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Bristol-born progressive/psychedelic outfit formed in 1967, noted for splicing jazz with Eastern and European folk flavors and a heavy-psych edge. Early on, the frontline of Dave Arbus (violin/sax), Ron Caines (sax), and Geoff Nicholson (guitar/voice) set the tone, with Steve York (bass) and Dave Dufort (drums) anchoring the rhythm section. Electric violin and reeds were central to their sound; they’d later crack the UK Top 10 with “Jig-a-Jig” (1970).
Mercator Projected (the album), their 1969 Deram debut (SML 1038) is a bold, wide-ranging statement where the violin often functions like a second lead guitar and woodwinds snake through riff-driven, jazz-tinged grooves. Across eight tracks—“Northern Hemisphere,” “Isadora,” “Waterways,” “Centaur Woman,” “Bathers,” “Communion,” “Moth,” and the expansive closer “In the Stable of the Sphinx”—the band blends prog, psych, and jazz into an adventurous ~45-minute ride. The sleeve art echoes its title with a world map in Mercator style. Later reissues tack on demos and a cover of the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High.”
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