When this was recorded in 1970 Misty were expected to be major players in the burgeoning Progressive rock genre. Their manager was Michael Grade (son of Leslie and nephew of Lew), they were signed to Parlophone (the Beatles label) and their first single ‘Hot Cinnamon’ was getting plenty of airplay. Unfortunately, the single bombed and the album was shelved (literally) and never released. Until now, after founding member and keyboards player Michael Gelardi found an acetate of the album in his loft and decided it was time the album was released.
So, after all that, what do you get? An album that really is of its time – classical based R&B with psychedelic aspects and a pop sheen to the whole project. Imagine elements of The Nice crossed with Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, a bit of Arthur Brown and even Moody Blues and all washed together.
It is actually very easy to listen to. Gelardi’s Hammond playing is superb, bass player Steve Bingham (ex-Foundations and Colin Blunstone) plays with real speed and fluidity. Tony Wooton takes on lead vocals, John Timms plays very much jazz-based drums and Freddie Green handles lead guitar.
There is a strong sense of the baroque about much of the music but there is also some fine pop music and the band also cover some ‘difficult’ themes such as long term illness (‘Julie’), suicide (‘Final Thoughts’), loneliness (‘I Can See The Stars’) with Wooton’s brummie accented vocals showing a great range and manner. The single ‘Hot Cinnamon’ is fast and complex, it’s a fine piece of music but possibly too complicated rhythmically to be a dance hit.
I’d say that it should have been released at the time as it definitely shows that Misty could have been a major player, given time. Today, it is a fascinating artefact, one I’m really pleased to have in my collection and one that will get plenty of listens going forward.
