Stackridge - Stackridge (1971) (Vinyl)

The album was recorded on 16-track equipment at De Lane Lea Studios, London, between March and April 1971 with recording engineer Martin Birch. It was produced by Fritz Freyer. Deep Purple were in the studio next door working on their album Fireball.
The album contains the original 14-minute version of "Slark" which was later re-recorded in a much shorter version for a single. "Slark" was the highlight of many Stackridge concerts, combining as it did folk and progressive rock elements.
According to the liner notes of the Demon Records CD the group claimed a wide range of influences including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Frank Zappa, Syd Barrett, Robin Williamson, the Marx Brothers, Flanders and Swann, Bing Crosby, Tom Lehrer, Gilbert and Sullivan, Frederick Delius, J. S. Bach and Igor Stravinsky.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stackridge_(album))

Stackridge's debut album is one of those weird and unclassifiable oeuvre that defies easy categorization. Although the group enjoyed some chart success back in their prime days, they are largely forgotten nowadays even though they have reformed in the previous decade and are still active now. This first album came in a charming gatefold depicting a flock of seagulls, some of them showing some skyscapes on their body. The inside gatefold was quite frustrating because the lyrics and track listing are barely readable because of the choice of colours. Recorded in the spring of 71 and released that same year on the MCA label (home of The Who, Wishbone Ash and Elton John), the music on the album ranges from folk rock to Beatles-like pop to symphonic rock to almost country rock (which was still in the nascent days back then) and a quintessential feeling of Britishness. But overall, the folk roots are predominant even if it is hard to call this a full-blown folk prog album.
(progarchives.com/album.asp?id=13412) by Sean Trane