ANDROMEDA – DIFINITIVE COLLECTION 2CD SET – 1969 (UK) heavy psych

Late sixties adventurous Rock act. Their sole album now commands prices as high as £150 a copy. Frontman John Cann, who had begun his musical career with THE SONICS, was prior to ANDROMEDA with ATTACK, releasing four singles, and FIVE DAY WEEK STRAWPEOPLE with whom he cut one now extremely rare album. This latter act comprised Cann, bassist Mick Hawksworth and drummer Jack 'Collins' McCulloch, brother of WINGS member Jimmy McCulloch. Both Cann and Hawksworth were also part of THE MAILTOWN BLUES BAND and in keeping with the fluidity of the times McCulloch and Hawksworth and released a single as part of ONE IN A MILLION. This outfit evolved into ANDROMEDA immediately finding favour with Radio One disc jockey John Peel who had them perform on his Top Gear programme in October of 1968 and plans were laid to record the debut ANDROMEDA album for Peel's Dandelion label, home of cult act TRACTOR. After an optomistic start matters took an about turn when the band exchanged McCulloch for ex-NEAT CHANGE man Ian McClane. Peel was not in favour and the proposed deal evaporated.

Undaunted ANDROMEDA gigged extensively, even having BLACK SABBATH support them in their hometown of Birmingham. The band also put in numerous live radio appearances leading to further record company interest at Track Records where it was mooted that THE WHO's Pete Townshend wished to produce the band. This deal also fell by the wayside but the band was soon picked up by RCA Records. The album garnered some ecstatic reviews but received very little exposure effectively signalling the end for the band.

When ANDROMEDA began to lose headway Cann founded Rock institution ATOMIC ROOSTER with keyboard wizard Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. ANDROMEDA struggled on playing out their last live gigs with ex-HORSE man Rod Roach. Hawksworth created FUZZY DUCK before teaming up with TEN YEARS LATER.

McClane founded MOON with JUICY LUCY singer Ray Owen. Cann was also to work with his own act HARD STUFF before reforming ATOMIC ROOSTER. The guitarist also had a stint with THIN LIZZY for a German tour. By 2000 Cann had apparently resurrected ATOMIC ROOSTER.

There have been a number of issues and reissues of Andromeda's recordings, with the most extensive being the Angel Air double CD release from 2000, Andromeda - Definitive Collection, with detailed liner notes. The first CD is the album as it was originally issued, plus bonus tracks, and the second CD is alternate takes, additional songs, and a short live recording. It's the ultimate for a compulsive completist like me.

CD1
1 Too Old
2 The Day of the Change
3 Now the Sun Shines
4 Turns to Dust
5 Return to Sanity
6 The Reason
7 I Can Stop the Song
8 When to Stop
9 Go Your Way
10 Keep Out 'Cos I'm Dying
11 The Garden of Happiness
12 Return to Exodus
13 Journey's End (Reprise)
14 Let's All Wacth the Sky Fall Down
15 Darkness of Her Room
16 See Into the Stars

CD2
1 The Day of the Change
2 The Reason
3 Return to Sanity
4 Keep Out 'Cos I'm Dying
5 Search On
6 Ode to the Sea
7 Lonely Street's
8 Sleep Like a Child
9 I Was Left Behind
10 I Just Wanna Live My Life
11 The Lodger
12 Dreamland
13 Round House Blues (Live)
14 Walking On (Live)
15 I'm Searching (Live)
16 Acidus (Live)
17 All in You
18 Step this Way


“Too Old" is a great opener with Cann usually fantastic guitar playing and fine lyrics. While his guitar playing is rather heavy, it maintains a great sense of melody, partially due to a solid but not over indulgent rhythm section. "And Now the Sun Shines" retreats from the more bombastic sound to a subdued almost acoustic sound, which is done very well. The "Turns to Dust" changes tempo and structure a few times during the song, which proves to be rather effective. "I Can Stop the Sun" is almost a folk ballad. "Go Your Way" is another carryover from a previous Cann album, complete with a few subtle changes. Most of the tracks on this album follow the template set up by the first part of the album. The lyrics are usually pretty solid as is the guitar and rhythm section, but the only problem is the lack of variety. I guess if they played THAT well than variety would be unnecessary. Still solid, though I prefer the other two John Cann projects more.

Highly recommended!
Rip from CD 256@ (full artwork included)

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