Mar 19, 2009

DR "Z" - THREE PARTS TO MY SOUL (VERTIGO 1971) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 2 bonus




One of the great, lost prog rock albums, Dr. Z's “Three Parts to My Soul” ended up being one of the rarest albums on the "swirl" Vertigo label, with only 80 copies said to exist.
Dr. Z was lead by North Wales university professor Keith Keyes, who handles keyboards (harpsichord, piano, organ), as well as vocals, with Bob Watkins on drums, and Rob Watson on bass. This is another album, like BLACK WIDOW's “Sacrifice”, that featured lyrics that flirted with the occult in a prog rock setting. Here Keyes had the idea that in the afterlife, your soul is divided in to three parts, with a Latin term to each, Spiritus, Manes et Umbra. Spiritus was the soul that goes to heaven, Manes is the soul that's damned to Hell, and Umbra being the soul that stays on Earth to eternally haunt. What you get is early British prog, dominated mainly by harpsichord, with occult lyrics and very peculiar vocals, trying to sound "evil". The production isn't the greatest in the world, although it was produced by Patrick Campbell-Lyons of NIRVANA (the late '60s/early '70s UK band that is, hardly the Kurt Cobain-led grunge band everyone knows of).
"Evil Woman's Manly Child" is said to be a reverse of the Ten Commandments. Here you get two voices, a whispered voice and a sung voice. This is truly one of the album's many high points. "Spiritus, Manes et Umbra" could almost sound like a hit if things worked out a bit different for the band (and of course, rid of the drum solo). It's such a catchy little song. "Summer For the Rose" shows some psychedelic elements, showing how in 1971, the 1960s hadn't totally vanished. "Burn in Anger" is a piano-dominated ballad that truly screams 1971, while "Too Well Satisfied" is one of those cheesy songs with lots of appeal. "In a Token of Despair" is the closing ballad, regarding the spirit that haunts the Earth. The entire album has that theatrical quality. Many of the reissues come with two bonus cuts, "Lady Ladybird" and "People in the Street", which was released as a single back in 1970 on Fontana. What's really interesting about these two cuts, written by Keith Keyes as on “Three Parts to My Soul”, is you will find absolutely no signs of occult subject matters in these two songs. "Lady Ladybird" is a pretty cheery number. "People in the Street" on the other hand sounds too much like straight-up pop, lacking the charm of "Lady Ladybird". But for “Three Parts to My Soul”, this might not to be everyone's taste, but I like the album, regardless what might be said.(Review by proghead0)
Here

8 comments:

18 RODAS said...

Patrick Campbell Lyons reform Nirvana 4 years ago and he was playing in our small town, soon the live recording of the show. He told me about this recod but I hadn´t listen, gracias

Georgie Hirezola said...

thnx for the info 18 R...
OK...I don't think it's among the best albums ever put out by "Vertigo" but it's interesting & quite rare of course & this Jap reissue is a must have!
By the way...my previous post, the "Clear Blue Sky" is among the best ever "Vertigo" groups...a real gem...17-18 yrs old teens with garage heavy-psych roots... a unique sound!I simply adore this LP!!!
cheers++++++++

MAD4MUSIC said...

Wow... What an interesting album! I can't think of anything to compare it to. I was completely unaware of this record... Thanks for sharing!

Georgie Hirezola said...

hi m4m...
thanks for stopping by!!!

Anonymous said...

im laughinng at this comment,this is not in any way great heavy prog,its a big bag of shits with funny voice and music,veryyy bad album,ive been sold,not lp,cd because is fucking shit.thats all...

Anonymous said...

Rather useful message

Mister777 said...

This is a truly strange piece of work. Dr Z is not typical prog rock outfit - the music is at times quite minimalistic and repetive - and the vocal is harsh and angry - not exactly like one is used to hear Jon Anderson. The record can qute as easy be labelled punk or goth for that matter. And the lyrics are appealing in a strange kind of way.

Eric said...

This music is really fascinating. It's both primitive and evolved, and the hapsichord gives a very classy touch. The lyrics show education and sensitivity.

I disagree about the drums solo: it is simply great and adds to the tribal atmosphere.

Too bad we know so little about this Keith Keyes, what he has become by now, and why he only did this album.