Marigold conjunction (Stackridge) (LP 3901 - 3906)

Stackridge  Stackridge (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1971) ****  

Stackridge  Friendliness (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1972) *** 

Stackridge  The Man in the Bowler Hat (Vinyl, Sire Records, 1974) **** 

Stackridge  Extravaganza (Vinyl, The Rocket Record Company, 1975) **** 

Stackridge  Do The Stanley (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1976) **** 

Stackridge  A Victory For Common Sense (CD, Helium Records, 2009) **** 

Genre: Folk rock, prog rock, pop

Places I remember: Chaldon Books and Records, Real Groovy Records, Amoeba Music, Spellbound Wax Company, Fopp.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Last Plimsoll (The Man in the Bowler Hat), Rufus T Firefly (Extravaganza)

Gear costume: Dora the Female Explorer (Stackridge),  Teatime (Friendliness)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: Stackridge is their debut album in 1971. At this point the band was Andrew Cresswell-Davis (lead guitar, piano, vocals), James Warren (bass, vocals), Michael Slater (flute), Michael Evans (violin), Billy Bent (drums). As revealed by the instruments - the music has pop elements as well as prog and folk. It makes for a lovely experimental approach in a Canterbury style on the debut. Oh, and they also have an eccentric sense of humour, which appeals to me.

Friendliness was their second album. Their influences on these first two albums were clearly The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa, Syd Barrett, as well as classical composers like Johann Sebastian Bach and Igor Stravinsky. 

All of those influences conspire in Stackridge to produce a unique blend. As AllMusic points out - on Friendliness 'there is Beatlesque melody, gently surreal humor, and considerable instrumental dexterity that ranged freely between the worlds of pop, folk, jazz, classical, and prog rock'.

The sheer variety of styles and genres on Friendliness is breath-taking, a tad distracting, and probably the reason they were a kind of cult band without huge popularity.

The Man in the Bowler Hat (a.k.a. Pinafore Days) was produced by George Martin. Yes, by 1974, Stackridge were THAT good. He does what George does and the sound is crisp and terrific (and a bit Beatley).

Extravaganza was their fourth album. By this time (1975) they were signed to Elton John's Rocket Records label. They'd also had a radical lineup change with James Warren, James "Crun" Walter and Billy Sparkle all leaving. That left Mike Evans and Andy Davis as the only original band members.

Naturally, this meant a new sound - a lot more mainstream and rocky/poppy with some prog elements remaining with a beefed up sound. There are even some (great) Zappa-esque jazz rock instrumentals.

I have yet to find a copy of Mr. Mick -their final album in their original incarnation. Do the Stanley is a compilation album that was released after that album and after the band had broken up. Interestingly, it includes nothing from Mr. Mick or even Extravaganza. Instead, it has one unreleased song (Let There Be Lids), some early B sides and A sides of singles, plus some songs from the first 3 albums. It all holds together extremely well because it is just focusing on those early years.

A Victory for Common Sense was their second album after they reformed in 1999. Stackridge was now a reunited Andy Davis, James Warren, Mike Slater and Jim Walter. It's a summation of their style since Extravaganza but curiously, without any of their earlier eccentricities. It sounds great and very Beatley - which is high praise in Wozza's world.

 

Where do they all belong? I have a few missing albums to collect - mainly Mr. Mick (from 1976) but also Something for the Weekend (1999).