MISTY - Here Again

Format: LP
Catalogue No.: SOMM084 
Barcode: 4040824093112
Release Date: 01 Mar 2024
Genre: Progressive

A DAZZLING FUSION OF CLASSICALLY-INSPIRED PROGRESSIVE ROCK AND SONG-BASED PSYCHEDELIC POP WITH AN ORGAN-BASED SOUND, IN THE VEIN OF PROCOL HARUM AND THE NICE.

“In October 1969, King Crimson released their debut, In The Court Of The Crimson King, Pink Floyd unleashed Ummagumma and Led Zeppelin put out their second LP. At the same time, Misty were in London’s Regent Sound Studios recording what turned out to be the only album of their career with producer, Adrian Ibbetson, who had cut his teeth as an engineer working with everyone from the Beatles to the Equals.

After only a handful of gigs, Misty signed a deal with Parlophone and began to gather momentum with the release of Hot Cinnamon. Although they received a lot of airplay, the single failed to chart and the band’s hopes of releasing their debut album were dashed. Reluctantly, Misty went their separate ways and the Here Again master tapes sat gathering dust on a shelf until Gelardi came across the original acetate and decided it was time for the album to finally see the light of day.

Bridging late psych and early prog, songs like Life Has Just Begun, Witness For The Resurrection and the title track were played with a perfect mix of highflying experimentation and virtuosic musicianship. Blurring the fine lines between rock, jazz, classical and chamber pop, Here Again is a transcendent kaleidoscope of colour that is beyond definition.

Maybe you can tell an album is truly timeless when it takes half a century for it to be properly appreciated. Misty were a rare bird, a brilliant, truly original band who should have left an indelible mark instead of joining what now seems like the never-ending line of half-remembered and long-forgotten flotsam and jetsam of the psychedelic era.

Both the first and the final statement from a group who never really got their chance to be heard, Here Again is a slice of pristine psychedelic pop that so embodies the dizzying energy and the progressive spirit of the time, it’s astonishing that it stays afloat under the weight of its own intentions. But float it does, like mist in the air - a half-forgotten diaphanous dream slowly coming back to you after 50 years of silence.” – Jonathan Wingate

*Vintage styled artwork in hard cardboard sleeve / *Remastered sound / *Insert with liner notes by Dave Wells and photos

SIDE 1: 1. WITNESS FOR THE RESURRECTION – 2. HERE AGAIN – 3. A QUESTION OF TRUST – 4. JULIE – 5. I CAN SEE THE STARS – 6. HARMONIOUS BLACKSMITH SIDE 2: 1. HOT CINNAMON – 2. CASCADES – 3. ANIMAL FARM – 4. I WILL BE THERE – 5. LAZY GUY – 6. JOHN’S SONG – 7. FINAL THOUGHTS

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