High Tide - The Complete Liberty Recordings 

After forming in California in 1965, The Misunderstood moved to England on the advice of legendary DJ John Peel, who had seen them on a trip to the States and suggested they come back with him.  Once in England they recruited guitarist Tony Hill, signed with Fontana Records and recorded a handful of heavy psychedelic rockers, but just as they were getting some success and influencing the likes of Pink Floyd and The Move, the American members of the band were deported.  Remaining in England, Hill moved on to doing some session work, spent six months as part of Turquoise, a trio with David Bowie and Hermione Farthingdale, and then formed High Tide in 1969.  Along with Hill on guitar, vocals and keys, the rest of High Tide consisted of Simon House on violin, viola and keyboards, Peter Pavli on bass and Roger Hadden on drums and organ.  Even though their career was extremely short-lived, the band released two incredible, very unique sounding, albums on Liberty Records before calling it a day in late 1970.  This new three CD box set, The Complete Liberty Recordings, contains newly remastered versions of both releases along with a third disc containing demos and studio out-takes.   

Sea Shanties, their debut album, kicks off disc one with the down-tuned, distortion drenched guitars of “Futilist’s Lament”.  It’s a super heavy, bluesy, proto-rocker with some absolutely incredible guitar work, a pummeling rhythm section and vocals that are reminiscent of Jim Morrison.  From the moment it hits your speakers it’s obvious this isn’t your everyday run of the mill release.  At over nine minutes long, “Death Warmed Up” is a powerhouse instrumental full of heavy guitar solos going toe to toe with House’s violin.  “Pushed, But Not Forgotten” starts off slow and hypnotic and it appears like we may be in for a change of pace, but about a minute in it explodes into a heavy psychedelic tune, shifting tempos back and forth throughout the rest of the song.  "Walking Down Their Outlook" is an incredible track that melds The Doors at their most psychedelic with the prog of King Crimson and fuzzed out heavy guitars.  The epic, almost ten minute, “Missing Out” is a very expansive psychedelic tune that’s heavy, but not as aggressive with strong dynamics that give it a hint of prog with outstanding interplay between the guitar and violin.  “Nowhere” closes the album and while again not quite as aggressive, it is a bit of a noisy chaotic track that even throws in some elements of jazz.  It's a mystery why this album isn't mentioned alongside the likes of Black Sabbath and Hawkwind.  

For their self-titled sophomore release, Hill’s heavy guitar work was largely gone, and they moved in a more expansive direction.  “Blankman Cries Again” opens the album and is eight and a half minutes of hypnotic psychedelia and folk with the shifting tempos of prog and long jam-like instrumental passages.  “The Joke” finds them moving further in a prog direction with great guitar work that is often a bit more noodly.  The tempos shift a lot throughout the song and the keys are more present than on any other track. The third and final song is the four-part, fifteen minute “Saneonymous”, which starts with a long instrumental jam with guitar and violin going side by side and the steady, driving percussion section and then shifts back and forth between that and more folk-rock passages with Hill’s vocals and perfectly placed piano.  Definitely a bit of a shift from the debut, but arguably almost as good. 

Rounding out the box set are nine bonus tracks consisting of songs that were left of the two albums, and demos of album cuts.  When the band signed a publishing deal with Apple in early 1969 they went into the studio in March of that year and recorded their first three demos.  Included here, these consisted of “Pushed, But Not Forgotten”, a faster version of “Death Warmed Up” that’s still heavy, but a little less dirgy and “Dilemma”, a really strong cut that shifts between heavier prog passages with fuzzed out guitar and violin, and folkier sections (it’s a real shame this one never made it to an album).  “The Great Universal Protection Racket” and “Time Gauges” were also recorded for the debut but were both left off due to time constraints.  The former of these, a live favorite, is an epic instrumental that is very heavy and psychedelic, full of complex tempo shifts and clocking in at over eleven minutes (a much longer version was also recorded for the second album, but again didn’t make the cut), while the latter was an instrumental that mixed their heavier side with elements of jazz and even some classical touches.  A couple of demos for the second album are up next with “Blankman Cries Again” and a shortened version of “The Joke”, followed by a demo of “Ice Age”, which was recorded after the album’s release and is a mellower track with a strong Middle Eastern vibe.  

It should be noted that later in 1970 the band was recording a third album when Hadden had a mental breakdown and was hospitalized. The band decided not to continue without him and split up.  Hill and House did record another release as High Tide in the late seventies that wasn't released until 1986 and Hill had several more releases with a completely different band in the eighties and nineties under that name, but these are really the definitive High Tide releases, and this great box set shows just how vital a band they were.   

(Esoteric Recordings)