CHRIS FARLOWE WITH THE HILL - From Here To Mama Rosa - UK Repertoire 180g Press - LISTEN

I have always thought very highly of this almost completely unknown record, released by Polydor in 1970! Let me say at once that it is in no way the rhythm'n'blues-pop-soul known from the earlier (widely known) albums, but richly arranged and classically delivered progressive rock (with a dominant Hammond organ sound) at a very high level! Farlowe was not quite the main protagonist of this album, as the music itself was reportedly made much earlier, and the vocalist merely added his vocal parts at the end. The band The Hill, meanwhile, which grew out of the last line-up of the Thunderbirds, includes the keyboard player Peter Robinson (then in Quatermass), the guitarist and great composer Steve Hammond (ex-Fat Mattress, Quatermass) and the cellist Paul Buckmaster (early Elton John, Third Ear Band). So it is hardly surprising that the result was an exquisite, very refined, though not the easiest to take in (that is praise) album. Of course the record did not sell at all, and in that same year, 1970, Farlowe recorded the LP "Daughter Of Time" with Colosseum. Highly recommended! (JL)