BAND X - BEST OF BAND X (RSD24)

A1  Rip Van Winkle
A2  Red Cloud
A3 Trullion Alastor
A4 Afterthought
B1 Picking Mushrooms With Rabbit
B2 Home
B3 Black Hole

"With its tongue in cheek title, The Best of Band X (there had been no previous Band X releases) snuck into the record racks in 1976, the first the world was to hear from musician/producer/writer/arranger (and later all-American hero) Craig Peyton. Much of the current demand for this very hard to find album owes itself to DJ Amir’s championing of the track Home: many have remarked on its similarity to the classic Steely Dan sound of the same era; other reference points might be Shuggie Otis and Michael Franks. It’s a poignant, floaty and ultimately unique song, with Craig providing the ‘blue-eyed’ vocal, as he does on the other vocal track Afterthought, which also sounds like it could’ve happily lived alongside Shuggie’s Inspiration Information album. A vocal and a lively slice of sequencer space-funk with some truly trippy keyboard work, here’s another track with loads of potential for contemporary appreciation."