Heaven - Brass Rock 1 Rare elaborate gatefold original LP. Awesome brass prog

	£		24
	$		32

There’s more to Heaven than heavy and horny

Aficionados lurking out there in the internet’s horn-rock community rate this 1971 LP by Hampshire rockers Heaven as close to the pinnacle of their rarefied craft. For sure, the opening track, Things I Should Have Been, packs a huge prog punch with its lightning jazzy beats, crunchingly heavy guitars and gruff R&B vocals, all powered along by a five-piece brass compliment. Deep Purple meets Pearl & Dean. In Gosport, of all places.

On the face of it, Heaven were close to the benchmark of early Chicago Transit Authority or the Ides Of March’s almighty Vehicle; but then they begin to branch out, using their big horns to major effect in rollicking Americana (Never Say Die) and to kick off a dangerous loungey vibe (Morning Coffee). This Time Tomorrow is another stuttering prog-jazz juggernaut, but the LP bleeds seamlessly into dreamy flutes, string sections and, ultimately, something akin to soundtrack prog. Impossible, but cool.

The crisp sound and lasting power of Brass Rock 1 adds to the impression that its stylistic gambits were worthy of a far wider audience. And, of course, it’s never too late.

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Jazz Rock group from Portsmouth, burst forth onto the British Rock scene in 1970 when they appeared at the legendary Isle of Wight festival sharing a bill with the Who, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix et al. Making a stunning debut, the band (now managed by festival organizer Rikki Farr), soon secured a recording deal with CBS Records who signed the band for a large advance. The resulting double album Brass Rock 1 appeared in 1971, adorned in a lavish fold-out sleeve. Well received critically, the album failed to achieve the expected success and Heaven soon disbanded, leaving behind a fine album. Esoteric.

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I first ran into “Brass Rock 1? at a local record convention sometime in the mid 1980s. It was a double album and featured an extraordinary multi-foldout cover of a totem pole. With the long tracks and expanded lineup, I figured it would be right up my alley. It was only a few bucks, so I decided to take a chance. And it was indeed up my alley, except it wasn’t what I expected. This wasn’t a typical 1970s progressive rock album. In fact, the only album I had like it back then, were the early Chicago Transit Authority albums. But Heaven were different from CTA as well. The compositions were more complicated, and the horn section was more diverse (Heaven featured a 5 piece horn section verse Chicago’s three). There really aren’t any pop tracks on Heaven, the closest they get to “normal” rock were the more blues influenced numbers. And even those were because of the vocalist, who sounded like he drank an entire fifth of scotch minutes before the recording. Almost without exception, each track features lengthy instrumental bits, with quite a bit of horn interplay, changes of meter, dynamic shifts, the whole nine yards. And, maybe best of all in the horn rock genre, a wild guitarist who does his best to attack the wah wah pedal during the solo sections ala Terry Kath. Heaven could mellow out too, and weren’t afraid to mix an acoustic guitar / flute number to set the mood. Since that time of stumbling onto Heaven, I’ve discovered many more horn rock bands, including the UK variety of a US original sound. Other than maybe Brainchild, Heaven is the most developed and, for my tastes at least, the best England has to offer in the brass rock genre. Heaven is wilder than Brainchild, but they do miss that band’s touch for crafting magical melodies.

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Only album recorded by the obscure British Jazz-Rock ensemble Heaven, which existed for a brief period of time managing several festival appearances and recording of this splendid album before they disbanded. The group was a nonet with a lead singer, rhythm section and a five piece brass section, which made them one of the first full-scale Brass-Rock ensembles in UK, expanding the format of US bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago. The material is typical Brass-Rock of the period, with strong melody lines and complex brass arrangements, guitar solos on top brass vamping and strong throaty vocals. It's pretty amazing that this album is rarely mentioned as a classic of the Brass-Rock sub-genre, as it truly excellent in every respect. Hopefully this reissue will bring it out to the open and help in achieving the proper recognition. An absolute must for every Brass-Rock and Jazz-Rock fan!

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Brutal Jazz-Rock similiar with other brassrock group like for example Chicago or BS&T. Heaven have harder & louder sound with violent brass section and a touch of prog. Lovely!

The band was formed in 1968 by Brian Kemp (bass guitar, banjo, vocals), Andy Scarisbrick (lead guitar, vocals), Ray "Ollie" Holloway (saxophone, flute), Dave Gautrey (trumpet, flugelhorn), Ray King (saxophones, clarinet, penny whistle), Mick Cooper (piano, organ), and Nobby Glover (drums). Several members had previously played in a soul band, the Universal Trash Band. They stated their influences to be West Coast bands such as Love and Moby Grape, and after performing on the opening free day of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival they recorded unissued tracks in London.

The original band split up in early 1970. However, King, Gautrey and Glover then reconstituted Heaven with new members Terry Scott Jr. (vocals), Barry Paul (lead guitar), and John Gordon (bass), who had all previously been in another band, Paper. Farr took over as manager, and found them a place on the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival stage on the same day as Jimi Hendrix, Leonard Cohen, Free, Donovan, Jethro Tull, Pentangle, and The Moody Blues. By that time, Paul had been replaced by Eddie Harnett (lead guitar), and the band added Dave Horler (keyboards, trombone), Butch Hudson (trumpet, flugelhorn), and Derek Somerville (saxophone, flute, trombone), giving the band a much more brass-oriented sound that was sometimes compared to Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. They were immediately offered a recording contract by CBS Records, and recorded their only album, Brass Rock 1, a double album with a lavish gatefold sleeve which appeared in 1971. Most of the tracks were written by Eddie Harnett.The band also appeared in the final edition of the BBC 2 music show Disco 2 in July 1971.

The band is described at Allmusic as "progressive with nary a commercial bone in their body, a wild amalgamation of bluesy, R&B inspired prog rock, with pastoral leanings and a strong improvisational bent". The reviewer described the album as "stunning", and "an awe-inspiring set, a jazz-rock-folk-blues fusion that trod down virtually unexplored musical avenues. But even for the time, the album was just too adventurous, with poor sales leading to Heaven's demise." Despite critical acclaim the record failed to sell, and the band split up soon afterwards.