P.C. KENT Upstairs Coming Down LP UK '70 baroque psych

$

43

Original and very RARE 1970 LP by P.C. Kent, “Upstairs Coming Down” on the UK RCA label.  Obscure and sought-after folk popsike that’s quintessentially British – the folks at Sweet Floral Albion loved it, as well they should – but harder edged psych fans will find it too twee for its own good, and often way too flippant and “daft” to use a suitable English expression.  It seems to sell itself way too short at first, but then suddenly, late in the game around the middle of side 2, catches hold of something and streaks to the finish, assuming you’ve stuck with it that far.  Side 1 teeters precariously on the brink of Bonzo Dog Band madness, with flashes of Paul McCartney/Ray Davies good-timey music hall music – you know the stuff, “Honey Pie”, “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”.  And so a song with the most unlikely title to ever be chosen as a single, “Little Baby Won’t You Please Come Home, Honey-Child Won’t You Just Allow Me One More Chance, Please” (seriously) barely escapes the cloyingness of another “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da” by the width of some well-placed fuzz guitar strings.  Or the more overtly Bonzoesque “We Are the Police”, set to a Keystone Kops kitten-on-the-keys piano melody and sung with as much vocal dexterity as a pub full of drunken Ashlee Simpsons, turns deadly serious when you examine the lyrics.  Sure, the P.C. Kent boys may SOUND like they’re having a right and rowdy time carousing at the local pub, but try a line like “We are the police…we will fight for your right to die like pigs in the next atomic war” on for size – now there’s a belly laff for ya, mate!  Midsong, the music finally catches up to the dark humour of the lyrics, veering away into a cacophony of sound effects, random orchestral notes and snippets of found sound coming at you from all directions – a flurry of noise with no rhyme or reason, like a freakish hybrid of “Revolution 9” and that creepy bit in “Atom Heart Mother.”  Then, midway through Side 2, the band seems to finally sober up, and bangs out a series of stunningly beautiful songs tat sound like nothing that came before.  “Suzy” starts off the hot streak, very beautiful baroque British popsike that sounds very much like the Move’s “Beautiful Daughter” or ELO’s “Look at Me Now” – riding a skipping jazz beat with brushed drums, breathy double tracked vocals and some trippy flanging effects.  “After Dark” follows, and ups the ante even more, with a truly mesmerizing piece of childlike popsike that’s got one of the most amazing melodies in English pop.  With its fragile, fey vocals and baroque circular piano melody, it explodes into a phlanged kaleidoscope of day-glo colours when the bridge kicks in.  It could very easily be a lost Left Banke or Montage outtake – it’s got that sound and certainly has the melody.  Which, of course, only further begs the question – why wait so long into your album to finally deliver the goods?  Who knows?  These guys certainly had the talent - but like a jittery grade school student, they just needed to apply themselves a bit more.  But the great moments here are truly transcendent – ranking with the best music of the entire British underground – and more than make up for the drunken pub singalongs  you’ll have to sit through to get there.  So grab an ale, sit back, and enjoy the ride.  Original 1970 stereo pressing on the UK RCA label.  SF 8083.  The beautiful bachelor pad abstract art sleeve is in VG+ shape – all seems intact, but there is some ringwear on the back and some small scuffs on both sides, including lamination crinkling.  Vinyl still looks shiny with no marks visible, but plays VG+ with steady crackling, mostly under the music and non instrusive.  This has yet to be reissued as far as I know too – a major oversight.

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