This just in from Little Big Chief...
"The Greek military junta of the late 60s and early 70s was not an ideal environment to foster musical creativity. After the restitution of democracy, there was the obvious hostility of the Greek Communist party towards the “cultural imperialism of U.S. patterns of life” that added to the overall paranoia. Under these political constraints, the mid-’70s heralded an explosion in the Greek underground scene. The principal expressions of this phenomenon were the gradual change of several areas in Athens to freak hang-outs and the turning into rock clubs of many traditional folk music taverns. Unfortunately the local record companies were reluctant to release any underground rock music, leaving the majority of the groups of the era totally undocumented.
Pete and Royce, who formed in the wake of the military junta, were one of the few local progressive bands to buck this trend. Led by painter Pete Tsiros, they made a name in the underground network, based on lengthy hazed-out concerts and an uncompromising attitude. Their sound was deeply rooted in the UK progressive scene, sitting somewhere between the prog/psych sound of mid-period Pink Floyd and the mellotron school (Fantasy, Cressida, Kestrel) of mellow soundscapes. In 1980 they recorded and released the best tracks of their live shows, resulting in Suffering of Tomorrow, one of the first Greek private releases (on the mysterious Octoichos label) and one of the essential Greek progressive albums of all times. Despite its extreme scarceness, this is a very important record concerning the evolution of the Greek underground of the late 70s."
- Light in the Attic http://lightintheattic.net/
or if you prefer...
"New to the catelogue is the first archival reissue from LBC. It's a little left field from what I've done in the past, but I'm here to expand thine ears mon friere. With out further adue, I present the whacked out private press reboot of Pete and Royce "Suffering of Tomorrow." I enlisted John Olson of Wolf Eyes to spill a few words about the release. Clips are below!
Here is what John has got to say.....
"Ah I remember it well: After a slurry of then-common Rubber O Cement Detroit jammers around the end of the 90's= It was post gig time 2am and the crew was slow moving/ smoke headed and the always pleasant Grux (Rusty) was digging thru the (then slender) Zone Hut lp stacks, mumbling under his breath about some kinda displeasure: The hard low tech hard jamming SHYLOCK s/t was spinning wildly away on the deck- and Grux pulls his cardboard google suit away from his mug and grunts "Progressive rock...nothing but...I HATE IT..." Funny coming from a dude who always called me MONGO to be shocked by the stack of INTELLIGENT rock: but not surprising to get some prime SF street dumpster digging GRIME back at my grill from the PHD of Goofery.... It was that moment I realized "YES" - finally some jammage that not even the JAMMERS like...FREEDOM. I mean prog rock is like the almighy REGGAE to some: those you cant fly on the plane are gonna jam up & grind the engines to a hater-hault: ALL DAY. PROG: Its outsider-outsider music but with CHOPS and CONCEPTS. Anyone can sound like BYRDS but fuck find me a unit FAST that sounds like anyone from the Killer Dutch camp of Cargo, Windy Corner, Cliffhanger, Ahora Mazda, or the grim brillance of the entire Xhol Carvan outputs or the stark and ragged downer Gravestone lp. Even the well knowns: The Nice, Finch, Colosseum, any Vertigo Jammers: yes those have "the aura" to alienate & "fantasy-ize" the internal of your brain-existence....- Ever read Edgar Allan Poe WHILE "Forbidden Planet" is stroking your globes and massaging the electrics in your nug jelly on a long night ALONE and then fell asleep only to dream of HUXLEY? Ever wish Jazz was more.....makeup friendly wi/ dragons with a slight flirt of GLAM? Can you be a loner and draw Dragons? Did you spend your high school years with one thumb in "Maximum Rock and Roll and the other in A Crack in the Cosmic Egg"?Then playboy you are PROGRESSIVE, be proud. So what is this odd rugged looking lp here? This platter has been called the "first" private press Greek prog lp from the "late and weird" period of prog where things were getting softer and more "living room" soft-strange (re: Mexican Scene ala Iconoclasta) and nearly all the raw homemade privates were starting to sound like Jeff Libermans (amazing) "Summertime" jam off his phemon "Synergy" rec- so dont have the 1980 year by Pete and Royce fool yeah: This Greek duo with all sorts of elaborate help are throwing down a wicked and tuneful dose of Cantenbury UK Cressida-slowed downed Gracious!- styled "Steel Mill" English UK worship deal that can fit right next to your Spring reboot and NOT be filed in next to your Socrates, Poll or Blue Birds wrecks.... Organ runs the game here: there are slight flashes of the claustrophobic high end synth lurch to bring/jerk you back to the 80's but the majority of the movements are rich lavish Hammond pensive deals that recall DOM "Edge of Time" as much as they lay lazily in the thick Emerson shadow. Great songs here: In classic PROG style there is a short intro to side two then a lengthy broken up long concept track about "Death and Decay" that'll sink your boat FAST into a pool of complex arrangements and gadgetry: all well played and thought out: nothing on DERAM was this whacked out, not the World Of Oz single played on 16rpm can get this Brit-close..Even somehow with what I image to be a small budget this thing does NOT sound like the 3 Grit Basement attack of the almighty YEZDA URFA: Instead its big clean sound with strong emphasis on the song writing and plenty o'hooks/ the heralded "interplay" is kept slightly and subtle in the back rendering. The beyond amazing cover art is gonna draw/line you in but the SONGAGE is gonna keep you on a one year + lease with option to lurk for an Original. There are many reasons to own this Pete and Royce jammer: 1) its the first time its on wax and as close you are gonna get to owning a Oktohxos-label deal w/o having a child JUST to sell on the black market for loot grip and OG- 2)its way better than the follow up "Days of Destruction" - 3)you can leave the cover laying around in your hut/zone next to your old school ANTI HERO sk8 decks so anyone over will be magnetized to the area by the raw homemade brilliance and booosh and instant convo igniter happens 4) if you are new to the Progressive school this is a fine entrance point before you hooked on the real raw shit like Cobra & Spectator Records camp/ or god forbid you will take the leap into the almighty Rock Progressivo Italiano..... So anyway you shape it up having "Suffering Of Tomorrow" your greasy mitts you are already gonna started turning SOMEONE off: but the nectar of which you ween from Pete and his homey Royce will far exceed whatever SUFFERING you are under a spell from....."
Remastered by members of Pete and Royce.
Officially licensed reissue from MusicBazz
Little Big Chief
http://littlebigchief.bigcartel.com/product/pete-and-royce-suffering-of-tomorrow-lp-lbcr010
No comments:
Post a Comment