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"…A Song To The Moon…"
Released on the then obscure
Pegasus Records label in England in November 1971 – Fuchsia's lone Acid-Folk
Prog-Rock LP had gorgeous artwork courtesy of Anne Marie Anderson, dense and
impressive layers and trippy Acoustic based music that felt genuinely magical
at times - but typically - garnished bugger all sales on its initial release.
The band were to tour the
complex largely acoustic-based arrangements in December of that year but the
tour never materialised – and with only a shared advert in the Melody Maker
alongside the likes of UK rockers Nazareth and British folkies Shirley Collins
and the Fairport Convention offshoot The Albion Band – "Fuchsia" received
no other promotion - and so like much on the B&C Records label imprint -
Pegasus PEG 8 sank without a trace. Cue a decade later and Prog aficionados go
all Mellow Candle on its rarity ass and start forking out serious money on the
very hard-to-find vinyl LP (listed at £250 but often sells for much more). So
Mark Powell's Esoteric Recordings (part of Cherry Red) seems determined to
rescue this lovely obscurity from the grips of bootleggers and give the album
the release and remaster it deserves. And indeed they have. Here are the
scented and flowery details…
UK released 27 November 2015
(December 2015 in the USA) – "Fuchsia" by FUCHSIA on Esoteric
Recordings ECLEC 2518 (Barcode 5013929461840) is a straightforward CD transfer
of the November 1971 LP on Pegasus Records PEG 8 and plays out as follows
(40:56 minutes):
1. Gone With The Mouse
2. A Tiny Book
3. Another Nail
4. Shoes And Ships [Side 2]
5. The Nothing Song
6. Me And My Kite
7. Just Anyone
Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7
written by Tony Durant – Track 3 written by Tony Durant and Robert Chudley –
Track 6 written by Robert Chudley
FUCHSIA was:
TONY DURANT – Acoustic
Guitar, Electric Guitar and Lead Vocals
MADELINE BLAND – Cello,
Piano, Harmonium and Backing Vocals
JANET ROGERS – Violin and
Backing Vocals
VANESSA HALL-SMITH – Violin
and Backing Vocals
MICHAEL DAY – Bass
MICHAEL GREGORY – Drums and
Percussion
The 16-page booklet featured
reminiscences by principal songwriter Tony Durant on the formation of the band,
the making of the album and the disappointing aftermath of no sales and no
tours – as well as lyrics and a photo of the six-piece ensemble - three of whom
were ladies and their violins. The famed Decca/Deram Producer DAVID HITCHCOCK
did the original Producer honours at the console - giving the whole album a
real polished feel (his work from the period 1968 to 1975 includes Caravan,
Camel, East Of Eden, Genesis, The Pink Fairies, Curved Air and not surprisingly
Mellow Candle). PASCHAL BYRNE – a name that’s graced oodles of these classy
reissues – has handled the exclusively licensed Remaster – and the audio on
songs like "Shoes And Ships" and "Just Anyone" can only be
described as wonderful – clean, warm and expressive. This is a beautiful
sounding CD reissue...
The opening cut "Gone
With A Mouse" feels like the more Acoustic and ambitious sections of
1971's "Foxtrot" by Genesis (which David Hitchcock produced) – the
remaster allowing the complicated breaks and changes to spread across the
speakers with real power and impressive finesse. Durant's obsession with all
things plucked-Acoustic comes shining through the violins and clashing cymbals
on the delicately lovely "A Tiny Book". The seven-minute
"Another Nail" has the three ladies opening with suitably
'scratching' sounds on their ELO-type strings before Michael Day and Michael
Gregory gets all Horslips Bass and Drums on the trippy violin song (shades of
East Of Eden's "Mercator Projected" and "Snafu").
Time to get really
impressed. There are parts in the gorgeous six-minutes-plus of "Shoes And
Ships" that feel like Nick Drake at his Spanish Acoustic Guitar best –
mixed in with Durant's Duncan Browne sounding Lead Vocals – all topped off with
the sheer prettiness of the string arrangements featured on Fotheringay's
self-titled 1970 debut LP and Mellow Candle's magnificent 1972 "Swaddling
Songs" album (very impressive stuff). "The Nothing Song" is a
bit too Prog for me and the harmonium hippy "Me And My Kite" is
lovely too – ending on the winner that is "Just Anyone".
Tony Durant later spent time
with Punchin' Judy who managed one self-titled album on Transatlantic Records
in 1973 – joined the reggae band Greyhound for a while before immigrating to
Australia where he became a successful jingles writer. A full 35-years after
the initial non-event Durant returned in 2013 with the CD "Fuchsia 2: From
Psychedelia To A Distant Place" and even toured with a Folk-Prog band from
Sweden called "Me And My Kites" named in tribute after the track on
the album.
You wouldn't say
"Fuchsia" is the champ-like obscure-monster of say "Mellow
Candle" from April 1972 that regularly sells for £3000 and more and is
worth the money (see separate review) – but there is so much to love on this
forgotten gem. And typically - Esoteric Recordings have done the album and its
legacy proud. Dig in and mucho enjoy…
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