Albums You Must Hear is going to be a series I will be doing in which I will discuss albums that I believe everyone must hear at least once in their lives.
Today’s post is the prog,psych-folk masterpiece by British band Jans Duke De Grey.
The first seeds of the band were laid in the formation of the Early to mid 60s soul band Buster Summers Express in which Jans Duke De Grey’s founding member and multi-instrumentalist and Vocalist Derek Noy was a member. Noy’s talent was to surpass the group as he began to write his own music that was influenced by the emerging progressive underground, and eventually, he left the group to pursue his own musical path.
with the addition of guitarist and flutists Michael Bairstow, the first line up of what become Jans duke de grey was formed in Leeds in 1969. With a catalogue of Noy made compositions that were to be redefined, the band spent several months touring locally and was signed to Decca Records in 1969. After a lukewarm reception to the band’s first album sorcerers, and disappointing sales of their debut album, the band was forced to sign to transatlantic records with its better distribution and set about they recording their second album mice and rats in the loft.
embracing the sound of prog with complex arrangements and longer improvised tracks, showing the influence clearly take and inspired by bands like Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and early King Crimson, as well as folk artists like the incredible string band, Comus, and Donovan. The band created a solid album that showed both the artistic and musical ability of the band and Why the album had some good reviews the cost of the album meant that promotion was pushed aside and didn’t get the recognition it truly deserved. However, the album is now regarded highly and is seen as a landmark and key album in the progressive, psych, folk genre and a strong and coherent musical experience that shows how open-minded and creatively explorative the underground music scene of the late sixties early seventies was and how this music some 50 years later stands the test of time. A must-have for anybody’s record collection.
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