FREEDOM'S CHILDREN - COLLECTION (all 3 albums) (SOUTH AFRICA) heavy psych/space rock

Freedoms Children
(taken for the Afterglow website with kind permission of Matthias Bock, 2001)

Picture the late 1960s, South Africa. A country isolated from the rest of the world because of their racist government, shunned by almost everybody. The last place you would expect to be hit by the late 60s teenage rebellion, drugs & music scene. And a trade ban that makes it difficult for anything to leave this country except for gold and diamonds so much "needed" by the West (OK, no treatise on business and ethics today).

...difficult for anything to leave... and be heard of about in the world...

This was the sad fate of a rock band who evidently were musical genuises of their time, but had the misfortune to live and perform in a place shunned and ignored by the world, which explains why their recordings are so rare and expensive while still being known only to a handful of record collectors.

However, they were no neighbourhood rock band somewhere in Durban, South Africa. They were a band approaching superstar status after their second LP "Astra", playing live on New Year's Day (probably 1971) to an attendance of 10,000 people, as the sleeve notes to their last album "Galactic Vibes" tell us.

They left behind a legacy of three full-length albums. Remember, this was thirty years ago, when most promising bands did not record more than two or three 45s before vanishing into oblivion! I know little of the details like exactly when their LPs were released and under which catalogue numbers - until about two years ago, I did not even know that they made an album before "Astra". So, although it is a little wanting, here is their discography:

Battle Hymn for the Broken Hearted Horde (1968) Astra (1970) Galactic Vibes (1972) They also released a number 45s, but I know nothing about them.

There are no legit reissues of these recordings that I have heard of. "Battle Hymn" so far has only made it to a vinyl repro in 1995 (with a print run of 300), "Astra" was reissued on CD twice (In England in 1993, and on the German label TRC in the same year), whereas "Galactic Vibes" has been reissued both on vinyl (300 copies only) and on CD in recent years. If you entertain thoughts of trying to locate one of the "Astra" CDs, get the TRC reissue. The other release has been carelessly remastered from a very deteriorated LP, resulting in a rather distorted sound throughout the whole album.

Both "Battle Hymn" and "Astra" are concept albums, telling a story, or sharing a common theme between all of the songs. As I still have to lend a careful ear to "Battle Hymn", I will not elaborate on it. "Astra" revolves around the life of Jesus, although I have heard of a few people misinterpreting it as a very bad experience of the Vietnam war... "Galactic Vibes" looks and sounds like a kind of good-bye album for the stalwart fans, containing a 16-minute live version of their song "The Homecoming" which also is on the "Astra" LP, and a number of odds and ends that do not sound as if they were intended to be on the same album.

Albums:

Battle Hymn Of The Broken Hearted Horde 1968

Tracks:
Movement One:
Season [3.03]
Judas Queen [3.54]
Mrs. Browning [3.06]
Country Boy [2.58]
Your Fathers' Eyes [2.26]
10 Years Ago [5.55]
Kafkasque [3.25]
Boundsgreen Fair [3.16]
Miss Wendy's Dancing Eyes Have Died [4.34]

All tracks written by Ramsay MacKay.

Musicians:
Ramsay MacKay: Bass, vocals, narration
Julian Laxton: Guitars
Colin Pratley: Drums
Nic Martens: Keyboards
Pete Clifford: Guitar
Dennis Robertson: Vocals
Stevie van Kerken: Vocals
Peter Vee: Vocals
Brian Davidson: Vocals

This album has all the wonderful excesses of early progressive rock; the deep "meaningful" poetry, spoken words, majestic organ-playing, sound effects, choirs, long guitar solos, etc. I love it!

The unusual Scottish/South African accent of Ramsay MacKay guides us through this album of contrasts. From the country sounds of 'Country Boy' to the Traffic-style rock of 'Judas Queen' this album does not let up for a moment. It rocks, it soothes, it challenges, it even refreshes (thanks to the inclusion of an old Pepsi advert!). A great album, yet to see the light of day on CD, if ever.

