Mighty Baby: At A Point Between Fate and Destiny - The Complete Recordings, 6CD Boxset

One minute The Action were the ultimate mod cult band, belting out exuberant Anglicised approximations of Tamla/soul material in clubs across the country, the next they’d shed singer Reggie King and mutated into questing countercultural adventurers Mighty Baby.

Under the leadership of guitarist Martin Stone, they would become increasingly insular as four of the five band members converted to Islam and they moved slowly towards a more improvised sound. By the end of 1971, fasting for Ramadan had left them almost too weak to perform onstage, at which juncture they came to the reluctant conclusion that rock’n’roll and the Muslim faith were incompatible.

Over the previous three years, however, they made some magical, mystical music that is now collected under one roof for the first time. The band-authorised 6-CD set At A Point Between Fate And Destiny features all surviving recordings, with much-loved studio albums “Mighty Baby” and “A Jug Of Love” joined by rehearsal sessions, a complete and previously unissued alternative version of the first album, audio from the band’s only TV appearance and other studio outtakes.

The set also features three hours of 1971 live material, with a ninety-minute chunk of their legendary appearance at Glastonbury that includes previously unreleased versions of Mighty Baby favourites ‘Virgin Spring’, ‘Goin’ Down To Mongoli’, ‘Woe Is Me’, ‘Devil’s Whisper’ and, most thrillingly of all, the hitherto-presumed-lost full 36 minute version of ‘A Blanket In My Muesli’.

Featuring a host of rare photos and memorabilia as well as a new 12000 word essay that covers the band’s unique journey from mod to odd with the aid of extracts from key member Ian Whiteman’s fascinating unpublished autobiography The Average Whiteman, At A Point Between Fate And Destiny is self-evidently the definitive word on a group who occupied their own peculiar time and space in the late Sixties/early Seventies underground rock firmament, blowing more than a few minds in the process.

All tracks newly remastered, with the A Jug Of Love album and both sides of the non-LP single ‘Devil’s Whisper’ reissued from the original master-tapes for the first time

 

DISC ONE

MIGHTY BABY

1. EGYPTIAN TOMB
2. A FRIEND YOU KNOW BUT NEVER SEE
3. I’VE BEEN DOWN SO LONG
4. SAME WAY FROM THE SUN
5. HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS
6. TRIALS OF A CITY
7. I’M FROM THE COUNTRY
8. AT A POINT BETWEEN FATE AND DESTINY
BONUS TRACKS (UNISSUED EARLIER ACETATE VERSION OF FIRST ALBUM)
9. I’VE BEEN DOWN SO LONG
10. TRIALS OF A CITY
11. HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS
12. A FRIEND YOU KNOW BUT NEVER SEE
13. MESSAGES
14. ANCIENT TRAVELLER
15. SAME WAY FROM THE SUN

Tracks 1-8:
The album Mighty Baby, Head HDLS 6002, recorded February-August 1969, released November 1969
Tracks 9-15:
Previously unissued acetate version of first album, recorded February 1969

Tracks 9-12 + 15 are previously unissued

DISC TWO

A JUG OF LOVE

1. JUG OF LOVE
2. THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE CARNIVAL
3. KEEP ON JUGGIN’
4. VIRGIN SPRING
5. TASTING THE LIFE
6. SLIPSTREAMS
BONUS TRACKS
7. DEVIL’S WHISPER
8. VIRGIN SPRING (ALTERNATIVE VERSION)
9. ONLY DREAMING
10. DUSTBIN FULL OF RUBBISH
11. AN UNDERSTANDING LOVE
12. MY FAVOURITE DAY
13. A SAYING FOR TODAY

Tracks 1-6:
The album A Jug Of Love, Blue Horizon 2931 001, released October 1971
Tracks 7-8:
Single, Blue Horizon 2096 003, released August 1971
Tracks 9-13:
Demo recordings from summer 1968, later released as The Action

DISC THREE

A JUG OF LOVE REHEARSALS

1. JUG OF LOVE
2. THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE CARNIVAL i
3. THE HAPPEST MAN IN THE CARNIVAL ii
4. VIRGIN SPRING i
5. VIRGIN SPRING ii
6. TASTING THE LIFE
7. LAZY DAYS
BONUS TRACKS
8. CHRISTMAS JAM
9. EGYPTIAN TOMB (SINGLE, MONO)
10. I’M FROM THE COUNTRY (SINGLE, MONO)

Tracks 1-7:
Rehearsals for the album A Jug Of Love, recorded June 1971
Track 8:
Jam recorded during debut Keith Christmas album, June 1969
Tracks 9-10:
French/Dutch single, mono mixes, released 1970

Track 8 is previously unissued

DISC FOUR

ABANDONED 1970 ALBUM
DAY OF THE SOUP

1. WINTER PASSES
2. NOW YOU DON’T (PART 1)
3. NOW YOU DON’T (PART 2)
4. NOW YOU DON’T (PART 3)
5. NOW YOU DON’T (PART 4)
BONUS TRACKS (LIVE)
6. JUGGIN’
7. NOW YOU SEE IT
8. STONE UNHENGED
9. SWEET MANDARIN

Tracks 1-5:
Olympic Studios demos for potential second album Day Of The Soup, June 1970
Track 6:
From Disco 2 show, 25 July 1970
Tracks 7-9:
Live at Lanchester University, March 1970

DISC FIVE

LIVE AT MALVERN

1. EGYPTIAN TOMB
2. TRIALS OF A CITY
3. KEEP ON JUGGIN’
4. WOE IS ME
5. INDIA
6. GOIN’ DOWN TO MONGOLI
7. KEEP ON JUGGIN’

Tracks 1-6:
Live at Malvern Winter Gardens, February 1971
Track 7:
Live at Glastonbury, June 1971

DISC SIX

LIVE AT GLASTONBURY

1. VIRGIN SPRING
2. GOIN’ DOWN TO MONGOLI
3. WOE IS ME
4. LAZY DAYS
5. A BLANKET IN MY MUESLI (aka INDIA) (FULL VERSION)
6. DEVIL’S WHISPER

Tracks 1-6:
Live at Glastonbury, June 1971

Tracks 1-3 & 5-6 are previously unissued