Fifty Foot Hose - Cauldron CD (expanded)
SKU
28-BGB158.2
From 1968, the one and only album by the group who are the 3rd point on the triangle of great, early experimental/ psychedelic rock (along with Silver Apples & The United States of America). This is an official release and includes the most bonus tracks of any of the various reissues of this title and is the definitive CD edition of this clanky classic!!
"Cauldron was Fifty Foot Hose's first and most famous recorded work, released on Limelight Records in 1968. Founded by Cork Marcheschi, the band played continuously around the Bay area of northern California throughout the mid-'60s. Marcheschi, who had developed a taste for R&B and the avant-garde music of composers such as Edgard Varèse, started out as the band's bass player, but his interest in experimental music prompted him to develop his own musical instrument, similar in function to the hybrid developed by Simeon Cox, and which was the underpinning of the Silver Apples' sound. The band played a lot of gigs, but the experimental nature of their music tended to perplex audiences unused to such sounds. However, a four-track demo led to the band signing on the experimental Mercury subsidiary, Limelight Records, and under the eye of producer, Dan Healey (later to work extensively with the Grateful Dead), Cauldron appeared in 1969. As the album didn't fit into any particular mold, it largely went un-noticed at the time, but to the modern listener, this is an album that has stood the test of time particularly as Marcheschi used just about every electronic device known to man, including audio generators, echodette, squeaky box, siren, ring oscillator circuits and two Theremins. Given Cauldron's lack of success, the band disintegrated, although several members were to quickly resurface in the musical Hair. However, by the late '70s and early '80s, interest in the band's singular sound was rekindled, with the likes of Pere Ubu, Throbbing Gristle and Chrome all deriving inspiration from its music. An important and influential album."
"...more or less a psychedelic band, but experimental enough in their approach to appeal to fans of avant-garde music in general. What makes their debut (and only lp) unusual is the extensive & imaginative use of electronics; in fact the album features a virtual riot of small, non-keyboard controlled electronic gadetry."-i/e.
- LabelBig Beat UK
- UPC029667415828