Astra 1970
Tracks:
Aileen [2.01]
The Homecoming Listen [6.19]
The Kid He Came From Hazareth Listen [5.24]

Medals of Bravery Listen [3.25]
Tribal Fence Listen [4.12]
Gentle Beasts, Parts 1 & 2 [5.26]
Slowly Towards the North, Parts 1 & 2 [7.04]
Afterward [4.57]

Musicians:
Julian Laxton: Guitar
Ramsay MacKay: Bass
Gerard Nel: Piano, Harpsichord, Bells
Nic Martens: Organ, engineer
Brian Davidson: Vocals (died 4 December 2002)
Colin Pratley: Drums, Percussion

When I start to listen this guys I was amazed by this total strange cave-phonical vocals, tremendous underground and so arcaic and naif at the same time. It sounds like UK progressiv, but very deep, and the most complex dramatic pedestrian electronic cave-man sound I ever heard.
The surrealistic cover looks like an Yves Tanguy painting. This is music that doesn't exist anymore, this is a piece of Art from the best period of the XX century rock music revolution. We know Stockhausen and Coltrane are great in their fields. We know Rolling Stones are famouse...but the mystic of the underground is far more interesting, ....the legends of the unknown obscure genious artists, the radicals which never came out of the cave, the freaks which build the best years in rock music (1967 - 1973), melting moogs and electrifying spaces, with romantic naif psych melodies, are the great experience. Who cares about Led Zeppelin when you can get a copy of Incredible Hog or Leaf Hound? Who cares about Joan Baez when you can get a Nick Drake? Who cares about weather Report or JL Ponty when you can get Soft Machine?....and who cares about the virtous Soft Machine & Yes when you can get Freedoms Children? Who cares about a stupid Matisse painting when you can get a painting made by a crazy old man, living in a stone house in the mountain, inspired by some subjectiv demential mysticism? It's better a naif three head monster draw then a super fashion contemporary art instalation.

Galactic Vibes 1972
Tracks:
Sea Horse (Laxton/Davidson) [4.13] Listen
The Homecoming (MacKay) [15.55] Listen live version including drum solo; studio version on Astra
That Did It (Laxton/Davidson) [3.47]
Fields And Me (Laxton/Davidson) [5.50]
The Crazy World Of Pod: electronic concerto (Laxton) [2.00]
1999 (Laxton/Davidson, actually composed by Ramsay Mackay) [4.03] Listen
About The Dove And His King (Barry Irwin) [3.41]

Musicians:
Julian Laxton: Guitar
Colin Pratley: Drums
Barry Irwin: Bass
Brian Davidson: Vocals (died 4 December 2002)

Ramsay Mackay: bass on "The Homecoming"

Galactic Vibes is Undergound Hard Prog Folky & Psych, all at once! A long trippy drum solo on A side, Hard driven psych & Depressiv beauty Folk epic LSD tunes, with their vocals out of space. This album is great! I'm listening to this while I'm writing this words and I'm allready shaked inside.
This guys were completly inpired to do this! When listening to this sound you think they were living in the Stone Age, bubbling colors out of their minds and instruments, invading ancient earth with revolucionary poetry, Ultra romantic epic assault & a tremendous beautyfull 1000 years trip! This is a monster! Think about fusing Kraut rock with Freedom + Leaf Hound, inspired by Nick Drake with angel wings guiding their march out of this world, riding a tremendous cloud drangoon....This record is not Rock music, is Art. And it is better then ASTRA lp


Cd1
Galactic Vibes + Battle Hymn Of The Broken Hearted Horde
Cd2
Astra

Highly recommended!!!!

Rip from CD 256@ (full artwork included)

Download links
http://link-protector.com/236028/
http://link-protector.com/236031/
http://link-protector.com/236033/