I always loved this album back in the ’70s when it came out.
The DJ in the pub we all went to used to play tracks off it all the time and it was one of those albums that people who were “in the know” used to listen to. It had a kind of Wishbone Ash sort of feel to it, double lead guitar, lots of melodic lines, bits of synthesiser and mellotron and some really clever playing.
Unfortunately, I never bought it and it got deleted ages ago and I don’t think it was ever released on CD, until now.
I was browsing on Amazon on Friday and it popped up on my recommendations, so I just had to buy it.
Here is the blurb from Amazon;
CD Description
NEW REMASTERED CD RELEASE FOR THIS CLASSIC ALBUM
WITH TWO BONUS TRACKS, RESTORED ARTWORK, PHOTOS & LINER NOTES
ESOTERIC RECORDINGS are pleased to announce the release of the classic 1973 Progressive rock album “The Alchemist” by HOME. The band featured a line up of Mick Stubbs (guitar, piano, lead vocals), Laurie Wisefield (lead guitar, vocals), Cliff Williams (bass, vocals) and Mick Cook (drums) and had recorded two previous albums in a more conventional style before recording an album cited by many as a “lost classic” of the Progressive genre.
Although critically acclaimed, the album failed to sell in quantities it deserved and HOME disbanded the following year. With the addition of guest Jimmy Anderson on Mellotron and Synthesiser, the conceptual work also brought the guitar playing of Laurie Wisefield to the fore, eventually leading to his joining WISHBONE ASH soon after the demise of HOME.
This Esoteric reissue has been re-mastered from the original master tapes and includes both sides of Home’s 1974 single as bonus tracks.
1. Schooldays
2. The old man dying
3. Time passes by
4. The old man calling (Save the people)
5. The disaster
6. The Sun’s revenge
7. A secret to keep
8. The brass band played
9. Rejoicing
10. The disaster returns (Devastation)
11. The death of the alchemist
12. The alchemist
13. Green eyed fairy
14. Sister Rosalie
I should get it on Monday or Tuesday, I really want to hear it again.
I am just worried that it might not sound as good as it did back in 1973.
I remember finding Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun (Katner, Slick and Freiburg), a great favourite from my schooldays, on i-tunes not so long ago and downloading it very excitedly. Maybe it hadn’t aged that well but I’m glad it’s back in my life and I do listen to it from time to time. Hope your re-acquaintance with this album goes as well – or even better!
I know of and understand the Wishbone Ash references, Carole, but . . . that’s not the future AC/DC bassist is it?
That is the very same man, DsD.
My friend had “Home” (studio album) which came out in 1972. I loved “Fancy Lady, Hollywood Child”, which I still have on cassette somewhere. In my head it’s in the same sort of era as Peter Frampton and Al Stewart in his hey-day. Hope you enjoy it.
And?
Does it
?
Well, Yes………………………
………and No.
It has most definitely dated, but it would be surprising if it hadn’t really.
There are a couple of tracks which I don’t think work as well as they could, which may well be because I am listening to it through a filter of everything that has come since, which is always going to be a problem.
Overall though, the playing is good and the melodic lines are pretty strong. The Wishbone Ash parallels aren’t as strong as I though they were, what it reminds me of a fair bit though is Man, another 70s band I like a lot, with some Yes-type flourishes coming throung in places. A lot of the guitar playing has echoes of Steve Howe.
The three added bonus tracks are of a different style to the rest of the album and are kind of jarring at the end, so I think that I may end up skipping them when playing the CD most of the time. They are reasonable songs in their own right, just different.
I am glad I bought it though, it isn’t as complex as Caravan or Hatfield and the North, but it is definitely worth having it on my shelves again.
I’ll try and get round to Dropping it, minus the bonus tracks, sometime so people can have a listen and make up their own minds.