Genre: progressive
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Title: In from the Cold
Company: Sire/London
Catalog: SES 97017
Year: 1969
Country/State: UK
Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+
Comments: minor crease top left corner; small cut out hole top right (next to Sire logo); original inner sleeve
Available: 2
GEMM catalog ID: 4557 and 4558
Price: $100.00
Cost: $50.00
We're shallow
enough to admit the weird cover is what initially attracted our attention to
this obscure LP ... there was just something odd about seeing four
"hip" looking guys standing in a wheat field in front of an
ancient windmill ... wonder if the recorded the album in Holland ? Are there
windmills in England?
First off, we'll tell you numerous critics have slagged the album as being
ordinary and unimaginative. We'll take issue with them and tell you it's
actually an overlooked minor classic. Featuring the talents of singer Steve
Bailey, bassist Ron Bending, drummer Terry Sims and guitarist Bob Weston,
Ashkan made their recording debut with 1969's "In
from the Cold". In the UK the set was the first released
by Decca's newly established progressive-oriented Neon label. In the States
it saw a release on London's Sire subsidiary. Co-produced by Peter Sherter
and Ian Sippin, to our ears much of the album bares an uncanny resemblance
to early Spooky Tooth. Propelled by Bailey's hoarse growl and the band's
penchant for screaming guitars, the comparison was reinforced on tracks such
as "Going Home", "Take These Chains" and "Out of Us
Two". Elsewhere Bailey's growl sounded like Joe Cocker on
"Practically Never Happens", while Bob Weston's "Slightly
Country" sounded like it was stolen from the early Steve Winwood and
Traffic catalog. With the exception of the pedestrian blues number
"Backlash Blues" the entire album including the extended
"Darkness" was worth hearing. Besides, had Gary Wright and Spooky
Tooth released something this good, it would have been a massive success ...
"In from the Cold" track listing:
(side
1)
1.) Going Home
(Steve Bailey - Bob Weston) - 6:35
2.) Take These Chains (Bob Weston) - 4:27
3.) Stop (Wait and Listen) (Steve Bailey - Bob Weston) - 5:51
4.) Backlash Blues (Simone - Hughes) - 7:42
(side 2)
1.) Practically Never Happens (Steve Bailey - Bob Weston - Ron Bending -
Terry Sims) - 5:56
2.) Out of Us Two (Steve Bailey - Bob Weston - Ron Bending - Terry Sims) -
5:43
3.) Slightly Country (Bob Weston) - 2:56
4.) Darkness (Steve Bailey - Bob Weston) - 12:08
Weston became somewhat of a musical journeyman, briefly reappearing as a
member of Savoy Brown, followed by a brief stint in Fleetwood Mac where he
was fired after the rest of the band discovered he was having an affair with
Mick Fleetwood's wife. In the late-'70s he did a tour of duty with
Howard Werth and the Moonbeams (see separate entries).