Leviathan: Legendary Lost Elektra Album

well i was not aware of this release until a couple of months ago and now that i am sitting here listening to this i feel this is basically the mss band under the name leviathan, this is great psyche/pop from the uk and it was a sin this was supposed to be released on elektra so long ago and never was, these songs are all great and some even have a radio friendly feel to them, i cant say these guys would have won the world over with this release but i can hear that by changing the band name and as these songs where recorded there sound got a bit more melodic probably becouse a major label was paying the bills, the booklet that comes with this is great and explains this whole disaster stuart hobday had to go through back in 1969, what i also love about this disc are the guitar solos i really feel had this come out back in 69 it would have gone somewere, i really like the spooy tooth cover of evil woman here and the 3 bonus tracks are great to have especially the original 1969 remember the times australian 45 to finish this disc out, well what more is there to say???? this is yet another fantastic release from grapefruit records and i look foward to more releases like this in 2017 now that the new year has kicked off

"We were devastated, absolutely devastated. We thought it was the big break we had been waiting for." Gary Murphy, drums, Leviathan. The Mike Stuart Span (MSS) was one of countless English bands playing music that ranged from Mod/soul to pop/rock to psyche in the late 1960's. Signing to Elektra Records they had a change of name more in keeping with the Elektra image and settled on Leviathan. They issued some singles and then recorded an album. Jac Holzman, Elektra owner, rejected the album for some reason still not clear and wanted the band to re-record the album. But with no money Leviathan split up and the album was shelved, never to be heard until now. Four "stars" because I've always liked the MSS and Leviathan is just a slim hop away from that band's sound. So take my rating accordingly. The band consisted of Roger McCabe-bass, Stuart Hobday-vocals, Brian Bennett-guitar, and Gary Murphy-drums. The band had a decent/good sound sometimes reminiscent of the MSS--it was the same band after all. Some of the songs were from that band's era and were reworked for the Leviathan album. Songs like "Remember The Day", "Second Production", and "Blue Day" show how good the band could be on more up tempo things, with "Time" and "Flames" displaying their slower tempo sound. "The War Machine" is a real period tune, locked into the era of the Vietnam War. It now sounds a bit dated but back then this would've been taken a bit more seriously. There's also a version of "Evil Woman", perhaps best known from Spooky Tooth's heavy/almost over the top version. Leviathan puts their own feel to the song which isn't as heavy as Tooth's but still has a good period feel to it. Both the bass and guitar work (especially) is pretty good/great across a number of these tunes. Bennett's guitar work is sometimes reminiscent of Kossoff's work in Free, with short sharp bursts of sound, but doesn't hit the emotional highs like Kossoff could. Like I said, if you're familiar with the MSS you have an idea of what a lot of this sounds like. The original Elektra master tapes were used for this CD release. The sound is very good--clean and fairly open but with some (to my ears) a bit of vinyl warmth which doesn't hurt things. The 14 page booklet has an essay on the band and the music along with period photos (including Leviathan's "launch" at a juice bar in '69), other ephemera and a track list with information. The three extra tracks are singles--"Flames", "Just Forget Tomorrow" and the Australian mix of "Remember The Times". For once, the term "long lost album" is appropriate for Leviathan's album. Was Leviathan ever going to be in the big leagues with other bands of the time? Maybe not. But on the evidence of this collection they certainly deserved much more notoriety than they ever received. From time to time some of my more knowledgeable music friends would bring up the band's name only to be met with shrugs and maybe a vague memory of the unissued album. This album and the MSS album ("Children Of Tomorrow") is a good one-two punch of some very decent second tier English music from the late '60s. Fans of the era might want to check out both albums. This is a good time for difficult/impossible to find tracks by lesser known bands--Everything by Tales Of Justine has also been recently issued which is a good thing for fans of that whole period in British music.

Fun to listen to. The downside with cds is they are expensive to buy with little resale value. They should cost much less up front. I have hot bought any in a year.

