At the time, it seemed that most people in the media found The Way We
Live/Tractor to be most remarkable because they weren't a "full" band but a duo
(Jim Milne - vocals, guitar, Steve Clayton - percussion, drums) augmented by a
bass player (Dave Addison). But what I, for one, find most remarkable, and
indeed most enchanting, was their behind-the-times adherence to the tenets of
psychedelia.
Signed to John Peel's Dandelion record label (named after his beloved, deceased
hamster), TWWL turned out some of the most interesting material of 1971. The LP
opens with 'King Dick II', which is exciting prog rock (I know that sounds like
a contradiction in terms!), with superb guitar, lots of spiky riffs and a worthy
revolutionary message. 'Squares' is mellow-paced, but NOT easy listening, it's a
great "downer" piece - "Life is a circle of emptiness..."
Eastern-style licks abound on the manically paced instrumental 'Siderial'.
'Angel' (often misprinted as "Angle" or even "Angie"!) is gentle and melodic,
whilst 'Storm' is a great rock work-out, with some superlative drumming, whose
pace suddenly drops and goes all bootiful and soft-like, then fast again, then
soft, then... you get the idea. 'Willow' is a number done in Led Zep style.
'Madrigal' funnily enough has its eye set firmly on the time when wenches wore
wimples and geezers stuck swords in each other - last week in Clapham? No, the
middle ages! Very much like Magna Carta. ‘The Way Ahead' is a WONDERFUL
tripped-out fuzz buster with echoed, Moody Blues-styled, harmony vocals and
multiple time changes. A thrilling journey into the centre of the third eye!
The second album, issued in 1972, by which time they'd changed their name to the
more prosaic Tractor, featured material (thankfully!)in a similar vein to the
former. 'All Ends Up' kicks off the LP with a magnificent, sustained,
ear-splitting whistling, before ascending to heavy fuzz rock heaven. Nice
"Beware Of The Man" lyrics and a tasteful, long fade, dominated by distorted
guitar, before it lets rip again. Up next is 'Little Girl In Yellow', which is
at the other extreme - all semi-acoustic strumming and dreamy, acid wisdom
lyrics. "Riding in my goblin ship / Guided by a mermaid / Watch out for the
treasure isle / All you wish and more is there for you..." 'The Watcher' is laid
back, folk-tinged. And 'Ravenscroft's 13 Bar Boogie' is simply what its name
doth clearly state - no more, no less. 'Shubunkin' (nice fish, nice track!) is
an eerie, acid-soaked, phased freak-out which then opens up like a rose,
revealing a beatific soothing melody, where the vocals are so deep in the mix as
to be both unintelligible and as warm and wistful as a half-remembered dream - a
truly fantastic piece of work! 'Hope In Favour' is solid rock, with some wicked
distorted lead vocal parts and a basement/home studio feel. 'Everytime It
Happened', which always reminds me of Bowie's poignant 'Letter To Hermione',
probably due to their shared, languid yet strained, vocal performance, and
overall exhausted aura.
The final track, which echoes the closer on 'A Candle For Judith', is this
album's crown jewel. A 10-minute long piece, whose sentiments, obvious from its
transparent title - 'Make (Take) The Journey (The Trip)', and lyrical
declarations of acid enlightenment - "The pieces fit together like a puzzle on
the floor / All at once I see it all / I've looked so long before". But the
journey is not without risk, as underlined by some musical mayhem - brilliant
guitar playing, forceful and hypnotic percussive blasts and a wonderful
conclusion, highly redolent of Floyd's 'Bike' - eerie echoes and a long
fade-out, terminated by a barrage of off-kilter musical box spookiness, the
ideal soundtrack to a nightmare in the nursery.
Now comes the sermon... These LPs have suffered an unwarranted neglect. I would
wager that a majority of those persons who are enamoured of 60s psychedelia are
ignorant of these LPs and quite oblivious to their not inconsiderable charms;
and at the "other end" of the musical spectrum, those positively disposed
towards progressive rock are equally neglectful of these LPs’ brand of
"tardo-psych". All of this is regrettable and perhaps impossible of
rectification. For it is due to the very nature of "70s psych" (the genre which
shouldn't exist!) that LPs such as this have long since fallen into the
artificial chasm which has opened up between 60s "psych" and 70s "prog".