Thursday 4 December 2008

Crazyhead - Desert Orchid

Thanks to Mark E Moon I'm again able to revel in the delight that is Crazyhead's Desert Orchid.

Lumped in to the 'grebo' scene of the late 80s (along with Gaye Bykers on Acid and PWEI), Crazyhead had deeper roots than the tag might have suggested and - like Gunfire Dance - had a penchant for obscure 60s garage music. Quickly signed to Food records, the band found themselves on some good tours (The Cult, Iggy Pop) and made headway in the Indie charts with singles such as the fantastically titled 'What Gives You The Idea That You're So Amazing Baby?'.
It seems that Food records being bought out by EMI (ostensibly to get hold of label mates Jesus Jones) was the beginning of the end for Crazyhead, and two minor hit singles from the album weren't enough to stop them being dropped.

Desert Orchid is another one for the growing list of long-deleted (but highly sought-after)albums. However, the band are planning to tour next year and so maybe that could change. If anyone out there has a record label and wants to pick it up (along with Uncle Sam's Letters From London, the Four Horsemen's Nobody Said It Was Easy and the Beasts of Bourbon's back catalogue) then you'll find some grateful purchasers out there ....

4 comments:

Michael said...

Or you could start your own reissue label to make sure all this great stuff stays out there. I think Glamrock Aftershock would be a great name for a label.

Mark E Moon said...

I appear to have 2 log in's due to me being technically inept, glad you enjoyed the cd burn of the mighty "Desert Orchid" although annoyingly the only copy I could find online that didn't require a mortgage was the American Edition which loses "Buy A Gun" and jumbles the tracklisting around, still a fine album though, from a time when the lines between indie and rock were somewhat blurred, I blame Crazyhead for my love affair with 1960's Garage Rock, their cover of The Sonics "Have Love Will Travel" lead me to a lot of skuzzed up 60's punk.... for which I am eternally grateful

Mark E Moon said...

I would agree with Michael's comment as well, there's some great records out there that have been out of print for years and have a ready made audience of both old fans who'd like to replace their old scratchy vinyl and also newcomers (another example the wonderfull Thee Hypnotics, none of their albums available at the moment)

DGW said...

I'm not sure now's the time to be starting a label! I also have to confess that I pilfered the name from a friend, who initially suggested it as an online gallery showing glam rockers in their 'prime' next to photos of them now, ageing and ravaged by time. Maybe I'll throw those in as an occasional posting!