Sometime around the end of 1969, on one of my usual Saturday morning visits to Reddington's Rare Records in Birmingham, I bought a single on the Elektra label - “Flames” b/w “Just Forget Tomorrow” by a band called LEVIATHAN. Only over time did I find out that this was the 3rd single by the band; that they had recorded an LP for Elektra that had remained unreleased; and that they had previously been called “Mike Stuart Span”. A couple of excellent CDs have been released which together have made available all the Mike Stuart Span material. “Timespan” (Wooden Hill Records 1996) and “Children Of Tomorrow” (RPM/Grapefruit 2011) collate all the singles, acetates, demos and radio sessions that are available and these are well worth seeking out to hear the Span evolve into the psyche/rock band Leviathan. But of the Elektra material, all recorded in 1969, there was little sign other than the 3 singles which were attracting high prices amongst collectors due to a combination of their excellence and rarity……until 2012 when the unreleased album was re-mastered for a limited edition vinyl LP via Record Collector magazine. And now we have that Legendary Lost Elektra album in its entirety on CD, together with three bonus tracks in the form of the Flames/Just Forget Tomorrow single and the Australian mix of the first single “Remember The Times”. The album itself includes both the a- and b- sides of the first two Leviathan singles - Remember The Times/Second Production and The War Machine/Time - plus 5 other tracks….Through The Looking Glass, Blue Day, Flames (album version), World In My Head and Evil Woman. The excellent booklet is full of details and photos surrounding the lost album. This is a brilliant album full of psyche rock….combining great lyrics with amazing musicianship; it is an album of contrasts, of light and shade, from the all-out thrust of “Remember The Times” to the quieter introspection of “Time”, from the blues of “Blue Day” to the extended rock of “Evil Woman”. Those of us who have waited patiently since 1969 to have the album on CD will buy it in a heartbeat. But “Leviathan: The Legendary Lost Elektra Album” is highly recommended equally to collectors of the genre and to those for whom Leviathan slipped quietly by almost 50 years ago......No longer Lost, but deservedly Legendary.

En général, les albums présentés comme inédits sont des démos ou des répétitions mal fagotées. Là, il s'agit d'un véritable disque, prêt à être commercialisé et resté dans les cartons d'Elektra pour des raisons nébuleuses. Mais quel disque ! De la pop UK 1969 de la meilleure veine avec une guitare psyché qui l'enveloppe : superbe ! Le groupe existait avant ce disque sous le nom de Mike Stuart Span et a été rebaptisé Leviathan par le label US qui, finalement, n'a pas sorti ce LP... Très belle surprise car ce genre de parution déçoit très souvent, en général. On croit toujours tout connaître...

For fans and collectors only

If you already have the CD {Mike Stuart Span - Children Of Tomorrow CRSE6021} only four or these songs will be entirely new to you ["The War Machine", "Through The Looking Glass", "Evil Woman" and "Just Forget Tomorrow"] but these alone would be worth the purchase. Because the group, Leviathan, ran on seamlessly from using their old name of Mike Stuart Span they also used many of the old tunes which had been extensively worked but updated them slightly. If you do have the earlier CD you will not be disappointed by the new presentation so buy this as well. If you are coming fresh to the group then get both. This is yet another band which bubbled under but should have been promoted as they were worthy of the big breakthrough.

I must admit to getting tired of too many recent "legendary lost album" releases from the '60s reflecting that they were not released at the time or quickly deleted after release and so remained in short supply until release on a CD many decades later with comprehensive liner notes on a specialist label raving about the music occurs. This offering is one such - a UK group signed to the legendary Elektra label, the only other UK group to achieve that being the very different musically Incredible String Band. The music is a reflection of its time - "War Machine" by its self explanatory title being an over extended song that many others up to Black Sabbath with "War Pigs" attempted in theme across this period, most with little success. The group had a few singles released which in energy and playing are easily the best tracks on the release. The rest are largely unmemorable. It is little surprise as a result that Jac Holzman the legendary owner of Elektra on hearing the master tapes asked the group to go back into the studios and re-record some titles, which given their lack of live gigs and money led to the group's break up. The feeling is also left that the group did not have the greatest management - having a London launch gig in Harrods store with apparently few attendees does not evidence that their best commercial interests were being looked after ?