Aug 19, 2011

FIFTY FOOT HOSE - CAULDRON (LIMELIGHT/MERCURY 1968) Jap mastering cardboard sleeve + 7 bonus




Fifty Foot Hose were one of the most unusual '60s San Francisco psychedelic bands, in part because they weren't really that psychedelic. Like a few other acts of the time (most notably the United States of America), they were trying to fuse the contemporary sounds of rock with electronic instruments and avant-garde compositional ideas. Only one album resulted from the ambitious enterprise, and that record (Cauldron, 1968) still remains unknown to all but hardcore collectors. Although an erratic work, it was intriguing for its mix of jazzy psychedelic rock tunes with electronic sound effects that anticipated future models of synthesizers, but sounded fiercer and more primitive.
............................
Fifty Foot Hose were founded by bassist Cork Marcheschi, who had previously been in a conventional rock/R&B band the Ethix. Under Marcheschi's prodding, in 1967, the Ethix released one wildly atonal single, "Bad Trip," whose violent musique concrete foreshadowed the avant-garde postures of his subsequent group (in fact, "Bad Trip" was more avant-garde than anything Fifty Foot Hose would record). (Apparently it was played once on a local underground radio station, and then never again.) Interested in the ideas of experimental composers like Edgar Varese, John Cage, Terry Riley, and George Antheil, Marcheschi constructed his own electronic instrument from a combination of elements like Theremins, fuzz boxes, a cardboard tube, and a speaker from a World War II aircraft bomber.
............................
Fifty Foot Hose were filled out by guitarist David Blossom and his vocalist wife Nancy, who brought both psychedelic and jazz influences to the band, and a couple of musicians who had played with Marcheschi in other acts. A home demo successfully demonstrated their fusion of electronic effects and songs that were loosely in tune with the San Francisco psychedelic vibe. It led to a deal with Limelight, a subsidiary of Mercury that focused more upon experimental music than conventional rock and pop outings.
............................
Cauldron was perhaps more interesting for its experimental textures than the sometimes routine compositions -- eerie electronic swoops and jolts swam through the background and foreground of the tracks, enhanced by techniques like putting instruments through an FM transmitter. The jazzier and spookier tunes worked better than the bluesier hard rock items, yet it was an admirably risk-taking effort. But, ultimately, a pretty uncommercial one -- although they got some live work in San Francisco, the album was heard by few at its time of release.[allmusic]
Here

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear George, I often visit your site, I must thank you 1000 times for the fabulous albums, the extreme care and the elegance of your pages.
Only one thing: it's become worse and worse with Rapidshare (at least for me), now it became even harder than ever downloading files if you are not an industrial or a multinational owner, or whatever else. I don't know about other people, maybe I'm the only one in this disgraced situation, but why isn't it possible to use one of those many many other Servers which offer fantastic service at a reasonable waiting-time rate? At least, why not loading the albums up on TWO separate servers, in parallel, so that the RS-fundamentalists can use RS, and the others are ensured to enjoy the same chance... Right in the moment when I thought I had got rid of RS, see what happens...
Hoping that this email will bring to new decisions that fit the visitors with my same problems, thanks again for all your work :-)

bye bye - Klaus

Georgie Hirezola said...

Well, I totally agree with you...
Rapid sucks... at least for the last couple of years!
The problem is that if I'll stop the Rapid premium, all my 3 years uploads here will be lost in one day!!!
What I can do is to upload in another server too (I have also an "ORON" premium) but that means much more time for me to spend here, which I have not, believe me!!....
Anyway I'll try to do something....
What is your opinion about "ORON"?
Georgie+++

Anonymous said...

Dear Georgie, thanks very much for your kind, detailed and prompt answer! :-)

I can well believe you when you say that you don't have time to get crazy to reload all the material on another server.
Careful anyway, coz RS is often deleting material, so you'll have to lose time in any case to reload it up ;)
Long time ago I was a blogger too, now it's all closed, so I know exactly what you talk about.
I didn't have an idea about that automatic blackmail-move operated by the RS, practically it sounds like "once with RS, forever with RS", it sounds like a wedding contract, like being in prison, or under the colonels...
For years I've been taking part in huge discussions with other bloggers and visitors about how impossible it is when you have to deal with RS, not mentioning the tons and tons of music that they delete, even without a specifical orders from the Dmka.
No, I have no idea about ORON, I'm gonna give a look, although I'm rarely in need of servers, after my blog was shut down.
For me, the best servers today seems to be Multiupload. Yes, there is still RS there, but you see the difference: RS deletes often files and - on the contrary, Megaupload (for example) keeps them for a much longer time - so you see, it's not always by orders of the DMKA!!
All around I read legitimate negative opinions about RS, many people and Blogs choose NOT to use RS.
Anyway, thanks again for now, I can only say that SURELY Oron and any other server which you might choose to use, will be better than RS.
I'm here waiting for your next move and wish you a great time, till soon :-)

Klaus