Real Heavy Man –1968 Oriana Smiles Volume Two (Deroy)
B1 Jane Jane
B2 Don't Leave Me This Way
The only known copy of acetate-only LP monster on the famous private label Deroy!
Extremely raw and primitive homemade UK teen garage R&B/psych from college band who mix a handful of cover versions (the Rolling Stones song ‘The Last Time’, ‘Hey Gyp’ [here called ‘Ford Mustang’], a lengthy semi-improvised freakbeat thrash through ‘Summertime’, a powerful garage R&B destruction of ‘St James’ Infirmary’ etc) with a bunch of original songs, with titles like ‘MGB’, the folk-rock ‘Jane Jane’ and the frenzied group jam ‘What Thelonius! I’ve An Hour’s Free-Form In Store For You’.
Overall sound is similar to the Circulation LP (another Deroy monster), in other words a late 60s British blues/rock band playing live in a rehearsal room! There are occasional outbreaks of stoned arty student humour between the main tracks, and that’s also apparent in the counterculture-style liner notes that are typed and handwritten on the homemade sleeve, which mention the group’s name as being chosen for “the New Age of Semantic Desolation Row’.
★★★★★★