Thursday, April 1, 2010

Roger Glover & Guests - The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast - `75 - Polydor



ok , here is another really cool conceptual piece ala planet earth or intergalactic band stuff ! this one features deep purples roger glover at the helm , with guest stars ; ronnie james dio , david coverdale, glenn hughes & more ! this one is pretty amazing AND very diverse -- the songs kinda all run together so u get a full side A & side B , hard to cut each song & i thought it might detract : OH & hehe , thats really DIO ! - enjoy ~ !


Of all the multitudinous highways and byways down which the enterprising Deep Purple collector can travel, none, perhaps, is so surprising as The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast, Purple bassist Roger Glover's first "solo" album, and -- almost incidentally -- one of the most delightful children's records ever made. Yes, a children's record. In 1973, Glover was approached about creating a musical adaptation of artist Alan Aldridge and poet William Plomer's book of the same name -- a commission that surprised him, but which he nevertheless accepted. The book itself is delightful and, while Glover's work is unquestionably more heavily flavored by the near-psychedelia of the illustrations, the spirit of the text is retained as well, to create an album that stands among the few truly successful musical adaptations of an existing story yet committed to vinyl. Although Glover, as the album's premier composer, takes the bulk of the credit for this success, his co-conspirators, too, merit praise. Convening what resembles one of the greatest all-star lineups in heavy metal history -- and then banning them from even glancing toward their usual territory -- Glover is joined by Purple stalwarts David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, future Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio, session stars Eddie Hardin and Tony Ashton, soul singer Jimmy Helms, Roxy Music's Eddie Jobson and John Gustafson, and three quarters of funk-rock aspirants Fancy. Each was given his own role to play and the resultant album is a tremendous mishmash of musical styles, from folky balladeering to psychedelic whimsy, but leaning most heavily toward an early-'70s pop/rock vibe -- for some reason, one could imagine the early Queen spending an awful lot of time listening to The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. Given the heavily narrative nature of the project, it is best listened to in one session -- a handful of tracks certainly exist more to carry the tale than make a musical impact. Highlights, however, leap out from across the platter, with the macabre "Old Blind Mole" and the positively buoyant "Love Is All" the twin extremes around which the action revolves. Gustafson's hard rock "Watch out for the Bat," meanwhile, must surely have induced nightmares within the album's younger fans, while Dio's closing "Homeward" all but predicts the course of arena rock during the '80s. [The original vinyl packs 19 tracks; the 25th-Anniversary CD adds one, the European B-side "Little Chalk Blue," together with a fabulous enhanced multimedia clip ("Love Is All" again) taken from a projected animated TV series. It's a great package, as well as a chance to reacquaint yourself with one of childhood's most treasured tales.] ~ [ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide ]


If there is one word to describe this album, it is MAGICAL! The music and lyrics are woven together to create a musical journey into a magical fairytale land. The listener drifts away to another time and place, a place of animals and insects in the forests and meadows all preparing for the grand ball. Conceived, written, and directed by Roger Glover of Deep Purple fame, this is brilliant stuff. There are 20 short songs which flow together perfectly to tell the hopes, dreams, desires, and feelings of the various characters as they approach the grand event. One might think that on such a massive project with so many artists involved, that too many cooks might spoil the soup. This is definitely NOT the case. For example, each vocalist is perfectly suited to the type of song he/she is singing and to the character he/she represents. And althiugh numerous various instruments are employed, they are never employed so indulgently that they get in the way of each other or clutter up the total sound. The production quality is very good and for the most part the mix of instruments is just about right. This is a far cry from the hard rock of Deep Purple, but it is a refreshing change and definite "classic" that should find a comfortable home in anyone's CD collection, whether you are a fan of Barry Manilow or Led Zeppelin.
[ amazon ]


Roger Glover & Guests - The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast - `75 - Polydor
all trax from wax - akashaman - 2010
MP3 @ 320kbps - includes high rez cover scans


Side A
1 Dawn 1:18
2 Get Ready 2:07
3 Saffron Dormouse and Lizzy Bee 1:24
4 Harlequin Hare 1:26
5 Old Blind Mole 1:13
6 Magician Moth 1:34
7 No Solution 3:16
8 Behind the Smile 1:59
9 Fly Away 2:22
10 Aranea 1:37
11 Sitting in a Dream 3:40
Side B
12 Waiting 3:06
13 Sir Maximus Mouse 2:40
14 Dreams of Sir Bedivere 4:41
15 Together Again 1:36
16 Watch Out for the Bat 1:41
17 The Feast 1:46
18 Love Is All 3:17
19 Homeward 4:17
DOWNLOAD - -- HERE --

9 comments:

Tobias from Bliss said...

How cool! I've seen this out there but have never heard...Roger Glover has another solo lp called 'Elements' from '76-'77? that is completely awesome, some supra-beautiful eastern-flavored cosmic-rock - another ole lp I grew up with(took considerable time and $$ tracking that one down on cd!)
Really look forward to giving this a spin this weekend...thanks for this bro, some new music is just what I need to heal the pain of losing the RedTele...stay strong brother Aka
Tobias

akashaman said...

your gonna trip on this one , its legendary ! deserves many repeated listenings & thats what i am doin ~
thanks for the kind words
heres to RED TELE , i bet he loves this one too ~
and never heard of elements [ will seek ], damn ~

:)

VaTAga said...

Thanks! At last I find the song I loved in my youth - "Love Is All"!!!

Anonymous said...

Another gem! So glad to have this again. Many thanks for putting this up, you've made a middle-aged bloke very happy! :)

akashaman said...

glad u found this lost gem indeed !
keep searching here , tons of other cool stuff ! rock on

Anonymous said...

Luv it. Thanx.

Anonymous said...

Thank You -- For Butterfly Ball and all the others too.

I just suffered a HDD failure and not everything was backed up.
Thank God for guys like you (Especially Elephant Candy -- I thought that was gone for good)

g7 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

depositfiles always ok ; thanks