VERY RARE ORIGINAL LP RECORD UK PROG PSYCH JAZZ ROCK ALBUM

 Web

" i spider "

 Rare British Progressive jazz rock Psych Original Lp released on red Polydor SUPER stereo [ 2383-024] in 1970 made in ENGLAND.

One of the rarest UK releases of a great progressive jazz rock psych LP!

CONDITION

THICK HEAVY VINYL RECORD IN GREAT CONDITION: EX [ Still shiny clean very nice condition,only couple mini light surface  hairlines marks].

 SOFT MAT GATEFOLD COVER IN : VG- [ Still solid condition with some heavy edges/cornerswear more on top and starting seam splits on both top sides of the gatefold, starting light ring and some wear on front and back sleeve cover ,some age or storage rubbing wear on outside and inside gatefold cover,overall still nice solid for soft cover sleevelike this after 39 years].

NICE FULL GROUP PHOTO IN black and white with lyrics and info INSIDE COVER FOLD-OUT

LABELS ARE IN EX CONDITION: EXcellent [ Clean ].

Personnel Line-up Musicians

- Kenny Beveridge / drums, percussion,bongoes,woodblock,jawbone
- Lennie Wright / drums, percussion, vibraphone,tympani,congas,guiro
- John Eaton / bass,cabassa
- Tony Edwards / guitars,electric,acoustic
- Tom Harris / saxes, flute
- Dave Lawson / organ,piano,harpsichord,mellotron,keyboards, vocals

Songs List

SIDE ONE:

1. Concerto for Bedsprings :a- I can't sleep, b- Sack song, c- Peaceful sleep, d-You can keep the good life,e- loner ( 10:10 - Lawson)
2. I Spider ( 8:31 - Lawson)

SIDE TWO:

3. Love You ( 5:21 - Lawson )
4. Ymphasomniac ( 6:43 - Lawson )
5. Always I Want ( 8:10 - Lawson )

MONSTER VERY RARE U.K. ORIGINAL FIRST PRESSING THE WEB "I Spider"

 the 3rd and the last LP by this great group

A TRUE CLASSIC PROG FROM ENGLAND !

THE BEST OF ALL they released in 1970 on the Polydor-Super label with cat.number 2383 024 and A1 / B1 matrix numbers. 

THE WEB was and remains one of the deepest secrets of British prog rock, and nowadays it is a vital item for collectors and researchers. The band started as a jazz/blues act, with a style simultaneously related to America's West Coast groove and UK's early prog (or proto-prog). The powerful presence of African-American singer John L. WATSON and two guitarists provided a tight muscle to the band's sound, reflected in the first two studio efforts "Fully Interlocking" (1968) and "Theraposa Blondi" (1970).

After WATSON and bassist Dick LEE-SMITH left, John EATON switched to bass. and more importantly, Dave LAWSON entered the band to provide not only vocals but also keyboards, as well as a whole new written material. This factor was absolutely relevant for the band to adopt a more profound progressive vibe, adding colorfulness and sophistication to the existing muscle. The band also changed labels (from DERAM to POLYDOR), and why not, the name, after dropping the article "THE". The result was portrayed in their third effort "I Spider", which is justly regarded as the band's artistic peak. The band developed a type of complex jazz-rock related to what VdGG, GENTLE GIANT, COLOSSEUM and SOFT MACHINE were doing at the time. It is no wonder that Dave LAWSON and Dave GREENSLADE's musical visions were going in parallel lines, since a couple of years later they would team up as the dual leaders of GREENSLADE. But that's another story to be told elsewhere. For their next album, WEB decided to add a second horn player to its ranks and switch its name to SAMURAI: that is also another story to be told elsewhere.

THE WEB / WEB is a must for all proto-prog and jazz-rock lovers, and ultimately, for any serious researcher who truly loves the prog genre and is eager to get acquainted with its deepest roots.

 Last or second last album of this group, depending on how you view the Samurai album that followed I Spider. Personally I prefer this as the second last The Web albums (making Samurai the last), but who cares anyway? Here the group went through an important shuffle, losing their singer John Watson and bassist, the former getting replaced by keyboardist and singer Dave Lawson (ex-Episode 6, ex-Almond Marzipan & future Greenslade), who'll become also the only songwriter on this third album. The latter's replacement is one of the guitarist switching to bass, thus making the group a sextet down from a septet. This change, plus the label change (from Deram to Polydor) made The Web a dramatically different group, even if the music mini-suites from the two previous albums remained, here with the 10- mins+ concerto For Bedsprings. The album came with a stunning gatefold artwork, showing animals with Chinese finger-lade shadow-heads.

