Label: Background Records (UK), HBG 123/2
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Rock
Country: London, England
Time: 44:20
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 253 Mb
Raw Material was an English post-psych band that released a self-titled album in 1970 on small-press Evolution, followed in 1971 by Time Is… on RCA Neon.
Raw Material had its roots in a musical partnership between keyboardist Colin Catt and bassist Phil Gunn, classmates at Norwood Technical College during the mid-1960s. They commenced jam sessions as a trio with drummer Paul Young and employed their first in a series of guitarists just prior to leaving school. Inspired by Cream, Catt and Gunn made their initial forays into songwriting. Gradually, elements of blues and jazz crept into their R&B style. As Raw Material, they toured Germany in early 1969.
Raw Material rerecorded their first a-side and second b-side (as “Fighting Cock”) for their self-titled debut album, produced by Welch and released in 1970 on Evolution. Welch co-wrote two additional songs for the album: one with Linda Hatchard (“I’d Be Delighted“) and another with ex-Les Fleur De Lys Phil Sawyer (“Pear on an Apple Tree”).
Catt and Gunn co-wrote “Future Recollections” and collaborated on “Destruction of America” with session bassist Herbie Flowers (Rumplestiltskin, Hungry Wolf). Green co-wrote “Traveller Man” with beat producer Larry Page (The Kinks, The Knack, Riot Squad, The Troggs) and Yash Klodzinski (co-writer of “Willow Tree” by Fruit Machine, a precursor to Rare Bird).
Raw Material was engineered by 20-year-old Albuquerque-associate Robin Sylvester, a recent member of Ora who also worked on 1970 albums by Caravan, East of Eden, The Fox, Black Cat Bones, and the Mike Westbrook Concert Band. The cover depicts an ancient robed flutist, watched at a distance by dark beasts as smoke billows overhead from an out-of-frame volcano (possibly Vesuvius), obscuring the orange sky.
After the 1969 self-titled album by psych-rockers Arzachel, Raw Material was the second and final album released on Evolution, which ended its two-year run with a pair of early 1971 singles by popsters the Black Abbots.
Raw Material returned to Germany as a top-billed act. In July 1970, they played the Aachen Open Air Pop Festival, a three-day event at the Hauptstadion that also featured performances by Amon Duul II, Golden Earring, Edgar Broughton Band, Taste, the Keef Hartley Band, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, If, Quintessence, Pink Floyd, Krokodil, Can, and Kraftwerk.
In 1971, Raw Material appeared there on Vogue Schallplatten with an alternate cover that shows the five members standing in an overgrown meadow in hippie attire. The album also appeared on CBS (Italy) and Zel Records (Spain). The Spanish issue sports colorful psychedelic art in the vein of Peter Max.
The six-minute “Traveller Man” was split across two sides of a 7" single (Part 1+2) in the UK (Evolution), Germany (Ariola), and Belgium (Fever).
(jazzrocksoul.com/artists/raw-material/)
01. Time And Illusion (07:31)
02. I'D Be Delighted (05:07)
03. Fighting Cock (03:49)
04. Pear On An Apple Tree (03:00)
05. Future Recollections (03:55)
06. Traveller Man (06:14)
07. Desrtuction Of America (02:20)
08. Time And Illusion (Different Version) (03:11)
09. Hi There Hallelujah (02:46)
10. Bobo's Party (03:13)
11. Days Of The Fighting Cock (Different Version) (03:08)
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