONTAMINATED POLYTHENE LINED INNER SLEEVE (ORIGINAL INNER IS INSERTED INTO SLEEVE) AND AUDIO TESTED BEFORE SALE.
ALL OF THE RECORDS I OFFER THEREFORE WILL PERFORM PERFECTLY WITHOUT DISTORTION, CLICKS POPS OR BAD SURFACE NOISE.
IF AN LP DOES POSSESS NOISES THEN IT SHALL BE MADE CLEAR IN THE DESCRIPTION.
IN THE LAST TEN YEARS I HAVE HAD ZERO RETURNS OR COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE QUALITY OF MY RECORDS.
THIS IS MY NO RISK GUARANTEE TO YOU.
EYES OF BLUE - IN FIELDS OF ARDATH VERY RARE PSYCH PROG LP ON THE MERCURY LABEL 1969 20164SMCL Formed in Neath, Wales, Eyes of Blue initial line up consisted of guitarist Ritchie Francis, singer Gary Pickford-Hopkins, keyboardist Phil Ryan, drummer Wyndham Rees, and bassist Ray Williams. The quintet apparently started out as a soul-oriented cover band, eventually attracting the attention of Decca’s progressive-oriented DERAM label, which signed them to a recording contract and releasing a pair of hard-to-find singles:
- 1966’s ‘Heart Trouble’ b/w ‘Up and Down’ (DERAM catalog number DM 106) - 1967’s ‘Supermarket Full of Cans’ b/w ‘Don’t Ask Me’ (DERAM catalog number DRM 114).
The band’s big break came when Mercury’s London based A&R man Lou Reizner played one of the group’s tapes for American producer Quincy Jones. Jones was in London starting work on a score for the film “The Toy Grabbers” (renamed “Mother” when released in the States). Deciding he needed a more contemporary sound for the movie, he subsequently recruited the band to help score the film. The resulting publicity led Mercury to sign them, resulting in the release of 1968’s “The Crossroads of Time”.
Following another movie project; they scored music for “Connecting Rooms” and even had a brief role in the film, they returned to the studio for the second album.
Following a series of personnel changes that saw Rees and Williams replaced by drummer John Weathers and bassist Ray Bennett, the band released 1969’s “In Fields of Ardath”. Produced by Reizner (Quincy Jones furnished the liner notes), the album was apparently meant as a concept piece, the title track and several of the songs built around the theme of reincarnation. To quote the liner notes:
“The title of the album stems from the interest of Eyes of Blue in the supernatural and the occult. Ardath is the title of a book by Marie Corelli published in 1897. The theme of the novel is based on the story of reincarnation. According to the book the field of Ardath is located near the ruined city of Babylon. Corelli’s characters find evidence for this presumed location in the Book of Esdras.”
Featuring a mixture of covers and original material, material like ‘Ardath’ and ‘Door (The Child That Is Born On the Sabbath Day)’ found the band exploring a more progressive and keyboard dominated sound. Not particularly focused, this time around they attempted to broaden their horizons adding a host of influences including country-rock (‘Chances’), English blues (‘After the War’), pop (‘Little Bird’), and even a scratchy tribute to jazz guitarist Django Renhard (‘Souvenirs (Tribute To Django)’). As lead vocalist Pickford-Hopkins raspy voice remained an acquired taste, though to be perfectly honest, he was frequently all but drown out by the elaborate arrangements. While nowhere near as much fun as the debut, the collection wasn’t a complete wash out. Perhaps not a big surprise, they were at their best when sticking with more mainstream rock oriented material – in this case ‘The Light We See’ (featuring a killer backward guitar solo), their cover of Graham Bond’s ‘Spanish Blues’, and the closing instrumental ‘Apache ‘69’ (with some nice Francis lead guitar) serving as the LP highlights. Elsewhere the leadoff track ‘Merry Go Round’ was lifted from their earlier “Toy-Grabbers” soundtrack. Pleasant but hardly a forgotten classic. ..
