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LP
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MRSSS 538LP
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First official vinyl reissue of Blonde On Blonde's second album Rebirth, originally released in 1970. It would take two lives to listen to the entire discography of all the prog-psych UK bands from the late '60s to early '70s. Funny enough, some of them just needed a two to four year career to record a bunch of LPs and make musical history, underground history anyway. Although Blonde On Blonde achieved only modest commercial success, their second album, Rebirth, is an exquisite piece of progressive rock that should not remain under the radar to those into melodic progressive rock. By the end of 1969 they had just signed a new contract with Ember Records to follow their debut and unsuccessful album Contrasts (1969). A new vocalist, David Thomas, had just joined the band and their live sound was tight and heavy. They toured non-stop across London's hippest clubs and shared bills with artists such as Georgie Fame, Deep Purple, Genesis and Alan Price. But their solid and raw playing also tried to encompass other more subtle sounds in the recording studio, resulting in a well balanced mix of dramatic singing and progressive instrumental backgrounds. "Colour Questions" echoes the outstanding power shown by the band on stage while "Broken Hours", the first song ever written by David Thomas, shows their more melodic and balanced side without losing any energy. "November" and "Time Is Passing" add some elements of folky psychedelia to the band's recipe, undoubtedly a focused and magic body of music that stays strong until the very last note on the epic closing track "You'll Never Know Me / Release". Rebirth is a perfectly balanced mix of powerful singing and progressive instrumental passages which also leaves room for the band's melodic, folky and psychedelic elements to shine. Presented in a facsimile gatefold sleeve and pressed on 180 gram vinyl.
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