In itself the music of the group was greatly changed, sounding much more like a brassy King Crimson and Colosseum, starting with the five movement 10-mins+ mini-suite Concerto For Bedsprings, which from the tone of the voice is not about to please our pornographic or erotic hunger, with the depressing I Can't Sleep for first movement. The next sack Song is definitely more upbeat with the horns reminding of Charig, Miller or Evans on early Crimson albums, Lawson's voice certainly not having the strength of their previous John L Watson, but is not that bad a fit for this type of songs. The following three movement keep a Colosseum feel close by. The following track is another lengthy title track, which pumps its main slow riff from somewhere else (it could also be from atomic Rooster), with Lawson's gloomy voice towering over the guitar and the sax, while the drum take dramatic tom rolls. Excellent stuff, especially Harris' soprano sax solo.

The flipside starts with the ultra slow intro-ed Love Song, which soon gets its gallon as a pure brass rock gem that unfortunately overstays its welcome by a minute or so. The following Ymphasomniac repetitive instrumental sounds like a second rate The Nice until the percussion/drum duo changes the tune, as it reprises with horns, but it's a bit too late to save it, even though it's got its charm. The menacing and almost brooding Always I Wait closes the album and it's got some of the best instrumental interplay including some vibraphone, (which again send Colosseum comparisons) and some interesting childish vocals.

Many of these tracks from this album (including the Bedspring Concerto) will find themselves as bonus live tracks of a reissue of the Samurai album. I trust Vicky and her friends from the Esoteric label to have done a good thorough job cleaning and mastering this album in the brand new reissue of all three Web, plus the Samurai albums, which were all in dire need of it, because it takes a bit too much an effort to actually dig out what shouldn't be. In the meantime, This probably the best Dave Lawson album, possibly along with Samurai, I Spider is an excellent album that could turn your shelves into something more special than if you had a [&*!#]load of Greenslade album.

Originals are becoming scarce and very hard to find now !!

This is where The Web became just Web, ultimately offering a powerful point of reference for the evolution of prog rock in the jazz-rock area. The entry of keyboardist Dave Lawson (also owner of a charismatic, powerful singing style, bizarre pitch) refurbished the band's sound by making the keyboards and vibes form the prominent nuclear center of the whole ensemble's sound. It is also obvious that the new fresh air comes from the solid influences from great contemporaries art-rock bands such as Soft Machine, The Nice, Caravan, Egg and Procol Harum. The album kicks off with the monster piece 'Concerto for Bedsprings', a 10+ minute song with five individually defined sections. 'I Can't Sleep' is a slow rocker intro that sounds like a Zeppelin-meets-Egg feast, and it is a real pity that it isn't longer because it's terribly catchy. Anyway, the transitions to the next two sections emphasize the band's jazzy nuclear essence, very Canterbury-related indeed. 'You Can Keep the Good Life' is an uplifting section that straightforwardly reveals the band's good vibe; the featured sax solo is playful enough to complement the quite controlled deliveries of the remaining instruments. A passage like this explains why Lawson was destined to meet Dave Greeenslade some day and form a band together. Once again, this section ends too soon to segue into the closing section 'Loner'. I wouldn't have minded if it had been some minutes longer, but it's really a great start. The namesake track is an excellent showcase for the ingenious use of a simplistic musical idea in order to make it richer. The languid cadence, the lush organ layers and soaring vibraphone, the hazy sax lines, all of them create a pertinently introspective atmosphere; meanwhile, the repetitive minimal guitar phrases fulfill the overall aura with their focused precision. And the gentle chord shift that sets the conclusive portion, well, it's just plain lovely, mysterious in a way. If a track can last 8 ¾ minutes with such an evidently concise motif, then one must acknowledge the genius in the concept and the arrangement. The album's second half kicks off with 'Love You': after an eerie intro of piano and mellotron, the piece unwraps a main body that sounds like one of those R'n'B-toned The Nice songs that made it for any of their first two albums, only Web delivers it with a more meticulous balance among instruments. Lead guitarist plays a brief, rough solo that is closely related to anything that Robin Trower could have performed in Procol Harum's "Shine On Brightly" or "Home" albums. Generally speaking, this track is not too complex, but it certainly portrays a very usual sound in England's underground rock scene at the time. Complexity really comes out in the superb instrumental 'Ymphasomniac', an effective exhibition of pre-Gentle Giant syncopation combined with colorful traces of Egg and Colosseum. The album's last 8 minutes are occupied by 'Always I Wait', a song that brings much of the spirit of the extroverted moments from 'Concerto', only this time provided with an extra touch of blues-rock to feed the overall jazz feel. The track's melodic arrangement is elegantly developed, which shows the band's ability to set constraints to the potential energy in a clever way. Shortly after, the band added a second saxophonist and changed its name to Samurai: "I Spider" is, mainly, a solid precedent of that, and in itself, a great if obscure effort for the installment of early prog. from Prog Archives

Records are graded visually.

 KEYWORDS: psych rock kraut cosmic space electronic prog psychedelic jam garage nuggets fuzz acid flowers hippy hippie pokora

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