Gulliver's Travels

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Rating: **** (3 stars)

Title:  Gulliver's Travels

Company: Instant

Catalog: INLP-003

Year: 1968

Grade (cover/record): VG/VG

Comments: UK pressing

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 4105

Price: $200.00

Cost: $1.00

 

 Having made his name as The Rolling Stones' manager, Andrew Loog Oldham and partner Tony Calder also established one of the 1960s' most eclectic record labels - Immediate and its spin off Instant. The pair subsequently set about recording an almost indescribable mix of material.

1968's "Gulliver's Travels" was clearly one of Oldham's odder projects. Based on the famous Jonathan Swift book, the Oldham-produced album stands as an early stab at a concept piece. Described as "a musical journey inspired by Jonathan's Swift's story", the album featured a bizarre mix of song fragments (including  unlicensed snippets of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Do You Believe In Magic" and a couple of Little Richard cops), sound effects (courtesy of David Collison), backward tapes and heavily orchestrated incidental music. Elsewhere, the title track featured a performance former Manfred Mann vocalist Mike D'Abo. It's all exceptionally strange and occasionally quite taking and is one of those LPs best heard through a good pair of headphones.  Unfortunately, the failure to secure copyright/licensing rights for the song fragments saw the LP pulled from circulation within a matter of weeks.  Needless to say, today pristine copies are quire rare.

"Gulliver's Travels" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Intro
2.) The Journey
3.) Gulliver Travels
4.) The Sea


(side 2)
1.) Gulliver's Travels
2.) America
3.) Afterglow
4.) Laputa 

For fanatics, there's also a single: 1969's "(See the Little People (Gulliver's Travels) b/w "An Anthology (Gulliver's Travels Part 2) (Immediate catalog number IM-075).

 

 

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