VINYL: Ex

LABEL: Ex

COVER: VG

The vinyl sounds like new, incredible after all these years. As for the cover, the spine is in place, unbroken, the cover itself shows a little wear and tear. There is a hole punch in the bottom right hand corner and a slight scuff in the top right (where it looks like tape or a sticker has been pulled off). Gatefold sleeve though generally in good nick. Plain inner sleeve. Cleaned on a VPI Cyclone RCM. For photos and music review, see my .com site

Side 1

1. Meditation Aumgn
2. The Qabalistic Cross
3. He word of the Aeon
4. Invocation to the light
5. The Pentagram ritual
6. Qabalistic cross
7. Hymn of praise
8. 12 gates o the city
9. The holy words Iao sabao
10. Aquarius mantra (in Eqyptian)
11. Enochian (Atlantean) call
12. Abrahadabra The word of the Aeon
13. Praise ‘city of light’
14. The Qabalistic crossing

Side 2

1. Return of Arthur
2. The magician
3. The judgement
4. My archangel Mikael

I don’t have space here, and it isn’t something I wold normally promote but to get an idea of where the influences and energy for this LP came from it is worth having a cup of tea and reading https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-apocalyptic-story-of-graham-bond which is a fascinating article into the life of Mr. Bond.

It is difficult to summarise this LP. Side 1, whilst containing more tracks than you can shake a cat at, plays out as one long side. There are 10 musicians credited which gives you a clue of the depth, involvement and complexity of the music on show. It’s full on, driving blues / RnB coming at you from all angles. Actually Side2, for me, gives us a lovely melodic track entitled ‘The Judgement’ which just slows it all down with a lovely bit of sax coming into its own. By far my favorite track.

It isn’t easy listening to be honest but it probably encapsulates the craziness around at the time. It’s on record highlighting that Graham had a lot going on in his head, and I think this LP tries to portray that scenario. A fascinating geezer who was slightly left behind by his peers and a difficult man to manage by record companies by all accounts. I guess that was his undoing in his untimely death. If you are interested in rock and roll history this has a place for you.