"In Fields of Ardath" track listing: (side 1) 1.) Merry Go Round (From the Film Toy-Grabbers) (Ritchie Francis) – 9:05 2.) The Light We See (Gary Pickford-Hopkins) – 2:12 3.) Souvenirs (Tribute To Django) (instrumental) (Django Reinhard – S. Grapelly) – 2:39 4.) Ardath (John Weathers) – 2:35 5.) Spanish Blues (Graham Bond) – 3:48
(side 2) 1.) Door (The Child That Is Born On the Sabbath Day) (Rhil Ryan) – 6:45 2.) Little Bird (Ritchie Francis) – 2:35 3.) After the War (Gary Pickford-Hopkins) – 3:27 4.) Extra Hour (Phil Ryan) – 2:2 5.) Chances (Ritchie Francis) – 2:59 6.) Apache ’69 (J. Lordan) – 4:27
For Eyes of Blue fanatics, the band backed Buzzy Linhart on the album “Buzzy” (see separate entry). They also recorded a 1971 album under the pseudonym Big Sleep and provided backup to fellow Welshmen Ancient Grease.
Following the band’s breakup various members reappeared in other project: - Ray Bennett joined Flash. - Ritchie Francis released a solo album. - Phil Ryan became a member of Man. - John Weathers hooked up with Pete Brown and Piblokto, followed by a stint in Gentle Giant.
THE SLEEVE IS VG+ THE LP SIDE 1 IS VG AND PLAYS NEAR MINT!!! THE LP SIDE 2 IS VG AND PLAYS NEAR MINT. THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS TO REPORT WITH THE PLAYING OF THIS LP!!
AS USUAL I HAVE CLEANED THIS GREAT LP ON MY VPI TYPHOON RECORD CLEANING MACHINE AND PLAYED IT LOUD.
IT PLAYS SUPERBLY WITH NO NASTY SURPRISES, BAD SURFACE NOISE, OR EXCESSIVE UNWANTED SOUNDS, YOU MAY BID WITH COMPLETE CONFIDENCE.
COMBINED POSTAGE AVAILABLE.
ATTENTION!! DEALER CLEAROUT!!
HUNDREDS OF LOVELY CLEAN RECORDS AVAILABLE. NORMAL RETAIL PRICE BETWEEN £5 AND £15
SELLING FOR £2 EACH. SXL NARROW BANDS, LATE ASD'S EARLY MONOS ETC ETC.NO BUDGET LABELS VERY FEW BOX SETS.
MINIMUM ORDER OF 30 RECORDS. SORRY NO LISTS CALLERS TO NORTH LONDON WELCOME.
BUYERS WISHING TO BUY 500 LP'S OR MORE WILL BE CHARGED £1 PER RECORD.
FREE INSURANCE ON ITEMS UP TO £30
After that sent at buyers risk please select signed for at checkout or email if concerned.
Sent in top quality thick gatefold brown card lp mailers with generous buffer zones and stiffeners where necessary.
Address labels are machine printed not handwritten.
100% OF RETURNS ACCEPTED FOR FULL REFUND WITHIN 14 DAYS OF AUCTIONS END
BIDDERS WINNING MORE THAN 1 LP WILL ALWAYS RECEIVE SHIPPING DISCOUNT AND WILL BE CHARGED AT CHEAPEST COST AVAILABLE OR DISCOUNTED EVEN MORE IF SEVERAL ITEMS ARE PURCHASED.
IF YOU RECEIVE AN INVOICE FROM EBAY AFTER WINNING AN AUCTION BUT WISH TO KEEP BIDDING ON MY ITEMS JUST IGNORE THE INVOICE AND DROP ME A MESSAGE, THANKS.
For heavy items like boxed sets and multiple LP purchases I use a courier service.
For example the extremely heavy 1960's vinyl 12 x LP Bruckner Complete Symphonies on Deutsche Gramophone by Jochum which I am selling for £14.99 is almost 3KG and will cost only £14.50 to ship to the UK, £22 to Europe and £38 to Japan/China.
I have also a lot of experience in sending several hundred LP's abroad and in the UK. I hope this is a useful pointer if you are tempted to win several of my auctions.
Happy bidding and thanks for looking!!
Handpicked Records UK sending fine recorded music all over the world since 1983. 421 (GS 6.0.9 (421))
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