Week of March 21, 2004

Human Beast

Personnel:
Gillies Buchan - Guitar, Vocals
Edward Jones - Bass, Vocals
David McNiven - Clarinet
John Romsey - Drums

Album:
Volume One (Instinct) (Decca SKL 5053) 1970

This was a short-lived heavy psychedelic outfit whose album is now quite rare and sought-after by some collectors. They had earlier been known as Skin. Tracks like 'Mystic Man', 'Brush With The Midnight Butterfly' and 'Reality Presented As An Alternative' typify the heavy psych genre, but the two outstanding tracks are slow and in the classic psychedelic mould; 'Appearance Is Everything Style Is A Way Of Living', which brings to mind Boston band Beacon Street Union and has fine Eastern influenced guitar work and the more acoustic than electric 'Maybe Someday', which had a good hypnotic melody and a certain Eastern feeling.

(Costas Arvanitis)

Taken from The Tapestry of Delights - The Comprehensive Guide to British Music of the Beat, R&B, Psychedelic and Progressive Eras 1963-1976, Vernon Joynson
ISBN 1 899855 04 1


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