Ozric Tentacles: There Is Nothing (remastered) (180g) auf 2 LPs

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THE OZRIC TENTACLES FOURTH ALBUM REMASTERED AND ON VINYL FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

A raggle-taggle, unpretentious assortment of punk-infused, dreadlocked hippies, the Ozric Tentacles wove psychedelic audio-tapestries that captured the almost dangerous musical diversity of the free festival scene, blending acid rock with dub, reggae, ethnic world music and electronic, jazzy experimentation. This was the soundtrack to the herb-fragranced, alternative lifestyle that wound its way around country lanes looking for a place to set up and party, away from the psychoses of corporate life.

Fittingly, the band was formed at the Stonehenge Festival in 1983. Ed and Roly Wynne, Nick Van Gelder (Tig) and Gavin Griffiths (at that point known as the Bolshem People) were joined for a jam by Joie ›Ozroonuiculator‹ Hinton - a synth wizard who had just returned from India loaded with ethnic sound recordings that he had collected.

At some point, having attracted an audience, someone asked what the name of the new ensemble was and Ed responded ›Ozric Tentacles‹ mainly because he couldn’t think of anything else. The name stuck and a mainstay of the UK festival scene for the next 30 years was born.

With There is Nothing, Ozric’s fourth album but third studio album, again originally released on cassette, the band had made a big leap in sound quality with this being immediately apparent from the opening cut of ›Sacred Turf‹ which has the feel of their later sound and features some powerful synth solos carried along by the Roly and Tig rhythm section. The album also features the original version of ›O-I‹ which the band later re-recorded for Pungent Effulgent.

There is Nothing was certainly a much spacier set of recordings than the band’s earlier output with Joie, Ed and Tom Brooks’ electronic contributions flavouring the proceedings to a greater degree. This spacious musical environment is enhanced by ›Staring at The Moon‹, ›Crab Nebula‹, and parts of ›Kola B’Pep‹ which feature a blend of dub reggae and space rock that once again harks back to the cross cultural intermingling that was entirely unique to the UK free festival circuit and remains a fascinating relic from the very last days of that era.