From the Top Drawer XXX - The Oroonies

Here we are at the Winter Solstice once more (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), on the shortest day/longest night of the year, the exact time of the event this year falling at 0530 GMT on Thursday morning 22nd December. It's unusual for the Solstice to fall on the 22nd, but the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days, so each year the exact time of the Solstice is pushed back by around six hours. Next year is a leap year so the auspicious solstice of 2012 will be back on track for the 21st December. 11.11am, I believe, will be the actual time for the Mayan Calendar-inspired End of this World (or not, according to whatever your belief system tells you!).

What better way to celebrate the Solstice and to enter the year of the Final Countdown than by putting another log on the fire, raising a mug of ale or glass of mulled wine and toasting the imminent return of the Light to a soundtrack provided by those Pagan minstrels, the Oroonies.

Here we have a late 1980s (?) tape release called 'Ee-I-Ee-I-O'.
The band had improved (slightly) the quality of their recordings by this time and were also using more electronic gadgets such as drum machines and samplers. The tunes were more diverse and distinctively melodic (!), dipping into reggae and other forms of danceable musics (albeit in a mutated fashion) but on the whole there would be plenty to please lovers of their early earthy Pan-worshipping pagan weirdness...

Contained on the tape are the tunes 'Aradia' and 'They Don't Want Us', both of which appeared on a rare 12" EP on Hiraeth Records with 'The Woods Are Alive With The Smell Of His Coming'. 'They Don't Want Us' even got played by John Peel on his show one night (I heard it!). After spinning the tune Peel was heard to comment enigmatically, 'I know what they mean...'

Ripped as two side-long tracks @320kbps from an original tape.
The only track titles on the tape artwork are as can be seen above -
  Side One: Around The World
  Side Two: And Back Again

Sorry folks, but there's somebody out there that does not want this album shared on Mediafire (the file hosting service I use). I have received two warning emails from MF to take this file down from their server. These could only have come from someone who is making a copyright claim on this album (or a simple mistake). Unless we are living in a Kafka-esque world where we don't get to find out who is making a claim against us, then would the person(s) involved please identify themselves here in the comments so I can either apologize to them or if I consider their claim to be invalid, tell them where to go. I find it strange that I've posted a few Oroonies albums but it's only this one that's getting the negative attention. Thank you.

From the Top Drawer XXIX - Another Green World

Taking a name and much inspiration from the minimalism of Brian Eno's 1975 same titled album, and evolving around founder and constant member keyboard/synthesist Paul Chousmer, Another Green World is a pioneering act which from the early 1980s has been supplying music to quiet spaces which have now become known as 'chill-out' rooms at many club events and meditative relaxation areas at festivals in the UK and beyond.

 

WOMAD '96 - A G W playing the Whirl-Y-Gig stage

Paul had been involved with acts such as Vane and Webcore before branching out into a simultaneous parallel existence on his own, most often with collaborator sax player Dan Carpenter but also other guests. They performed at events such as the Alice In Wonderland Mystery Trips, Club Dog, The Crypt in Deptford and many underground events in London and elsewhere. A.G.W. later recorded for the Magick Eye label and have also been much in demand to contribute tracks to ambient chill-out compilation albums on many labels.

Here we have the first cassette dating from their early period called 'My Dreams In Your Hands' which had a release in 1984 on the Cornwall-based A Real Kavoom label.
No track titles are given on the artwork, relax and let your imagination roam where it will...

Ripped as two side-long tracks from an original tape @320kbps

Download a copy HERE

Another Green World on MySpace

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