![]() ![]() Unwin spent time observing the band at work and at play in the studio, and picking up on the private, coded language they used amongst themselves, he incorporated it alongside contemporary slang into his inventive and surreal narrative. Unwin was not the band's first choice for narrator, however – originally they approached the popular but mercurial absurdist comedian Spike Milligan to narrate the piece, but negotiations with Milligan foundered early and the more affable and amenable Unwin stepped in to everyone's eventual satisfaction. Side two of the LP is based on an original fairy tale concept about a boy called Happiness Stan, consisting of a musical suite of six songs interlinked with narration provided by comic monologuist and performer Stanley Unwin in his unique, nonsensical private language of "Unwinese". The single version of "Afterglow" - released in March 1969 a year after it was recorded and immediately after the group's disbandment was officially announced - was presented in a radically-different mix that eschewed the LP version's acoustic opening, altered the song's tempo and extended the instrumental coda. ![]() An eclectic selection of tracks follow the proto- Hard rock of "Song of a Baker" the psychedelic ballad "Long Agos And Worlds Apart" cockney knees-up songs " Lazy Sunday" and "Rene" (the latter featuring a lengthy psychedelic jam as its coda) and the intense, soul-influenced ballad " Afterglow" (titled "Afterglow of Your Love" on the subsequent single and some compilations). This recording uses a piano treated with wah-wah pedal and orchestral flourishes from a string section led by David McCallum senior (the father of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The opening title track is an instrumental re-working of " I've Got Mine", a failed single from 1965. Side one of the album showcases a variety of musical styles. ![]()
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