Ceremony (Spooky Tooth and Pierre Henry album)
| Ceremony | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Spooky Tooth with Pierre Henry | ||||
| Released | December 1969 | |||
| Genre | Avant-rock, electronic | |||
| Length | 45:13 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer | Spooky Tooth, Pierre Henry | |||
| Spooky Tooth chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Rolling Stone Record Guide | [2] |
Ceremony is a 1969 album by progressive UK rock band Spooky Tooth in collaboration with French electronic and "found-object" composer Pierre Henry. The album takes the form of a church service. A Pierre Henry-free version of the closing track "Hosanna" with different lyrics appears on 2015 Universal release The Island Years 1967–1974 under the title "When I Get Home". The release also includes an alternate take of "Have Mercy" (also without Henry) and a session outtake titled "Shine a Light on Me".
The album is considered by singer and songwriter Gary Wright to have ended the band's career. "Then we did a project that wasn't our album. It was with this French electronic music composer named Pierre Henry. We just told the label, 'You know this is his album, not our album. We'll play on it just like musicians.' And then when the album was finished, they said, 'Oh no no — it's great. We're gonna release this as your next album.' We said, 'You can't do that. It doesn't have anything to do with the direction of Spooky Two and it will ruin our career.' And that's exactly what happened."[3]
Track listing
All tracks composed by Pierre Henry and Gary Wright
- "Have Mercy" – 7:51
- "Jubilation" – 8:25
- "Confession" – 6:53
- "Prayer" – 10:50
- "Offering" – 3:26
- "Hosanna" – 7:33
(Note: on some European CD reissues, the song order has been changed to "Confession", "Have Mercy", "Credo" (previously titled "Jubilation"), "Offering", "Hosanna", "Prayer". "Confession" includes approximately ten seconds of electronic effects at the beginning edited out of prior releases.)[4]
Personnel
- Pierre Henry – synthesizer, electronics
- Mike Harrison – vocals, keyboards
- Gary Wright – vocals, electronic organ, keyboards
- Luther Grosvenor – guitars
- Andy Leigh – bass, guitar
- Mike Kellie – drums and percussion
Production
- Produced by Pierre Henry and Spooky Tooth
- Recorded and engineered by Andy Johns
References
- ↑ AllMusic review
- ↑ Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (eds) (1983). The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. New York, NY: Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p. 481. ISBN 0-394-72107-1.
- ↑ Gary Wright: Vintage Rock interview
- ↑ "Discogs". discogs.com. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
External links
- Ceremony (Spooky Tooth and Pierre Henry album) at Discogs (list of releases)
- mutant-sounds.blogspot.com