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Originally released in 1969 on the Maris label (catalogue number
20501), this is the only album the Swiss band Shiver ever released.
It also contains both tracks which were issued as a single : ‘Hey
Mr. Holy man’/’The peddle’. It also features the very first time the
famous designer H. R. Giger delivered some of his art to become an
album sleeve. Later on he would do it much more with Emerson, Lake &
Palmer’s “Brain salad surgery” being the most famous one. Again
issued in a thick miniature album sleeve this rather short album
also contains a full family tree (which must be a hell of a job to
do !), linking the band with names such as Toad and Brainticket
whose music sometimes is a bit similar.
As
happens a lot with recordings from that era especially the drums
sound overmodulated which doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy this album as
we most certainly can. The opening instrumental ‘Repent Walpurgis’
reminds me of early Procol Harum or even Ekseption. The sound is
very bluesy highlighting both Hammond organ and distorted guitar. As
also happens a lot with bands from that era, longer progressive
tracks alternate with shorter, more commercial sounding pieces.
Because of the fact that an equal amount of music had to be spread
on both sides of the vinyl album some LP’s therefor don’t sound
logical at all. ‘What’s wrong about the blues’ sounds like thousands
of other blues songs from that period : repetitive and with tons of
improvised harmonica playing. A bit in the tradition of similar
projects from that era, ‘Hey Mr. Holy Man’ is a ballad backed by
Hammond organ and choir whilst someone narrates on top of it.
Because in the sixties most bands performed a lot during dance
events they also played a lot of covers. Because people who attended
those concerts were familiar with some of those covers, each time
such a band decided to record/release an album they made sure one or
more of those covers graced the album as well. In the case of Shiver
they deliver a rhythmic version of the classic ‘Don’t let me be
misunderstood’ as performed by the Animals and later on turned into
a huge disco smash hit by Santa Esmeralda. As happens a lot during
early recordings the sound of the tambourine is a little too shrill
as is heard during ‘No time’. The album closes with the flip for
Shiver’s only single, the instrumental ‘The peddle’ which once again
is a mean blues song featuring piano, guitar and sadly an organ
which is mixed way too far in the background. From a musical
perspective this certainly is not the world’s best album as I’m sure
thousands of other bands could deliver equally pleasing music.
However as a package this results in a most enjoyable release which
still might be of more interest to the H. R. Giger collector than
the completist of underground psychedelic material.
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