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| THE CAPE KENNEDY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY-The First Step On The Moon/Armageddon U.K. President PT 2645 1969 |
One of my favorite British 60's psychedelic 45's is today's subject, July 1969's (released a few weeks after the first steps were taken on the moon) one off release by the curiously named Cape Kennedy Construction Company on the groovy President records label. A YouTube user once commented on this record that it sounded like "....the Association on crystal meth" and Nigel Lees in "Record Collector" unfairly dismissed it in his "A To Z Of British Psychedelia" series (I forget his exact words but they were not kind). I think it's equally amazing on both sides, though both are vastly different and definitely have different lead vocalists.
"The First Step On The Moon" starts out with some very churchly organ joined by some VERY Joe Meek/Tornados meets Barry Grey ("Thunderbirds/U.F.O. etc) influenced "spacey" combo organ, vibes and restrained fuzz guitar that works perfectly! The vocals remind me of a Carter/Lewis project (it's reputed that John Carter is the lead singer according to some liner notes) leading me to suspect that it was a studio only concoction. The vocals and their accompanying harmonies are positively amazing and have an ethereal charm about them when splashed up against the restrained Meek inspired musical backing.
The flip side, "Armageddon" was first introduced to me back in the mid 90's on the bootleg "Psychedelia" series on Tiny Alice Records ("Psychedelia Volume One: Oil Emulsion Slide" to be exact). It starts with some very forlorn organ (reminiscent of Felius Andromeda's "Meditation") and a distorted and completely disembodied voice quoting scripture ("as he gathered to a place called Armageddon and the seventh angel of the Lord poured out his bowl upon the earth and the voice from heaven from the throne said it is done") that is suddenly punctuated by a sonic boom of a jet (presumably delivering "the bomb"). Both the organ and voice have always remind me of the mutant doomsday cult in "Beneath The Planet Of The Apes". The vocals are fey and plaintive sounding as the vocalist sings a protest type song about the futility of peace ("they blow us up, they put us down, they've made it up, they've made it rough") that is occasionally punctuated by bursts of a rocking section and the ominous sonic boom with the spooky organ continuing throughout on a loop with the track ending with the bleak sounds of the wind and a off kilter church bell after the organ increases in volume.
Both sides have cropped up in several places but the best place to get them both is on the President records LP/CD compilation "Sometimes I Wonder: The Psychedelic Pop Sound Of President" which is also available on streaming.
Hear "The First Step On The Moon":
Hear "Armageddon":
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