THE VARIOUS ARTISTS SAMPLER LPs of 1970:

PART FOUR: PICNIC - A Breath Of Fresh Air
by Dave Sanderson
www.flowerbedmusic.com

My earliest memory of the Harvest centre label, with that memorable dark green 'liquid droplet' logo on a light green background, is watching it rotate on my eldest sister's turntable in 1970. Wowww!
That would have been Deep Purple's In Rock, I'm pretty sure.

A year or so later, my other sister would get to buy her first record at last.
It happened to be a Harvest release. Pink Floyd's Meddle.
I remember she didn't allow me to touch this treasured first record in case I damaged it.
Quite right too, I was only five! To this day, I still love Meddle and I'm still looking after that very same copy on her behalf with the small white sticker on the front bearing the price of £2.45 written in ballpoint pen!

What a shame though that my sisters had no idea about the Harvest sampler Picnic at the time as we would have been given an even more rounded idea of what that green on green label had to offer musically!
Instead, I only got to hear it for the first time last year after picking it up at a local record fair and, I have to say, it's still'a breath of fresh air' albeit some thirty-five years after its release!

The Sleeve

Simple yet striking and somewhat sinister.
How typical of Hipgnosis album cover art and how fitting that, for so long, these people created the visual imagery for their sonic equivalent (in many ways), Pink Floyd.

I can imagine my little eyes would have stared at this album cover for ages if one of my sisters had bought Picnic at the time.
Like all good Hipgnosis covers, it makes us wonder 'what's going on here?'
A collection of people sat amongst the sanddunes (one or two observing an oily dead seabird lying lifeless a few yards away) look decidedly less than comfortable, sat with their backs to each other AND their tablecloth spread of flasks, plates and whatever else. Plus, of course, most tellingly, their gas-mask clad faces imply strongly that the air at this beach is anything but fresh. Some picnic!!

Perhaps an overlooked element of Hipgnosis imagery is their sense of humour.
Similar in effect to their photographic work on the album cover for Led Zeppelin's Presence (where 'the object' is so inappropiately placed in various contexts), the downbeat album cover art here for Picnic is so obviously but amusingly opposed to the upbeat sense of the title. As well as the 'joke' itself, the mismatch of album title and covershot connotations saves any misconception that the label may be boasting too much about the album's musical contents being such 'a breath of fresh air' in the first place.
This is Pythonesque wit. So seventies. Though perhaps a little dated and clunky now. Nevertheless, of course, such a technique would have been "fresh" (as well as 'far out') in 1970!

The Music

Picnic is such an aptly titled feast of an album! Such plentiful variety and colour.
Even the first side alone draws together a slab of early heavy metal, Beatle-styled balladry, an ultra-rare Floyd track, traditional early folksong and melodic prog rock.
Several tastes are satisfied in one sitting, as it were!
But look out, there are some other stranger fruits to come…

Side One

Even though Picnic never appeared in our house at the time, this very first track is from another Harvest album that we most certainly DID have…Deep Purple's In Rock. Being a little boy at the time, Ian Gillan's scream during the song "Child In Time" used to scare me a bit (unlike Roger Daltrey's spectacular 'yeahhh' at the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again" from Who's Next which was always looked forward to rather than dreaded). Meanwhile,"Bloodsucker" and "Into The Fire" were as exciting as the titles sounded. The latter title is the one that opens Picnic and it's one of the grooviest riffs around. Heavy, dirty sounding guitar, bass and organ…all in unison and combining well with Gillan's rasping delivery of the song title.
A great opening track.

Barclay James Harvest's "Mother Dear" follows in stark contrast with comforting McCartney-esque melodies, layers of acoustic guitar strums, rotary effect guitar, sweeping strings and a mellow vocal all steeped in reverb.
Dreamy as its lyrics suggest, it's a very sweet and pleasant track two.

Pink Floyd's "Embryo" is something of an enigma due to its elusive availability for many years (see other sites for details!) yet it deserves more than merely being known as a 'lost track'. In a similar vein to the quieter moments of "Set The Controls" and "Let There Be More Light", it's one of those quiet and softly-vocalled chants in the minor key that Floyd were fixated with in the immediate post-Barrett phase.
Simple but wholly absorbing…until it crumbles away to a quiet solo bass part at the end.

After such melancholic meditation, The Battered Ornaments serve up something energetic to raise the spirit with their "Twisted Track". It starts out as pop with a catchy sung melody but soon there are surprising changes of key, assorted percussion sections and the odd bassoon murmurings. A twisted track indeed.
Proggy. Good stuff.

Shirley & Dolly Collins are next up with "Glenlogie" a traditional folk song arranged for violin, harpsichord, trombone, whistle and female vocal. After a while, the plainness of the instrumental parts, the lack of dynamics and the dry, detached vocal delivery causes the interest to wear a little thin perhaps. But that's early music, I suppose!
Despite that, it's nice to have yet another unexpected stylistic turn to close an entertaining first side.

Side Two

Pretty Things' "The Good Mr Square" sets things off with its mid-tempo, laidback Kinks-style pop. Well-crafted and catchy, it rolls along merrily with acoustic guitar, bass, drums and flighty flute. The chorus boosts the dynamic somewhat to keep us on our toes. But then…an even greater surprise! It suddenly ends!

Immediately following this sudden stop (and the compiler no doubt enjoyed providing the follow-up!), we hear delicate harmonics played on harp and acoustic guitar to begin Roy Harper's lovely "Song Of the Ages".
This is a delightful song with typically quirky chord changes and some rather loose double tracking on vocals.
So English (exemplified by Roy's pronunciation of the 'g' in the word 'song') and so sincere…as ever.

