The Liverpool Scene coalesced semi-accidentally around poet and painter Adrian Henri, one of the chief architects of the city’s multi-media “events” of the early-to-mid-60s. Today, being a poet is to risk being battered, de-kegged and set on fire. Back then, however, poetry was a noble, rather sexy and decidedly rock’n’roll calling, thanks in no small measure to the witty, perceptive and pretension-free work of Henri and his “Mersey Sound” contemporaries. Fronting a band was a logical and inevitable progression, and Henri did just that from 1967-70.
The Amazing Adventures Of… compiles the many highlights of The Liverpool Scene’s brief career, and is a five-course meal for the senses in a Pot Noodle world. Herein you will find giddy avant-garde experimentation (We’ll All Be Spacemen Before We Die), wry cultural commentary (Bomb Commercials), raucous pastiche (The Woo Woo, Baby, I’ve Got Those Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall Can’t Fail Blues), tender acoustic folk (The Raven, Burdock River Run), unabashed romanticism (The Only Thing It Needed Was You) and, throughout, a shining intelligence and genuinely poetic sensibility which gladdens the heart and replenishes the soul.
The contributions of guitarist/songwriter Andy Roberts, poet/ saxophonist Mike Evans and songwriter Mike Hart were as crucial to the band’s inimitable alchemy as Henri’s antic wit and benign presence. John Peel and Led Zeppelin adored them: hear the extraordinary key compositions Made in USA and The Entry Of Christ Into Liverpool to find out exactly why.
by Marco Rossi, 21st August 2009
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Love Is (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Percy Jones, Brian Dodson, Mike Evans) - 1:17
2. Batpoem (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts) - 1:47
3. Son, Son (Mike Hart) - 4:18
4. Tramcar To Frankenstein (Andy Roberts, Mike Evans) - 7:47
5. The Woo Woo (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Percy Jones, Brian Dodson, Mike Evans) - 3:35
6. Burdock River Run (Andy Roberts) - 4:17
7. Happy Burial Blues (Maurice Cockrill, Mike Evans, Mike Hart) - 6:17
8. Universes (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Mike Hart, Percy Jones, Brian Dodson, Mike Evans) - 6:20
9. I'm Just A Simple Boy (Mike Hart) - 2:17
10.Baby (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts) - 2:44
11.Percy Parslow's Hamster Farm (Andy Roberts) - 3:56
12.Bomb Commercials (Mike Hart) - 2:20
13.Elsie Straws Saga (Adrian Henri) - 3:22
14.Wildwest (Adrian Henri) - 6:28
15.Colours (Mike Evans) - 5:23
16.Gliders, Parks (Mike Hart) - 5:31
17.Love Story (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts) - 11:20
Disc 2
1. The Entry Of Christ Into Liverpool (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Percy Jones, Brian Dodson, Mike Evans) - 7:49
2. We'll All Be Spacemen Before We Die (Andy Roberts, Percy Jones, Brian Dodson, Mike Evans) - 5:50
3. Human Tapeworm (Andy Roberts) - 3:27
4. The Morning The Sky Went Away (Andy Roberts, Mike Evans) - 1:43
5. Mental Astronaut (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts, Percy Jones, Brian Dodson, Mike Evans) - 4:01
6. See The Conkering Heroine Come (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts) - 4:29
7. Winter Poem (Adrian Henri, Percy Jones) - 3:22
8. Come Into The Perfumed Garden, Maud (Adrian Henri) - 7:55
9. The Raven (Andy Roberts) - 2:50
10.The Only Thing It Needed Was You (Mike Evans) - 0:54
11.I've Got These Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall Can't Fail Blues (Adrian Henri) - 5:37
12.64 (Andy Roberts) - 2:32
13.Night Song (Adrian Henri, Andy Roberts) - 2:18
14.G.B.S. Blues (Mike Evans) - 3:31
15.Made In USA (Adrian Henri, Mike Evans) - 21:59
16.Rainbow Poem (Adrian Henri) - 0:32
The Liverpool Scene
*Adrian Henri - Vocals, Poet
*Percy Jones - Bass, Harmonica
*Brian Dodson - Drums
*Mike Hart - Guitar, Vocals
*Andy Roberts - Guitar, Vocals, Accordion, Harmonica, Tin Whistle, Violin, Glockenspiel
*Mike Evans - Poet, Tenor, Alto Saxophone
With
*Pete Clarke - Drums
*Karl Jenkins - Oboe, Baritone Saxophone
*Ian Carr - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
*Malcolm Griffiths - Trombone
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