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[ Mr Quimby's Beard (s/t 1st album) Reviews ]

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Whoa! Look at the walls breathing! Why is the paint dripping off the ceiling? Check out those coloured pinstripes coming across the carpet ! Now the air in the room is turning into Jell-O.... I can't even move. I guess we better just sit here and enjoy this first Cd release by Mr Quimby's Beard. Those looking for some trippy head food need look no further than this 5-piece from the U.K.  featuring dual guitars, bass, keys and drums. Nine original tracks cover most of the psychedelic spectrum: one might hear traces of early Floyd, Hawkwind, Ozrics, Nektar, Amon Duul and others, yet the hallucinatory content is ratcheted up several orders with oscillators, droning guitars and squeaky dweedling synth sounds.......... 

The tracks alternate between more spacerock and riff based pieces ( like Coming Down, Wake Up and Try ) and way out flashes and free form psychedelia ( Another Visit, Reality, and parts of the title track and Bringin' Up The Acid ) . The rocking tracks tend to be a bit on the punk side, like some of Nik Turners post Hawkwind adventures.........

 (Pete Thelen, Exposé)  

  Imagine Hawkwind and the Ozrics  with a little Floyd and you have some idea what the band are like. Unashamedly drawing on 70's inspiration the album is full of guitar and synths and is truly spacerock heaven. Nine tracks of diverse and well mixed psychedelia will appeal to all fans of the musical genre. Highly recommended.

 ( Terry Craven, Wondrous Stories )

  So often covers are misleading: what looks really mouth watering turns out to be some self indulgent noodling from some no mates with a computer and a drum machine. For once, though, we have a band in Mr Quimby's Beard who deliver the goods. Right from the Ozricy Eastern tinge "Snake Dance" through to the space bastard shouting which closes the succinctly titled "Bringin' Up The Acid", this is essence of spacerock. Synth sweeps and bubbles, full on riffs, echoed vocals - in the absence of a decent Hawkwind album for years, this does the job nicely, cheers. Indeed, Hawkwind are the main influence : "Wake Up" isn't a million miles from "Death Trap" , but its more of a feel than a 'spot-the-riff' contest, and there's ideas in here to make Mr Quimby's Beard their own band, and I personally can't get enough of this stuff. Ideal falling over in a field music.

  (Astro Zombie)

  Mr Quimby's Beard is a recent discovery for me and though this is an older release I thought it would be a good companion to Scott's review of their more recent CD. Though released in 1997 this was actually recorded in 1994 when the band consisted of Hardy on keyboards and vocals, Kidd on bass, Ray on guitar and vocals, Gaz on drums and Bongos, and guests Dave (Thrash Bastard) Thorburn on guitar, and Jonna on Bongos (on "Snake Dance").
Mr Quimby's Beard plays a Hawkwind style that is very much in the heavy jamming spacerock spirit of bands like Tribe Of Cro, Spacehead, and Krel. "Coming Down", "Wake Up", and "Try" are like the heavier Hawkwind spacerockers. Song segments lead to blazing instrumental jams that soar to frenzied levels of intensity. This is total cosmic spacerock, but Hardy's keyboards give the music a quality that would likely crossover to the heavy progressive crowd as well.
The title track was another standout for me with it's Middle Eastern atmosphere complete with tripped out chanting. But the tour de force of the album is "Bringin' Up The Acid" with its classic psychedelic Krautrock sound that includes dreamy vocal harmonies and a slow drugged bass line. Of course the band ultimately blasts off and the track demonstrates what an intense
jamming band Mr Quimby's Beard can be.
Definitely a band that deserves to be more widely heard and essential for Hawkwind fans.

  (Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations # 7 July 99)

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