Sliding Gliding Worlds

Description

The Ozric Tentacles fifth album remastered and on vinyl for the very first time. A raggle-taggle, unpretentious assortment of punk-infused, dreadlocked hippies, the Ozric Tentacles wove psychedelic audio-tapestries that captured the almost dangerous musical diversity of the free festival scene, blending acid rock with dub, reggae, ethnic world music and electronic, jazzy experimentation. This was the soundtrack to the herb-fragranced, alternative lifestyle that wound its way around country lanes looking for a place to set up and party, away from the psychoses of corporate life. Fittingly, the band was formed at the Stonehenge Festival in 1983. Ed and Roly Wynne, Nick Van Gelder (Tig) and Gavin Griffiths (at that point known as the Bolshem People) were joined for a jam by Joie 'Ozroonuiculator' Hinton - a synth wizard who had just returned from India loaded with ethnic sound recordings that he had collected. To coincide with the band's recently released new studio album 'Technicians Of The Sacred', Madfish is giving the 6 albums from the 2014 'Vitamin Enhanced' CD box set their first vinyl release continuing with their 1988 fifth album 'Sliding Gliding Worlds'. With 'Sliding Gliding Worlds', Ozric Tentacles were developing their sound away from the Gong and Steve Hillage influenced space rock towards a complex, melodic blend of experimental space jazz and 'world music'. Standout tracks are the storming 'Kick Muck' (later re-recorded for inclusion on Pungent Effulgent) and the African flavoured 'White Rhino Tea', which appeared in a new version on the 'Strangeitude' album in '91; 'Guzzard' recalls the band's earlier work with its dense mix of stabbing guitar solos and synth swirls, but it is Ed Wynne's increased interest in Far Eastern, Arabian and African music that is reflected in the melodic ethnic sounds starting to permeate the Ozrics' music as tracks like 'Mae Hong Song' reveal. The earlier scuzzy dub reggae influences begin to disappear although 'Dusty Pouch' retains some of that feel with a more polished production perhaps indicating the band's growing confidence in a recording environment. Sliding Gliding Worlds has been remastered for this 2015 vinyl release and is presented here as a double 180gm heavyweight vinyl LP.