Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

High Tide — High Tide
(Repertoire REP 4413-WY, 1970/1994, CD)

by Mike McLatchey, Published 2016-01-21

High Tide Cover art

McLatchey's Second Tier

When I first heard about this band, the rage seemed to be all around their debut album Sea Shanties and by the descriptions I read, I badly wanted to hear it, but it would take a while for the reissues on Repertoire to come out. This second album didn't seem to get as much ink and so my expectations for it were reduced when I finally heard it and it immediately shattered my young head. High Tide were an astoundingly heavy band for the late 60s and early 70s, a huge, acid, almost grungy psychedelic sound fronted by the utterly mind numbing duo of guitarist Tony Hill and later Hawkwind and Third Ear Band violinist Simon House who both shred mercilessly over almost everything the rhythm section throws out. This only had three songs and it was a relentless assault even if below the wall of sound there was also a lot of quality songwriting at work, a sad almost bluesy songwriting at that. This one does tend to share time between this tier and my highest, I truly think it was a classic of the era and a more polished and focused work than Sea Shanties, which I think gets knocked back a little bit the two weaker tracks in the middle.

Filed under: Reissues, 1994 releases, 1970 recordings

Related artist(s): High Tide, Simon House

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.