March 10
The Sides of March! It’s another busy month for Esoteric with the release of the PFM English language albums for the Manticore label. PFM titles include Photos of Ghosts, The World became the World, Jet Lag, and 2 CD overview, River Of Life. All of the original albums come with restored artwork and bonus material and there’s previously unreleased live tracks on the PFM collection.

Two albums from the legendary Arthur Brown - recently seen in fine form on the BBC documentary, Heavy Metal Britannia - are also released this month. Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come’s 1972 self-titled album and it’s follow-up Journey have been remastered and come with bonus tracks.

Here’s a quick round-up of reactions to some of the Esoteric and Atomhenge releases in the press and the cyber-pages of the internet. The set of Jackson Heights reissues get an enthusiastic thumbs-up over at progarchives. “Esoteric continue to surprise with their rehabilitation of more forgotten gems from rock's golden age” says Beebfader. Describing Fifth Avenue Bus as “music of exceptional quality” the album is awarded the album no less than four stars. What might surprise a lot of newcomers to Jackson Heights is the extent of the three-part harmony vocals that dominate the albums and which, in his assessment of Ragamuffin’s Fool, Beebfader declares “At times they are good enough to challenge Crosby, Stills and Nash.”

Flash and Two Sides of Peter Banks have been warmly received in the pages of the March/April edition of Shindig!, with reviewer Marco Rossi getting highly excited about both albums but Flash in particular: “It’s extraordinary frankly. It pelts you with sunlight. It’s like sitting among the reflectors at the top of a lighthouse on the brightest May morning since mornings began”. Er, we think that means he likes it! Just so there’s no doubt, the review goes on to nominate ‘Small beginnings’ which opens the Flash album as Peter Banks’ “finest recorded moment”. We’ve also noticed that Two Sides of Peter Banks is currently on the playlist of Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson.

Finally, the late, great Robert Calvert’s Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters is lauded as a Hawkwind album in all but name in Classic Rock, with Neil Jeffries declaring that “When it’s rocking (the album) is a close cousin of Hawkwind circa 1973 (the Doremi Fasol Latido album).” Over at Shindig!, Grahame Bent takes the view that Lockheed is “either the late-lamented Bob Calvert’s meisterwerk, or the great lost Hawkwind album - or maybe it’s a bit of both.”