Jan Dukes de Grey-Mice And Rats In The Loft (1971)

This band was one of the most original to emerge from the British progressive folk scene of the early seventies. Formed in Leeds in 1968, its core members were saxophonist and wind instrument player Michael Bairstow and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Derek Noy. This duo initially played folk with acid tones and were one of the main competitors of the band Tyrannosaurus Rex. They were one of the last progressive-style bands to sign with Decca in 1969. Their debut album, "Sorcerer" (1970), featured eccentric folk with some progressive influences. The two musicians used an arsenal of wind and percussion instruments, maintaining an acoustic style throughout the recording, which captured the hippie spirit of the era with engaging narratives and the musicians' interwoven vocals. A year later came the brilliant "Mice and Rats in the Loft", featuring the addition of drummer Denis Conlan, in which the band broadened their horizons with more complex and daring sounds. Here they delved into extensive instrumental developments and passages that were at times epic and symphonic. With only three tracks, this release opened with the epic "Sun Symphonica", 20 minutes in which they embodied all the excellence of Jan Dukes de Grey. It was a brilliant track with a multitude of sounds, employing a wide array of instruments and even incorporating an orchestra, with atmospheric, strange, and sinister passages, and an ending with improvised sounds. Meanwhile, "Call of the Wild" utilizes multi-voiced harmonies to create a haunting sound, with distorted acoustic guitars, improvised riffs, and brilliantly executed atmospheric solos. The final track is the title track, a masterful exercise in musical psychology, with a guitar in the purest Hendrix style that takes the sound towards the realms of psychedelia, while narrating a chilling story of religious sacrifices, which enhances the musical passage in very intense and atmospheric sounds.