After such bliss what could be worse than a lazy slow twelve bar blues and indulgent electric guitar solo over the top. There's a time and place for such things as Led Zeppelin proved so often but, despite the musical prowess on display, Bakerloo's "This Worried Feeling" breaks up our blissful picnic like a bad smell.

Fortunately, normal service is eventually resumed with Kevin Ayers' "Eleanor".
A heartfelt song with pleasing acoustic guitar layers, a fruity vocalled performance and floaty flutes. Violin and cello make welcome entries when they join the already rich instrumentation. This is beautiful and haunting at turns. Short but very sweet.

The introduction to "Again and Again" by The Greatest Show On Earth continues the acoustic guitar and flute theme (common to most things on this second side) but this gives a rather false impression of what follows.
Suddenly the track explodes into a louder chorus which brings in drums, organ and a burst of brass. Reminiscent of Family in places (and not unlike Moody Blues in others), this last track is a mini-epic with interesting variety and plenty of light and shade.

A very strong second side if it wasn't for that blinkin' Bakerloo!

Side Three

And now for something completely different…
Third Ear Band's "Water".
This is probably the most daring inclusion of all so far as takes us outside the rock world to something that straddles many divides between new age, jazz, minimalism and experimental music.
The dare pays off handsomely.
At first we hear sounds of the sea and a meandering reverb-steeped sax before the band take over for the main act. From there, a soprano saxophone melody is the main voice accompanied by the light tapping on a drum, a violin drone and mournful cello part. This, on paper, could have been some hippy improvisational waffle if it wasn't so focussed and stylish, unravelling as it does with repeated motifs and countermelodies.
Before long, the re-emergence of seashore sounds brings the scene to a satisfying close.

What could the compiler follow that with? Something not too ordinary, that's for sure.
Well, what better than Syd Barrett and his "Terrapin"!
Wonderfully sloppy in performance yet so easy and comfortable on the ear.
A flapping pick on an acoustic, too much reverb on the electric guitar, occasional buzzing of frets and a loosely double tracked vocal that makes Roy Harper's sound like perfectionism. It could have been a hoot if we weren't also aware that this is actually the recorded work of a man on the verge of mental collapse.
Nevertheless, the effect is magnetic. Resistance is useless.

These are hard acts to follow but Forest do well enough to divert the attention again with their unpredictable and alluring track
"A Glade Somewhere". Organ, harmonica and acoustic guitar combine with folk-styled male and female vocals in a disquieting mix of standard sequences tinged with occasional discordant surprises between the verses. Very effective.
There's something reminiscent of the soundtrack to The Wicker Man here!

After all that, something 'regular' to stem the irregularity of things.
Pete Brown and Piblokto's "Golden Country Kingdom" is a warmly produced and tastefully performed song with a laidback groove and an ever so catchy chorus. Despite the deep poetry, it's a welcomingly light and cheerful track to have at this point.

Then just when you thought everything was safe, Panama Limited appear with their raucous ditty "Round And Round". As well as a Mungo Jerry style vocal, we hear jugs used as wind instruments along with harmonica, banjos and kazoos galore. No doubt a washboard is in there somewhere too. Plus, in accordance with the title, the male and female vocals pan from side to side across the speakers during the chorus.
It's a funny little number but only for a while.
Indeed…once, rather than round and round, would've been enough!

Side Four

The final side begins with the stomping "Big Sheep Of The Family" by Quatermass. This is a big, beefy band production with a good, strong vocal performance pounding out the title on the chorus. An interesting mix of rock and soul (and their album cover's great as well!).

After such robust stuff, Michael Chapman's bewitching ballad "Postcards Of Scarborough" calms things down with something more intimate. The backing of guitar, drums, bass and strings are tasteful enough but it's the drawled, Dylanesque (but better!) vocal performance which makes the track so distinctive.

Tea & Symphony's "Maybe My Mind (With Egg)" follows this with acoustic music of a quite different kind. There's energy from the start with plenty of rhythmic strums, handclaps, bongos and an eccentric vocalist all bathed in an atmospheric use of panning and reverb. The delivery at times is not unlike Roger Chapman of Family combined with early Tyrannosaurus Rex until that is…something even more peculiar happens!
The track fades into music of a different nature dominated by a whistled melody.
After which, the main track fades back in again.
Then it ends.
Somebody laughs. Odd.
I like it.

Finally, Edgar Broughton Band ends the whole affair with their "Old Gopher".
This is a rather raggy sounding swing blues which stays on one chord for its entirety.
Fortunately it doesn't outstay its welcome.
Still, a fairly disappointing way to finish Picnic!

A Runout Groove Message

And so…
I've reached the end of my musings on this subject.
Hopefully it's clear to anyone reading them that I had good reason to get typing.
I should say I could have waxed lyrical about a host of other great albums (indeed far greater than these!) but this feels more like I'm doing something, however small it may be, to redress an imbalance. That is, there seems to be less than enough appreciation of these albums out there at the moment.

As well as that though, I wanted to express my interest in how well these samplers were compiled from a musical point of view.
Some would perhaps claim that they were just slapped together willy-nilly in the hope that someone 'over here' will like the Deep Purple track, someone 'over there' will like Panama Jug Band and hopefully both will buy more product by the artist of their choosing. I happen to think the work that went into compiling Fill Your Head With Rock, Bumpers and Picnic was more considered than that.
Just as the labels seemed to have faith in the artists as they were with their musical daring, endeavour and freedom, the compilers seemed to have faith in the idea of presenting all their music as a whole collection for those with an open mind and a broad musical taste to enjoy. The overriding evidence of that is shown in how well each sampler coheres rather than merely offering variety.

Finally, perhaps this is looking at things through rose-coloured spectacles, but I'm fond of these samplers as they appear to represent the record company ethic at a point when the machine of the music industry was yet to start revving up its designer engine.